We gathered some most important information about this controversial person.

We gathered some most important information about this controversial person. 

Ali Modu Sheriff. Photo: saharareporters.com

1. Young years

He was born in a rich family in Ngala Town, Ngala Local Government Area, Borno State in 1956. His father was a successful businessman Galadima Modu Sheriff.

Ali Modu Sheriff studied in Business School of London, where his main subjects were Insurance, Banking and Finance.

2. Start of political career

He became a member of a Social Democratic Party in 1990. In 1997 he joined National Republican Convention. He became a senator representing Borno Central on the platform of the United Nigeria Congress Party. It happened during General Sani Abacha’s military regime. After democracy was restored, in April 1999, he was again elected Senator, Borno Central, on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party.

Ali Modu Sheriff was elected governor of Borno State in Nigeria in April 2003. He was the first governor in Borno state to win the seat for two consecutive times.

3. Arrest

In 2012 Modu Sheriff, a former senator, was arrested upon entering Cameroon from Chad. He was arrested by neighbouring Cameroon’s security forces, allegedly for his link with Boko Haram. But after some time he was just escorted back to the n=border of the country. His connection with Boko Haram was not proved.

4. Younger brother

Alhaji Goni Mustapha Sheriff, a younger brother of the former politician, also had a political career. But in 2011 he was killed. Rumors said that the ones who are responsible for it are the Boko Haram. So Ali Modu Sheriff  often uses this fact to prove that he has nothing in common with this group.

5. Wedding of his elder daughter

His eldest daughter was married to Alhaji Babagana Muhammed Sherriff in 2011. One strange moment of the wedding was that it was closed and only men were allowed to attend it. The wedding fatiha was conducted by the Chief Imam of the Yahaya Road Jumat Mosque.

6. Owner of an Airline

He is a third ex-governor of Nigeria who owns his own airline. So he became a stakeholder in the Nigeria`s sphere of aviation. He is also an owner of the most expensive private jet in Nigeria, which is worth N11.5 billion.

7. Is he really a sponsor of Boko Haram?

This fact can`t be proved or rejected now. Usually he easily denies all allegations against him. When Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, accused him of being one of the sponsors of Boko Haram, he insisted that he had never met any leaders of this sect. And that he will sue the Australian negotiator.

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How Cameroun arrested, released Sheriff – Falana

on September 06, 2014   /   in News 9:49 am   /   Comments

By Olasunkanmi Akoni and Monsur Olowoopejo
Lagos based human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, yesterday, revealed how Former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff was arrested in 2012 by the Cameroonian government for the crime committed by the deadly Boko Haram sect.

Meantime, ahead of the 2015 election, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Professor Tam David-West, Professor Akin Oyebode and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, have, unanimously, urged Nigerians to wake up from their slumber and use the next year’s election to bring relief to their unwholesome circumstances.

Ali Modu Sherrif at the conference

Falana and other eminent personalities spoke at the 5th Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Lecture, titled; ‘State of the Nation and 2015 general elections: Issues, posers and challenges before us, held in Lagos.

“In October 2012, Sheriff was arrested in Cameroun on crime committed by the Boko Haram he sponsored. The state government pleaded with the Camerounian government to release him because he is a well known man here and he cannot be arrested.” Falana stated.

The Lagos based lawyer said that the former governor was not sincere in his relationship with the Boko Haram sect in the country.

Sue me not Davis

He however, asked Sheriff to sue him rather than planning to seek redress in court by suing the Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davies, even as he reaffirmed that Sheriff sponsored of the Boko Haram activities.

This came few days after Sheriff said he would seek redress in court by suing the Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davies, who recently fingered him as one of the sponsors of the Boko Haram insurgency. According to Falana, “I am expecting Senator Ali Madu Sheriff to sue me. I heard that he wanted to sue an Australian (Dr. Steven Davies). He doesn’t need that. He should sue me. I am waiting for him to sue me. Not only did he fund that organization (Boko Haram), he also had a deal with them.” He noted that Sheriff cannot denial all the allegations made against him, saying. “In 2003, he had a deal with the Boko Haram leaders to help him win the election and that if he wins his re-election, he will compensate the organization.

