SUPER STORY: Vice President tells INEC that his degree certificates have been ‘consumed by fire’

Sambo, who lays claim to degrees in Architecture from the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State, presented sworn declarations to INEC in place of his certificates.

Nigeria’s Vice President, Namadi Sambo has reportedly told the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that his Bachelors and Masters degree certificates have been consumed by fire.

Sambo, who lays claim to degrees in Architecture from the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State, presented sworn declarations to INEC in place of his certificates.

However, the two-time running mate to President Goodluck Jonathan did not give details of the fire incident in which the documents were consumed.

Sambo’s papers were received and stamped at the INEC headquarters between December 10 and 18, 2014 and were displayed at the commission’s office in Abuja, Punch reports.

The sworn declarations presented by the VP read as follows:

 “To Whom it may Concern: Mohammed Namadi Sambo,” read, “I certify that the above-named person having completed an approved course of study and passed the prescribed examinations was awarded the Bachelor of Science (Architecture) with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in 1976 by the Senate of this University. His original certificate got burnt. Please treat his case in view of this certification. Thank you.”

 “I certify that the above-named person having completed an approved course of study and passed the prescribed examinations was awarded the Master of Science (Architecture) on May 25, 1978 by the Senate of this University. His original certificate got burnt. Please treat his case in view of this certification. Thank you.”

Both letters were signed by one Alhassan Garba on behalf of the institution’s registrar.

16 oil blocks to lose licences

Marginal field operators in race to avert DPR’s axe

Sixteen out of the 28 oil blocks whose licences were issued through the 2003 marginal bid round programme are at the risk of being revoked for remaining unproductive since then. It was learnt that already, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had given a March 2015 deadline to all unproductive marginal oil blocks owners to develop them or they would lose their licences.

Three months to the expiration of the deadline, some of the owners, sources said at the weekend, had intensified efforts to escape the hammer. A source at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, however, said the owners of the marginal fields, “some of who are politicians and those close to government,” have begun scheming to avert the DPR axe. “It is normal for them (marginal oil blocks owners) to lobby government to avert the revocation of their licences.

Don’t forget that they made a lot of investments in these blocks, but the bottom line is that things have to be done and have to be done right. “They have been given a 10-year deadline to make these oil blocks productive. This 10-year window was also extended when they could not meet up.

It is this new extension that will expire by March 2015, which is barely three months away. “The question of whether the DPR will be able to go ahead with its threat or not would be addressed soon but what I can confirm to you is that there is a serious scheming going on now to stop the DPR by getting another extension of deadline,” he said.

Director of DPR, Mr. George Osahon, told New Telegraph that the government understood challenges of funding and technology facing marginal field operators, but there was no going back on the March 2015 deadline “Non-producing marginal fields would be withdrawn from the operators in March 2015, unless reasonable commitment is ascertained by the government,” he said on the sideline of a conference in Lagos.

Acknowledging that the government was aware of the challenges facing the operators in the areas of funding and technology, Osahon added that the government was also concerned about the inability of the operators to meet government’s objectives of bringing the fields to production. He urged the operators to form cluster groups, where possible, for the development of the assets. According to him, a total of 28 marginal fields were awarded to indigenous companies in Nigeria “We have a deadline of March 2015 for those that have held marginal fields since 2003.

The 10 years given to them have elapsed. The fields will not be allowed to remain like that forever. It is not to punish them,” he said. However, the sixteen unproductive marginal fields have suffered further abandonment as the oil price rout rocking the global crude market hit harder on the marginal fields’ production and assets.

Global exploration projects worth more than $150 billion are also likely to be put on hold next year as plunging oil prices render them uneconomic. The marginal field programme is an offshoot of the Federal Government’s policy to promote indigenous participation in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry but checks by New Telegraph showed that the ongoing crude price fall has made further investments in them to be unattractive.

