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Friday, 03 March 2017 03:01

NDDC reacts to corruption allegation, defends car purchases

Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, on Thursday absolved its current management of corruption and reckless spending of funds levelled against the commission by the presidency. Earlier on Thursday, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay, accused the Governing Board and management of the commission of being reckless with funds meant for the development of the oil rich region. Sagay, who spoke at the opening of a two-day national dialogue on corruption in Abuja organised by PACAC in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, said the commission recently bought 70 exotic cars, including eight…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 15:52

Osinbajo, CJN disagree on corruption in Judiciary

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen on Thursday took different positions on the presence of corruption in the judiciary. While Osinbajo insisted that corruption was ubiquitous in the country including the judiciary, Onnoghen said that whether it existed it must be fought in consonance with due process and the rule of law. He said that “every judicial officer is a gentleman”. This was even as Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay said that some agencies of the government were enmeshed in corruption. The trio spoke at the opening ceremony…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 15:50

NDDC bought 18 cars for N1.3bn - Presidential panel

Presidential Advisory Council Against Corruption (PACAC) revealed on Thursday that Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) had diverted billions of infrastructure funds to purchasing exotic cars. Chairman of the council, Professor Itse Sagay, revealed this at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja during the National Dialogue on Corruption themed "The Limitless Ramifications of Corruption". Sagay said the funds, plundered from the federal allocations, were spent on the purchase of over 70 vehicles. According to him, only 18 out of those vehicles gulped a total sum of N1.245 billion. He said while the NDDC purchased about eight Super Lexus cars for…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 15:47

Morocco King phones Buhari

King Mohammed VI of Morocco Wednesday had a telephone conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari in London, where the Nigerian president is on vacation. The King, who initiated the call, asked after the President’s health and expressed satisfaction at his rate of improvement. The two leaders also discussed the current stage of the Morocco-Nigeria Atlantic crude oil pipeline project. King Mohammed VI thanked President Buhari for Nigeria’s support in returning Morocco to the African Union and notified him of Morocco’s request to join the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Moroccan King also expressed his intention to make the…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 15:41

N18bn trapped in MMM – NDIC

Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has said about three million Nigerians lost N18 billion in the Phonzi scheme, popularly called Mavrodi Mundial Movement (MMM). Managing Director of the Corporation, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, disclosed this while speaking at the ongoing 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair on Thursday. Represented by the NDIC Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs, Alhaji Hadi Suleiman, Ibrahim lamented that despite repeated warnings by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the corporation, Nigerians still patronised MMM. He said,”The Phonzi scheme is the phenomenon of illegal fund managers, popularly called ‘Wonder Banks’ which have continued to defraud unsuspecting members of…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:25

Nigeria’s president has been ill for six weeks. What now? - The Economist

The troubled economy might benefit from the vice-president calling the shots for a while longer Sitting on the pavement outside the Lagos state government secretariat, Empero flicks through newspapers, looking for jobs. “We are smiling and we are dying", says the 36-year-old, a town planner by trade. Nigerians are known for their dramatic turn of phrase. But recent events may justify such rhetoric. The economy shrank by 1.5% in 2016. Inflation has more than doubled to 18.7% in 12 months. Meanwhile, the president, Muhammadu Buhari, has been out of the country since January 19th, being treated for an undisclosed illness.…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:23

Sultan to lead prayer for Buhari, Southern Kaduna on Sunday

Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Jama’atu Nasirl Islam (JNI), Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, will, on Sunday, lead a special prayer session for the quick recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari and an end to the Southern Kaduna crisis. Secretary-General of JNI Khalid Aliyu Abubakar and Chairman, Kaduna State branch of Council of Imams and Ulama, Sheikh Baban Tune, addressed a news conference on Wednesday. "It is a religious duty for us to work together to seek Allah’s intervention to relive us of these ailing moments. “Preparation is on and come Sunday, the prayer will hold in Kaduna. We…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:21

