FORMER governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP in Delta State, Olorogun Great Ovedje Ogboru has described Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as a politician and activist who wants to function as a banker, saying that his suspension by President Goodluck Jonathan was long overdue. . Ogboru who made this known during an interactive session with journalists, said the manner at which Mallam Sanusi has been conducting himself since he assumed office in 2009 was worrisome, adding that the office of a CBN governor is a sensitive one that requires decorum and not noise making as Sanusi portrayed it. .…
Author: David F.
Electricity consumers all over the country heaved a sigh of relief, following the decision of the federal government to handover the operation of Power Holding Company Of Nigeria to private operators nationwide. . The handover of electricity business to private individuals was seen as the final solution to curb incessant power supply to millions of household and business concerns, and a means to boost the economy, especially through small and medium scale enterprises. . But so far, the reverse has been the case, as major cities and businesses still groan under epileptic power supply. A look at the state of…
GOVERNORS under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF Frirday condemned in very strong terms, the massacre of fifty- three students of Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram, urging the Federal government to protect the lives of those still alive. . Moved by the incessant killings and destruction of property by members of Boko Haram unabated inspite of military presence in the areas, the governors however urged the Federal Government to comprehensively review the present strategies used in fighting terrorists as the present methods were…
The kidnappers of Chief Inengite Nitabai, cousin to President Goodluck Jonathan, have demanded the sum of N500m ransom to set him free. . Nitabai, aged 70, was abducted last Sunday by ten armed men at his Otuoke residence in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State and taken away in his private Sports Utitlity Vehicle after collecting N400,000 from his wife. . The vehicle was later recovered at Unuegbum waterfront where it was abandoned, an indication that the gunmen escaped through the creek. . The victim, his wife, his wife’s sister and three of his children were in the house…
The Nigerian Army Friday refuted reports that Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State was attacked by terrorists and that more terrorists have been arrested while 13 of them died following a raid on their make shift camp sited between Borno and Adamawa states. . The army in a statement signed by Major General Chris Olukolade, Director Defence Information, said that some of those who escaped from earlier raid have also been picked up in Maiduguri and environs. . Meanwhile, calm has returned to Shuwa after the pandemonium generated by the panic in the community this morning when people sighted the…
The U.S government on Thursday urged the Federal Government to ensure that the 2015 general elections were credible. . The U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, made the call in Abeokuta during an official visit to the state. . Entwistle, who was accompanied by the U.S Consul General, Mr Jeffery Hawkins, said that his country had interest in Nigeria’s 2015 general elections. . He expressed the hope that the elections would be transparent, credible and non violent. . The U.S Ambassador also lauded the ongoing infrastructural development in Ogun, describing it as “rapid and impressive.’’ . Entwistle was conducted…
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed at least 37 people in three separate attacks in northeast Nigeria, including at a theological college, a local government official and residents said on Thursday. . The coordinated attacks in Adamawa state late on Wednesday came just a day after Islamist militant fighters were blamed for killing 43 people, most of them students, as they slept at a boarding school in Yobe state. . The chairman of the Madagali local government area in Adamawa, Maina Ularamu, said “a large number of militants carried out three separate attacks on Shuwa and Kirchinga in my local government…
Nearly 300,000 people, more than half of them children, have fled their homes in northeast Nigeria since May last year because of violence linked to radical Islamist group Boko Haram, the United Nations said on Thursday. . Three states in the region have been under emergency rule since last May 14, when the military launched a massive offensive to stamp out the insurgency, which has killed thousands since 2009. . Injured corps members at the SSS Centre in Bauchi Credible figures, including for casualties, have been difficult to obtain, as waves of attacks across a swathe of remote territory have…
The Kwara State Government has pledged to provide more facilities for effective learning and teaching in tertiary institutions in the state. . The new Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Alhaji Aliyu Opakunle, made the pledge on Thursday in Ilorin during a visit to three tertiary institutions in the state. . Opakunle also said the state government was committed to the provision of qualitative and quantitative education.The commissioner urged the staff of tertiary institutions to be dedicated, committed and upright in the discharge of their duties. . Opakunle, who also admonished students to concentrate on their studies, advised. the…
Anambra State government said, on Thursday, it was targeting about 2.6 million people for immunisation during the March, 2014 National Immunisation Plus Days starting tomorrow in all parts of the country. . A breakdown of the target population shows that 1,043,187 children under five years, 1,147,506; women of child bearing age, 260,797 pregnant women and 208,637 children under one year are to be immunised during the four-day exercise. . Briefing reporters in Awka on the preparations for the exercise, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lawrence Ikeakor, said though there had been no reported case of polio in Anambra State…
