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Showing posts from March, 2016

Police seals off Kogi Assembly

http://archmediang.blogspot.com. ng The crisis  rocking  the Kogi  State  House of Assembly assumed a new dimension yesterday when the complex was finally  sealed of by the security agents. This follows the failure  of the Assembly to resolve the leadership crisis that has bedeviled  the house in the last three months. Our correspondent who visited  the Assembly complex yesterday morning observed that the main entrance to the assembly complex was blocked by heavily armed policemen and prevented members who were billed to conduct budget defence from accessing the complex. The road leading to the complex was also barricaded by armed policemen who subjected staff of the assembly to scrutiny and only allowed them in upon confirmation of their employment status through their Identity Cards. The security agent claimed  to be acting based on instructions from the commissioner of police following a directive from the Force Headquarters in Abuja. Speaking on the seal-off, Mr Aliyu Akuh,

I never slapped my deputy − El-Rufai

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai  said on Tuesday night that he has never quarrelled with, nor slapped his Deputy, Barnabas Bala. The governor said Bala has been his friend since they both attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in Kaduna State several years ago. While the governor had First class honours, studying Quantity Survey, his Deputy, graduated with First Class honours in Architecture from the same Ahmadu Bello Unversity, Zaria. Reacting to the rumoured fight between him and his deputy, El-Rufai said he had known his deputy since 1976 at ABU and that nothing has ever led them to fight. The root of alleged fisticuffs between El-rufai and Bala was that the Governor and the deputy have been having a cold war over alleged plans by the governor to sack top civil servants in the state. But El-Rufai, in an interactive session with select journalists simply laughed over the allegation, saying that the rumour mongers were not intelligent enough. The governor explained

Minister of Sport apologses for Eagles' AFCON exit

Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Solomon Dalung has apologised to Nigerians for the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2017 African Cup of Nations to be hosted by Gabon. Dalung tendered his apology in a series of tweets on Wednesday. He noted that the country has no good reason for failure to qualify if plans had been properly put in place. “After this abysmal performance at AFCON qualifiers it’s important we return to the drawing board to plan the future of football in Nigeria,” the minister twitted. “Nigerians cannot accept any reason for failure from anybody so we either deliver or we give way to those who can deliver success.”

CBN suspends deputy governor, directors for fraud

One of the three deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria is currently on suspension for being involved in ‘a sophisticated plot’ to defraud the bank a huge sum of money, findings by our correspondent have revealed. Top officials of the CBN close to the development told our correspondent that two directors of the bank were also suspended over the multi-million naira scam. The officials, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said their suspension was ordered by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, after preliminary findings revealed that they might be culpable. The CBN had on Thursday night said it had uncovered what it described as a highly sophisticated plot to defraud the bank by some people. The bank said in a statement by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okoroafor, that while preliminary investigations had not revealed any accomplices within the bank, some personnel within the CBN h

Former Delta gov, Felix Ibru dies @ 80

Chief Felix Ibru. Source: Punch A former governor of Delta State, Chief Felix Ibru, has died. The business man, who is also a former Senator, was the President-General of the Urhobo Progressive Union from 2007 to 2010. Born on December 7, 1935, Ibru, who died today at the age of 80, hailed from Ughelli North Local Government of Delta State. He successfully contested the governorship election in Delta State in 1991, becoming the first democratically elected governor of the state. In 2003, Ibru who unsuccessfully contested senatorial elections in Bendel State in 1983, was elected into the Senate under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He served for only one term. Source: Punch

Ben Carson endorsesTrump

Ben Carson. Retired neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson endorsed billionaire Donald Trump on Friday, describing his former rival as “a very intelligent man.” Carson made the endorsement at one of Trump’s clubs in Palm Beach, Florida. “There are two different Donald Trumps,” Carson said in his endorsement. “There’s the one you see on the stage, and there’s the one who’s is very cerebral, sits there, you can have a very good conversation with him.” Carson praised Trump as “a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America.” Carson said that the election is “not about me. It’s not about Donald Trump. It’s about America.” The religiously conservative Carson said that in talking with Trump he discovered that “there’s a lot more alignment, philosophically and spiritually, than I ever thought that there was.” Carson’s outsider campaign soared last year but ultimately fizzled as he stumbled over questions about the veracity of aspects of his com

Explosion Hit CBN, Calabar

Report reaching Archmedia from eye witness,  Claiming anonymous confirm that four persons die instantly. Three of which was burnt  beyond recognition and one die out of shock and so many injured. And the cause of the explosion is not gas as speculated by many but a time bomb. As at now ( 17:45 GMT +1) , Calabar road  from De Choice fast food to  Calabar Millennium park is block by security agencies. The explosion, which happened at about 11am on Friday, shattered the CBN banking hall and caused traffic jam on roads around the bank between 11am and 2pm as security operatives assisted officials of the state Fire Service in bringing the situation under control. Thousands of passersby and commuters had scampered for safety after the explosion, concluding it was a bomb blast. But the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Henry Fadairo, said that the explosion was caused by gas cylinders in the CBN office. The police in company of the Navy, Army, FRSC and the Civil Defence wer

Breaking News: Explosion in Central Bank of Nigeria, Calabar

Central Bank of Nigeria, Calabar had an explosion today at about 12 noon. We are still investigating the casuse of the explosion and how many casualty. Details later...

Breaking News: Explosion in Central Bank of Nigeria, Calabar

Central Bank of Nigeria, Calabar had an explosion today at about 12 noon. We are still investigating the casuse of the explosion and how many casualty. Details later...

