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  APC leaders are divided over the role of Bola Tinubu in the last governorship elections in Ondo state, Punch reports. Some of them believe Tinubu, together with Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, worked against the interest of the party in the election, others believe the duo did no wrong. Both men are accused of supporting the candidature of Chief Olusola Oke of the Alliance for Democracy with funds and other logistics for the election. Chief Oke left the APC to contest under the AD after an alleged botched primary. “We have told those who are against the man to remember his contributions to the formation of the APC and the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari. We should not take any action that will destroy the party,” a party chief said. However those who think he worked against the party called for sanctions against him, saying it would send a message to other would-be rebels. “We should not treat Tinubu like a god. The laws of the party should ...

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the current economic situation in the country by releasing some cash to state government to off set its back log salary and pension arrears. President said, “I have approved the disbursement of 522 billion naira to the State Governments, to enable them pay salary and pension arrears, and put money in the economy.” The President further added that, “we have stipulated that at least 50% of the funds should be dedicated to salaries and pensions, and we will audit disbursements to ensure compliance.” The Ministry of Finance is currently processing the first batch of 153 billion naira, which, I am told, will be released to 14 States. The Ministry will provide more details on how the funds will be disbursed and how we will monitor the utilization to ensure that Nigerians receive the full benefits from their State Governors. “As I said in my Independence Day Speech, I firmly believe that this recession will not last,” Buhar...

President Muhammadu Buhari has sought the confirmation of the Nigerian Senate to appoint two northerners as new Supreme court justices. This is coming as the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo identified the importance of merit in giving reward and said that quota system was detrimental to the progress of any society. According to him the nation had placed quota before merit which “we know does not work’’ and called on leaders to make sacrifices and commit to a country run on merit, integrity, hard work justice and patriotism. Senate President, Bukola Saraki, read the request letter during Tuesday’s session. In the letter sent by the president, Buhari nominated Paul Jauro from Taraba State, North East and Sidi Bage from Nasarawa State, North Central and said it is in line Section 231(2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Justice Bage was born on June 22, 1956, became Federal High Court Judge in 1992 before his appointment as Justice of the Court of Ap...

Photo-News; Saudi Airlines replaces a 9 seat space on their planes with a mosque that carries 10 people for travellers to offer their daily prayers while flying long distance flights around the world.

Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has visited Ilorin, Kwara State to sympathise with the Sokoto State Commissioner of Police, CP Muhammad Abdulkadir, who lost his 28yr old daughter few days ago. He used the opportunity to visit his friend Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed at the Government House.

A bottled water seller in Owerri, the Imo state capital, identified as Chibueze Uguru, was yesterday crushed to death by a heavy duty truck that lost control. The truck with the registration number, Lagos XY – 844 – EKS, according to an witness account lost control at the the holy ghost secondary school – Assumpta road and hit a non moving pay loader before ramming on the young man who was hawking on the road side which led to his instant death . The eyewitness said that the truck which was conveying sharp sand stocked in cement bags, was coming into town from the Onitsha road before officials of Imo Environmental Transformation Commission who were on duty to stop heavy duty vehicles from accessing the state capital in the day time allegedly went after it. He said that, the driver of the truck noticing that the ENTRACO officials were after him, paddled off, but unfortunately he lost control and started horning and shouting for people to desert the road, but that was t...

Kano state’s Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on Friday paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja. Speaking to newsmen afterwards, he said: “I came to brief Mr President on the security situation in Kano especially on the fallout from the North Eastern part of this country in which some of the Boko Haram (insurgents) kidnappers will like to dominate Falgore where they will be operating to other parts of the North Western part of the country. “So, the security agencies are working very hard and a lot of arrest had been made, investigation is going on. “We will not allow them to dominate Kano and to make it as a launching pad,” he added. Nigerianbulletin

Manchester United have beaten Chelsea and Arsenal to the signing of Ajax wonderkid Millen Baars. The 16-year-old reportedly agreed to the switch in October and now the player’s father, Stefan, has confirmed the news. Baars, who is a winger and captain of Ajax’s Under-17 side, was invited for tours around Chelsea, United and Arsenal, but called off a visit to the north London side after being convinced to move to Old Trafford. “We have had talks with Ajax that were between Millen and the club,” Stefan Baars told Noordhollands Dagblad. “But it was certainly nothing shocking, he was even appointed captain this season of the B1.

