As the nation celebrates its 58th independence anniversary on Monday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday stated why President Muhammadu Buhari should not preside over the independence celebration. (more…)
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Thugs kill Imo council chairman’s aide
One of the aides of the chairman of Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State , Chinonso Solomon , has been murdered by suspected political thugs after a governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state .
Our correspondent learnt that Solomon , 28 , was killed on Tuesday in the presence of his wife in Amaraku , a community in the Isiala Mbano LGA of the State.Multiple sources told our correspondent that the deceased was killed by thugs working for unknown rival politicians he had an altercation with at the polling unit earlier in the day .The Chairman of Isiala Mbano LGA , Jude Mbachu , who confirmed the development to our correspondent in Owerri , said the fleeing thugs used machetes to inflict deep cuts on his aide.Mbachu said , “They have killed one of my boys . He was killed in the presence of his wife . He was given deep cuts by suspected political thugs .“This is barbaric and it should be condemned by all lovers of democracy . I learnt that he had a disagreement with some people during the governorship primary of the APC at the polling unit ; in the night, the thugs came and killed him .”Another source told our correspondent that after using machetes to inflict deep injuries on the victim , his killers asked him to run before shooting him .The chairman of the APC in the Isiala Mbano LGA , Obinna Onuegbu , told our correspondent that the party was saddened by the death of the 28 – year -old .Onuegbu , who told our correspondent that the remains of the deceased had been deposited in a morgue , said the APC in the council would continue to preach politics of tolerance .The Police Public Relations Officer in the state , Orlando Ikeokwu , when contacted on the killing , promised to get back to our correspondent.He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report. -
UNDP trains 225 IDPs in Borno, Adamawa,Yobe in various skills
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with Borno State Government has trained 225 IDPs from Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States in different skills acquisitions to prepare them to becomes self reliant as return back to their communities. (more…)
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Yobe; Minister defeats son to clinch APC Reps ticket
By Mohammed Mamman/Ahmed Abba
Hajiya Khadija Ibrahim, minister of state foreign Affairs, has defeated her step son Mohammed Ibrahim to clinch the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for Damaturu/Gulani/Gujba/Tarmuwa, Yobe federal constituency.
Prof Abba Gambo, the returning officer of the election which ran into the night announced on Wednesday that Khadijah polled 1,295 votes to defeat Mohammed who scored only 15 votes.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that in spite of pressures mounted on Mohammed to step down for his father’s wife, he refused.
NAN reports that two other contenders including the serving representative Alhaji Abdullahi Kukuwa and Alhaji Ahmed Buba stepped down for the minister.
The minister commended Abdullahi and Ahmed for withdrawing from the race to support her win the election.
Senator Bukar Ibrahim who stepped down his re-election bid against Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, did not attend any of the party primary elections including the one contested by his wife and son.
Meanwhile, some delegates condemned the inability of Khadija Ibrahim to settle her differences with the step son at home, to avoid running against each other.
Mairo Shuaibu, a delegate from Tarmuwa local government told NAN that “the inability of the family to settle their differences, for the son to step down for his step mother speaks of the instability in the house.”
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Ajimobi clinches Oyo South Senatorial ticket…Promises to surpass his governorship achievements at Senate
Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has clinched the All Progressives Congress ticket for Oyo South Senatorial District in the primary election conducted by the Chief Ademola Seriki-led electoral panel. (more…)
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Saudi Arabia to build oil refinery in Pakistan
The oil facility will be located near Gwadar sea port in the South-Western province of Balochistan, Petroleum Minister, Sarwar Khan, said.
Pakistan’s cabinet approved the plan after a delegation from the Saudi Energy Ministry visited Gwadar on Oct. 2, Khan said.
The capacity and the cost of the refinery were still to be determined, the minister added, but local media reports suggested the investment might be around eight billion dollars.
