SABINEWS MIDDAY NEWS UPDATE, DECEMBER 5, 2017
FG abandoned Ekwueme in London hospital —CD (Vanguard)
Campaign for Democracy, CD, yesterday accused the Federal Government of contributing to the death of the Nigeria’s Second Republic Vice President, late Dr Alex Ekwueme in London Hospital, and warned that it should take responsibility for his death. Dr Ekwueme CD through its National Publicity Secretary and chairman, South East Zone, Dede Uzor A.. Uzor alleged that the Federal Government of Nigeria flew Late Dr Ekwueme to London when his health condition got stabilized in Nigeria and subsequently abandoned him to his fate and he allegedly became frustrated and died there. Read more
Patience Jonathan begs court to de-freeze account (DailyTrust)
A former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has again filed a suit praying to defreeze a no debit order placed on her account containing $15.5 million at Skye bank Plc by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court in Lagos had on May 8, ordered the refiling of the suit through writ rather than by originating summons. On Monday, the court granted an application by the former first lady seeking an extension of time within which to reply to the EFCC’s statement of defence. The judge subsequently fixed January 19, 2018 as the date for commencement of trial. Read more
Zamfara governor, Yari proposes N130.7bn budget for 2018 (DailyTrust)
The Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Abdul’Aziz Yari on Monday presented the 2018 budget proposal of N130.7 billion to the state House of Assembly for deliberation. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the proposed budget has an increase of N23b over the 2017 budget. Presenting the budget Yari said out of the proposed amount, N46.4 billion which represents 35.5 per cent was for recurrent expenditure while N84.3 billion which represents 64.5 per cent was for Capital expenditure. Read more
Stanbic IBTC retains AAA national fitch ratings (ThisDay)
Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC and its holding company, Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, have retained their AAA national ratings by Fitch Ratings, the global leader in credit ratings, reaffirming their strong fundamentals and stability, especially the ability to meet their financial commitments as they fall due. In the report issued recently, the two institutions recorded AAA(nga) national long-term ratings, which provides a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated institutions in Nigeria. Read more
Mainagate: How officials defrauded Nigeria of N42bn —AGF (Vanguard)
THE Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has given more insight into how a pension syndicate defrauded the country of well over N42 billion between 2010 and 2014. Malami’s revelation was contained in a memo he submitted to the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the reinstatement and promotion of the former chairman of Presidential Task Force on Pensions, Abdulrasheed Maina, headed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Services, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, PDP, Bayelsa Central. Read more
Senator Ayo Arise Kidnapped, Abductors Demand N80m Ransom (ThisDay)
The former senator representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Mr. Ayo Arise, has been kidnapped by suspected kidnappers. He was kidnapped alongside his driver on Sunday evening along the Okene-Abuja highway. The popular politician was said to have been travelling in his Mercedes Benz SUV when the gunmen struck by blocking his car and ferrying him into the bush. The abductors have since contacted the family and demanded N80 million ransom, a source close to the family said Monday. Read more
Farmers commend Benue govt, state assembly for enacting grazing law (Vanguard)
The Middle Belt Small Scale Farmers Network,MIBSSFANET, has commended the Benue state government and the State House of Assembly for enacting the Open Grazing Prohibition Bill to tackle the herdsmen menace in the state. The Network noted that the law was the panacea to the persistent clashes between pastoralists and farmers adding that it would also ensure the safety of rural dwellers and farmers who were always at the receiving end of such crisis Read more
Oando crisis: Shareholders demand Kemi Adeosun’s sack (DailyTrust)
South-South Coordinator of the Oando Shareholders Solidarity Group (OSSG), Mr Clement Ebitimi, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, for meddling in the forensic audit of Oando Plc. Some newspapers reported on Monday that Adeosun unearthed a previous petition against Mounir Gwarzo and suspended him as Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] because he demanded to be served in writing with her order to stop SEC’s forensic audit of Oando Plc. Read more
To stem growing fuel queues, Kachikwu orders release of products in storage (ThisDay)
Worried about the implications of fuel queues at this time of the year, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to release all products on storage to cover for the current shortfalls that might have precipitated the resurgence of fuel queues. A source at NNPC, who hinted at this development, said although both the minister and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, were not in the country as at last night, however, Kachikwu immediately responded to the development, having deemed it of utmost national importance. Read more
Power blackout hits Calabar, residents, business owners grumble (Vanguard)
Inhabitants of Calabar Metropolis, especially Calabar South, parts of Calabar Municipal and Odukpani Local Government Areas, Cross River State, have screamed over the collapse of power in the areas for more than two months, which not just dislocated their economic and social activities, but led to an upsurge in criminal activities. Finding by NDV showed that cultists, armed robbers and kidnappers find the affected areas attractive to operate in at night because of the obscurity and the people were baffled that the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, has neither explained the reason for the embarrassing situation nor risen to the occasion. Read more
