The pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday decried the arrest of 486 northerners, suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, in Abia State by military operatives on Sunday. ACF argued that the arrest and subsequent denigration of ‘northern traders’, suspected to be members of the outlawed terrorist group, negated the spirit of oneness and the violation of rights of Nigerians in their own country. The Forum, through its spokesman, Muhammad Ibrahim, noted with concern that it was dangerous to arrest people on the basis of their “faith and origin”, warning that the act would not augur well for…
Author: Wale Adebayo
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), yesterday, withdrew the money laundering charge preferred against the eldest son of the late military dictator, Mohammed Abacha. Mohammed was accused of concealing the sum of N446.3 billion allegedly stolen from the national treasury between 1995 and 1998. He was said to have received the stolen money from his late father, General Sani Abacha, and hid same. On two different occasions, Mohammed failed to appear before the court to enter his plea to the charge. The accused person, on April 10, told the court that he could…
As the Adamawa State House of Assembly commences impeachment proceedings against Governor Murtala Nyako and his deputy James Bala Ngilari over allegations of gross misconduct, Information Nigeria chronicles the 20 sins of the embattled governor. The Assembly, at a plenary session yesterday, approved a list of 20 acts that constitute gross misconduct allegedly committed by Nyako, which led the Speaker, Ahmadu Fintiri, to order the Clerk to serve him impeachment notice. The allegations range from fraudulent diversion of public funds, extra-budgetary expenditure, appointment of family members and friends in to public offices and siphoning of public funds, among others. While…
Governors under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) faulted the impeachment notice served on one of their own, Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State. The governors said the energy been spent on the impeachment move could be expended to recover the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram more than two months ago. In a statement on Wednesday by APC Governors’ Forum chairman, Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and signed by his Media adviser Sam Onwuemeodo, the governors said: “Following the report that the Governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Murtala Nyako, has been served impeachment notice by…
Before writing this I envisaged the reactions. I imagined that fearless couple who are trying hard to believe their ‘relationship thing’ would succeed despite the far distance barrier, but on seeing this article, its like a dagger to the heart. Or maybe that beautiful lady who remembers she lost her true love to distance predicament, taking a glance at the title of this post is repulsive in nature. But remember life is like a coin- Pleasure and Pain are the two sides. Just take a look at my past relationship with a damsel who is blessed with beautiful eyes. Her…
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has urged media practitioners in Nigeria to educate the people on the gains of the nation’s rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Emefiele made the call at the opening of the 19th seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors on Wednesday in Kaduna. The theme of the seminar is “Rebasing of Nigeria’s Economy and Implication for Financial System Strategy 2020″. “I urge our business editors and financial correspondents to inform and educate the various economic agents and stakeholders on the gains of rebasing the economy. “This is our chance to…
An Upper Area court in Zuba, FCT, on Wednesday sentenced two women – Binta Mamman, 35, and Safiya Aliyu, 19, both of Deidei, Abuja, to five months imprisonment for slapping a police man. The women had also been charged with using abusive language and public nuisance. Malam Aminu Sa’ad, the presiding judge, handed down the sentence after the women pleaded guilty to the three-count charge of criminal force and assault, use of abusive language and public nuisance. Sa’ad ruled that on the first count of criminal force and assault, the convicts shall serve a jail term of one month each…
Liechtenstein said Wednesday it would return 167 million euros ($227 million) to Nigeria, ending a drawn-out battle by the African country to recover cash looted by late dictator Sani Abacha. Abacha, who died in 1998, is suspected of having looted the Nigerian central bank to the tune of about $2.2 billion when he ruled Africa’s most populous nation from November 1993 to June 1998. Nigeria first requested help from Liechtenstein in 2000 to recover the cash stashed there. The tiny principality of some 37,000 people returned 7.5 million euros to Nigeria in late 2013, but the restitution of the bulk…
Nigeria’s police on Wednesday advised football fans to stay away from public venues showing World Cup matches after a bomb attack killed at least 21 in the north of the country. “As a first choice, we are advising Nigerians to actually avoid these viewing centres as much as possible”, Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba told AFP from the capital Abuja. Instead, Mba said the advice was to watch the tournament instead with family or friends. The police image gave the advice on the backdrop of a bomb explosion outside a viewing centre in Damaturu, Yobe State, on Tuesday night,…
The emergence of the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led national executive committee of All Progressives Congress (APC) has been described by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as a product of transparency, democracy and compromise. The former vice president made the assertion in a statement of solidarity to the new APC exco which was inaugurated earlier today at the Sheraton Hotels, Abuja. In a statement by his media office in Abuja on Tuesday, Atiku advised the newly elected party officials to sustain the tempo and public enthusiasm, which greeted the birth of the opposition party in the country. He also expressed elation at…
