President Buhari mourns (Read full details)

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President Muhammadu Buhari Photo credit: ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images)

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his condolences to the Ogbemudia family, the government and people of Edo State on the death of Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, a former‎ governor of the defunct Midwest region and old Bendel State.

The President joined them and other admirers in mourning the elder statesman, who diligently served the country with courage and dedication at crucial moments in its history, both as military governor and a democratically elected civilian governor.

Buhari, according to a statement yesterday, said the late Ogbemudia, who had a distinguished career as a military officer, administrator and federal minister, has left an impressive legacy of hardwork, discipline and commitment to communal, state, regional and national development.

In the statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President recalled the unique role Ogbemudia played in the country’s return to civilian rule in 1999 and trusts that, as a tireless advocate for equity, he would be long remembered and honoured for his dedication to the advancement of his people, especially in the fields of education, social welfare and infrastructure.

Buhari also prayed God to comfort all who mourn the late Ogbemudia and grant his soul eternal rest.

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Okowa pays tribute (Read full details)

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Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State Governor

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has expressed sadness over the death of former military governor of the defunct Midwestern State, Brig-Gen. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia.

Ogbemudia died late on Thursday at the age of 84.

In a statement in Asaba yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, Okowa described Ogbemudia, a two-time governor, as a patriot and political icon, whose life-long dedication and indefatigable commitment to serving the people would be missed.

The governor noted that the history of the defunct Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states) would certainly be incomplete without a chapter generously capturing the immense, robust and earth-shaking contributions of the deceased to the social, political and economic development of the geo-political entity, Nigeria and indeed humanity.

Okowa described Ogbemudia, a one-time Minister of Labour and Productivity, as a quintessential army general, adroit and sagacious administrator, elder statesman, astute politician and a patriot to the core, who no doubt stamped his footprints in the sands of time by touching the lives of Nigerians, particularly the people of Edo and Delta states.

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Quiet at APC secretariat over Buhari’s return (Read full details)

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APC

Ordinarily, the return of President Muhammadu Buhari from his 49 days medical vacation in the United Kingdom should elicit great excitement from members of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), but the contrary seemed to be the case at its National Secretariat located on Blantyre Street Wuse II, Abuja, yesterday.

Save for the statement issued by the party welcoming the President back from his leave, its secretariat remained largely quiet at press time, with a handful of staff discussing the President’s arrival in hushed tones, with some of them divided on the issue.

While some questioned the rationale behind the rush to bring him back when it was obvious that he was not fit enough to resume work, others saw the development as part of the strategy by the cabal in the Presidency to checkmate the ‘rising’ profile of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who has been Acting President since Buhari left for his vacation on January 19.

The APC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, welcomed Buhari back to the country.

While the party believed he has rested and returned with new vigour and optimism to fix the challenges facing the people and fulfill its campaign promises to Nigerians during the 2015 elections, it acknowledged that the President himself confirmed that he needed to rest more and directed Osinbajo to continue to run the country on his behalf.

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Normalcy returns to Abuja House (Read full details)

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Abuja House

There was normalcy at the official house of the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Abuja House, yesterday morning, when The Guardian made a scheduled visit around 8.15am to feel the vacuum created by the departure of President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday night.

There was no movement or sighting of anyone. Not even a single vehicle was inside the Kensington temporary residence, where Buhari spent his 49-day medical vacation.

“We suspected he might be going yesterday, as there was movement of vehicles and they were packing things,” a source revealed.

“There’s nobody in the house. The President is not here; he is gone. They’ve all gone,” a security official, who answered when The Guardian pressed the buzzer, replied from his office.

When The Guardian disclosed knowledge of the President’s departure from the UK and arrival in Nigeria about half an hour later, but wanted to speak to any staff member, he added very harshly: “Do you mean l am not a staff?” before terminating the conversation abruptly.

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Fayose, Daniel, others pass vote of confidence in Makarfi (Read full details)

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Fayose

• Ekiti gov asks Obasanjo to return his N10m ‘forced donation’
• Why we can’t work with Sheriff now, by PDP secretariat workers

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has deepened as some party leaders in the South-West yesterday passed a vote of confidence in the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee.