Xenophobic attacks: Militants threaten MTN, Shoprite, others

A coalition of Niger Delta militants, on Wednesday, threatened to blow up Multichoice, owner of DSTV; MTN, Shoprite and 16 other major South African investments in Nigeria if the Federal Government failed to shut them down within one month. The militant groups, who were reacting to the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and their business premises in South Africa, gave one month ultimatum to South Africans living in Nigeria to leave the country and relocate elsewhere. The threat from the militants groups – Niger Delta Watchdogs, Niger Delta Volunteers and Niger Delta Strike Force – is contained in a copy of…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:18

Senate may strip president, minister of power to allocate oil blocs

The President and the Minister of Petroleum Resources may be stripped of power to allocate oil blocs. This major change is part of the Petroleum Governance Bill (PIGB) undergoing legislation before the Senate. Chairman, National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Petroleum Industry Reforms, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, confirmed the development in an exclusive chat with this newspaper on the sideline of the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) conference in Abuja. He said that oil alloca-tion would, henceforth, be executed by the Nigeria Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPRC) subject to ratification by the National Assembly. He said that the bill would be passed…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:15

Security Council to visit 4 countries affected by Boko Haram

U.N. Security Council was heading to West Africa on Wednesday night to examine the threat posed by Boko Haram to the countries most affected by the Islamic extremist group - Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, all four of which also face a serious humanitarian crisis. France's U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, told reporters that "this is the first time ever that the Security Council will visit the region" and members want to support those four countries "in their fight against terrorism." In Nigeria, a seven-year uprising by Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and driven 2.6 million from their…

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Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:13

Why I refused to detonate my explosive – Teenage suicide bomber

A teenager, Amina Yusuf, paraded by the military on Wednesday in Maiduguri, said she failed to detonate her explosive because she did not subscribe to Boko Haram ideology. The 17-year-old told journalists in Maiduguri that she was abducted five years ago, alongside her parents, in Madagali in Adamawa, after a terror attack on the village. “I was abducted alongside my parents in Madagali in Adamawa after the terrorists attacked our village. We were taken to a camp in the bush where we were forcefully indoctrinated by the group", she said. The suspected suicide bomber said her parents were killed after…

Thursday, 02 March 2017 04:04

Drama as Senate screens 82-year-old ambassadorial nominee

Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday, screened an 82-year-old non-career ambassadorial nominee, Justice Sylvanus Nsofor (retd.), who refused to recite the National Anthem when he was asked to do so. The refusal by the nominee to recite the anthem had shocked members of the committee. The nominee is one of the 46 on the ‘reviewed list’ for whom President Muhammadu Buhari was seeking legislative approval for their appointment. The nominee was asked series of questions, which he responded to. Senator Gbenga Ashafa (APC Lagos East), specifically, asked Nsofor to recite the anthem. The nominee, however, decline to recite it,…

Wednesday, 01 March 2017 18:07

Finally, Senate clears Onnoghen as substantive CJN

The Senate on Wednesday cleared Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). Onnoghen was cleared after an intensive screening during the plenary which lasted for an hour and 10 minutes. Onnoghen’s confirmation was unanimous as there was no dissenting voice. Consequently, Senate President Bukola Saraki charged the new CJN to ensure that the judiciary is entrenched during his administration as the last hope of the common man. Thisday

Wednesday, 01 March 2017 18:05

Biafra: Court strikes out six charges against Kanu, others

Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday struck out six of the 11-count charges brought against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. Mr. Kanu and three others, David Nwawuisi, Benjamin Madubugwu and Chidiebere Onwudiwe, are facing trial for alleged treason. The matter continued on Wednesday with the hearing and determination of applications seeking the withdrawal of the charges against the defendants. Delivering her ruling in the three similar applications brought by the first, second and third defendants in the matter, the presiding judge, Binta Nyako, said counts 3, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 11…

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