THE DANGEROUS EMERGING MONOPOLY IN THE TELECOMS SECTOR.

In business, it is said that big things often start small. In nature, science has proven that mega things commence almost unnoticed. What with the torrential rainfall starting with vapour? For major things, it is a matter of little drops of water making a mighty ocean. This gives strategy its pride of place in business.

Foresight, belief, courage and willingness to take risks characterise those who venture. In today’s world, success stories are made of people who rely on these traits to explore nature, markets, terrains or territories where others often have reason to doubt or stay away.

They, in part, confer the early mover advantage on businesses, together with the numerous benefits that come with it. The story of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria illustrates this. With the auctioning of GSM licences in 2001, Nigerians felt liberated from the shackles of the then state-run monopoly, NITEL.

MILITARY BEGINS COURT MARTIAL OF GENERAL BLAMED FOR THE LOSS OF BAGA TO BOKO HARAM.

BRIGADIER GENERAL ENITAN RANSOME-KUTI

The Nigerian military on Monday commenced the court martial of a Brigadier General, Enitan Ransome-Kuti, and four other senior officers, blamed for the loss of Baga in Borno State, to Boko Haram insurgents in January.

Ransome-Kuti, his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel G.A. Suru, and some other senior officers, were arrested for failing to repel Boko Haram attack on the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Baga.

Also arrested were the Commanding Officers of the 134 and 174 Battalions — Lieutenant Colonel Haruna and Major Aliyu. The two battalions are under the MNJTF. Ransome-Kuti was the commander of the multinational force during the attack.

SENATE PRESIDENCY SEAT - APC MUST AVOID PITFALL.

The eighth Senate will be inaugurated by June 4, 2015 and all eyes are already on the hallowed chamber regarding who will emerge the number one Senator in the country under the new dispensation. Right from 1999 when, against all odds the late Senator Evan Enwerem emerged the Senate president to other Senate presidents that emerged after him like late Senator Chuba Okadigbo (1999 -2000), Anyim Pius Anyim (2000-2003), Adolphus Wabara (2003-2005), Ken Nnamani (2005-2007), and current President, David Mark, the process leading to their emergence has always been that of suspense and surprise, filled with extensive political lobbying and intrigues.

Of all the Senate presidents that have emerged since 1999, only the incumbent Senator David Mark representing Benue South has been able to evade the popular ‘banana peel’ that successfully brought down about three Senate Presidents between 1999 and 2007. Since 2007 when Mark emerged, the banana peel seems to have been swept away and so far he remains the longest serving Senate president in the nation’s history.

However, the recent development in the political arena, especially the result of 2015 election in the country has changed the setting with All Progressive Congress winning 60 out of the 109 senatorial seats across the country, leaving People Democratic Party with 49.

PRAISE SINGERS MISLED PRESIDENT JONATHAN - SAYS PDP CHAIRMAN ADAMU MUAZU.

The blame game among top Peoples Democratic Party members continued on Tuesday with the PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, saying praise singers and insincere people misled President Goodluck Jonathan during the electioneering period.

Mu’azu, who is under pressure from some members of the party to resign for not doing enough to boost   Jonathan’s chances during electioneering, took to his Twitter handle on Tuesday to defend himself and other members of the party’s National Working Committee.

Insisting that he would not resign, he said those that were praise-singing and insincerely advising” the President during the campaign period were responsible for the PDP defeat in the March 28 election.

EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR HITS BACK AT HIS FAMILY VIA FACEBOOK POST.

Emmanuel Adebayor has taken to Facebook to refute claims suggesting he had turned his back on his family by outlining everything he has done for his relatives.

The 31-year-old Premier League striker, who played down reports suggesting he kicked his mother out of his house back in November, has listed all of the items he has bought his close family relatives during his time as a professional footballer.

Adebayor insists he has decided to alert the public of his argument with his family in order to ensure 'other African families learn from this'.

READ HIS FULL STATEMENT AFTER THE CUT.....

(GRAPHIC) POLICEMAN KILLS HIMSELF, A SENIOR COLLEAGUE AND A RECHARGE CARD SELLER THEY FOUGHT OVER.

According to eyewitnesses, this incident happened at Karu town near CBN quarters in Abuja on Thursday April 30th. The police corporal who had been dating the recharge card seller, went to see her on that fateful day and met her in company of another police officer who he immediately accused of sleeping with his girlfriend. 

The accusation was said to have made his senior colleague angry who then ordered him to leave the place or he will be dealt with. This was said to have enraged the police corporal who threatened to himself, the girl and the senior officer so that none of them will have the girl. True to his threat, he corked his gun and shot the girl first, then the police officer and then shot himself in the head. 

Graphic pic from the scene after the cut...