According to Foxnews , Facebook Inc. is extending a sizable olive branch to neighbors rankled by its plans to expand its campus and bring 6,500 new employees to the area, a move some locals fear will exacerbate a growing housing shortage. The tech giant announced Friday it will spend about $20 million in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, Calif., two cities that surround its campus, to create a fund to build new housing, support job-training programs and provide legal assistance to tenants in danger of eviction. Some $18.5 million will go to a fund to build new housing, primarily targeted at low- and moderate-income families, with consultation from community groups. Government officials and community groups in San Francisco and Silicon Valley have tried to engage tech behemoths in their backyards for help in solving the housing crunch. Costs have skyrocketed due to tight zoning restrictions that make it difficult to build and an influx of highly paid workers who are pushi...

According to Reachnaija , The value of the naira at the parallel market is dipping towards N500 per dollar even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warns of an influx of fake Hong Kong dollars (HK$) in the country’s foreign exchange market. The naira had on Tuesday depreciated in value from N473 to the dollar to N480 as liquidity pressures mounted on the currency. It dipped further on Thursday at N482 to the dollar and opened on Friday at same rate while it remained stable at N305 to the dollar at the interbank market. Meanwhile, the CBN yesterday raised alarm on the influx of fake HK$100 notes in the country. According to the bank, the fake notes which were printed on normal A4 paper using inkjet printers are of poor quality. The apex bank noted that the fake HK$100 notes lacked embossment and the feel of security features as silver marks were stuck on the notes to appear like the holographic security thread on the real bills. “Also, the HK$100 numerals failed to tur...

  Yahya Jammeh, The  Gambia's long-time ruler,  has lost the presidential election to the opposition leader, according to the electoral commission. Adama Barrow's victory in the West African country may bring to an end Jammeh's 22-year rule. Jammeh, who came to power in 1994 as a 29-year-old army officer following a military coup, had won four previous polls. Adama received 263,515 votes while Jammeh won 212,099, Alieu Momarr Njai, the electoral commission head, announced in the capital Banjul on Friday. "Having received 263,515 votes of the total votes cast in the election, I hereby declare Adama Barrow duly elected to serve as president of the Republic of Gambia," Njai said. Barrow told Reuters news agency by telephone on Friday he was expecting a phone call from Jammeh conceding defeat. Many Gambians stayed up all night listening to the radio and tallying results as they were read out constituency by constituency. News of Barrow's vict...

A failed attempt by a senior male student of the Science and Technical College Ingawa, Katsina State, to rape his junior has created unease among parents and guardians. An official inquiry, launched by the school authority after the matter was reported by the victim, revealed the depth of sexual abuse in the institution.  So far, no fewer than 27 students were said to have been dismissed over homosexuality. The accused senior student, Daily Trust gathered, was summoned and questioned by the authority, and this led to the uncovering of more names within and outside the school involved in same sex relationship.  All those fingered were asked to write a statement before their parents who were invited to the school before they were purportedly expelled, it was further gathered. From their written and oral submissions, it was also discovered that the students have ‘clients’ in town who they sneak out to meet at night.   Following the growing cases of s...

New satellite photos published by a group investigating the human rights abuses in North Korea have confirmed that secret prisons where detainees are tortured, raped and murdered are expanding in terms of size. The  Committee for Human Rights in North Korea  said  the photos  it obtained, with the help of AllSource Analysis, a leading global provider of high-resolution Earth imagery solutions, affirmed previous fears that North Korea's infamous Camp No. 25, believed to be keeping around 5,000 political prisoners, is growing. As the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea explained, political prisoners in Camp No. 25 and other such camps are among the "primary targets of a systematic and widespread attack" by the regime of Kim Jong Un. In these prisons, people are subjected to "murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political grounds, and the enforc...

Katsina State Government has released over N500 million as part payment of fees for its students abroad, the Special Adviser to the state governor on Higher Education, Dr. Badamsi Lawal Charanchi -who represented the Executive Governor, has said. Speaking at the start of a four day 9th joint colleges’ conference of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, Katsina, Charanchi said the government is working towards meeting all its obligations to the 140 indigenes of the state studying in various tertiary institutions in Jordan, Sudan and Maradi in neighbouring Niger Republic. Quoting the statistics to buttress the fact that the top priority of Governor Aminu Bello Masari administration is education, Charanchi stressed that the government is laying a solid foundation for the overall development of education and other sectors in the state. The governor’s aide, who urged the staff of polytechnic and other tertiary institutions owned by the state to join hands with the government to repo...

