Anambra Revenue Officers Kill Motorist In Onitsha

Police in Anambra State have arrested two revenue agents for allegedly killing a driver attached to the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Mission in the process of demanding for the driver’s vehicle emblem in Onitsha, yesterday.
A source told Ashiwaju.org that the deceased, whose name was given as Okechukwu Onwuamaegbum, was driving the church bus along Owerri Road, when the revenue agents attached to Anambra State Ministry of Transport in-charge of sale of vehicle emblems, confronted him.
The source said trouble started for the driver when he was flagged down along Onitsha/Enugu expressway, Upper Iweka axis in Onitsha by the ad hoc staff, numbering about 20.
Claiming to be on enforcement operation for the sale of the emblems, the officials allegedly demanded to see the emblem the driver had procured for his bus.
A heated argument was said to have ensued, which resulted in a fight and the driver was reportedly beaten to a pulp and collapsed thereafter.

TRAFFIC GRIDLOCK: AMBODE ORDERS RELOCATION OF BUS TERMINALS …

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, on Thursday ordered the relocation of bus terminals in congested areas in order to tackle the persistent traffic gridlock witnessed in the state.
The governor gave the directive during an inspection of some traffic flash points at 3rd Mainland Bridge, Oworonshoki, Ketu, Abule-egba, Alimosho and Mile 12 area of the state.
He said government is greatly concern about situation, adding that all hands will be on deck to address it.
Ambode said, “What we have done in the last three hours is to show that we are greatly concerned about the traffic gridlock that we have been experiencing in the last few months. It’s not enough for us to stay in the office and believe that we can create solutions to the traffic challenge that we have in the state.
“So we decided that we are going to go round ourselves and see how we can improve the traffic situation. That’s not the end of the story. We’re still going to Apapa and Mile 2. The truth is that we must start to have solutions to our traffic challenges in the state and that’s what we are doing.”
The governor also hinted that he has given approval for the construction of Pedestrian Bridge at Berger, adding that this is needed to allow free vehicular movement.
“We have seen that Berger needs a foot bridge and immediately the engineers are going to work and make sure that we put something there. We don’t want any traffic on that highway,” he stated.

GOVERNORS SHOVE BAILOUT, WANT FG TO PAY DEBTS OWED STATES

After the botched election that split the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) two years ago, a reunited forum of governors of the 36 states of the federation rose from a meeting in Abuja wednesday, resolving to meet President Muhammadu Buhari on the financial crisis crippling the states and has impeded their ability to pay workers’ salaries and meet other obligations.
Also, the governors congratulated the newly elected Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, pledging cooperation with the National Assembly.
According to the Chairman of the NGF, Abdulazeez Yari, who was also confirmed at the meeting as the leader of the forum, the governors viewed the financial crisis crippling the states as a national issue, noting that there are federal government agencies that also owe salaries of workers for seven to eight months.
Yari said: “We decided not to talk of the bailout directly, though the problem we observe is not only a state matter; it is a national matter. Workers of some of the federal agencies are being owed for seven months and above.

TOP 10 NIGERIAN STATES WITH HIGHEST INTERNALLY GENERATED REVENUE [IGR]

1-Lagos -- N276.1
2-Rivers -- N89.1
3-Delta -- N42.8

4-Enugu -- N19.2
5-Ogun -- N17.4
6-Oyo -- N16.3
7-Akwa Ibom -- N15.9

8-Kaduna -- N12.7
9-Bayelsa -- N10.9
10-Anambra -- N10.4

The National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday released a snapshot of the Internally Generated Revenue profile of 23 states of the federation for the year 2014, which generated N586.6bn in total in the fiscal period.
The IGR, according to the NBS report, was earned from four major sources. They are Pay-As-You-Earn, direct assessment, road taxes and other revenues.
The bureau stated in the report, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent in Abuja, that Lagos State recorded the highest IGR of N276.1bn in the period under review.
The N276.1bn generated by Lagos last year was N108.1bn or 28.1 per cent lower than the N384.2bn, which the state earned as IGR in the 2013 fiscal period.
Further analysis revealed that the amount that Lagos earned in 2014 was also 47 per cent of what all the other 22 states collected as IGR in the same period.
The report stated that while the figures for the other 13 states were still being expected, Rivers State, with a total IGR of N89.1bn, followed on the revenue chart.
The N89.1bn earned by Rivers State represented an increase of N1.19bn when compared to the N87.91bn for 2013.

