Choosing People Over Politics In Nigeria

Click banner for more info

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has been preaching this message for a while – service to the people should be above partisan leanings. He has won few converts in his class.

The emphasis on party loyalty over service to the people who elected them is at the centre of the growing contests among the peoples of Nigeria and their representatives. Politicians think they are divined to be over Nigerians. They consider Nigerians irritants to be reluctantly faced during elections.

In the House of Representatives, there have been glimpses of possibilities of using politics to serve our peoples who have suffered neglects over the years. Politicians see politics as the veritable platform to place themselves above the people.

Continue

Federal Government Of Nigeria signs ceasefire with Boko Haram

Click banner for more info

KANO – The Federal Government has announced  signing of ceasefire deal with Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lidda’awati wal Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram. The major breakthrough is coming on the eve of  the Muslim Holy month due to commence Tuesday throughout the country. The minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki announced the ceasefire agreement on Radio France International Hausa services monitored in Kano Monday afternoon.

Naija Gist: http://omoooduarere.blogspot.com/

HORR-BLE: Brazilian singer shot dead during his live show (Video)

Click banner for more info

Brazilian funk singer Daniel Pellegrin, better known by his stage name of MC Daleste, was shot during his last live performance at one of the venues in the Campinas area of Brazil’s São Paulo.

The popular 20-year-old singer was taken to the hospital immediately after the shooting. Unfortunately, doctors were not able save the young artist.

Video of the club shooting has uploaded to YouTube and went viral. Hundreds of re-uploads have been made.

Watch The Video After The Break.

281 casks of hazardous chemicals seized from rebels In Syria

Click banner for more info

Syrian authorities have allegedly seized 281 barrels of hazardous chemical agents from opposition militants, the country’s UN envoy Bachar Djafari told journalists on Monday.

He said 79 casks were filled with dangerous polyethylene glycol, 67 casks contained monoethylene glycol, 25 were filled with monoethanol, 68 – with diethanolamine, and 42 had triethanolamine in them.

According to the diplomat, the chemicals were stashed in a secret cache and guarded by armed terrirosts.

Continue

VIDEO: Watch Nigerian Senators Fighting In Abuja

Click banner for more info

Tension flared at Wednesday 3, 2013 Senate plenary session as two federal lawmakers almost got into a fight over the State of the Nation Address Bill. Please follow me and get instant notification as I upload new videos by clicking on the “iFollow” button for more News and current affairs videos.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO

Shameless: Watch Nigerian Senators Fighting

Click banner for more info

Man killed by police stray bullets in Ibadan

Click banner for more info

A man was yesterday hit at the popular Oje market in Ibadan by the police stray bullets, killing him on the spot.

It was learnt that the police fired sporadically in a bid to quell the fight between a group of miscreants and some commercial motorists over attempts by the former to extort the latter.

The Divisional Police Officer in Agugu Division, Mr. Timothy Adedeji, led a team of policemen to the scene.

An eye witness, who did not want his name mentioned, said: “We and two other policeman prevailed on the aggrieved parties to stop the fight.

“After quelling the crisis, the mob started hailing the DPO. The police officer, being an indigene of Ibadan, tried to disperse the mob through persuasion. But when the miscreants attempted to attack him, he fired some shots into the air to scare them.

Continue

Ex-Miss Malaysia could get £500m payout in divorce

Click banner for more info

A former Miss Malaysia is attempting to win the UK’s biggest ever divorce payment of 500 million pounds.

The case began at the High Court in London yesterday – and if successful, Pauline Chai could be entitled to up to half of her husband, Khoo Kay Peng’s, fortune.

Lawyers for Mr. Peng however argue that the case should be taking place in Malaysia.

But despite only living in the UK since October however, British law could side in favour of his wife.

66-year-old former Miss Malaysia Pauline Chai filed for divorce in February, just five months after moving to 1,000 acre 30-million-pound home in Hertfordshire.

