THE REFINERIES HAVE BEEN RESURRECTED.

Call it facing the realities of change that seemed impossible before now and you may not be wrong. Let us again remind the NNPC that refineries are national assets that should be guarded jealously. With potentials for up to 6000 investment opportunities when we refine a barrel of crude, our refineries are strategic for energy, technology, employment, skills, increased GDP and government revenue.

Alas! For over three months Nigerians in bewilderment groped and constituted themselves into search parties for fuel from any benevolent marketer, to purchase available drops of premium motor spirit (PMS), dual purpose kerosene (DPK) or automotive gas oil (AGO). It became a national emergency when banks, airlines and telecommunication operators threatened withdrawal of services.

#NASSGATE - APC DEMANDS PUBLIC APOLOGY FROM SARAKI (@BUKOLASARAKI) & DOGARA (@DOYAKUBU).

Although some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC have initiated moves to reconcile the aggrieved camps and bring back peace in the party, its national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is not yielding to it until his conditions are met.

Vanguard exclusively gathered yesterday that Tinubu who felt greatly slighted by the elections of Senator Bukola Saraki and Rep. Yakubu Dogara as the senate president and the Speaker, House of Representatives respectively against the party’s official candidates, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabimila had said of what can assuage his anger and that of the party.

GOVERNOR NYESOM WIKE SETS UP PANEL TO PROBE AMAECHI, SEEKS THE SUPPORT OF BUHARI.

Governor Nyesom Wike yesterday commenced probe of the administration of his predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi as he constituted a seven man Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice George Omereji to investigate alleged sale of some state assets as well as the projects for which funds were allegedly released but not executed.

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry which has 23 terms of reference has one month to turn in its report.

Wike’s action was coming against the backdrop of claims by Amaechi’s former Deputy, Tele Ikuru that the former administration under which he served was the most corrupt in the state.

WARRING FACTIONS IN SUDAN HAVE CARRIED OUT RAPE, CASTRATION & MURDER OF CHILDREN. #SAYNOTORAPE.

Warring forces in South Sudan have carried out horrific crimes against children, including castration, rape and tying them together before slitting their throats, the UN has said.

“Survivors report that boys have been castrated and left to bleed to death… girls as young as eight have been gang raped and murdered,” UN children’s agency chief Anthony Lake said in a statement released earlier this week.

“Children have been tied together before their attackers slit their throats… others have been thrown into burning buildings.”

EXCLUSIVE DETAILS OF WHAT SENATE PRESIDENT "BUKOLA SARAKI" TOLD "OBASANJO" AT CLOSED DOOR MEETING IN ABEOKUTA.

Facts have emerged showing why Senate President Bukola Saraki led a delegation of Senators to meet former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his hilltop mansion, Abeokuta, Ogun state on Friday.

A source close to the meeting said that the Senate President was in Abeokuta to beg Mr. Obasanjo to reconcile him with President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Mr. Saraki emerged as the president of the Senate against the decision of APC leaders. He was also elected when most Senators from the APC were at the International Conference Centre waiting to hold a meeting with Mr. Buhari to discuss the election of the Senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

THE PRIZE OF SECRECY.

I know that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki as the chairman of the National Assembly must be miffed reading the newspapers and the social media buzz about the amount that he and his colleagues will share as wardrobe allowance.

On Monday, it was a major headline in most of the newspapers that the National Assembly will share N8.64 billion as wardrobe allowance, but a new figure from the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Engr. Elias Mbam, may help douse the tension.

Yes, we now have a different figure of N506, 600 per legislator per annum that is 25 percent of the basic salary of the lawmakers. But why did it take the RMAFC chairman more days to speak after the issue had gained enough mileage on social media and in the national dailies? Also why did he have to visit Senator Saraki before giving the nation this new information? Certainly, there is something wrong with the system both at the National Assembly and at RMAFC.

PRESIDENT BUHARI ORDERS SALE OF NINE PREISDENTIAL AIRCRAFTS.

As part of the federal government’s cost measures, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that nine of the VIP transport aircraft under the presidential fleet should be sold.

