FROSHLINE.COM

*** As Gemade acts as Chief Whip todayBy Henry UmoruABUJA – AT resumed plenarytoday, Senators immediately went into closed door session, where they would brainstorm on the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB and the establishment of grazing areas management agency bill.Senators went into the executive session at 10.25am.In today’s Order Paper, one ofthe bills slated for consideration is “A Bill for an Act to provide for the Governance and Institutional Framework for the Petroleum Industry and for other related matters, 2016(SB.237) scheduled to scale the second reading.The bill is sponsored by the Chairman, senate Committee on Petroleum, Upstream, Senator Omotayo Alaosaodura, APC, Ondo Central.The other controversial bill contained in the Order Paper which has necessitated the Executive session is ” A Bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of grazing Areas Management Agency and for other related matters sponsored by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, APC, Kano Central.There is ...

By Emman Ovuakporie & Johnbosco AgbakwuruABUJA – ATTEMPTS by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rep. FemiGbajabiamila for the House toupturn the recent amendmentof the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act which had removed the powers of appointing Chairman of the CCT from the President met stiff opposition yesterday.But the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara who presided over theplenary has told the Leader tocome up with a substantive motion if he wanted the bill tobe revisited so that members would be present and prepareto make contributions to it instead of being “ambushed”.Dogara and GbajabiamilaThe Leader had in a Point of Order referred the House to Part 1 of Fifth Schedule of theConstitution, Section 15, sub-sections 3 and 4 and Section 17, Sub-sections 1 and 4 which had stated that itwas the constitutional responsibility of the Presidentbased on the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission to appoint the Chairman of the CCT and members.He ...

The trial of former Chief of AirStaff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu rtd., and 10 others was on Friday stalled before aFederal High Court in Lagos, following the demand of a witness’ international passport.Amosun is charged alongsidetwo other officers of the Air Force – Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun and Air Cdre Gbadebo Olugbenga.Also charged are  Delfina Oil and Gas Ltd, Mcallan Oil and Gas Ltd, Hebron Housing and Properties Company Ltd,  Trapezites BDC, and Fonds and Pricey Ltd.The accused are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Mohammed Idris.They were arraigned on June 26 and had pleaded not guiltyto the charges.The judge had then granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each with two suretieseach in like sum.On Friday, trial of the accusedwas stalled due to the demand by one of the defence counsel, Mr Norrison Quakers (SAN) that a prosecution witness, one Mojeed Olatunji should produce his international passport.Olatunji...

By Emman Ovuakporie and Johnbosco AgbakwuruAPPARENTLY disturbed by the story that he has withdrawn his suit against theSpeaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, ousted former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, AbdulmuninJibrin yesterday denied it, declaring that it was a calculated misrepresentation of facts.In a statement issued on his behalf by his counsel, Chukwuma Nwachukwu, he said that the true position of the matter was deliberately altered.The statement stated that:”It has come to our attention the circulating misrepresentation of facts that our client, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin has withdrawn his suit filed vide FHC/ABJ/CS/595/16 against the Speaker, House of Representatives and 14 others wherein we sought for injunctive reliefs restraining the the Defendants from suspending the Plaintiff, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin.“This is not the true position of things and the said untrue information is calculated to misinform and in fact disappoint the teeming gen...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) once again lived up to its billing of being used by the current administration for the sinister purposes of silencing the opposition under the guise of fighting corruption.As expected and as earlier stated in his press statement, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode had already raised the alarm that he was going to be rearrestedby the EFCC as the organisation whose operations have become easily predictable have graduated from being an investigative body meant to serve the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians to a vindictive institution willing to do the biddings of some vengeful cabal whose existence even the wife of the president confirmed recently.Ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode arriving the EFCC Abuja office on Monday, May 9, 2016for questioningLet it be on record that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was held for 67 days in EFCC custody who used questionable orders from magistrates to perpetuate their illegality.While in their custody he suffered al...

By Ikechukwu NnochiriABUJA – The National Judicial Council, NJC, has described as “unacceptable”, call by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, for judges currently under investigation over allegations of corruption,to step down until their innocence is fully and completely established.In a statement Friday night, the NJC which is headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, said it would neither suspend nor ask any of the accused Judges to proceed on compulsory leaveas recommended by the NBA,insisting that such action would contrary to the provisions of Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.It said: “The National Judicial Council is not unaware of the judgment of the Court of public opinion on the recent events between the Department of State Services (“DSS”) and the Judiciary; andthe various views expressed by Legal Practitioners, Academics, Politicians and the general public, particularlythe current position of the...

