Fresh News

Those Plotting Saraki’s Removal   Will Continually   Fail – Olaniyonu Alh. Yusuph Olaniyonu   Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki speaks with  Temidayo Akinsuyi , on the call for the Senate President to resign over the ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) .  Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has called on your principal, Dr. Bukola  Saraki  to resign his position as Senate  President in order to preserve the integrity of the National Assembly. What is your take on that? Mr. Femi Falana is a senior lawyer and a SAN for that matter. I am sure he is very familiar with the fundamental philosophy of our legal system in which an accused person is deemed innocent until he is proven guilty by a competent court with relevant jurisdiction.  The Code of Conduct tribunal has not even started looking into the substantive matter involved in the charges preferr...

About 10 people are feared killed while several residential and commercial buildings were set ablaze in a fresh communal crisis in Ibbi town, headquarters of Ibbi local government area of Taraba State. Already, the state government has imposed curfew in the area but regretted that no arrest has been made. Crisis started when one Ibrahim Uba, a civil defence corps official, was allegedly killed by unknown gunmen that led to retaliatory attack on people in the area by hoodlums. The spokesman of Taraba Police Command, DSP Joseph Kwaji, confirmed the incident, stating that the police and army have been deployed to the area to restore peace. Check The Nigerian Pilot newspaper for the full story.

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has handed over two suspects allegedly involved in large scale fraud discovered at the Ekiti State Board of Internal Revenue Service to the police for investigation. Also, the Chairman of the board, Mr Ropo Ogunjobi, has been sacked by the state government for negligence of duty. Governor Fayose, while handling over the two suspects to the police authority led by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Etop John James, at the government house, called on the police to investigate the matter properly and charge offenders to court. Fayose, who condemned the act of sabotage against the state, noted that while the state government was trying to improve the revenue base of the state, some government workers were stealing and sabotaging the efforts of the state government. Check The Nigerian Pilot newspaper for the full story.

Director General National Biosafety Management Agency, NBMA, Mr Rufus Ebegba, has said that Biotechnology is a veritable tool for economic advancement and self sufficiency in food production. Ebegba made this assertion yesterday in Abuja while inaugurating a 6-man Technical Committee charged with the responsibility of reviewing the application dossier for the release of Genetically Modified Cotton for on farm trial and Maize for confined field trial. He explained that setting up the Committee was apt as it would ensure the safety of the products both to human health, animal health and the environment. The Director General maintain that when correctly used the modern technology have the potential of reducing pest problems with economic and environmental benefits. “Though the best technology is used in the production of Genetically Modified Organisms, GMOs, but this can only be done within the confines of the law to ensure that the GMOs have no adverse effects” he said. Che...

EIGHTY NINE, 89, soldiers denied reinstatement, despite a Presidential directive and a favourable Federal High Court decision, are yet to be re-absorbed and re-assigned by Nigerian Army several months after. Nigerian Pilot Saturday recalls that they were dismissed in the heat of Boko Haram attack in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, under the Nigerian Army Operation Zaman Lafiya and have been denied reinstatement out of 4,000 other colleagues. Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that all the soldiers dismissed in 2015 for losing ammunitions to the Boko Haram insurgents in Cameroun region, be reinstated, the Army had in a memo with reference number NA/COAS/GI/7/1 dated July 30, 2015 enacted a committee to screen and assess all cases of dismissal from Operation Zaman Lafiya. The aggrieved soldiers stormed the premises of the secretariat of the Kaduna State Correspondent’s chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ yesterday and spoke through one Warrant Officer, WO, ...

An Ejigbo Senior Magistrates’ court in Lagos on Friday sentenced, Isaac Elijah, 20, to one week community service for hiding cigarette in loaf of bread he gave to a detainee. The Magistrate, Mr A. A Fashola, who convicted Elijah after he pleaded guilty, gave him an option to pay a fine of N10,000. Elijah was arraigned on a one-count charge of breach of peace. The Prosecutor, Mr Oluwafemi Adeleye, had told the court that Elijah conducted himself in a manner likely to cause `breach of peace’. Check The Nigerian Pilot newspaper for the full story.