They described the court that recognised Senator Ali Modu Sheriff’s group as “usurpers” that did not mean well for the party.The leaders, who met in Ado-Ekiti under the aegis of South-West PDP, also declared support for the party’s appeal against the judgment of the Appeal Court, which validated the Sheriff-led executive.

Speaking at the meeting, Fayose said even if political solutions are to be preferred to the crisis, there are “some dirty elements we don’t know what they sold abroad to make money that we cannot sit together in the same party.”

The party leaders at the event included Governor Ayo Fayose, his deputy, Dr. Kolapo Olusola; former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; Senator Iyiola Omisore, former PDP Deputy Chairman, Chief Bode George; former PDP National Vice Chairman, Mr. Tajudeen Oladipo and Senator Kofo Akerele-Bucknor, among others.

In another development, Fayose has asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to return the N10 million he donated to his library project with interest to avoid embarrassment.

He said that all the 30 governors under the platform of the PDP in 2005 were forced to donate N10 million to the multi-billion naira project, describing this as the greatest fraud ever.

Fayose, who advised former President Obasanjo to stop seeing himself as a saint, said: “We were compelled to make the donation as PDP governors in 2005 and now I need the return of my money with interest.”

Meanwhile, members of staff of the national secretariat of the PDP have explained why they could not work with the Sheriff-led executive.The workers, who cited instances of continued violent disturbances at the secretariat, breaches of the PDP constitution and the Appeal Court judgment, as well as the pending case at the Supreme Court, said it was still very unsafe and insecure for them to resume work at the national secretariat.

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FG’s feeding program to create jobs for caterers, farmers in Kogi (Read full details)

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Rural farmers

The Federal Government’s home grown school feeding programme would apart from feed primary school children in the state, also take care of unemployment challenges as it would engage caterers and farmers, Adoga Ibrahim, Special Adviser to the Governor on Multilateral Donor Agencies and Special Projects/Focal Person on Social Investment Program has said.

Ibrahim, who made this disclosure yesterday in Lokoja, said the program which is meant to encourage the less privileged parents and pupils to be committed to the system would also engage unemployed caterers and farmers by engaging them to produce more home grown food products. He said the caterers and farmers would be employed from across the 21 Local Governments of the State.

He further said the feeding programme would begin sooner than expected adding that the state government would organise stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop in March prior to the flag-off by Governor Yahaya Bello.

He said the program would revive public schools, create employment, encourage parents to enroll their children in public schools and enhance effective service for better and quality education for the children.

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Excited Mikano pledges continued support for Access Bank Lagos City Marathon

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Officials distributing towels, bottled water and energy boost drinks to runners during the second Access Bank Lagos City Marathon…at the weekend.

They were at the various stops to support the runners, including some of their staff, who joined the elite athletes to battle the distance at the just-concluded Access Bank Lagos City Marathon. Officials of Mikano International Limited were also at the finishing point of the race at the Eko Atlantic to count the gains of the international marathon and also look at ways to help make the event the best of its kind in the continent.

Speaking to The Guardian at the end of the race, MIkano’s Advert/Marketing Officer, Wura Orimolade, said the company was satisfied with the turn out and outcome of the competition, adding that the race has justified the efforts of the Lagos State government and the major sponsors to make it happen.

She said, “Mikano International Limited, as is our tradition to always support Lagos State and also as part of our CSR, decided to come out powerfully to support the Access Lagos Marathon Race 2017.

“Aside other things, our staff, with the aid of route officers, shared chilled bottle water, energy boost drinks, as well as face-towels to participants.

“We had stands at three strategic locations, including Gbagada (Entrance of the Third Mainland Bridge), Adeniji Adele Junction (End of the Third Mainland Bridge) and Akin Adeshola (Opposite the Mikano VI Office; close to the Marathon Finishing Point)

“It was really a great relief as the participants were observed to reach out to the energy boost drinks and chilled water at each of their stands.”

She pledged that the company would come out stronger in subsequent editions of the competition, while congratulating the Lagos State government for the success of the 2017 race.

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Imeh, Adegoke are Rainoil/Ikoyi Club Masters Tennis champions

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Sarah Adegoke won the women’s singles of the just concluded Rainoil/Ikoyi Club Masters… at the weekend.

As predicted by followers of the third Rainoil/Ikoyi Club 1938 Masters Tennis Championship, Joseph Imeh and Sarah Adegoke at the weekend won the Men and Women’s singles of the competition, which attracted the best players in the country.

