PMB’s Anniversary Speech: ‘If Buhari can’t get economic experts he should borrow from Goodluck Johnathan’

ABUJA-MEMBERS of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP Sunday described President Muhammadu Buhari’s one year anniversary as another round of campaign. Some of the lawmakers who spoke to Vanguard were unanimous in their views declaring that the president’s speech smacks of electoral campaigns to further confuse Nigerians. Stop the blame game-Chairman House C’ttee on Capital Market, Rep Tajudeen Yusuf, PDP, Kogi said According to Yusuf, the president’s speech hover around blaming every visible thing on ground instead of telling Nigerians how he would fix the country. He said “he needs to deliberately make people who are on the other side politically know that despite their opinion they have a place as critical stakeholders in project Nigeria .

Controversial Sharia bill aimed at protecting Christians in northern Nigeria – Sponsor

Abdullahi Salame, the lawmaker representing Gwadabawa/Illela federal constituency, Sokoto State, has dismissed insinuations that his controversial pro-Sharia bill is aimed at expanding the Islamic legal system across a secular Nigeria.
Mr. Salame said his constitutional amendment proposal is actually designed to protect Christians from wanton attacks in Northern Nigeria.
The long form title of the bill is: “A bill for an Act to alter Sections 262 and 277 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to increase the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory and Sharia Court of Appeal of a State by including Criminal Matters and Hudud and Qisas and for other related Matters”.

I slept with 400 men in five months – 22-year -old trafficking victim

Samson Folarin

A human trafficking victim, Love John, says she slept with more than 400 men in less than five months in the Sango Ota area of Ogun State.

Love, 22, and her 23-year-old sister, Happiness, were lured into prostitution sometime in January by their eldest sister, Mary.

Mary also tricked a cousin, Joy Lawrence, 25, promising the three ladies that she could give them jobs that would help them make a decent living.

However, by the time they discovered that they had been trafficked, the victims said they had become trapped.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Lawrence and another victim fled the hotel on Monday when they could no longer bear the pain they were subjected to.

Bitter leaf juice: Sweet benefits of the unsweet

So many people claim to have a ‘sweet tooth’ and often times ensure that its cravings are well satisfied. From sweets to candies, lollipops, chocolates and much more, it is soothing to consume a substance that appeals to this sweet tooth, but how good is sweet for the health? Some medical experts belong to the school of thought that the longest life span in this century happens to be found in Asian countries like China because the people relish less sweet substances.

Zika virus could spread in coming months – WHO

Zika virus is expected to spread in Europe within the next few months, the World Health Organisation has disclosed. First seen in Brazil last year, the mosquito-borne virus has been detected in more than 50 countries and has been linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size. In an assessment, WHO Europe, which made the assessment, said aalthough it has classified the risk of an outbreak at low to moderate, the risk should not be underestimated. It is highest on the island of Madeira and the Black Sea coast of Russia and Georgia, where the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are responsible for most of the infections are indigenous. But the risk is still considered moderate in 18 countries where a different mosquito, Aedes albopictus, breeds.

Weapons found in my house belong to NSA Office — Dasuki

                 Former National Security Adviser, NSA, to former President Goodluck Jonathan, 
                                                     Col. Sambo Dasuki

The Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday heard that the weapons found in the Asokoro residence of the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Muhammadu Sambo Dasuki retired barely 48 hours after he left Office in 2015 belong to the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA. The weapons were said to be for the use of the Security Details attached to him as the National Security Adviser, NSA, for protection purposes. These were contained in Dasuki’s statement made to the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) tendered and admitted as exhibit by Justice Adeniyi Ademola in the ongoing trial of Dasuki on charges of unlawful possession of arms.

Expect gains of fuel price hike in one month – IPMAN

Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), yesterday, disclosed that the country would start reaping the benefits of the new pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, in less than one month, which might include a reduction in the price of the commodity. Addressing newsmen in Abuja, President of IPMAN, Mr. Obasi Lawson, also called on Nigerians to ignore those calling for strike action against the hike in the price, stating that the new pump price will liberalize the oil and gas industry and also engender competition which will likely force price reduction of the product.

Despite court order, labour begins strike •Walks out on FG negotiating team •Ajaero faction, TUC back out of strike

A cross-section of members of Joint Action Front (JAF) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), protesting increase in fuel and electricity tariff, in Lagos, on Tuesday.

DESPITE the court order, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Tuesday, asked its members nationwide to commence indefinite strike effective from midnight of Tuesday.

The NLC stormed out of the meeting with the Federal Government representatives and promptly declared nationwide strike to commence by 12.00 a.m. today.

The Federal Government team was led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal.