Okowa heads PDP convention committee (DailyTrust)
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday inaugurated the National Planning Committee to conduct its Dec. 9 national convention. The committee headed by Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta was inaugurated by the Chairman, National Caretaker Committee of the party, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi, in Abuja. At the ceremony, Makarfi announced that the committee would take full charge of the convention and ensure that the process was free, fair and not hijacked by any individual or group. Makarfi called for support for the committee, and urged members of the party to cooperate with the members to build a stronger PDP. Read more
Police move to reorganise SARS (ThisDay)
Following public outcry against high cases of arbitrariness by Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), an arm of the Nigerian Police, the police authorities yesterday said plans were underway to reorganise SARS. The move came on the heels of public and social media campaign to disband SARS. Speaking on the planned restructuring, the Police Public Relations officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood, said: “Nigeria Police Force has observed the recent trend of events on the social media on the#ENDSARSNOW and the controversy being generated by the innuendos from the allegations and other misconceptions as it concerns the operational roles and activities of SARS, a detachment of the Nigeria Police Force. Read more
We’re neither recruiting nor commissioning – Army (Vanguard)
The Nigerian Army has asked the general public to disregard the fake announcement on the social media about recruitment exercise. The Army, in a statement by its spokesman, Brigadier General Sani Usman, early Tuesday morning, warned unsuspected members of the public to be wary of people posting the announcement on social media to deceive them with a view to dupping them. “The attention of the Nigerian Army is drawn to the activities of a fraudulent syndicate that has placed fake adverts to deceive unsuspecting members of the public on alleged commissioning into the Nigerian Army. Read more
NiMet predicts sunny, cloudy weather for Tuesday (DailyTrust)
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), has predicted sunny and hazy weather conditions over Central States of the country on Tuesday with partly cloudy conditions over Lokoja, Makurdi and Ilorin. NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office (CFO), on Monday in Abuja, also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 29 degrees Celsius to 36 degrees Celsius and 13 to 22 degrees Celsius. The agency predicted that Southern States would experience cloudiness over the inland throughout the day with cloudy conditions over the coastal cities in the morning hours. Read more
Nigeria seals deal with Switzerland to return $321m Abacha loot (ThisDay)
Nigeria and Switzerland have sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the return of $321 million traced to the late former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, The Cable reported on Monday. The deal was signed on behalf of Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, in Washington DC, United States on Monday at the headquarters of the World Bank Group. When returned, the money is expected to be expended on social protection programme in Nigeria. Read more
Unilorin laments non-inclusion in FG’s payment of lecturers’ allowance (Vanguard)
Following almost two decades of non-participation in the activities of national leadership of Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU, by the University of Ilorin, the former has finally hit back at the latter, following its exclusion from the benefits accrued to universities from the federal government due to refusals to join strike within the period under review. In view of this, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of the University of Ilorin yesterday sent a ‘ Save our Soul’ message to President Muhammadu Buhari and leadership of the National Assembly over their non – as beneficiaries of the N23 billion Earned Academic Allowance, EAA, released last week to members of the union. Read more
Village head, many feared dead in attack on Bachama communities (DailyTrust)
Many are feared dead as gun men suspected to be herds men attacked three villages in Demsa and Numan Local Government areas of Adamawa State. Tension escalated in Numan and neighbouring areas since the latest incident in which 55 Fulani women and children were killed in an attack on their community two weeks ago. Fleeing residents have told Daily Trust that the attack started at about 5 o clock in the morning as gun men invaded Lawaru and Dong, shooting at any one at sight before marching toward Kiken in Numan. Read more
Women crucial to ECOWAS development – Stella Oduah (ThisDay)
President of ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA), Senator Stella Oduah, has said that the womenfolk is crucial in the development of the regional block. She made the assertion while speaking with journalists at the on-going Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja. The senator, claimed that the women folk constitutes the larger population in the sub-region and as such could not be ignored in developmental efforts. While lamenting that women’s participation in politics including that of the sub-region is still very low and needed to change, she stressed that women were capable of contesting and holding any political office in the sub-region and as such should not play second fiddle to their male counterpart. Read more
10,000 Google staff set to police YouTube content (Vanguard)