The mother of five has been married to her husband, the 74-year-old Malaysian businessman Khoo Kay Peng, for 42 years, but now wants a divorce on the grounds of «unreasonable behavior».

Continue

$-ex, drugs, and bribes – the only ways to get visas in US Embassy, Guyana

Click banner for more info

US State Department acknowledged that one of its officials has now become a target of an investigation over “allegations of improprieties relating to a Consular Officer formerly assigned to Georgetown, Guyana”. The Daily Caller reports that Department officer is being accused of selling visas for sex and money.

The great affray started when Guyana’s executives and tourists began to complain that their visa applications were being held up, and local media reported few times that a visa official was demanding bribes and sex in exchange for visas.

Local media are also claiming the official, whose activities have recently been frozen until the completion of an official investigation, was a close associate of local drug lords who played an integral role in his visa scam.

Continue

Photo: Bare-breasted activist: France grants asylum to local Femen leader

Click banner for more info

Paris has granted political asylum to the leader of the notorious feminist movement Femen in France, Le Figaro reports.

The Ukrainian citizen Inna Shevchenko, who now lives in France, told journalists she has recently had her asylum plea supported by the French government. The request is reportedly dated February 2013.

The French leader of bare-breasted activists for women’s rights said the move to ask for France’s protection was “strategic.”

“To extend our reach we need a country that would act as our base,” she explained.

Paris has not yet commented on asylum for Ms Shevchenko, saying it did not wish to expand on confidential data.

See Another Photo After The Break

FG’s ultimatum to Dana Airline

Click banner for more info

The Federal Government’s recent intervention meant to fast-track the payment of claims to the families left behind by victims of Dana Airline’s June 3, 2012 plane crash in Iju, Lagos, is yet another reminder of the tragic air mishap that claimed the lives of 153 passengers and crew members and many others on ground. More than a year after the fatal incident, however, many of the families of the victims are yet to be compensated.

The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, indicated last week that the airline had paid up to 60 percent of the claims, but that the delay being experienced by Dana Airline’s management in concluding the settlement was due to double claims that needed to be clarified. She said the airline had up to six months (between now and December this year) to complete the payment of compensation to all affected families or face sanctions. The aviation ministry had at the first anniversary of the tragic air mishap and unveiling of the memorial cenotaph built to immortalise the dead in Lagos early last month, announced that the FG was working with the airline’s management to ensure that all compensation disagreements were amicably resolved.

Continue

NGF CRISIS: Between Ameachi And Jang

Click banner for more info

The presidency through Dr Gulak Ahmed has made series of denials regarding his boss non involvement in the crisis of the NGF. Unfortunately, the more Gulak denies the more the involvement of the presidency.


In reminiscence, Gov. Amaechi has taken some tough stand on some national and sensitive issues viz-a-viz fraud in the fuel subsidy payment, ceeding of oil wells to Cross River and Bayelsa states hence his travails. Gov.Amaechi voice is being heard so loudly simply because he is the chairman of the NGF and this forum is perceived as a powerful one that controls or rather dictates what is going on  in the political arena of Nigeria. NGF has a way of arm-twisting the presidency to  drive home their point.

The pressure was becoming unbearable for the presidency owing to the recalcitrant nature of Gov. Amaechi style of NGF leadership hence something has to be done. The presidency decided to make a move to stop Gov. Amaechi from getting the ticket for his second term bid as the NGF chairman hence the formation of PDP NGF paving way for the emergence of Gov. Akpabio has its chairman.

Continue

LUTH Acquires Scanner that detects death in few Seconds

Click banner for more info

Lagos University Teaching Hospital LUTH said they have acquired a CT scan equipment that has the capacity to run a check on all organs of the body, from head to toe in less than 10 seconds and fish out a patients death points for immediate treatment. The machine, called the 128-slice Aquillon CT scanner is the first of it's kind in West Africa.

