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The immediate past Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Friday stormed the headquarters of the Department of State Services, Abuja, to seek the arrest of the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara for his role in the alleged budget padding. In a tweet on his official Twitter handle, Jibrin said he was at the DSS headquarters as of 7.30pm on Friday to call for the arrest of Dogara and other members involved in the padding. He wrote, “Just arrived SSS HQ. The journey to get Speaker Dogara and other members of the corrupt group has begun!” Jibrin has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission regarding the alleged padding. Sources said the EFCC had acknowledged receipt of the petition. A source at the EFCC said, “We have just received a petition from Jibrin. We will definitely work on it.” This is just as the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee

In a statement issued today, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed that a team negotiating on behalf of the Federal Government for a return of peace to the oil-rich delta had agreed to release several detained or imprisoned militants, including Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, Henry Okah, a MEND chieftain serving a jail sentence in South Africa, Charles Okah, and Obi Nwabueze. The statement disclosed that Mr. Kanu and other detained IPOB activists would be released on condition that they renounce their agitation for secession. According to MEND, ex-Senator Adolphus Wabara had introduced the compromise to secure the release of the pro-Biafran agitators. MEND also stated that the government’s negotiators had agreed not to arrest or harass fugitive ex-MEND militant, Government Ekpemupolo (popularly known as Tompolo), “whenever he makes himself available as a delegate of the MEND Aaron Team 2.” In addition, the group stated that the gov

Government of Bauchi State under the prudent  leadership of Governor Muhammed A. Abubakar Esq has in partnership with the SDGs penultimte month embarked upon the construction of 19 Primary Healthcare Centres, 90 solar-powered and hand pump boreholes, 19 PHC staff accommodation, 19 units of modern hospital equipments, ambulances among others with the view to plug the gap in the area of Health, water and sanitation and to reflate the economy of the State. The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) estimated that one PHC provide 30 direct permanent jobs and hundreds more of indirect jobs. Furthermore 1 PHC directly affects 12 out of the 17 sustainable development goals and address 80 of disease burden. The projects are in line with the five points Health agenda of Governor Abubakar and the administration's resolve to ensure adequate provision of portable water across the rural areas in the State.

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed deep shock and horror at the shootings which recently rocked Munich, Germany. On behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Buhari sends his most sincere condolences to the families and friends of victims of the barbaric act. The President says it is quite unfortunate and inconceivable that the forces of evil do not relent on their activities, but expresses confidence  that with the unanimity of purpose from all forces around the world, the workers and perpetrators of these evil acts will not prevail. The President also assures the people of Germany that Nigerians as a people are standing with them at this time and are ready to assist in any way to defeat the planners and executors of such crimes.

The Department of State Services ( DSS) has arrested one Jones Abari, aka Gen. Akotebe Darikoro, for the alleged mastermind of a hoaxed plan to overthrow President Muhammad Buhari by the military. A statement issued by an official of the service, Mr Tony Opuiyo in Abuja on Saturday said Abari was arrested in Yenagoa on July 21. Opuiyo described the suspect as the leader of the Joint Revolutionary Council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force (JNDLF). He said that Abari had confessed to other criminal activities which included a threat to launch missile attacks on selected targets in Abuja and Aso Rock. Others include writing threat messages to the management of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) demanding for N500 million and N250 million respectively. He said that the suspect also masterminded the vandalism of NAOC trunk line in Ogboinbiri, Southern Ijaw and bombing of SPDC oil pipeline. In another development, the DSS said it ha

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has reiterated the determination of government to build and energize small hydros and scattered across the country, so that they could provide electricity to the various rural communities near where they are located.  The Minister while inaugurating both the Steering Committee and Project delivery time gave the members 45 days to complete assignment from procurement procedure to civil and mechanical engineering works, this is to take cognizance of works already done and what needed to be done in the quest for quick completion of the projects.  He said the assignment of quickly energizing these small dams is consistent with the target of Government, that by year 2020 at least the energy mix for renewable energy sources would be 30%.  Fashola challenged the Committee to work hard in the service of the nation, reminding them that our rural folks desire better deal in this dispensation.  “We must touch the lives of people in the

