Okorocha Expresses Gratitude, As he Returns After Treatment Abroad Over Car Crash,

Owelle Rochas Okorocha has returned to Owerri, the Imo State capital after undergoing further evaluation and treatment in the United Kingdom due to a head injury he sustained in a car crash in Orlu last week. Okorocha expressed his gratitude to Imo People for their prayers and concern while he was away. The Governor while addressing journalists shortly after his arrival from London at the Government House Owerri advised motorists to drive carefully...

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House of Reps to probe controversial grounding of Rivers airplane

The House of Representatives on Tuesday in Abuja mandated its committees on Justice and Aviation to extensively investigate the justification and circumstances surrounding the alleged grounding of the Rivers Airplane. The committees are expected to report their findings to the house within two weeks. This resolution was sequel to a motion moved by Ahmed Idris (ACN-Plateau), which was unanimously adopted without debate when put to...

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Justice Talba, Afenifere condemns one-year suspension

                                                 The NJC suspended the judge over a controversial judgement. The leader of a Yoruba Socio Cultural Group, Afenifere, Reuben Fasoranti, on Tuesday said the one year suspension of Justice Abubakar Talba of the Abuja High Court by the National Judicial Council[ NJC ] is not...

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Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan misappropriate fresh N1.04 trillion, Senate reports

The administrations of three successive Nigerian Presidents misappropriated about N1.04 trillion from the Special Funds Accounts (SFA), a report by the Senate has said. Between 2002 and 2012, the administrations of President Olusegun Obasanjo, late President Umaru Yar’Adua, and President Goodluck Jonathan spent funds from the account for unrelated purposes, an investigation by a senate committee revealed. The Senate Committee on Public Accounts...

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Rivers accuses Nigerian aviation agencies of unprofessionalism

The Rivers State Government has clarified its ownership of a private plane saying it owns the plane but registered it “as a US Aircraft in the first instance.” In a statement by Ibim Semenitari, the Commissioner of Information, the Rivers Government said it is also baffled by the conflicting reports of Nigerian aviation agencies who have raised three different reasons ‘for the delay of the Rivers State Government’s aircraft in...

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FG to inter-link NYSC locations

The  Management  of the National Youth  Service  Corps (NYSC)  has announced  plans to install a necessary platform that would enable  all NYSC locations to be inter-linked. In achieving  this, the Director General of the scheme, Brigadier  General N.T Okore-Affia, said the management  would explore  the possibility of public  private  partnership  in view of the limited...

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Bama town another Boko Haram attack, 17 persons killed, over 200 houses burnt: JTF battle

Barely a week after a massacre in Baga community of Borno State, a gun battle similar to the Baga massacre occurred on Thursday in Bama Town of the state, claiming 17 lives including soldiers and police officers, security officials said. The commanding military officer in charge of Bama Barracks, A.G Laka told the visiting Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, that trouble started in the commercial town of Bama when armed Boko Haram gunmen...

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Jonathan: Urges Nigerian police officers to respect human rights

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday urged officers of the Nigerian Police Force to be mindful of the rights of citizens while doing their job. The President gave the charge while commissioning 275 patrol vans, seven helicopters, 17 Armoured Personnel Carriers, APC, and other equipment for the Police Force at a ceremony held at the Eagle Square in Abuja, to mark the end of the Nigerian Police Force Week, the first to be held in 37...

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ICC probes extra-judicial killings in Nigeria

The Special Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mrs Fatou Bensouda, has begun investigation into allegations of extra-judicial killings in Nigeria by security forces. Bensouda confirmed this in an interview published in the August/September 2012 edition of the New African Magazine. She was quoted as saying: “The OTP (office of the prosecutor) is currently conducting preliminary examinations in a number of situations, including...

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NUP Group berates blast on Alison-Madueke, PIB

A pressure group, the National Unity Project (NUP), has berated some northern leaders over what it described as unwarranted attack on the person of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and their opposition to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). In a statement signed Sunday by the Director-General, NUP, Mr. Igwekala Leo Ugomaduefule, the group urged the leaders to 'surrender their pride' to the reforms engineered...

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Obasanjo :Jonathan probe me, not my aides

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday challenged the Federal Government to probe his eight-year administration instead of descending on his cabinet members. Besides, he criticised the establishment of an agency to protect oil pipelines, describing the action as a move for 'another chop, chop' - a veiled reference to corruption in governance. Obasanjo, who spoke at the 50th birthday thanksgiving for a former Vice-President of the World...

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JTF : Boko Haram Uses Kidnapping To Raise Funds

 Indications have emerged that the Boko Haram sect members may have resorted to kidnapping and ransom demand instead of their usual armed robbery operations as a way of raising the much-needed funds for their terrorist activities. The thinking of the terrorists, it was gathered, was that while armed robbery poses too many risks and takes much longer time to plan and execute, kidnapping for ransom is less cumbersome, takes a short time to...

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Nigerians should resist Jonathan’s “evil” $40 million Internet spy contract: ACN

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has condemned as “evil” the Jonathan administration’s $40 million ambitious internet spy programme awarded to an Israeli firm to secretly search out on Nigeria’s 47 million Internet users. The party urged Nigerians to resist the move. The contract, undertaken by Elbit Systems, with headquarters in Haifa, will allow the government spy on citizens’ computers and Internet communications and emails under the...

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Justice Talba suspension group salutes Nigeria’s Chief Judge

Lagos based nongovernmental organization, has welcomed the decision of the Nigerian judiciary to suspend Abubakar Talba of the Abuja High Court for 12 months, last week. Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, had approved the suspension of Mr. Talba following his controversial judgment on John Yusufu, who was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over an alleged N32.8 billion Police Pension...

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APGA moves to expel Okorocha

The formation of All Progressives Congress (APC) political Party has deepened the crisis in the All Progressive Grand Alliance, as members of the party are intensifying moves to expel the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, for alleged anti-party activities. If the plot sails through, Okorocha will be the first incumbent governor to be expelled in the present Republic. Ex-governors Abubakar Rimi of Kano State and Balarabe Musa of Kaduna...

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Falana: Another fuel subsidy removal will lead to revolution

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has warned the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum against removing the subsidy on petroleum products. He said deregulation of the commodity would lead to revolution. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria was reacting to a recent comment credited to the chairman of the forum and Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, in which he said mass revolt, was unlikely in the country. Amaechi had...

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Goodluck Jonathan bans Governor Amaechi’s aircraft from flying in Nigeria again

Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday intensified its attack on the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, with the National Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, banning the Rivers State-owned bombardier aircraft from flying in Nigeria’s airspace again. Governor Amaechi has been having a running battle with the presidency over his stance on major national issues  and his plane was on Friday temporarily prevented  from leaving the Akure...

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A’Ibom communal clash, Soldiers take over

No fewer than four persons were feared dead and over 10 houses burnt in a renewed communal clash between the Esit Urua village and Mkpanang  in Eket and Ibeno Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State. The clash, Saturday Independent gathered started when bulldozers were seen clearing the disputed area of the boundary between the two villages. It was alleged that the site clearing was done at the instance of Mr. Okpolupum...

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