Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has declared that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke is still under investigation despite a court process challenging the lawmakers’ probe into the N10billion allegedly spent to maintain a chartered aircraft used by the minister in two years. Tambuwal said the Public Accounts Committee of the House will only stay action pending receipt of legal advice on the matter before a Federal High Court in Abuja. “We have not closed that investigation. When we get legal advice, we will know the next line of action”, Tambuwal stated…
Author: Wale Adebayo
Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has disclosed that the state government has begun implementing the recommendations of the retired Justice Joseph F. Gbadeyan-led judicial panel of inquiry into the killing of security personnel at Alakyo village by suspected Ombatse ethnic militia last year. The governor noted that there would be no sacred cows in the implementation of the report, adding that whoever was found wanting by the panel, and the other two panels before it, would face justice. Gov. Al-Makura dropped the hint yesterday in Lafia, the state capital, at a stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressives Congress…
Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday denied granting any order preventing the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives from probing the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, over an alleged reckless spending of N10billion on aircraft charter within a space of two years. Apparently perturbed by media reports that he purportedly granted the minister’s exparte motion filed on 11th April seeking to stop her probe by the House of Representatives, Justice Mohammed said he only directed the respondents (National Assembly and House of Reps) to appear before the court on April 17,…
The mid-weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council will not hold today. The meeting was called off by President Goodluck Jonathan as a sign of respect to Capt. Yusuf Sabo Sambo, the immediate younger brother of Vice President Namadi Sambo. Yusuf died when he lost control of his BMW X6 and crashed into a tree, with the car bursting into flames on impact, along the Bill Clinton Drive, airport road, Abuja on Sunday. In a statement by Sam Nwaobasi, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, the president said the cancellation…
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced that the electronic national identity cards it was producing are now ready and would soon be rolled out. The Director Corporate Communications, Mr Anthony Okwudiafor, who confirmed this, said that the Card would be formally launched by President Goodluck Jonathan. According to him, the launching would be an important development and would usher in the formal and comprehensive identification of Nigerians and legal residents with the e-ID card embedded with the National Identification Number (NIN). The director however explained that part of the reasons why the launch of the New National e-Identity…
The just sacked Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Affairs, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak has denied that his appointment was terminated due to his meddling in party politics in Akwa Ibom State which led to a face-off with the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor’s Forum, Chief Godswill Akpabio. According to him, he left the presidency to join the governorship race in Adamawa State. “Indigenes of Adamawa State are fed up with the misgovernment of Admiral Murtala Nyako, whose accomplishments in office has been very negligible and controversial,” said Gulak. He…
A helicopter yesterday mistakenly landed at Governor’s Lodge of Enugu Government House at about 11am yesterday and was detained for alleged security breach. Pilot of the helicopter and other members of his crew whose number could not be immediately ascertained, are also being detained inside Government House. Vanguard learnt that the helicopter mistook the Government House for the State House of Assembly complex from where the pilot was meant to convey the corpse of a deceased member of old Anambra State House of Assembly, Sir Andrew Umeoji A security aide to Governor Sullivan Chime confirmed that the helicopter was still…
The managements of Eko and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, have sacked no fewer than 5,075 workers, it was learnt yesterday. 2,600 workers were said to have had their identity cards withdrawn by Eko Distribution Company, DISCO, while 2,475 were from Ikeja DISCO. “We are totally confused because we do not know what to do. Our ID cards have been withdrawn without any explanation.” an affected worker said. A senior officer who commented on the situation said: “All workers are to submit their ID cards and then re-apply to the DISCOs as new workers. We will definitely re-engage some, while…
Operatives of the Lagos state command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested two persons for allegedly being in possession of 1.6kg of heroin. The suspects, Ogbonna Paul Obioma, 36, an auto parts dealer and Okpoagu Stanley Chijioke, 30, were apprehended at Festac Town, Lagos following a tip-off, according to Lagos State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr Aliyu Sule. In his confessional statement to the operatives, Chijioke, who was recently deported from India, said he wanted to use the profit from the drug sales to set up a business. “I was recently deported from India. At present,…
A barber, Olalekan Oyekan, has been arraigned before an Ebute Metta court over alleged s*xual harrasement of his neighbour, Wilson Esse. According to the prosecutor, Sergent Ishola Samuel, the accused’s offence is different from what was contained in the charge sheet. He alleged that it was a case of r*pe and not s*xual touch for which he was arraigned. “There are typographical errors in the charge sheet. This is a complete case of r*pe and not sexually touch.” The charge states: “ That you Olalekan Oyekan on the 5th day of April 2014 at about 1830 hrs at 9, Oluwaseun…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, said it had arrested six persons, including two staff of Skye Bank, over an alleged N5.5m fraud. The suspects were identified as Ademola Okunlola, 36; Tajudeen Oluwanisola, 41; Kolawole Adams, 52; Temitope Pedro, 27; Bayo Olowoyo, 39 and Otunba Biodun Adebanjo, 56. They were arrested in different parts of Lagos when operatives of the commission received a complaint that the suspects had fraudulently transferred N5.5 million from the account of one Ajani Kareem Musibau, a customer of Skye Bank Plc. The anti-graft agency’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujeren, said the fraudulent transfers took place…
