EID-EL-FITR CELEBRATION - FG DECLARES FRIDAY & MONDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAYS.

The Federal Government has declared Friday, July 17 and Monday, July 20 as public holidays to mark this year’s Eid-el-Fitr celebration.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Mr Abubakar Magaji, made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government in a statement, yesterday in Abuja.

The statement, signed by the ministry’s Director of Press, Mr Yusuf Isiaka, called for prayers for the nation as Muslims celebrate successful completion of the holy month of Ramadan.

APC CANNOT CLEAN UP PDP'S 16 YRS MESS IN JUST 30 DAYS.

Crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress, APC following the national assembly leadership election may soon be over as President Mohammadu has again appealed to the leaders of the party to sheath their swords for the sake of the country.

This came as the national leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other Nigerians who accused Buhari’s administration of snail-pacing.

To Tinubu, the 16-years ‎mess of the PDP cannot be automatically cleaned up in 30 days.

‎Both men spoke at the breaking of Ramadan fast at the new Banquet Hall at the Presidential Villa late last night.

DSS INTERROGATES NNPC DIRECTOR 11 TIMES OVER SWAP DEALS .

A director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said that operatives of the Department of State Services have interrogated him 11 different times since May over crude oil swap deals with traders.

“The DSS has been harassing some of us,” the Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals, NNPC, Mr. Ian Udoh, was quoted as telling Reuters.

The investigation by the DSS and anti-graft agencies involves crude oil swap deals and offshore processing agreements in which the corporation gives certain volume of crude oil to traders in exchange for refined products.

READ HOW SULE LAMIDO & HIS SONS REGAINED FREEDOM.

Five days after they were remanded in Prison custody, respite came the way of former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha,  yesterday, as the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja released them on bail.

In a ruling yesterday, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who is sitting as a vacation judge, granted bail to Lamido on self recognizance, noting that he was a former governor.

Justice Kolawole, however, ordered his sons and their alleged accomplice, Wada Abubakar, to deposit N25 million each.

THERE IS NO RIFT BETWEEN ME AND PRESIDENT BUHARI. - BOLA TINUBU.

The National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu has refuted any rift between him and President Muhammadu Buhari.

He also stated that he made no demand on the party over the leadership crisis in the National Assembly

Tinubu spoke with State House Correspondents shortly after breaking fast with President Muhammadu Buhari at new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.

(VIDEO) EXACT MOMENT NOTORIOUS DRUG LORD "EL CHAPO" ESCAPED FROM PRISON.

Mexico's government released a video on Tuesday showing fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman going into his prison cell's shower and bending down behind a short dividing wall before disappearing.

While Guzman paced back and forth several times between the bathroom area and his bed before vanishing, National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said it was common behaviour for prison inmates.

The small hole on the shower floor that Guzman, aged 58, slipped into for his daring escape late on Saturday is not seen in the footage.

See video after the cut........

SULE LAMIDO & HIS 2 SONS CHARGED FOR MONEY LAUNDERING GET BAIL.

A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, granted bail, on self-recognition, to former ‎Gov. Sule Lamido of Jigawa‎ and his two sons charged with money laundering.

Lamido, his sons, Mustapha and Aminu, and one Abubakar Wada, were arraigned on a 24-count charge of laundering N1.35billion belonging to the State when he was governor.

They were initially arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Kano, who remanded them in prison without hearing their application for bail.

FG SHUTS DOWN FREQUENCY OF RADIO BIAFRA.

The federal government on Tuesday hinted that it had successfully shut the signals from Radio Biafra because it had not been licensed to operate in Nigeria.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Dr. Sade Yemi-Esan gave the hint after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of affairs in the ministry at the presidential villa, Abuja.

Yemi-Esan said, at the moment, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and security forces in the country were hunting those behind the radio to arrest them.

JAMB ANNOUNCES CUT-OFF MARKS FOR ADMISSION INTO TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS.

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the cut-off mark for admission into all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

According to the JAMB registrar, Dibu Ojerinde, at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the cut-off for this year  for degree programmes is 180, and 150 for national certificate in education, national diploma and national innovation diplomas.

ASTONISHING DETAILS OF MEXICAN DRUG LORD "EL CHAPO'S" PRISON BREAK.

The full extent of notorious gang leader El Chapo's astonishing escape has been revealed by satellite images of the area surrounding the top security Mexican jail. 

Aerial images of the jail and the surrounding countryside reveal just how complex the escape operation was, as a construction site sprang up over the course of a year just a mile from the Altiplano jail.

Given the sheer size of the operation, questions are being asked as to how no one at the jail reported noticing anything out of the ordinary.

Billionaire cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman began his escape at 8.52pm on Saturday.

I AM NOT BROKE - 50 CENT SPEAKS.

50 Cent left everyone gasping earlier today when news broke that he filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Following losing a lawsuit to Rick Ross’ baby mother, the Power rapper was ordered to pay $5 million to her for damages, and was also ordered by a judge in 2014 to pay $17.2 million for stealing a headphone company’s design.

Fifty filed for bankruptcy, and while the internet went nuts with speculation of him being broke, it turns out it was all part of a smart business move to protect himself.

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.