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Monday, 19 December 2016 15:33

2 girl bombers explode outside Maiduguri

Police say two girl suicide bombers blew themselves up at a checkpoint outside Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri and wounded three civilians. Police spokesman Victor Isuku says the teenagers detonated their explosives when they were stopped for a search Sunday night about 12 kilometers (eight miles) east of the city center, near Muna bus station. That area has suffered several suicide bombings in recent weeks. Isuku blames Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist group that has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings. Some observers suspect that the women and girls are among the thousands Boko Haram has kidnapped…

Monday, 19 December 2016 02:36

Cabinet reshuffle: Buhari may drop 10 ministers

Strong indications have emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari may drop no fewer than 10 cabinet ministers, while some would be asked to swap portfolios at the turn of the new year. The decision to reshuffle the cabinet is coming on the heels of indication that the Presidency has tapped leaders of the Senate to secure prompt and less rancorous screening process. Already, two vacancies are existing in the ministerial portfolio, following the death of Barrister James Ocholi, the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment in March and the exit last week of the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed.…

Monday, 19 December 2016 02:34

FIRS to spend N586m on meals, N750m on fuel for generators

Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is to spend a total sum of N586 million on refreshment and meals and N750 million for fuelling of generators in the 2016 fiscal year. These details were gleaned from FIRS’ N143.722 billion budget approved by the House of Representatives last week. Among the miscellaneous expenses proposed by the revenue agency, hiring of hall, accommodation and events is to gulp N350 million, honorarium and sitting allowance payments, N150 million; publicity, adverts and taxpayers’ education, N2 billion; medical expenditure, N700 million; postage and courier services, N244 million; welfare packages, N681 million; corporate outfit grant, N2.5 billion;…

Monday, 19 December 2016 02:33

Buhari orders investigation of Magu, SGF Lawal

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the investigation of top officials of his administration who have been accused of corruption. A short statement by Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, indicated the president’s directive. “The attention of the presidency has been drawn to a number of reports in the media, in which various accusations of corruption have been levelled against some top officials in the administration,” Mr. Shehu said in the Sunday statement. “In that regard, President Buhari has instructed the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the involvement of any top government officials accused of any wrong-doing. If any of them…

Monday, 19 December 2016 02:31

Budget padding: Indicted ministry officials posted to cash office

Some officials of the Budget Office, who were indicted and sanctioned for their roles in the padding of the 2016 budget, have surreptitiously found their ways back to the newly created cash office of the Ministry of Finance. It was gathered that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation had redeployed the indicted officials from the Expenditure Department of the Budget Office to the new unit in the finance ministry. Investigation revealed that 12 out of the 15 persons of the Budget Office, who were redeployed to other ministries following the budget padding scandal, had been…

Monday, 19 December 2016 02:27

President won’t sign CCB, CCT amendment Bill – Gbajabiamila

President Muhammadu Buhari will not sign the controversial Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) amendment Bill, House Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, has said. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives had passed the Bill which usurped the power of the executive to appoint members of the two bodies. Mr. Gbajabiamila said the bill was erroneously and unconstitutionally passed by both chambers of the National Assembly. He spoke while giving the summary of the activities of the House from January to date in Abuja at the weekend. The amendment came against the backdrop of the…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 17:33

Serving Governor declared wanted in the UK for laundering $5.15bn

In spite of the anti-corruption war of President Muhammadu Buhari, one of the frontline governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State, is on the wanted list of the government of the United Kingdom for laundering over $5.15 billion for the late General Sani Abacha. Documents from the United Kingdom sighted by our correspondent show that the APC governor was one of the major conduit pipes that late military dictator used in looting the Nigerian treasury during his regime. The certified documents show that Governor Bagudu has been on the run from the United Kingdom…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 17:31