Google is to deploy a staff of 10,000 to hunt down extremist content on its YouTube platform following recent criticism, the video-sharing site’s chief executive told Britain’s Daily Telegraph Tuesday. Susan Wojcicki admitted in the broadsheet that “bad actors” had used the website to “mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm.” British Prime Minister Theresa May has put pressure on internet giants to root out online radical material following a spate of terror attacks, while YouTube last week pulled 150,000 videos of children after lewd comments about them were posted by viewers. Read more
Communal conflicts: We’ll never encourage anyone to take up arms – Sultan (DailyTrust)
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has said that northern traditional rulers will never call on anybody to take up arms for any reason, saying failure of government led to insecurity in the country. Speaking at the 3rd General Assembly of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council yesterday in Kaduna, the Sultan who is the chairman of the council said if the various governments woke up to their responsibility, insecurity would be a thing of the past. The Sultan said, “We will never call on anybody to take up arms. As a Fulani leader, I am the leader of Fulanis in this country and in the West African sub region. I will never call on any Fulani to pick up arm to kill anybody. Read more
Wike releases 16 SUVs to Rivers National Assembly members (ThisDay)
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has released 16 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to elected members of the National Assembly from Rivers State. Three of the vehicles, Wike said, are for senators representing the state, while 13 are for members of the House of Representatives from the state. Members of the House of Representatives led by Leader, Rivers Caucus of the House of Representatives, Mrs Betty Apiafi, and the Deputy Leader of the Caucus, Bari Mpigi, took possession of their vehicles. Making the presentation at the Government House Port Harcourt yesterday, Wike said the vehicles were acquired to aid the federal lawmakers in the discharge of their official functions. Read more
Team Nigeria names 21 for African Skating Championship (Vanguard)
21 skaters are to represent Team Nigeria at the 2017 African Skating Championship holding from December 6 to 10 in Lome, Togo. Unveiling the team yesterday at the National Stadium in Lagos, President of the Nigeria Roller Sports and Skating Federation, Comrade Joseph Evah, said the skaters were carefully from a pool of over 40 skaters at a rigorous camping exercise. Evah, who is single-handedly funding the skaters trip to the maiden African Championship, where they are set to compete for honours with 21 other countries, promised to reward each gold winner with N200, 000.Read more
Messi’s statue in Argentina has its legs cut off (Vanguard)
In Paseo de las Glorias in Buenos Aires there is a statue of Argentina captain Lionel Messi, and on Sunday night it became the victim of a vandalism attack, with both legs being removed. It’s the second time the statue has been vandalised, following its unveiling on June 28, 2016. The sculpture, which was created by Carlos Benavides, will now be transferred to the Department of Monuments and Works of Art in the Argentine capital. Read more
Rohr stays back in Russia (Vanguard)
Coach Gernot Rohr and team administrator Dayo Enebi are still in Russia to finalise on a base camp for the team at next year’s World Cup. The base camp will be home to the team from where they will fly out to their various match venues and return after their games. “Both the coach and Dayo (Enebi) are already finalising on the camp,” a team official said. “I am sure it’s 90-95% completed now. “That’s why they stayed back after the draw on Friday to conclude on the matter.” The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had initially submitted two likely camp sites to FIFA before the draw for approval. Read more
Donald Trump attacks LaVar Ball (Independent)
Donald Trump has launched a new personal attack against the father of a US basketball player, after he refused to thank the President for his role in securing his son’s release from prison in China. Mr Trump tweeted that LaVar Ball was an “ungrateful fool” and a “poor man’s Don King” after the player’s father suggested he personally negotiated his son’s release. “IT WAS ME,” the President tweeted on Wednesday morning. UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball and two teammates were arrested in China earlier this month, after shoplifting from stores in Shanghai before the team’s season opener. Read more
Theresa May scrambles to save Brexit deal (Independent)
The Prime Minister was set to brief her Cabinet on Tuesday amid fallout of from the delay, as an ex-senior Foreign Office official said the row had been “damaging” for Ms May. She has insisted she is still “confident” of securing a withdrawal deal, allowing her to get a green light for trade talks at the European Council summit starting December 14. Failure to do so would risk throwing the whole Brexit process into crisis, with companies believed to be preparing to activate contingency plans to start moving staff and activities out of the UK if there are no signs of progress by Christmas. Read more
Turkey president Erdogan tells Trump is a ‘red line’ for Muslims (Independent)
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Donald Trump’s plan to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel is a “red line” for Muslims and could see him breaking off diplomatic relations with the country. Mr Erdogan told parliament his country’s response “could go as far as us cutting diplomatic ties with Israel.” He also said he would convene a summit meeting of countries of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation to oppose any move recognising Jerusalem. Read more
