DIVIDED OPINIONS OVER NEW SERVICE CHIEFS & NSA.

In a sweeping shakeup of the nation’s security sector, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the appointment of new service chiefs and a National Security Adviser.

The appointments of the new service chiefs were contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.

Adesina later told one of our correspondents that the appointment of new service chiefs was part of the government’s strategies to crush the Boko Haram insurgency.

IF WE DON'T KILL NNPC, NNPC WILL KILL US. - GOV EL-RUFAI.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, yesterday, called for the scrapping of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, saying the corporation has over the years constituted itself as a parallel government.

Speaking at this year’s Wole Soyinka Media Lecture series to mark the 81st birthday of Professor Wole Soyinka, in Abuja, yesterday, el-Rufai also advocated privatisation of the nation’s four refineries  and the removal of fuel subsidy by the Buhari administration.

According to el-Rufai, with the ‘death’ of NNPC, it would allow for the coming on board of a brand new company that would be commercialised and capitalized, adding that the action has become imperative against the back drop that NNPC has over the years constituted itself as a parallel government, a country on its own, with Nigeria another country different from the corporation.

OKONJO IWEALA RELEASED $1BN FG FUNDS FOR JONATHAN'S RE-ELECTION - GOV ADAMS OSHIOMOLE.

The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has accused the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of tampering with $1bn from the Federation Account, which he claimed was used “for election purposes.”

Oshiomhole, who disclosed this on Monday at a seminar organised by the state government for permanent secretaries, directors and deputy directors on enhancing internally generated revenue in the state, challenged the former minister to tell Nigerians how the Excess Crude Account was drawn down to $4.1bn from the peak of $10bn, when no approval was given by the National Economic Council for any withdrawals.

He also called for a forensic audit to determine the true amount which he said was illegally spent from the Federation Account under her watch as a minister.

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPOINTS NEW SERVICE CHIEFS, MONGUNO IS THE NEW NSA.

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday appointed Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd) as National Security Adviser. Monguno replaced Col. Sambo Dakusi (rtd).

Buhari also appointed new service chiefs, according to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.

The new service chiefs are Major-General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General T.Y. Buratai, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, Chief of Naval Staff; Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Chief of Air Staff and Air Vice Marshal Monday Riku Morgan, Chief of Defence Intelligence.

PRESIDENT BUHARI SACKS SERVICE CHIEFS & NSA.

President Muhammadu Buhari  has sacked  the National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, (retd) and other service chiefs.

They are;  Alex Badeh, Chief of Defence staff; Usman Jibrin, Chief of Naval Staff, Kenneth Minimah, Chief of Army Staff and Adesola Amosu, Chief of Air Staff.

New service chiefs are set to be announced soon.

WICKED FATHER BATTERS 12-YR-OLD GIRL WITH BARBED WIRE WHILE TRYING TO SAVE HER MUM FROM HIS WRATH.

Operatives of Vigilante Group of Nigeria, VGN, Ebutte Metta chapter, have rescued a 12-year-old girl (names withheld), who was battered by her father in Lagos.

It was gathered that the victim was found in critical condition at Oyingbo market, Ebute- Metta, following beatings she allegedly received from her father.

A close family source said: “The victim, a Junior Secondary School, JSS, 1 student with the Canal Secondary School, Orile, Lagos State, would have died from the wound she sustained after her father flogged her with barbed wire, but for the intervention of vigilante members, who found her writhing in pains in the dead of the night.”

I AM NOT CAGED - PRESIDENT BUHARI REPLIES COL. NYIAM.

President Muhammadu Buhari declared, yesterday, that he was not caged by any group or individuals and that he was in firm control of the presidency and the country.

The President was reacting to assertion by Col. Tony Nyiam (rtd), who in an exclusive interview with a national daily yesterday stated that President Buhari was caged by some powerful forces around him who now dictate and determine most decisions of the President, especially in the areas of political appointments.

Nyiam was quoted as saying that some of the appointments of the president were lopsided.

BETWEEN TAMBUWAL & GBAJABIAMILA.

