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Two women were yesterday caught trying to steal 2 bales of clothes at Onitsha main market. The largest market in West Africa.
Trust Onitsha main market boys, the two ladies were stripped and made to walk round the market semi-Unclad carrying the bales of clothes they stole. They should really thank God they didn’t burn them alive ooh!
The Ginger master who just got
himself a Ferrari sometime last week has finally acquired a new home somewhere in Magodo.
No more renting of house
President Muhammadu Buhari has turned down an offer by the Federal Government to buy 5 new armoured Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars for his use. The cars which cost is about N400m were planned to be purchased by the State House.
A source close to the presidency told journalists on Thursday that Buhari found out about the plan when the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr. Nebolisa Emodi, briefed him of his ministry’s activities on Wednesday.
Angry at the revelation, the President was said to have told Emodi that the purchase was unnecessary. Describing it as a waste of scarce resources, the source said Buhari told the permanent secretary that the cars he inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan were good enough for him.
“I don’t need any new cars. The ones I am using now are just fine,” the source quoted the President as saying.
Top government officials, however, said Buhari welcomed other initiatives presented by the permanent secretary to reduce the operating costs of the State House and strengthen its Finance and Accounts Internal Control Mechanisms.
However he directed that more efforts be made towards the capture of all State House expenses within the approved national budget, in order to avoid the frequent recourse by past administrations to “Presidential intervention funds.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed that Buhari had withheld approval for the purchase of the new cars. Shehu said the President would continue to use the cars left behind by Jonathan in keeping with his commitment to prudent management of national resources.
Punch
Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian billionaire businessman, has disclosed why he wants to buy English Premier League team, Arsenal but is not looking at buying clubs in Nigeria.
Aliko Dangote
The billionaire was criticized in certain circles, with some observers repeating he should have bought a club in his own country and not look abroad.
Meanwhile, speaking to a group of senior editors, Dangote said: “the issue is that if I buy all the Nigerian clubs, the Nigerian flags will continue to remain here. But buying Arsenal will take the Nigerian flag worldwide. Just like whenever Abrahamovich is mentioned, the name of his country, Russia comes up, everyone knows he’s Russian.”
“I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team,” Dangote said in an interview on a flight between Addis Ababa and Lagos in May this year,” he added.
“I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy.”
If Dangote is successful with a future bid, it would make him the first African owner of a club in United Kingdom.
Afro Candy shared sultry photos to celebrate America's Independence day. Now, do not open if you're in Church or have small children around. Don't say I didn't warn you o, lol. The photos after the cut...
Sources near Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, have disclosed that members of the Nigerian armed forces have been involved in firefights with Boko Haram terrorists today.
According to SaharaReporters, multiple sources said that Boko Haram has lost numerous fighters during the latest battles, though no reliable figure of the death toll has been provided.
It was also learnt that some Nigerian soldiers have lost their lives during the fight, but the number of soldier deaths is also unknown and could not be verified by any official military source.
With increase in the terrorist attacks, no less than 140 people were massacred yesterday in a remote village about 150 kilometers away from Maiduguri.
Following reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, has begun blocking financial leakages in the country’s economy, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, has issued a warning to public officers and politicians.
Speaking on Friday, July 3, at a public lecture titled “Labour and the Nigerian Economy:What needs to be done”, held at the University of Port Harcourt, Oshiomhole advised public officers and politicians to get rid of their private jets so as to avoid President Buhari’s probe, Vanguard reports.
He, however, blamed the Nigerian Labour Congress for its failure to call politicians to order in the face of the country’s current falling economy.
According to him, it is unfair that Senators could earn an annual salary of about N200 million when the lowest grade worker earned a paltry N18,000 monthly as minimum wage or N216,000 as annual salary.
“How NLC has kept quiet and allowed Senators allocate to themselves annual income of N200 to N300 million both as basic salaries and bogus allowances combined baffles me,” he queried.
He added that businessmen, who connived with some officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to defraud the nation through subsidy claims would be probed.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole and President Muhammadu Buhari
He said: “Few people (in Nigeria) are taking away so much wealth, while majority of the people are going home with almost nothing.
“A clear example is when you arrive at the private wing of the airport in Abuja; you will find more than 40 to 50 private jets parked there in one airport alone.
