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Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Umar Buba-Jibril, has died at the age of 58. Findings indicated that he died at a Turkish hospital in Abuja on Thursday night. Jibrin, a member of the All Progressives Congress, represented Lokoja/Kogi Federal Constituency of Kogi State. His son, Mr.‎ Yakub Buba, confirmed the incident to PunchOnline.

President Muhammadu Buhari has advised members of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress wishing to retain their positions or aspire for another to resign and re-contest in line with the party’s constitution. Buhari, who gave the advice in his opening remarks during the 5th National Executive Council meeting of the APC in Abuja on Tuesday, opposed tenure elongation for the NWC members. He faulted the earlier decision of the party’s NEC to grant one year extension to party executives at all levels, citing a breach of relevant sections of the party’s constitution, as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), as a reason for his action. Buhari asked the party’s NEC to rescind its earlier decision so as not to give the opposition the grounds on which to reap from the crisis which is likely to result from the constitutional breaches. The President told the gathering of party leaders that his position was informed by ...

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has finally spoken about the trending picture of billionaire Femi Otedola giving him a handshake at an event but prostrated for Emir Sanusi. Otedola’s handlers had celebrated the billionaire’s humility with a picture of the oil man prostrating for his “longtime friend” now Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi when he paid the latter a courtesy visit. The development had attracted a reaction from other quarters. A picture of Otedola giving the Ooni of Ife, the number one monarch from his tribe a handshake when they met at an occasion was dredged up to counter the “humility narrative”. The action and reaction had sparked off heated debate- on and offline – about the need to respect one’s culture and heritage. And in the face of all, Ooni of Ife the Yoruba’s primary custodian of culture and tradition has spoken. He says he is in not angry with Otedola over what happened because “If someone has erred today, they could do better tomorrow”. ...

Abdulsamad Rabiu, the Executive Chairman/CEO of BUA Group, has urged the FG to replicate its policies in the Cement and Sugar Industries in the Steel Industry. Speaking at the Opening Plenary of the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Monday, Abdulsamad Rabiu who recalled that 15 years ago Nigeria was faced with a nightmare when it only produced 4 million tonnes of cement, said Government’s reforms and BUA’s involvement in the cement industry had raised the stake to over 40 million metric tonnes thereby saving the country over USD$4 billion annually. Rabiu also bemoaned the continuous import of steel when the raw materials are readily available in the country and stated that USD$3 billion can be saved annually if government replicates the policies in the Cement and Sugar industries in the Steel industry. The foremost industrialist thanked the organizers of the forum and harped on the need for Governments in Africa and the Private sector to form a synergy that would lea...

Benny Peters the man declared wanted by the anti-corruption agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the flurry of publicized statement surfaced in Lagos on Saturday, March 24, 2018. And wait for this…the EFCC couldn’t arrest him!. Checks revealed that the power to arrest the “wanted” oil man has been taken away from the anti-corruption agency. Peters had gone to court to challenge the agency for declaring him wanted without following due process. According to information monitored on thecapital.ng Peter is currently standing on the verdict of a court ruling that the agency can not declare anybody wanted without a court order of charging them for an offence to keep the EFCC at bay. And he insists, he is not guilty of any wrongdoing in face of all the talks about alleged involvement in the corruption mess in the oil sector that earned former petrol minister Diezani Madueke infamy, as well as alleged hands in opaque oil swap deals. Source: SocietyNow

The Ministry of Defence said on Monday that it had received reports from Nigerians on the misconduct of soldiers as regards the farmers and herdsmen’s clashes and had put such soldiers through “disciplinary procedures.” The ministry said it, however, had yet to receive any report from Taraba State, adding that its doors were open to complaints from Nigerians on the activities of the troops. Col. Tukur Gusau, spokesperson for the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, stated this in an interview with our correspondent on Monday, noting that the government could not work with “general comments or allegations, if no specific report was made to the military authorities.” A former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd), had on Saturday at the maiden convocation of the Taraba State University, told Nigerians to defend themselves against killers, saying the Nigerian Armed Forces were not ready to defend them. He had said, “There is an attempt at ethnic cleansing in ...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday led other top government officials elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress to a meeting of the party’s national caucus. The meeting was held at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Other top government officials who attended the meeting are Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and governors. National chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, led other officers of the party to the meeting. The national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was however absent from the meeting. Tinubu is heading a presidential reconciliation committee set up to reconcile aggrieved party members across the country. It had earlier been speculated that he may present his interim report at the meeting. The caucus meeting was however held ahead of a meeting of the party’s National Executive Council on Tuesday. The...

