OSHIOMHOLE WAS WRONG ABOUT JONATHAN'S AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMME - AKINWUMI ADESINA

Immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has slammed Edo State Governor, Adams Oshimhole, for describing the Agricultural Programme of former president Goodluck Jonathan as a scam.

Adesina, who is warming up to assume office as the President of the African Development Bank next month, said it was unbecoming of Oshimhole to tag Jonathan’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, ATA, as a dismal failure.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, the former minister said it was most uncharitable for the governor who was in a better position to know the success of the ATA to attempt to discredit it for reasons best known to him.

NIGERIA NAVY DESTROYS 78 ILLEGAL REFINERIES IN RIVERS STATE.

This certainly is not the best of times for operators of illegal refineries in Rivers State as men of the Nigerian Navy Ship, Pathfinder, are already making good their threat of putting them permanently out of business. In fact, in the last two months, 78 illegal refineries have been smashed in various creeks in the State.

According to Commander Shuwa Abdulrahim  Mohammed of the  Nigerian Navy Ship Pathfinder in the state: “The heat is already on oil thieves and those running illegal refineries in the state. The anti-oil theft war is on, no compromise”.

He said his men will not relent until all illegal refiners are flushed out. “We will  smoke these oil  thieves out of their hideouts. They will have no peace unless they change from this illicit act,” he told newsmen at the base.

FOREIGN AFFAIR MINISTRY IN DISARRAY FOLLOWING ARREST OF TOP ISIS TERRORIST WHO HAD A VALID NIGERIAN VISA.

The Federal Government has ordered a full investigation into how a wanted terrorist was granted Nigerian visa in Lebanon to visit the country.

An official of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in Abuja, yesterday, that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the circumstances surrounding the issuance of Nigerian visa to the wanted terrorist who has been on the wanted list of several governments.

It will be recalled that a radical Muslim cleric, Ahmad al-Assir, was arrested by Lebanese authorities as he attempted to leave Lebanon for Nigeria via Cairo.

PRESIDENT BUHARI ORDERS PROBE OF NITEL/MTEL.

President has ordered probes into the sale of Nigerian Telecommunications, NITEL and Mobile Telecommunications, MTEL sold by the previous government of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.

President Buhari however said he was not opposed to the sale of the telecommunication companies belonging to the federal government but was concerned about the process.

It will be recalled that former President Jonathan’s administration sold the telecom company for $252m to NATCOM consortium in December 2014.

PRESIDENT BUHARI SACKS AMCON EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM, APPOINTS MR. AHMED KURU AS NEW MD.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday dissolved the Executive Management Team of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The president swiftly gave approval for the reconstitution of the management team of the corporation.

In the new team, Mr. Ahmed Lawan Kuru was named the Managing Director.

Other names assigned various portfolios in the Corporation included, Mr. Kola Ayeye, Executive Director, Mr. Eberechukwu Uneze, Executive Director and Mr. Aminu Ismail also an Executive Director.

HORROR IN GERMANY AS 17-YR-OLD DAUGHTER OF BUSINESSMAN KIDNAPPED FOR €1MILLION IS FOUND DEAD.

The body of a teenager kidnapped last week and held for a one million euro ransom has been found in Germany.

Anneli-Marie R. was snatched off the street last Thursday in the city of Meissen in the east of the country as she walked her dog at 7.30pm. 

A police blackout on the abduction was lifted on Monday after weekend negotiations with the kidnappers broke down.

MANHUNT BEGINS FOR BANGKOK BOMBER WHO CAREFULLY DROPPED RUCKSACK KILLED 22 PEOPLE.

Thai police today confirmed that a man seen in CCTV wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack was the bomber who killed at least 22 people  at a central Bangkok shrine.

Chilling footage shows the bespectacled terrorist calmly placing the bag next to the the Erawan Shrine minutes before the blast ripped through a crowd of worshippers. 

'The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber,' Police Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri said. 

Prawut earlier said the man 'is a suspect' and had released several photos of him, with and without the backpack, on a social media platform.