TORTURE OF PEPPER SELLERS IN EJIGBO - COURT REMANDS 10 IN PRISON.

Hope you remember this pathetic story about Ejigbo Pepper Sodomy. Read HERE1 & HERE2.

An Ikeja High Court, Tuesday, remanded in prison custody nine men and one woman charged in connection with the Ejigbo Pepper Sodomy. The 10 were brought to court over the torture, attempted murder and sodomy of three females accused of stealing pepper at Oba Morufu International Market in Ejigbo area of Lagos State.

The defendants are Isiaka Waidi, 61; Saheed Adisa, 29; Lateef Tijani, 37; Ahmed Adisa, 65; Azeez Akinosun, 36; Jimoh Busari, 50; Adekunle Adenuga, 38; Oloruntoyin Dauda, 46; Buhari Yusuf, 22; and Abdullahi Haruna, 20.

JUST BEFORE PROFESSOR JEGA RETIRES ...............

If Prof. Attahiru Jega is looking forward to a restful retirement after such a herculean national duty, he must address his mind to the serious issues that came out of Akwa Ibom and Rivers State after the general elections.

From newspaper editorials, TV debates, social media discussions, commentaries and opinion articles, the overall performance of the INEC Chairman in the conduct of the general elections is being blighted by the commission’s handling of the post-poll complaints in the two states.

Since democracy is all about expression of the will of the people at all times and locations, the success of the elections in other parts of the country cannot make up for the debacle in Akwa Ibom and Rivers State.

WE PAID THE KIDNAPPERS N2.5MILLION. -#OREKOYA3

 

Contrary to earlier claims that the Orekoya family paid the kidnappers who abducted their three kids the sum of N13 million, the family actually paid N2.5 million.

Mrs. Adebisi Orekoya, had over the weekend, revealed that the family parted with N2.5 million as against the initial N15 million demanded by the kidnappers as ransom.

Speaking to a group of working mothers in Lagos at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Conference and Exhibition Centre, Alausa, Orekoya had taken time to recount their ordeal before they were reunited with their kids.

She made this disclosure at a national awareness and sensitisation seminar against child kidnapping in Nigeria.

RESCUED WOMEN NARRATE ORDEAL IN BOKO HARAM'S CAPTIVITY.

Boko Haram fighters killed older boys and men in front of their families before taking women and children into the forest where many died of hunger and disease, freed captives told Reuters on Sunday after they were brought to a refugee camp in Yola, Adamawa State.

The Nigerian army rescued hundreds of women and children last week from the Islamist fighters in Sambisa Forest in a major operation that has turned international attention to the plight of hostages.

After days on the road in pickup trucks, hundreds were released on Sunday into the care of authorities at a refugee camp in Yola, to be fed and treated for injuries. They spoke to reporters for the first time.

BODE GEORGE DESTROYED PDP IN THE SOUTH WEST - PDP SECRETARY.

There appears to be no end to the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party as its National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo, on Sunday accused the South-West leaders of the PDP of sowing a seed of discord in the party.

Oladipo, who was reacting to a call on Friday by the South-West leaders on the members of the PDP National Working Committee   to resign their positions, said it was unfortunate that they ( the South-West leaders) who should know better had   resorted to divisive politics.

The leaders had   in a statement after their meeting in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti hinged their call for   the resignation of the NWC members, including the National Chairman of the PDP, on the party’s poor performance in the just concluded general elections.

WHO IS AFRAID OF TINUBU'S WAR CHEST???????????????

Who is afraid of Tinubu’s  ‘war chest, vast network and very effective political structures?’ These are valuable outstanding points that the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has used to achieve results that are being widely applauded today. 

slimy terrain of politics, it is possible that insiders can paradoxically play oppositional roles, and the media can be used to carry out a programme to discredit a power player of distinction such as Tinubu. Could this be the case in the developing drama of Tinubu denigration? Whether the stones are being thrown from within his camp or from outside his circle, it is futile because the individual they seek to bring down is up and standing like the Rock of Gibraltar.

WHY JONATHAN'S MEN ARE FIGHTING WITH PDP CHAIRMAN, ADAMU MUAZU.

The crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP deepened at the weekend just as reasons stoking the conflict that has pitched President Goodluck Jonathan and his aides against the National Working Committee, NWC of the party began to unfold. At the heart of the crisis, Vanguard learnt is the struggle for the soul of the party ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

Vanguard sources gathered that associates of President Jonathan are determined to shove away the Adamu Mu‘azu-led NWC in favour of a more pliable executive for the purpose of ensuring the return of President Jonathan as presidential candidate or in the alternative a candidate of their choice in 2019.

