The military says terrorists in the North-East have continued to surrender to troops in the frontline due to sustained offensive by ground troops and pre-emptive air strikes by Nigerian Air Force. A statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the acting Army Director of Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said more terrorists have also indicated willingness to lay down arms. The statement said the ground troops had also adopted routes blocking strategy in a bid to ‘constrict and snuff out’ the Boko Haram terrorists from their hideouts. “Many of the terrorists that willingly surrendered painted images of mass panic and…
Author: Wale Adebayo
New rumor around town says that popular Fuji singer, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma is currently in a hot romantic affair with a Yoruba actress, whose name was simply given as Motunrayo. According to a report published by Vanguard Newspaper, the Yoruba actress is said to be a new face in the industry and seems to have won the heart of the Fuji singer. The report described Motunrayo as a dark and curvy lady, who seem to have similar looks and body statistics with that of established actress, Ronke Odusanya aka Flakky Ididowo. Even though close aides of the singer have denied…
The Lagos State Government on Sunday clarified the section of the Road Traffic Law 2012, which restricted trailers and articulated vehicles from plying the metropolis between 6 a.m and 9 p.m. This is contained in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Mr. Oluseyi Whenu, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. The statement said that while Section 2 of the Traffic Law restricted movement of trailers and articulated vehicles, only petrol tankers and long vehicles used in conveying passengers were allowed to travel within the metropolis between the stipulated…
The Cross River State Government has expressed dismay that it was not listed by the Federal Government among states likely to be affected by flood this year. Director-General, Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Vincent Aquah, stated this in Calabar when leaders of Eja, a flood prone community from Obubra Local Government Area visited him. According to him, the state government was also disturbed that in spite of experiences in 2012, it was not listed among states to be affected by the discharge of excess water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon. “It is disheartening that Cross River is…
Osun State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of paying N20billion to Slava Yediteppe, a contractor handling one of the road projects in the state, from the N34.988 bailout received from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Director of Media and Strategy of the PDP in Osun State, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, who made this allegation in a statement made available to journalists in Osogbo on Sunday, said it was wrong for Aregbesola to pay the contractor from the fund purposely meant to pay backlog of workers’ salaries and pensions. The opposition party…
President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) said on Sunday that the anti-corruption campaign of his administration is a fight for the soul and substance of the nation. He stated that corruption is so endemic in the country that it constituted a parallel system, noting that it was the reason for poor policy choices, waste and bare-faced theft of public resources. The president said this in his goodwill message to the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the president said graft had been cited as the main reason for the prevalence of…
The South-East Zonal Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday said Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State did not “truly” campaign for the party and President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 general elections.The spokesman for the APC in the South East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, said this in a statement made available to journalists in Enugu. The party was reacting to a recent interview granted by Okorocha in which he blamed Igbos for their exclusion in recent appointments made by Buhari. In the interview, Okorocha reportedly said, “Some of the appointments we lost were caused by our people”. Okorocha, also…
Senator representing Kaduna Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Shehu Sani has said if the country were to succeed in ending Boko Haram insurgency in the country, journalist Ahmad Salkida needs to be invited by the Federal Government. According to him, Salkida once organized a dialogue between the government and Islamist sect group Boko Haram. He said the arrangement was very credible. “I think Salkida is one credible Nigerian that we need to invite to be able to address the Boko Haram crisis,” Sani told Vanguard in an interview. The journalist who lives in Dubai, UAE…
Nigerian banks will lose not less than 20,000 huge accounts this week. No thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) who has directed a Treasury Single Account (TSA) be enforced this week. The bank accounts are those run by federal ministries and 600 government federal agencies. According to findings by the Sunday Vanguard, the agencies’ accounts are holding about N2.6 trillion in 20 banks contrary to the initial estimate of about N1.24 trillion reported in Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) second quarter 2015 report. The report had indicated that less than 10 percent of banking industry’s N13 trillion total deposits are…
The Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joshak Habila, has said the force is depending on members of the public for information on the location of the pirate radio station, Radio Biafra. He also said the reason why the police cannot jam the signals of the radio station is because there is an agency of the Federal Government that is responsible for jamming frequencies of illegal radio stations. Joshak, who said this in Umuahia, the state capital on Saturday, said the police alone could not track down the radio station without useful information from members of the public. He said,…