The Special Adviser to Plateau Governor on Special Duties, Yakubu Jang, has accused members of the State House of Assembly of “gross abuse of legislative powers”. Mr. Jang, who was reacting to the lawmakers’ resolve to investigate Governor Jonah Jang and his aides, following a petition that accused them of financial impropriety, said that it is “unconstitutional” for the house to initiate investigations over a petition whose authors were “faceless”. “The law is clear on this issue. The writers are a faceless group that goes by the name ‘Plateau Patriotic Front’. The group has no address and cannot be reached”,…
The Adamawa State House of Assembly has commenced impeachment proceedings against Gov. Murtala Nyako and his deputy, Bala Ngilari. The Assembly directed its Clerk on Wednesday, to serve Nyako and Ngilari with notice of impeachment over allegation of gross misconduct. The notice was signed by 20 out of 25 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dominated House. The notice contains allegations of fraudulent diversion of public funds, extra-budgetary expenditure, appointment of family members and friends into public offices and siphoning of public funds mong others. It would be recalled that Gov. Nyako had been having a running battle with…
The Peoples Democratic Party has expressed shock over a statement by the All Progressives Congress regarding the actual age of its National Youth Leader, Alhaji Ibrahim Jalo. PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, on Tuesday, said it was disheartening that the APC had refused to shed its unnecessary penchant for lies, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Metuh said records available to the ruling party indicated that Jalo is 52 years, and not 49, as claimed by the opposition party. Earlier, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,…
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Prices Marketing Corporation (PPMC) have informed the House of Representatives that they will not be able to appear before its committee investigating the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, over her alleged spending of N10 billion on charter of private jets. We gathered yesterday that the two agencies, which are under the petroleum ministry, had written to the House Committee on Public Accounts to state that they would not honour the invitations extended to them to appear before it. In their separate letters addressed to chairman of the committee,…
75 inmates of the Kirikiri prisons were yesterday freed by the Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips. Majority of the inmates who were set free by the chief judge were still awaiting trial prior to the favour granted them. Seventy-one of the inmates were released from the medium section of the prison, three from maximum and one from the female prisons. Justice Phillips ordered their release pursuant to the powers conferred on her under Section 1(1) of the Criminal Justice Release from Custody Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2007. She admonished the inmates to be of good…
FROM LEFT: Deputy DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, State Security SERVICE, MARILYN OGAR; COORDINATOR, National INFORMATION CENTRE, MR MIKE OMERI AND POLICE FORCE P.R.O., CSP FRANK MBA, AT A BRIEFING ON National Security IN Abuja LAST MONTH The Department of State Security Services on Wednesday revealed plans by the Boko Haram sect to bomb the nation’s capital using hijacked petrol-laden tankers. The DSS said the information was obtained through intelligence reports on the sect’s activities. According to the agency, the sect will seize petrol tankers at gunpoint and fill it with improvised devices that they will use to bomb the FCT…
Alhaji Arisekola Alao, Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land is dead. The Oyo State business man, who was also the Deputy President-General of the NSCIA passed on today in London. His eldest daughter, Khadija, disclosed that Arisekola Alao, died on Wednesday at the age of 69. While commiserating with the deceased’s family and the people of Oyo State and Nigeria in general, Governor Abiola Ajimobi described the death of the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland as tragic, disheartening and a big blow, not only to Oyo State but also to the entire country. Ajimobi said this in a statement issued in Ibadan…
Kano State governor, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Wednesday expressed optimism that great reform will be witnessed in Kano with the appointment of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as its new emir based on his vast western and Islamic education, as well as his wealth of experience in the public and private sectors of the economy. “The appointment of Sanusi would be a blessing to the people of the state, looking at his rich credentials and exposure. I hope that people would cooperate with him to enable him to serve them better,” said Kwankwaso at the…
russia has expressed its support and solidarity with the Federal Government in its fight against insurgency and associated security challenges. The Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Nikolay Udovichenko, said this in his address on the National Day of the Russian Federation, Thursday. “We know from our own experience, how important it is to stand together in the fight against terrorism. “Our country is ready as it has always been, to lend a hand to Nigeria in this struggle,” Udovichenko said. Udovichenko said that the Russian Federation had maintained close and friendly relations with Nigeria since its independence. “These relations have always been based…
Military authorities have reportedly shutdown the Yola International Airport in Adamawa State, thereby, preventing the state governor, Murtala Nyako from taking off to Abuja this morning. The governor was expected to be at a meeting initiated by former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, over the continued insurgency in the Northeast. According to a report by Daily Trust, staff at the airport said the facility was shut against all commercial and private aircraft based on orders from authorities in Abuja. The source further stated that Air Force personnel thronged the airport early Wednesday morning and chased away staff at the…