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED)said on Friday that it lost N27.6 billion annually to unpaid bills by customers.Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Jay McCoskey, made this known to newsmenat the launch of the company’s ‘Energy Efficiency’programme in Port Harcourt.He said that huge figure accrued because some customers could not locate where to pay or how to pay the bills.According to McCoskey, every month, PHED has a revenue loss of N2.3 billion which amounts to N27.6 billion annually.“Most of the cases of non-payment are because people don’t know where and how to pay their electricity bills.“So, we have come up with anonline payment service that will enable customers to, within five minutes, make payments without difficulty.“This online payment service will complement other channels of payment, which means that customers will spend few minutes to pay their electricity bills,” he said.McCoskey added that the firm had also provided other avenues for con...

Lagos – Chief Remi Ogungbemi, President, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), on Friday said that truckers may withdraw their services from Lagos ports because of the bad access roads.Ogungbemi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the port access roads were in terrible state and was hampering business.The AMATO president said that the truckers’ planned boycott would have started before now if not for the intervention of some respected operators.“The association intends to have a meeting with some operators on Oct. 25; if this meeting fails to proffer feasible palliatives, truckers will not have any other option.“For a long time now, we havebeen drumming it in the ears of the authorities without any attention on their part.“We cannot continue to work in a vicious circle in which trucks break down after everytrip to the ports due to bad roads.“We end up expending a hugeamount to put them back on the road,’’ Ogungbemi said.The condition of the road wasso bad, caus...

Abeokuta – The Ogun Police Command has arrested a 23-year-old lady, Abosede Omolare, for allegedly killing her fiance, Sadiq Dauda, who she was engaged to marry in December.Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi, the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), made the disclosure while addressing news conference on Friday in Abeokuta.He said that the suspect, whocommitted the crime at Onirugba St., in Ijebu-Ode on Tuesday was arrested on the same day.The PPRO explained that the incident followed minor disagreement over allegation of mismanagement of funds from the gas business which the late Dauda entrusted to the suspect.Oyeyemi said that during interrogation, Oyelare claimedthat her late fiancé, who she was, living with, beat her up and sent her away.She said she returned home on the invitation of her fiance’s mother who promised to intervene.“She stated that immediately she got home, her fiance descend on her, beat her mercilessly and broke a bottle with which he threatened to stab her.“She admitted t...

National Legal Adviser, Alliance for Democracy (AD), Mr Kehinde Aworele, said the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) did not recognise Chief Olusola Oke as its governorship candidatein Ondo state.Aworele said this on Friday when addressing newsmen inAkure.Oke, who claims to be AD’s gubernatorial flag bearer for the election coming up on Nov. 26, had in 2012, contested governorship election in the state on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and lost.He defected to All Progressives Congress (APC), where he vied for governorship ticket for the November poll but was unsuccessful. He immediately switched to AD and claimed to have picked its gubernatorial mandate for the election.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the AD National Organising Secretary, Mr Ibrahim Abdollah, had in a communiqué on Oct. 14 in Akure, after the party’s NEC meeting said the party was unaware of Oke’s candidature.Aworele told newsmen that there were certain decisions taken solely by t...

President Buhari met with the 21 freed Chibok girls and their families at the State House, Abuja, today October 19th. More photos below;

ONITSHA—The National Working Committee of the AllProgressives Grand Alliance, APGA,  has threatened to institute a legal action againstthe suspended national chairman of the party, Chief Victor Oye, should he continue to parade himself asthe national chairman of the party.Acting national chairman, OzoNwabueze Okafor dropped the hint while addressing reporters on the recent crisis in APGA.He said the peace being brokered by the Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano has failed following subsequent conduct and utterances of the suspended national chairman.Oye was purportedly suspended on Thursday, October 6 for alleged gross misconduct.A press statement made available to our correspondent in Awka by Governor Obiano’s aide, ChiefMike Igwa said the governor had intervened and resolved the crisis.The statement read in part: “In a meeting with APGA’s National stakeholders, which was attended by members of the party’s National Working Committee and key leaders of the party across th...

Ibadan— TWELVE persons, including a mother and her twin children, were feared killed in an accident that occurred, yesterday, at Oja-Oba Market area of the Ibadan South East Local Government Area of Oyo State. Some of the vehicles and tricycles crushed by the truck (inset) in Ibadan, yesterday. PHOTOS: Dare Fasube. Police put the casualty figure at four, but some eyewitnesses claimed the number of lives lost could not be less than 12. While the accident left several people injured, several commercial cars and property were crushed by an articulated vehicle. According to a source, the driver of the truck, which had just off loaded cement, lost control of his vehicle and crushed about 12 persons on the spot. While the remains of those killed were taken to the morgue at Adeoyo State Hospital, the injured were rushed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan. It was gathered that the truck, with number plates AGL883XQ, skidded off its lane to the other side of the road, crushed man...