The NWC, Vanguard learnt was, however, looking beyond Jonathan with their eyes fixed on the Northeast for the 2019 presidential candidate with a leading chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC from that region in their sights.

214 RESCUED GIRLS FROM THE JAWS OF BOKO HARAM ARE PREGNANT.

The latest rescue of additional 234 women and children by the Nigerian Army from the Sambisa Forest in Borno State, indicated, yesterday, that a sizeable number of the rescued girls were visibly pregnant, even as unofficial reports put the latest number of pregnant girls in one of the camps in Borno as at last Saturday at 214.

Giving this indication in Lagos, Executive Director, UNFPA, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, also disclosed that in the last one year, the organization had taken deliveries of over 16,000 pregnancies in the troubled North East part of the country.

Osotimehin, while giving update of the response to the rehabilitation of the rescued women and children,  said the organization, in anticipation of the magnitude of the problem on hand, had put in place a formidable team in collaboration with the Federal and state governments, to first restore the dignity of the girls, who, he said, are facing severe psychosocial trauma.

I AM GRIEVED BY JONATHAN'S DEFEAT. - IFEANYI UBAH.

National Coordinator of Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah in this interview barres  his mind on the outcome of the 2015 general elections among other issues. It was reported that he recently wept publicly because of Jonathan's defeat.

To what extent was TAN significant during the electioneering period?

We are happy about the  impact we have made in the polity. I believe that within a  very short period of time we will be able to make our mark on the political landscape. We were able to draw attention to the activities of government as well as mobilise the grassroots for a more robust political engagement.

Our activities generated incisive discussions regarding the choice of candidates and also added colour and substance to the political space. The best outcome is the inputs of associations like TAN other than political parties in enlarging the political space.

POLICEMAN ARRESTED FOR RAPING 7-YR OLD MINOR IN KANO. #SAYNOTORAPE.

The Police in Kano State have arrested a serving policeman, Cpl. Sani Salisu, for allegedly raping a minor. This is contained in a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Magaji Majiya, in Kano on Friday.

“The command wishes to inform the public that, in its effort to flush out the bad eggs from the force, it has arrested a serving member of the force, Cpl. Sani Salisu.

“He was arrested for luring and taking advantage of a seven-year-old girl inside a kiosk located at Mangoron Mahauta Brigade quarters, Kano,” it said.

THE EKITI CRISIS CONTINUES AS APC LAWMAKERS SHUN MEETING ORAGANISED BY CHIEF AFE BABALOLA (SAN).

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly on Thursday shunned the peace meeting convened by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to reconcile them with Governor Ayodele Fayose.

The lawmakers in a statement by Speaker Adewale Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, explained that while they appreciated the peace moves initiated by the eminent lawyer, surrounding circumstances gave away the governor as not prepared for any resolution of the crisis.

Specifically, the lawmakers said the security measures put in place for the peace parley revealed that the governor had a plan to attack and arrest some of them.

NO LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL AS POWER GENERATION DROPS TO 2800MW. (DARKNESS CONTINUES).

Nigeria’s total electricity generation has dropped to a meagre 2,800 Megawatts, the lowest in nearly a year, as Nigerians struggle with mini-heat waves due to rising temperature.

The Ministry of Power said Thursday that power output dropped from a recent peak of 4,500MW on April 3, to 2,800 as of March 30.

Godknows Igali, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry blamed the huge cut on “vandalism of gas pipelines”.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN FAULTS CREDIBILITY OF THE ELECTIONS THAT SACKED HIM FROM ASO ROCK.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday picked holes in the results of the March 28 presidential election, saying “the Peoples Democratic Party couldn’t have got those kinds of scores” it had in some places.

Jonathan, who spoke shortly after receiving the report of the Senator Ahmadu Ali-led PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, however, believed that since the general elections were over, the country must be allowed to move forward.

He added that apart from himself that quickly conceded defeat to the All Progressives Congress candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, many PDP members also made sacrifices because they were persecuted in the course of electioneering.

JONATHAN & HIS TEAM ARE PLANNING TO SABOTAGE A SMOOTH HANDOVER - APC CRIES OUT.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday accused the out-going President Goodluck Jonathan administration of plotting to hinder a smooth handover of power to the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) on May 29. President Goodluck Jonathan had, on Wednesday, accused the APC of acting like a parallel government and trying to stampede his administraton out of office by making impossible demands in the terms of reference of the President-elect’s transition committee.

Briefing newsmen after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Suleiman, a member of Jonathan’s transition committee, said the council frowned at the terms of reference of the in-coming government and warned that the President’s magnanimity should not be construed as cowardice. He said the council agreed that Dr Goodluck Jonathan remains the President of the country until May 29 and the in-coming government should avoid creating a parallel government.