Since taking over in August, Pakistan’s new government has been looking to Saudi Arabia to invest in the country and seeking financial assistance to avoid a looming economic crisis.
Analysts warned that Saudi investment in a region bordering Iran could trigger a new conflict between Riyadh and Tehran.
“It is natural that Iranians will not be comfortable to see Saudis in their backyard,” Security Analyst, Fida Khan, said.
China could also be upset by the move, according to analysts.
The Chinese have built a port in Gwadar as part of 62-billion dollar project to establish an overland and sea trade route through Pakistan to reach Middle Eastern, European and African markets.
Political and defence analysts warned the investment by a U.S. ally in a project initiated by Beijing might anger the Chinese.
“This is a risky move,” said Irfan Shehzad from the Institute of Policy Studies think tank. “The Chinese may not be pleased.”
Pakistan’s new government said the investment plan with China that was signed by the previous administration might push the country into a “vicious debt trap.” (dpa/NAN) -
Parents forget 5-year-old daughter at German airport
Police in Germany say a couple left their five-year-old daughter behind at the airport after returning from a holiday.
Reutlingen police said that officers spotted the child wandering aimlessly and alone around the terminal at nearby Stuttgart Airport late Monday.
Fox News reports that the girl was taken to the airport police station but her mother called shortly afterward, to ask whether her daughter had been found.
Police said the mother explained to officers that the family had driven home in separate cars and each believed the girl to be with the other parent.
The child was eventually handed over to her father, who had returned to pick her up.
It wasn’t clear how long the child had been abandoned at the airport by her parents.
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Oil, Gas export sales up to $416m
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says a total of crude oil and gas export sales of 416.07 million dollars was realised in June, which is 35.78 per cent higher than the previous month.
The details of the figures was contained in the June 2018 edition of the Monthly NNPC Financial and Operations Reports, released in Abuja, on Thursday.
It noted that the crude oil export sales contributed 274.95 million dollars which translated to 66.08 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with 244.72million dollars contribution in the previous month.
According to the report, the export Gas sales for the month amounts to 141.12million dollars.
The report noted that the corporation undertook the repairs of ruptured gas pipeline which supplies gas to most thermal electricity generating plants in the country.
“In all, a total of 744million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) was delivered to the gas fired power plants in the month under review,” it said.
This, it said generated an average power of about 2,970MW compared with the May, where an average of 742mmscfd was supplied to generate 2,940MW.
“A total of 211.51billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas was produced in the month of June translating to an average daily production of 7,056.22mmscfd.
“For the period between June 2017 and June 2018, a total of 3,080.90 bcf of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,826.41mmscfd.
“During the period under review, production from Joint Ventures, Production Sharing Contracts and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company contributed about 69.35 per cent, 21.77 per cent and 8.88 per cent respectively, to the total national gas production,” it added.
The report further noted that out of the 209.55bcf of gas supplied in June, a total of 113.08bcf of gas was commercialised, comprising of 36.23bcf and 76.85bcf for the domestic and export market respectively.
This, it said translated to a total supply of 1,207.74mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 2,561.70 mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
The supply, the report said implied that 53.96 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 46.04 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.
“The gas flare rate was 10.33 per cent for the month under review, that is 721.83mmscfd, compared with the average gas flare rate of 10.4 per cent, that is, 813.37mmscfd for June 2017 to June 2018,” it said.
In the downstream sub-sector, 1,194.93million litres of petrol were supplied into the country through the Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) arrangements as against the 1,096.45million litres of petrol supplied in May 2018.