Switzerland gives Nigeria conditions to repatriate $321m Abacha loot

Switzerland has given conditions for repatriating $321m looted by a former military ruler, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, to Nigeria. Part of the conditions is that the fund would be used for projects that would benefit Nigerians and they (the projects) must be monitored by the World Bank. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, said the government was working on the modalities for the repatriation. Speaking shortly after holding a meeting with the Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter on Tuesday in Abuja, Onyeama explained that Nigeria had signed an agreement with the Swiss government in the area of human rights and immigration. He said, “It is $321mn that we are looking at repatriating to Nigeria and the modalities are basically legal framework for that; mutual legal assistance framework that we are trying to put in place and there are pre-conditions that are also in place already and these require monitoring mechanism. “So, we have to agree beforehand as a pre-cond

FG employs Ocholi eldest son,others scholarship

As part of efforts to support the children left behind by the late Minister of State for Labour, Mr James Ocholi  (SAN), the Federal Government has announced automatic employment at the Federal Ministry of Justice for Aaron, his eldest son. The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, revealed this to the Ocholi family when he paid a visit to his Kado Estate residence at about 3:00pm on Tuesday, to convey his and President Muhammadu Buhari’s condolence message. He also disclosed that Aaron’s other siblings would enjoy scholarships for their educational pursuits, courtesy of the Federal Government who has pledged to cushion the effect of the loss of their parents. The Minister added that the Senior Advocate was a very critical part of the change effort of the Federal Government. He said that President Buhari personally mandated him to inform the family of the late Minister that his administration would do all within its power to ensure he is not missed. Mr Malami consoled t

Cameroon Takes over Nigeria's community

Cameroonian government has allegedly forcefully taken over parts of Akwa Ibom State not covered by the original judgment to cede part of the Bakasi Peninsular to the Central African country following a decision of the International Court of Justice (ICC) in The Hague in 2002. More than 350 oil wells and fishing pots have consequently been seized, depriving Nigeria of potential revenues from these assets. It is reported that the people of Effiat clan in Mbo Local Government Area of the state claim the Cameroon government in a desperate attempt to cede their communities have lured their village heads into accepting Cameroonian citizenship with documents acknowledging their headship. The Cameroonian government, which has for sometime now claimed some parts of the state, are said to have operated through some greedy village heads whenever the people resisted paying tax to their government. These village heads are said to have been issued ‘documents of acknowledgment’ with letterhead

Nigerians are the ones that vandalized electricity installations-Presidency

According to presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, Nigerians are the ones that vandalized electricity installations in different parts of the country after the supply reached a 16-year-high of over 5000 megawatts. Speaking live on a radio show monitored by Greennews.ng in Lagos on Friday morning, Adesina wondered how the government could do its job when miscreants in places like Bayelsa choose to vandalize gas and electricity installations. “Do you remember that some time ago, the supply of power reached over 5000 megawatts. That was even more than how much had been generated in 16 years but then some people went to destroy government installations thereby dropping power to so low as it is now. “Who do we blame for that? When the power ministry announced that we had about 5000 megawatts about three weeks ago, it also promised that by December, another 2000 megawatts to be added to it. That will give 7000 megawatts. “That generated a lot of hopes. But those hopes were dampen

How minister, son, wife died – FRSC

The minister of state for Labour and Productivity, Mr. James Ocholi, his wife and eldest son died 57 kilometres from Kaduna, the Federal Road Safety Commission has said. While the minister and his son died on the spot, his wife died later at Doka Government Hospital in Kaduna hours later. The Kaduna State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Francis Udoma, explained that the accident when the rear tyre of the Sports Utility Vehicle conveying them burst and the vehicle summersaulted several times. Udoma said, “The rear tyre bursted and the vehicle, summersaulted. The minister and his son died on the spot, the wife died in the government hospital in Doka, Kaduna. “The driver, the chief detail, the orderly and the Personal Assistant were injured.

Siasia picks Moses, Samuel for Egypt games

Samson Siasia has recalled Victor Moses and Aaron Samuel while selecting fresh players; Fanendo Adi, Umar Aminu and Stanley Amuzie, for this month’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt. The 42-man list which has 22 players from the domestic league with 20 pros from abroad does not reflect any radical change from the squad Nigeria presented in the last six months. Moses and Samuel did not play under Sunday Oliseh during his eight-month tenure as Nigeria coach. Adi, 25, who features for Portland Timbers in the Major League Soccer was quick to express his excitement at being called up via  Twitter . He tweeted, “Glory to God. Woke up20ne of d best news of my life. Wao I’m invited 2 Super Eagles. Let’s all make the nation proud.” Siasia, who was named last week as Super Eagles caretaker coach, appealed to all Nigerians to rally round the team as the Eagles host the Pharaohs in Kaduna on March 25 and play away in Alexandria on March 29. The 22 home-based player

Immigration job scam: Court grants ex-minister, Moro bail

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday granted bail to a former Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, and others with whom he was accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of defrauding graduate applicants to the tune of N675m in the botched March 15, 2014 National Immigration Services recruitment exercise. Justice Anwuli Chikere granted bail to Moro on self-recognition, but imposed on the two others, bail sum of N100m each with one surety in like sum. All the accused persons including Moro are, however, to deposit their passports and other travel documents with the court registrar throughout the period of their trial. The other accused persons, who were granted bail, are a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia‎, and former director in the ministry, Mr. F.O Alayebami. Moro, Daniel-Nwobia and Alayebami‎ were on Monday arraigned along with the firm contracted to execute the recruitment exercise, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.