LAMIDO CRIES OUT FROM PRISON: I’M BEING PERSECUTED OVER 2019 PRESIDENCY

After spending 72 hours with his two sons in Kano Central Prison, immediate past governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has imputed political motives to his incarceration.
According to the former governor, he is being persecuted by those who feel that they would not be able to actualise their presidential ambition with him around the political arena.
Lamido, who spoke exclusively to Sunday Vanguard through his media aide, Umar Kyari, yesterday, drew the attention of Nigerians and the international community to the attempt being made by those he called “my political enemies” to silence him using the instrumentality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Lamido pointed out that it was clear from the outset that there was a grand design to put him away in prison for a long time under the guise of money laundering and sundry charges so as to pave the way for his political enemies to have their way.

ISIS RELEASES FIRST VIDEO WITH BOKO HARAM

There are strong indications that the Islamic sect Boko Haram has forged a strong operational alliance with the ruthless Islamic State as the two bodies have released a joint video for the first time on Saturday.
This is the first video recording since Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State last year.
The video showed the picture of a suspected Nigerian soldier in a kneeling position surrounded by three terrorists with AK47 assault rifles. Later in the video, the body of the soldier was shown without the head.
The location of the action was not specified in the latest video.
Also, the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, did not speak in the video.
Mail Online reported that the audio message, which was entitled ‘kill and be killed,’ was read by an unidentified spokesman for ISIS.
The audio message released through the militants’ vast social media channels was read by an ISIS spokesperson who also threatened further violence against Christian and Jewish communities.
The video carried a West African insignia of the ISIS which indicated that the group has set up media wing in Nigeria.

BUHARI REFUSES TO MEET WITH SARAKI

President Muhammadu Buhari has resisted fresh moves by the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to formally meet with him, Sunday Punch has learnt.
An official in the Presidency who confided in one of our correspondents on Saturday said the President and the Senate President had only met once since the latter’s emergence as the leader of the senate.
The official said all efforts by Saraki to have another meeting with the president, after the party’s National Executive Council meeting penultimate Friday, were rebuffed by Buhari.
The reliable source said the president of the Senate had at different times reached out to people to help him persuade Buhari to grant him audience.

RAPED VIRGIN TEENAGER COMMITS SUICIDE

Fourteen-year-old virgin, Miss Chiawolam Comfort Umeh has committed sui¬cide by hanging herself on a gua¬va tree after she was gruesomely gang-raped by three men at Iyienyi Village, near Okwoyi Community, in Isieke, Ibeku, in Umuahia North LGA of Abia State.
Chiawolam, who was among students who sat for the Junior Secondary School education (JSS) examination recently from Isieke Model Community High School, was reported to have dashed into the bush at the back of the family house with her mother’s head tie, climbed on top of a guava tree and hung herself two days after she was raped by the three beastly boys.
The rape incident happened on Sunday, June 28, 2015, while she hung herself on Tuesday morning, July 7, 2015.
Chiawolam’s father, Mr Umeh said that early in the morning that Tuesday, her mother called her to find out how she was raped and she complained that she was having pains all over her body. The moth¬er told her to endure till they come back from the police station that morning, but unknown to them, the deceased had another plan.

DRAMA AT DSS AS MARILYN OGAR IS TRANSFERRED TO MAIDUGURI, THEN RECALLED

The changes at the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s secret police, entered another phase during the week with new postings and a series of reversals. TheCable understands that Marilyn Ogar, who was until recently DSS deputy director, public relations, has been transferred to Maiduguri, Borno state, but the posting has now been put on hold following insinuations that it was “punitive”. Ogar, as spokesperson, was responsible for defending the activities of the agency in the media and she is believed to be paying for some of her pronouncements, notably in the face-off with the Bring Back Our Girls movement and the DSS raids on the Lagos office of the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year. She has already lost her promotion following the nullification of the recent exercise. “Right now, she is just hanging around in Abuja awaiting the next order,” a source at the agency

AMAECHI, PASTOR BAKARE, OTHERS ON BUHARI’S 18-MAN DELEGATION TO US

Former Rivers state governor, Chibuike Amaechi and founder of Latter Rain Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare will accompany President Muhammadu Buhari on his three-day visit to Washington DC, United State on July 20.
They will be joined by five state governors, they are, Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo State), Rochas Okorocha (Imo State), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo State) and two others.
The five governors are separate from an 18-man delegation made up of top aides and political associates of the President. The former Governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi, the former Vice Presidential candidate to Buhari Tunde Bakare, and former member of the House of Representatives Farouk Adamu will be on the Presidential delegation.
In addition to these delegates, President Buhari will bring along top civil servants, representatives from the Office of the National Security Adviser, and representatives from economic policy and foreign affairs think tanks.

DSS Officials & Lawyers on Free-For-All Tussle In Awka

A mild drama played out Friday between men of the Department of the State Security Service DSS and lawyers which has since been described as a national embarrassment and shameful bickering over an alleged show of power between the men of the bar and DSS operatives in Awka.

On investigation, it was gathered that a yet to be identify DSS official allegedly mal-handled a 57-year-old lawyer at the Awka South Magistrate Court entrance, where the later was said to use the untarred road that lead to the court, without negotiating to know  if an oncoming saloon car was driving out of the court premises.

Okonjo-Iweala Alleges Ex-President Jonathan Unilaterally Approved Withdrawal of $2bn from the excess crude revenue

The immediate past Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has shifted the blame on former President Goodluck Jonathan over the controversial withdrawal of $2bn from the excess crude revenue account (ECA) in December 2014.
“Payments made were used for paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people and were approved by Mr. President,” the former minister said on Tuesday through her media adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu. “Therefore, there is no question of mismanaging any resources here.”

Following an allegation by the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, that she unilaterally approved the withdrawal of the money from the $4.1 bn left in the ECA “without authorization”, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had dismissed it as “false, malicious and totally without foundation.”

Ebola: No plan to ban Liberia flights, says NCAA

                                  
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority says it has no plan to ban Liberian airlines from coming into Nigeria, following a fresh outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in Liberia.

NCAA’s General Manager (Public Affairs), Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, said this on Friday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

NAN reports that a fresh case of Ebola was detected in Liberia, nearly two months after the West African country was declared free of the virus by the World Health Organisation.

Boko Haram Insurgents Attacks Grew Worse Under President Buhari

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Thursday said the Boko Haram insurgency had worsened under President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ekweremadu said the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration had almost rolled back Boko Haram and its activities in the North-East.

The deputy senate president also expressed the fear the insurgents could also attack Abuja and the southern part of the country soon.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, he chose not to answer questions on his alleged involvement in the forgery of senate rules but said he had been worried about the renewed attacks by Boko Haram.

He said, “I am worried about the resurgence of Boko Haram activities in Nigeria. Shortly before the inauguration of the present government, the country had almost rolled back Boko Haram and its activities in every part of Nigeria – from Adamawa to Borno to Yobe.