News in Brief..

Good morning dear people.. How are y'all doing this beautiful Monday morning.
Below is today's news in brief, for your enjoyment.


APC accuses Jonathan of ‘last-minute dubious activities’


The All Progressives Congress has threatened to probe the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan over some “last-minute dubious activities” ahead of the May 29 handover.
The party alleged that the outgoing administration had been looting the nation’s resources, hurriedly recruiting into the public service and privatisatising key financial institutions.
The APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Sunday, said such actions would have serious repercussions after May 29.
It said apart from media reports of such anomalies, the party had received reliable information from members of the public about some dubious actions by key officials of the outgoing Jonathan administration.


Fulani mercenaries kill 30 in Benue, Nasarawa
ABOUT 100 suspected Fulani mercenaries late on Saturday and Sunday morning attacked and killed 30 people, mostly women and children, in Guma, Kwande, respecively in Buruku and Keana local government areas of Benue and Nasarawa states.
The PUNCH gathered that the mercenaries attacked Tse-Uosu, Tse-Gbudu Taraka and Branch Umenger villages, all in Mbadwem council ward in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
In Keana, Iornungun village was attacked while in Kwande the attackers terrorised Jato/Aka and environs just as the villagers at Mbatie, Mbatsease and Mbaatungu Aji, all in the Buruku Local Government Area, were displaced by the invaders.
It was learnt that apart from the 19 persons said to have been killed, several others also sustained injuries even as many others in the area had been rendered homeless.

Petrol price can be N40 per litre – IPMAN
The Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mosimi, Ogun State, Mr. Adeleke Bada, has agreed with the former Minister of Petroleum, Prof. Tam David-West, that petroleum pump price can sell for N40 per litre.
He added that this could only be possible, if the country refined all crude oil in the nation’s refineries.
Bada said this in an interview with journalists shortly after the association’s Annual General Meeting in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Bada, who was flanked by other members of the executive of the association, reacted to the advice given by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, David-West, to the President-elect to reduce the pump price to N40.
He said “Reducing the pump price of a litre of fuel to N40 is possible only if the refineries are working. If you look at the nature of the market presently, that isn’t realistic. Do we have the refineries?

“The only reason that it can be possible is when we have our own refineries and we do not export our crude oil for processing. If the processing is done in Nigeria, then it can be sold at the rate of N40, but not until all the refineries are fixed.”


I will look into Sanusi’s missing $20bn claim –Buhari
President-Elect Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said his administration would probe the claim by a former   Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and now the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to remit $20bn oil money to the federation account.
Buhari gave the hint while receiving a delegation of the All Progressives Congress elected officials and supporters from Adamawa State at his campaign office in Abuja.
The President-elect, who spoke in Hausa expressed surprise that instead of probing the allegations by the former CBN governor, the Goodluck Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party administration chose to fire him.
He stated that since Sanusi’s claim was documented, his administration would take a look at it after the May 29 handover date.


Tinubu’ll destroy himself – Ebenezer Babatope

I asked that question against the backdrop of the fact that the leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, is touted as the new leader of the Yoruba, having helped in getting the Yoruba nation in mainstream national politics.? 

When asked the above question about Tijubu, below is what he told The Punch.

Was it Tinubu that did it? I know Bola very well. I always tell people, when I got married in 1972, Bola Tinubu contributed 10 pounds to my bachelor eve. I know him very well in terms of his politics of rigidity and stubbornness but he will destroy himself if he says he is Yoruba leader. Who made him leader? His party went into the contest. One, he played a key role in it, good for him. But to say he is Yoruba leader, honestly, I will not wish him evil but success but he should never in his lifetime make the mistake of saying that he is Yoruba leader. In 1951 when Papa Awolowo became the leader of the Action Group, he didn’t force himself on the party, it was people like Papa Maja, Doherty that said you young man, you have done very well as the general secretary of the party, go ahead and provide leadership and Papa provided leadership. But if Bola Tinubu will glorify on this election and call himself Yoruba leader, I wish him well. He is younger than me, so he should not fool himself nor join that charade to say he is Yoruba leader. Yoruba people respect maturity, age and experience and they know who their leaders are.


Oshiomhole cautions varsities against selling awards.

The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has condemned the sale of honorary awards by some Nigerian universities to individuals of “questionable character.”
Oshiomhole noted that such acts had dented the sanctity of the nation’s education system, calling for a review of such awards as a way of santising the system for future generations.
The governor spoke during the 19th convocation of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, where three Nigerians – the Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri; a philanthropist and businessman, Dr. Lee Ikpea; and Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of the Believers Love World, a.k.a Christ Embassy, were honoured by the institution.

