PDP PLOTS ATIKU, KWANKWASO’S RETURN ■ Offers 2019 presidential ticket as bait ■ We’ll love to have them back- Party

The undying presidential ambi¬tion of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has now be¬come the talking point among close associates of President Goodluck Jonathan who have already begun moves to woo him back into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Saturday Sun gathered that initial meet¬ings on how to get Atiku back into the PDP fold have been held in Abuja where it was decided that “to get the former VP back into our fold (PDP), the party’s 2019 presidential ticket will be placed before him.”
A source, who attended one of the meet¬ings, disclosed that the task of getting Atiku into the PDP has been given to the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih “who is very close to Turaki (Atiku’s traditional title) and main¬tains a strong influence on him.”
Should Atiku decline the offer, Saturday Sun gathered, Kano State governor, Dr Ra¬biu Musa Kwankwaso has been penciled down as a fallback option.

DON’T LET HIM DIE

That there’s something enigmatic between the Nigerian Army and the human rights activist family, Ransome-Kuti, is not in doubt. This is amply evident in the cross-fire between the family and the NA. At least, the family’s past three generations have had an axe to grind with the army on different count charges.

• Fela’s family pleads for Beko’s son facing court martial
The Ransome-Kuti family has a history of radicalism even though they had a celestial background. Over the generations, the family, which was deeply involved in activism, crossed the path of the Nigerian authorities.
Funmilayo, the matriarch of the family, was a celebrated women’s right activist. She was a hard core lady, prolific woman nationalist and representative of the feminist cause in her time.
This trend continued with the late King of Afrobeat and the most vocal of the second generation Kutis, Fela. His younger brother, Beko, was equally an enigma of some sort.
Together with Fela, they both experienced the harsh condition of the numerous cells as they were variously imprisoned in the cause of fighting for the oppressed masses.
Enitan, son of the late pro-democracy activist, Beko, and nephew to Fela in line with the family tradition has again defied the norm as he joined the army against all expectations and rose through the ranks to become a Brigadier-General in the Nigerian Army.
The army, trusting his capability, handed him the task of routing the dreaded Boko Haram sect that has terrorised the country for so long a time now. That task, however, has again brought the family face to face with the authorities.

Chris Ngige Yet To Make Buhari's First 45 Cabinet Screening List Forwarded To DSS

The names of the 45 Nigerians, according to a highly reliable source, were sent to the security agencies for necessary security checks few days ago-security agencies are presently screening the names of about 45 Nigerians who are being proposed as members of the cabinet under the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari.

The names of the 45 Nigerians, according to a highly reliable source, were sent to the security agencies for necessary security checks few days ago. The security agencies carrying out the checks are the Department of State Services, the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the National Intelligence Agency.

The names, according to the source, include those of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Osun State governor and erstwhile PDP National Secretary; Chief Bode Mustapha, former PDP National Auditor; an All Progressives Congress stalwart from Ogun State; and Engineer Segun Oni, former Ekiti State governor and APC Deputy National Chairman (South West).

Chris Ngige Faults Peter Obi attending Oshiomhole's wedding

Yesterday Gov. Adams Oshiomhole's of Edo State wedded.

Many people, including notable PDP chieftains such as Liyel Imoke, Emmanuel Uduaghan, Seriake Dickson, Godswill Akpabio, attended.

People like Ngige Nwachukwu are now running all over the place breaking the "wonderful"news of the century: Obi attending the wedding of the opposition.

I have the special, personal letter Oshiomhole wrote to Obi telling him that he look forward to seeing his cherished friends such as him attend his wedding. Perhaps, Ngige does not know the bond existing between the two men. Has he asked himself why Oshiomhole, in 2012, insisted and invited Obi to come to Edo and commission some of his projects? Has he asked himself how many times Oshiomhole visited Obi when he was still the Governor?

