OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested a former Minister of Power, Sale Mamman over alleged N22bn fraud. According to competent sources, the former minister was arrested early Wednesday and was subsequently detained at the headquarters of the anti-graft agency. The arrest is said to be in connection with the Commission’s ongoing investigation into alleged corruption in the execution of some power projects. Specifically, Mamman is alleged to have conspired with staff of the Ministry in charge of the accounts of the Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro Electric Power projects and diverted N22billion, which they shared amongst…
Author: Amina Ibrahim
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PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has sent a letter to the Senate seeking approval to take a loan to the tune of $800 million from the World Bank to cushion the effects of subsidy removal. News Point Nigeria reports that, this follows the Federal Government’s April announcement of an $800 million World Bank grant targeting 50 million vulnerable Nigerians or 10 million households, as part of its subsidy palliatives measures. According to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, the disbursement of the grant is in light of the planned subsidy removal in June 2023. Ahmed underscored that engagements…
AN Abuja Federal High Court has barred the National Broadcasting Commission from imposing fines on Nigerian broadcast stations. Presiding Judge James Omotosho, in a Wednesday ruling, said the NBC lacked the judicial powers to impose penalties. Omotosho gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the NBC from imposing fines, henceforth, on broadcast stations in the country. He also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed, on March 1, 2019, on each of the 45 broadcast stations. Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations. He further…
THE Action Peoples Party (APP) has applied to withdraw its petition challenging the victory of president -elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the 2023 General Elections. The counsel to the Party, Obed Agu, also asked the court to strike out and dismiss the suit. Counsel to Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, said they are not opposing the application for withdrawal of the petition and they are not asking for cost. Chairman of the Panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, subsequently dismissed the suit with no cost attached. The APP was challenging the Presidential Election on the grounds of alleged non-compliance with the electoral laws…
THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday defended its choice of Senator Godswill Akpabio as the Senate President ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly in June. APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka said the South-South zone which Akpabio represents has not produced a Senate President since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999. “I am from the South-South and I don’t see why the South-South is ineligible for consideration. After all, no Senate President has come from that region since 1999, since his dispensation,” Morka said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme monitored by News…
*As Gbajabiamila’s Men Go After Reps-Elect THE jostle for leadership positions in the 10th National Assembly became further heightened as lawmakers ostensibly loyal to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila have commenced a lobby drive to collect signatures from reps-elect. The development followed what an NWC member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) described as a ‘deliberate ambiguity’ in the press statement issued by the party. According to him: “the whole scenario is totally different from what used to be. We us8ally zone to areas or zones and possibly allow persons interested to view for the…
THE National Assembly has began the induction ceremony for Senators and Members elect of the 10Th Assembly. The induction ceremony is intended to educate lawmakers-elect on the legislative business. According to the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic studies, this is extremely important as more than seventy percent of Federal Lawmakers coming into the 10th assembly are first time lawmakers. On the leadership tussle in both Houses, some of the lawmakers-elect who spoke with Channels Television are divided on how the National Assembly leadership should emerge. While some lawmakers say the political parties should not interfere in the leadership choices,…
SECURITY has been beefed up as the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal Abuja has begun the pre-hearing of the petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election. While Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes. Not satisfied with the outcome, Atiku and Obi approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory. News Point Nigeria observed that security around the court premises is…
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will May 22nd, 2023 inaugurate the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery. The Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications Bashir Ahmad disclosed this in a tweet on his handle. The tweet reads: “Efforts by the Federal Government to make Nigeria self-sufficient in local refining of crude oil to save the scarce foreign exchange used in the importation of petroleum products have received a boost as the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery, is set for inauguration on May 22nd, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari,” he wrote on Sunday.