Gov rerun: Ihedioha, Alhassan, Otti reject results
The All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressive Grand Alliance     candidates for last Saturday’s rerun governorship elections in Taraba, Imo and Abia States on Sunday kicked against the results in their respective states.
The candidates- Aisha Alhassan(APC), Emeka Ihedioha(PDP) and Alex Otti(APGA) told journalists that the elections in their states were charaterised by irregularies.
While Alhassan and Otti said they would go to the tribunal to challenge the outcomes, Ihedioha, said he would leave the decision on whether to challenge the result to his party.
Alhassan was defeated by PDP’s Daruis Ishaku while Otti lost to Okezie Ikpeazu, also of the PDP. Ihedioha, who is the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, lost to Governor Rochas Okorocha of the APC.
In Jalingo, Taraba State, the   candidate     told a   news conference     that the entire electoral   process was like a “daylight robbery.”


FG gets N1.21bn EU, Japan grants to fight insurgency
The Federal Government has received two grants totalling N1.2bn from the European Union and the Government of Japan to tackle insurgency in the North-East as well as to improve the level of disaster management in the country.
The agreement for the release of the grant was signed in Abuja between the Federal Government and representatives from the EU and the government of Japan.
Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, signed on behalf of the Federal Government while the Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria, Mr. Michel Arrion, and the Charge the Affairs of Japan, Mr. Masaya Otsuka, signed on behalf of the EU and Japan respectively.
The pact for the release of the grants was also witnessed by the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina; the Executive Secretary, National Planning Commission, Mr Bassey Akpanyung; and the Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Sani Sidi.
While the EU grant, which was put at €1.5m (about N325m) was for the support of children and adolescents affected by the insurgency in Borno State; that of Japan, valued at $4.5m (about N886.5m), is for the provision of disaster management equipment to be used in Nigeria.


Death toll from Nepal quake passes 2,200
Powerful aftershocks continued to convulse Nepal on Sunday, sending residents of Katmandu screaming into the streets again and again a day after a devastating quake killed more than 2,200 people and injured about 5,800.
According to The New York Times,streets in parts of this city of about 1.2 million were impassable not so much from quake damage but because tens of thousands of people have taken up residence there. It was a strategy endorsed by a government entirely overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge facing the country.
As the country’s prime minister, Sushil Koirala, rushed back to Katmandu from an official trip to Southeast Asia it became clear that the Nepalese authorities were ill-equipped to rescue those trapped and would have trouble maintaining adequate supplies of water, electricity and food.
“In my neighborhood, the police are conspicuous by their absence,” said Sridhar Khatri of the South Asia Center for Policy Studies in Katmandu. “There is not even a show of force to deter vandalism, which some reports say is on the rise.”


Bridge collapses, kills seven in Kano
No fewer than seven people were killed in Kano on Sunday when a pedestrian bridge at Dorayi quarters, Kano, collapsed, the state Police Command said.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Magaji Majiya, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Majiya said the incident happened around 4.45pm when the bridge, which was still under construction, caved in and collapsed on a car, which was passing underneath it.
“The workers at the site had warned motorists not to pass because they were working on the bridge but the driver of the taxi allegedly ignored the warning.
“So, the moment he moved; before he passed, the bridge caved in and collapsed on the vehicle, which led to the death of seven persons,” he said.
According to him, the vehicle has since been evacuated from the scene while the corpses have been deposited at a hospital morgue.
Majiya said the police had also commenced investigation into the cause of the incident.


APC tells Jega to caution Rivers REC
THE All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to caution the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Gesilla Khan.
The APC expressed dissatisfaction over the state INEC’s refusal to allow the party’s agents to have access to election materials, which were to be presented before the tribunal.
Chairman of the APC in the state, Dr. Davies Ikanya, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Sunday, appealed to Jega to immediately move all sensitive materials used for the elections away from Rivers.
Ikanya, who spoke through a statement signed by his Senior Special Adviser, Media and Public Affairs, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, argued that the safety of the materials used during the presidential/National Assembly and the governorship/House of Assembly elections was not guaranteed under Khan’s watch.
The statement read, “Rivers APC passionately appeal to INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to direct Mrs. Khan to immediately comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the Freedom of Information Act by granting the party unfettered access to the requested materials.


Convert presidential fleet to passenger planes – Agbakoba


A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has urged the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to immediately commence reforms in the aviation sector by converting the presidential fleet for public use.
Agbakoba, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said this in a statement on Sunday. He listed eight areas Buhari must concentrate on in order to succeed.
He said, “The aviation sector requires major reform. Nigeria has no presence in the aviation business. Nigeria Airways has been long comatose. Foreign aircraft dominate the Nigerian airspace and earn well over a trillion naira to our exclusion.
“A trillion naira is about a quarter of our entire national budget. The way forward is to redeploy all aircraft in the presidential fleet to form the hub of a new national carrier. Business for this new national carrier is easy to generate. I have proposed a bill, the Fly Nigeria Bill, to ensure that every government naira used to purchase a ticket must originate and terminate on a Nigerian carrier.
“The Fly Nigeria Bill, when passed into law, will create an instant market for our national carrier.”