A suspected terrorist Islamic sect with links to the Boko Haram sect has been uncovered in Bida, Niger State. The state government has therefore set up a two-man committee with the mandate to identify the sect members and flush them out of the state. Disclosing this in Minna, Niger State capital, yesterday, Governor Babangida Aliyu said the government had already set up a committee to investigate the activities of the suspects and report back to him within three days to enable government take an urgent step on the matter. “The state government is acting on security report given by the…
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU said yesterday that removal of fuel subsidy would never go down well with Nigerians and such move will never be supported. Speaking through its national treasurer, Dr Ademola Aremu, in a lecture entitled, “Clamour for fuel subsidy removal: In whose interest?”, at the pre-May Day lecture organised by journalists in Oyo State, the union said government would not curry the favour of the union until knotty issues surrounding the petroleum industry were resolved. Aremu noted that subsidy could not be removed from fuel without tackling other policies and socio-economic issues which could re-ignite…
The Ekiti State Police Command has arrested a 57-year-old vice-principal of a school, Mr. Taiwo Ajayi, after being caught defiling a 12-year-old student of his school. According to a police statement in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, yesterday, Ajayi allegedly committed the offence inside his office at Saint Mary’s Girls Grammar School, Ikole Ekiti. State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Victor Babayemi said one of the staff in the school had reported the matter to the police after suspecting the movement of the young girl (names withheld) inside the vice principal’s office. “The witness became apprehensive when the student, after…
A Federal High court sitting in Ibadan, capital of Oyo state today postponed the re-arraignment of a former Oyo State Head of Service, Mrs Kudirat Iyabo Adeleke and 11 others implicated in a N5.6 billion pension scam, after one of the defendants collapsed when the court was taking their pleas. Oguntayo Banjo, who had an asthmatic attack fainted, making the presiding judge, Justice Adegboye Gbolagunte postpone the re-arraignment till May 2. They were to be re-arraigned on charges bordering on conspiracy, stealing and criminal breach of trust. The twelve defendants were originally arraigned on November 7, 2013 before Justice Bolaji…
A community leader in Chibok, claimed the girls abducted by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect had been sold as wives abroad. According to Pogo Bitrus, leader of a Chibok elders group, the captured girls are being offered to Boko Haram fighters at $12 each. Bitrus said that locals had been tracking the movements of the hostages with the help of “various sources” across the northeast. “From the information we received yesterday from Cameroonian border towns our abducted girls were taken into Chad and Cameroon,” he said. The girls were then sold as brides to Islamist fighters for 2,000…
The 102 Guards Battalion of the Nigerian Army said on Tuesday that it arrested a 72-year-old man (namewithheld), for allegedly operating a gun factory. Capt. Charles Ekeocha, Public Relations Officer of the brigade, said this while briefing journalists in Suleja. Ekeocha said that men of the brigade discovered the factory while on `cordon and search’ operations in Paiko and Kache areas in Niger State. The spokesman said items recovered from the suspect included 44 Dane guns, three pistols and different tools for fabrication of guns and assorted weapons. “Initial preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect still have three more local…
Some women of Chibok, Borno, on Tuesday marched to National Assembly, urging the Federal Government to intensify efforts to rescue the remaining 230 female students abducted two weeks ago. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that 273 girls were abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno, by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on April 14. NAN learnt that of the number, 43 girls had so far escaped from the captors unharmed. However, the women, led by Mrs Naomi Mutah, said since the incident, no government official had reached the community to explain the efforts being made to rescue the…
Nigerian police fired teargas at teachers and students and shot live rounds into the air as they tried to disperse a rally over college closures on Tuesday, protesters said. The march, in the capital Abuja, was called by two academic unions who have been on strike for several months, but protesting teachers were also joined by a number of students. Despite the stand-off, no one was reported injured during the protest. The organisers of the rally, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), have been demanding facility improvements at a range…
Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC, has appealed to the National Assembly to enact a strong anti-theft legislation to empower Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN successor companies to prosecute electricity vandals. The Managing Director of 4Power Consortium Limited, the core investor in PHEDC, Mr. Matthew Edevbie,who made the appeal also expected such legislation to include customers who attack utility personnel in the cause of their duties. He made the appeal when he received members of the House of Representatives Committee on Commercialisation and Privatisation, who were in Port Harcourt in continuation of their nationwide oversight visit to various PHCN…