It noted that the petroleum products (petrol, diesel & kerosene) production by the domestic refineries in the month under review amounted to 205.73million litres compared to 161.91million litres in May 2018. (NAN)
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President Buhari assures Nigerians he will not disappoint if re-elected
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Nigerians that he will not disappoint them if he is re-elected as President in 2019.He gave the assurance after being declared as the APC presidential candidate at the party’s National Presidential Convention which ended in the early hours of Sunday at the Abuja Eagle Square.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Buhari scored a total of 14,842,072 votes at the party’s recent presidential primaries held across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as announced by Dr Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor-elect, to emerge as the party’s candidate.Fayemi, who was the Chairman,APC Presidential Primary Committee, later asked the no fewer than 7,00 delegates from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to affirm the president’s candidacy through a yes vote, which they did.Aside the statuary delegates, the delegates who were drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, were made up of three from each Local Government Area.They were elected at the party’s State Congresses held earlier in the year.President Buhari specifically thanked all other eligible candidates within the party who deferred their aspirations because of him in the interest of the party’s unity and overall national stability.“Ladies and gentlemen, members of APC. I thank you deeply for your support and confidence in me. I will not let you or the people of Nigeria down.“Fellow party members, it is with a deep sense of humility that I stand before you today to accept the nomination of our party, the APC to be its candidate and flag-bearer in the 2019 presidential elections.“As I stand today before you, there is no honour greater than the confidence given to me by all of you when you affirmed my nomination.“I accept this honour as a tribute and mark of confidence to carry the responsibility as we all join hands to continue the good work of the APC government to 2023 and beyond,”he said.He thanked the party members for their support and guidance and for staying committed to the change agenda.The president expressed gratitude to the party’s National Chairman,Mr Adams Oshiomhole, and members of the National Convention Committee for planning and conducting the convention.He also appreciated the chairmen of National and State Executive Committees of the APC, saying:” I thank you very much for doing a difficult job well”.President Buhari, however, noted that the result of the APC presidential primaries was different this time, because he was the only candidate.The president, while recalling the achievements of the APC-led Federal Government, said the party was very proud of its records from 2015 to date, adding that it had arrested and checked the slide to anarchy on the security and economic fronts.He added that Boko Haram under the government, had been reduced to attacks on soft targets as normalcy had returned to much of North-East and neighbouring North-West states.The president also noted that the country’s currency had stabilised while its reserves was now $44 billion, a lot higher than it was in 2015 when the APC Government came into power.“Power generation capacity has reached 8,000 megawatts as against less than 4,600 when we came into office.“As we invest in new power generation infrastructure, we are strenuously working to address the legacy deficiencies and challenges of transmission and distribution networks across the country.“We are executing Independent Power Projects in nine Federal Universities to deliver uninterrupted power supply and we intend to expand to a total of 37 Universities,”the president said.He added that the Government through its Anchor Borrowers Programme and other incentives had empowered more than two million farmers to go back to agriculture.He further added that the country now produces 80 per cent of its rice requirements as many farmers who nearly lost hope were now millionaires.Buhari said the APC-led Federal Government had also introduced primary school feeding programmes to encourage attendance and enrollment and had introduced the conditional cash transfer.This, he said, was to help small and medium businesses, men and women and young people who drove our economy.He said the Government had repaired and was repairing major arterial roads and starting major railway projects with the aim of linking the 36 states with efficient road and rail transportation systems.The president maintained that the Government was attacking corruption head-on, with international support, saying that it was presently recovering Nigeria’s stolen assets and applying same to infrastructure development.“Today the corrupt are facing the wrath of the law and leakages have been generally blocked.We can be proud of our achievements, change has come,”President Buhari stressed.He, however, charged Nigerians to think of how much the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Government earned between 1999 and 2015 that it was in power and what it did with it.The president recalled that under the PDP Government, infrastructure and security was down while 18 Local Government in the North-East were under control of Boko Haram.He said under that Government, the country’s reserves were depleted and bankruptcy was around the corner, adding that Nigerians should ask the PDP what it did with the national treasury.He added that Nigeria was now respected internationally, saying that the international community was very supportive of the APC-Government’s efforts to put the country in order.NAN further reports that the convention was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, some APC governors, members of the National Assembly and other stakeholders of the party from across the federation. (NAN)