MISSING $20BN ISSUE NOT ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED – SANUSI

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the current Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, says the issues surrounding the missing $20bn oil money have not been adequately addressed by the Federal Government.
Sanusi, who is now known as Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, had last year raised the alarm about missing $20bn but was removed shortly after by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Federal Government later hired an international audit firm, Pricewaterhousecoopers, to audit the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The PWC report stated that NNPC must remit $1.48bn to the Federation Account.
However, Sanusi, said during an interview with Christiane Amanpour on the Cable News Network on Wednesday, that the level of corruption in the oil sector was still high.
He said for instance, no one had accounted for the billions of dollars paid in kerosene subsidy which was not approved by the National Assembly.

APC RAISES ALARM OVER JONATHAN, JEGA MEETING

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has said the decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to summon INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega to a meeting that was not attended by other political parties in Abuja on Tuesday is part of ongoing moves to compromise the integrity of the electoral commission, which is expected to be fair and neutral.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said it is wrong for the President, who himself is a candidate in the forthcoming elections, to be summoning the electoral umpire at will, especially when such meetings are populated by his appointees.

BUHARI SHOULD BEG YORUBA FOR FORGIVENESS, NOT VOTES — FAYOSE

     
The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said that the All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, should seek forgiveness and not votes from the people of the Yoruba land and even those in Edo and Delta States.
“Buhari’s coup of 1983 destroyed the Southwest and the old Bendel State (now Edo and Delta) as it put an end to the developmental programmes of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) government in the Southwest States of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Ondo, as well as Bendel State,” Mr. Fayose said.
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Mr. Fayose said Mr. Buhari meted out inhuman treatment to Yoruba leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, Adekunle Ajasin, Bisi Onabanjo, Bola Ige, Lateef Jakande and the immediate past APC National Chairman, Bisi Akande, all of whom championed development and good governance in the Southwest States.

PROF. ANGO ABDULLAHI SHOT IN BAUCHI

  The Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Professor Ango Abdullahi, was Wednesday shot by some soldiers in Bauchi on his way to Gadau.
Ashiwaju.org gathered that the former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, attacked his car as soldiers shot at the car as his driver overtook a military convoy.
Narrating what happened to newsmen in Bauchi yesterday, Professor Abdullahi said he was on his way for an official assignment at Bauchi State University, Gadau, where he is the chairman of the university’s governing council.
“It was in the morning as I was travelling in my official car with my driver. I was going to Gadau for a meeting. We had just passed the Awala Hotel roundabout when I saw a military convoy moving very slowly.

MISSING NNPC OIL FUNDS: DEZIANI SUES APC AND MEDIA HOUSES

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has sued 11 organizations and individuals over the missing $20billion oil funds.
The funds were reported missing from the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), by former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
Mrs Alison-Madueke has filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain members of the media from linking her with the missing money.
The defendants in the case are the All Progressives Congress(APC), Vanguard Media Limited and its editor, Mideno Bayagbon, Leadership Newspapers Group Limited and its editor Ekele Peter Agbo, Premium Times Services Limited and its editor in chief, Dapo Olorunyomi, and Vintage Press Limited and its editor, Lekan Otufodunrin.
Also joined in the application were the National Broadcasting Corporation and the Nigerian Press Council.

Court Reinstates Gambo Lawan As PDP Candidate For Borno Election

                               
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the removal of the Peoples Democractic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Borno State, Alhaji Mohammed Imam on the grounds that he was not validly elected at the party's primary election held in December 2014 in Abuja. 
In his place, the presiding judge, Ahmed Mohammed ordered the reinstatement of Alhaji Gambo Lawan as the validly elected candidate of the PDP, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to immediately recognize Lawan as the legitimate candidate of the party in Borno State ahead of the April 11 rescheduled elections.

CLEANER GETS ₦7,200 SALARY INCREMENT FOR RETURNING ₦12 MILLION

Josephine Ugwu, the airport cleaner who returned a passenger’s luggage containing local and foreign currencies to the tune of N12m has been rewarded with a N7,200 salary increment.
Ugwu, who works for Patovilki Cleaning Services, a concessionaire engaged by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to keep the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos clean, was on a monthly salary of N7,800 before the incident.
The National Diploma graduate of Our Saviour Institute of Science, Agriculture and Technology, Enugu, now enjoys a N7,200 salary increment, bringing her new salary to N15,000.

During a visit to the airport on Monday, journalists interacted with Ugwu’s colleagues who expressed disappointment that such act of uncommon integrity was not noticed by the government.
They argued that a society that was quick to mete out punishment to offenders should also be quick to reward exemplary behaviour.

Atiku Dissociates Self From Defecting Supporters To PDP

A former Vice President and chieftain of the All progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar, has denied knowledge of the groups of politicians who announced their defection to the PDP from the APC.

Atiku said in a statement by his media office in Abuja that he remains a committed member of the APC and urged that the purported defections of these groups be discountenanced.

A total of 120 so-called pro-Atiku support groups on Tuesday defected from the APC to the PDP.

They dumped the APC for the ruling PDP at an elaborate ceremony held at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

FEC APPROVES FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF CONFAB REPORT.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) wednesday formally approved for the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the 2014 National Conference Report.
The immediate past supervising Minister of Information, Chief Edem Duke disclosed this to newsmen after the FEC meeting.
Chief Edem Duke who was joined by the Secretary to the government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim said the cabinet members hailed the report and commended delegates to the conference for a job well done.
He said council also appealed to Nigerians to look at the document and follow up its implementation by government.

JONATHAN SWEARS IN MINISTERS, NAMES OBANIKORO FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday swore in the new set of ministers cleared by the Senate.
Embattled former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, (Lagos) was sworn in as the Minister of State Foreign Affairs II, while Nicholas Ada (Benue) is now the Minister of State Foreign Affairs I.
Mr. Obanikoro had resigned his appointment to run for the Lagos governorship ticket under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, but lost to Jimi Agbaje.
Mr. Obanikoro’s nomination and final clearance by the Senate had been embroiled in controversy as he was fingered in the Ekiti State rigging scandal evidenced by an audio recording.
Nigerians including the major opposition party, All Progressives Congress, opposed his nomination but the Senate President David Mark, said Mr. Obanikoro’s clearance was constitutional and in line with the Senate’s tradition.