Speaking on the machine, the Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Professor Akin Osibogun told Nigerian Tribune:  "The Aquillon CT scanner is a 128-scanner and the main advantage it has over other CT scanners of earlier generations is its ability to penetrate deeper into the tissues and organs to show clearly the state of those tissues and organs. Of course the CT scanner is an imaging device and because it is able to provide images of tissues and organs inside the body. We are able to see the state in which those tissues and organs are and we are able to make diagnosis that help us to provide appropriate treatment for the patients.

Continue 

No apology on Fayemi’s 2nd term endorsement – Tinubu

Click banner for more info

ACN leader, Bola Tinubu and some ACN governors

NATIONAL leader of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, weekend, said he has no apology to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in exercising his democratic rights as a citizen and party leader to endorse Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, as the party’s governorship nominee to seek a second term come the 2014 election.

Reacting to PDP outburst through Mr. Tony Okeke, its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Asiwaju Tinubu, insisted, however, that he was neither  disturbed nor surprised at the level to which PDP could descend to attack perceived enemies or tormentors.

Okeke complained against what he called venom in the PDP’s statement and downright gutter language employed in attacking the remarks by Asiwaju Tinubu.

Continue

Inhuman: Man slaughters friend to death and poured acid on him over Okada

Click banner for more info

A middle aged man, Deji Yussuf, has been arrested by the Police in Ondo State for allegedly axing his friend, Tope Ezekiel, to death and thereafter poured acid on him over argument on arises from commercial motor bike popularly called Okada.  The family of the deceased said their son owned the Okada and was keeping the proceeds with the suspect on daily basis with intention of utilizing it later to get another Okada.  However, police source said the story is another way round, that the suspect owned the motor bike.

Investigations indicated that the suspect and the deceased who have been buddies have been residing in a room apartment at God's Glory Layout, Eyin Akpata in Akure metropolis for four years ahead of the ugly incident.The police said on the ill-fated day, one Owonifari came to report any particular one Deji Yusuf said he heard the grand mother of the deceased shouting for help and when he got there, he met him in his pool of blood.

Continue

How student, MTN staff were killed by vigilante

Click banner for more info

Tragedy struck in Abeokuta, yesterday,  when  men of the Vigilante Service of Ogun State, VSO, reportedly  shot dead  a student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Moruf Raji, 29, and a staff of a telecommunication company, MTN Nigeria,  Akeem Usman, 32, while chasing suspected robbers.

The  incident occurred at Adigbe, at about 1.00 a.m  when  a team  of the vigilance service allegedly ordered residents of 18A, Sorinola Avenue, Oriyanrin, to open their gate for them to arrest  suspected robbers believed to be hiding in the building. An eye witness told Vanguard that some of the  residents  who were mostly students refused to open  the gate, suspecting the vigilante men to be  robbers  trying to play smart.

Continue

Egypt Army Says 'Armed Terrorists' Tried To Storm HQ

Click banner for more info

Egypt's armed forces said Monday that "armed terrorists" had tried to storm the headquarters of the elite Republican Guard, leaving one security officer dead, in a statement quoted by the website of state-owned daily Al-Ahram.

"At dawn, an armed terrorist group tried to storm the Republican Guard (building)..., attacking army troops and police, which led to the death of one officer and left several conscripts injured, including six in critical condition," the statement said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which had been protesting outside the Republican Guard HQ said 16 Islamist protesters had been shot dead.

Continue

Bayelsa State Special Adviser On Power Abducted In Rivers State

Click banner for more info

The Special Adviser to the Bayelsa state governor on power; Mr Olice Kemenanabo has been kidnapped in Rivers state, Nigeria’s south west region.

Mr Kemenanabo was abducted this afternoon around the D-line area of the capital, Port Harcourt by unknown gunmen.As at the time of this report no one could ascertain his mission in the city. Before his appointed as special adviser on power in May 2012, Mr Kemenanabo was the chairman of a committee set up by the state government to oversee power generation.

