Failure
JUSUN: No going back on strike
The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) on Monday commenced its nationwide protest over financial autonomy of the Judiciary. The National Treasurer of the union, Comrade Jimoh, leading the protest, said they will not back down on the strike and protest until their demands are met. JUSUN had on April 6 shut down all courts in the country to protest the refusal of governors to comply with the constitutional provisions for financial autonomy of the Judiciary. However, due to the failure of talks with the governors, JUSUN on Friday threatened to add mass protest to the strike. Alonge, while speaking with journalists at the Court of Appeal take-off point of the protest to the National Assembly, stated that the judiciary is confronted with myriads of problems, but noted that once the issue ...
RCCG apologises to minister over Osun road project
File Photo Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), on Thursday, dismissed alleged payment of N151million to a firm for a road rehabilitated by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Osun State. Fashola in his submission before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, probing the allegation, said the claim by the church was untrue. He said the 15-kilometer road was awarded to Messrs Cartil Construction Nigeria Limited at the cost of N662.7million by the Federal Government in 2011. He said the Ministry paid N99million as 15% mobilisation fee and N52million to the contractor after the firm achieved 26.2 per cent of work done on the road in March and December 2011, respectively. He insisted that the award of the contract and the subsequent p...
Ten killed in inter-communal violence amid protests in eastern Congo
Ten people have been killed and 34 injured in fighting between rival ethnic communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern city of Goma, a spokesman for the provincial government said on Tuesday. The clashes broke out when protests against the U.N.’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission, which some blame for failing to end to worsening insecurity and militia attacks, descended into violence between the two communities. Attacks by armed militias and inter-communal violence in Congo’s restive eastern region have killed over 300 people since the start of the year as government troops and U.N. peacekeepers struggle to bring stability in the mineral-rich region. The governor of North Kivu province, Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, banned all public protests from Monday and called for calm. “From now o...
Senate summons insurance firms over failure to remit N17.4 billion pension fund
The Senate Public Accounts Committee, on Monday, summoned NICON Insurance Plc, AIICO Insurance and other insurance companies over alleged failure to remit N17.4 billion fund to Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD). The Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, had told the panel that PTAD took over the assets and liabilities of defunct pension offices without a formal handing over. She said, “On taking over, the Directorate wrote all underwriters to make returns and remit whatever amount is in their custody into a CBN dedicated account. Some of the underwriters responded to the request while some did not. “The bank certificate of balances, accounting statements, 3 years financial statements and policy files requested by the Federal Auditor were not handed over to PTAD ...
Kaduna monarch: Nigerian politicians are greedy opportunists
The emir of Birnin Gwari, Malam Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, has lashed out on Nigerian politicians whom he described as greedy opportunists. The monarch made the comment in Kaduna during the North-West Conference on the State of the Nation and contemporary challenges in Nigeria organised by Arewa Research and Development Project ARDP and Savanah Center. He said some politicians have capitalised on illiteracy and poverty among the people to attain power. “I have said it on so many occasions and so it’s easy for me now to repeat what I have said before. Why do we have failure in politicians running state, local and federal governments? I traced the problem to who we consider as politicians in our localities. “If you go to every part of the country those who call themselves politicians, stak...
PDP: Imo attacks show Governor Uzodinma’s failure
File Photo The Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday said that the Monday attacks on Owerri Correctional Center and the state Police Command headquarters in Owerri were indications that the state governor, Hope Uzodinma, had failed. At a press conference in Owerri, the state capital, the PDP chairman in the state, Charles Ugwu, urged the governor to stop blame games and take responsibility. The chairman said that the party was disturbed that stranger elements could gain such easy access into the inner recesses of the central points of security administration in the state and struck without any challenge. He said, “We have therefore concluded that lives and property are not safe and secure in the state under the watch of the current regime.” “In his speeches and inte...
Kano NLC suspends planned strike
The organised labour has suspended the three-day warning strike it planned to commence today (Thursday) in Kano over the deduction of workers salary for the month of March by the state government. The NLC Deputy National President, Najeem Yasin, announced the suspension of the strike on Wednesday night at a joint news conference with other labour movement and affiliates in Kano after a meeting with the State government team led by the Head of Civil Service, Hajia Binta Lawan Ahmed. The NLC had last week given a seven-day ultimatum to the state government to refund and stop what it described as “illegal deduction” from civil servant salaries or face industrial action. Similarly, the labour leaders insisted that failure of the government to stop the “unexplained” deduction before the end of ...
Azman Air apologises to NCAA chief over false accusations
After series of accusations and counter-accusations generated by the suspension of Azman from flight operations by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) over violation of safety rules, the management of the airline has finally apologised to the regulatory agency for the rash actions it took over the suspension. The suspension of Azman by the NCAA was negatively reacted to by the airline with the management issuing a scandalous statement which accused the director-general of the NCAA, Captain Nuhu Musa, of suspending the airline to punish it for a previous disagreement between him and the airline. Azman had in the statement accused the NCAA DG of embarking on a vengeance mission which elicited reactions from key players across the sector. However, the latest statement issued and sig...
Official: Why CCB denies Nigerians access to public officers’ assets information
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on Wednesday explained why it denies Nigerians access to the details of the assets declared by public officers. The chair person of the bureau, Muhammad Isah, also disclosed that assets declaration would soon become online-based. Mr Isah, represented by his special assistant, Mustapha Musa, spoke in Lagos at a meeting on ‘Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Asset Declaration by High-Ranking Public Officers’. Newsmen report that the meeting was organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). On access to public officers’ assets information, the CCB chair said the bureau never honoured citizens’ requests for such information because the National Assembly had yet to give the guidelines for such public disclosure. He said the...
Rumble in Edo as governor runs government without cabinet
Precisely 129 days into his second tenure as governor of Edo State after his election on September 20, 2020 and inauguration on November 12, 2020, Godwin Obaseki, has not formed his cabinet. This has generated some flaks from different quarters, including the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), constitutional lawyers, political analysts, public commentators, residents among others. While others feel that Obaseki has not committed any crime or breached any law, others believe that he is running a one-man administration and must go ahead to form his cabinet. They argued that going by Section 192 of the 1999 Constitution, the governor is obliged to form a cabinet, saying this is a circumvention, which the state House of Assembly should take action on. Obaseki had said that his ...
Justice Onnoghen: How ex-President Obasanjo saved me from conspiracy by some judges
File Photo Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has rated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as a better listener than President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking in Abuja at the book launch of Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the former CJN said Obasanjo did not act based on falsehood. Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen — weeks to the presidential election — over alleged failure to declare his assets and operating foreign accounts. He was thereafter convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and barred from holding public office for 10 years. At the event, Onnoghen said he was removed from office without being given the chance to defend himself, adding that he was never confronted with the allegations against him. Onnoghen recounted how a similar incid...
Chelsea owner takes legal action over ‘Putin’s People’ book
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has launched legal action for defamation over the book Putin’s People. The Blues owner’s case relates to “a number of false and defamatory claims made about our client in the book published by HarperCollins.” The book was written by author Caterine Belton and contains a number of claims about Abramovich and others close to Russia president Vladimir Putin. Abramovich’s statement, published on Chelsea’s club website, says: “Today my legal representatives have issued legal proceedings in England in relation to a book that was published in the UK. The book contains a number of false and defamatory statements about me, including about my purchase, and the activities, of Chelsea Football Club. “Today’s action was not taken lightly. It has never been my ambition to ...