EFCC detaining Fani-Kayode after meeting bail conditions, silencing of opposition- Aide

Jude Ndukwe, aide to erstwhile Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, on Tuesday, decried that despite meeting the bail conditions set by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Fani-Kayode was still being held by the anti-graft agency. Ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode arriving the EFCC Abuja office on Monday, May 9, 2016 for questioningEx-Aviation Minister,

Wabba’s NLC, TUC insist on strike; say court order is black market injunction

Ajaero’s faction, FG set up committee on price, minimum wage ABUJA — The National Industrial Court, NIC, sitting in Abuja, yesterday, stopped the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Unions Congress, TUC, from embarking on strike today. This came as Organised Labour and its civil society allies, yesterday, vowed to go ahead with the planned indefinite strike from today to make government reverse the N145 per litre pump price of petrol, despite the restraining order by the court.

EDO YOUTHS CONGRESS PROTESTING HIKE IN PUMP PRICE OF PETROL IN BENIN-CITY ON TUESDAY (NAN)EDO YOUTHS CONGRESS PROTESTING HIKE IN PUMP PRICE OF PETROL IN BENIN-CITY ON TUESDAY (NAN)

The mother and father of fuel prices

In the wake of deregulation of petrol prices under Obasanjo in 2004, and the unfolding anxiety of Labour and the Nigerian public on the adverse impact of rising fuel prices, this column published two articles titled “The Mother and Father of Fuel Prices”(22.11.2004) and “Only a Stronger Naira Will Stop Rising Fuel Prices”(22.08.2005) The solution proposed in both articles remain solidly valid today as it was over 12 years ago; for this reason, a summary of both articles is again presented in the hope that the authorities will one day heed our counsel and resolve our dilemma. Please read on. FUEL-Price-changeThe economic and social benefits of deregulation is evident from the demonstrable success in several countries.

Politics of fuel subsidy

ONCE again, the issue of fuel subsidy has come to the crucible of socio-economic life of Nigerians. Politics of fuel subsidy withdrawal has been a recurring issue over the years, from the time of General Yakubu Gowon as head of state. No government has come without harassing and intimidating Nigerians with fuel pump price increase and/or complete removal of fuel subsidy, otherwise called deregulation. It appears to have become a pastime for our rulers especially when they want to make scapegoats for their corruption, failures and economic naivety. All governance ineptitude by the political rulers are heaped on fuel subsidy. It is the reason for the country’s backwardness, abysmal infrastructure, debt burden, poverty, corruption, etc. That is the reason the populace is intermittently administered with some obsolete concoctions of the benefits of subsidy removal by every successive government.

Battle for 2019 has started —Sheriff

ABUJA — Ali Modu Sheriff, National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said, yesterday, that the battle for 2019 general election had started in earnest. This came as former Senate President, Senator David Mark, raised the hopes of the PDP, that the inability of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to find what he described as compass to navigate the ship of the state and respond appropriately to the yearnings of Nigerians was an ample opportunity for the party to bounce back to power. Appealing to aggrieved stakeholders of the party to put aside their differences, the chairman said PDP could not afford to remain divided if its desired goal was to be achieved. He also distanced himself from the comment made by Inuwa Bwala, his media aide, regarding the call for Sheriff to step down. Bwala had referred to the stakeholders, who made the demand as “self-styled” elders, threatening to report Jerry Gana, former Minister of Information and leader of the group, to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly defrauding the PDP to the tune of N500 million.

Northern CAN to Buhari: Nigeria’ll slide into confusion if Jonathan is arrested

             

Former President Goodluck Jonathan (L) With President Muhammadu Buhari, After A Close Door Meeting At The Presidential Villa In Abuja On Monday (2/11/15).

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/northern-can-to-buhari-nigeriall-slide-into-confusion-if-jonathan-is-arrested/

        
Former President Goodluck Jonathan (L) With President Muhammadu Buhari, After A Close Door Meeting At The Presidential Villa In Abuja On Monday (2/11/15).



KADUNA – The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Northern branch, on Tuesday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari against purported plans to arrest former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying Nigeria would plunge into confusion should the arrest of the man it calls, “hero of democracy” be actualised. Former President Goodluck Jonathan (L) With President Muhammadu Buhari, After A Close Door Meeting At The Presidential Villa In Abuja On Monday (2/11/15).

UK warns Buhari: Using military confrontation in Niger Delta could end in “disaster”

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari needs to address grievances in the Delta region where militants have been blowing up oil pipelines in a conflict that has become a “major concern”, a senior British official said yesterday. The swamps of the southern Delta have been hit by a series of attacks on pipelines and other oil and gas facilities that have reduced Nigeria’s output by 300,000 barrels a day, closed a major export port and two refineries. MILITANTS-buhari Nigeria has moved in army reinforcements to hunt the militants but British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said Buhari needed to the deal with the root causes because a military confrontation could end in “disaster”.

