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The Supreme has uphold the election of Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party as governor of the oil-rich Rivers State. The court gave the ruling Wednesday but did not provide reasons for its judgment. It said detailed reasons for the verdict would be provided on February 12. The Court of Appeal had on December 16 affirmed the judgment of the Rivers Governorship Election Tribunal. The appeal court had ruled that Mr. Wike was not validly elected. The Rivers Tribunal had earlier on October 24 nullified Mr. Wike’s election. The tribunal, which delivered its ruling in Abuja, also ordered that a fresh governorship election be conducted in the state. After the tribunal’s ruling, the governor headed to the Court of Appeal, saying the judgment was untenable. The petition challenging the election of Mr. Wike as Rivers State Governor was filed by Dakuku Peterside, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, in the election. The Rivers governorship election, which was critic...

A senator representing Lagos Central, Oluremi Tinubu, says the 2016 national budgetary allocation of N4 billion to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is inadequate as it would not cater for the welfare of women who supported the ruling party. Mrs. Tinubu, the wife of a leader of the ruling APC, made this known during the debate on the general principles of the 2016 budget proposal at a senate plenary in Abuja on Tuesday. According to her, the allocation will not be adequate to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian women, who are looking up to the APC-led government for succour in line with its 2015 campaign promises. “This budget is less than N4 billion and the capital is almost N3 billion. “When you look at it what is left to do any work. I am laying this case on behalf of the Nigerian women that this is not going to go well. It is as if we have been used during the campaign. “We say this is the government of change, that our change mantra ...

The Federal Government has said that it had not closed any criminal case being investigated in the country, technically raising the potential for some prominent Nigerians implicated in the legendary Siemens and Halliburton scandals to face trial. The Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, who made the disclosure in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja, also dismissed as untenable the notion that President Muhammadu Buhari was afraid of taking the Halliburton and Siemens cases because the key suspects were top military leaders. Malami was responding to enquiries about the claim that Buhari’s administration had jettisoned the probe into the Halliburton and Siemens corruption scandals, in which Nigeria lost billions of Naira to high-ranking Nigerians who held sway at the time. Media reports yet to be dispelled by the administration had claimed that the government was afraid to confront the powerful beneficiaries of the scam which had landed other suspects in the Unite...

Former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has described as malicious attempts by Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), to link her with the $2.1 billion arms scandal. Falana had written the International Criminal Court, ICC, asking it to investigate those allegedly involved in the arms deal, including the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) Media Assistant to the former minister, Mr. Paul Nwabuiku, said in a statement yesterday: ‘’The malicious attempt by Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana to mix Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala up in issues that have nothing to do with her in his letter to the International Criminal Court, ICC, is a desperate joke by an integrity-challenged charlatan. ‘’This misadventure shows that the so-called learned lawyer does not have any idea of what the mandate of the ICC is about. ’He has resorted to this action because his previous efforts to tarnish her image, through his discredited NGO, SERAP and petitions to the EFCC – failed becau...

Men in Eritrea have been asked by the President Isaias Afwerki-led government to marry more than one wife or risk being jailed for life. This is contained in a statement in Arabic by the Grand Mufti (the highest official of religious law in the country) which scanned copy surfaced on social media sites on Thursday last week. In the statement, Eritrea called for all men in the country to marry at least two wives and the government assured the men that it would pay for the marriage ceremonies and houses. According to the government, the order is because there is an acute shortage of men occasioned by causalities during the civil war with Ethiopia. Afkinsider.com said the document, which could not be independently verified, warned that any man or woman who opposes the decision “will face a life sentence”. The document in Arabic, which is in Arabic, says, “Based on the law of God in polygamy, and given the circumstances which the country is experiencing in terms of men shortage, the...

Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Anthony Car­dinal Olubunmi Okogie, yesterday released a statement criticizing the Buhari-led government. In the statement which was signed by the Director of Social Com­munications of the Diocese, Monsig­nor Gabriel Osu, Cardinal Okogie criticized Buhari for failing to heed court injunctions that granted both Dasuki and Pro-Biafra group leader, Nnamdi Kanu, bail. The respected religious leader asked what sort of "Change" is the President talking about when such acts of judicial disobedience is now the order of the day. According to Okogie, the belief of many Nigerians is that the government is turning the nation into a police state comprising of the President, the EFCC and the DSS. He alleged that governors, who arm-twisted Okonjo-Iweala into signing reserves held by Central Bank, are today ministers in the All Progres­sives Congress (APC) government. Read part of the statement below “He (Buhari) must retool, re­foc...