The Federal Government will actively support the use of public private partnership to develop infrastructure in the aviation industry, Mr Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, has said. Receiving executive members of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies led by its National President, Mr Bankole Bernard, at State House, Abuja, Adesina said the administration of President Buhari would create the right policies and enabling environment for businesses to thrive in Nigeria. The President’s spokesman told members of the association that the Federal Government was eager to implement policies to reduce dependency on oil and has identified tourism as a key sector for job creation and economic growth. Adesina received a presentation from the association on the situation in the industry and promised to transmit their observations to the President. Earlier, Bernard had stressed the need for the Federal Government to find a solution to recent trends, wh

The Akwa Ibom State Government through the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Uwemedimo Nwoko, Esq., filed an ex-parte motion (application) at the High Court of Akwa Ibom State, Ikot Ekpene Judicial Division, presided over by Hon. Justice NFN Ntong, sought and obtained inter alia, an order of interim injunction restraining the Federal Government or any of its agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Inspector General of Police from arresting, detaining or investigating any official of the state government, past or present, without any report of indictment by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. Also, the Judge granted an order of interim injunction restraining: The Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly; The House of Assembly for Akwa Ibom State; The Clerk of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly; The Auditor General for Akwa Ibom State and the Ac

SaharaReporters has learned details of the First Lady of Nigeria Aisha Buhari’s upcoming trip to the United States this August. News of Mrs. Buhari’s trip to the US follows accusations by embattled Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose that she was involved in the famous Halliburton scandal and, as a consequence, cannot go to the US for fear of being arrested. Independent investigations by SaharaReporters and the New York Times have found that the First Lady Aisha Buhari is not the same "Aisha Buhari" involved with the Halliburton scandal, despite Mr. Fayose’s persistent remarks. According to an official invitation letter obtained by SaharaReporters, Mrs. Buhari is expected to be in the US from August 1st to the 10th and will be attending bilateral meetings at the George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She will also be hosted by the United States Institute of Peace in collaboration with Voice of America media organization. The invitation also says that Mrs. Buhari “will atte

Everyday the government of King Saul keep telling Bayelsans that there is no money which is the reason why they can't pay salaries. You may be forced to believe them because of the way they are crying but latest development has shown that they are really lying. On Rhythm FM in Bayelsa yesterday, the SA Political to Seriake Dickson, Hon. Fynman Wilson confirmed that the governor has traveled to the United States. Thank God he used his mouth to make the confirmation because if I or any member of the APC had said that they would have termed it another propaganda from opposition. Now it is really not about the trip but what did the governor go there to do. According to Fynman Wilson he went for an "Ijaw Event". This is surprising because the same Dickson had criticize his predecessor Chief Timipre Sylva of going abroad every year to organize the Isaac Boro Day celebration. My people I ask is this not hypocrisy? From what Fynman Wilson said Dickson was accompanied on the trip

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday enumerated no less than a dozen policies the Buhari administration is putting in place to reverse the reverse the worrisome trend of the nation’s economy. Mrs. Adeosun mentioned the policies as she fielded questions from senators during her appearance before the Senate. The key areas Mrs. Adeosun highlighted as being of immediate concerns to federal government with regards to tackling the alarming economic situation are as follows: 1. We would streamline the cost of government and improve efficiency of public service delivery across the Federal and Sub-national Governments. 2. Targeted spending on innovative social programmes and infrastructure, including social infrastructure. 3. Direct and model economic policies away from oil and towards non-oil revenues as global demand for oil decreases and supply increases 4. Focus on delivery of basic services to the Nigerian population upon which business can be built and improved standard of l

