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Dangote loses $900m in a day, dropped in global billionaire ranking

▪︎Remains Africa’s richest man

The President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote’s total networth depreciated by $900m on Friday as his flagship company emerged the biggest loser at the end of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, showed that his wealth fell from $18.4bn on Thursday to $17.5bn on Friday, making him the 114th wealthiest man in the world, down from 106th the previous day.

Dangote’s net worth had risen from $15.5bn on December 13 to close the year 2020 at $17.8bn.

It further gained $600m in the first seven days of 2021, but lost all of it and more last Friday.

The share price of Dangote Cement Plc, the country’s biggest listed company and Africa’s largest cement producer, tumbled by 8.13 per cent to close at N225 on Friday from N244.90 on Thursday.

Dangote was the only Nigerian on the list of 500 billionaires and retained his position as Africa’s richest person as of Friday.

“The majority of Dangote’s fortune is derived from his 86 per cent stake in publicly traded Dangote Cement.

“He holds the shares in the company directly and through his conglomerate, Dangote Industries,” Bloomberg said.

His most valuable closely held asset is a fertiliser plant with capacity to produce up to 2.8 million tonnes of urea annually, according to the international news agency.

“A $12bn oil refinery that is currently being developed in Nigeria isn’t included in the valuation because it’s not yet operational and construction costs are calculated to outweigh its current value,” it said.

(Theconclaveng)

AfDB mobilises $6.5bn to halt Sahara desert from spreading south

The African Development Bank, AfDB, said it was mobilising $6.5 billion in support of the Great Green Wall project, which involves large-scale efforts to stop the Sahara Desert from spreading further south over the next five years.

President of Africa’s multilateral development finance institution, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, announced this while addressing President Emmanuel Macron, His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, President Ghazouani of Mauritania and many other world leaders at One Planet Summit’s Great Green Wall Investment Summit.

“The Great Green Wall is part of Africa’s environmental defence system — a shield against the onslaughts of desertification and degradation.

“The future of the Sahel region of Africa depends on the Great Green Wall, without it, in the face of climate change and desertification, the Sahel may disappear…

“By building the Great Green Wall, we will secure the Sahel, reduce climate change, reduce migration and improve the lives of people”, said African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina.

The African Development Bank, as reported by Arise TV, also said it was launching $20 billion Desert-to-Power programme to build the largest solar zone in the world in the Sahel which will provide electricity for 250 million people and help to protect the Great Green Wall. If there is no access to energy, the Great Green Wall will be no more than trees waiting to be turned into charcoal. (Theconclaveng)

US House of Reps Commences Trump Impeachment Process

Democrats began the process of impeaching President Donald Trump for a second time on Monday if Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet do not remove him from office.

Democrats introduced a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment of the Constitution and remove Trump from the White House for being unfit to discharge his duties.

Republicans blocked an immediate vote on the resolution and Democrats followed up by introducing an article of impeachment of Trump for “incitement of insurrection” over his role in Wednesday’s storming of the US Capitol by his supporters.

The dramatic moves come just nine days before Trump is to leave the White House and President-elect Joe Biden is to be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.

Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland introduced the resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump “incapable of executing the duties of his office.”

Republican Representative Alex Mooney of West Virginia objected to passing the resolution by what is known as “unanimous consent” and it will be put to a vote on Tuesday.

After Republicans blocked the resolution, a single article of impeachment against Trump was introduced in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.

Trump was impeached by the House in December 2019 and now risks being the first president ever to be impeached twice.

He was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate following his last impeachment and it is unclear whether the body would hold a trial this time to consider the latest charges. 

AFP

Ohaneze: Abaribe Congratulates Obiozor, Emuchay

…..Says Obiozor Has Track Records of Integrity, Honour, Courage and Intellectual capacity

By Chibuike Nwabuko

Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has congratulated Ambassadors George Obiozor and Okey Emuchay on their emergence as the President General, and Secretary General of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide respectively.

He said Professor Obiozor who is widely acknowledged for his track record of excellence, honour, intellectual capacity and courage in public service, qualities that greatly qualifies him as the preferred choice to lead the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, will no doubt inject such attributes to further reinvigorate and build an actiist-driven Ohaneze in the face of current realities in Nigeria.

Abaribe sent the goodwill message on Monday in a state signed by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom made available to Sundiata Post in Abuja.