It does not take a genius to know why the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in crisis. From the look of things, the situation may not change within the foreseeable future. If care is not taken, APC may not rule for more than one term of office, at least not in the current format. It may have to undergo drastic metamorphoses before it can become a political party with the capacity to whip its adherents into line and keep them obedient.

The APC may thus end up being the ruling party with the shortest stint, compared to the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), which ruled from October 1960 to January 1966; the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) which ruled from October 1979 to December 1983 and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which reigned from May 1999 to May 2015. The reason for the new ruling party’s woes is that, unlike the defunct NPC, NPN and the defeated PDP, it does not REALLY have a leadership.

WOMAN CUTS NEIGHBOUR'S THROAT DURING ARGUEMENT.

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a woman, Helen Okeke, who allegedly killed her neighbour, identified only as Rose, in the Ikota, Ajah area of the state.

It was learnt that Okeke slit Rose’s throat after the duo reportedly had an argument over who poured urine on the latter’s clothes that were spread on the entrance door to her room.

The incident occurred at about 5pm last Wednesday in the Ikota Housing Estate, Ikota Second Gate area.

MURDER OF EX VC OF FUTA - TRAGIC DRAMA OF HOW NOT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE.

‘We are pained that those our father employed to protect and take care of him…later ganged-up to kill him just because of his car which they could have taken and spared the old man.

These were the words of Adeseni, the third child of the former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA,  Prof. Albert Ilemobade, uttered in anguish while reacting to the gruesome murder of his 78-year-old father by his two domestic staff- the security guard, Daniel Ita, a security guard and Olayemi Bamitale, his former driver.

Adeseni who interrogated the killers of his father at the police station, wondered at the motive of their dastardly action despite all that the family had done for them.

HOW SEVERAL WORSHIPERS MISSED DEATH BY WHISKERS IN JOS.

But for the alertness of a private security guard, hundreds of people would have been killed in the Sunday morning multiple blasts that rocked the Evangelical Church Winning All in Angwan Yanshi of Tudun Wada area of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The incident came as multiple acts of terror were also recorded around Maiduguri Saturday night.

A bomber detonated his explosives in a bus at a Maiduguri motor park, killing four people including himself. Other blasts targeted the Maiduguri office of the Department of State Security Service. The insurgents were also said to have mounted roadblocks around Damagum and set many vehicles ablaze.

SERENA WILLIAMS WINS 2015 WIMBLEDON OPEN.

Last year at Wimbledon after exiting to Alize Cornet, Serena Williams declared: "I know I can do better." On Saturday at the All England Club came the exclamation point to her turnaround.

Williams defeated promising Spaniard Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-4 in southwest London to complete the "Serena Slam" -- winning four straight majors -- for the second time in her career and is now well on the way to making more history at the season's final grand slam.

"I can't believe I'm standing here with another Serena Slam," Williams, emulating her feat of 2002-2003, told the crowd.

BEFORE APC FALLS APART - DELE MOMODU.

Fellow Nigerians, it is not a hidden fact that I’ve been a great admirer and ubiquitous supporter of the current governing Party in Nigeria, the ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC), from its inception though I belong bodily and spiritually elsewhere in the National Conscience Party. My love for APC was not because I expected its members to be extra-terrestrial beings without foibles and idiosyncrasies but due to the fact that I saw in them the opportunity for possible re-alignment and a veritable platform for an incorruptible leader like General Muhammadu Buhari even if the rest of us are not as perfect. I was also looking forward to the possibility of establishing a new tradition of sacking an underperforming government and banishing the idea that an incumbent leader can never be defeated in Africa. I was under no illusion that any stand-alone Party would achieve this extraordinary feat of terminating the PDP behemoth without the collaboration of other mainstream/mushroom Parties.

50 CENT ORDERED TO PAY $5M TO WOMAN WHOSE LEAKED SEX TAPE WAS ATTRIBUTED TO HIM.

Someone else's sex tape is proving to be costly for 50 Cent: A jury ordered the rapper-actor Friday to pay $5 million to a woman who said he acquired a video she made with her boyfriend, added himself as a crude commentator and posted it online without her permission.