Industry sources informed that the presidential fleet, which are registered as Nigerian Air Force aircraft, is one of the largest in Africa and the third largest in Nigeria after Arik Air and Aerocontractors.

According to an aviation source, who is aware of the directive to sell the aircraft, the presidency has a number of serviceable and unserviceable aircraft that need to be disposed of in order to reduce the amount spent by the federal government for aircraft maintenance annually.

CHELSEA SET TO END ROMANCE WITH MIKEL OBI.

With Jose Mourinho’s renewed interest in bringing Zenit St-Petersburg midfielder, Axel Witsel, to Stamford Bridge Super Eagles midfielder, John Mikel Obi, is almost certain to be on his way out of Chelsea this summer.

The Nigerian international has been frozen out of the first team picture of Chelsea by Mourinho this past season and the situation does not appear good with the gaffer’s insistence on getting Witsel to fortify the midfield.

The 28-year-old Mikel made just six starting appearances in the Premier League as his team went on to clinch the title.

WIZKID, TIMAYA & OTHERS TO LOSE OUT AS MTN SIGNS COBHAMS.

In line with its commitment to enhancing the lives of Nigerian musicians by providing platforms through which they can get lucrative value for their intellectual properties, MTN Nigeria has concluded plans to boost the financial fortune of its brand ambassadors with several millions of naira in the next one year.

A statement issued by the telecommunications company noted that the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN, Richard Iweanoge, made known on this Thursday while unveiling Cobhams Asuquo, as the latest addition to MTN’s list of brand ambassadors.

According to the statement, Asuquo will be joining Davido, Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Dr. Sid, Sound Sultan, Iyanya, Chidinma, Banky W, KCee as well as Saka, Osuofia, Mama Gee and others who have all renewed their contracts with MTN.

SHARING OF PRINCIPAL OFFICES IN NASS THREATENS TO TEAR APC APART.

The sharing of principal offices in the Senate seems to be creating a fresh crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress.

The principal offices are the Senate Leader; the Deputy Senate Leader; the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip.

While the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, is believed to have recommended to the APC National Working Committee that the positions be allocated to the zones, some leaders of the party, especially those from the South-West, want them filled by the party’s hierarchy.

LADY CLAIMS SHE WAS DUPED INSIDE THE BANKING HALL IN LAGOS.

The girl pictured above and identified as Ruqayyat said she was duped of N14,000 inside a banking hall in Lagos on Wednesday June 17th. According to her story, she said she went into a banking hall along Opebi road, Lagos to pay N14, 000 when she was approached by a man dressed in a suit pretending to be working at the bank.

She said the man asked her to give him the money she wanted to deposit and her filled deposit slip so he can facilitate the process quickly. She said the man also asked her if she had filled her bank verification number BVN form which ends this month. When she replied no, the man gave her a form to fill and then proceeded to help her pay her money at the teller point.

I KILLED NINE AFRICAN AMERICANS TO START A RACE WAR PLUS PICTURES OF THE DEAD.

Dylann Storm Roof has confessed to entering a South Carolina church on Wednesday night and shooting dead nine people at their weekly bible study meeting, telling investigators that he wanted to 'start a race war', according to reports.

The 21-year-old admitted to Charleston police and the FBI that he was behind the massacre, law enforcement officials told CNN on Friday. He also told them that he bought the .45-caliber handgun himself; a family member had previously said the gun was a birthday gift from Roof's father.

WHITE GUNMAN WHO MURDERED NINE AFRICAN AMERICANS HAS BEEN ARRESTED. #CHARLESTONSHOOTING.

KILLER - DYLANN STORM ROOF

 The white gunman who allegedly shot dead nine people during a bible study meeting at an African-American church in South Carolina last night has been caught in North Carolina.

Dylann Storm Roof, who sparked an overnight manhunt after fleeing the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, was taken into custody during a traffic stop in Shelby just after 11am.

The 21-year-old was caught after a member of the public spotted his car and called cops to report 'suspicious activity', Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said. He was in the car and armed when he was approached by an officer but he was cooperative and taken into custody.