Senator Abaribe said the choice of the duo is indeed most heart warming and will no doubt sustain the progressive trajectory, which the immediate past executive built.

“I am confident that the new executive, known for their consumate love for the Igbo race, particularly the President General who has been at the frontline in articulating interest of Ndi-Igbo, would continue to exhibit courage and forthrightness in not only pursuing our collective interest in Nigeria, but also weave Ndigbo as a nation bonded in love, peace and unity”, said Abaribe

The Minority Leader also advised other contestants who are also eminently qualified to accept the outcome of the election and look at the bigger picture with regards to the importance of unity in the pursuit of the interest of Ndigbo.

He however, cautioned those bent on using falsehood to engender disunity among Ndigbo to desist forthwith.

BREAKING: LASU appoints Prof. Oke acting VC

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Damola Oke has been appointed the acting vice-chancellor of the institution.

Details shortly..

PROF. GEORGE OBIOZOR EMERGES NEW PRESIDENT OF OHANEZE NDIGBO

Otu Obiahu, AJM NEWS

Professor George Obiozor was today in Owerri, Imo State elected the new President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group in Nigeria.

Professor Obiozor got a total of 304 votes to defeat his main rival, Chief Valentine Oparaocha, who got 15 votes.

Photo Speaks

The newly elected President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Professor George Obiozor being queued behind by Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. Dave Umahi; Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Senator Sam Egwu and 49 other delegates from Ebonyi State as they unanimously voted for
Prof. George Obiozor at Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, Imo State on Sunday, January 10, 2020.

Below Is The Breakdown Of How The Delegates Voted::

Abia Delegates Voted in Favour of Professor George Obiozor: 47 Votes. No Vote for his Opponent: Chief Valentine Oparaocha.
Anambra Delegates Voted in Favour of Professor George Obiozor:41. His Opponent: Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got 1 Vote.
Delta State Delegates Voted in Favour of Professor George Obiozor: 17 Votes. His Opponent Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got 1 Vote. Ebonyi State Delegates Voted in Favour of Professor George Obiozor: 53 Votes. His Opponent: Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got No Vote. Enugu State Delegates Voted in Favour of Professor George Obiozor: 40 Votes. His Opponent: Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got 1 Vote. Imo State Delegates Voted in Favour of Professor George Obiozor: 42 Votes. His Opponent Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got No Vote.
Rivers State Delegates Voted: 21 Votes in Favour of Professor George Obiozor. His Opponent: Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got No Vote. Ohanaeze Affiliate Associations Delegates and Ohanaeze Diaspora Delegates Voted : 43 in favour of Professor George Obiozor. His Opponent: Chief Valentine Oparaocha, Got 12 Votes.
The Total Result for President General of Ohanaeze Election: Oparaocha 15 Votes.
Professor George Obiozor: 304 Votes.

With this victory, Professor Obiozor takes over the mantle of leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo from the immediate past President, Chief Nnia Nwodo.

©AfikpoJokwaMedia
AJM NEWS

Idahosa Okunbo: Tunde Ayeni sold his shares in OMS to me for N2bn

Idahosa Okunbo, a business mogul, says Tunde Ayeni, former chairman of the board of directors, Skye Bank Plc, sold his shares in Ocean Marines Solutions Ltd (OMS), a company they founded, for N2 billion.

Ayeni had petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged forceful takeover of the company by Okunbo, his partner since 2003 whom he claimed had deceived him.

The former bank chairman asked the commission to investigate Okunbo for “gross mismanagement and criminal diversion of company funds”.

However, according to some documents released by Okunbo, Ayeni sold his shares at OMS — including shares held by Prime Union Investment Ltd, owned by Ayeni — to Wells Property Development Company, owned by Okunbo.

A special resolution document purportedly signed by shareholders of OMS, including Ayeni, Okunbo and one Garth Dooley, on August 2018, indicates that Ayeni agreed to sell his 5,000,000 ordinary shares on N1 each in OMS to Wells Property Development Company.

“That Prime Union Investment Limited has agreed to sell its 30,000,000 Ordinary shares of N1 each in Ocean Marine Solutions Limited to Wells Property Development Company Limited,” the document read.