Tinubu, Soyinka should tender unreserved apology to Jonathan

WARRI – THE Concerned Ijaw Transformation Ambassadors (CITA) has said that Bola Tinubu, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, John Oyegun and the leadership and members of the Save Nigeria Group to tender an unreserved apology to former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan over the sinister role they played when he announced the removal of fuel subsidy on the 1st of January, 2012.

Buhari, Jonathan, Yar’Adua in the eyes of Obasanjo

Obasanjo

In his typically sanctimonious manner, ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo early this week passed harsh judgements on his successors while speaking at an international conference organised by the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. There was nothing unusual about the judgements, for he had passed similar ones in the distant and recent past. And there is nothing in his behaviour and antecedent to indicate that his abrasive and dismissive characterisation of his friends and enemies will ever end. The purpose of his judgements is not only to offer frank opinion on their qualities, assuming he believes they have any, but to put them in perfect contradistinction to his own qualities as the incomparable palladium of correctness and leadership. In fact, the only new thing about his harsh dismissal of his presidential peers is the inclusion of President Muhammadu Buhari in the equation.

I became Miss Nigeria by accident -Ex-Miss Nigeria Rosemary Okeke

After her stint as Miss Nigeria between 1984 and 1985, Rosemary  Nkemdilim Okeke ventured into the fashion industry. She has also functioned as Senior Special Assistant to the Imo State governor in charge of the Abuja Liaison office of the state. She spoke with OKORIE UGURU about her tenure as a beauty queen and how it has affected her life generally, among other issues.
You have not been visible in the public for quite a while. What has been happening to you?
Nothing has happened to me, if I may put it that way. It is just that for about three years, I worked with the Imo State Government, and for about a year, I was in Owerri, Imo State. By the nature of my job, I was kept quite busy in Owerri. So, I hardly had the time to be in Lagos or Abuja or attend any of the national functions. Right after, I was promoted to the Imo State Liaison Office, Abuja as the Liaison Officer. All of that kept me really busy.
It still sounds as if you deliberately decide to lie low, because with the kind of job you are doing with the Imo State Government, you ought to be in the limelight.
Even from when I was Miss Nigeria, I won’t say I was exactly out there. I only attending to functions and programmes I needed to attend to. So, if you are captured, that is fine. But you don’t go about making sure you are captured everywhere. Maybe that is just the difference. I was doing the work I was doing. I was where I was supposed to be at any given time. I was doing my assignments at the state level and all of that.

Cows, herdsmen and subsidies

I am of the view that cattle herding through our countryside, towns and cities is one of the adorably unique characteristics of the Nigerian landscape; one of the cute peculiarities that defines us.  I think that it is a charming and endearing sight: the lonely herdsman amidst his languidly wandering cattle.

Sadly, I’ve come to realise that time has passed by that quaint culture and practice.  Moreover, I returned to Nigeria and found cattle herdsmen totting AK47s. Oh oh!  That certainly took away from the idyllic nostalgia I had carried in my head.

Soun of Ogbomoso at 90

I wrote the first book on Oba Oladunni Oyewumi Ajagungbade 111, CON, CFR, the Soun of Ogbomosoland in 1995– 21 years ago – and in spite of the age difference of 27 years and the staggering difference in our social status, Kabiyesi treated me like an equal when it came to giving me my dues. He realised that I wanted to kill two birds with a stone; I wanted to make history as a professional journalist and at the same time make money from my trade through him.

Former Big Brother Africa star, Evelyn Eveva Sitali, dies at 29

 

‎Reality TV star Evelyn Eveva Sitali, who was known for her role on Big Brother Africa: The Chase, has died, aged 29.

According to reports, Sitali, the Zambian housemate, who appeared on season 8 of the reality TV show, passed on May 10, 2016, after an operation.

‘I caught her making love at Xmas party we both attended’ •I am not adulterous, he is the one who is fetish —Wife

It’s no surprise she is wayward, I wooed her at a club —Husband

A textile dealer, 36-year-old Tawakalitu, has lost her three-year-old marriage to her husband, Mr Lateef Lawal, a property developer, to adultery.
An Igando customary court severed the relationship following allegations of infidelity brought against the wife by her husband.
The court’s president, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, noted that the couple was tired of the marriage, saying “all efforts to reconcile both parties had failed.’’

Fuel price hike: Further increase expected in coming days

The recent hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, had thrown up a number of disturbing realities, that, henceforth, Nigerians are at the mercy of oil marketers, who are mainly profit-oriented; subjected to vagaries in the international crude oil market; and are at risk over low value of the naira against major international currencies. PRESIDENT BUHARI ATTENDS APC NEC MEETINGPRESIDENT BUHARI The fact remains that with the gradual rebound in the price of crude oil in the international market and the weak economy of the country, Nigerians are yet to see the end to the hike in the price of PMS, as Nigerians should be prepared to pay between N250 and N300 for a litre of the commodity.