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STATES OF EMERGENCY - OLUSEGUN ADENIYI

Ever since I can remember, one common phrase that I have heard so frequently in our country is that “Nigeria is a rich country that can provide for everybody”. The assumption from that belief is that with petrodollars, our country can meet the needs of all citizens in education (which has to be free from primary to university); healthcare delivery (also to be free) and other essentials of life. It is the same kind of thinking that informed the idea of subsidy in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry that is now another byword for waste and corruption.

Even when representation and taxation are supposed to go together, in Nigeria, we have virtually turned government to one big Father Christmas that makes little or no demand of citizens yet provides everything for them. That perhaps explains why at every season those in authorities keep putting thousands of people on the payroll, at practically all levels, even when there may be no real job for them to do.

NINE DEAD AS YOUNG WHITE MALE OPENS FIRE ON AFRICAN AMERICANS DURING BIBLE STUDY AT METHODIST CHURCH. #CHARLESTONSHOOTING

A gunman who opened fire killing nine people in a race-hate crime at an African American church in South Carolina reportedly let one woman escape so she could tell everyone else what happened. 

The suspect, a white man in his twenties, stormed a weekly bible study group at the 150-year-old Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston at around 9pm and opened fire on the room.

Eight of the victims died at the scene, and one later in a hospital.  At least one injured person is being treated in a hospital. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, pastor of the church and South Carolina state senator, is among the dead 

PRESIDENT BUHARI GETS BETTER WITH AGE - FEMI ADESINA.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that despite his age, he still remains the good old incorrigible man that Nigerians know him.

In a statement in Abuja the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said the remarks attributed to the President while speaking with the Nigerian community in South Africa that he wished he was younger as a president was taken out of context.

President Buhari had wished he was younger as the President of Nigeria.

51-YR-OLD MAN & HIS GANG RAPES CORPS MEMBER TO DEATH IN ILORIN. #SAYNOTORAPE

A prosecutor of the Kwara State Police Command, Mr. Matthew Ologbon, has informed an Ilorin Magistrate’s Court, presided over by Mr. K.A.Yahyah, that a female National Youth Service Corps member, Miss Yetunde Idowu was raped to death by a 51-year-old man, Abdullahi Tanko, and his gang members.

The corpse of  Idowu’ was found at the Ilorin GRA. The police prosecutor told the court that on May 23, at about 12pm, the police found Idowu in a pool of blood.

Ologbon told the court that investigation by the police revealed that Tanko and his collaborators, now at large, tricked Idowu from her residence to Fate Road, where they raped her to death.

(VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES) RAPE VICTIM BITES OFF THE PENIS OF RAPIST IN LAGOS. #SAYNOTORAPE.

A rapist in Lagos got more than he bargained for when the victim bit off his penis. The story was sent to popular blogger Linda Ikeji by someone who witnessed the incident. The pictures are quite graphic.

TWO MEN ARRESTED IN BALTIMORE FOR RAPING AND MURDERING A 16 YR OLD GIRL. #SAYNOTORAPE.

Baltimore police announced the arrests of two men in the death of a 16-year-old girl and the indictments of 11 members of a suspected drug crew they say might be responsible for some of the violence that has roiled the city in recent weeks.

The arrests and indictments come as police face criticism amid a surge of shootings and killings since the arrest of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old Baltimore man died in April after suffering a severe spinal cord injury in police custody.

"We are in the battle," police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts said Thursday. "You can see we are in the battle, and we're showing you we are in the battle and we're taking this very seriously."

LAWMAKERS TO RECEIVE #9BILLION WARDROBE ALLOWANCE NEXT WEEK. #OCCUPYNASS

The newly sworn in members of the National Assembly will smile home with a whooping N8.64 billion as wardrobe allowance next week, it was learnt last night.

The sum is aside other allowances such as furniture, housing and vehicle, which the lawmakers are entitled to.

It was also learnt that the management of the National Assembly is currently allocating offices to the 469 federal lawmakers in both chambers ahead of their resumption on June 23 from the two-week recess that they embarked on June 10.