THE management of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, IE, has pleaded with its customers over power outage, blaming it on faulty 100MVA transformer atEjigbo Transmission Station as well as other multiple faults along the network in that area.In a statement made available to Vanguard, the management of IE stated that, “it regrets the prolonged outage witnessed by our customers in and around Ejigbo, Oke Afa, Ikotun Egbe, Egan, Igando, Arepo, Warewa and Channels Television axis.“The outages are due to a faulty 100MVA transformer atEjigbo Transmission Station as well as other multiple faults along the network in that area.”According to the company, the transmission Company has commenced repairs on the faulty transformer, “however in the interim customers will be temporarilyback fed through alternative sources to mitigate the current blackout pending the completion of the repair.“In a similar development, therecent damage of the 33KV Electric Towers along Abeokuta Expressway, by a truc...

Awka—ALL physically challenged graduates of Anambra State origin have been offered automatic employment by Governor Willie Obiano as part of the state government’s determination to reduce their hardships.Obiano, who spoke weekend through the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu during a cultural carnival for Anambra Central Senatorial District held at Agulu in Anaocha local government area in continuation of the Anambra@25 Silver Jubilee anniversary celebration, said the employment was in line with the stimulus package announced recently for the people of the state.Chukwulobelu said: “It is clearthat any physically-challengedperson who is a graduate of ahigher institution has paid enough dues to better his lot. Such a person has passed through a lot of hardship and therefore should not be allowed to continue to suffer“The governor has announcedautomatic employment for allphysically challenged graduates. This is not politics because we have also abolished collecti...

ABUJA—No fewer than ten ministers in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinetrisk open revolt from their security aides, following refusal to pay their stipends almost a year after being deployed to work with them.The DSS and police operatives were deployed to secure the ministers as soon as they were sworn into officeon November 11, 2015.Under the civil service regulation currently in operation, the DSS and Policeaides attached to the ministers and other top government functionaries are entitled to be paid cash in lieuof their first 28 days in hotel and inconvenience allowances, based on their grade levels for every trip they make with the ministers.However, Vanguard learned that the affected ministers have refused to pay the DSS and Police officers the stipulated allowance, using their civilian aides, most of whom are their siblings, to draw the allowances for themselves.Vanguard learned that although the security operatives drawn from the Department of State Service, DSS, and the Niger...

Five suspects, who posed as businessmen,have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly abducting and gang-raping a woman.PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects – Ugochukwu Eso, Gabriel Obinna, Chinedu Ezechukwu, Akubueze Nnadozie and Godwin Balogun – used a hotel, which the police did not disclose, in the Agege area of the state to perpetrate the crime.Punch correspondent gathered that 18-year-old Obinna allegedly used a Magic Voice application on his mobile phone to change his voice to that of a woman while communicating with the victim on the telephone.Using a pseudonym, Vanessa, he allegedly invited her to inspect some non-existent goods in his house.A police source said the gang’s mode of operation was to lure female customers into their midst, gang-rape them and threaten to blackmail the women with video recordings of the rape unless some money was paid to them.In the latest incident on Tuesday, August 2,the gang members allegedly lured their female victim throu...

Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Mr Kingsley Esiso, yesterday, said that the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government has brought untold hardship on Nigerians.Esiso, when he played host to PDP Patriotic Ladies in Asaba, urged the women to mobilise ahead of 2019 for the re-election of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and also vote out the APC at the federal level and other APC controlled states.He said: “For about two years now, Nigerians have witnessed negative change that has brought injuries, hardship and highcost of living to them.They came with the mantra of change that former President Goodluck Jonathan was not doing well but the reverse is now the case. We will endure till 2019 to change thechange.

The United States on Wednesday pledged$37 million in aid for victims of Boko Haram, government officials said, as fears of a famine mounted in the ravaged Lake Chad region.Despite Boko Haram losing many territory in the northeast as a result of a renewed military offensive, millions are still going hungry after years of attacks disrupted farming and supplies.The US government will provide “more than$37 million in additional humanitarian assistance” the United States Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria in Abuja said. “Approximately five million people need emergency food assistance.”The money for food would be directed to communities in the Diffa region of Niger and is part of a coordinated effort to get more food into the area.

Staff at the World Bank delivered a broadside againstits sitting president this week,saying the global lender faced a “crisis of leadership” and risked irrelevance on the world stage.The rebuke, made in an open letter from the Bank’s staff association, came as informal talks have reportedlybegun on choosing the Bank’snext president.Jim Yong Kim, the current president, whose term ends inless than a year, has not officially declared whether hewishes to stay on.Since taking office in 2012, Kim has undertaken a cross-cutting structural reform which has left some staff members uneasy. Internal surveys have shown that large proportions of Bank staff feel distrustful of senior management.“At the World Bank Group, we preach principles of good governance, transparency, diversity, international competition and merit-based selection,” said the letter from the staff association, which represents more than 15,000 employees.“Unfortunately, none of these principles have applied to the appointment of...