Petrol price increase inevitable —Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji. Lai Mohammed said yesterday in Lagos that the recent decision by the federal government to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS (petrol) was inevitable. Alh. Lai MohammedAlh. Lai Mohammed The minister made this assertion while speaking as a guest of honour at the Advertisers Association of Nigeria, ADVAN marketing conference themed:

Man who wears only agbada in Europe: Israel made me drop the Bible

Engr. Jacob Imade Iyamu has been living in Germany since the early 80s although he left the shores of Nigeria in the late 70s. But unlike many people living in Europe and Americas, he could count the number of times he has won suits just as he has never won jeans in his life no matter how cold it is in winter or how warm in summer. •Jacob Imade Iyamu•Jacob Imade Iyamu The Edo state Nigeria born brewing engineer is the Brew Master at Binding, one of Germany’s largest breweries based in Frankfurt where he has worked for many years. In this chat, the President of Edo state Union in state of Hessen, Germany speaks about his odyssey to Europe and his challenges and achievements so far plus his unflinching love for Nigeria Coming to Europe I left Nigeria a long time ago..in 1979 to be precise.

Fuel price hike: FG has not removed subsidy, says VP Osinabjo

Contrary to popular knowledge that the federal government has expunged oil subsidy from the Nigerian oil and gas system, Vice President, Yemi Osinabjo refuted the claim, saying it was not true. Osinabjo said that what the government did was to withdraw the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to allow free market sales. He said that “at $40 a barrel, there isn’t much of a subsidy to remove.”

The many lies they said about Abacha- Al-Mustapha

•My 200 questions about Boko Haram •What freedom means to me after 14 years in prison By Ben Agande Major Hamza Al-Mustapha came to national limelight as Chief Security Officer to the Head of State in the General Sanni Abacha military regime which governed Nigeria between 1993 and 1998. Al-Mustapha was an operative in the Intelligence Branch of the Nigerian Army and subsequently became one of the minders of the then army chief, Gen. Abacha. Following Abacha’s dissolution of the country’s democratic structures in November, 1993 and his appointment as military head of state, Al-Mustapha was appointed as his Chief Security Officer, CSO. The CSO immediately became a man of many mysteries with so many tales about his prowess in intelligence gathering. Major Hamza Al-Mustapha Major Hamza Al-Mustapha Following the death of Abacha in June 1998 the air of invincibility around Al-Mustapha evaporated and thus began another episode in the story of the famed Al-Mustapha. He was locked up from 1998 and tried for alleged complicity in the murder of Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 elections, Bashorun Moshood Abiola. His conviction in 2012 was eventually overturned in 2013 by the Court of Appeal setting him in the land of liberty after 14 years. Al-Mustapha in this interview tells his story, his relationship with Gen. Abacha and his thoughts on Nigeria. Excerpts: How does it feel like being free? Fulfilling! Freedom and incarnation are two different worlds so every single breath of air is priceless. One can see it from the point of view of having freedom and incarceration. When one is incarcerated, you can give him everything but no matter how valuable it is, it is nothing. The most valuable thing in the hands of him that has lost his freedom is freedom. When you read all the stories that were published about you, about how powerful you were in office, how your word meant death or freedom, how you fed people to crocodiles and lions, what went through your mind? First of all, extremely disappointed because I knew these were stories that were sponsored by people who were high up. If people who were supposed to be statesmen were sponsoring lies against me, my disappointment first of all has to do with their polluting the environment with lies. Secondly, being a victim of persecution, I knew that it did not start with me but I prayed that it should stop with me. I was destined to go through it and I went through it. But their lies were foolish. It was the same presidency that we handed to somebody else and he too handed to another person. The question is where was the pond that contained crocodiles that we fed with living human beings? Where were the lions and who were these individuals that we threw to lions to eat? They must have families. Did the families cry out? When people want to tarnish your image for some fears, they can use anything. Late Sani AbachaLate Sani Abacha This was it in my own case. Those who sponsored those things had a hell lot to hide from Nigerians. This is what I know. Mine is to look up to God Almighty and give thanks and praises at all times, both in good times and in bad times. Bad times make you stronger and good times make you look back and give thanks to God Almighty and that is what I am doing. When I was in prison, I practiced my religion carefully but to say fear of the mischief that we went through will make us cow or get our spirit dampen, that could never have happened. Your career in the military was cut short because of your ordeal. Do you still have the vision to serve the country in another way? Since the very day I came out, that first week that I came out, I began to do what I was used to doing: empowering youth associations, men and women from the north to the south, including youth activities in the West Coast. This was what I started with and I have been doing this since 1984. Many people were not aware of this.