Rotary International Club, District 9110 To Focus On maternal, child health - Rotary gov

Click banner for more info

The new District Governor, Rotary International Club, District 9110, Mr. Olugbemiga Olowu, has said the club will focus on maternal and child health in 2013/2014 rotary year. He said the club would spend about N200m to drive this and other projects lined up by the club.

Olowu said this in an interview shortly after he was installed as the District Governor in Lagos on Saturday.

He said, “I am focussing on maternal and child health, water and sanitation, disease control and prevention.

“I have been working with partners and you can see today, I called up people of USAID and some medical personnel who are my partners. They are already on ground.

“It is going to cost about N200m to do what we have planned to do. But the goal is achievable because we have our partners; rotary foundation and Rotarians to contribute their quota to the projects.”

Continue

Heartless: Yobe killings barbaric, wicked – Jonathan

Click banner for more info

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday described the killing of 29 pupils of Government Secondary School, Mamudo, Potiskum, Yobe State, as wicked and barbaric and vowed to flush our perpetrators of violence out of the country. “The killing is barbaric, completely wicked. Anybody who will target innocent children for any kind of grief will certainly go to hell,” the President said in a statement by his spokesman, Reuben Abati.

The presidential condemnation came on the heels of the closure of secondary schools in Yobe as a result of the killings of the school pupils in Mamudo.

Governor Ibrahim Gaidam who described the killing as “cold-blooded murder”  when he visited the attacked school on Sunday ordered all secondary schools in the state shut until the beginning of next academic session in September. The pupils and one of their teachers were murdered by suspected members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram whom the security forces had been waging war against since the declaration of state of emergency in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno states on May 14 this year.

Continue

30 relocate to hospital after eating delicacy

Click banner for more info

The joy of a family, residing in Graceland Housing Estate, Egbeada, Owerri, almost turned sour as no fewer than 30 of their guests ended up in hospital after eating a suspected poisoned Igbo delicacy, Ugba.

Vanguard gathered that the family (names withheld), invited their friends and relations to the Christening ceremony of their child and they all retired to their Graceland Estate residence after service.Ugba (Oil Bean Seed) is native to Eastern Nigeria, Ugba undergoes extensive fermentation before it is considered edible.A reliable source close to the family informed Vanguard that the delicacy was purchased from the Owerri main market.“The local delicacy was served to all the guests, numbering over 30. All of them enjoyed it but oblivious of the danger lurking around the corner,” 
Continue

UPDATE: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Claims 34 of its supporters killed

Click banner for more info

A spokesman for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said 34 of its supporters were killed on Monday when they were fired upon at a sit-in outside the military facility where toppled President Mohamed Morsi is being held.

Murad Ali of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said that shooting broke out in the early morning while Islamists staged a sit-in outside the Republican Guard barracks.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad says hundreds of critically wounded are being taken to hospitals.

Locals on the ground say no warning shots fired before the security forces attacked. Ambulances are at the scene.

Continue

‘Terrorists are not Muslims, but tribalists" - Prophet Kayode

Click banner for more info

General Evangelist of the Christ Apostolic Church, Prophet Kayode Abiara, has dissociated Islam from the insecurity and terrorism bedevilling the country. He spoke at a press conference in Lagos on Saturday in the wake of recent terror attacks that claimed the lives of no fewer than 29 pupils in Yobe and 10 Ibadan traders killed in Mongunu, Borno State last week. Abiara said there were many “good, accommodating and charitable Muslims”, both from the northern and southern parts of Nigeria.

He said, “Based on my friendly relationship with them, I refuse to acknowledge that Islam breeds terrorists. It is a religion that preaches peace, charity and tolerance. I admonish Nigerians not to blame the insecurity in the country on Muslims indiscriminately.” Abiara blamed the attacks on the sect, who he said, were tribalistic rather than religious. He said, “Maybe they killed the traders because they don’t like Yoruba people.”