GABON PRESIDENT PROMISES TO GIVE OUT HIS SHARE OF HIS FATHER'S INHERITANCE TO GABONESE YOUTHS.

PRESIDENT ALI BONGO ONDIMBA

Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba said late Monday he would give "all his share of the inheritance" from his long-ruling father Omar Bongo Ondimba to "the Gabonese youth" in a speech marking the 55th anniversary of independence.

"I've decided with the full agreement of my wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba and my children that my share of the inheritance will be shared with all Gabonese youth because in my eyes we are all heirs of Omar Bongo Ondimba," he said, after saying "no Gabonese must be left by the side of the road".

"All income from my part of the inheritance will be donated to a foundation for the youth and education," he said.

SOLDIERS RAMPAGE OVER A YOUNG LADY IN BENUE MUST NOT GO UNPUNISHED.

Acts of indiscipline among bad eggs of the Nigerian armed forces emerged, once again, last week when soldiers of the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME) in Makurdi, Benue State, were reported in the media as taking the law into their  hands, invading a suburb of the city and allegedly committing various acts of heinous crimes.

According to reports, no less than 200 enraged soldiers allegedly angry that a young lady that one of them was courting was given out in marriage to another man, took to vandalizing cars and houses, stealing phone handsets, TV, radio and other personal effects of residents. The rampaging soldiers who were reported to have raped some women, also brutalised a Divisional Police Officer identified as Samuel Attah, destroying his vehicle in the process.

This outrageous, stranger-than-fiction story was confirmed when the Governor of Benue State, Mr Samuel Ortom, after visiting the damaged community, pledged to ensure that no soldier who participated in the rampage would go unpunished.

MANDELA'S GRANDSON APPEARS IN COURT OVER RAPE CHARGE. #SAYNOTORAPE.

A grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela appeared in court on Monday on charges of raping a 15-year-old female in Johannesburg, the country’s police service said.

Mbuso Mandela, 24, “was read his charges in court and now he will be given an opportunity for a formal bail hearing on Friday,” Mashadi Selepe, a spokesman for the police, said by phone Tuesday.

Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratic president in 1994, was jailed for 27 years for fighting against white minority rule under apartheid. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for promoting reconciliation between blacks and whites in South Africa and became the nation’s first black president a year later. He died on Dec. 5, 2013, at the age of 95.

WE WILL NOT GIVE UP ON THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION DESPITE PRESSURE FROM MANY QUARTERS. - PRESIDENT BUHARI.

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that no amount of pressure will make him give up the war against corruption in the country.

The president stated this to a group of Nigerians, who marched to the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday, to pledge their full support for his administration’s anti-corruption campaign.

Represented by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, Buhari promised a relentless prosecution of the war against corruption with due regards for the rule of law.

TINUBU VS FASHOLA - APPREHENSION HEIGHTENS AS FASHOLA IS SET TO LAUNCH 3 BOOKS.

Apprehension yesterday gripped political stakeholders in Lagos State ahead of today’s launch of three books chronicling the stewardship of Mr. Babatunde Fashola as governor of Lagos State between 2007 and 2015.

The apprehension follows the perceived political rivalry between the camp of Fashola and his erstwhile political godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, himself, also a former governor of the state. The political unease was compounded upon last week’s assertion by Fashola that he would not allow himself to be dragged into the mud by those who want to fight like pigs.

However, a third force within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC it was gathered yesterday has pushed the leadership of the party to convene an emergency state caucus meeting tomorrow where the unfolding issue between the camps of the two former governors is expected to be discussed.

NERC DEFIES SENATE'S ORDER ON REMOVAL OF FIXED, INSISTS THE CHARGE IS LEGAL.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, yesterday, defied the directive by the Senate to abolish the Fixed Charges, FC, introduced by the commission, noting that there is nothing illegal about the charges. 

Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, who spoke against the background of the motion by members of the red chamber, maintained that the electricity fixed charges are legal and cannot be abolished.

It will be recalled that the Senate had, last Tuesday, directed the commission to abolish the monthly fixed charges being collected from electricity consumers by the Distribution Companies, DISCOs.