Imeh defeated Emmanuel Idoko 6-3, 6-4 while Adegoke retained the women’s title with a 6-1, 5-0 (rtd) scoreline over Ronke Akingbade.

The winners each pocketed N250,000 while the finalists got N200, 000. The four semifinalists at the five-day tournament were also rewarded with N150,000 each. Other participants also got range of cash prizes.

Speaking at the end of the final, Group Executive Director, Rainoil, Mrs. Godfrey Ogbechie, said the energy outfit would continue to invest  in the development of youths through sports, especially tennis for those that want to take it as a career.

She said, “We have been involved in tennis sponsorship for over 13 years and we want to take Nigerian tennis to an enviable height. My husband, in particular, is so passionate about tennis and I know he will go any length see the sport develop. He has the desire to see a Nigerian player in the Grand Slam”

NTF President, Sani Ndanusa, commended Rainoil for its unrelenting commitment to Nigerian tennis, adding that the company’s backing of Sylvester Emmanuel, who is on a $90,000 scholarship to at the Pereriba Tennis Academy in Barcelona, Spain, speaks volume of Rainoil’s passion to see Nigeria excel at the sport at global level. He disclosed that in 2015, Rainoil had also sponsored Emmanuel to a US training trip.

Ndanusa, while presenting a giant trophy as a gift to Rainoil as mark of NTF’s appreciation of their commitment to tennis development, said: “Similar to our plan, you have mapped out a route for a Nigerian player regarding the Grand Slam. The NTF will continue to give technical support, monitor as well as give opportunity to make sure that the dream is realised.”

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‘We have minimised crimes in South-East’

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Nigerian Army

The Army said at the weekend that it has rid the South-East of crimes through its ember months Operation Python Dance in the zone.

General Officer Commanding 82 Division, Enugu, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Abubakar, who stated this during the 2016 West African Social Activities (WASA) held in the city, stated that the army would consolidate on the gains of the exercise to rid other areas of her operations of crimes.

WASA is a yearly event of the army where officers, soldiers, their families and friends socially interact in a relaxed atmosphere. It is also conducted to mark the end of an eventful year and herald the beginning of a new one.

Abubakar said that within the period the exercise was on, the zone witnessed no case of kidnapping, youths’ restiveness and armed robberies that were usually associated with ember months, stressing there was easy flow of traffic, especially on the Onitsha Niger bridge axis.

He commended the soldiers and other officials who made the feat possible, urging them to remain committed to ensuring peace, focus and resilience in the discharge of their responsibilities.

He said that the army would remain committed to improving the welfare of soldiers. According to him, the Chief of Army Staff had commenced action towards making life better for them.

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NICON, Quintessential sign MOU on welfare risk insurance covers

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NICON Insurance Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Quintessential Group Plc, to provide welfare insurance cover for the members of the association.

The Director General, Quintessential Group, Judith Tanko, speaking at the event in Abuja, said the essence of the MoU is to provide a welfare risk insurance cover for its members in order to instil more interest in the minds of entrepreneurs in doing business.

Quintessential Group was established in 2011 by Shimite Bello, as a social business group focused on community-based business in agriculture and solid minerals. With presence in the 36 states and the FCT, the Group aims at projecting the Nigerian woman on the global front.

NICON’s Executive Director, Technical, Akinsola Ale, said the group cover is limited to N500,000 in the event of death or permanent disability arising from injury and for the payment of medical bills that occur from injury.

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Federal Government cuts budgetary allocation for Presidential Villa

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National Assembly

The Federal Government yesterday gave indications that it has reviewed downwards the budgetary provision for the State House in the 2017 fiscal year. Permanent Secretary in the State House Mr. Jalal Arabi, who gave this indication yesterday, explained that government has re-prioritised projects in its medical centre and suspended most of its capital expenditure proposals for 2017.
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Specifically, Arabi said the budget for the State House had been reviewed downward from N16.567 billion to N13.567 billion in the 2017 appropriation bill being debated by the National Assembly.

