$2.1BN ARMS SCANDAL - EFCC RECOVERS N84M FROM FORMER DIR. OF FINANCE & BUDGET OF NIGERIAN AIR FORCE.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered N84m from the immediate past Director of Finance and Budget of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore O. O. Gbadebo, 

A reliable source in the EFCC said on Sunday that investigations revealed that the money was diverted from the account of the Air Force.

The source said the money was part of the money budgeted for the procurement of weapons.

PRESIDENT BUHARI SACK DGs OF 24 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, disclosed that President Buhari has sacked DGs of 24 Federal Government Agencies.

According to Lawal, the full list include: 

ETISALAT SUE MTN OVER ACQUISITION OF VISAFONE.

Etisalat Nigeria has sued MTN Nigeria and Visafone Ltd, challenging MTN’s use of the 800megahertz (MHZ) spectrum following the acquisition of Visafone.

MTN sued the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over the imposition of N780billion fine on it by the regulator for harbouring some 5.2million pre-registered subscriber identity module (SIM) cards on its network in violation of extant rules.

Etisalat said it considered the action necessary to prevent the use of the spectrum by MTN at this time, as it will entrench the dominance of MTN in the retail data services market.

MY CRITICS ARE INSANE - SUNDAY OLISEH.

Coach Oliseh reacts to critics.

Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria is a very angry man at the moment over calls for his sack by some elements after the exit of the home based Super Eagles from CHAN 2016.

Watch the 2nd part of the video here.

AMCON TAKES OVER AERO CONTRACTORS.

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has dissolved the board of Aero Contractors and appointed a manager to oversee the affairs of the airline.

This is just as AMCON has engaged a reputable accounting firm to undertake a forensic audit of the airline’s accounts over the last five years.

Investigations reveal that the airline got N14 billion intervention fund in 2010 with additional investment by AMCON which has raised the debt profile of the airline to N20 billion.

SENATOR BOLA TINUBU ACCEPTS AIT'S APOLOGY, WITHDRAWS LIBEL SUIT (READ FULL TEXT OF APOLOGY).

Senator Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the Chairman of DAAR Communications, on Thursday, agreed on out of court settlement in a libel suit filed by Tinubu.

It was reported that the APC chieftain has accepted Dokpesi’s unreserved apology as settlement for the documentary, “Lion of Burdillion” aired on Africa Independent Television (AIT) in the build up to the 2015 elections.

Tinubu had filed a N150 billion suit before an Ikeja High Court against Daar Communications Plc, owners of AIT, for airing the documentary.

Read full text of the apology after the cut.

NYSC RENDERS APOLOGY FOR DELAY IN JANUARY 2016 SALARY PAYMENT FOR CORPS MEMBERS.

The National Youth Service Corps on Wednesday said there would be “a slight delay” in the payment of the January 2016 allowance for corps members.

“The delay is due to discrepancies in planning figures for 2016 from the NYSC, Ministry of Budget and National Planning and the Ministry of Finance.

“Management regrets this delay, and is therefore working round the clock to ensure that all corps members receive their January allowance between now and next week.

JUROR AWARDS N4.6BN TO PARALYSED 22-YR-OLD MAN SHOT BY POLICE WHEN HE WAS UNARMED.

A 22-yr-old black man who was unarmed when he was shot by a sheriff’s deputy as a result of which he was paralysed has been awarded $23.1 million (about N4.550 billion) by a federal jury in the United States (U.S.).

However, the judgment, which was pronounced by a six-woman, two-man jury on Wednesday, will have to be approved by Florida lawmakers in line with the extant law requiring approval for awards exceeding $200,000.

Meanwhile, Nigerian lawyers are urging judges to emulate the U.S. jurors just as they insisted that judgment sums be paid as awarded by the courts.

SUPREME COURT THROWS OUT BUKOLA SARAKI'S (@BUKOLASARAKI) APPEAL, ORDERS HIM TO FACE TRIAL FOR CORRUPTION CHARGES.

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the senate president, Bukola Saraki, against his trial for alleged corruption. Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged asset declaration fraud.

The Code of Conduct Bureau said Mr. Saraki committed the offence, and maintained a foreign account, when he was governor of Kwara State.

The senate president said the charges were politically motivated, and challenged the powers and composition of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to hear the case.

REVEREND MBAKA: PRIEST, POLITICIAN OR RENEGADE BY REUBEN ABATI.

Catholic priests in Nigeria have always captured the public imagination. Some of them have served in government positions, some were prominent in the fight and struggle for democracy, some of them have proved their mettle as poets, teachers, musicians, social critics, and public affairs commentators, but Rev. Fr. Ejike Camillus Anthony Ebenezer Mbaka is a cut above the rest, not necessarily in terms of intellect or persona, but in terms of how he has been able to use the pulpit to acquire a rock star status.

It is therefore not surprising that everything about him is with a touch of the histrionic.  This is exactly what happened when he was transferred, last week, from a parish where he had served for 20 years: from Christ the King Parish, GRA Enugu, to Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Umuchigbo, Njinike,  Enugu.  Characteristically, this radical priest and social activist turned what should be a routine administrative posting by his Bishop into a melodrama and an assault on the authority of the Church.  You would think he had been sentenced to a jail term, the way he whined and wept and appealed to sympathy.

(GRAPHIC) SEVEN-MONTHS OLD BABY MURDERED WITH HIS PARENTS IN MEXICO'S GANGSTER VIOLENCE.

Horrific photos showing the bodies of a seven-month-old boy and his parents slaughtered in Oaxaca, Mexico, have sparked fierce debate about the country's rampant gang violence and society's acceptance of it.