And the Manhattan jurors are set to continue deliberating next week on possible further, punitive damages in Lastonia Leviston's invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the multiplatinum-selling "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" artist.

Attorney William A. Brewer III says 50 Cent and his legal team are "disappointed in the verdict but very appreciative of the service of the jury and the court." Leviston's lawyer, Philip Freidin, declined to comment on the award, first reported by the Daily News of New York.

BOLA TINUBU MAY EMERGE APC BOT CHAIRMAN.

To further placate the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, most forces in the party may have decided to influence his emergence as the chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT of the party, Saturday Vanguard gathered yesterday.

The party is due for the constitution of its BoT on June 20, 2015 following the rectification of the process by the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, last week.

Tinubu who is a big brain behind the formation of APC by the four defunct political parties- Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP, and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA- now known as legacy parties, apparently lost out in the power game when his candidates for the Senate Presidency and the Speakership of the House of Representatives were defeated at the National Assembly leadership election.

15 YR OLD GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE IN ABIA STATE AFTER BEING GANG RAPED BY 3 MEN. #SAYNOTORAPE.

Rage, shock and confusion pervaded Okwoyi village, Isieke community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State as a 15-year-old girl committed suicide after being ganged-raped.

The deceased, Comfort Uche-Ume, a native of Amaeke Abam in Arochukwu LGA of the state, was allegedly raped by three boys; Ndubuisi Wogu, Chinaza Ufomadu, and Francis Onwoboro now on the run.

The deceased was a JSS 3 student of Isieke Community Secondary School and had just finished writing the “Junior WEAC” exam, according to a source.

PRESIDENT BUHARI & VP OSIBANJO SLASH THEIR SALARIES BY 50%.

President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have announced their decision to take only 50 per cent of the salaries approved for them by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Their decision was contained in a statement made available to journalists on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.

The President’s current annual remuneration as approved by RMAFC is put at N14,058,820.00.

With this development, Buhari will be earning N7m per year throughout his four-year tenure.

I AM NOT DATING ASA ASIKA (@AsaAsika) - DJ CUPPY(@cuppymusic) SPEAKS.

Popular disc jockey, DJ Cuppy, who is also the daughter of business mogul, Femi Otedola, has finally cleared the air about her relationship status. In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, the fair skinned damsel said she was not in a relationship because she is facing her music squarely.

“My last relationship ended two years ago. I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing well and in order to achieve a lot with my Cuppy brand, I have to put 101 per cent into it. I don’t have a lover and with my tour coming up, I don’t have time to get into anything serious. Maybe I would find someone around Africa,” she said.

The petite disc jockey who is currently warming up for a tour round eight African countries tagged, Cuppy takes Africa, appointed popular artiste manager, Asa Asika, as her tour manager. With this, people began to raise an eyebrow because the two were once rumoured to be lovers.

21 LAWYERS BAG SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA RANK AS FESTUS KEYAMO WAS OVERLOOKED AGAIN!!!!!!

Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, was once again over-looked by the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee which conferred the rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria on 21 others on Friday.

The successful lawyers include: the National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Muiz Banire; Dr. Oladapo Olanipekun, who is a son of a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun and Emeka Etiaba, a son of a former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Mrs. Virgy Etiaba.

Others conferred with the rank are Director, Legal Services of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Ibrahim Bawa; Edward Ashiekaa; Benson Nwankwo; Joseph Bamigboye; Patrick Okolo; Prof. Maxwell Gidado; Dr. Tahir Mamman; and Dr. Akinpelu Onigbinde.

INSURGENCY HAS WORSENED UNDER BUHARI - IKE EKWEREMANDU (DEP. SENATE PRESIDENT) SPEAKS.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Thursday said the Boko Haram insurgency had worsened under President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ekweremadu said the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration had almost rolled back Boko Haram and its activities in the North-East.

The deputy senate president also expressed the fear the insurgents could also attack Abuja and the southern part of the country soon.