The Secretary to the government of Katsina State, Dr. Mustapha  Mohammed Inuwa has approved the appointment of Alhaji Abdullahi Aliyu Yaradua as the new Chief Press Secretary of his office. Yar’adua holds a Diploma in Hausa Studies from Katsina Polytechnic; Higher Diploma in Mass Communication from Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic and a Diploma in Journalism from International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), Abuja. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Al-Qalam University Katsina and a Masters Degree in English Literature from Bayero University, Kano. Before his appointment, Yar’adua was the Head of Political Unit of Katsina State Radio and  two terms Chairman of NUJ Katsina State Radio Chapel and the immediate past Secretary of the Katsina state Council of the NUJ.  Credit: Katsinapost

The Kano State House of Assembly has expressed concern over the low number of beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s Empowerment Programme, N-power, selected from the state. The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Kabiru Rurum, stated this on Wednesday while briefing newsmen on the issue in Kano. Rurum said: “Despite the fact that Kano is the most populous state in the country, available data has shown that over 20,000 youths from the state applied for the scheme, yet only 4,966 were selected.” He cited examples of other states that were not as densely populated as Kano but were allocated more chances than the state. Rurum said: “Such selection process is against the spirit of federal character, and we are not satisfied with the selection method.” The Speaker said that the House had written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, appealing to them to look into the selection process again. Ruru...

A female corps member posted to Bayelsa State reportedly slumped and died at the State’s Orientation Camp in Kaiama, Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area. According to reports, the corps member who was identified as Miss Elechi Chinyerem, aged 27, reportedly died after vomiting on arrival at the camp. Fellow corps members claim that the deceased on arrival at the camp last Thursday looked “terribly sick” and could not participate in some opening sessions at the camp. A source said, “The doctor at the NYSC camp’s clinic immediately referred her to the state-owned Diette-Koki Memorial Hospital in the Opolo area of Yenagoa, the state capital, where she was confirmed dead.” The deceased was a graduate of the Ignatius Azuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Rivers State

The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday, described the military’s declaration of Operation Python Dance on Igbo land as another dimension of war by the Buhari-led administration against Ndigbo. According to the group, the action of the military also amounted to political declaration of state of emergency in South-East geopolitical zone. In a statement issued in Abakaliki by the National Director of Information of MASSOB, Comrade Samuel Edeson, the group claimed that the action of the military was intended to maim the people of Biafra and prevent them from returning home for the Christmas celebration. Edeson said, “The leadership of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, after our National Executive meeting today at MASSOB headquarters, Okwe, Onuimo Local Government Area, which also coincided with first anniversary of the new leadership of MASSOB under our amiable leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu ...

The federal government is on track to forgive at least $108 billion in student debt in coming years, according to a report that for the first time projects the full cost of plans that tie borrowers’ payments to their earnings. The report, to be released on Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office, shows the Obama administration’s main strategy for helping student-loan borrowers is proving far more costly than previously thought. The report also presents a scathing review of the Education Department’s accounting methods, which have understated the costs of its various debt-relief plans by tens of billions of dollars. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.) ordered the report last year amid a sharp increase in enrollment in income-driven repayment plans, which the Obama administration has heavily promoted to help borrowers avoid default. The most generous version caps a borrower’s monthly payment at 10 percent of discretionary incom...

Following the concerns that visited the directive to introduce price floor for data segment of the telecommunications sector beginning from December 1, 2016, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has suspended any further action in that direction. The decision to suspend this directive was taken after due consultation with industry stakeholders and the general complaints by Consumers across the country. The Commission has weighed all of this and consequently asked all operators to maintain the status quo until the conclusion of study to determine retail prices for broadband and data services in Nigeria. Recall that the Commission wrote to the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on November 1, 2016 on the determination of an interim price floor for data services after the stakeholder’s consultative meeting of October 19, 2016. The decision to have a price floor was primarily to promote a level playing field for all operators in the industry, encourage small oper...