“That Wells Property Development Company Limited has agreed to purchase the 35,000,000 Ordinary shares from both Dr. Olatunde john Ayeni and Prime Union Investment Limited including the shares held by Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni in other associated companies which consists of 37,200,000 Ordinary Shares held in PPPFM, 175,000,000 Ordinary Shares in GYRO (including the 50,000,000 Ordinary shares held by Mrs. Ayeni ) for the total sum of N2,000,000,000 (Two Billion Naira) only.

“That following the full and final payment by Wells Property Development Company Limited for the shares, that both Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni and Prime Union Investment Limited hereby transfer the total 35,000,000 Ordinary shares to Wells Property Development Company Limited devoid of any encumbrance.

“That the Company hereby approves the transfer of 5,000,000 Ordinary Shares held by Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni to Wells Property Development Company Limited. That the Company hereby approves the transfer of 30,000,000 Ordinary Shares held by Prime Union Investment Limited to Wells Property Development Company Limited.”

In a memo dated September 5, 2018, Okunbo informed Kunle Oyelakun, managing director of OMS, that the allowances and benefits attached to the shares sold off by Ayeni should subsequently be paid to his company, Wells Property.

“I write to inform you that Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni has sold all his shares (including shares held by Prime Union Investment Ltd) in OMS and Associated Companies to my company, Wells Property Development Company Limited for N2Billion (N2,000,000,000.00). Consequently, the allowances and benefits attached to the said shares previously enjoyed and paid to Tunde should now be paid to Wells Property Development Company Limited,” Okunbo said.

“However, in line with my agreement and understanding with Tunde, I would pay him the initial sum of N1Billion (N1,000,000,000.00) as first instalment. The balance of N1Billion (N1,000,000,000.00) would be paid in subsequent instalments for a period of two (2) years to effect the balance payment and provide additional support to Tunde.

“You are hereby directed that all allowances now due to Wells Property Development Company Limited following its acquisition of all Tunde’s shares in OMS and its associated companies, be paid to Tunde for a period of two years commencing from September, 2018 and terminating in September, 2020. Tunde shall furnish you with the designated bank account details where these allowances would be paid for the period.”

OMS: AYENI NO LONGER OUR DIRECTOR

In response to Ayeni’s petition to the EFCC, the management of OMS issued a statement on December 17 that the former Skye Bank boss is no longer a director and shareholder in the company.

The company stated that its board has passed a vote of confidence on Okunbo, describing Ayeni as a “meddlesome interloper”.

OMS added that its funds are intact and in good order while dispelling allegations of misappropriation.

“That Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni is no longer a Director of OMS and any of its Associated Companies having resigned from OMS since August 2018. That Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni is no longer a shareholder of OMS and its Associated Companies having sold and transferred all his shares and interests to Wells Property Development Company Limited for valuable consideration since 2018,” the company said.

“That Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni has not been involved and connected in the management of OMS since 2018 when he resigned from the Board and sold his shares. That Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni became aware in September, 2020 that the Chairman of OMS Capt. [Dr.] Idahosa Wells Okunbo had health Issues and was undergoing treatment in London and has since that time started making false claims that he is still a part of OMS.

“That the Board of OMS has implicit and unshaken confidence in all the steps taken by Capt. [Or.] Idahosa Wells Okunbo in managing the affairs of the Company and the lofty heights to which he has taken the Company. The Company states unequivocally that it accounts are in good and correct order and its funds are intact and not missing, misappropriated or otherwise mismanaged,

“The Board has passed a vote of confidence on Capt. [Dr.] Idahosa Wells Okunbo. Dr. Olatunde John Ayeni is a meddlesome interloper who is seeking to blackmail Capt. (Dr.) Idahosa Wells Okunbo at this time of his ill-health for financial benefit.” (TheCable)

Richard Branson reveals his mother Eve has died after Covid battle

By April Roach

ir Richard Branson has paid tribute to his mother after she died aged 96 following a battle with coronavirus.

The billionaire business magnate said he was determined to celebrate his mother Eve Branson’s “wonderful life” rather than mourn her loss.

“I’m sorry to share that, sadly like a lot of people’s mums and dads right now in these days of Covid, my mum Eve has also passed away,” he said on Twitter.

“Rather than mourn her loss, I wanted to celebrate her wonderful life & the joy she brought to so many.”

Friends of Eve Branson took to Twitter to pay tribute.

