Author: straightnewsng.com

Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, retd, has pleaded with politicians to stop heating up the polity, saying politics should not be a do or die affair. Answering questions Monday from journalists after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers at Minna Central mosque, the former Nigerian leader said politicians in the country were unnecessarily heating up the polity and creating fears in the minds of the electorate. Calling for a change in their approach to the game, especially ahead of the 2019 general elections, General Abubakar said: “Nigeria’s political space is being needlessly heated up by politicians and enduring political culture can…

Violent protest greeted Odo Oro Ekiti, Ikole local government area of Ekiti State after a lunatic hacked Oba Gbadebo Ogunsakin, who is the Olowa of the town to death in his palace. The incident, according to a source in the town, occurred early on Monday when a man suspected to be mentally deranged entered the palace and murdered the monarch. The monarch’s death led to a violent protest in the town as youths trooped out to show their grievances over the gory incident. The man was said to have escaped into the bush after committing the crime and is being…

President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, demonstrated his fitness to run for a second term by trekking 800 metres from the Eid praying ground in Daura to his private residence. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that, after the Eid prayers, President Buhari shunned protocol and opted to trek 800 metres, acknowledging cheers from Nigerians who lined up on his home route to catch a glimpse of him. A presidential aspirant and incumbent governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, last week alleged that Buhari was “too old’’ to rule the country beyond 2019. According to Tambuwal, “President Muhammadu Buhari is just too…

The Akwa Ibom State government has instituted a N50 billion suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for freezing its account for 72 hours, saying the action crippled the state’s economy and soiled its reputation. State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko, stated this while speaking with journalists in Uyo, insisting that government was determined to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion, as the commission has no powers to freeze government’s accounts. Nwoko said “We are going to win that case, because there is no basis even in the country’s constitution, the National or state…

The National Examinations Council, Monday, released the June/July 2018 Senior Secondary Schools results, News Agency of Nigeria quoted a statement issued in Minna. In the statement, Alhaji Abubakar Gana, the Acting Registrar, explained that 1,041,536 candidates registered, while 1,032,729 candidates actually sat for the examination. Gana said 939,733 candidates representing 90.47 per cent scored five credits and above without English and Mathematics. According to him, 875, 464 candidates representing 84.77 per cent, scored credits in the English Language while 850,331 candidates representing 82.34 per cent, scored credits in Mathematics. Furthermore, he said that a total of 742,455 candidates representing 71.48…

An Akwa Ibom prominent son based in Lagos has become the first lawyer from the state to be elected the President of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA in the counry. He is Paul Usoro, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) from Ukana clan in Essien Udim local government area of Akwa Ibm State. The Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) Monday declared him a winner of NBA presidential election. The election was held by electronic voting from Saturday to Sunday. The result was announced in the early hours of Monday. Usoro polled 4,509 votes to beat Chief Arthur Obi Okafor (SAN), who scored…

Seven kidnapped persons from Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom State were, Sunday, rescued by men of ‘Operation Purge’. The persons kidnapped from The Apostolic Faith Church, Nkek on August 17, this year at 9 a.m. while they were having a tarry night and others from their homes on August 18 and 19 respectively were taken by the hoodlums to their deadly camp in Okoyo village in Ukanafun. This is even as the ‘Operation Purge’ comprising the Army, police and Department of State Services, DSS, freed nine persons last week including Otobong Sylvester Ukpong, an INEC official serving in…

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari’s renewed declaration to jail treasury looters, urging him to show exemplary leadership by starting with immediate investigation and prosecution of Adams Oshiomhole, the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC). PDP also tasked Buhari to commence immediate probe of sacked Director-General of the Department of State Security, DSS, Lawal Daura, and a host of others persons indicted for corruption. The party equally challenged President Buhari to allow an investigation into the alleged stealing of billions of naira by his allies and party chieftains, including his former Secretary to the Government…

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Monday accused supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari of ‘Conscientious Ignorance’ in their attacks on him on his perceived hesitance to reconvene the National Assembly to consider financial estimates for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to organise the 2019 elections. Saraki in a statement also accused the President of a hidden agenda to scupper the 2019 election by his dithering procrastination to give assent to the 2018 Electoral Act Amendment Bill. But the Presidency said the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, and the National Assembly should be held responsible for the delay in passing the supplementary budget…

The crisis rocking the power sector of the economy, Monday, took a different dimension as Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, rejected the N72 billion distribution networks investment being executed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN. The DISCOs, instead argued that any investment in distribution networks without recourse to them managing the networks was wrong investment. Acting under the aegis of Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANED, the DISCOs in a statement in Abuja, expressed concerns that customers might bear the cost of the unsolicited and wrongly directed investment, stressing that government-run TCN had no capacity to invest in a private-led…