They also likened the slain boy to Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian toddler whose photo made front pages the world over after his drowned body washed up on a Turkish beach.

The Mexican baby, identified as Marcos Miguel Pano Colón, was being carried by his 24-year-old father, Juan Alberto Pano Ramos, and accompanied by his 17-year-old mother, Alba Isabel Colón, when their attackers opened fire on the trio in the city of Pinotepa Nacional on Friday evening. All three died on the spot.

JORDANIAN REFUGEE CAMP WHICH OPENED TO 100 FAMILIES IS NOW HOME TO 80,000 SYRIANS.

The King of Jordan has warned his country is at 'boiling point' because of the number of Syrian refugees and told the West to help before the 'dam bursts'.           

Jordan is hosting more than 600,000 of the 4.6million Syrians who have registered with the UN as refugees since the civil war broke out in the country five years ago.

But the Jordanian government says there are another one million unregistered Syrians living in the country, which has a population of 9.5million, and fear more will arrive due to the estimated 13.5million vulnerable and displaced people who remain in Syria.      

22-YR-OLD MAN SURRENDERS TO POLICE 6 MONTHS AFTER KILLING COUSIN FOR SLEEPING WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND.

Just like Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s play of same name, murdered sleep and could no longer sleep, 22-year-old Ndifreke Joseph Clement, disturbed by sleepless nights and traumatic experiences after murdering his 23-year-old cousin, Ubong Edet, surrendered himself to police six months after the crime.

Clement, a native of Akon Itam, Itu Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, who handed himself over to police at Ikot Akpan Abia, Uyo, said he slashed his cousin’s throat after beating him to coma because Edet slept with his girlfriend in August 2015.

He told Vanguard: “I cannot remember the exact date now, but it occurred in a night in August 2015 in the one room apartment we shared. On that day, I returned from work to meet the door locked.

#DASUKIGATE - THISDAY PUBLISHER NDUKA OBAIGBENA RETURNS N350M TO EFCC.

There were indications that the Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, has returned the sum of N350m to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

A top operative of the commission, who confided in a correspondent on Wednesday, said Obaigbena returned the money to the commission on Tuesday. The operative said Obaigbena was expected to pay an outstanding N200m next week.

The Special Task Force of the EFCC, investigating the issue of arms procurement under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, had quizzed Obaigbena on January 29, 2016 for allegedly receiving N670m from the immediate past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS JUDGEMENT, AFFIRMS IKPEAZU AND UDOM GOVERNORS OF ABIA AND AKWA IBOM.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the elections of Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

A seven-man bench, presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, unanimously affirmed the governors’ elections after upholding their separate appeals against the judgments of the Court of Appeal, which had ordered their removal from office.

The decisions of the Supreme Court put paid to the legal actions initiated against Emmanuel and Ikpeazu, who contested the elections on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party on April 11, 2015, by their arch rivals.

COURT ORDERS ARREST OF FORMER PDP SECRETARY TEMITOPE ALUKO FOR PERJURY.

A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti has ordered the state Commissioner of Police, Etop James, to arrest and prosecute a former State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Temitope Aluko, for alleged perjury.

Chief Magistrate Adesoji Adegboye granted the order following a motion ex parte moved by the state Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Gbenga Adaramola.

But the Ekiti State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, said the command was ‘not aware of any warrant of arrest’.

THE ECONOMIST CALLS FORMER PRESIDENT JONATHAN AN INEFFECTUAL BUFFOON IN LATEST ARTICLE TITLED CRUDE TACTICS.

More than 30 years ago, a young general swept to power in the fifth of Nigeria’s military coups since independence in 1960. The country he inherited was a mess: bled dry by pilfering politicians within and hammered by falling oil prices without. Last year that general, Muhammadu Buhari, became president again—this time in a democratic vote. The problems he has inherited are almost identical. So are many of his responses.

In the eight months since Mr Buhari arrived at Aso Rock, the presidential digs, the homicidal jihadists of Boko Haram have been pushed back into the bush along Nigeria’s borders. The government has cracked down on corruption, which had flourished under the previous president, Goodluck Jonathan, an ineffectual buffoon who let politicians and their cronies fill their pockets with impunity. Lai Mohammed, a minister, reckons that just 55 people stole $6.8 billion from the public purse over seven recent years.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS ELECTION OF GOVERNOR NYESOM WIKE OF RIVERS STATE.

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Nyesom Wike as the Governor of Rivers State.

The reason for the judgement is to be listed on February 12.

Giving the ruling on Wednesday, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, set aside the judgement of the Appeal Court which nullified the election of Governor Wike.

50 MOST VIOLENT CITIES IN THE WORLD, WITH 21 OF THEM IN BRAZIL WHILE 4 ARE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The 50 most dangerous cities in the world have been named and shamed, and an astonishing 21 of them are in Brazil.

Latin America features highly in the ranking, released by Mexico’s Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, as it is home to some 41 of the cities listed.

Drug trafficking, gang wars, political instability, corruption and poverty are to blame for the high homicide rates across the region, which has just 8 per cent of the world’s population, according to UN data.

ROB KARDASHIAN MOVES IN WITH BLAC CHYNA.

Rob Kardashian packed a suitcase and moved in with Blac Chyna ... at least temporarily ... TMZ has learned.

Rob, who was living at Khloe's house, has been at B.C.'s digs for 5 days and counting. As for how it happened ... we're told Rob made the first move by DM'ing Chyna 2 weeks ago.

We're told Rob genuinely likes Chyna and is not hooking up to upset his family ... but we're told it has definitely upset the Kardashian brood. Kylie has been at war with Tyga's baby mama for more than a year.