David Duffy, the chief executive of Virgin Money said: “So very sorry to hear of your loss of your mum, coming from a family with a powerful matriarch I know what a large gap she will leave, I am glad you have such great memories, my condolences.”

Gina Din added: “I loved Eve. May you find comfort and strength. She was a hoot!”

Image

Sir Richard said his mother, who died at the age of 96, was a “force of nature”.

He shared how Mrs Branson took glider lessons disguised as a boy, toured Germany as a ballet dance after the Second World War, acted on the West End stage and worked as “pioneering hostess on the treacherous British South American Airways routes”.

“She held on for one last victory, managing to fight off the virus, but had expended all of her energy in the process,” said Sir Richard.  

Sir Richard said his mother, who died at the age of 96, was a “force of nature”.

He shared how Mrs Branson took glider lessons disguised as a boy, toured Germany as a ballet dance after the Second World War, acted on the West End stage and worked as “pioneering hostess on the treacherous British South American Airways routes”.

Image

“She held on for one last victory, managing to fight off the virus, but had expended all of her energy in the process,” said Sir Richard.  

“One of my wonderful sisters, Vanessa, and nephew Louis were with her until the end, as were the wonderful nurses who she entertained with tales from her life and much laughter over glasses of whisky.”

The Virgin Group founder said one of his mother’s most “brilliant legacies” was The Eve Branson Foundation which provides access to education and healthcare to those in need.

Evening Standard

Africa in the World – 2021 and Beyond

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

Debating Ideas is a new section that aims to reflect the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from within the African continent and beyond. It will offer debates and engagements, contexts and controversies, and reviews and responses flowing from the African Arguments books.

Two things shaped Africa’s narrative in 2020: Covid-19 and the political response to it. The former was a constant, the latter was adaptive, with different governments deploying the virus as shield or sword in an evolving contest between authoritarianism and resistance. 2021 will offer many more theatres around Africa in this contest but few will be as riveting as the Nile Basin, where Ethiopia and Uganda’s rulers will embark on a brutal contest to crown Africa’s most consequential authoritarian model.

Elections will play a role in shaping this contest. In 2021, there will be up to 26 elections in Africa, with at least 13 of them deciding the offices of president or prime minister. In some countries, such as Cape Verde, Djibouti, and São Tomé, the contests will barely register as national incidents. In Benin, Chad and Congo Brazzaville, the outcome will be pre-determined, barring a political miracle. Libya’s will be a transitional election, which should attract international attention. In the Gambia, incumbent president, Adama Barrow, who reneged on an agreement with a coalition of parties to serve three years of his five-year term, will seek re-election against the coalition of politicians to whom he broke his word. Zambia’s presidential election, scheduled to take place in August 2020, will occur against the backdrop of an unsustainable debt overhang that has already triggered a sovereign default and is likely to leave whoever is declared winner with a poor hand to deal thereafter.

In the Horn of Africa and the Nile Basin, 2021 will witness an unusual convergence of suffrage and suffering, with elections scheduled in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, and Uganda, amidst a tidal wave of rising authoritarianism, fragmentation and expanding footprint of Islamist violence. In a region where Egypt and Kenya have historically been regarded as anchors, Ethiopia and Uganda are likely to dictate the agenda.

On Christmas Day, the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced that general elections, postponed indefinitely from August 2020, will now take place on 5 June 2021 against a background of what could be conflict metastasis. On 3 November 2020, Ethiopia descended into a plurinational war in its northern Tigray region, in which the armed forces of neighbouring Eritrea were actively deployed with forces of the Ethiopia National Defence Force (ENDF) against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). After four weeks of fighting, Nobel Peace laureate and Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, declared active operations as ended, claiming his objectives had been met, despite the fact that the leadership of the TPLF remained unaccounted for. The war has triggered an upsurge in nationalist sentiment that is likely to guarantee another term for Prime Minister Abiy and his ruling Prosperity Party. However, with growing allegations of war crimes, violations against refugees and rising border and riparian tensions with regional neighbours Sudan and Egypt respectively, Ethiopia’s elections could pale into insignificance compared to what could come thereafter. The national and regional landscape created by his war with the TPLF clearly suggests that Abiy’s liberalizing pretensions are over. The main question to be determined is how ruthless his authoritarian turn will be.