Nigeria spends N4.62 trillion on National Security in 5 years, yet widespread insecurity remains

Amidst claims by Nigerian security agencies that they are being underfunded, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today that a total N4.62trillion has been allocated to the federal security sector in the past five years.
How this huge sum was spent however remains unclear as there is no reliable performance report by the security agencies.
Year after year, the security sector continues to gulp the highest chunk of the country’s expenditures.
In the 2015 budget for instance, N934billion was allocated for the security sector, the highest for the year.
The figures for 2011 and 2012 were N920billion and N924billion respectively while N923billion each was thrown at the sector in 2013 and 2014.
Yet, Nigeria continues to face attacks from the extremist Boko Haram group, whose activities have claimed over 11,000 lives in last five years.
Kidnappings, crude oil theft, armed robbery and other sundry crimes are also widespread across the country.
The heads of the country’s security agencies have repeatedly claimed allocations to the sector were insufficient to equip the armed forces and make them operationally efficient to deliver on their mandates.

Aregbesola blasts Ben Bruce for donating own wardrobe allowance to Osun workers

The Osun state government has lambasted the senator representing Bayelsa central senatorial district, Ben Murray-Bruce, for offering to donate his wardrobe allowance to Osun state workers who are owed 7 months salaries.
Mr. Bruce stated this in a series of tweets on Wednesday evening.
But in a response to the comment later on Wednesday evening, the Osun state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, accused the Senator of mocking Nigerian workers.
In a state through his spokesperson, Semiu Okanlawon, Mr. Aregbesola accused the lawmaker of playing to the gallery  and engaging in self-serving philanthropy.
“Of all the states in the federation who are battling to pay salaries as a result of the precarious economic situation his party the PDP threw Nigeria into why is it that it is Osun he wants to take his pay to?” the governor asked.
“This is certainly playing to the gallery and nothing but a mockery in the faces of Nigerian workers and not only of Osun extraction.

GANG BEHEADS MAN, PLAYS FOOTBALL WITH HIS HEAD IN MUSHIN

Residents of some parts of Mushin area in Lagos have cried out over incessant killings in the area by suspected hoodlums.

Speaking during a protest to the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Abiodun Leshi, who led the residents, revealed how suspected hoodlums severed the head of a resident of the area and used it to play football on the streets.

He stated that the menace is being experienced in areas such as Taniolodo, Lawani, Ojelawe and others, adding that the people of the areas have been having sleepless nights over the issue.

“We have been facing incessant killings of our people. One Tunde was beheaded and they used his head to play football. Another resident, Sodiq was killed last Friday after Jumat service.

“One Adeolu was also killed recently, we have always been living in fear in the area and we cannot sleep with our two eyes closed, but we felt we should see you to seek a permanent solution to the problem,” he said.

INVESTIGATION: VP Osinbajo was never excluded from national security meetings

More details are now emerging about the purported exclusion of the Vice President from some National Security Council meetings held so far, days after the presidency formally denied the false speculations describing them as “the creation of someone who just wanted to write something”.
Informed presidency sources said the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo was actually informed and invited to the meeting by the President himself, and that due to other pressing engagements and commitments of the presidency, the VP had to be present at other events, including a foreign trip to Sudan.
According to sources, “there was no way the Vice President would be excluded from a meeting for which it was the President himself that told him about it and requested him to attend in line with the law of the land, but as things turn out there were other events requiring the attention of at least the President or the Vice President at the same time.”
Some of the media outlets that reported and republished the false story includes naij.com, dailypost.ng and a foreign paper, International Business Times.
No major Nigerian or international media organization published the story
Sources close to Mr. Osinbajo said they believe some outgoing political appointees of the PDP administration still in the presidency were responsible for planting the falsehood in the media in order to cause disaffection among the Nigerian people, hoping to spur an early crisis for the new Buhari presidency.

UPDATE: Buhari TERMINATES N9.3b pipeline security contracts with ASARI-DOKUBO, Gani Adams N9.3b pipeline security contracts

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has terminated the N9.3 billion surveillance contracts offered to some former Niger Delta militants and self-determination groups.

Info reaching us at Ashiwaju.org have it that President Muhammadu Buhari stopped the renewal of the multimillion dollars pipeline surveillance contracts which expired yesterday. In March, the Federal Government under  President Goodluck Jonathan through the NNPC had handed over the job of protecting the nation’s oil and gas pipelines and waterways to former militants and self-determination groups.

Among the beneficiaries of the contracts are Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo and Chief Bipobiri Ajube (aka Gen. Shoot-At-Sight) alongside Fasehun and Gani Adams of OPC.

I AM READY TO BUY ARSENAL AT ‘WHATEVER PRICE’

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote insists that soon he will have ‘enough time and enough resources’ to buy Arsenal football club, whatever the price.
Dangote, 58, is Africa’s richest man having amassed a fortune in the region of $18.4 billion (£12.2 billion). He is currently the 67th richest man in the world.
He first spoke of his interest in purchasing the Gunners last month when he admitted that ‘one day’ he hoped to buy the club, adding that he ‘already knew’ his strategy to take them forward.
That day may arrive sooner than first expected, with Dangote telling the BBC Tuesday that completion of his proposed oil refinery in Nigeria will provide the funds necessary to launch a takeover of the club.
“When we get this refinery on track, I will have enough time and enough resources to pay what they are asking for,” he told BBC Hausa.