PRESIDENT BUHARI APPOINTS OBASANJO AS SPECIAL ENVOY TO MEDIATE IN THE UNFOLDING POLITICAL DRAMA AT GUINEA BISSAU.

Apparently worried by the brewing crisis in Guinea Bissau, President, Muhammadu Buhari, has sent former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, as his Special Envoy, to mediate and help find a solution to current challenge of the West African nation.

Following the dismissal of Guinea Bissau’s Prime Minister, Mr Domingos Simoes Pereira and his cabinet by President Jose Mario Vaz, President Buhari had raised concern over the unfolding political situation in the country.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, Femi Adesina, former President Obasanjo embarked on the first leg of his mission by consulting with the current Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Macky Sall of Senegal in Dakar on Thursday.

THE HIGH RATE OF FAILURE IN NIGERIA LAW SCHOOL.

Penultimate week, the Council of Legal Education released the bar final examination results conducted between April and May this year.

The council is statutorily charged with the responsibility of conducting final bar examinations for prospective lawyers who are subsequently called to the Bar after fulfilling certain conditions both in character and learning.

A breakdown of the results indicates that 1,805 out of 5,588 who sat for the exams failed. This failure rate in the institution that provides future man-power for an arm of government is quite disturbing. It is more worrisome that  a higher percentage of those who were unsuccessful in the bar exams came from the rank of those who had to re-sit. Out of 2,736 candidates in this category, a total of 990 still failed. The other 875 candidates who did not pass in their first attempt added up to the figure of failure recorded this year.

I SPEND N350K ON MEDICAL BILLS EVERY MONTH AFTER THE KIDNEY TRANSPLANT - OJB.

Two years after he had a successful kidney transplant in India, popular music producer and singer, Babatunde Okungbowa, aka OJB Jezreel, is still battling to stay healthy.

Although the artiste claims, in an interview with our correspondent, to be in a better condition and a lot stronger than he was in 2013, he is engaged in a silent struggle to overcome the challenges that set in after the transplant.

A few weeks ago, it was rumoured, especially in the social media, that OJB had suffered a kidney relapse. The rumour had caused quite a stir in the entertainment industry, as always. But the singer had quickly dismissed it and informed his numerous fans that he was alright.

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BUREAU RELEASE OFFICIAL LIST OF THE PASSENGERS OF THE BRISTOW HELICOPTER CRASH.

The Accident Investigation Bureau on Thursday released the official list of passengers and crew members onboard the Bristow Helicopters’ chopper that crashed into a lagoon in Lagos last Wednesday.

The official list, often called passengers’ manifest, contained the names of the 10 passengers and two flight crew members that were aboard the ill-fated Sikosky S76 C+ helicopter that crashed in the Oworonsoki area of Lagos on August 12.

The AIB had confirmed that the pilot, co-pilot and four passengers died in the unfortunate incident while six passengers survived.

FG CONVERTS BANK DEBTS OF 11 STATES TO BOND.

The National Economic Council chaired by Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo was on Thursday told that Federal Government bonds had been issued to 14 banks on behalf of 11 state governments as part of the plan to restructure states’ loans in commercial banks.

As part of the plan, the Federal Government had approved the conversion of states’ loans in commercial banks to Federal Government bonds.

This is in line with the palliatives President Muhammadu Buhari had approved for state governments to enable them to meet their financial obligations.

WIKE IS A LIAR, I LEFT OVER N10BN IN RIVERS STATE TREASURY - ROTIMI AMAECHI.

Former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi has said he left a balance of between eight to ten billion naira for his successor, Governor Nyesom Wike. 

In a statement from his from his media office yesterday, the former governor denied that he handed over an empty treasury to his successor.

The statement by the former Governor’s media office, yesterday, revealed that a total of N7.5 billion cash was left behind as balances in the State Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, account with Skye Bank, FAAC account with Zenith Bank, balances with Access Bank and funds in the State reserve fund account in First Bank.

PRESIDENT BUHARI SUSPENDS COMPTROLLER-GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.

The Federal Government has suspended from office the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr David Parradang, with immediate effect. 