The permanent secretary disclosed this when ‎members of the House Committee on Special Duties led by Nasir Daura, made an oversight visit to the State House.‎

According to him, while the State House headquarters, State House medical centre and State House Lagos liaison office received releases, no release was ‎made for the office of the Chief of Staff and that of the Chief Security Officer to the President. Both releases were still pending.‎

Arabi also said the 2017 budget has become less ambitious than the 2016 appropriation adding that personnel, overhead and capital costs were minimally reviewed upwards.‎

“The state house estimates were all based on existing projects that are classified as ongoing and that are simply rolled over from the 2016 appropriation and so, have the potential of being reduced in case ‎additional releases are made for the projects before the end of the ‎extended implementation period (March 2017). There is therefore no newly conceived project for the 2017,” he explained.‎

According to him, “we have equally re-prioritised the State House Medical Centre projects, which were undergoing a review, hence the suspension of all the capital expenditure proposals for now. We shall however take ‎advantage of the supplementary budget widow when necessary.”He told the lawmakers that that it had received a total of N5.19 billion as capital release from its approved 2016 budget.

This, he said represents 47.5 per cent of the N10.94 billion of the presidency’s capital budget for the year, thus leaving a balance of N5.74 billion (52.5 per cent) yet to be released. ‎‎

Arabi further said that of the amount released, N4.8 billion (93.1 per cent) has so far been expended on the capital projects for which the funds were appropriated.

He further disclosed that all allocations for the 2016 recurrent expenditure have been received up to December, while the capital releases were made for three out of five subheads in the State ‎House budget.

Chairman of the committee said the House of Reps panel was in the villa to determine the level of implementation of the 2016 budget as well as on a fact-finding mission to inspect completed and ongoing projects at the State House.

According to him, this will help the correct the lack of adequate information or outright misinformation about State House, as well as to curb corruption and ensure that the country comes out of recession.

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Partnership between FG, Lagos State to breathe life into National Theatre

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National Theatre

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the partnership between the Federal Government and Lagos State Government on the renovation of the National Theatre will breathe life into the national edifice. Speaking after an inspection tour of the National Theatre in Lagos last Saturday, ahead of the renovation to be carried out by Lagos State, the minister described the theatre as a valuable national asset that cannot be allowed to become derelict.

According to him: “We are here today (Saturday) to take physical stock of what the Lagos State Government has offered to help us with – that is the rehabilitation of the National Theatre. I want to use the opportunity to express my gratitude and that of the Federal Government to the governor, the government and the people of Lagos State, who have graciously offered to assist to renovate the main bowl of the National Theatre, two cinema halls, the exhibition lobby and the banquet hall as part of the collaboration between the Federal Government and Lagos State, especially as the state turns 50 this year.”

Mohammed continued, “With the hand of friendship that the Lagos State Government has extended to us, we are very hopeful that we are going to get the main bowl, two cinema halls, the exhibition lobby and the banquet hall renovated and ready for the Lagos@50 celebration. The National Theatre is an asset we can boast of, and what we need to do is to bring it back to a working condition.”

Mohammed promised that after the renovation, the national edifice would not be allowed to go into a state of disrepair again.

“I know that the question on the lips of many people is that what happens after the renovation. But I want to assure Nigerians that it cannot be business as usual. The National Theatre now has a new management that is in tune with reality and we will simply not allow the National Theatre to degenerate to the level we met it today.”

The minister said Lagos State would benefit massively from the renovation of the theatre, ‘’because it is going to give the necessary impetus to the creative industry.”

In a related development, Mohammed, who also visited the demolished 190-year old Brazilian-style building known as Olojo Bar, said the Federal Government would not tolerate the destruction of national monuments anywhere in the country for whatever reason. Mohammed gave the assurance when he visited the site of a national monument on Sunday.

The building, which was acquired and gazetted, as a national monument by the Federal Government in 1956, was destroyed by some developers. The Federal Government and the developers have since instituted cases in court over the property.

According to Mohammed, “Because they wanted to develop this place, they have broken so many laws. Fortunately, this is a country of laws and we are ready to meet them in court and one thing I can assure you is that nobody can benefit from his own crime. I want to assure you that we will challenge them in court and we are going to get our reliefs and we will restore this building to its formal glory. We have the picture; we will rebuild it.”

Alhaji Mohammed said the monument, built by returnee slaves from Brazil, is unique because it chronicles the historical, cultural and social relationship between Nigeria and Brazil.

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