Continue

Lagos Govt restates commitment to developing LASU

Click banner for more info

Lagos State Government has restated its commitment to significantly improving infrastructure within the Lagos State University. The government added that such infrastructural development would serve as a launch pad for LASU’s  transformation into a world-class institution.

Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said this while delivering a paper titled, ‘The place of Infrastructural Development in the Transformation of Tertiary Education’ at the 3rd International Conference of Faculty of Education, according to a statement on Sunday.

The commissioner explained that the government was desirous of leveraging on the relationship between “human capital, public infrastructure and structural transformation” to achieve its goals for the institution.

He added that the Babatunde Fashola administration believed that tertiary education was the driving force behind growth.

PDP convention: Atiku’s name missing on delegates’ list

Click banner for more info

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar will not vote in the Peoples Democratic Party forthcoming national convention as his name is not on the list of delegates submitted to the party from his home state, Adamawa.

 The party has tentatively slated August 20 for the special mini convention. Sources, however, said the date “is not sacrosanct.” The list signed by the party’s factional chairman in the state, Mr. Joel Madaki, an ally of the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, was sighted by our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday.

Though Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State does not belong to the Madaki faction, his name appears on the list.

Former Information Minister and Chairman PDP Convention Planning Committee, Prof. Jerry Gana, had said only those that voted at the 2012 convention, where the members of the party’s National Working Committee were elected, would vote at the mini convention.

Continue

Seven Nigerians shot dead in S’Africa

Click banner for more info

Seven people believed to be Nigerians were shot dead at different times within the last one week in South Africa, media reports have said.  South African police spokesman, Tim Masilela, said four Nigerians were killed when a group of men opened fire on them in Benoni on the East Rand. According to reports, the four were in a Volkswagen Golf alongside one other when a car stopped in front of them.

A group of men got out of the car and opened fire, killing two of the men in the Golf instantly. A third passenger tried to run away, but collapsed and died a few metres from the scene. A fourth man died later in hospital. The fifth man in the car was not hurt.  “The motive behind the shooting is unknown. Police are still investigating,” Masilela said. Last Saturday, three Nigerians were killed in a cell phone shop in Voortrekker Street, Benoni.

Continue

I regret drinking alcohol as a young man — 80-year-old Biafran soldier

Click banner for more info

Former Biafran soldier, Cletus Asolukanwsu, 80, talks to MOTUNRAYO JOEL about his view of the late Emeka Odumegwu - Ojukwu as well as his war - time experience.

  What significant event can you link with the time of your birth?

Children who were born during my time were baptised within two months after birth. I was born in Ihiagba, Owerri, Imo State and was baptised at a Catholic Church a few weeks after. My baptismal certificate still helps me to remember my birthday.

Where did you have your primary school education?

I attended St. Michael’s Catholic School, Ihiagba before I was later transferred to Christ’s Kings School in Aba. After my primary education, I got a job as a bar man in a hotel but it linked me with better employment. I met the General Manager of a British Company at the hotel, who noticed how hard I worked. Clients who patronised the hotel always commended me. I was around 20 years old at the time. I even had an opportunity to travel to America from a relationship I established with someone at the hotel, but I couldn’t leave my parents all alone in Nigeria.

Continue

How I Carried Amaechi Into Abuja In The Night and Made Him Governor – Nyesom Wike Speaks

Click banner for more info

For Governor Chibuike Amaechi and his former boy, Minister of State for Education Nyesom Wike, the die is cast at last. It is time to bare all and go for the kill. As Wike spoke to Saturday Sun, he spared no word or effort in his vitriolic attack on his political boss who he has been in a running battle with him in the past months.

You and Amaechi had been allies, how and when did things get this bad between you?

I had wanted and avoided in the past to comment on the matter between His Excellency, Governor Chibuike Amaechi and I. I never wanted to make it a press matter. But I have held on for long to the extent that facts are now twisted out of shape.

