Tag: News

Nigeria: How Buhari’s Ally, Isa Funtua, Fraudulently Acquired KeyStone Bank and 9Mobile
Corruption, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: How Buhari’s Ally, Isa Funtua, Fraudulently Acquired KeyStone Bank and 9Mobile

How Isa Funtua fraudulently acquired KeyStone Bank and 9Mobile using AMCON MD Recently, a shocking story came out to public knowledge about how Keystone Bank and 9Mobile were acquired in controversial circumstances by the business interests of one Alhaji Isa Funtua, a close friend of President Muhammadu Buhari, via the instrumentality of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). As the smoke raised by the scandalous story is still swirling in the air, with some public groups challenging the government to come out clean on what could be a serious dent on its anti-corruption stance, there is indeed no smoke without fire. For starters, it is a confirmed fact that the son-in-law of Isa Funtua, Ahmed Kuru, is the current CEO of AMCON. Before him, the previous CEO, Chike Obi, was a fi...
Nigeria: Buratai Invites Editors to Maiduguri, Offers Each N500,000  by Churchill Umoren
Corruption, News, Nigeria, Security

Nigeria: Buratai Invites Editors to Maiduguri, Offers Each N500,000 by Churchill Umoren

...Army chief Buratai implores the media to take it easy and not pursue "negative" stories about it. Last week Army spokesman, Lt. Col SK Usman, at the behest of Army chief Buratai, invited 40 journalists, so many editors, to Maiduguri. All expenses paid. It was a meeting that had two phases. He met with Heads of NGOs and officials of UN agencies in the NE. The theme for the media? To implore the media to take it easy and not pursue "negative" stories about how the military high command are stashed funds meant for soldiers, allowing them die like hens when in combat with Boko. One of those they accuse was Babajide Otitoju of TVC. Usman personally accused him of " demoralizing" troops.  Babajide was there at  the diner and got his share took photos with d boss and promised to take it ea...
Nigeria: 2019: PDP Rejects Nationwide Military ‘Operation Python Dance’
News, Nigeria, Press Statement

Nigeria: 2019: PDP Rejects Nationwide Military ‘Operation Python Dance’

…Accuses Buhari of Plotting To Use Military To Rig Poll The PDP Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) alerts that President Muhammadu Buhari is plotting to use the planned nationwide military 'Operation Python Dance' to legitimize his administration's ploy of using the military to intimidate voters and rig the 2019 Presidential election, having realized he cannot win in a free and fair poll. This plot is in consonant with the desperation of the Buhari Presidency to foist a siege mentality on the nation ahead of the 2019 general elections, harass voters and create a sense of escalated insecurity, so as to stalemate the electoral process, once it becomes clearer that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was losing. Our investigation shows that part of the plot is to use the mil...
Breaking News: Shehu Shagari Dies at 93
Breaking News, Life, News, Nigeria

Breaking News: Shehu Shagari Dies at 93

Nigeria's second republic President Alhaji Shehu Shagari has died at the age of 93. Shagari passed on this morning at the National Hospital Abuja after a brief illness. He became the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when he took over from the military administration of Olusegun Obasanjo on October 1, 1979. He however only served as president till December 31st, 1983 when he was overthrown in a military coup by the current President Buhari. While announcing the death, Bello Shagari, grandson to the late Shagari said "I regret announcing the death of my grandfather, H.E Alhaji Shehu Shagari, who died right now after brief illness at the National hospital, Abuja."
Nigeria: Reject APC, Buhari, PDP Urges North-West As They Storm Sokoto For Atiku
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Reject APC, Buhari, PDP Urges North-West As They Storm Sokoto For Atiku

