₦airaland Forum

The Central Bank of Nigeria has become the first government agency to positively respond to a Freedom of Information, FOI, request; albeit partially. Click the link to read more...http:///LdPqj

Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo, the president of the ECOWAS commission, lives large in Abuja. He maintains a permanent executive suite at the Transcorp Hilton despite recently remodeling his official apartment with a swimming pool and boy’s quarters... See how Nigeria, ECOWAS’ largest donor, is continually outsmarted by smaller West-African countries. http:///1pPQ1

Five years after her tumultuous four-month stint as the head of Nigeria’s parliament, during which time she was tagged an ‘illiterate hair dresser,’ Nigeria’s first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, has returned to school. Click the link to read more...http:///0yi3V

Five years after her tumultuous four-month stint as the head of Nigeria’s parliament, during which time she was tagged an ‘illiterate hair dresser,’ Nigeria’s first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, has returned to school. Click the link to read more...http:///0yi3V

Sworn political enemies, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, and Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, have exchanged pleasantries in public for the first time since the October 20 governorship election in the state. Click the link to read more...http:///yLecQ

As the dust over President Goodluck Jonathan’s embarrassing outing in a recent CNN interview is yet to settle, PREMIUM TIMES can report that the presidency actually spends thousands of dollars in public funds to arrange interviews with foreign media outlets.click the link to read more...http:///GCLXG

A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Friday, remanded the former Chairman of the House of Representative’s Ad-hoc committee on Fuel Subsidy Payment, Farouk Lawan, and Secretary of the Committee, Boniface Emenalo, in prison.

Both men will remain in prison till February 8 when the court will rule on their bail application.
Click the link to read more...http:///zvP3U

The Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Restore Order, in Borno State said it has bombed training camps allegedly used by members of the Boko Haram sect in the state.

A statement by Sagir Musa, spokesperson of the JTF, on Friday, said the agency used a Nigerian Airforce Helicopter Gunship to dislodge what it called ” Boko Haram Terrorists’ Camps located in Sambisa Game Reserve in Bama Local Government and Farin – Ruwa Forest South West / East of Demboa Local Government Area of Borno State on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 January, 2013.”

Mr. Musa said “the camp was properly sighted and fortified and had training facilities; armoury, accommodation, drugs store/medical, kitchen, vehicle holding area, latrine and water points (River)”.

He said the camp was used to conduct training for members and to carry out recent attacks, killings and bombings in “Maiduguri, Musari, Konduga, Biu, Bama, and Demboa communities”.

Gun battle and casualties

The statement also said efforts by JTF troops to destroy the camps led to fierce exchange of fire that resulted in the death of 17 Boko Haram members and one JTF official.

Mr. Musa said the camps were destroyed and are being monitored.

He listed some of the items recovered from the camp as six AK 47 rifles, two G3 rifles, three pistols, one Rocket Propelled Grenade Bomb (RPG), one RPG Tube, twenty RPG Chargers, two double barrel rifles, and 2, 543 assorted ammunition.

The statement also called on local communities to give credible and timely information to the Task Force and other security agencies.

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/118236-18-killed-as-jtf-bombs-boko-haram-training-camp-in-maiduguri.html

Chukwuemeka Ezeugo, a.k.a Rev. King, on Friday failed in his appeal to overturn a death sentence earlier passed on him.
Click the link to read more...http:///KKWzq

Farouk Lawan, the lawmaker who allegedly collected a bribe of $500, 000 (N75 million) from an oil mogul, Femi Otedola, has been remanded in prison by an Abuja court. Click the link to read more...http:///V13wu

The Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, has disowned Adesina Adeyinka, a member of a kidnap gang paraded by the police on Wednesday.

Mr. Adesina had told PREMIUM TIMES that he was a student of the school and ventured into kidnapping to raise funds for his school fees. He was arrested along with five other suspects by the Ogun Sate Vigilance Service while holding on to a victim for whom they had demanded a ransom of N25 million. The suspects were later handed to the police.The suspects were later handed to the police.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of OOU, Saburi Adesanya, confirmed that the suspect was indeed a student who struggled to pay his fees, and was later expelled for not being able to, two years ago.