COURT STOPS JONATHAN FROM RELOCATING $500M OIL PROJECT FROM LAGOS TO BAYELSA

A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos has granted injunctions restraining President Goodluck Jonathan and other relevant government agencies from carrying out the order to relocate the $500 million oil project from LADOL Free Trade Zone(FTZ) in Lagos to Agga in Bayelsa State.
Also restrained in the judgment given by the Presiding Justice of the Court, J.T Tsoho on Tuesday May 12, 2015 are the National Assembly, the Federal Ministers of Transport and Justice/Attorney General of the Federation.
The court said they were being restrained from implementing the directive of President Jonathan that oil and gas-related cargoes must be discharged at Intels facilities in Onne, Warri and Calabar Ports.
According to Prof. Fidelis Oditah QC (Queens Counsel) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who filed the motion on behalf of LADOL, the injunctions ensure that all related agencies, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), must allow vessels and cargoes to proceed directly to any Port of choice, including oil and gas cargoes.
The Injunctions further prevent the passing of the amendments to the Oil and Gas Export Free Zones Act which sought, among other changes, to impose a foreign owned monopoly on the movement of oil and gas cargoes in Nigeria; Transfer control of 12 Free Zone’s in Nigeria currently under the NEPZA Act to the control of the Oil and Gas Free Zone, which is controlled by the same foreign owned monopoly company.

Omotola to trekkers: Silly youths trekking their future away

Delectable actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has criticised young Nigerians trekking to honour politicians in the country. She labelled them ‘silly youths trekking their future away’.
She expressed her displeasure with the actions of the youths, noting that they should trek to bring awareness to their suffering rather than to honour politicians.
“Silly youths trekking their futures way. You don’t trek to bring awareness to your suffering plights but trek to celebrate politicians?Smh!,” Omotola posted on her Twitter page.
In 2014, she was honoured by the government as a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, MFR for her contributions to Nigerian cinema

SENATOR ZANNAH DIES AT 60

             
The re-elected All Progressives Congress Senator representing Borno Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ahmed Zannah, is dead.
The 60 year-old ranking senator, who would have been inaugurated along with 108 others in the 8th Senate, died after a brief illness in a yet to be confirmed hospital within Nigeria.

Zannah is the fifth senator who had died in the 7th Senate.

Kaduna: As governor Yero faces debt owed before he was born el-Rufai laments

                                     Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i and Mukhtar Ramalan Yero
Beginning from late last year when he indicated his interest to run for the governorship election, Kaduna state governor-elect, Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i, has consistently harped on what he describes as the  level of indebtedness of the state government, to various financial institutions, from even across the shores of Nigeria.  El-Rufa’i has often said that the development would likely constitute a problem for the next governor.
In fact, in the course of his governorship campaigns, El-Rufa’i  said in an interview in December 2014 that, “from our estimates, every child born in Kaduna state has a debt of N15,000. If you have a child going to be born tomorrow, that child already has a debt burden of N15,000 and there are about eight million people in Kaduna state. So, you do the calculation.”
But having emerged the governor-elect and with his slogan, “Time to make Kaduna great again,” El-Rufa’i, has since pledged to reverse the “several years of  mismanagement of the state’s resources by successive administrations.” Receiving his certificate of return at the INEC headquarters in Kaduna on April 16, El-Rufa’i also raised the debt issue, lamenting that there may be constraints for his administration.

POLICE/VANDALS CLASH: IG ORDERS ARREST OF ASP • Four policemen, six rifles missing

The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Solomon Arase, yesterday ordered the immediate arrest and detention of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who led the ill-fated operation against pipeline vandals on Thursdays at the Obadore area of Igando, Lagos, describing it as illegal.
The operation left four policemen dead, two battling to stay alive at the Igando General Hospital and six AK47 rifles missing. The vandals, who attacked with pump action rifles, went away with the corpses of the four policemen.
This was even as fresh facts emerged that the team was not really the IG’s team as the policemen claimed, but Anti- Vandalism Task Force, based in Lagos. Eleven members of the team embarked on the operation.
It was learnt that the vandals attacked the policemen after they threatened to arrest a female member of the gang following a disagreement over alleged N10 million bribe allegedly demanded by the cops.
The task force went to Igando Police Station, to book for the operation, posing as the IG’s Monitoring Unit from Abuja. According to a police source, Arase became angry when he was informed that the team impersonated his Monitoring Unit. After the bloody clash, Arase was said to have ordered a preliminary investigation, insisting he did not authorise any such operation.

I founded FRSC, not Soyinka, –Salawu

                                  
                                                   Major Rasaki Salawu (retd.)
Major Rasaki Salawu (retd.) was the pioneer Director of Operations, Federal Road Safety Commission, an author and a columnist. He tells ASHIWAJU.ORG  that an accident he had as a child inspired the road safety initiative in him

What were the unique features of the time when you were young?

I am from a rural setting in Egbeda in Ibadan. Like any other youth in the environment where I grew up, I longed for education and a good future. My intention was to be a mechanical engineer. My father was among the elite in the community at the time. He had a corn mill and transport businesses and he was popular.