Author: straightnewsng.com

The political battle for the soul of Benue State Monday took a dramatic turn as the kinsmen of the embattled Senator George Akume led All Progressives Congress, APC, comprising Gboko, Buruku and Tarka, pledged their unalloyed support to Governor Samuel Ortom of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the 2019 elections. Speaking in Makurdi during a courtesy call on the governor by Jemgagh Elders Forum of the PDP, Mr. Sam Tsumba, leader of the delegation, said the visit was to enable them register their solidarity with him and to welcome him back to his former party. Tsumba said,…

Mr. Peter Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State, has derided Nigerian leaders for concentrating more on re-election than offering quality governance, thus portraying them as acting Nollywood when the concentration would have been how to grow the economy and stop too much shedding of blood in the country. Obi, who was speaking Monday at Cyprian Ekwensi Arts and Cultural Centre, Area 10, Abuja during the 40th anniversary celebration of the Radio, Television, and Arts Workers Union  of Nigeria (RATTAWU), said such things are manifested in careless acts and divisive statements of the leaders, saying that to build a better…

Proceedings in the suit filed by the embattled Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, was Monday stalled, following the motions filed by the Attorney General, counsel for the Chief Judge, Mr. Milletus Nlemadim, SAN, and Mr. O. C. Chibueze, counsel for the Speaker and the State House of Assembly. While Nlemadim was questioning the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain Madumere’s suit, Chibueze sought a judicial review of the restraining order handed down by the presiding Judge, Justice Benjamin C. Iheka, on July 30, 2018. Recall that when the matter, HOW/565/2018, was called up earlier, Madumere’s counsel, Prince Ken…

Leader of the Biafra Zionists Federation, BZF, Benjamin Onwuka was on Monday morning arrested in Enugu along with more than 50 members for another attempt to enter Enugu State government house for inauguration of Biafra. A combined team of security operatives made up of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Nigeria Police were said to have been involved in the operation. This is even as Imo State Police Command, Monday, arraigned 112 female loyalists of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, before an Owerri Magistrate Court, presided over by Adaego Nosiri. A source hinted that members of the…

Novak Djokovic gave his racket to a fan and tossed his sweatbands into the stands. No need for mementos from this victory. The long-awaited Rookwood pottery trophy would be plenty. Djokovic finally mastered the one tournament that’s eluded him, beating nemesis Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday for his first Western & Southern Open championship. He got the better of a nostalgic rematch — they hadn’t played in two years because of injuries — and broke through in a tournament that Federer has won seven times, never losing a title match. “Thank you for letting me win once in Cincinnati,”…

The Operation Whirl Stroke, a military spike operation to end herdsmen crisis in Benue State lost one soldier but killed 21 herdsmen along Gbajimba-Akor-Tomatar axis of Guma local government area of the state in the last three weeks of its operation. Major General Adeyemi Yekini, Force Commander of the military Operation also said others sustained injuries in several encounters with the armed herdsmen. Yekini explained that those killed were among the armed marauders who had been carrying our raids on Benue communities. Speaking Monday in Makurdi, he explained that invaders had last Saturday, “engaged our troops in an exchange of…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Monday held a private meeting with former Chairman of Senate Committee on Works in the 7th Senate, Senator Ayogu Eze, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Senator Eze arrived at the Villa at about 2 p.m., accompanied by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang. Eze, who was the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senator representing Enugu North from 2007 to 2015, aspired for the ticket of the PDP to run for the governorship position in Enugu State in 2015. He lost to the eventual winner and present governor of…

Arrangements have been finalised to establish delivery units in six ministries to tackle the challenges faced by investors in the effective implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, stated this while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting of the ERGP Central Steering Committee presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Monday. Udoma stated that the Delivery Units would be set up in the agriculture, transportation, industry, trade and investment, mines and steel development and power works and housing ministries. He said,…

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, said Monday that localised trippings in networks of electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, was not its responsibility. TCN, which made this clarification, while specifically reacting to allegation raised by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, to the extent that its network experienced over 2,000 tripping between January and July 2018 owing to unstable National Grid. General Manager, Public Affairs, at TCN, Ndidi Mbah, noted that the alleged statement was entirely clearly misleading and should be ignored. Mbah said, “Because in the subsequent part of the same report, BEDC claimed significant improvement in its services which could…

The All Progressives Congress, APC, said Monday that Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, would not pass integrity test to contest the 2019 presidential election because of the litany of corruption allegations against him. The party’s reaction came against the backdrop of reports that the Senate president was nursing presidential ambition in 2019. Saraki had told Bloomberg, an international news organisation, in an interview that he would take a shot at the presidential election next year. But the ruling party in a statement signed by the spokesman, Yekini Nabena, said, “Saraki’s declaration brings to the fore our earlier call to anti-graft…