..http://premiumtimesng.com/news/118062-we-expelled-kidnapper-for-failure-to-pay-school-fees-ogun-university-vice-chancellor.html

Two of the people that kidnapped Nollywood actress, Nkiruka Sylvanus, in Imo State, were former cattle traders from the Northern part of Nigeria, security officials have said. Click the link to read more...http:///Y0AZE

Less than 24 hours after he was convicted and freed by an Abuja Court, John Yakubu Yusuf, a former assistant director in the federal civil service, has been re-arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Click to read more on...http:///PF2FD

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, has said it will seek a final constitutional interpretation of all matters relating to the Excess Crude Account controversy between the federal and state governments.Click to read more on...http:///cgjd2

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, has said it will seek a final constitutional interpretation of all matters relating to the Excess Crude Account controversy between the federal and state governments.Click to read more on... http:///cgjd2

A group claiming to be a faction of the Boko Haram has declared a seize fire after holding talks with the Borno State Government.Click the link to read more...http:///CMfdZ

bout 230 Brazilians who went clubbing at a club in Santa Maria were killed by a fire that razed the club.

Witnesses told the BBC that a band member caused the fire when he set up a fire work on stage.

Many of the victims also died from smoke inhalation during the stampede that resulted in the club at the popular Brazilian city.

Witnesses said the death figure was high because the club had only one exit which is normally locked during party time....Read more: http://premiumtimesng.com/news/foreign/117505-clubbing-goes-awry-as-230-people-die-in-brazil.html

The pension boss will also forfeit property.

An Abuja High Court has sentenced a former head of the Police Pension Board, Yakubu Yusuf, to two years in prison.

He pleaded guilty to the embezzlement of N23.3 billion and is to forfeit property valued at N325 million.

He was given an option of N250 thousand to avoid the jail sentence.

Details later…


http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/117515-breaking-news-abuja-court-sentences-police-pension-boss-to-2yrs-in-prison-for-embezzling-n23bn.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=breaking-news-abuja-court-sentences-police-pension-boss-to-2yrs-in-prison-for-embezzling-n23bn

Click here to read more...http://premiumtimesng.com/news/117057-a-widows-quest-for-justice.html

The Egyptian referee, Ghead Grisha, who was at the centre in the Group C match between Nigeria and the defending champions, Zambia, in Nelspruit on Friday, has been sacked from the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, a top African football official has said.

Grisha hugged the headlines on the negative side when he awarded a highly controversial penalty against the Super Eagles four minutes from time, which enabled the champions to draw level in the game played at the Mbombela Stadium.

A top official of the Confederation of African Football confirmed on Sunday that the 36-year-old, who became an international referee in 2008, will take no further part in the on-going championship in South Africa...Read more: http:///10WgAOT

Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, the umbrella body for all militant groups in Nigeria’s Niger Delta on Saturday broke its more than a year-long silence with a stern warning to the government in South Africa to stop meddling in Nigeria’s internal politics or risk dire consequences.

The group also threatened to attack Nigeria like never before, in a manner that might lead to the disintegration of the country....Read more: http:///VeLn7f

A widow left with three children to fend for after her husband was shot dead for no reason by a military officer. See how she is struggling to get justice...http://premiumtimesng.com/news/117057-a-widows-quest-for-justice.html

God is our strenght

it is well with our Nigeria team

Any person subscribed to any of the Nigerian GSM networks must not be charged more than N4 for short message service, sms, sent to other networks, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, said on Thursday.

The NCC set a price cap of N4 per message for all domestic Off-Net Short Messaging Service, SMS, with effect from February 5.

Josephine Amuwa, the Director, Legal and Regulatory Services of the Commission made this known in a statement made available in Lagos.

Ms. Amuwa said that this had been communicated to the operators since January 3, adding that it would, however, not place a price cap on international SMS.

“There was a general recognition that the cost of SMS is too high, especially in view of the interconnection rate of N1.02 for SMS as determined by the Commission in 2009..Read more: http://premiumtimesng.com/news/117030-no-text-message-across-nigerian-networks-must-cost-more-than-n4-ncc.html

All is well

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday found Edmond Ebiwere, one of the four persons arraigned for the October 1, 2010 bomb attack in Abuja, guilty of terrorism charges. The court also sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Mr. Ebiwere and three others, including Charles Okah, brother to Henry Okah, the alleged mastermind of the 50th Independent Anniversary bomb attack on October 1, 2010 at the Eagle Square Abuja, were being prosecuted for the crime.