How NIMASA sponsored judge handling its cases on juicy foreign trips

Embattled high court judge, Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, who is facing a 30-count charge of bribery and money laundry, was treated to lavish foreign trips by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, while presiding over cases where the agency was either a party or had interest. Mrs. Ofili-Ajumogobia held so much sway over NIMASA under the leadership of Patrick Akpobolokemi that the agency flouted its own employment policy simply to grant the judge’s daughter, who is an employee of the agency, a curious extended study leave. Interestingly, Mr Akpolobokemi alongside other officials of NIMASA is currently being prosecuted by the…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 17:30

My wife controls four govt ministries - Okorocha

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state, has revealed that, in his administration, his wife, Nkechi Okorocha, has control over four ministries of the government in the state. Okorocha stated this when the correspondent chapel of Imo state, honoured the wife with the “most outstanding Governor’s wife award” Thursday in Owerri. The Secretary to the Imo state government, Mr George Etche who represented the governor at the event while singing praises of the achievements of Okorocha’s wife in 6 years also named the ministries under the control of the wife of the Imo state governor. As part of his presentation, the…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 03:12

Nobody forced me to concede defeat to Buhari - Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said nobody convinced him to concede defeat to President Muhammadu Buhari after the 2015 presidential poll. Jonathan, who spoke at the 4th, 8th and 2nd combined convocation and 10th anniversary of Bingham University, Nasarawa State, stressed that he willingly relinquished power because no blood of any Nigerian was worth his political ambition. The former president and an ex-military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.), were honoured with a Doctor of Letters by the university on Saturday. In his speech, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Kursim Leonard-Fwa, said the institution recorded 19 first…

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Sunday, 18 December 2016 03:11

How SGF’s company got suspicious N200m payments from ‘grass’ contract

Rholavision Engineering Ltd, a company owned by Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of federation (SGF), got suspicious payments of N200m from a contract he awarded for the clearing of “invasive plant species” in Yobe state. Rholavision’s bank statements and other documents seen by TheCable showed that Josmon Technologies Ltd, a company that got the contract from Lawal’s Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE) to clear grass for N248,939,231, made cash deposits of N10m into Lawal’s company’s account 20 times from March 29. Lawal awarded the contract to Josmon Technologies on March 8, and the company made the cash deposits until…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 03:09

Bringing out the sunny side of King Sunny Ade

In what many have dubbed the biggest of series of events to celebrate the 70th birthday of the iconic musician, Prince Sunday Adegeye, better known as, King Sunny Ade, Temple Management Company recently staged a mind blowing concert that left a huge impression on the mind of audience members for different reasons. Perhaps the most prominent highlight of the night was a new record in celebrity auctioning KSA’s vintage Fender Telecaster guitar, produced in 1950 was sold for N52.1million. The bid for the guitar opened at N9million and it soon became one of the single most priced asset in the…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 03:07

Nigerian passenger passes out aboard KLM flight

Pandemonium broke out Friday aboard KLM Flight KL 0587 bound to Lagos from Amsterdam after a male passenger passed out in the hands of two men in plainclothes believed to be Dutch policemen. The aircraft waiting to taxi off the tarmac had a 10-minute delay, for reasons that were not initially communicated to passengers. But when the rear door suddenly creaked open with two plainclothes dragging in someone in grotesque shape, not less than four female passengers, fled their seats. Tolu Malolu, one of the rear seats passengers who was travelling from UK, told PREMIUM TIMES that the sight she…

Sunday, 18 December 2016 03:06

Troops arrest 'notorious militant General Eagle’

A suspected militant identified as “General Eagle”, has been arrested by the troops of Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe (ODS). The kingpin, who was arrested by troops of ODS after months of being on the wanted list of security agencies in the Niger Delta region, was said to be the leader of a gang of militants, who serially attacked pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa states. Confirming the development at the weekend, the Commander, ODS, Rear Admiral Suleiman Apochi, said the hoodlum was arrested at his hideout along Captain Ayeni Road, Kpansia, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, alongside three other suspects.…

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