Technical partners from China, Pakistan and India have arrived Akwa Ibom State to kick start the production of electricity meters expected to hit the market in the next two months. The company, Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Limited (MSMSL) came to the state just last December when its foundation stone was laid in Onna Local Government Area of the state. The spokesman of the company, Mr Zhang Loohang told journalists after a meeting with Gov, Udom Emmanuel at the weekend t Interacting in Government House, Uyo that the company which has just arrived Africa decided to site its plant in Akwa Ibom because of its strategic location in the Gulf of Guinea and attributed its establishment to the passion for making electricity available and affordable in the state by Gov. Emmanuel since electricity holds the key to industralisation which the state government seeks to put in place for the people. Mr. Loohang explained that Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services Limited is a...

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun says Nigeria’s present economic downturn could be an act of God to remind Nigeria on the need to implement and embrace radical change, particularly in the country’s current economic model.‎ Odigie-Oyegun made the disclosure when he received in audience a 15-member delegation of an APC support group, Change Agents Foundation (CAF) led by its Director-General, Dr. Felix Felix at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja. “I think God has a hand in the current economic predicament of the country. Imagine the sudden fall in the price of crude oil, the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, from its heights in 2014, averaging $112 per barrel down to the current price of $28 per barrel — lower than the $38 per barrel which the proposed 2016 budget is predicated on. It is an object lesson for us. It tells us that we must embrace radical change in our economic model.” Odigie-Oyegun said. He said the drop in o...

Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) on Wednesday in Abuja, berated the 2016 budget and called on President Muhammaduu Buhari to withdraw it and go back to the drawing board. Abaribe while making contributions during the consideration of the budget, said the proposal was faulty on many grounds and could not be implemented at it was. He said that predication of oil benchmark at 38 dollars per barrel when the crude oil price had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel made the budget unrealistic. Abaribe faulted the government for increasing spending by 30 per cent based on borrowing. “Mr President, my colleagues, this budget is indeed unique. After the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done. “It is a budget of change I agree, but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified. ...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Wednesday, Jnuary 20, 2016 announced the operational shutdown of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries owing to crude supply challenges arising from recent attacks on vital crude oil pipelines. In a statement by the Corporation said that the plants were shut simultaneously on Sunday after the Bonny – Okrika crude supply line to the Port Harcourt Refinery and the Escravos-Warri crude supply line to the Kaduna Refinery suffered breaches. The NNPC stated that before the closure, the Port Harcourt Refinery was recording a daily PMS yield of over 4.1 million litres while Kaduna Refinery was posting a daily petrol production of about 1.3 million litres. The statement noted that the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company, WRPC is still on stream and producing a little above 1.4 million Litres of petrol per day. The Corporation however assured that it has put in place strategies to guarantee unimpeded country-wide availability of ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to deal decisively with the seeming resurgence of oil theft, vandalism of pipelines and insecurity in the Niger Delta. Declaring that the Nigerian Armed Forces had already dealt “deadly blows” on Boko Haram, Mr. Buhari said the activities of oil thieves and vandals would soon be brought to an end, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, on Tuesday. “The oil thieves and abductors are a less problematic target. We will re-organise and deal with them,” he was quoted as saying. Speaking Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the president warned telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria not to place their desire for huge profits above the security needs of the country. Speaking at an interactive forum with members of the Nigerian Community in Abu Dhabi, President Buhari said the war against terrorism can only be won with the collective effort and commitment of everyone. Remarking that the registration of all mobile phone users without exc...

At the time of writing this essay, Nigeria has lost 44 of her citizens to the dreaded Lassa Fever which like the equally dreaded Ebola Virus Disease is a haemorrhagic fever that spreads easily from one person to another even at the slightest of contacts. The two diseases need a comprehensive action plan involving the people and relevant agencies, local and international, as led and mobilised by government who deploys all resources necessary, be it human, cash and material, to tackle the menace headlong before it ravages the citizenry. That the disease has claimed 44 lives already within a short period of time shows how deadly it can be. The Ebola virus which caused a worldwide stir in 2014 and claimed about 11, 000 lives in West Africa alone when the epidemic occurred that year, can be considered to be more fearsome because of the number of casualties it claims per occurrence and its rapid spread to even Europe and the US which also lost some seven citizens together in the outbreak. ...

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, granted bail to the embattled National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, to the tune of N400 million. Metuh, who was on Friday remanded in Kuje Prison by Justice Okon Abang, was brought to court yesterday in handcuffs. He is answering to a seven-count criminal charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. His firm, Destra Investment Limited, was also charged before the court over alleged N400 million fraud involving the Office of the National Security Adviser. Specifically, EFCC, alleged that Metuh had in November 2014, collected N400 million from the erstwhile National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd). The fund which was withdrawn from an account the Office of the NSA operated with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was allegedly transferred to Metuh through account no. 0040437573 which Destra Investments Limited operated with D...