Continue 

FULL UPDATE: ElBaradei has not been named PM as earlier announced - State Media

Click banner for more info

Egyptian state television said the interim prime minister had not yet been chosen, after named officials and state media earlier said Mohamed ElBaradei would be appointed on Saturday.

An adviser to the interim president, Ahmed al-Muslimani, said that: "There is still no exact date for the nomination of a Prime Minister or for the formation of a government." "Negotiations are still ongoing," he added, noting that representatives of the "Muslim Brotherhood will allowed to participate in the elections."

Continue

"Nobody can stop me from contesting in 2014" — Opeyemi Bamidele

Click banner for more info

The Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Legislative Budget and Research, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, has said his determination to contest the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State was unstoppable.

Bamidele spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday while addressing his supporters who are members of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Surprisingly, some members of the Peoples Democratic Party were seen at the event which was held along Basiri Road. The event was held under the platform of ‘Ekiti Bibire Coalition.’

Leaders of the ACN including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande, had on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, endorsed Governor Kayode Fayemi for second term. Tinubu had asked Bamidele to drop his ambition saying the right time would come for him to contest but the lawmaker insisted that nothing could stop him from contesting the poll. 

Continue

We don’t need two-party system — SNG ( Do You Agree?)

Click banner for more info

The Save Nigeria Group has said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the emerging mega opposition party, All Progressives Congress, lack the ideology to be the dominant parties in a two-party system. In an interview with our correspondent, the Publicity Secretary, SNG, Yinka Odumakin, while faulting the call for two-party system in the country, noted that countries like Britain and the Unites States of America had two dominant political parties.

Odumakin said, “In our political sphere, having a two-party system is like having a one-party state. When you look at the character of the politicians who are in the parties that appear to have dominion, they are not different from each other.

Continue

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi gives N300m to 82 communities

Click banner for more info

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has given N300m to 82 communities in the state to undertake various community projects under the Self-Help Programme of the state government.

The cheques were presented to the communities in Oye Ekiti at a ceremony attended by dignitaries including the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, a former governor, Niyi Adebayo, and Fayemi’s wife, Bisi.

He said the gesture was in fulfillment of the resolutions reached with community leaders in the state during the stakeholders’ meetings held last year.

He added that the self-help project was in line with the government’s commitment to bring development to the people. Fayemi, “As part of the efforts of the present administration to bring development to the rural communities where over 75 per cent of the populace reside, the Ministry of Rural Development and Community Empowerment was created in January 2013.

Continue

Pension Fund Administrators to invest ₦3.4tn in infrastructure from part of the growing pension funds

Click banner for more info

Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu

Culled From Punch Nigeria

Pension Fund Administrators will invest part of the growing pension funds in infrastructure after the Pension Reform Act 2004 must have been replaced with a new act.

This was contained in a memorandum submitted by the National Pension Commission to the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service and the House Committee on Pensions at the joint public hearing for the proposed enactment of the Pension Reform Act 2013.  Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, said the commission proposed that the funds should be utilised for national development.

The bill states, “There is a consensus among stakeholders that the PRA should facilitate the optimal utilisation of pool of funds generated by the Contributory Pension Scheme towards national development.” It added that provisions had been made in the bill for the expansion of permissible investment instruments to accommodate initiatives for national development, such as investment in the real sector.

Continue

FG Considers New Approach To Create one Million fresh jobs Annually

Click banner for more info

The Federal Government will quickly unveil a new plan that will assist you to create about one million fresh jobs annually.

The Special Adviser to the President on Job Creation, Mr. Obi Adim, who disclosed this during a chat with journalists in Abuja on Friday, said the initiative would address the country's high unemployment rate in a pragmatic way.  Nigeria's unemployment rate, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, currently stands at 23.9 per cent.

Adim, who addressed journalists in company with the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation, Josephine Washima, said already the initiative, Integrated Youth Development Programme, had received a lot of buy-in from stakeholders, adding the entire details of the programme would be released before the conclusion of next month.

