THE SHAME IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. Cc: @NGRSENATE

After months of procrastination, the Senate and the House of Representatives have finally constituted their committees. The setting up of the committees is the signal of the readiness of the National Assembly to settle down for business.

This is because the committee system is the engine room of the legislature – the platform upon which the business of lawmaking and legislative oversight are accomplished.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, who announced the constitution of the Senate committees penultimate Wednesday named 65 committees, nine more than the 56 committees of the preceding Senate.

PRESIDENT BUHARI AND THE BIAFRA PROTEST.

Let me say it, once again: I do not support the hysteria for Biafra. I am not sure Nnamdi Kanu fully understands the subject well enough to give us a picture of what to expect if wishes were horses and beggars could ride. But as an Igbo man I fully share the sentiments that are driving the protests.

The difference between these young people and me is that while they have surrendered to the heat of emotion and are being propelled by it, those of us who are more experienced and schooled in Nigerian affairs (part of which is the Biafra sub-plot) know that when faced with tough challenges, sentiment can never produce positive results.

This has been the approach of the Igbo elite since 1994, a period of our post-war history when the military had made the Igbo totally inconsequential in Nigerian politics. In the June 12, 1993 presidential election based on the military-decreed two party system, the Igbos were reduced to mere spectators in the fight between the North and the West for power.

SPEAK WITH DECORUM, GOVERNOR MIMIKO ADVICES LAI MOHAMMED.

The governor of Ondo state and Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has advised the former Spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, APC and minister of information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to be more cautious, words-selective and fact-oriented before speaking for the presidency.

“As a former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I want to believe there is an urgent need for me to assist in reorientation and exercise of Presidential familiarization for our Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to know that he now works with the Presidency and should adapt to presidential breeze and ethics and learn how to address issues of public interest without unleashing terror and verbal war on personalities in oppositions like when he does as the Spokesperson to the All Progressive Congress, APC,”  Mimiko charged.

NINE SOLDIERS ARRESTED FOR TAKING THE BRT LANE HAVE PAID FINES. Cc: @RabeAbubakarDDI @DefenceInfoNG.

Nine soldiers who plied the lane designated for the Bus Rapid Transit in Lagos State on Tuesday have paid fines to the state government.

It was reported that some soldiers, including one Major Dickson Okpor and one Lt.Col L.A. Bello, allegedly led scores of soldiers to assault officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority who had accosted them for plying the BRT lane on the Onipanu end of Ikorodu Road.

It was reported that after the soldiers left, the General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Bashir Braimoh, came to the spot where he personally enforced the traffic law.

N333BN ARMS SCANDAL - SECURITY AGENCIES TO INTERROGATE BADEH AND OTHER EX-SECURITY CHIEFS.

There were indications on Wednesday that security agencies, including the police, were concluding arrangements to invite some former service chiefs, who were said to have been indicted by a committee, set up by President Muhammdu Buhari to probe arms procurement during the last administration.

Investigations showed that indicted service chiefs would be charged, while those who were not affected by the probe panel’s report might serve as witnesses during the trial of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki(retd.), and others said to be the masterminds of the alleged scam.

It was learnt that those, who might be invited, include ex-naval chiefs, Vice-Admiral Dele Ezeoba, (2010-2013), and Vice Admiral Usman Jubril (2014-2015).

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES THE COMPULSORY RETIREMENT OF JUSTICE AKANBI OVER JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the compulsory retirement of Justice Lambo Akanbi of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court for misconduct.

The acting Director of Information, National Judicial Council, Mr. Soji Oye, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, said the compulsory retirement took immediate effect.

Oye said the NJC had at its 74th meeting held on November 4 and 5, 2015 recommended Justice Akanbi to President Buhari for compulsory retirement following various allegations levelled against him by Shell Petroleum Company Nigeria Limited.

I AM NOT A THIEF AND NOT AFRAID TO FACE TRIAL TO TELL NIGERIANS EVERYTHING - SAMBO DASUKI.

The immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, has said he is not a thief as being speculated by President Muhammdu Buhari and his aides.

The former NSA also accused Mr. Buhari of being desperate to hang some former public and military officers who risked their lives to serve the country.

In a statement Wednesday, Mr. Dasuki, a retired colonel, described the way the Presidency was feeding the public with allegations against his person and other yet-to-be-named public officers as "theatrical."

TWIN EXPLOSION ROCKS KANO GSM MARKET, MANY FEARED DEAD.

Two explosions, believed to be from improvised explosive devices, have gone off in Kano. The explosions went off at Kano GSM market around farm centre,” 

Details of the incident are still sketchy, our correspondent says. “Many people are however feared dead, and several others injured,” a reporter said.

A witness said the first explosion occurred at the market entrance while the second device exploded near a pavilion in the centre of the market.

KOGI ELECTIONS - IGP RELOCATES DG OPERATIONS TO LOKOJA.

With barely 48 hours to the governorship elections in Kogi State, Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase has assured Nigerian citizens, especially indigenes of Kogi State, of the readiness of the Nigeria Police Force and other relevant security agencies to provide effective security and ensure a smooth and orderly conduct of the election slated for November 21, 2015.

A statement signed by Force Public Relations Officer, Acting ACP Olabisi Kolawole said “The IGP gave this assurance while addressing Stakeholders and Police officers and men on Tuesday in Lokoja.

At the parley, the IGP warned all trouble-makers and anti-social elements to stay away from Kogi State throughout the period of the election as the Police will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute any person, no matter how highly placed in society, who flouts the law or causes a breach of the peace.

PARIS ATTACK UPDATE - FEMALE JIHADIST BLOWS HERSELF UP AS FRENCH OFFICERS LAY SIEGE.