An Assistant Director with Nigerian Maritime Safety and Administration Agency, NIMASA, Mrs. Olamide Odusanya, has revealed that the immediate past Director-General of the agency, Dr Patrick Ziadeke Akpolobokemi operated two banks accounts which he used to transfer about N2.5 billion. According to her, these accounts were never approved by the Accountant-Genaral of the Federation, AGF and were therefore an illegal means for siphoning public funds. Odusanya, the ninth prosecution witness presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to testify in the trial of Akpolobokemi and other six accused persons before the Federal High Court, Lagos made the revelation on Thursday. Odusanya, an Assistant Director of International Finance Services Department of the agency, while being led in evidence by the prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, in the resumed trial, informed the court that the said money was expended on the International Shipping and Ports Security code. She further ...

Senate has uncovered N5 billion shortfalls in the amount provided for meal subsidy for the Unity Schools across the country and personnel cost of Kings College in the 2016 budget proposal submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari. There were discovered during collation of the 2016 budget of Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education to the Committee on Appropriation. Presenting the report of Senate, the vice Chairman of the Committee on Education, Senator Rose Oko, explained to the lawmakers that only N6.8 billion was proposed for meal subsidy in Unity school instead of N11.2biIlion needed and added that the amount is grossly inadequate. She observed that the amount provided will only serve for six months, and would require additional N5 billion to meet up with this shortfall. Check The Nigerian Pilot newspaper for the full story.

Unless amicably resolved on time, the brewing disagreement between the federal government and members of senior oil and gas workers union in the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) over government’s choice of persons to head the agency may snowball into a big industrial action that could affect the operations of the country’s downstream petroleum sector. The workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Workers Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on Friday in Abuja warned that their complaints if not adequately attended to may lead to a costly industrial action. Such action, they said could cripple the country’s downstream sector and supply of petroleum products to end-users across the country. The union had on Tuesday shutdown operations at the headquarters of PPPRA in protest of government’s appointment of two parallel acting heads for the agency. It however said that the disruption of work was strictly observed at the head office for now pen...

How cruel fate now be? Yesterday was the birthday of the General Overseer of the Christian Praying Assembly, Rev. Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a.k.a Reverend King. If his followers had reasons to celebrate his birthday with adverts generously placed in newspapers,  they also have reason to mourn a sad news that filtered in from the Supreme Court. For fate had a tragic gift for both the Reverend and his followers. On this fateful day, the Supreme Court affirmed the concurrent judgments of a High Court of Lagos State and the Court of Appeal which slammed a death sentence on him. In a unanimous judgment, the apex court held that the two lower courts were right to have sentenced Rev Ezeugo to death by hanging for the murder of a member of his Church. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who delivered the lead judgment resolved all the twelve issues the Reverend raised in his appeal against him. He also said the first five counts against Ezeugo was for attempted murder which carried a penalty of...

Nigeria’s external reserves which had been on a steady decline, rose marginally week-on-week to $27.808 billion as at Wednesday, compared with the $27.790 billion it attained the previous Wednesday, according to the latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This followed an increase in international crude oil prices which yesterday hit highs not seen in four weeks, as a positive economic report offset continuing concerns about a global supply glut. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the US benchmark, rose to $34.13, while the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose to $36.62. However, oil analysts argued that the global glut of oil was more than enough to absorb increased demand, likely leading to a prolonged period of low prices. But commenting on Nigeria’s external reserves position, CSL Stockbrokers Limited, in a report noted that what was more interesting is that the level of reserves in terms of goods import cover had been steady if not r...