Nigerian state governors, ministers, business leaders, public officials and bankers allegedly stole $6.7 billion in public funds in seven years, information minister Lai Mohammed said on Monday. Mohammed told reporters in the capital, Abuja, that some 1.34 trillion naira ($6.72 billion, 6.15 billion euros) was allegedly stolen between 2006 and 2013. “The situation is dire and the time to act is now,” he added. Giving a breakdown of the alleged theft, Mohammed claimed: – 15 former state governors stole 146.84 billion naira – 11 businessmen took 653 billion naira – Eight people in the banking industry stole 524 billion naira – 12 former state and federal public servants made off with more than 14 billion naira – four former ministers took seven billion naira The period covered starts toward the end of the second term in office for Nigeria’s first civilian president after military rule, Olusegun Obasanjo. He was replaced in 2007 by Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Goodluck Jonathan to...

Billionaire real estate tycoon and Republican Presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, has again, called out on Africans with a threat to send those in the United States away if he wins the upcoming election. He made the disclosure during a rally at Wichita, Kansas where he re-emphasized the need to rid America of Muslims. Trump laid an extra emphasis on the Nigerians who he referred to as ‘corrupt’ and further promised to send away because they have taken all the jobs meant for honest hard working Americans. He said: “To Make America great again, we need to get rid of the Muslims, Mexicans and the Africans, especially the Nigerians. They take all our jobs, jobs meant for honest hard working Americans, and when we don’t give them the jobs, the Muslims blow us up.” “We need to get the Africans out. Not the blacks, the Africans. Especially the Nigerians. They’re everywhere. I went for a rally in Alaska and met just one African in the entire state. Where was he from? Nigeria! He’s in Al...

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has been caught on tape using an officer of Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Service, to clean his shoes in public. A video sent to PREMIUM TIMES by one of its readers showed the minister, dressed in white gown, relaxing on a couch with his legs stretched out. The SSS officer appeared from the sides, with a handkerchief in his right hand and a holstered service pistol protruding from his jacket. He was shown stooping before the minister, using his left hand to lift Mr. Dambazau’s right leg, slightly above the floor to clean his loafers. The minister bent his head to notice him, before looking away to focus on the event unfolding in a distance. The minister was at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Academy in an Abuja suburb for an event in December. He was seated between what seemed to be top officers of the NSCDC who merely took short glances at the SSS officer stooping before them. Soon, the right leg s...

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the Nationally Assembly to formally request the withdrawal of the 2016 Appropriation Bill he had presented to a joint session of the federal legislature on December 22 for adjustment, THISDAY has learnt. The president’s letter was addressed to Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara. The formal request followed controversy over the alleged secret extraction and doctoring of the original budget document. The controversy over the budget had raged all through last week, as the National Assembly resumed after a recess and the legislators prepared to begin deliberation on the budget. It emerged that the budget saga, which became the source of an ever-growing confusion, arose from Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang’s alleged adoption of a sneaky approach in the pursuit of an otherwise legitimate objective. It was gathered that Buhari had disc...

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Charles Soludo, has stated that the 2016 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari failed to make a departure from the budgets of the past administration, noting that it was almost identical to the one presented by former President Goodluck Jonathan. According to Soludo, the present budget was a carbon copy of the one by Jonathan’s government, adding, “Defeating old bad ideas could be better that initiating new ones.” He said this while speaking at the 13th Daily Trust Dialogue in Abuja yesterday. Soludo expressed concern over where the nation would be by 2050, saying Nigeria had underperformed despite earning over one trillion dollars from oil over the years. He regretted that the money earned from oil has only kept the looting elite united and organised while the nation is now the fifth among states classified as failed states. He said the Nigeria constitution was designed for sharing and consumption regarding...

Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole on Thursday, said the current outbreak of Lassa fever in the country is because the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan failed to implement a roadmap drawn in 2012. The minister also disclosed that the ministry was going to begin testing on a potential vaccine that would be used to prevent the virus. Adewole disclosed these while briefing the Senate Committee on Health headed by Sen. Lanre Tejuosho (APC, Lagos) on the outbreak of the lassa virus in Nigeria. Prof. Adewole put the number of cases as of today was 129 adding that the hospital which treated the deceased victim of the disease before referral to the national hospital was being investigated. The minister said that the virus would have been defeated by now if there was the Jonathan administration had the political will to implement a roadmap designed in 2012 to forestall future occurrence. He said: “In 2012 we recorded 1723 cases, after that, because of the severity,...