A female terrorist wearing a suicide vest has blown herself up and another jihadi is dead as more than 100 police and soldiers were today involved in a gunfight with up to six suspected Paris terrorists including the mastermind behind Friday's massacres.

A bloodied and half naked suspect was seen dragged out of a building through broken glass as SWAT teams and special forces surrounded an apartment in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis - close to the Stade de France - in a siege that started at 4.30am this morning.

French media are reporting the architect of the plan that killed 129 people, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, is alive and inside the flat - until now it was thought he was in Syria orchestrating the Paris attacks from ISIS capital Raqqa.

SENATE ORDERS JAMB TO EXTEND RESULT VALIDITY TO 3 YEARS.

The Senate, yesterday, directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to begin to extend the validity of its results to a period of three years.

This was even as it ordered the board to immediately stop its policy of re-assigning candidates to schools they never applied to, saying such policy was contrary to the act establishing the board.

To this end, results obtained from the board by candidates seeking admission into universities are expected to last for three years.

RUSSIA CONFIRMS METROJET AIRLINER WAS BROUGHT DOWN BY A BOMB.

The Russian intelligence service says that a Metrojet airliner that went down over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula in October was brought down by a bomb.

The Russian Security Service said on Tuesday that traces of explosives were found among the debris, after weeks of speculation about what had caused the crash.

The state-owned Sputnik News website quoted the FSB’s chief Alexander Bortnikov as saying the plane had “definitely” been downed intentionally.

HOW SAMBO DASUKI DIVERTED SEVERAL BILLIONS OF NAIRA AIMED AT PURCHASING ARMS FOR MILITARY.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday received the interim report of the 13-man committee set up by the Office of the National Security Adviser to audit the procurement of arms and equipment in the Armed Forces and Defence sector from 2007 to date with a directive that all indicted persons be arrested and brought to book.

According to a statement on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the National Security Adviser during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), was among those indicted in the report.

Among other weighty allegations by the committee, the ex-NSA awarded failed contracts totalling N482bn.

EXPLOSION ROCKS MOTOR PARK IN YOLA, ADAMAWA STATE.

An explosion suspected to be from an improvised Explosive Device, IED, has just occurred at a Motor Park in Yola, Adamawa State.

A witness, Mohammed Danasabe, said that the explosion was so loud it could be heard all over the city.

He said many people were killed, but could not give a figure.

(HIGHLIGHTS) Nigeria 2 Swaziland 0. #NGASWA. Moses Simon shines as Nigeria beats Swaziland.

NIG 2 SWA 0.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria on Tuesday kept their hope of a place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup alive by defeating Swaziland 2-0 in Port Harcourt.

It was the second leg of the knock out duel between the two countries, after the first leg had ended in a goalless draw in Swaziland on Friday.

The Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, made three changes to the team that drew 0-0 in Swaziland. Sunshine stars’ Paul Onobi replaced Mikel Obi; Sharks’ Chima Akas came in for Elderson Echiejile and Austin Oboroakpo from Abia Warriors replaced Godfrey Oboabona.

FUEL SCARCITY LOOMS AS NNPC MAJOR DEPOT RUNS DRY.

In what seems a baptism of fire for President Muhammadu Buhari in his first week as Minister of Petroleum Resources, pockets of queues in filling stations in some major cities across the country appear to have stretched as the fuel scarcity worsened on Friday.

In spite of assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, industry operators remain sceptical that these were ominous signs the country may be heading for a big mess in the run up to the coming yuletide season.

The operators’ scepticism is fuelled by reports that stock of petroleum products at NNPC facilities across the country was grossly insufficient, with supply from local refineries incapable of supporting imports.

PARIS ATTACK MARKS A MAJOR SHIFT IN ISIL - AL QAEDA RELATIONS.

At least 128 people have been killed in a series of coordinated terror attacks in Paris carried out by ISIL extremists. Francois Hollande, the French president, has called the attacks an “act of war”.

An event of this magnitude undoubtedly took months of planning. This is a far cry from the “lone-wolf” attacks in the West previously attributed to ISIL. The extremist group is thus firmly in the global mass murder business. It is striking not only at regional “enemies” such as Saudi Arabia or Hizbollah-related targets in Lebanon, but now also at the West.

ISIL would have preferred to defer this. Unlike Al Qaeda and other “salafist-jihadist” fanatics, ISIL prioritised seizing and controlling territory, and building its organisational capacity, “state” and “caliphate”.

WE ARE NOT SURE NNAMDI KANU IS ALIVE, HIS PARENTS LAMENT.

Parents of detained promoter of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu have urged the Federal Government to order the release their son from detention.

His father, the monarch of Isiama Afaraukwu in Umuahia North Council Area of Abia State said he was surprised at the prolonged detention of his son.

Addressing journalists at his Ome Udo Palace, Eze Israel Kanu, flanked by his wife, Ugoeze Nnenne Kanu, said that they were worried at the ordeal their first son has been passing through.

HORROR IN PARIS AS TERRORIST KILL NOT LESS THAN 120 PEOPLE.

Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday, killing at least 120 people in a deadly rampage that a shaken President Francois Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack.

A Paris city hall official said four gunmen systematically slaughtered at least 87 young people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Anti-terrorist commandos eventually launched an assault on the building. The gunmen detonated explosive belts and dozens of shocked survivors were rescued.

Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, the city hall official said, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the national stadium, where Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a friendly soccer international. Some 200 people were injured.

SUPER MINISTERS AND OTHER STORIES BY REUBEN ABATI.

“Have you congratulated our new Ministers?”

“I am still thinking about it, actually. I don’t know whether to congratulate them or to commiserate or to pity some of them. They have merged Ministries that need not be merged. Some Permanent Secretaries are now floating. Six months and this is it?”

“What kind of talk is that? You have come again oh.”