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) General Secretary, Gianni Infantino, was yesterday in Zurich, Switzerland elected as FIFA president after a second round of voting in Zurich to succeed disgraced former president, Sepp Blatter. Infantino won the election with 115 votes, with Sheikh Salman receiving 88 votes. Prince Ali received four votes. No votes were recorded for Jerome Champagne. In his victory speech, Infantino said: "I told you I went through a journey, an exceptional journey and a journey which made me meet many fantastic people - many people who love football and believe in football, and many people who deserve FIFA to be respected. "We will restore the respect people have in FIFA and everybody will applaud us, and they will applaud all of you for what you do. We have to be proud of what we do for FIFA. I would like to thank all of you and all of the other candidates. "It was a great sign of democracy of FIFA. I want to restore a new era ...

Families of the late Ooni Okunade Sijuwade and Adeyeye Ogunwusi have debunked alleged N400 million forgery against the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, saying the new monarch had never been invited or quizzed by anti-graft agency as alleged by a group in Osun State. The two families in a statement jointly signed by Prince Adetokunbo Sijuwade and Prince Adesina Ogunwusi, described the online report as "false" and aimed to damage the reputation of the highly revered monarch. "We were shocked to read a statement on an online medium by one Sulaiman Alimi Adeniyi who claimed to be representing a group he referred to as Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice in which he lied to have been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to defend a petition earlier sent by his group to the anti-graft body against His Imperial Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II) that the authority of the anti-graft body in Nigeria, the Economic and Fi...

Former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Mohammed Dasuki yesterday opened up before an Abuja High Court alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari was behind his unlawful arrest and detention without trial since December 29, 2015. Dasuki who spoke through his counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), claimed that Buhari unjustly instigated his arrest and detention by the Department of the State Security (DSS) against the bail granted him by three different courts in various criminal charges brought against him by the Federal Government. He claimed that the president through his comments during his recent Presidential Media Chat in December 2015 confirmed that he was behind his ordeal. In a further affidavit filed in support of his application, Dasuki claimed that the president betrayed his emotion during the Presidential Media Chat when he openly told Nigerians that he (Dasuki) and Nnamdi Kanu would not be allowed on bail because they would jump bail. Dasuki claimed he had sin...

Widows of some soldiers killed during fights with insurgents in Borno State have said about two months after they told wives of service chiefs and that of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) during their visit to the state about the shoddy treatment they are receiving from authorities after the deaths of their husbands, nothing has changed. Wife of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Mrs. Omobolanle Olonishakin, who led the team told the widows that she will never let her husband rest until the issues raised by the widows are fully addressed. But the Coordinator of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), New Hope for Widows, Mrs. Fatime Al-Hussein said several weeks after the visit by the wives of the service chiefs, the conditions of the widows remain the same. “I spoke to a good number of the widows, and they say nothing has changed since then.” Earlier, during their visit to the state, the wives of the service chiefs visited injured soldiers in hospitals, donated items, a...

An FCT High Court has refused the evidence of the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) against the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Olisa Metuh over alleged destruction of statements. Justice Ishaq Bello yesterday ruled that the evidence, which is a pocket note book entry of an EFCC investigator, could only be tendered and admitted through a certified copy. Earlier, EFCC counsel Sylvanus Tahir had sought to tender the pocket book entry of Sa’ad Junaid, the operative who investigated the case. But defence counsel Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) requested the prosecution to produce the certified true copy of the note book as provided in the Evidence Act, which it could not. Check the Daily Trust newspaper for the full story.

Any citizen of Ekiti State who has attained 18 years but has no Permanent Voters Card (PVC) would henceforth lose his rights and privileges, the state government has said. Governor Ayodele Fayose, who stated this yesterday at Aramoko Ekiti while commissioning a water reticulation project, said not having a PVC could mean that such citizen offers no civic responsibility to government and will be deemed as having nothing to enjoy from the government. Check the Daily Trust newspaper for the full story.

