Author: straightnewsng.com

The Presidency said Tuesday that those insinuating that the European Union, the United States and Saudi Arabia were persuading President Buhari not to seek re-election in 2019 were afraid of their shadows. The Presidency also said the purveyors of such insinuation were afraid that President Buhari will defeat them in any election contest, and have now decided to concoct any story to dissuade him from standing for the election. In a statement in Abuja, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, debunked a newspaper publication that western countries, such as the United States, the European Union…

A group of investors have acquired a 100,000-barrel per day, BPD, refinery in Turkey, from British Petroleum, BP, and are in the process of relocating the plant to Nigeria for installation near the Port-Harcourt Refinery. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, also noted that another brownfield refinery with similar capacity would be built by another group of investors near the Warri refinery. NNPC said both projects were under its collocation initiative designed to boost local refining capacity and to end the era of petroleum products importation. Speaking on the projects in an interview…

Bukola Saraki, Senate President, and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, agreed Tuesday that no date had been fixed for the reconvening of the National Assembly to consider the budget of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. This came on a day the All Progressives Congress, APC, accused the Senate president of high treason, noting that it had also uncovered plans by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to attack its senators as a way of frustrating their efforts to effect a change in the leadership of the Senate. But in a swift reaction, PDP described APC’s allegation as laughable…

Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, have given reasons why the envisaged reconvening of the two chambers of the National Assembly will not hold in the immediate future and asked legislators to go about their affairs while on holiday. Saraki and Dogara in a joint statement on Tuesday morning confessed that there were proposals to reconvene to deliberate on the reports of the Joint Committees on Electoral Matters arising from interactions with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The presiding officers, however, said that the meetings have not taken place and that many legislators have also…

One person died and three injured when suspected militants, Monday, attacked Akwa Ibom Transport Transport Corporation (AKTC) passengers’ bus at Ikot Mkporikpo village along Abak-Iwukem Road in Etim Ekpo local government area of Akwa Ibom State. This is the second bus belonging to AKTC attacked by the hoodlums as the first one was also attacked at Edem Akai in Etim Ekpo local government area earlier this year. Charman Dore, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in-charge of Etim Ekpo, confirmed to our Straightnews correspondent that the “the militants shot sporadically at the bus when the driver refused to stop after being…

Ahead of the 2019 Presidential elections, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has concluded plans to prune down the number of its presidential aspirants before the primary election. The plan, our correspondent gathered, is aimed at preventing unnecessary dissipation of energy by supporters and members of the PDP as well as nipping in the bud, possible fragmentations within the ranks of the party. Although the leadership of the party has continuously reiterated its commitment to fairness and justice, the current move is being orchestrated with the active cooperation of some of the aspirants. A highly-placed party source told…

The Department of State Services, DSS, Monday, described as false and wicked fake news being widely circulation in the social media claiming that a humongous sum of N21 billion, 400 assorted weapons and permanent voter cards, PVCs, were recovered from the homes of its sacked Director-General, Lawal Daura. Spokesman of DSS, Mr. Tony Opuiyo, in a statement released in Abuja, made it clear that neither the agency nor any other security outfit in the country had carried out any recovery either in the homes or residence of the deposed DG. Opuiyo described the video as the handiwork of dishonest elements…

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, Monday, ordered the stay of execution of the bench warrant directing the Nigerian Police Force to arrest chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for disobeying court orders.  A three-man special panel of the appellate court held that the arrest order should be placed on hold, pending the hearing and determination of an appeal the INEC boss lodged before it. The Justice Abdul Aboki-led panel also ordered the Federal High Court in Abuja to temporarily hands off the case, saying it would be prejudicial for the contempt proceeding against…

A nine-year-old child and seven women in Ikot Inyang Abia, Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom State were, weekend, abducted by unknown gunmen, Straighnews has gathered. Among those abducted are a nine-year-old boy (names withheld), Mrs Bessie Jimmy Okpon Ibuot, Esther Jimmy Okpon Ibuot, Eno Itohowo Okon Ikpaisong and one Imabong. A source in the village told Straightnews in the area that three of the women were kidnapped in the compound of the late Jimmy Okpon Ibuot, one was arrested at Christ Apostolic Church while the rest were picked in different locations in the village. It is alleged that…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has denied acting out any script by Senate President, Bukola Saraki to frustrate the Federal Government. In a statement issued by Wilson Uwujaren, its spokesman, the commission alleged that Babafemi Ojodu, Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Matters, was attempting to “impute false motive to its investigative activities”. In an article entitled: “Fifth Columnist in our recent history”, Ojudu said some influential personalities and agencies were working to de-market President Buhari. The presidential aide asked Nigerians to be on the alert and reject the plot of Buhari’s opponent to make him…