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February 15, 2018 Agency Report President Muhammadu Buhari returning from Turkey President Muhammad Buhari arrived in Daura at about 5:20 p.m. on Thursday in an Air Force helicopter marked NAF -540 amidst cheers from supporters. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the president landed at the Daura helipad in company of his aides and close family members. Among his aides were Bashir Kankiya, Chief Security Officer to the President; Lawal Kazaure, the Chief Protocol Officer to the President and Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity. Mr. Buhari is in Daura to commiserate with members of his immediate family over the death of two of his sisters. NAN reported that the president was received by the Emir of Daura, Farouk Umar and thousands of well-wishers. NAN recalls that Aisha Mamman, wife of the President’s elder brother and Halima Dauda, the President

February 14, 2018 APC Senators A group of senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress has rejected the senate adoption of the conference committee report on amendment to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act. Specifically, the senators said they were opposed to the amendment to section 25 of the Act which re-arranged the order of the 2019 elections. The House of Representatives was first to amend the Electoral Act to change the order of the 2019 general elections putting the election of federal lawmakers first before that of the state lawmakers and state governors, with the last being the presidential election. The senators, 10 in number, left the chambers to address the press while plenary was still on. The 10 senators are Abdullahi Adamu, Nasarawa-APC; Ovie Omo-Agege, Delta-APC; Binta Garba, Adamawa-APC; Ali Wakili, Bauchi-APC; Kurfi Umaru, Katsina-APC and Andrew Uchend

February 14, 2018 Organised campaign by the Initiative for Africa Youth Advancement Advocacy and Empowerment, IAYAAE, themed "Elections without Bloodbath". A publicist to popular Nigerian pop artiste, Innocent Idibia (2Baba), Efe Omoregbe, on Tuesday called on Nigerian youth to act rather than complain about the state of the nation. Mr. Omoregbe spoke at a programme organised by the Initiative for Africa Youth Advancement Advocacy and Empowerment, IAYAAE, themed “Elections without Bloodbath”. The programme, which held at the premises of the Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Secretariat, Lagos, was put together to sensitise the youth on the dangers of electoral violence. Mr. Omoregbe in his intervention called to the youth to deploy affirmative action and apply knowledge gathered synthetic programme during electioneering. He told the crowd to rise and act by taking responsibilities without trading blames, saying the Nigeria of today is the nat

February 14, 2018 South Africa's President Jacob Zuma gestures during a media briefing with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (not pictured) at the Union Building in Pretoria November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: POLITICS) South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) would on Thursday initiate a no-confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma at the parliament, local media reports said Wednesday. The decision came as Mr. Zuma refuses to stand down even after police raided homes of his associates, the Gupta family, in Johannesburg, the country’s commercial capital. The Guptas, who have been named in a series of corruption probes, are said to be associates of Mr. Zuma, who has led South Africa since 2009. Some members of the ANC have long asked Mr. Zuma to step down, and the party itself formally took a position on the matter by asking Mr. Zuma to resig

2019: Tinubu meets Buhari, speaks on APC crisis, Obasanjo, IBB’s letters February 14, 2018 Tinubu and Buhari A leader of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, has said that his recent appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile all warring groups in the party is a great honour. The ex-Lagos governor also spoke on the recent letters to President Muhammadu Buhari by two former Nigerian leaders. Mr. Tinubu was appointed by Mr. Buhari last week to bring an end to various internal squabbles among members of the ruling APC across the country. The former Lagos State governor, who met behind closed doors with the president in his official residence on Tuesday, said he has already started the assignment. In a brief interview with the Nigerian Television Authority after the meeting, Mr. Tinubu, who spoke about the appointment, said Mr. Buhari has given him free hand to carr

February 14, 2018 Labaran Tanko A few days after the bizarre report that a snake ‘swallowed’ about N36 million from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s vault in Benue State, another state co-ordinator of the board in Nassarawa state has come up with a rather strange story to back an alleged fraud. This time, JAMB staffer, Labaran Tanko, said his car got burnt and in the process scratch cards worth N23 million were destroyed in the inferno. However, not impressed, as in the case of the Benue saga, the board, reacting through its registrar, dismissed Mr. Tanko’s claims. A few days ago, a JAMB sales clerk, Philomina Chieshe, had told JAMB registrar and his team who conducted on a fact-finding sessions on alleged fraud at the Board, that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards by the organisation. In the course of interrogation,

  12/02/2018... CNN sparked a backlash on Saturday after running an article fawning over the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. CNN featured the article, titled, “Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics,” prominently on their front page and dubbed Kim Yo Jong — a high-ranking official in the murderous regime — “North Korea’s Ivanka Trump.” “If ‘diplomatic dance’ were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister would be favored to win gold,” the article read. “With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea’s presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.”

