A last ditch effort by former Ekiti State governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose to have his trial for fraud postponed till after the June 21 gubernatorial election in the state met a brick wall on Thursday. Fayose, who is the standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had prayed the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti, to defer his trial so that he could focus on prosecuting his governorship ambition but the request was rejected. He is standing trial for allegedly misappropriating state funds to the tune of N416 million during his first stint in office between 2003 and 2006 before he…
Author: Wale Adebayo
The 50-member consensus group selected by the National Conference chairman, Idris Kutigi, to resolve the impasse on the number of delegates required to approve a decision at the confab, has reached a resolution. The Assistant Secretary, Media and Communications at the CONFAB, Akpandem James said on Friday in Abuja that an agreement had been reached. He said the agreement would be tabled before the delegates on Monday for adoption. Delegates disrupted proceedings on March 24 and 25 when they failed to reach a consensus on whether to adopt a two-third majority or three-quarter majority on any issue. Some delegates, largely…
The number of ethnic groups agitating for the creation of new states increased on Friday as Southern Plateau indigenes resolved to separate from Plateau State and form a new state to be called Lowland. This was contained in a statement by the National Chairman of the Movement for the Creation of Lowland State, Nanyah Daman. The chairman said the new state should be created from the present Plateau and Bauchi States, adding that they meet the requirement as stipulated in the Nigerian constitution. “The movement met the requirements of Section 8(1)(a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution and thus called…
The Presidency has explained its seeming indifference to constitute a panel to probe the allegations of misuse of public funds leveled against the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who made the presidency’s position known on the matter that has dominated public discourse in the past one week, said the Federal Government would not set up a probe panel to investigate the minister because she is currently under investigation by the House of Representatives. Alison-Madueke was alleged to have spent N10bn on a chartered Challenger 850 aircraft…
President Goodluck Jonathan said in Bauchi on Saturday that the Federal Government would not relent in its effort at addressing the problem of insecurity in some parts of the country. Speaking when he visited the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Adamu, the Presdident said that the problem must be tackled for the country to progress. He explained that one of the measures was the introduction of various skills acquisition programmes to tackle the problem of youth restiveness and create opportunities for employment. The President commended the Emir for working towards ensuring peace in the state, adding that in spite of…
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, is expected to speak at a symposium on Cultural Diplomacy and Religion in the Vatican City of Rome, after being nominated as one of the 11 speakers for the event. The symposium is to hold from March 31 to April 3. According to a statement released on Saturday and signed by Mr Dickson Omoregie, Country Representative of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) in Abuja, the symposium would explore the use and potential of inter-faith dialogue to promote discourse with the ultimate goal of global peace. It said that the symposium would…
No fewer than 40 stalls were burnt in a fire outbreak at the Garki Model Market in Abuja on Saturday morning before it was put out. Mr Ibrahim Yahaya-Joe, the Manager, Abuja Market Management Limited (AMML), said, that the fire started at about 6.02 a.m. Yahaya-Joe said he received a phone call and was informed that the fire started from a cold-room store before spreading to other parts. “I received a distress call at exactly 6.02 this morning that there was fire outbreak in one of the shops with a big refrigerator and gas cylinders. “We used fire extinguishers as…
Two Britons and 12 Nigerian technicians allegedly involved in illegal bunkering along the Chanomi Creek in the western delta have been arrested by operatives of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta code named Operation Pulo Shield. The suspects were said to have offered the operatives of the JTF the sum of $66,500, to create safe passage for them to siphon crude oil into their barges from a Shell Petroleum Development Company pipeline along the Chanomi creek in Delta State, an offer the operatives rejected. The two Britons identified are Messrs Piers Eastwood and Vincent Haywood attached to a…
FILE PHOTO No fewer than 40 stalls were burnt in a fire outbreak at the Garki Model Market in Abuja on Saturday morning before it was put out. Mr Ibrahim Yahaya-Joe, the Manager, Abuja Market Management Limited (AMML), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that the fire started at about 6.02 a.m. Yahaya-Joe said he received a phone call and was informed that the fire started from a cold-room store before spreading to other parts. “I received a distress call at exactly 6.02 this morning that there was fire outbreak in one of the shops with a big refrigerator…
By now, we have all heard of the death of beautiful singer Mary Oluwatoyin Ejiro popularly known as Zara Gretti who lost her life yesterday morning after long battle with multi Multiple Sclerosis at age 28. I remember when Zara was interviewed on Inspiration FM in December 2013; she talked about how she has in many occasion peed on herself in public, couldn’t talk for days or even make coherent speech, her pains of wanting to eat normal meal but is deprived by the disease that has no cure, how she has to stay in bed all day ‘cos her…