POLICE ARREST TAILOR WHO RAPED AND SEIZED CLOTHES OF HIS 16-YR-OLD VICTIM IN LAGOS. #SAYNOTORAPE.

A 45-year-old tailor, identified only as Fasasi, has allegedly seized the underwear and clothes of a 16-year-old girl after raping her in the Agege area of Lagos.

It was learnt that the teenager, Comfort (pseudonym), who was a Secondary School Class 1 pupil, was allegedly raped by Fasasi when she ran an errand for her mother.

Fasasi, who had been arrested by the police, reportedly called the girl and asked her to also buy food for him while she ran the errand for her mother.

DOUBTFUL AGENDA OF NATIONAL PEACE COMMITTEE.

An ad hoc group of influential Nigerians, known as the National Peace Committee, has been parading the corridors of power of late, scheming to exploit its connections at the highest level of government to advance a suspicious agenda. Led by a former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, the NCP contingent met with President Muhammadu Buhari last week to “update him on the activities of the committee and how members could help nurture peace in the country.” The intention about peace is apparently noble, but the agenda of the committee is nebulous and its real motive is unclear and questionable.

Their mission, which was to emerge after the meeting, is to advise Buhari to tread with caution in his iron-cast resolve to rid the country of corruption and culture of impunity. In its sanctimonious arrogance, the self-appointed group purportedly lectured Buhari: “This is no longer a military regime and under our existing laws everybody is innocent until proven guilty,” Matthew Kukah, a Catholic priest and their spokesman, said. Although investigations are ongoing, the group jumped to the conclusion that the rule of law had not been followed.

FG SET TO RECRUIT 10,000 OFFICERS INTO NIGERIA POLICE FORCE.

Two years after the last recruitment by the Nigeria Police Force, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday unveiled Federal Government’s plans to recruit fresh 10,000 policemen.

Buhari, who spoke at the National Security Summit on Community Partnership Approach to Internal Security and Crime Management, organised by the police in Abuja, said the government would also establish a well-trained and equipped anti-terrorism and multi-agency based task force to address the challenge of insurgency in a sustainable manner.

The last recruitment by the force was in 2013 because the Force lacked funds.

COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF CUSTOMS PROCEEDS ON VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT.

President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the resignation of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi.

With the acceptance, Abdullahi is expected to proceed on voluntary retirement from Tuesday (today).

He had earlier written a letter dated August 3 to the President in which he notified Buhari of his desire to proceed on voluntary retirement from Tuesday.

THE $1BN RAIL PROJECT LOAN - MY HANDS ARE CLEAN - OKONJO IWEALA.

The immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has denied that the China-EximBank loan for the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Kano rail line was diverted as alleged by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Muhanned Bashar. 

Alhaji Bashar had told President Muhammadu Buhari during the ministry’s briefing session, last week, that only $400 million of the $ 1 billion China-EximBank loan meant for the project was spent, creating the impression that over $600 million was diverted by the last administration.

According to him, only $400 million was released by the Ministry of Finance for the project.

YABATECH EXPELS 73 STUDENTS FOR FORGERY.

The Academic Board of Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, has expelled 73 students for presenting suspected forged results.

A statement by the college made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday said the affected students were part-time pursuing National Diploma and Higher National Diploma programmes.

Signed by the Deputy Registrar, Mrs Titilayo Obadimu, the statement said the affected students registered for the 2013/2014 academic session.

JONATHAN & HIS MEN LOOTED ABOUT N11TN IN 6 YEARS (SEE DETAILS) - APC

The All Progressives Congress on Sunday alleged that about $56bn (N11.02tn) was looted during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and that the Buhari government needed to recover the funds to fulfill the change promised by the APC.

In the breakdown by the ruling party, it said $6bn (1.2tn, at the rate of N197 to dollar) was stolen by some of Jonathan’s ministers and that 160 million barrels of crude worth $13.9bn (N2.74tn) were lost between 2009 and 2012 while $13bn (N2.56tn) in NLNG dividends was mostly unaccounted for.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a statement on Sunday.