Continue

Otunba Gbenga Daniel not our leader — South-West PDP

Click banner for more info

The Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West on Saturday said a former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, did not lead its members in the zone to the inauguration of the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway by President Goodluck Jonathan.  The party said it was laughable that Daniel now known as the “chief promoter” of the rival Labour Party in the zone would be the head of the party’s delegation to the event presided over by a president elected on the platform of the PDP.

Jonathan had on Friday in Sagamu, Ogun State inaugurated the reconstruction of the road.

The South-West PDP in a statement by its Zonal Publicity Secretary, Waheed Lawal, in Abeokuta said the clarification was necessary against the backdrop of reports in some sections of the media that Daniel led the party’s delegation to the event.

Why I retired as Major-General — Buhari

Click banner for more info

A former Head of State, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) on Friday said he decided to retire with his current rank in 1985, to defend and promote the integrity of the military, instead of promoting himself. Buhari said this at a public presentation of two books: “Nigerian military in politics: 1966-2011 and Politics of transition to civil rule in Nigeria” in Zaria, Kaduna State. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the books were published by Head of Political Science Department, Federal College Education, Zaria, Nuhu Ramalan

“It was the conviction of our regime that, being the Head of State and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, does not mean that you are the overall General. “My ultimate goal as at then was to ensure integrity, justice, equity, accountability and transparency in the system. That was why I did away with unnecessarily promoting myself to General,” he said. Speaking on the military in politics, Buhari, the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 general elections, identified some weaknesses of the past military regimes to include corruption and abuse of office. 

Continue After The Break

First ladies’ impunity should stop — Falana

Click banner for more info

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, in this interview with LEKE BAIYEWU, says the office of the First Lady is illegal and the roles of president/governors’ wives should be limited

W hat does the Nigerian constitution say about the office of the First Lady and what are the roles assigned to the occupant?

The post of the First Lady is not a creation of the constitution. In other words, there is no mention or reference to the post in the constitution or any other statute in the land. So, the question of assigning responsibilities to the office does not arise. In the first and second republics, there was no office of the First Lady. Even under successive military regimes up to the Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon era, the post was unknown. It was under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida junta that the wife of the military president created the post, albeit illegally. There was no decree to back it up.

Unemployment giving me sleepless nights — Okonjo-Iweala

Click banner for more info

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the spate of unemployment in the country is giving her sleepless nights.

Okonjo-Iweala said this while inspecting an ultramodern Information and Communications Technology factory of Omatek Nigeria Plc in Lagos on Friday.

She said, 

“According to the National Bureau of Statistics, each year, about 1.8m young Nigerians enter into our labour market and we need to ensure that our economy provides jobs for them.

“In fact, some people ask, ‘What keeps you awake at night, with regard to this economy?’ I say it is the issue of job creation. And I know this is what keeps Mr. President (Goodluck Jonathan) awake at night as well.

“That is why we have responded to the challenge of creating jobs by trying to transform several sectors of the economy; from agriculture, where we’re expecting to create 3.5m jobs and where the progress of reaching our goal of feeding this country is already well advanced.”

Continue

We’re searching for Fashola’s successor – ACN (Tinubu to impose his wife on Lagos?)

Click banner for more info

The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria has refuted speculations that Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of the National Leader of the Party, Bola Tinubu, has been chosen to succeed Governor Babatunde Fashola as Lagos governor.  The speculations, which have become a subject for debate on the Internet, has it that Tinubu has decided to impose his wife on the state, by  ensuring that she emerges as the candidate of the ACN in the 2015 governorship election.

But the Publicity Secretary of Lagos ACN, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, told SUNDAY PUNCH that it was mere fabrication, saying the Senator was not interested in governing the state. “No, it’s not true. There is no element of truth in that. It is a figment of the imagination of the people who are propagating the idea. The woman is not interested in that. There’s nothing like that. We see it as a rumour of the marketplace. It’s all noise and no substance. She is satisfied with where she is in the Senate,” he said.

Continue