Already secure in the affections of Eritrea’s Stalinist President, Isaias Afewerki, Abiy Ahmed, the newest ruler in the Nile Basin, appears to have chosen to look to Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, the oldest in the region and the continent’s third longest-surviving ruler after Equatorial Guinea’s President Obiang and Cameroon’s Paul Biya. In power since 1986, Museveni, a self-described freedom fighter, has chosen to conduct his campaign for re-election in Uganda’s January 14 general election as warfare, liberally deploying soldiers of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force (UPDF) to shoot opposition supporters, prevent their rallies, arrest independent voices and throttle the media. The outcome of Uganda’s election again will appear pre-determined but its aftermath will need to be watched closely. While Kenya is widely regarded as East Africa’s hegemon, Uganda determines the region’s stability with neigbouring Rwanda, whose President used to be Museveni’s Director of Military Intelligence. Under Museveni, land-locked Uganda has projected a muscular security doctrine of extra-territoriality, exercising latitude to undertake operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and Sudan as he pleases. With the support of the United Nations, the European Union and the United States of America, he has also emerged as a regional ally in the campaign against the Islamists of Al-Shabaab in the Gulf of Aden and was instrumental in the creation of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with the UPDF as the first and largest troop contributor to the mission. He has parlayed these credentials into portraying himself as Uganda’s indispensable ruler.

The Nile Basin and Horn of Africa present unique governance and fragility challenges. All but three of the eleven countries in the region – DRC, Kenya and Tanzania – are governed by soldiers who default to military methods where political skills are needed. The consequences are multi-dimensional but three stand out.

First, President Museveni has provided an ideological context conducive to the socialization of authoritarianism as a dominant regional governance model. In a region with a median age of 18, this is a guaranteed source of increasing tension and violence.

Second, a regional axis of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda is likely to find itself in a geo-strategic contest against Egypt, Kenya and Sudan at a time when the region needs to unite to confront common challenges of fragmentation, climate change and resource governance. This contest will be fertile ground for meddling by external sovereign actors.

Third, a growing Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique appears to be spreading to southern Tanzania, potentially making common cause with Somalia’s Al-Shabaab to create a contiguous maritime territory of Islamist violence stretching from Mozambique’s Indian Ocean coastline to the Gulf of Aden. This Islamist threat is guaranteed to become an alibi for militarized authoritarianism but growing regional tensions at this time could also be a boon to the Islamists in a mutually nourishing cycle of contradictions.

Egypt and Kenya may claim to have more diplomatic clout but the two soldiers who are likely to emerge in 2021 with renewed electoral mandates in Addis Ababa and Kampala are the regional disruptors. This is why those who seek positive change in the region must look in 2021 to affect the methods and instincts of Abiy Ahmed and Yoweri Museveni.

Businesses in Hong Kong want law and order – Commerce Secretary

 International businesses in Hong Kong see law and order as key for investing, a city government official said on Monday, in response to concern about the impact of a sweeping national security law on the business environment.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said in an interview at a Reuters Next conference that the fact that more money was coming into Hong Kong than leaving was a sign of confidence in the global financial hub.

Many businesses and trade associations have raised concern that a new security law, targeting activities in the former British colony that Beijing considers to be subversion, secessionism, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces, effectively brings Hong Kong closer to China’s authoritarian system and raises uncertainty.

“In any business, financial centre in particular, people would look at things in totality. Law and order is one very important thing,” Yau said.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement that promised it a high degree of autonomy for 50 years.

The city’s unbridled capitalism, guarantees of a wide range of rights and freedoms and independent legal system are widely seen as underpinning its success as a financial hub and interface for China and the world.

Since the imposition of the new security law in June, dozens of democracy campaigners including media tycoon Jimmy Lai have been arrested, some democratic lawmakers have been disqualified, activists have fled into exile and protest slogans and songs have been declared illegal.

Supporters of the law say it will bring stability after months of often-violent anti-government and anti-China protests in 2019.

Yau also said the novel coronavirus pandemic was causing uncertainty and there was “no silver bullet” to solve it, even as the city planned to roll out vaccines later in the year.

Yau said it was not easy to say when plans for a “travel bubble” arrangement with Singapore might resume.

The arrangement, allowing a limited number of passengers to fly both ways without having to quarantine was due to get going in November but was postponed indefinitely after an increase in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong.

Reuters

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