The leading governorship aspirant in Osun, Mr ‘Kunle Rasheed Adegoke popularly called K-Rad has felicitated with the leaders and members of the popular socio-political organisation, Tiwa n Tiwa L’Osun Development Association as the group marks its first anniversary. The group was put together by the friends and admirers of the lawyer-politician exactly one year ago, and has since then been meeting with party men and women, farmers, market men and women, professional bodies, members of the press, social media giants, students’ bodies, artistes and artisans, civil servants, religious leaders, traditional rulers and chiefs, community leaders, socio-cultural groups, civil society groups, retirees, former political office holders, commercial transporters etc, during which the legal luminary seizes the opportunity to unfold his 21st century plans for the mega development of Osun. In a statement issued in Osogbo, the front line legal practitioner is full of praises for the people driv...

Abdulsamad Rabiu, the Executive Chairman/CEO of BUA Group has been shortlisted as a nominee for the Africa CEO of the year Awards scheduled to hold in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on 26 March 2018. Abdulsamad Rabiu was nominated based on his outstanding performance track and record in the economic/industrial development of the Africa continent across key sectors of the Africa economy such as Agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, amongst others. Other individuals nominated alongside BUA’s Abdulsamad Rabiu are the Zenith Bank’s Chief Executive, Jim Ovia; CEO, Equity Bank, James Mwangi; CEO, Telcar Cocoa, Kate Kanyi Tometi Fotso; Founder and Chairman, Econet Group, Strive Masiyiwa; Managing Director, Saham Finances Nadia Fettah; and CEO, Attijariwafa Bank, Mohamed El-Kettani. Within the year under review, BUA Group commissioned its USD$1billion ultra-modern cement plant line 1 and 2 in Obu-Okpella in Edo State, completed the construction of its Sokoto Cement expans...

The National appointment of socialite and top rate businessman Olajide Awosedo is threatened. This is as a result of a growing campaign for President Buhari to withdraw his appointment as a member of the Board of the National Hospital, Abuja. This snowballing movement against Awosedo is premised on a 26 count charge case of fraud instituted against the popular politician and promoter of grant properties. Lagos state government is accusing Awosedo of fraudulently selling of land belonging to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria. According to the charge sheet - dated February 16, 2018 – Awosedo allegedly illegally sold several landed properties belonging to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to 26 unsuspecting buyers in contravention of section 8 (1) (b) of the Lagos State Properties Protection Law, 2016 popularly known as the Land Grabbers’ Law. He faces 21 years in prison if convicted of the case being prosecuted at the Lagos State Special ...

The Federal Government on Wednesday applied to the Federal High Court in Abuja to temporarily seize some properties belonging to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, because he allegedly failed to declare the assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau. Nine of the targeted properties are said to be in Abuja, two of them in London, the United Kingdom, eight in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and three in Florida, the United States. The Okoi Obono-Obla Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property said in an ex parte application filed on behalf of the Federal Government before the court that Ekweremadu failed to declare of the said properties in its assets declaration forms dated June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2015. The presidential panel through a private lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), engaged to institute the legal action, prayed the court in its application to make an order of interim forfeiture pending the conclusion of the investigation of the ...

A Cross River State High Court sitting in Calabar on Wednesday sentenced a retired worker of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Godwin Elewana, to death by hanging. The court found Elewana guilty of the murder of a 22-year-old pupil, Douglas Ojugbo, on March 10, 2015 over suspicion that the victim was having an affair with his daughter, Mercy. Elewana, who had been in prison custody since 2016, was arraigned on one count of murder in case no. HC/9C/2015. The presiding judge of the court, Justice Ukpa Ebitam, said the prosecution team, led by Mr. Eneji Amajama, a Deputy Director in the Department of Public Prosecutions in the state Ministry of Justice, proved its case that the accused committed the crime. Ebitam listed the several confessional statements, hospital reports and other exhibits presented in the course of trial as reasons the accused was convicted. He said, “The prosecution team was able to establish ingredients of murder against the accused. On whether it w...

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on Thursday ruled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission lacks the powers to declare anyone wanted without first obtaining a court order for that purpose or charging the suspect with an offence. Justice Othman Musa ruled that although the EFCC could declare as wanted persons who fail to honour its invitation for investigation, it could only do so if it obtains a court order for that purpose. The judge made this pronouncement in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the Chief Executive Officer of AITEO Group, Benedict Peters. Peters had, in the suit marked, FCT/HC/CV/23/2017, accused EFCC of declaring him wanted on its website without following due process. The EFCC and the Attorney-General of the Federation were the respondents to the suit. The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), contended that his declaration as wanted by the EFCC to declare him wanted without a pending charge against him or a valid...

The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Skye Bank Nigeria Plc, Tokunbo Abiru, has advised students in secondary schools across the country to take money matters seriously if they wish to be in control of their financial future. He gave the advice while delivering a lecture during a one-day seminar at Rayfield International Secondary school, Nsukara Offot, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The seminar, facilitated by Skye Bank Nigeria Plc, was to mark the 2018 Global Financial Week organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with Junior Achievement Nigeria. The theme for this year’s edition is “Money Matters Matter”. The Global Money Week is celebrated worldwide. March 15, 2018 is however chosen by the CBN and Junior Achievement Nigeria to teach the younger generation the virtues of financial planning and management aimed at increasing the level of financial literacy while boosting the financial inclusion drive of the CBN. Represented by Raphael...