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential campaign train is in Sokoto, an ancient  city located in the extreme North-West Nigeria,near the confluence of the Sokoto River and the Rima River this Monday to market their candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as part of their North West Presidential zonal rally Those who know better say the name Sokoto, a modern/anglicised version of the local name, Sakkwato, is of Arabic origin, representing suk, 'market'. It is also known as Sakkwato, Birnin Shaihu da Bello or Sokoto, capital of Shaihu and Bello. Being the seat of the former Sokoto Caliphate, the city is predominantly Muslim and an important seat of Islamic learning in Nigeria. The Sultan who heads the caliphate is effectively the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims. Against this...
Nigeria: 38 Groups On Warpath Over Agricultural Biotechnology
Agriculture, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: 38 Groups On Warpath Over Agricultural Biotechnology

The move by the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch to sway the citizenry to accept agricultural biotechnology has drawn the ire of 38 civic groups in the country. The groups have also denounced the release of Genetically Modified Cotton into the country The GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and over 35 other groups in a statement wired to this reporter on Tuesday condemned efforts by government and biotech corporations to persuade Nigerians to accept agricultural biotechnology and denounced the registration and release of genetically modified (GM) cotton varieties (Maycho C567 BG II and Maycho C571 BG II) into Nigeria. This is coming as the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture in con...
Opinion: Can Buhari Still Hold On Beyond 2019?
News, Nigeria

Opinion: Can Buhari Still Hold On Beyond 2019?

The battle for the Presidential power of Nigeria is on. There are the main front runners like President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as well as a number of ‘’lesser’’ power seekers in the race who are equally capable of causing a major upset. The race is on against the backdrop of some core issues in the polity. For instance, prospects for enduring electricity supply in the country are still not appearing very positive. With the current power situation, the obvious implication is that poverty and unemployment will continue to bit harder except government determines to take the bull by the horn. Electricity demand in Nigeria is estimated at 297,900MW by 2030, less than 12 years from this outgoing year. To meet that target, investors in the sector are expec...
Nigeria: South-East Endorsement of Atiku Carries No Weight – Buhari
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: South-East Endorsement of Atiku Carries No Weight – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buahri on Friday said that the endorsement of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, carried no weight as he was advised by well-meaning leaders from the South East to disregard the endorsement. President Buhari specifically said that the split within the Ohanaeze Igbo socio-cultural group over the reported endorsement of Abubakar, for the 2019 election did not surprise him. Speaking at a meeting with a select group of South-east leaders led by the National Chairman of the United Progressive Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday, Buhari said that the moment the so-called resolution was announced, he got calls from well-meaning leaders from the region asking him to disregard it as it was wit...
Nigeria: Snake Attacks Pastor In Abuja
News, Nigeria, Religion

Nigeria: Snake Attacks Pastor In Abuja

A deliverance pastor in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, who was recently attacked by a mysterious big snake, says no form of attack will stop him from preaching the gospel of Christ and restoring destinies of the oppressed. An eye-witness told this reporter on Thursday that the pastor organised a thanksgiving on Saturday, praising God for His ''marvelous works'' in his life and family. Our source said the pastor, Levi Ogbonna of the House of Restoration in Jikwoyi, Abuja, has not been finding it easy in the area since he began the deliverance ministry. ''He occasional receive phone calls from persons who hid their numbers, warning him to back out. But he keeps insisting that he was called by God to set the captives free'', our source who is a member of the church said. Ogbon...
Nigeria: Re-election Seeking Wike Sets Agenda 2068 For Rivers
News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Re-election Seeking Wike Sets Agenda 2068 For Rivers

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is currently busy setting a seeming ambitious 50 years development agenda for the state. It is expected to flower in Year 2068. At the moment, Wike’s continued stay in power beyond 2019 is being challenged by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, his Ikwerre kinsman. Even if Wike wins his re-election bid on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and stay till 2023, his Agenda 2068 will still have outstanding 46 years to fully mature. Apparently not shaken, the PDP governor says the state government will set still out the development blueprint for the rapid growth of the big oil and gas state in the next 50 years. He was speaking while receiving the final report of the state’s Golden...