“The question is what sources do these private jet owners get their wealth from; and which businesses do they run to acquire this luxurious lifestyle.
“You find a young man who has connection with state-owned NNPC, which is suppose to work for the interest of Nigeria, corruptly work for only the interest of few persons.”
He, however, noted that the Buhari-led administration is already making moves to rid the nation of these corrupt officials and institutions.
“Very soon, those who maintain luxurious assets and private jets will begin to sell them because they will no longer be able to maintain them.
“The sources of procurement of these ill-gotten wealth by these people is currently being disconnected and more will be disconnected in the few days and in the coming weeks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Governor Oshiomhole has urged Nigerians to exercise patience with President Muhammadu Buhari.
While many Nigerians have been clamouring for President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint all his ministers since he assumed office on May 29, the former head of state has only named some key personnel.
Many believe, in the coming days, the president would announce more appointments.
Bellow are the appointments made so far:
1. Femi Adesina (SSA)
Femi Adesina is the Senior Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the president. Adesina is the current President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and serves as the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun newspapers.He is a pioneer staff of The Sun newspaper where he became the editor, and later the managing director and editor-in-chief, a position he will be quitting for the new position.
2. Lt. Col Mohammed Abubakar – (ADC )
President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Aide De Camp, ADC. He is a Lt. Col. Muhammed Lawal Abubakar from Kano state.An ADC is a personal assistant or secretary to a person of high rank, usually a senior military, government officer, or Head of State. Lawal Abubakar will be supervising the president’s security details.
3. Lawal Kazaure – State Chief of Protocol
President Muhammadu Buhari appoints Malam Lawal Kazaure as his State Chief of Protocol (SCOP) .Abdullahi Kazaure is a career Foreign Service official and currently serves in Aso Rock Villa as a Special Assistant (Presidential Matters)
4. Abdulrahman Mani – CSO
Abdulrahman Mani was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as his new chief security officer (CSO) before his inauguration as president. He is an operative of the Department of Security Service (DSS). Mani’s appointment also came with accelerated promotion by the secret service.
Mani was deployed by the DSS as a security detail to Buhari in 2011 weeks before he launched his campaign that year.
5. Ahmed Idris – Account-General of Federation
Ahmed Idris who hails from Kano State, was born on November 25, 1960 and was until this appointment, was the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
6. Mordecai Ladan – Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)
Mordecai was born on the June 24, 1957 and is married with children. Ladan is a Petrochemist by profession, who joined DPR in Novermber 23, 1987 as a Senior Analytical Chemist. He has a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria July 1982; West African School Certificate from the Federal Government College, Kano June 1978. He also bagged M.Sc. Petrochemicals & Hydrocarbon Chemistry from the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, UK March 1986. He later became the Head, Safety, Health and Environment Division in May 2014 until his recent appointment as Director, Department of Petroleum Resources. He is replacing Mr George Osahon, whose tenure elapsed on June 19.
7. Mrs. Amina Zakari – INEC ag. Chairman
President, Mahammadu Buhari appointed Amina Zakari as the acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission on June 30,2015
Amina Bala Zakari, a pharmacist by profession hails from Jigawa State. She completed her Secondary Education from the prestigious Queens College Yaba, Lagos. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (B.sc) degree in Pharmacy with Second Class upper (Best Graduating Student) in 1980 from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
She had her National Youth Service Programme at the Federal University of Technology, Bauchi between 1981 -1982, where she set up a Pharmacy and Drug Store Dispensary as her service year project.
She then moved into the consultancy field to serve in various capacities as a consultant in Health and Social Services from 1997 up till her appointment as National Commissioner, INEC.
8. Lawal Daura – the director general (DG) of the Department of Security Services (DSS)
President Muhammadu Buhari replaced Ita Ekpenyong by appointing his kinsman on July 2. However, on the next day, the presidency explained that Lawal Musa Daura was called from his retirement and would be the new acting DG of the DSS.
9. Garba Shehu
President appointed Garba Shehu as the Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity). Garba Shehu is a veteran journalist and former newspaper editor. Garba Shehu served as the Director, Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council. He was the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors sixteen years ago.