“Just eight of the 28 fields awarded in 2003 are currently producing, with over 40 new wells drilled by the awardees, representing a four-fold increase. But the bad news is that the price fall has made investments in the eight fields unattractive and works on the remaining 16 unproductive fields to be non-lucrative,” an industry source said. It was also gathered that the ongoing price fall has also become a setback to the 2013 new marginal field bid round, which has been unofficially delayed.

AWFUL!! Pictured: Tragic parents who ‘killed themselves on Christmas Day over money worries’

The bodies of Jan and Julia Tshabalala were seen through a window by a worried relative who went round to their home

The parents of two young children tragically killed themselves on Christmas Day over money worries, neighbours said today.

The bodies of Jan and Julia Tshabalala were seen through a window by a worried relative who went round to their home.

Both in their 30s, the mum and dad were believed to have been “in deep financial trouble” and had sent their children aged between five and seven, to stay elsewhere.

They are thought to have been with a relative while the parents prepared for Christmas Day.

A suicide pact was the likeliest explanation facing detectives probing the tragedy tonight.

But police refused to say if notes had been found, only that they were not looking for anyone else connected with the deaths.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “They were a private couple but we would always speak to them over the fence and sometimes washed our cars together. They had two young children.

“They were nice. We used to receive Christmas cards from them and my wife spoke to Julia on Christmas Eve. She said the kids were with a relative.”

He added: “They always seemed like a happy couple. There were various rumours going around here about them being in financial trouble.”

The couple’s white Kia 4×4 stood on the drive outside their £280,000 home in Billingshurst, West Sussex, and a police officer was said to be looking after the family’s pet rabbits.

Dad Jan, 33, is believed to have hanged himself, but police could not say how 30-year-old mum Julia had died.

It was not clear whether she had suffered injuries or was suffocated.

But the case was being treated as a double-suicide rather than a murder-suicide, according to sources.

Another neighbour said: “I’d see Jan in his front garden and he would wave. Julia was a good mother, I’d see her at the swings in the park with her kids.

“They were completely normal and very pleasant people.”

Police said: “Emergency services were called just after 9am on Christmas Day.

“A 33-year-old man and a woman were sadly found dead. Officers are working to establish the circumstances of the death but are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident.”

A report will be prepared for the West Sussex coroner who will hold inquests.

US prosecutor will not charge Bill Cosby in 1974 sex claim

Comedian Bill Cosby, who has been the subject of more than a dozen sex abuse allegations over the past two months, will not be charged in connection with a 1974 molestation claim.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said this on Tuesday.

Prosecutors concluded allegations that “The Cosby Show” star sexually molested a 15-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion were too old and surpassed the state’s statute of limitations for either a felony or misdemeanor charge.

“Given that 40 years have passed since the alleged incident, prosecution is declined due to the expiration of the statue of limitations,” the official charge evaluation document states.

The accuser, Judy Huth, now 56, has also sued Cosby in Los Angeles, alleging that Cosby made her drink beer before molesting her in a bedroom at the Los Angeles mansion.

Cosby, 77, has yet to be charged and the allegations against him, which date as far back as the 1960s, are too old for most criminal charges or civil complaints.

Cosby’s attorney, Marty Singer, has called allegations against the trailblazing African-American comedian “discredited” and “defamatory.”

Singer and Cosby’s publicist did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment on Tuesday about the prosecutor’s decision.

Cosby’s wife and one of his four daughters have defended him in public statements over the past two days.

Evin Cosby, 38, said in a statement that Cosby “is the father you thought you knew,” echoing the statement of her mother, Camille Cosby, who publicly defended her husband for the first time on Monday.

The statements by Camille and Evin Cosby have drawn on the comedian’s affable TV persona as the wholesome father Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the top-rated series: “The Cosby Show.”

The comedian, who has largely remained silent, has had two television projects shelved and several standup performances cancelled since the allegations started last month.

In 2006, Cosby settled a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct.

Another accuser, Tamara Green, has sued Cosby for defamation.

Cosby’s most high-profile accusers include models Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson.

Dickinson alleges that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1982 while Johnson alleges Cosby drugged her in the mid-1980s.