The former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has spoken of what he claimed were the real reasons for his removal on Wednesday. Mr. Jibrin, a former ally of the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, had said that he chose to step down for personal reasons. In a statement he released late Thursday, Mr. Jibrin raised a humongous allegation of fraud against Mr. Dogara. He accused the speaker of attempting to pad N30 billion into the controversial 2016 budget. Read his full statement: I am obliged to make further statement after listening to the full statement of Speaker Yakubu Dogara on why I had to leave as Chairman Appropriation. It is a fact I went up to the Speaker and told him clearly I wanted to leave. He confirmed this in his statement but it appeared he wished he had fired me instead of my personal decision to step down. Thereafter I proceeded to my office. I was therefore not surprised when an aide of mine walked into my office to inform me

The Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), says on Thursday it distributed the sum of N559.032 billion to the three tiers of government. This makes it highest allocation since the APC led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari took over power 12 months ago. The Excess Crude Account (ECA) has also increased from $2.61b to $3.094 billion. Minister of Finance and Chairman of FAAC, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who chaired the meeting said that the gross statutory revenue of N538.788 billion received for the month was higher than the N237.466 billion received in the previous month by N301.322 billion. She attributed the improvement in the revenue to the non oil sector especially the Federal Inland revenue (FIRS) which she said has increased its collection by N165 billion as well as the Nigerian Customs Service. Giving the breakdown of the distributed figures, the Federal Government received a total of N209.46 billion inclusive of its 52.68 percent and 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT). The

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it will file a motion for a stay of execution on the ruling by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, which ordered the release of Abiodun Agbele. Agbele, an associate of Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, has been under EFCC probe over N1,299,490,000 wired into the governor’s accounts. The suspect collected the slush funds from a former Minister of Defence, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro. Obanikoro ferried the cash to Akure Airport in a chartered aircraft with Registration No: HS125-800 5N-BMT belonging to Gyro Air Limited. The cash was from the N4.745 billion paid into Obanikoro’s company, Sylva Mcnamara, by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for Ekiti governorship poll in 2014. Agbele had taken EFCC to the Abuja High Court, challenging the legality of his detention by the EFCC without trial since last month. He sought the enforcement of his rights to freedom of liberty, human dignity and the right to

Budget and National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma said two negative quarters growth “technically” amount to recession. He was aware of only the negative growth in the first quarter, but he suspected the yet to be received second quarter report would also be negative. Udoma said while the government had expected the low price of oil in the international market, it did not envisage the destruction of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta, which has reduced output. But Udoma was confident that the economy will pick up in the third quarter, noting that Nigeria will end the year well. Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the minister said there was already an increase in non-oil revenues. With him at the briefing were Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku. He said: “Recession is basically when you have two quarters of negative growth. We had a first qua

Nsima Udo Ekere, 51, is an entrepreneur and innovative thinker with a short but impactful public service career. He studied Estate Management at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, graduating in 1986.  In the years following, he has built successful businesses and garnered cogent national and international experiences in real estate, urban and regional planning, oil and gas, power and construction. As a public officer, Ekere served briefly as Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State between May 2011 and October 2012 before resigning on personal grounds.  Prior to that, he was the Executive Chairman of the Akwa Ibom Investment and Industrial Promotion Council, AKIIPOC, the state investment agency (2007 – 2012).  He also served as  Chairman, Ibom Power Company (2008 – 2011). Overall, Ekere has more than 27 years of public and private sector experience, with 19 years spent in top management positions working cross-functionally in a variety of challenging projects across various economic sectors.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has denied reports that he has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP). In the last few hours, the media space has been awash with reports of Saraki's defection to the PDP. The rumor of defection resulted from Saraki’s presence at a meeting of the PDP lawmakers on Wednesday. But Saraki in statement released by one of his media aides, said he remains a loyal member of the APC. Saraki's statement reads: The attention of the Senate President has been drawn to a false publication that is making the rounds on social media that Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki has defected from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). This fabrication is entirely untrue as the Senate President stands committed to the APC; a party that he helped midwife and worked for its victory in the 2015 elections. In his official capacity as Senate President and chairman, National Assembly, he attended the end of session even

