AMAECHI: BUHARI’S VICTORY SAVED ME

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday said he would have been hounded out of the country by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government, had the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the election.
Amaechi spoke at the public presentation of the compilation of his administration’s achievements in Lagos. The book “Dynamics of Change: The Amaechi Years” is edited by Dr Chidi Amuta and Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi.
Amaechi said he knew that he would be in trouble if change did not happen in Nigeria and was prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to make it happen.
“I knew I was going to be in trouble. Anything that would cause that change not to take place, I was ready to make that sacrifice. The federal government sent out a signal that if they won nobody should let me out of Nigeria from any airport. One day Asiwaju got angry with me. He was very angry. I went to his house with Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and knelt down, saying ‘please let’s not disagree, let’s win first and then we can disagree’.”
“I lost my passport in Ghana and went to the High Commission. They gave me a certificate but the Ambassador was given a query for doing so. I later applied for a passport and they gave me green, not red. Now they have given it to me – two weeks ago,” Amaechi said.

CONDUCT BUREAU ORDERS PRESIDENT JONATHAN, MINISTERS, OTHERS TO DECLARE ASSETS

The Code of Conduct Bureau has made Assets Declaration Forms available to President Goodluck Jonathan, ministers and political office holders.
Also, all newly-elected governors, National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly members have been directed to obtain assets declaration forms.
It, however, said after the submission of the forms, its officers will move round nationwide to verify the claims of political office holders.
According to a notice by the Secretary to the bureau, Mr. Kolade Omoyola, the filling of assets declaration forms is in line with the 5th Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.

OIL MARKETERS COURT APC LEADERS OVER N200BN SUBSIDY PAYMENT

Fuel marketers have reached out to some All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to influence the President- elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, to pay the outstanding N200 billion on subsidy, interest and foreign exchange differentials, New Telegraph has learnt.
A source said yesterday that they had decided to woo the APC leaders in the face of the seeming reluctance of the outgoing Jonathan administration to settle the Federal Government’s indebtedness to fuel marketers as a way of ending the crippling nationwide product shortage.
The courting of the APC came on day the importer said they could not guarantee that the ongoing fuel scarcity would end before the expiration of this government on May 29. The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), which stated this at a joint press conference in Lagos, alleged that the “insensitive approach” of the outgoing government to sufferings caused by the ongoing scarcity was likely to make the incoming government to inherit the crisis.

JONATHAN ORDERS $500M OIL PROJECT MOVED FROM LAGOS

President Goodluck Jonathan has directed that a $500 million oil and gas investment project be relocated from LADOL Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Lagos to Agga in Bayelsa State, The Nation learnt yesterday.
The project is a partnership between LADOL Integrated Logistics Enterprise and Samsung Heavy Industries, Korea.
The two companies are to build fabrication and integration yards for Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility for the use of local and foreign-owned oil companies.
The multi-million dollar project is in phases, and billed to be completed in the next five years.
The project is said to have reached an “advanced stage” before Jonathan issued a directive that it should be relocated.
The directive, contained in two letters dated April 27, was signed by Mr A.B Mohammed, a general manager with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Mohammed signed the letters on behalf of the NPA Managing Director, Sanusi Ado Bayero, who is believed to be a stakeholder in Intel, an oil and gas logistics firm in Rivers State– an allegation he has denied in newspaper advertorials.

BUHARI, GOWON, OTHER DIGNITARIES EXPECTED AS OSHIOMHOLE WEDS IN EDO

All roads lead to Iyamho community, Etsako West council area of Edo state and the political stronghold of former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, as he marries Miss Lara Forte.
The Ethiopian young lady, who is a former model and air hostess, is expected to be the center of focus as former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon, ex-Presidents, Ibrahim Babangida, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, and the President- elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari storm the state today to grace the historic ceremony.
Also, expected to arrive the state for the event are APC National leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the party’s national chairman, Chief John Oyegun, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, other top politicians, captains of industry, labour leaders, the clergy and activists, as well as associates of the governor.