Former presidential candidate under the Social Democratic Mega Party, SDMP, Professor Pat Utomi has attributed the slow pace of development in the country to lack of true federal arrangement of the country’s political system. . Utomi and other speakers, at the public presentation of two books, ‘Pages and Sages’ and ‘Leading with Courage and Integrity’ authored by Odey Ochicha, in Abuja, insisted that true federalism was fundamental to development. . They also unanimously noted that Nigeria “needs courageous leadership, if the country must survive her trying period, and be reckoned with in the comity of nations.” . They were of…
Delta State 2015 governorship aspirant, Dr. Festus Okubor, has called for a change of attitude among politicians in the country, ahead of next year’s elections in order to. give credibility to the polls. . Okubor spoke in Asaba while reacting to a keynote address by the Chairman of Independent National Electoral commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, at a seminar on Building Confidence in the Electoral System, for electoral stakeholders organised by Delta State Independent Electoral commission, DSIEC, in collaboration with INEC. . He said his call became necessary because of the negative attitude of contestants to election results, saying, “as…
IJAW communities at Agge, along River Ramos, between Ekeremo in Bayelsa State and Bururtu in Delta State, have issued a seven –day ultimatum to a Delta State-based oil servicing firm, within which to send relief materials, medications and pay adequate compensation to victims of oil spill that occurred last December. . The spill occurred when a barge allegedly carrying about 4,000 litres of crude oil sand in the river, polluting the environment, damaging fishing gears and causing death of aquatic lives and posing health hazard to the communities. . The barge is said to belong to Sterling Oil Exploration and…
The Supreme Igbo Security Council, a group committed to peace on Thursday said it would support President Goodluck Jonathan for second term if he indicated his interest. . The President of the council, Mr Bobby Ukadike, made the declaration while addressing journalists in Abuja. . He said that the North and South had had a fair share of the office of the president, saying that other parts of the country should be given a chance to lead as well. . Ukadike said that in spite of many challenges ravaging the polity, President Goodluck Jonathan had delivered dividends of democracy to…
The NNPC has decried what it termed as an orchestrated campaign of calumny to tarnish its reputation by some unscrupulous elements. . This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by Dr Omar Ibrahim, Acting Group General Manager, NNPC Group Public Affairs Division. . The statement cited the deliberate misrepresentation of the presentation made by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) before the Joint House Committee probing the Berne Declaration Report. . It stated that the report was an example of the well-choreographed negative campaign against the corporation. . “Some of the reports had sensational headlines…
SUPERVISING Minister of Police Affairs, Ms Olajumoke Akinjide, yesterday, disclosed that poor budgetary allocation was hindering the smooth operation of the Nigeria Police Force. . The minister equally said consideration for recruiting additional police men and women to raise the current staff strength of 370,000 was on but regretted that it was being hindered by meager allocation to the ministry. . Speaking when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to defend her ministry’s 2014 budget, Ms Akinjide, told the committee that already her ministry has led a delegation to the Minister of Finance to complain about the…
The Kwara Government on Wednesday said it would disburse N214 million loan to farmers to boost agricultural activities in the state. . The Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Anthony Towoju, said the disbursement of the loan to 172 farmers, through a commercial bank, had been concluded. . Towoju said the money would assist the farmers to cultivate 2,580 hectares of rice, maize, soya beans and cassava in the state. . The commissioner reiterated the determination of the government to transform the agricultural sector. . He said the state government would continue to provide enabling environment for farmers to…
Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State said on Tuesday night that the state government had not jettisoned its plan to build an international airport in Lekki area of the state. . Fashola told State House correspondents in Lagos that the delay in actual take-off of the project did not mean it had been abandoned. . He said that the state government had already done all the preparatory work on the project and was engaging the right investors to translate it to fruition. . According to him, what the government plans to build is an international airport that will live to…
Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam with Speaker Yobe House of Assembly, Adamu Dala Dogo (below left) inspecting the damage in the school, yesterday. . The All Progressives Congress, APC, has unreservedly condemned Monday night’s horrific attack on the Federal Government College in Yobe State, in which over 40 students were reported to have been brutally murdered by blood-thirsty insurgents. . In a statement, Wednesday, by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the attacks, which were extremely gory even by the scorched-earth tactics of the terrorists, plumbs the depth of horror. . ”What a sad day for Nigeria…
An Ikorodu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State on Wednesday sentenced a man, Abiodun Akintunde, to 18 months imprisonment for obtaining N860, 000 under false pretences. . The accused, 36, whose address is unknown, had pleaded guilty to the three count charge of breach of peace, obtaining money under false pretences and threat to life. . The Magistrate, Mr B.A. Sonuga, said the prosecutor had proved his case beyond reasonable doubts. . “The accused was found guilty and convicted on the three-count charge. . “You are hereby sentenced to six months imprisonment on each count (18 months imprisonment) for the offences.’’…