Global Naija Info

Timipre Sylva, APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State The Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Friday heard the testimonies of five witnesses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Jan. 9, 2016 case. The witnesses, in their separate testimonies, said APC did not participate in the Jan. 9, 2016 supplementary governorship election in Bayelsa and maintained that there was no violence in the various polling units during the election held on Dec. 5, 2015. The witnesses gave the testimonies during cross examination by counsel in a petition filed by Timipre Sylva, the former governor of the state. In the petition, Sylva is praying the tribunal to declare him winner of the Bayelsa governorship election based on the result of Dec. 5, 2015 election, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared as inconclusive. The result sheet `Form EC8A’ of the various polling units were tendered through the witnesses which the counsels obj

APC‎ National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun (right)‎ ‎and the party’s Deputy National Chairman (South), Engr. Segun Oni‎ during a briefing The All Progressives Congress (APC), has waded into the rift between Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and his predecessor, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso. Briefing newsmen after the group rose from a meeting on Friday, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said the party had so far made a“tremendous progress’’. Gentlemen of the press, we have been holding a meeting, dealing with the crisis we have in our party in Kano State and this is not the first meeting we are holding in respect of that. “We discussed the issue of the crisis we have in Kano and so far, I can say we have made a tremendous progress. “From the conclusion of today’s interaction with both the governor and the former governor, they both have agreed to work together in the interest of the people and their party. “They’ll put behind whatever differences that might h

Abiodun Onafuye, Abeokuta Otunba Gbolahan Nowoola, a business tycoon, has emerged as the new People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State. The new Chairman won a landslide victory at the Congress held at the party’s local government Secretariat on Thursday. He polled a total of 63 votes, while his counterpart, Alhaji Akeem Shittu, polled seven votes. The total number of accredited delegates for the congress was 73. Option A4 voting system was adopted for the election. Seventeen other positions were unopposed. Alhaji Kazeem Abdul-Lateef, who polled 70 votes, emerged as the new Vice-Chairman while Adebogun Asumo, Bose Adepitan and Segun Bello, emerged as the Secretary, Woman Leader and Youth Leader, respectively. In his speech after the election, Nowoola described his victory as an act of God and the collective demand of the people for a leader to unite all members. According to the new Chairman, who is also the Kakanfo of Ilara kingdom

FILE PHOTO: A pipeline destroyed by Niger Delta militants Militants attacked a Chevron platform in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region late on Wednesday, the United States energy company said on Thursday, amid growing fears of a revived militant campaign in the region. It is the latest in a series of attacks on oil facilities in Africa’s top oil exporter. President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to crack down on “vandals and saboteurs” in the Delta region, which produces most of the country’s oil. In a statement, the energy company said Chevron Nigeria Limited, operator of a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said an attack took place at about 11.15 pm (2215 GMT) on Wednesday. “Its Okan offshore facility in the Western Niger Delta region was breached by unknown persons,” said Chevron in the statement. “The facility is currently shut-in and we are assessing the situation, and have deployed resources to respond to a resulting spill.” There were no

Executive Secretary of UNODC, Yury Fedotov shake hands with President Muhammadu Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday urged the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to facilitate the faster recovery of Nigeria’s stolen wealth stashed abroad. A statement issued by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said the president made the call when he received the Executive Secretary of UNODC, Mr Yury Fedotov, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. President Buhari said that the process of recovering the stolen assets had “become tedious’’ to the consternation of many Nigerians. “We are looking for more cooperation from the EU, United States, other countries and international institutions to recover the nation’s stolen assets, particularly proceeds from the stolen crude oil. “It is taking very long and Nigerians are becoming impatient,” he said. According to president Buhari, his government has worked very hard in the past 11 m

Simon Lalong, Plateau State Governor Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau says he has recovered N2.7 billion looted through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) by the past administration in the State. Lalong made the disclosure in an interactive session with Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists as part of activities to mark his 53rd birthday in Jos on Thursday. The governor said N4.7 billion was still outstanding in the same SUBEB and assured that he will make sure that the money was recovered completely. He stated that his administration would do everything possible to recover all the funds looted from the state treasury by the previous administration. “We have done a lot of investigations and a lot of arrests have been made, some past government officials have been invited by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to make some clarifications. “As I speak, a former commissioner in the state is in the custody of the EFCC because of loote

Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai The Nigerian Army on Thursday inaugurated a Special Court Martial to try two of its officers for undisclosed offences. The Judge advocate, Col. Ibrahim Musa, administered the oath on the President of the Special Court Martial, Air Vice-Marshal James Gbum and three others. Musa said that the purpose of the special court was to try two army officers, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Sanni and Maj.-Gen. Patrick Falola. Reading the conveying order for the court from the Chief of Army Staff, Musa said “by the power conferred on me by Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, I hereby conveyed this speech to every one of you in this Special Court. “This court is saddled with the responsibility of trying the two officers”. On behalf of the special court members, Gbum promised that they would discharge their duties in accordance with the 1999 Constitution as amended. He said that the court would also take the Armed Forces Act, Service Evidence Act, Military Law

Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria’s Finance Minister The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday in Lagos that the N165 billion monthly salaries to federal civil servants was over-bloated and could no longer be sustained by government. The minister spoke at a meeting with Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) hosted by her counterpart in the Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Adeosun who was speaking on the economy reform agenda of the government, said that the N165 billion being paid to federal civil servants monthly represented 40 per cent of the total spending of government. She said the figure was too high and government was pursuing aggressive measures to detect and prosecute ghost workers and other saboteurs in the system. “We spend 165 billion every month on salaries but when I came in there were no checks and balances. “Now, we have created a unit assigned with the sole responsibility of checking the salaries and catching those behind

Jethro Ibileke/Benin FILE PHOTO: A herdsman in Nigeria As the menace of herdsmen continue to generate tension nationwide, traditional rulers in the six local government areas that make up Edo North senatorial district have called on the federal government to deploy soldiers as backup to areas prone to attacks. Edo North is made up of Akoko-Edo, Owan West, Owan East, Etsako West, Etsako East and Etsako Central local government areas. Briefing journalists in Auchi, headquarters of Etsako West which is the senatorial headquarters on Thursday, the Otaru of Auchi, HRH Alhaji Aliru Momoh, Ikelegbe III, said their women have been raped by the rampaging herdsmen on countless occasions. According to the monarch, the Nigerian Police possess inferior weapons to those carried by the herdsmen, which has resulted in unchallenged attacks in the area, just as he lamented that the vigilante groups who have in the past dared the criminally minded herdsmen have been demoralised due to irregular pa

Jethro Ibileke/Benin Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Samuel Olumekun, has expressed worry over the proliferation of light arms in the build up to the September 10 governorship election in the state. He stated this on Thursday in Benin during a stakeholders meeting with security operatives and representatives of political parties taking part in the election. Olumekun who described situation as a “disturbing trend,” blamed desperate politicians for the ugly development. “In my view, the political class has a very critical roles to play in reducing violence in elections in Nigeria. “It is who Edo People choose to be Governor that will be the next Governor. Leaders should build on goodwill of their people to have a just society. Proliferation of small arms is very worrisome,” he said. Commenting on the issue of security during the election, the State Commissioner of Po

Viber, one of the world’s leading messaging apps with more than 711 million unique users worldwide has announced the complete end-to-end encryption across all devices which offers users benefit from increased security and privacy whatever the device or platform. This new feature will strengthen security in every voice or video call, message, video and photo, in both group messages and one-to-one communication across devices like Android, iPhone, iPad, Android tablets, PC and Mac desktops. “We take our users’ security and privacy very seriously, and it’s critical to us that they feel confident and protected when using Viber,” said Michael Shmilov, Chief Operating Officer of Viber. As part of this update, Viber have also launched ‘Hidden Chats’ allowing users to hide specific chats from the main screen so no-one but the user knows they exist. These chats can only be accessed using a four digit PIN, providing an optional additional layer of privacy to users’ personal communications.

Jurgen Klopp remains on course for silverware in his first season in charge after Liverpool beat Villarreal to reach the Europa League final. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Liverpool levelled the tie on aggregate after Bruno Soriano’s early own goal. Daniel Sturridge, left out of the team in Spain, then put the hosts in command with a low finish after good work from the excellent Roberto Firmino. After Villarreal’s Victor Ruiz was sent off, Adam Lallana made the win safe. Ruiz received a second booking after stepping on Lallana’s foot in a game where Liverpool’s energetic pressing ruffled their opponents. Klopp, who took over from Brendan Rodgers in October and celebrated wildly with supporters after the final whistle, has now taken the Reds to a second final of the season, following defeat by Manchester City in the League Cup final. They will face Europa League holders Sevilla in Basel on 18 May, after they beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 to win their semi-final 5-3 on aggregate.