AREGBESOLA EXPRESSES DISMAY OVER NONPAYMENT OF WORKERS SALARIES

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has said he is pained by the inability of his administration to pay civil servants in the state for the past six months.

The governor said this in Ilesa on Thursday during the unveiling of the partnership of the Airtel Nigeria with RLG, which is partly owned by the state.
The governor told the gathering and his itinerant praise singers that he would not dance as he usually does because of the mood in the state. The governor, who was obviosuly carried away however joined the praise singers after that.
Aregbesola said, ” It is painful to me that we have not paid our workers but we are working to put this one behind us.
“Let them know that we are pained by this situation but those who created the problem will soon go away. We will not dance today.

BUHARI TO TAKE OVER PETROLEUM MINISTRY

Barring any last minute change in plans, the President- elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, will personally oversee the Ministry of Petroleum, as he is considering not appointing a minister to supervise the ministry.
Rather than having a Petroleum Minister, sources told New Telegraph that the former military head of state who once supervised the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the 1970s, will appoint a special adviser on power and energy, who will report to him.
It could not be immediately confirmed if the incoming president was also considering same option for the beleaguered power sector. If he sees through his plan, Buhari will be following in the footstep of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who directly supervised the Ministry of Petroleum Resources for about seven years.
He relinquished the position in January 2007 when, in a cabinet reshuffle, he elevated the then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, to head the newly-created Ministry of Energy, formed from the merger of Ministry of Petroleum Resources as well as Ministry of Power and Steel. One of the sources said Buhari was considering the idea of not appointing a minister for the Ministry of Petroleum as part of efforts to clean the rot in the ministry.
The source said: ”This is part of the immediate plans General Buhari has mapped out to tackle the rot in the oil sector and it is likely to remain as long as the industry remains mysterious and shrouded in secrecy.”

23-Yea-Old Graduate Needs 6 Million Naira For Kidney Surgery In India

He needs six million naira to live. His name is Emmanuel Ikewe, a 23 years old from Ekwu-Oma in Ika
North-East Council Area of Delta State. Since his graduation from Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku in Business Administration, he has not known peace as a result of the debilitating illness that has held him down since 2013.
Ordinarily one would have expected the youth after his graduation from the polytechnic to have high hopes about life, but this has not been the case, as the young Ikewe has been battling with chronic kidney failures which has become a life threatening problem for the past two years.
Filled with tears, the young Ikewe who could barely speak due to his weakness only managed to mumble some words of appeal to the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, the state Governor-elect, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, corporate organizations and well meaning individuals within and outside the state to come to his aid and assist his family financially so that he could be flown to India for the needed surgery that will see him come back to life again.
The youth also appealed to members of the public not to let him die, but should come to his aid, saying he still has much he could contribute to the good of society. His cousin and current benefactor, Rev. Father Emmanuel Nwankwor, of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Umunede, Delta State, who spoke with sobriety to our reporter over the illness, said they have spent well over two million naira in trying to find a solution to the kidney problem, all to no avail.

Over 700 participants registered for maiden edition of Diplomatic Sports

Moses Essien, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 2015 Diplomatic Sports, on Thursday said more than 700 participants registered for the maiden edition of the ongoing competition.

The  competition is being organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We have more than 700 participants from 62 countries at the maiden edition of this competition, and we are hopeful that next year’s edition will be more glorious and better than this.

“But, with this, we can see a mini-Olympic Games happening in Nigeria annually, and it will boost the commercial activities of this city,’’ Essien said.

Four Edo govt officials arrested over cult activities

                                                                          IGP Arase
Barely 24 hours after the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, dispatched a special squad to Edo State to tackle the spate of cultism, kidnapping, robbery and other related crimes, the team has arrested 11 suspected leaders of cult groups in the state, among them, four state government functionaries.

Police sources said the team, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in-charge of Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, FEDSARS, Chris Ezike, stormed the hideout of the cultists few hours after arriving Benin City and successfully arrested leaders of cult confraternities for alleged complicity and murder of 10 Nigerians in the last one month in Edo State.