February 11, 2018 Kemi Busari Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello [Photo Credit: The News Nigeria] The federal government has dragged the senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, to court on a two-count charge for alleged false information. Mr. Melaye last April reported an alleged assassination attempt on his life while he was in his home state of Kogi. The senator and the Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello, are members of the same party, APC, but are sworn enemies. Mr. Melaye had accused the Kogi governor and his aides of being responsible for the alleged assassination attempt. In the first count charge filed against him, Mr. Melaye was accused of deliberately giving false information to the police to frame the Chief of Staff to Mr. Bello, Edward David, as the mastermind of the assassination attempt on him at his hometown in Ayetoro-Gbede, Kogi State, last April. In the second count, Mr. Melaye was

February 10, 2018 Adedibu's 'palace' (Photo taken by Oladeinde Olawoyin) A one-storey mosque stood adjacent the main building that was Lamidi Adedibu’s main building. There, he held sway as an oracle and dished out orders that were considered laws at a time in Ibadan and other parts of Oyo State. Time was 3:45 p.m. and this reporter just swaggered into the ‘Molete Palace’ of the late Ibadan politician and stalwart of the then ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party. The afternoon sun baked the skin with fiendish delight. At the entrance of the commodious ‘palace’, about five weird-looking middle-aged men sat on a bench, leaving the gate ajar. A banner displaying Mr. Adedibu’s image occupies a part of the gate, swinging slowly to the rhythm of the afternoon wind. Easily noticeable was a narrow, tarred, deserted road that connects the entire ‘palace’ with the major road linking Molete and Oke-Ado.

February 10, 2018 President Muhammadu Buhari signing President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday received briefing on the 2018 Hajj Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, meeting which held in Saudi Arabia last month from the Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Khadija Bukar Ibrahim, and the Chairman / Chief Executive Officer of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON, Abdullahi Muhammad, at the presidential villa. According to a statement by NAHCON’s spokesperson, Adamu Abdullahi, Mr. Buhari was informed that “Nigeria’s approved quota for Hajj 2018 was 95,000 slots with 75,000 going to State Pilgrims Welfare Boards and Agencies and 20,000 going to Private Tour Operators”. “He was also briefed about some of the new policies introduced by the Saudi Arabian Government which included payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) by all consumers of goods and services in Saudi Arabia beginning 1st January, 2018; Fixing of May 201

Fraud after Flood: How relief materials for Benue victims were diverted February 10, 2018Eromo Egbejule Benue flood. [Photo credit: Bella Naija]   Related News Benue Flood: Tuface, Annie At around 2p.m. on Wednesday September 6, 2017, a Nigerian presidential jet carrying Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, touched down at the airstrip in Makurdi, the Benue state capital and was received by Samuel Ortom, the governor. Mr. Osinbajo and his delegation – which included Audu Ogbeh, the Minister for Agriculture, and Babatunde Fashola, the Minister for Works, Power & Housing – were in town because only a week earlier, a flood triggered by a three-day rain had caused the River Benue to overflow its banks and soak the city. There were three fatalities and over 110,000 people in 2,769 households were displaced across 24 communities in the state during the August 27 floods, according to the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). Internally Displaced People (IDPs) flocked to re

February 10, 2018 APC Crisis: Kwara, Lagos chapters clash ov The Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe North), has said the setting up of the reconciliation committee for the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is headed by the party’s national leader, Bola Tinubu, is long overdue. He made this statement at the Presidential Villa mosque on Friday while explaining that ”time was against the party and that the reconciliation process had to begin immediately.” President Muhammadu Buhari recently named Mr. Tinubu to lead the charge for “a united APC as 2019 election draws near.” The party which had previously raised committees to resolve the crises across its state chapters appears to have settled on Mr. Tinubu to resolve the matter. Mr. Buhari had charged Mr. Tinubu with the responsibility of leading consultation, reconciliation and confidence building efforts as part of efforts towards improving cohesion within the APC. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has also cri

February 9, 2018 Leader of the O’Odua People’s Congress and Aare Onakakanfo of Oyo, Gani Adams. The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has called of the federal government to urgently mandate security agents to “arrest the blood-thirsty maniacs on the rampage in the country, masquerading as herdsmen, and bring them to justice, to avoid a total breakdown of law and order.” He said this on Thursday in a statement where he condemned killings by armed herdsmen. “The first fundamental right of a Nigerian is the right to life. It is when you are alive that you can enjoy other rights. Once this right is taken away from you through killings and murder, you cannot enjoy any other right,” he noted. The statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, said “Nigerians demand Right to Life. More than a thousand Nigerians have been killed in the last one year. Is Nigeria at war?