Contrary to counter claims on Friday by #BringBackOurGirls advocate Oby Ezekwesili that President Buhari did not walk out on the parents of the missing Chibok girls, Aisha Yesufu, a leader of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign who was at the said meeting has re-affirmed earlier reports that Buhari indeed walked out of the meeting without paying any attention to the grieving Chibok parents. Ezekwesili had denied reports that President Buhari walked out on the group after a meeting yesterday, January 14, 2016. EiE Nigeria, a socio-political advocacy group had tweeted on Thursday how President Buhari snobbed the Chibok parents. But moments after news of the cold reception gained traction in the media, Ezekwesili took to her Twitter page to issue a counter claim. Ezekwesili said that the president failed to connect emotionally with the mothers of the Chibok girls who were weeping during the meeting. She said the President didn’t walk out on the Chibok parents. “No. President @MBuhari ...

In furtherance of the anti graft war, President Muhammadu Buhari, Friday, ordered the EFCC to probe former Chief of Defence Staff, Chiefs of Air Staff, and thirty six others over corruption in military procurements. A statement issued by Garba Shehu, senior special advisor to the President on Media & Publicity, said the probe was necessitated by the recommendation of the committee established to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to 2015. The statement made available to the press on Friday, January 15, 2015 read: On the recommendation of the committee established to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out further investigation into the misconduct established against the following retired and serving officers of the Nigerian Air Force and Nigerian Army:” ...

Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was today (January 14th) honored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. He was awarded with the Presidential Award in recognition of his leadership in advancing human rights, social justice and the fight for universal freedom. The SCLC, founded by the late American Civil Right leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, in January 1957 is currently led by Dr. Charles Steele Jr. The event is part of the activities leading up to the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday, January 18th, 2016. Former President Jonathan is the first African leader to be so honored. Dr. Jonathan also received Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s sister, Naomi King during the event. Before his remarks at the event, Dr. Jonathan met privately with the president of the SCLC. The president of the SCLC, Dr. Charles Steele Jr proposed to work with the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation to advance the cause of peace around the world and to b...

. California winner of last night's record Powerball draw has been revealed . Woman is a mother-of-seven, 62, who works in a nursing home in Pomona . Despite discovering she won $187m while at work, she finished her shift . Her boss, David Levy, said: 'It couldn't have happened to a nicer person' . Woman was bought lucky ticket by home owner Reb Shlomo Yehuda One of the three winners of last night's record $1.6billion Powerball jackpot has been revealed as a nursing home worker and mother-of-seven from Pomona, California. The woman, 62, who has not yet been named, works at the Park Avenue Health and Wellness Center in Pomona, and despite realizing she had won last night, stayed to finish her shift afterwards. According to center manager David Levy, who spoke to the New York Daily News, the woman has worked there for five years greeting visitors as the walk in. The woman is expected to walk away with a prize of $187,240,000, after federal taxes have been ap...

Celine Dion's husband and manager René Angélil died at their Las Vegas home on Thursday just two days shy of his 74th birthday. '[He had] a long and courageous fight against cancer. The family wishes to live the mourning in privacy,' read a statement on the singer's Facebook page. The 47-year-old pop diva and her beau - who battled throat cancer since 1998 - had just celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary on December 17. The five-time Grammy winner was only 12 years old when twice-divorced René declared her a star and became her mentor/manager. In 1981, he reportedly mortgaged his home to fund Celine's first record La voix du bon Dieu and, by 1993, the French-Canadian couple went public with their romance. Last March, a tearful Dion revealed her husband was no longer able to eat and was getting all of his meals through a tube. 'He can't use his mouth. He can't eat so I feed him. He's got a feeding tube. I have to feed him three times a day. ...

(CNN)"And I assure you that we will defeat Boko Haram by the end of this year." This was the pledge made by Nigerian President Muhammdu Buhari to his Beninese counterpart, Boni Yayi, during a gala dinner commemorating Benin's independence during the summer of 2015. It was a promise that the Nigerian head of state would also reiterate to fellow Nigerians, who eagerly waited for him to make good on his promise and act with the decisiveness that Buhari had accused his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, of lacking. Yet as 2015 drew to a close, the specter of Boko Haram loomed as large as ever over Africa's most populous state. Indeed, less than 48 hours after the Buhari regime announced that it had fulfilled its vow of defeating the group, at least 50 people were killed in a wave of violence in Nigeria's insurgent-embattled Borno and Adamawa states. Those skeptical of Boko Haram's defeat were vindicated, those residing within the terrorists' deadly reach cont...