Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order without delay the prosecution of the Chief of Army, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, and soldiers involved in the attack on the Shi’ite movement and their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, in Zaria, Kaduna State. A clash between members of the Shi’ite sect and the convoy of the army chief on December 12 and 13 in Zaria, left at least 300 people dead, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. The soldiers attached to Mr. Buratai’s convoy had accused Shi’ite members of blocking a public highway and attempting to assassinate Mr. Buratai, a claim…
Author: Wale Adebayo
Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, the President of the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin, Edo State, has ordered the relocation of the appeal panel sitting on the Delta State Governorship Election Petition from Benin to Abuja. A competent source from the Court of Appeal Headquarters in Abuja, confirmed the relocation in an interview with our reporter on Wednesday. The source, which preferred anonymity, however, did not give reason for the decision. “I can confirm to you that the panel will no longer sit in Benin, it has been moved to Abuja by the President. “The court will officially communicate this decision to the…
Senator Shehu Sani, who is representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, on Wednesday, threatened to sue his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State over what he described as false allegations against him. The senator also threatened a lawsuit if the party fails to withdraw a letter to him alleging anti-party activities. “If in the next one week, the party excos in the state fail to withdraw a letter sent to him on the allegation that he was involved in anti-party activities, he will take a legal action against the party”, Mr. Sani, who was represented at a news briefing…
The residents of Yola in Adamawa State have hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for tendering his apology over the lingering fuel scarcity in Nigeria, urging him to do something concrete to address the situation. A cross section of the residents who spoke to our reporter observed that by that action the president has shown leadership. “I am impressed by Mr President’s action; this is a sign of good leadership by taking responsibility”, Mallam Musa Abdulrahman, said. However, Abdulrahman urged the president to take concrete measures as Minister of Petroleum to contain the situation. Similarly, Ms Ladan Musa and Ibrahim Abba also lauded the development and…
The Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has vowed to bring the full weight of the law on all those found to have played a role in the electoral violence that marred the conduct of the governorship election in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and other parts of the state on December 5 and 6, 2015 regardless of party affiliations. Dickson, who expressed dismay over the handling of the issue by the relevant security agencies, said that persons alleged to have killed and maimed during the exercise, were yet to be arrested and charged to court. Speaking on a live radio…
Senator Gbenga Kaka who was the immediate-past Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly is in war of words with his successor, Senator Buruji Kashamu, over ownership of constituency projects in the area. While Senator Kaka accused Kashamu of allegedly claiming to have facilitated constituency projects he knew nothing about, the incumbent described the allegation as funny, explaining that government is a continuum and that his predecessor influenced the inclusion of some projects in the budget because he was a senator. Kaka was reacting to a statement credited to Senator Kashamu during a reception held in his honour by…
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Wednesday, said the Federal Government is developing a national transportation master plan to diversify the economy and improve non-oil sector revenue. Speaking at a briefing after a tour of facilities at the Lagos Airport, he said government is determined to fully exploit the potential of the transport sector by opening it up for new investment. According to him, if properly positioned, the transport sector holds the key to unlocking economic potentials for the country. “The government of President Muhammadu Buhari is in the process of developing a national transportation master plan that will be implemented…
Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has felicitated with Nigerian Christians on the occasion of the 2015 Christmas. A statement by Secretary General of NSCIA Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, quoted the Sultan as wishing the Christians God’s guidance and abundant blessings embedded in the festive season. “We have every cause to celebrate and thank the Almighty God for the opportunity of life and the privilege of survival. At this time last year, Nigeria was under a lot of tension with the national conscience being tormented by the…
The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, today ordered the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) management to erect an appropriate and befitting headquarters within the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos for itself. Amaechi, accompanied by the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and some key management staff of the agency, gave the directive at the FAAN’s headquarters. He gave the order shortly before embarking on a tour of the airport’s facilities. He said the present FAAN’s headquarters was not a befitting office. Amaechi, who expressed his discomfort with what he observed, wondered why FAAN, despite its huge revenue-profile, could not…
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, today disclosed that the Federal Government has met the December 31, 2015 deadline given by President Muhammadu Buhari to the military to defeat Boko Haram insurgents because the activities of the terrorist sect have heavily been degraded that it can no longer carry out any spectacular attacks. The minister disclosed this today during an interaction with journalists in Lagos. The Minister said, “From what I saw during my trip to the liberated areas of Borno State, which is the epicentre of the war, and the briefings I received from the Chief of Defence Staff and the…
Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, in conjunction with some clerics from various denominations in the state, during a prayer session held at governor’s office open ground, prayed against those they claimed were plotting his impeachment in 2016, saying they shall be put to shame if they don’t back down on their plot. Governor Fayose, who led the prayer meeting, asked the clerics to pray against calamity befalling the country next year, saying he foresaw certain events happening in the country in 2016 that would shake the country to its foundation. The event, which was in collaboration with Ekiti State chapter…
Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, the founder of Odua People’s Congress (OPC), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to offset its debt to him and his organization for the protection of oil pipelines. The OPC leader, who is also the national chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), said this at a quarterly interactive media round-table in Lagos yesterday. Dr. Fasehun recalled that the Goodluck Jonathan administration awarded contracts to six companies to guard pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). According to him, a total of 18,000 personnel were sent to the field out of which 4,000 belonged to…
A non-profit making organization named “Access to Justice (A2J)” has urged the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Burutai to step aside while investigation into how the military killed Shi’ite protesters in Zaria, Kaduna State, over a week ago, was been conducted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). A2J Director, Joseph Otteh, in statement yesterday, said that it would be difficult to conduct an investigation or hold officers responsible while the people who ordered and shot members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, are still in office. “While we are not unmindful of the fact that Nigeria is engaged in a…
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has said that it will not be derailed from ensuring that the people of the state enjoy the change they voted for, but enjoined the people to be committed to the sustenance of peace in the state. This was confirmed in a statement signed by Mr Jonathan Vatsa, the Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism in the state. The statement further stated that the government was also ever committed to the security of lives and properties. He declared, “It is within the framework of the change agenda that the needed peaceful environment should be…
Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Esueme Dan-Kikile, on Tuesday, said that the recent revelation by the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Baritor Kpagih, that he was put under pressure by some unnamed politicians to induce him to rig the inconclusive December 5 governorship election, had vindicated the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Dan-Kikile said that though the series of alarm raised by PDP on plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the governorship election in the state were dismissed by security agencies, the recent revelation by Mr. Kpagih, had confirmed fears raised by the…
The national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said that the removal of fuel subsidy is only a matter of time. The APC chair said the gradual removal of subsidy is inevitable in view of emerging and current realities. Mr. Odigie-Oyegun made the disclosure on Tuesday when he received a delegation of the APC National Coalition for Peace and Mobilization on a courtesy visit to him at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja. According to him, the current administration inherited an “infected system of subsidy run by corrupt cartels”. “In one way or the other, subsidy…
The former Board Chairman of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, on Tuesday, absolved himself from complicity in the award of contracts during his tenure in the corporation. He stated that no past chairman of the corporation was involved in the award of contracts running into billions of naira. The former acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s clarification came on the heels of the ongoing probe into the past activities of the railway corporation by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee set up to investigate the matter. Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital shortly…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State has stated it would probe the state governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), if the Appeal or Supreme Court declares the APC candidate, Senator Aisha Alhassan winner. The appeal court recently reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Gov. Ishaku challenging the governorship election petitions tribunal ruling that sacked him from office and declared Alhassan, who is currently the Minister for Women Affairs, Governor of Taraba. Briefing journalists yesterday in Jalingo, the state capital, the Taraba chairman of APC, Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo, accused the present government of siphoning…
Hon. Beni Lar, a member of House of Representatives representing Langtang North/South federal constituency, has said the unimpressive performance of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the country has put the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in vantage position to bounce back in the 2019. Beni Lar, who is the eldest daughter of the pioneer chairman of PDP, late Chief Solomon Lar, also decried the continued defection of her party members to the APC, saying it was necessary for party men to remain loyal to the principles and ideologies of their parties, no matter the challenges. Speaking to newsmen today in Abuja, during…
All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayo Fayose of being economical with the truth about the financial situation of the state. The opposition party said the governor’s message to civil servants that they should not expect salary in January was a mark of his uncaring attitude to workers, despite the fact that the current allocation to the state is enough to offset workers’ salaries. The Ekiti APC pointed out that since the governor had refused to embark on any infrastructure development programme in the state, he should explain what he does with the federal allocation accruing…