\When he won the election, he appointed one of them as Commissioner for Religious Affairs to implement Sharia in that state.”

He however, accused the Federal Government of shielding certain facts from its citizens.

Falana said “The Federal Government is yet to react to the statement by Dr. Stephen Davies against Sheriff. I expect the central government to have made its position known on the issue.”

The lawyer therefore, called for concerted effort to tackle the menace of Boko Haram, saying, “People’s Democratic Party, PDP and All Progressives Congress, APC should stop politicizing the Boko Haram issue but what is important is unity to tackle the menace”

In his remarks, David-West lamented the nefarious activities of Boko Haram sect in the country, saying, “We do not have a nation. If we have a nation, the problem confronting the country will have been resolved earlier than now.”

He added, “In fact, we are not at crossroad but we have missed the road. There is no road at the moment for the country to attain greatness.”

Explaining the reason for the longevity of the challenges facing the country, David-West said, “What do you expect from a country ruled by a Ph.d holder who said that 16 is greater than 19. The country when the president budget N1 billion for food in a year and cannot pay N18, 000 minimum wage. Daily I have begun to lose faith in our election and leadership.

ON 2015 ELECTION

David -West dispelled the claim that the country will fail to exist after 2015 election, saying, “we will not break in 2015.”

But he said “The citizens need to wake up from their slumber. We are too complacent and this was the reason why the current public office holders take the citizens for granted.

He continued; “Election affords citizens the opportunity to change government which they do not like. I do not believe in revolution but the citizens must go on the street to stop bad government. If 2015 election will be selection rather than election, Nigerians must rise up to stop it. It has to be election and not selection.”

Oyebode while delivering his lecture said the power to change any government resides in the citizens. “And this they can do through their vote.”.

According to him, “The 2015 election constitute yet another opportunity for Nigerians to see themselves as master in the political game rather than servants of the governing class.”

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Stephen Davis’ Allegations: SSS to quiz Sheriff as Boko Haram sponsor