This is contained in a statement signed by the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Interior, Mr Yusuf Isiaka Alhaji, on behalf of the permanent secretary of the ministry, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

IN SEARCH OF A NEW NNPC.

The appointment of a new management for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), led by Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as Group Managing Director portends a refreshing and hope-lifting re-organisation that must not only rebuild the corporation, but also direct the fortunes of the oil and gas sector to the benefit of the Nigerian people.

These are still early days but from the gale of redeployments and sackings of top managers of the national oil company, the new management seems to be aware of the assignment at hand and plans to discharge it with aplomb.

To really serve the best interest of its owners, that is the Nigerian people, NNPC must transmute from the plundering behemoth that it is into a public spirited regulatory body and nationalist business concern it ought to be.

MY WIFE SAID I AM NOT THE BIOLOGICAL FATHER OF 5 OF OUR 6 CHILDREN - SAYS PROFESSOR WHO DUMPED WIFE AFTER 46 YRS OF MARRIAGE.

A university teacher has dumped his wife of 46 years, and their six children, saying his repeated effort to put the troubled marriage back on track has failed.

Sixty seven-year old Benki Womboh, a professor of Library and Information Science at Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, told a court Wednesday he felt his life was not safe and that he needed an end to his turbulent marriage.

In an affidavit sworn to at the Federal High Court, Yola, Mr. Womboh disowned his wife, Grace Ayoo, 55, and her six children, saying he was fed up with the marriage and threats against his life.

“There was no longer any love in the marriage,” he said.

PRESIDENT OF BURUNDI PIERRE NKURUNZIZA SWORN IN FOR THIRD TERM IN A SURPRISE CEREMONY.

Burundian President, Pierre Nkurunziza, was Thursday sworn in for a third term in a surprise ceremony following weeks of unrest related to his controversial election victory. The ceremony was only announced in the morning, apparently in an attempt to avoid protests, analysts said.

Nkurunziza took his oath in the presence of parliamentarians and diplomats mainly from African countries, as well as some from China and Russia. The president warned people staging acts of violence that they will be “neutralised, because they will be fighting against God.”

Nkurunziza won the July 21 elections with nearly 70 per cent of the vote in a poll boycotted by the opposition. His bid for a third five-year term had sparked months of violent protests in which about 80 people were killed. Critics say his candidacy violated the constitution and the year 2000 Arusha agreement, which led to the end of a 12-year civil war in 2005.

MIKEL OBI SNUBBED ME - SUNDAY OLISEH (SUPER EAGLES COACH).

MIKEL OBI

Super Eagles Coach Sunday Oliseh has revealed why Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel was not on the list of invited players for the match against Tanzania on September 5, Oliseh’s first as head of Nigeria’s national side.

Many fans had queried the new coach for omitting Mikel from his 18-man foreign pro list for the Tanzania game, but the Eagles gaffer made a shocking revelation on Thursday, saying Mikel refused to have a word with him despite all the channel of communication he opened with the midfielder.

Oliseh revealed that aside the several phone calls and SMS messages to Mikel, the player also failed to show up at a planned meeting in London, which his club teammate Victor Moses gladly attended.

“Till now I have not spoken with Mikel,” Oliseh began in his interview with the NFF’s official website.

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPOINTS DR. TUNDE FOWLER AS FIRS ACTING EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, rescinded former President Goodluck Jonathan’s last-minute appointment of  Samuel Ogungbesan as Act­ing Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). 

Ogungbesan was replaced with the ex-Chief Executive Officer/Executive Chairman of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Dr. William Babatunde Fowler, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), said in statement.

According to the  statement, Dr. Fowler will serve in Acting capacity until his appointment is confirmed by the Senate.

NIGERIA - SURVIVING THE CRUDE OIL CRUNCH.

The lingering decline in crude oil prices, which has greatly affected Nigeria’s revenue from crude oil exports, has taken another dimension in recent months. About 35 million barrels of the country’s crude oil remained unsold at the international market as at December 2014.

Sales have been low this year as the fortunes of August and September deliveries remain uncertain, even as oil prices continue to hover on the lower band of $50 a barrel. As it stands, the nation is on a financial cliff and can fall off except a miracle happens.

