African press review 27 June 2016

Nigeria's anti-graft agency seizes property worth 30 million euros from three ex-army chiefs linked to a giant arms precurement scam, the Bauchi state government traces 6000 ghost workers on its payroll, and football-mad students in a Kenyan school torch their dormitories after being barred from watching superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at the Euro 2016 underway in France.

DR

We begin in Nigeria where the operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission remain a major source of front page stories.

Punch

The publication splashes out on the anti-graft agency's seizure on Sunday of 29 properties belonging to three former Air Force officers including the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu.

The newspaper says the properties which include three plazas, six mansions, a quarry, a hospital, a block of flats, and two hotels, all based in Abuja are worth more than 30 million euros and were acquired in 2014 when the suspects were in office. According to Punch, the three retired military officers accused of diverting public funds to the tune of 67 million euros are to be arraigned by the anti-graft agency this week.

The Nation

The paper also has breaking news about the discovery of more than 1,000,000 dollars in bank notes at the Abuja home of retired Air Commodore Mohammed Umar who was arrested last week in connection with a high profile probe into an arms precurement fraud case. The newspaper reports that Umar insisted that the money was part of payments made to his air transport company, for cargo flights he freighted to Houston and Hong Kong.

Punch

Another bombshell trending in Nigeria is the alleged discovery of more than 6,000 ghost workers on the pay roll of the Bauchi State Government. Punch quotes the State's governor, Mohammed Abubakar, as telling a press conference on Sunday that the phenomenon was the work of powerful forces that havebeen entrenched over time to siphone money out of the government's coffers. According to Punch, the discovery was made by a workers’ verification task force set up by the state government since January this year.

Times Live

The South African publication says the controversial ‘racist’ owner of a luxury hotel widely condemned for refusing to accommodate blacks at his establishment‚ has agreed to take part in a radio debate on whether the Bible promotes racism.

According to Times, Andre Slade the proprietor of the Sodwana Bay Guest House in KwaZulu Natal will square off with Philip Rosenthal‚ of ChristianView Network‚ on a Durban-based FM radio.

The Sowetan

The paper which is also following the controversy says that Rosenthal had challenged Slade to show him the chapters or verses of the bible substantiating his assertion in his new book that blacks are servants and not people and that the Bible prohibits him from mixing with other races.

Daily Nation

The Kenyan newspaper  takes up an unbeleivable story which is certain to shock the people of football mad Brazil . It reports that students at a Kisii County boys’ boarding school burnt down seven of their 12 dormitories, after their teachers refused to allow them to watch last Saturday night's Euro 2016 fixture between Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal and Croatia.