Today's News in brief..

Good morning guys. sorry that he news in brief took me a while to it posted today. i have been swamped since morning. just had a little time off now, Nah so i say make i quickly whipp am together make i dish am here. :-)

Enjoy.


Banks use female marketers to woo senators, Reps-elect

National Assembly building, Abuja
Commercial banks have sent marketers, mostly females after newly-elected senators and members of the House of Representatives in Abuja to open discussions on investments and other business deals.
The energetic, sweet-talking and mostly female marketers, flooded the International Conference Centre, venue of an ongoing induction course for the new arrivals on Monday.
Investigations by The PUNCH showed that the target of the banks largely was to woo the lawmakers to open accounts with them.
Some of the smartly dressed marketers also offered loan opportunities they claimed their banks could guarantee with “friendly repayment terms.”



Bokoharam is a fraud-Buhari

The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has said the claim by the Boko Haram sect that it is a religious group is a fraud.
He also said the sect would be denied a recruitment base the moment people in local communities realised that its claim of being a religious group was nothing but a fraud.
Buhari said this while receiving a delegation from Nasarawa State which was led by the state Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, at the Defence House, on Monday.
In a statement signed by the Director of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari was quoted as saying, “The fraud called Boko Haram can be defeated by denying it a recruitment base.
“No religion allows for the killing of children in school dormitory, in markets and places of worship. They have nothing to do with religion. They are terrorists and we are going to deal with them as they deal with terrorists anywhere.”


‘Ondo deputy gov’s impeachment, a joke’

Alhaji Ali Olanusi on Monday described his removal by the Ondo State House of Assembly as deputy governor as a huge joke.
Olanusi spoke through his lawyer, Oluwole Kayode, hours after the Commissioner for Agriculture,   Lasisi Oluboyo, was sworn in as the state’s new deputy governor.
Olanusi’s travails began a month ago when he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress.
In condemning his impeachment, he reminded the lawmakers of   an April 23 court order that the status quo be maintained in respect of his office.
He said, “Another action in respect of the same office and the impeachment process is pending in court and will come up on May 7, 2015.


Controversial sacking of police IG


DISPLAYING utter contempt for the 1999 Constitution he swore to uphold, President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked Suleiman Abba as the Inspector-General of Police. He replaced him immediately with Solomon Arase, a Deputy Inspector-General, in an acting capacity. Both the dismissal and the acting appointment are gross violations of the 1999 Federal Constitution, Nigeria’s supreme law.


Without citing any cogent reason, the President unceremoniously fired Abba, who assumed office nine months ago. Sadly, however, these actions are in keeping with the trend of impunity in the Jonathan administration, which has consistently conducted itself in an imperial manner, to the detriment of the rule of law, the common good and growth of our democratic norms. They have all the trappings of using power for selfish end.


Collapsed bridge: Contractor must compensate victims, says Kwankwaso

Collapsed bridge in Kano

The Kano State Police Command said that it had started investigation into the cause of the collapsed bridge that killed seven persons in Kano on Sunday.

Also, the state Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, said the government would force the contractor handling the project to pay for the medical bills of the injured victims.
The contractor, the governor added, would also be forced to pay compensation to families of those who died in the incident.

‘Missing’ $20bn oil money: I have nothing to hide, Jonathan tells Buhari 

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said his administration had nothing to hide in respect of the claim by a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor,   Lamido Sanusi, that   $20bn oil money was not remitted to the Federation Account by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
To prove this, he said he had directed that the full report by PriceWaterHouse which was commissioned to carry out a detailed investigation into the activities of the NNPC be made public immediately.
Jonathan, in a statement in Abuja by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,   Reuben Abati,   also described   the allegation by the All Progressives Congress that his officials were embarking on last minute illegal actions as “unfortunate and uncharitable.”
Buhari had while receiving an APC delegation from Adamawa State on Sunday, expressed surprise that instead of probing the allegation by Sanusi ,who is now the Emir of Kano, the Jonathan-led Peoples Democratic Party administration chose to fire him.


B’Haram fighters in military uniforms kill 21 in Yobe.

Twenty-one persons have been killed by men suspected to be insurgents, dressed in military camouflage, in a highway attack in Yobe State.
The 21 persons, according to a local vigilante source, had been residing in Damaturu after fleeing their communities earlier captured by the insurgents.
But at the weekend, they undertook a trip to their communities to carry some foodstuffs from their silos because they felt that peace had returned to the place.
However, the victims who had been displaced from Lazarawa, Ngirbua, Maram and Garin Kuyama villages miscalculated as they were attacked on their way on Yobe Road.
The source claimed that the victims were intercepted and killed in Bultaram village on their way back to Damaturu.


We’ve not recalled envoys from S’Africa, say Presidency


The Presidency on Monday denied recalling Nigeria’s envoys in South Africa over the ongoing xenophobia attacks.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, made the Presidency’s position known in an interview with State House correspondents.
Abati said the reports of the recall was a mix up, saying what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did was just to invite the country’s Charge D’Affairs in South Africa for a routine consultation.
Describing the recall of an envoy as a serious and sensitive matter, the presidential spokesman said that had not been done now.
He said, “It is not true that Nigeria has recalled its envoy in South Africa on account of recent xenophobic attacks in that country.
“There is a mix up and misinformation on the matter.


FG names streets after Jonathan, El-Rufai, Sambo, & others.

The Federal Government has named major streets in Abuja after some eminent Nigerians and accomplished Africans, with the soon-to-be inaugurated Inner Southern Expressway named after President Goodluck Jonathan.
The decision is coming barely one month to the end of Jonathan’s administration, when a new President, Muhammadu Buhari, would be inaugurated.
The longest Wuye District Boulevard Express Road measuring 1,730 metres was named after former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Another major road in the same district was named after Vice President Namadi Sambo.

We’ve arrested over 400 pirates – NCC

The Nigerian Copyright Commission said that it had arrested over 400 pirates of intellectual property and that it would go the extra mile in arresting and prosecuting pirates.
The NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Ademusi Yemi, told our correspondent on Monday that the commission was committed to combating piracy.
“We have made over 400 arrests of suspected pirates, we have recorded over 66 convictions and have over 187 cases pending in court. We take our jobs very seriously,” he said.
Yemi described as false the claim by a film-maker that the commission knew who the pirates were but would not arrest them.
He said, “It is not true; it is very wrong to say the NCC knows the pirates and refuses to apprehend them. We are mandated to deal with piracy and regulate the copyright industry; we take our jobs very seriously.


NNPC audit report exposes double subsidy payments
Fuel dispenser
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm of forensic auditors hired by the Federal Government to probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, has indicted the corporation of making double subsidy claims on petrol and kerosene.
“Our examination of the PMS and DPK import verified by PPPRA revealed that some discharges were apparently verified and subsidy advised to NNPC more than once,” the report stated.
PwC alleged “repeated subsidy” for PMS amounting to N3,709,879,190 ($23,954,796) and another “repeated subsidy” for DPK amounting to N6,169,502,266 ($39,836,652). It added that the there was another $36.05m “over-statement” in PPPRA’s PMS subsidy payment advice to the NNPC.
It also called for a review of the current NNPC Act to make it pay all revenues accruing from crude oil sales into the Federation Account.

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