The one commodity that provides life support for the economy has not only seen its price at the international market fall to as low as $48 per barrel, the volume sold is shrinking as well. There is no sign that things will get better soon. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has even predicted that crude oil prices may fall to as low as $20 per barrel.

HONOUR KILLING - TWO BROTHERS BEHEAD SISTER OVER DISAPPROVED ROMANCE WITH A COUSIN.

Two Indian brothers have decapitated their teenage sister and paraded her severed head through their village because they disapproved of her 'romantic relationship' with a cousin.

A dozen people watched on in horror as Phool Jehan, 17, was dragged out of her house, severely beaten and beheaded by her two brothers on Monday.

But they did not tell the police. The crime was only later reported by a local security guard, one officer explained. 

BARCELONA'S PIQUE BANNED FOR 4 MATCHES FOR INSULTING LINESMAN.

Barcelona star Gerard Pique has been banned for four matches by the Spanish soccer federation after he was sent off for insulting a linesman in Monday's Spanish Super Cup second leg against Athletic Bilbao.

The La Liga side can appeal and may get the sanction reduced but if that fails the Spain international will miss the Spanish and European champions' opening four La Liga matches, including Sunday's trip to play Bilbao and the game at Atletico Madrid on September 12.

Pique said he was sorry on Tuesday but denied using insulting language, which was reported as 'I s*** on your f***ing mother.'

GIRL GOES CRAZY ON THE STREET AFTER BEING DUMPED BY BOYFRIEND VIA TEXT MESSAGE.

Dumping your girlfriend by text is possibly not the most adult way to end a relationship - but what this woman did next was certainly not a grown-up way to deal with it.

The woman, realising she had been dumped, threw herself down on the floor of a busy Hong Kong street and threw a tantrum which a toddler would have been proud of.

The epic meltdown - which included headstands, and a number of other poses more usually seen in a yoga studio - went on for an eye-watering 90 minutes.

NIGERIA EARNS N2.4TRN FROM EXPORT OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS IN 3 MONTHS, 44% BELOW BUDGET.

Nigeria earned N2.512 trillion from the export of petroleum products in three months, between April and June 2015, according to data released Wednesday, by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.

The NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the Second Quarter of 2015, also stated that Nigeria recorded total merchandise trade of N4.372 trillion and a trade surplus of N1.4 trillion in the month under review.

It is instructive to noted that the amount the country earned from petroleum products sale in the second quarter of 2015, was 56.8 per cent of the country’s N4.49 trillion 2015 budget.

PETER BELLO, CO-PILOT OF THE CRASHED BRISTOW HELICOPTER SET TO BE BURIED IN CALABAR.

The co-pilot of the ill-fated Bristow helicopter, Peter Bello, who was one of the six people who died last week in the Lagos crash will be buried today in Calabar.

May his soul rest in peace.

GOV. AMBODE REVOKES CONCESSION OF FALOMO SHOPPING CENTRE GRANTED BY EX-GOV FASHOLA.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, yesterday, revoked the concession granted by the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, LSDPC, to Afriland Properties for the redevelopment of the Falomo Shopping Centre, Ikoyi. He also issued stern warning to contractors handling various road projects in the state against shoddy jobs, saying the state would not accept any act that will cause untold hardship for the residents. 

The revocation order was contained in a statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Habib Aruna, saying the decision was taken based on a recent discovery that the concession was grossly detrimental to the interests of the people of the state.

According to him, only N50million was paid by the concessionaire, Afriland Properties, for a 50-year lease of the property belonging to the government.

OONI'S THRONE - SUCCESSION TUSSLE TOUGHENS.

As the process of choosing a new Ooni of Ife gains momentum, Prince Adeyemi Adeoye Aderibigbe Ologbenla who is from one of the ruling houses in Ile-Ife, has advised all stakeholders in the selection process of a new monarch to be wary of those jostling for the title, noting that most of them are not from any of the lineages that produce kings in the town.

This came just as he dismissed the claim of one Prince Ramon Adegoke Adedoyin who said the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade had anointed him as his successor, adding that no king since inception of the ancient town, had ever chosen a successor.

The retired Professor of Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University said the claim of the prince was a complete falsehood, adding that he was not recognized as a member of any of the ruling houses from Ife.