Senators have reportedly vowed not to allow the influential former governor of Lagos State, Ahmed Tinubu, decide who leads the next senate.
Some leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, including a former governor of Lagos State, Ahmed Tinubu, and the party’s former interim chairman, Bisi Akande, boycotted the party’s meeting Friday, raising concerns the party may be nowhere near resolving a leadership crisis that has nearly derailed its new government.
Messrs Tinubu and Akande, amongst the party’s most influential leaders, stayed away from the party’s National Executive Committee meeting, attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, governors and federal lawmakers.
Top on the agenda of the meeting was the crisis rocking the party since the election of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara were elected to the two offices respectively, against the wish of the party.
The two leaders also discarded the party’s nominees for the remaining principal offices.
The crisis has polarised the APC, with a faction supporting Messrs Saraki and Dogara, and another backing the party’s leadership and Messrs. Tinubu.
Pressed on the absence of Messrs Tinubu and Akande, the spokesperson of the party, Lai Mohammed said invitation to the meeting was at the discretion of the national working committee of the APC, or its executive committee.
He said the leaders were not members of the party’s exco, as such, it was the discretion of the APC working committee to decide who to invite.
Mr. Mohammed did not provide clear answers when reminded by a reporter that identification tags for Mr. Tinubu had been seen at the venue of the meeting.
PREMIUM TIMES confirmed that Mr. Tinubu was in the country as of Friday.
Before the closed-door session of Friday’s meeting, Mr. Buhari appealed to APC members to respect the supremacy of the party and allow the “system to work”.
After the meeting, Mr. Mohammed said the NEC provided an enabling environment to look into ways of resolving the National Assembly “logjam”.
He said all sides had agreed that the party was supreme, and must be respected.
“Also, it is important to let you know that everybody in the party is united on two issues which are party supremacy and the need to ensure that this government deliver its campaign promises,” Mr. Mohammed said.
Asked if recognising the supremacy of the party implied that the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives would adopt the nominees of the party as principal officers, Mr. Mohammed said talks were continuing.
“The president said he believes in party supremacy, we have a problem on our hands and we must find the best means to resolve it. One thing I can assure you is that, this house (the APC) shall not fall,” he said.
Asked to comment on when to draw a line between party supremacy and the sanctity of the Nigerian Constitution in the selection of principal officers at the National Assembly, Mr. Mohammed said “the less said about this logjam the better it’ll be not for only this party but the whole nation”.
“It is for the interest of everyone who voted for change. I would not want to go into the nitty-gritty of what the resolution will be because as I speak for now I don’t know. When you talk about party’s supremacy, it is derived from the constitution,” he said.
The governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, who is also the chairman of the APC governors’ forum, said he was confident the crisis facing the party was almost over.
“Many people think that there will be problems between APC members at this meeting. But I am assuring Nigerians that we have met and discussed what affects all of us and we have understood ourselves,” he said. “We have also reiterated our support and loyalty to our leadership.”
The new head of the State Security Service, Lawal Daura, appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, will act in that capacity pending the appointment of a substantive Director General, the Head of Service has said.
Mr. Daura was appointed Thursday by the
president after he fired the former DG, Ita
Ekpenyong, who is accused partisanship.
The first announcement from the Head of
Service, Danladi Kifasi, said President Buhari appointed “Lawal Musa Daura as the new Director General Department of State Security Service”.
The statement, signed by Haruna Imrana, for the head of service, said the appointment was with “immediate effect”.
However, the Head of Service issued a second statement late Thursday amid controversy over the appointment, after it became clear the president recalled Mr. Daura, his kinsman, from retirement, ahead of other qualified personnel still in the service.
“President Muhamadu Buhari has appointed Lawal Musa Daura as the new acting Director General Department of State Security Service,” the statement said.
Neither statements acknowledged Mr. Daura had left the service before his appointment.
PREMIUM TIMES reported Thursday that he retired from the SSS in 2013.
Mr. Daura was born in Daura, Katsina state, and was at one time the Deputy Director Presidential Communication, Command and Control Centre at the Presidential Villa Abuja between 2003 and 2007.
He also served as the State Director of Security Service at various times in Kano, Sokoto, Edo, Lagos, Osun and Imo States.