The trial judge, Gabriel Kolawole, in a judgement that lasted over three hours, handed Mr. Ebiwere the life sentence after considering the testimony by all the six prosecution witnesses and Exhibit Six, which validly linked him to the crime committed as he failed to give information to the appropriate authority.

According to Justice kolawole, Section 40(B) of the Criminal Code Act provides that any person who becomes an accessory to treason or becomes aware of the commission of treason and did not give evidence to the President, a State Governor or a peace officer, in order to prevent the commission of the crime, is liable to treason and sentenced to life in prison...Read more: http:///W4lGtW

Super Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo, is not likely to start when the Eagles confront the Chipolopolo of Zambia in their second match of the African Cup of Nations, AFCON 2013.

An official of the team told PREMIUM TIMES at the Eagles base in Nelspruit that Kenneth Omeruo is likely to be paired with Godffrey Oboabona in the central defense.

The decision of the Eagles technical team to bench the team captain may not be unassociated with his woeful performance in Nigeria’s first match against Burkina Faso.

http://premiumtimesng.com/sports/117075-breaking-news-yobo-to-sit-on-bench-against-zambia.html

The ongoing battle between the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Arunma Oteh, and the House of Representatives is already taking its toll on the staff of the Commission, who are being made to bear the brunt of the ‘ego’ clash.

The National Assembly last year refused to treat the 2013 budget of the Commission insisting it will not have anything to do with SEC until its boss is removed.

During the appearance of representatives of government ministries, departments and agencies, before the National Assembly to defend their budget allocations for the year, members of the House of Representatives refused to receive the three-man delegation from SEC, sent to represent Ms. Oteh, to defend the budget.

The lawmakers, who accused Ms. Oteh of not satisfying the legal requirements before her appointment, said they would not have anything to do with the Commission’s budget appropriation until their demand for the director general’s sack is carried out by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Senate later adopted the resolution of the Reps by including a zero allocation to SEC in the final approved 2013 budget appropriation transmitted to the President shortly before the last yuletide for assent.

This position by the National Assembly is now a concern for many staff of the organisation, who are now bearing the brunt of the battle.

We are suffering

Officials of the commission told PREMIUM TIMES that their various allowances have been withheld since the beginning of the year making it difficult for them to pay their bills...Read more: http:///Un5KSo

It was a union fraught with several controversies from the start. After six years of marriage and several months of denials, Tunde Soleye, husband of former beauty queen and socialite, Nike Oshinowo, has confirmed in a recent interview that his wife had indeed moved out of their matrimonial home.

“We are no longer living together. Nike and I have sent out a joint statement on the issue. It is simple and clean. This is not a scandal. We had three options, the best of which is to tell the world the truth that we now live apart. We have been living apart for a couple of months now. We see occasionally. She calls me when she wants and I speak with her too. There’s no fight. I have been to where she lives. We are still friends. We are going through a difficult time and we will come out of it,” Mr. Soleye said.

This recent development comes amid claims that the couple have been living apart since mid 2012. In order to stop the speculations surrounding the status of their marriage last year, they went to several lengths to debunk the stories making the rounds that the marriage had broken down irretrievably....Read more: http://premiumtimesng.com/arts-entertainment/116536-ex-beauty-queen-nike-oshinowo-part-ways-with-dr-soleye.html

The Kano State Government has banned the use of motorcycles, popularly known as Achaba, for commercial purposes in the city.

Kano reportedly has the highest number of commercial motorcycles in the country with conservative estimates putting the number of riders in the state at about one million.

The ban follows similar adoptions by state governments which they say curbs incidents of crime...Read more: http:///Wdbxuy

The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Monday said that Nigeria’s inability to broadcast live matches from the African Nations Cup was in the interest of sports development in the country.

Mr. Maku said this during an inspection of ongoing work at the Inland River Port in Oguta, Imo State.

The minister, who apologised to Nigerians for the blackout on live matches of the tournament, said that the demand of the rights holder was highly exploitative.

According to Mr. Maku, “it is necessary for Nigeria to call their bluff because they were not willing to bring down the price despite efforts by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).”

“All efforts made by BON through the agent LC2 did not work. From eight million euros, they came to six million then 4.5 million Euro; so you can see that it is not a scientific charge, it is a kind of casino pricing.

“BON decided that this year, Nigeria should call the bluff of this agent and maybe next time the Confederation of African Football will be more sensitive when it comes to hiring of agents to vent the broadcasting rights of the African Nations Cup,” he said...Read more: http:///VPcbOu