  There was wild jubilation at the premises of the Court of Appeal in Lagos State when the right to wear Hijab (Islamic headscarf) in public primary and secondary schools was granted on Thursday, July 21, 2016. After the judgement, Muslim males and females were seen praising God and exchanging pleasantries. Most of them were shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, ‘Alihamdulilah’‎, meaning Allah is the greatest and all thanks is due to Allah respectively. With the verdict, it means that Muslim students in Lagos State public schools have the right to wear Hijab on their school uniforms both within and outside their school premises without being punished or victimised. While delivering the verdict on Thursday, the justices set aside the verdict of the lower court (Lagos State High Court), which earlier disallowed the use of Hijab. The special panel of the Court of Appeal set up to hear the case had previously reserved its judgement on Friday, May 27. During the panel hearing, the presid

The Inspector-General of Police, Ag.IGP Ibrahim K. Idris, NPM, mni on July 20, 2016 paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Etteh-Ibas at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja. While at the Naval Headquarters, Ag.IGP Ibrahim Idris expressed his pleasure at the warm reception accorded him and his entourage. He stressed the need for collaboration and fraternization between both agencies, especially in the area of training Maritime Police personnel so as to keep Nigerian Waterways safe. He further stated the intention of the Nigeria Police Force to procure house boats that would be manned by maritime Policemen in order to effectively curb the menace of pirates and terrorist attacks in the Niger Delta.  The IGP concluded his remarks by emphasizing the need for the Nigerian Navy to always have confidence in the Nigeria Police Force, as cases handed over would be diligently and expediently prosecuted. The Chief of Naval Staff while responding to the IGP’s remarks, congrat

Despite allegedly pumping billions of naira to compromise members of the Bayelsa State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in  Abuja, to procure a favorable judgment against the God anointed candidate of the All Progressive Congress APC, Chief Timipre Sylva, Part -time Bayelsa State governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson is still jittery. Dickson according to his close associates is not still confident that the judgement will be in his favour as expected after pumping in the billions, so he drew the attention of the man who imposed him on Bayelsa State and Bayelsans, former president Goodluck Jonathan to help him penetrate the judiciary with his contacts and influence the much anticipated judgment. Sources say Jonathan arrived Nigeria and  series of meetings where held in the presence of Rivers State Governor Chief Nyesom Wike and other PDP stalwarts. Again the development has still not convinced the Bayelsa Part-time governor of emerging victorious at the tribunal. The lat

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in jail for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. Pistorius, 29, was found guilty of Steenkamp's murder by an appeals court in December. "A long-term imprisonment will not serve justice," said judge Thokozile Masipa during sentencing. Ms Masipa said the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating and this was why she deviated from the minimum sentence for murder -15 years. She listed the mitigating factors. They included: Pistorius was vulnerable on his stumps without prostheses; he believed the person in the bathroom was an intruder and he took steps "immediately to try to save the deceased's life". The judge also said she believed the accused was genuinely remorseful. Pistorius initially received a five-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction in 2014, which he served one year of before being released into house arrest. The original conviction of culpable homicide wa

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said he knew the appropriate ways to deal with those opposing his ongoing anti-corruption war. He said anybody who attempted to deter his administration from fighting corruption would suffer the consequences. Buhari, who spoke in English and Hausa languages handed down the warning during the breaking of Ramadan fast, Iftar, he organised for some categories of people inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The President regretted that the elite were self-centred and were only thinking about themselves. “Whoever deter us from fighting corruption will suffer the consequences. It is unfortunate that the elite are self-centred and they only think about themselves. “Be assured that we care about you at all times. This government is concerned about your welfare and we will work hard to improve it,” Buhari told his guests that included the physically challenged, the Internally Displaced Persons, taxi drivers, commercial motorcycle riders,  artisans such as bu