The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to fix a date for the supplementary election in the Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State, days after it declared the governorship election in the state inconclusive Speaking on the development, INEC’s director, Voter Education and Publicity (VEP), Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said the commission was still consulting over the matter. The Chief Returning Officer for Bayelsa State 2015 governorship election, Prof. Zana Akpagu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, had on Monday, announced that the election was inconclusive because of the violence that marred the polls in Southern Ijaw. As at the time…
Author: Wale Adebayo
The Governor of Nasarawa State, Umaru Tanko Al-makura, has said that the 2016 budget would place more emphasis on rural community development and promotion of inclusive society by servicing policies and programmes that would give youths, women and the physically challenged the enabling environment to realize their potentialities. The governor stated this yesterday in Lafia, the state capital, shortly after swearing in 13 special advisers and four permanent secretaries. He said: “In the 2016 budget, more emphasis would be placed on rural development and we shall provide equal playing ground for the vulnerable which include persons living with disability, women,…
A former Commissioner for Information in Plateau State, Mr. Yakubu Dati, has said that the list of commissioner-nominees sent by Governor Simon Lalong to the State House of Assembly for screening has shown that the administration is well-focused and did not make its selection based on political patronage, tribal or religious inclinations. Mr. Dati said the list is bound to inspire confidence in the ability of the Lalong administration to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. The former commissioner in a statement issued in Jos, the Plateau State capital yesterday, said “the list is a mixed bag of…
Following the Izom youths protest on Tuesday, which culminated in blockade of the Suleja-Minna road, the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has condemned the action, warning that his government will not tolerate any act of lawlessness by anybody or group. It would be recalled that the youth blocked the major highway in protest against government’s decision to relocate the Lambata market. Condemning the resort to lawlessness, Governor Bello, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mallam Jibrin Baba Ndace, yesterday, warned that anyone who resorts to acts capable of breaching the peace in an attempt to express…
A former governor of Oyo State and Labour Party (LP) candidate in the April 11 governorship elections in the state, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, has declared his intention to defect to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) over what he termed “the reality of the moment”. Alao-Akala, who was formerly of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before he crossed over to LP to actualize his governorship ambition, spoke of his decision to join the APC at a meeting he held in his Ibadan residence with his supporters on the Destiny Group platform. In attendance at the meeting were Hon Tajudeen Abisodun,…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday distanced itself from instigating the killings of pro-Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) protesters in Onitsha in August. It would be recalled that nine people were reportedly killed on Aug. 22 when MASSOB protesters clashed with security agents during a protest seeking the actualisation of an independent state for the Igbos. APC Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, told newsmen in Abuja that the party had nothing to do with the clash, and it had no reason whatsoever, to kill innocent people. Odigie-Oyegun said that MASSOB was not an opposition…
The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has said that Nigeria needs a 20-year plan to be able to offset pension liabilities incurred from moribund national institutions like Nigeria Airways, Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL), among others. The governor, who made this disclosure at a stakeholders’ sensitization conference for North –West on pension reform Act 2014 organised by the National Pension Commission on Wednesday, stated that at least 2,484 ghost pensioners was discovered in Kaduna State, saving N1.3 billion annually for the state. The former Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), pointed out that Nigeria Airways had a…
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for proposing a N500 billion social welfare package targeting students, youth corps members and the vulnerable in society in the 2016 budget estimates. The president on Tuesday submitted a three-year fiscal policy agenda, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the Senate in which he proposed a budget of N6.04 trillion for the 2016 fiscal year to be driven by an oil price benchmark of $38/barrel. In a statement issued by its Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, on Wednesday, MURIC said the President Buhari’s “bold welfare programme” is unprecedented in the…
Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has called on the Federal Government to probe former Finance Minister, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over her alleged involvement in the $2.2 billion arms deal. Oshiomhole made this known while speaking to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Wednesday. The Edo governor argued that the money for the purchase of arms could not have been released without the knowledge and express approval of the former minister. He, therefore, urged the Federal Government to extend its probe beyond the former National Security Adviser (NSA),…
The United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Samantha Power, on Wednesday said that Nigeria urgently needed a viable military action to end the activities of Boko Haram. A statement by the African Media Hub of the U.S. Department of State quoted Power to have also called for a regional strategy to disrupt Boko Haram’s hideouts, weapons’ flow and means of recruitment. “The repeated attacks by Boko Haram, which have killed 27 in the Lake Chad region, require viable military action and a wider regional strategy to disrupt their safe havens, weapons flow and recruitment. “It’s also essential…