Tukur Takes Over From Kenneth Minimal As New Chief of Army Staff

President Muhammadu Buhari has named Tukur Buratai, a major general, as the chief of army staff. Buratai  takes over from Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah,, who was removed on Monday along with other service chiefs. Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin, a major general, will succeed Alex Badeh, an air chief marshall, as chief of defence staff. Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, a rear admiral, is the new chief of naval staff, while Sadique Abubakar, an air vice marshall, will be the new chief of air staff. All these positions are in acting capacity until senate confirmation, Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman said in a statement. In a surprise move, the president named Babagana Monguno, a retired major general, as the national security adviser, contrary to several media reports that Abdulrahman Dambazzau, a retired lieutenant general and former army chief, had been slated for the position. The president also named Monday Riku Morgan, an air vice marshall, as chief of defence intelligence – another surprise announcement since such an appointment is usually announced by the military authorities rather than by the president.

LASTMA official, who slumped on traffic duty, dies

An official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, who slumped while controlling traffic on Ishaga Road in the Idi-Araba, Mushin area on Saturday, has died.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the official, Kazeem Lawal, was brought in dead to the Randle Hospital, Surulere, where his colleagues had rushed him.

Sunday PUNCH had reported that the official, who was among LASTMA officials on duty for an event at the Chapel of the Healing Cross, collapsed at about 1.30pm.

Senate on a collision course with Buhari …over Perm Sec’s refusal to honour invitation

THERE were indications, on Sunday, of an imminent clash between the Presidency and the Senate over an alleged attempt by the Presidency to rubbish the senate president.

Pro-Saraki senators are accusing the Presidency of instigating the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastacia Nwaobia, not to honour an invitation by the upper chamber.

Nwaobia had communicated to the Senate that she could not honour its invitation without an approval by her supervisors to do so but the Saraki loyalists said the Senate had the constitutional power to invite Nwaobia and that her refusal constituted an affront to the legitimacy of the senate president.

The Saraki loyalists’ belief apparently rested on the alleged ‘non-acceptance’ of his presidency by the All Progressives Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari.

“It will not augur well for our democracy if the Presidency will not allow civil servants to do their jobs. We should not carry the crisis in the APC to the Senate,” a pro-Saraki senator told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

Both Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had spurned the party’s directive on who to lead the National Assembly and had ridden on the back of an alleged alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party members to clinch the leadership posts in both chambers.

The APC had preferred Ahmad Lawan, a Senator from Yobe State, as the president of the Senate.

The Lawan group in the Senate on Sunday said it supported Nwaobia because Saraki was said to lack both legitimacy and the moral right to invite the permanent secretary to brief the senate on the state of the economy.

The Saraki group said the ‘offending’ permanent secretary failed to honour the Senate’s invitation because she did not get clearance from the Presidency.

Investigations by one of our correspondents revealed that as of Friday the permanent secretary had yet to neither appear before the Senate leadership nor respond to the letters from the National Assembly management.

It was learnt that senators loyal to the Senate President were angry that the Presidency could encourage the civil servants to disobey the Senate.

The PUNCH had on Thursday reported that the Senate ad hoc committee on Finance, in a letter dated June 29, 2015, had invited Nwaobia and some officials of the finance ministry to appear before the committee on July 8.

But when the permanent secretary did not honour the invitation at 11am on July 8,   the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, wrote another letter to her the same day, restating the invitation.

The permanent secretary was said to have sent a text message to the Senate on July 7, explaining why she could not come.

US trip: Govs, Amaechi, Bakare may make President’s team

The final decision on those who will make the delegation of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United States and other logistics on the impending trip will be taken on Tuesday, The PUNCH has learnt.

Buhari is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama on July 20 at the White House.

The parley is expected to feature Nigeria’s current fight against the Boko Haram sect among other issues.

I earn $50 per tweet, says ex-gov’s daughter

To some members of the Nigerian social media community, Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo is controversial. But the 50-year-old daughter of a former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Victor Omololu-Olunloyo, says Nigerian youths rather misunderstand her and what she does on social media.

While many spend a lot of time criticising her on online, the United States/Canada-trained pharmacist says she earns between $50 and $150 every time she publishes three tweets for her foreign clients who are mainly musical artistes.

In an online interview with The PUNCH, Kemi, who has spent 25 years on social media, says Nigerian youths are missing the commercial side of the platforms because they chose to attack her and others who mean well for the country.

President Buhari Appoints New Service Chiefs

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the appointments of new service chiefs and National Security Adviser for the country.

Their appointments, which was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, followed Buhari’s sacking of the former occupants of the offices earlier in the day.

Dark Sunday In Awka As Trailer Crushes Family Leaving Three Kids Alive

Mr. Okechukwu Odinigwe, his wife and eldest son died when a trailer rammed into their car at Esther Obiakor Junction, Agu Awka on the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway between noon and 1pm.

A six–month-old baby boy, his brother and sister, aged four and seven, were injured.
The three children, who survived the accident, are two boys and a girl. They were rushed to Regina Caeli Hospital in Awka by Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officials.
When The Nation visited the hospital yesterday, the survivors were seen at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where doctors were battling to save their lives.
Sympathisers were wailing at the scene of the crash, cursing the driver of the killer-trailer who, they alleged, was reckless.
The driver, according to eyewitnesses, disappeared after the accident, which involved the trailer marked LSR 897XQ and an ash–coloured Toyota Camry in which the family was ridding. The number plate of the mangled car was not seen.

NIGERIANS EXPECTATIONS FROM BUHARI ARE LIKE JESUS RAISING LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD— DELE MOMODU

…..Says Nigerians expectations from Buhari are like Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead
Mr Dele Momodu, the publisher of the Qvation magazine, was the presidential candidate of the National Commission Party (NCP) in the 2011 general elections. In this interview, Momodu speaks on the Buhari administration, the elections of the leaders of the two chambers of the National Assembly and his relationship with the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as the late politician, Chief MKO Abiola, among other issues.
You were, before the general elections, one of the unofficial spokespersons for President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then the APC presidential candidate. But of recent, your thoughts about the president appears to be changing?

JONATHAN CAUSED PDP’S DEFEAT —OGUNLEWE, EX MINISTER OF WORKS

Former Minister of works and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Sen Adeseye Ogunlewe has described the composition of the principal officers at the National Assembly as the best that has happened to the country. In an interview with Saturday Vangaurd at his Ogudu, Lagos residence, Sen Ogunlewe stated that whether people like it or not, the development would benefit the President and the country more. Excerpts:
The defeat of the 2015 election was caused by Jonathan. If not, it is impossible to defeat PDP. Look at all the people that are playing games now including the governors, the Senate President, Speaker and others, they were from PDP. So, it is the majority party and it is going to come on board. We need Buhari now, no doubt, to straighten things out. And let us have a new direction to governance in the country.

DEFECT AND LOSE YOUR SEAT, INEC TELLS LAWMAKERS

The Independent National Electoral Commission said it would not hesitate to invoke the relevant section of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) in the event of any lawmaker leaving the political party on which platform he/she was elected, before the expiration of the tenure.
There were rumours in some quarters that the crisis in some political parties might lead to some aggrieved lawmakers defecting to another political party to avoid being sanctioned for anti-party activities.
But Deputy Director, Public Affairs of INEC, Nick Dazang, told Sunday Telegraph yesterday, that the constitution is clear on the position the commission will take in such situation. Quoting Section 109 (g) of the 1999 Constitution, Dazang said the provision is explicit on “what happens if one defects from one political party to another.”