THERE was panic at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Sunday when a Max Air aircraft crash-landed after the tyre reportedly burst into flames. The aircraft had arrived from Yola, Adamawa State when the incident happened. The Aerodrome Rescue and Fire-fighting Service (ARFFS) operates at the airport were swiftly mobilised to put off the fire. Former President of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Mike Ogirima, who gave an account of the incident said the tyre burst occurred after takeoff at Yola Airport. However, the aircraft crash-landed in Abuja with emergency officials already on ground to put off…
FOUR hundred and thirteen Nigerians fleeing war-torn Sudan have arrived in Abuja, the nation’s capital. The Max Air flight conveying the returnees landed at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport around 10:50 am on Sunday. News Point Nigeria reports that the returnees are the fourth batch to be repatriated from the North African country since the conflict started. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had earlier told News Point Nigeria that the returnees would arrive in three different airlines – Azman, Max Air and Tarco Aviation. They are meant to enter the Nigerian soil later today. “Azman…
THE Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Ahmed, has said that about 800 students will be airlifted from Aswan Sunday. News Point Nigeria reports that the figure is the biggest since the evacuation is stranded Nigerians started on Wednesday. The Nigerian Government had been airlifting Nigerians in Sudan to safety following the breakout of hostilities between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the Northeasterner country. He said “We have aircraft on the ground as we speak, two are in Aswan and our people are on their way to the airport, so hopefully, they…
THERE were more scenes of joy and relief as the third batch of Sudan stranded Nigerians — mostly students — returned home on Saturday. According to a tweet by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), the 131 Nigerians evacuated from Egypt by Tarco B737-300 Aircraft arrived at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja at about 1:45pm on Saturday. News Point Nigeria reports that, the evacuees were screened by officials of the ministry of health upon arrival in the country. The tweet reads : “EVACUATION UPDATE: “Another batch of Evacuees: 131 Nigerian nationals (Evacuees) 124 Adults, 7 Infants that departed Port…
FORMER first Lady and widow of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua, on the 13th-year anniversary of his death, said, her late husband never liked politics and never wanted to be president. In a special interview with BBC Hausa, Friday, Turai stated that, the late President Yar’Adua was what is known as an accidental politician because he never wanted to join politics and never wanted to be president. “All his life, all he ever wanted was to be a teacher, come home from school, sit with his family and crack jokes till dusk. He wanted no politics or…
THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the conviction and eight-year sentence imposed on the former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina for laundering about N2.1 billion. Delivering the ruling, a three-member panel unanimously affirmed the judgement read by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, convicting and sentencing him on November 8, 2021. In the lead judgement, Justice Elfreda Williams-Daudu affirmed the various interlocutory rulings delivered in the course of the trial at the Federal High Court, which Maina appealed against. The judge, who resolved the two issues identified for determination against Maina,…
THE Senior Special Assistant to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, says public interest is the reason the Vice President contested for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Osinbajo eventually came third at the primary behind former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and Bola Tinubu, who emerged the party’s flag bearer and went ahead to win the February 25 presidential election. The Vice President drew criticisms from some quarters within the party, with many questioning him for contesting against Tinubu whom they said nominated him for his current position. But explaining reasons behind…
ONE of the two additional girls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, rescued by the military, Hauwa Maltha, yesterday said that she was forced to marry three terrorists within nine years after their abduction by Boko Haram in 2014. Speaking with newsmen, Hauwa expressed delight with their rescue, explaining that the military rescued them when they went out to fetch water in the forest. When asked if they were forced to get married to three husbands, she said: “Yes, it was Shekau that married us to them. The first husband went away. Unfortunately, he never returned and Shekau said…
NIGERIANS who were trapped in the troubled Sudan and have now been flown back into the country, have been speaking about the gruesome ordeals they went through. After days of planning and the confusions in between, the stranded Nigerians finally made it out of war-torn country and were evacuated from Egypt by Air Peace and the Nigeria Air Force (NAF), many so exhausted and too traumatized to speak. And the few who summon courage to even utter anything have nothing but thanks for the providence that has seen them arrive safely, escaping the jaws of a deadly conflict that seems…
TROOPS of the Nigerian Army have rescued two out of the three humanitarian staff working with the Family Health International (FHI360) abducted by the fighters of the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP). Security and local sources disclosed this to this newspaper on Thursday. This newspaper had reported that three humanitarian workers and two security guards were abducted at the guest house of the NGO in Fotoko village near Gamborou Ngala town, Borno State. One of the sources revealed that the two NGO workers were released on Wednesday but one of the aid workers and the two security…
THE Senate has approved the restructuring of the controversial N22.719 trillion naira ways and means advances, ostensibly to ensure that the government does not shut down. The upper chamber gave the approval during Wednesday’s plenary session after considering a report from its ad hoc committee, which noted that the federal government repeatedly borrowed from the central bank of Nigeria in the process exceeding the five per cent threshold of the previous year’s revenue as stipulated by the CBN Act. President Buhari’s request for the National Assembly to restructure the sum of n22.719 trillion naira ways and means advances were met…