Presidency unveils Buhari’s economic team The Presidency has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has an economic management team. The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent last light. Akande was reacting to a media report that quoted some economic experts as urging the president to form his economic team. According to him, the economic team of President Buhari has been put in place since the inauguration of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last November.  Akande said the economic management team is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.  He listed the team’s key members as including the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah; the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godswin Emefiele; and the Director-...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, arrested Mr. Donald Chidi Amamgbo, a cousin of the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. Amamgbo, who was allegedly involved in questionable oil lifting during the last government, was arrested in Lagos at about 4.20p.m. Vanguard reports that Amamgbo is chief executive of Mezcor Oil and Gas limited, Tridax Oil and Gas Limited, Lynear Energy Limited and Bulk Strategic Reserves Limited. Check the Daily Post newspaper for the full story.

No fewer than 300 persons have been confirmed dead in a renewed outbreak of violence in Agatu local government area of Benue state. The attacks were carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen in various part of the local government. The affected villages include Okokolo, Akwu, Ocholonya, Adagbo, Ugboku and Aila, which were completely burnt down by the attackers. “Several communities including Obagaji, the local government headquarters, where people usually took refuge in the past, have been deserted”, a source hinted. A resident of Akwu told newsmen in Benue that “People are fleeing into Ugbokpo in neighbouring Apa council. It is a well coordinated attack on Agatu communities.” “As I speak with you, fighting is still raging; many are missing and we have a huge number of displaced persons without facilities to house them,” he said. Meanwhile, Opiatoha K’Idoma, a socio-cultural organisation of Idoma sons and daughters, have called on the federal government to put an en...

Sunday Oliseh has claimed that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), tried to hire Herve Renard behind his back. The former national team captain, resigned as coach of the Super Eagles on Friday morning and cited unpaid salaries, lack of cooperation, among other factors as reasons for his decision to quit. He also accused the NFF of sabotaging his efforts and trying to bring in another coach to replace him, after the home-based Eagles crashed out of the African Nations Championship in the first round. Check the Daily Post newspaper for the full story.

The United States has completed its first uterus transplant surgery, following on a technique already proven in Sweden that could help women suffering from infertility, the Cleveland Clinic said Thursday. The nine-hour surgery took place on February 24, and the 26-year-old patient — whose identity was not revealed — was in stable condition, the hospital said in a statement. The transplanted uterus came from a deceased donor. More details about the surgery are expected during a press conference with the medical team to be scheduled next week in Cleveland, Ohio. Late last year, Cleveland Clinic began enlisting candidates for uterine transplants as part of a clinical trial that aimed to offer the procedure to 10 women. Check the Vanguard newspaper for the full story.

  HAVING served the society for about 50 years through the entertainment industry, veteran actors and actresses want to be appreciated while alive. These nollywood actors spoke recently through Chief Olusegun Kehinde Olayinka Aderemi, popularly known as Chief Karan. Chief Karan who spoke in Abeokuta on the proposed programme to commemorate 50 years on stage, which had been scheduled for next month, said nollywood veterans who had spent over four decades on stage would be celebrated. • Chief Olusegun Aderemi aka Karan • Chief Olusegun Aderemi aka Karan No fewer than 45 veterans in nollywood would be given awards during the programme while some awards would also be given for best performers. According to him, the day has been was set aside for actors, actresses and other intellectuals in different places that have contributed to the industry. . The flamboyant actor, who was known for playing billionaire roles in Yoruba movies said, most of the time he wore flamboyant clothes to p...

ABUJA — THE House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, yesterday, revealed plans to hold budget session with Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance and Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and Planning on the 2016 budget proposal to explain the many errors associated with it. House of Representatives during plenary House of Representatives during plenary Also invited by the committee are Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, and Director-General of Budget Office of the Federation. The meeting is primarily designed to address grey areas relating to alleged infractions and padding observed by various standing committees during interface with the ministers and heads of departments and agencies. While giving update on the presentation of the 2016 budget so far, Abdulmumin Jibrin, Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, confirmed that the budget proposals of the MDAs being presented by all the standing committees had ...