To know how well a business is doing, some say, take a look at its signboard…and how well the office(s) is kept. Stretching this saying to the current situation with troubled oil baron Jide Omokore, it appears business is back to “normal” for the power behind Atlantic Drilling Concepts. The vilified business is said to have moved his business operations to a new and better place. According to information monitored on thelagostimes.com his old office on Glover Road Ikoyi has been switched to a more ‘’aesthetically pleasing edifice on Jide Oki Street, also in Ikoyi.’’ The news spotter describes the new office as ‘’a beauty to behold’’. Jide Omokore – along with runaway partner Kola Aluko – is the oil baron listed as the main accomplice of former petrol minister Diezani Madueke in the massive corruption that rocked the petroleum ministry during the regime of former president Goodluck Jonathan. Source: Societynow

There is NO fairness or equity in zoning. When was it agreed in the annals of Osun that governorship would be zoned? If it was ever so agreed, was it based on Senatorial Districts? Which governor has ever been chosen based on zoning in Osun before? If zoning is part of our system, why has it never been used before? If it is part of our system, why don't we use the federal constituency basis by which Osogbo and Iwo ifederal constituencies become most prominent among the "cheated"? The irony of life is that when a section of the ruling elite sells a dummy to favour a personality or one of them or a section, the mass of the people, the hoi polloi, who will never derive any benefit from the scheming, will parrot the idea slavishly forgetting that they were never meant to benefit from the class scheming being foisted by a section of the ruling class. We have never chosen a governor based on zoning before. I challenge anyone to mention a governor elected based on zoning...

At least 25 people were reportedly killed after suspected herdsmen attacked Oganienugwu and Ikende communities in Dekina local government area and Abejukolo in Omala local government, all in the eastern senatorial district of the state. According to Punch, the attack which started on Tuesday and continued till Thursday, has caused residents to flee their homes. The suspects, who were said to have been dressed in army uniforms,  reportedly slaughtered the victims after tying them up, while those who attempted to escape allegedly received machete cuts. Several houses were said to have been set ablaze and some others demolished, while the suspects also destroyed produce in the farms of residents. Matthew Obasa, oba of Ayede Oke-Agi Amuro in Mopamuro local government area of the state, had earlier cried out on the continued attack by herders in Kogi. Obasa alleged that herdsmen murdered one Paul Oluwole (a.k.a Serebe), an ex-councillor of Mopamuro, on his way to the farm on March 8....

The Senate has been advised to ignore the reasons given by President Muhammadu Buhari for not signing the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill passed by the National Assembly.  The PUNCH learnt on Thursday that based on the advice from the Senate’s Legal Department, the upper chamber of the National Assembly would proceed with the process to override the President’s veto on the bill, which seeks to reorder the sequence of elections. A new Section 25 in the Electoral Act, which states that the sequence of the elections will commence with National Assembly, to be followed by governorship and state Houses of Assembly, while presidential poll will come last. Buhari had written to both chambers of the National Assembly on his decision to withhold assent to the amendment bill. In the letter dated March 8, 2018, the President had said the amendments made by the lawmakers were in conflict with the existing laws.  The Senate had resolved on Tuesday when the letter was read to members t...

A luxury mansion co-owned by a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and his fourth wife, Jennifer Douglas, in the posh neighbourhood of Potomac, Maryland, United States, has been auctioned. The property gained international notoriety in 2005 after it was searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in connection with a bribery scandal involving disgraced former U.S. Congressman, William Jefferson. atikuu The seven-bedroom cream-coloured single family brick house on 9731 Sorrel Ave, Potomac, Maryland, was originally listed for $3.25 million on Zillow and other online real estate websites on January 25, 2018 but was eventually sold for a pending offer of $2.95 million on February 26, 2018 after an online auction. A pending offer means a buyer and seller of the property have reached a deal. However, a buyer can still pull out from the deal (which is very unlikely) if they cannot resolve issues like cost of repair or they cannot get a bank to approve a loan for the purchase ...

The alleged corruption trial of a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Jumoke Akinjide, and two others continued on Friday before the Federal High Court in Lagos, with the testimony of an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, who investigated the case. The investigator, Usman Zakari, who appeared as the second prosecution witness in the case, narrated to the court how Akinjide and others allegedly took delivery of a cash sum of N650m in March 2015. He said Akinjide and two others collected the N650m cash at the Dugbe branch of the Fidelity Bank PLC in Ibadan on the standing instruction of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. Zakari said his investigation revealed that the N650m was part of a total sum of N23bn which Diezani warehoused in the bank. He said he found that the N23bn was the naira equivalent of a total of $115.01m, which Diezani collected from three oil marketers and one Lano Adesanya in the build-up to ...