Stephen Davis’ Allegations: SSS to quiz 

Sheriff as Boko Haram sponsor 

The State Security Service, SSS, has said it has invited a former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff for questioning over his alleged sponsorship of the Boko Haram insurgents. It however absolved a former Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, over the same allegation. The spokesperson of the service, Marilyn Ogar, disclosed this at a press conference Friday in Abuja during which some suspects of the Nyanya bombing were paraded. An Australian, Stephen Davies, who was contracted by the Federal Government to negotiate the freedom of the abducted Chibok girls had alleged that both Messrs. Sheriff and Ihejirika were major sponsors of the sect. They however denied the allegation. On Wednesday at a press conference in Abuja, Mr. Sheriff, a former senator, described the allegation as “callous and unwarranted, and that those linking him with the sect were either ignorant or completely out for mischief. He also threatened to sue Mr. Davies. Ms. Ogar, a Deputy Director however said the former governor had been summoned for interrogation though he had earlier been quizzed twice. “Sheriff has been invited twice and he has been invited again (over his alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram). Investigation is ongoing to review every aspect of Davies allegations,” Ms. Ogar said. On Mr. Ihejirika, she said it would be “uncharitable for Nigerians to reward someone who laid down his life, to associate him with the sponsorship of the sect.” “I would want to say here that it is absolutely uncharitable for us as Nigerians to reward somebody who laid down his life in pursuing this same people (Boko Haram) for us to accept that he can in any way be associated, be seen as sponsoring the same sect,” Ms Ogar said. She added: “He together with this service, the military together with this service succeeded in bringing their activities in Kano, Okene and other parts of Nigeria to a halt and pushing them to Sambisa forest. Its the same man we want, because he is no longer in office, to say he is the one sponsoring the sect. I think its being wicked. That shouldn’t be the way we reward people who lay down their lives to provide a secure environment for us.” Ms. Ogar described Mr. Davies as “a self-styled and self-appointed negotiator.” During the briefing, the SSS spokesperson paraded the alleged mastermind of the Nyanya, Abuja bomb blast. Those paraded are Sadiq Ogwuche, Ahmed Abubakar, Muhammad Ishaq, Yau Saidu, Anas Isah and Adamu Yusuf. She denied Mr. Davies’ claims that the CBN official, who coordinated the funding of Boko Haram, was an uncle to three of those arrested in connection with the Nyanya incident. According to her, none of the six suspects in the agency’s custody had any blood link with one another. She stated, “In other words, none is a cousin or nephew to any other and only two suspects namely Yau Saidu and Anas Isah have ever lived together at the makeshift clinic called ‘Kishi Clinic’ operated by Rufai Tsiga, a co-mastermind of the bomb blast who is still at large.” She said the clarification was being made to correct the wrong impression being created in the media. In a chat with journalists, Mr. Ogwuche, who was repatriated to Nigeria from Sudan, said he was not a member of Boko Haram. He said he was in Sudan at time the incident occurred. He however admitted giving the widows of some Boko Haram members N30, 000 through one Tsiga, who has since been declared wanted for allegedly participating in the Nyanya bomb blast. Mr. Ogwuche said he left the army to enable him pursue a course in Arabic in Sudan. He however confessed that he received lectures and trained with a jihadist group in the United Kingdom when the incident occurred before returning to Nigeria. “I am not a member of Boko Haram and I don’t know anything about the Nyanya blast. I deny it because I was studying in Sudan when the incident happened,” he said. However, Mr. Saidu said Mr. Ogwuche regularly visited to Tsiga “clinic” where the plot to carry out the bombing was hatched.

Read more at: Stephen Davis’ Allegations: SSS to quiz Sheriff as Boko Haram sponsor | LATEST NIGERIAN NEWS BREAKING HEADLINES NEWSPAPERS

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Ebola: Nigeria confirms 7 deaths, 18 patients including sister of late Port Harcourt doctor

By Wale Odunsi on September 4, 2014@akinbilehalomer

Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that the number of Ebola Virus Disease patients in the country has risen to 18, the latest casualty being the sister of the late Port Harcourt doctor.

This is contained in a statement by his special assistant on media and communication, Dan Nwomeh, on the update of the status of EVD in Nigeria.

It said the total number of cases successfully managed and discharged was now eight, while deaths from the fever was now seven.

Continuing, the statement said, “The last case to be discharged, the first secondary contact to be diagnosed and a spouse of a primary contact of the index case went home from the isolation ward in Lagos yesterday.

“The ninth survivor is the ECOWAS Commission official, who evaded surveillance in Lagos and traveled to Port Harcourt, where he infected the doctor who attended to him)”.

Breakdown of deaths: “One, the index case, occurred in a private hospital in Lagos, four in the Lagos isolation ward, one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward (the female patient who was on admission in the same hospital where the late Port Harcourt doctor was also admitted), while another one was the doctor who was infected by the ECOWAS Commission official in Port Harcourt and who did not come under the care and management of the Incident Management Committee”.

According to the minister, the total number of EVD patients currently under treatment was two, one in the Lagos isolation ward and another one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward.

“Total number of contacts currently under surveillance in Lagos is 41, while Port Harcourt has 255. Total number of contacts discharged in Lagos after they were observed for 21 days is 320”.

The minister debunked rumours of EVD cases outside Lagos and Port Harcourt.

He also refuted the story that the body of the late Port Harcourt doctor was transported to Edo or Delta State, saying the body has been decontaminated and would be interred in Port Harcourt.

Regarding the rumoured case in Zaria, he said the blood sample had been sent for Ebola testing.

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