Freed Vanguard columnist, Ms. Dornu Kogbara, said on Saturday that her abductors were upset about former President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat at the polls. Kogbara, who regained her freedom after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen and held captive for 12 days, also said that her abductors were unhappy that the Niger Delta had nothing to show during the Jonathan years. The newspaper columnist, who said her abductors appeared to be enlightened, quoted them as saying they helped politicians to win elections in the past and described them (politicians) as official hoodlums. Kogbara, who spoke with journalists at her Nkpogu residence in…
Political elders, stakeholders and leaders of thoughts from Akwa State have thrown their weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption drive, just as they hailed the Department of State Security services for the recent search of the state’s Government House. The group in a statement signed by former Minister of Women Affairs, Obong Rita Akpan- Ibesikpo, said there was need for all Nigerians to support the president in his bid to fight corruption and terrorism. They also condemned what they called attack on the DSS by some “cheerleaders and paid groups who hide under the cover of Akwa Ibom leaders forum…
Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Tunde Bakare, has said a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, does not belong in the same class with the former Premier of Western Region, Obafemi Awolowo, and does not deserve to take the place of the late sage as the leader of the Yoruba race. He admitted that both leaders made unique contributions in bringing the race together, but Mr. Awolowo belonged to a special breed created by God and was only in the class of world leaders like Mahatma Gandhi of India. The Pentecostal pastor stated this…
Strong indications emerged at the weekend that the recent audience between President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) centred on national issues, especially the choice of would-be ministers. It was gathered that Buhari opened up to the former Nigerian leader on the criteria for choosing his ministers. It was also learnt that the president said he was thinking of trying “new hands” instead of recycling the same old ones. The closed door meeting between both leaders came on the heels of findings by The Nation newspaper that President Buhari may send the list of ministers to the…
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, has faulted the position of governors of the All Progressives Congress, for insisting that they would not declare their assets publicly as President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have done. The APC governors had reportedly said it was not compulsory for them to declare their assets publicly and that they would not be pressured into following the example laid down by Messrs. Buhari and Osinbajo. The governors had stated that there was no law mandating them to publicly state the worth of their assets and liabilities, adding that they have already declared…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday denied having any pact with the Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, on the constitution of the state executive council. The governor had during a televised interview on Wednesday in Calabar, the state capital, confirmed that some positions in his cabinet would be allotted to the opposition APC. But the National Vice-Chairman of APC in the South-South zone, Mr. Hilliard Eta, said Gov. Ayade’s proposal was a contraption of the Peoples Democratic Party-led government in Cross River State to score cheap political points. In a statement issued through his media aide, Mr.…
The Department of State Services (DSS) has dismissed 57 cadet officers undergoing training at its training institute in Lagos. The affected trainees were said to have been dismissed for not meeting the basic entry requirements into the service. They were said to have been shown the exit door from the training programme after failing the screening ordered by the service’s leadership, following reports of the anomalies that trailed their recruitment. The dismissed officers were part of about 430 personnel participating in the Cadet Officers Basic Course 28 of 2014 code named COBC28/2014, who were expected to graduate as Senior Intelligence…
Following his unusual quietness and disappearance from public glare in recent times, many people wrongly assumed controversial Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, had been quietly dismissed but the Nigeria Police Force said on Friday that he is still in active service. The former Rivers and FCT Commissioner of Police, who came to national consciousness following his many public battles with then Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was recently transferred to Jos, Plateau State, as Commandant, Police Staff College. The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, was forced to react to the claim by some activists that…
Nigeria’s Super Falcons, were shocked 2-1 by Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday and now await the outcome of Sunday’s clash between Ghana and Cameroon to know their semi-final opponents. The reigning African champions, who had earlier thrashed Congo and Tanzania, lost their last group game on Saturday to finish the group stage with six points. Cameroon and Ghana have a point a piece after their respective 1-1 and goalless draw with South Africa, who currently top the three-nation Group B with 2 points, following Egypts withdrawal from the women’s Football Tournament of the All-Africa Games. At present, all three nations have…
An officer of the State Security Service, Godwin Mba, has revealed how cult groups and thugs marred the April 11 governorship election in Rivers State. Mr. Mba, who led SSS’ operatives on election duty to Andoni Local Government Area, told the Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja that the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State worked in tandem with known cultists and thugs in Andoni from the eve of the election till the announcement of result. The security officer, who took time to brief the Justice Suleman Ambrosa-led panel, said the unlawful activities of the PDP on election…