Thursday, 16 July 2015

Emeka Ike denies divorce

13:14 16/07/2015
Lagos - Actor Emeka Ike  is insisting that his marriage is intact, and has denied divorce rumors, reports Vanguard

The actor denied that he was a wife beater and denied that his wife had filed for divorce.

 Emeka Ike’s wife had  allegedly filed for divorce and that the case will be coming up on the 22nd  July.
The actor described the rumour as unfounded, blaming it on those who are envious of his marriage.

Read more at Vanguard

Thursday, 9 July 2015

PDP warns APC to stop intimidating Ekweremadu

17:50 08/07/2015
Abuja - Chairmen of state chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop the unnecessary intimidation and harassment of the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, reports PM News.

The Chairmen in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja vowed to mobilize members of the party across the country to resist any further attempt to harass and intimidate Ekweremadu,

Emmanuel Agbo, Chairman of Conference of PDP States Chairmen, who signed the statement of behalf of his colleagues called on the APC to accept the outcome of the election of the presiding officers of both chambers of the National Assembly in good faith and concentrate on giving Nigerians the change they promised them devoid of complaint.

He noted that Ekweremadu election as Deputy Senate President despite the fact that he does not belong to the APC is as a result of Ekweremadu's outstanding performance in the previous sessions of the Senate.
Read more at PM News.

NLC commends FG over bailout of states

07:50 09/07/2015
Abuja - The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has commended the Federal Government for the release of N714 billion as bailout fund to state governors to clear the backlog of salaries owed to workers.

This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja and signed by Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, the General Secretary of the congress.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday approved the release of N714 billion intervention fund to state governments to pay the arrears of workers’ salaries.

"We would want to register our appreciation to the Government of the Federation for releasing intervention fund to the states.

"This intervention, no doubt, is a gesture that will go a long way in enabling the states to discharge their obligations to the citizenry.

"It will be recalled that in our submission to the Presidential Transition Committee, we had made the point that Mr President needed to intervene in resolving the issue of backlog of salaries.

"We are happy that President Muhammadu Buhari has made this happen."
It said that the labour movement was happy that the intervention included all states and not only those owing workers as "this would have been tantamount to rewarding profligacy".

The statement said that the intervention could be appropriately viewed within the prism of legitimacy and normal duty of sharing.

It said it was worth pointing out that it was one thing to disburse funds to the states; it was another thing to ensure that the funds were appropriately applied.

NLC, therefore, urged the president to bring the full weight of his office to bear on the governors in order to ensure that the funds disbursed were well applied.

The statement also said that as a matter of priority, the Federal Government should pay the full arrears of salaries and pensions owed workers and retirees.

It said that NLC would ensure that the its state councils across the country monitored the disbursement and utilisation of the fund.

The statement stressed that the NLC would ensure that any reported case of misapplication elicits an appropriate response from the congress.

NLC commends FG over bailout of states

07:50 09/07/2015
Abuja - The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has commended the Federal Government for the release of N714 billion as bailout fund to state governors to clear the backlog of salaries owed to workers.

This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja and signed by Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, the General Secretary of the congress.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday approved the release of N714 billion intervention fund to state governments to pay the arrears of workers’ salaries.

"We would want to register our appreciation to the Government of the Federation for releasing intervention fund to the states.

"This intervention, no doubt, is a gesture that will go a long way in enabling the states to discharge their obligations to the citizenry.

"It will be recalled that in our submission to the Presidential Transition Committee, we had made the point that Mr President needed to intervene in resolving the issue of backlog of salaries.

"We are happy that President Muhammadu Buhari has made this happen."
It said that the labour movement was happy that the intervention included all states and not only those owing workers as "this would have been tantamount to rewarding profligacy".

The statement said that the intervention could be appropriately viewed within the prism of legitimacy and normal duty of sharing.

It said it was worth pointing out that it was one thing to disburse funds to the states; it was another thing to ensure that the funds were appropriately applied.

NLC, therefore, urged the president to bring the full weight of his office to bear on the governors in order to ensure that the funds disbursed were well applied.

The statement also said that as a matter of priority, the Federal Government should pay the full arrears of salaries and pensions owed workers and retirees.

It said that NLC would ensure that the its state councils across the country monitored the disbursement and utilisation of the fund.

The statement stressed that the NLC would ensure that any reported case of misapplication elicits an appropriate response from the congress.

NLC commends FG over bailout of states

07:50 09/07/2015
Abuja - The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has commended the Federal Government for the release of N714 billion as bailout fund to state governors to clear the backlog of salaries owed to workers.

This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja and signed by Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, the General Secretary of the congress.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday approved the release of N714 billion intervention fund to state governments to pay the arrears of workers’ salaries.

"We would want to register our appreciation to the Government of the Federation for releasing intervention fund to the states.

"This intervention, no doubt, is a gesture that will go a long way in enabling the states to discharge their obligations to the citizenry.

"It will be recalled that in our submission to the Presidential Transition Committee, we had made the point that Mr President needed to intervene in resolving the issue of backlog of salaries.

"We are happy that President Muhammadu Buhari has made this happen."
It said that the labour movement was happy that the intervention included all states and not only those owing workers as "this would have been tantamount to rewarding profligacy".

The statement said that the intervention could be appropriately viewed within the prism of legitimacy and normal duty of sharing.

It said it was worth pointing out that it was one thing to disburse funds to the states; it was another thing to ensure that the funds were appropriately applied.

NLC, therefore, urged the president to bring the full weight of his office to bear on the governors in order to ensure that the funds disbursed were well applied.

The statement also said that as a matter of priority, the Federal Government should pay the full arrears of salaries and pensions owed workers and retirees.

It said that NLC would ensure that the its state councils across the country monitored the disbursement and utilisation of the fund.

The statement stressed that the NLC would ensure that any reported case of misapplication elicits an appropriate response from the congress.

Electoral officers maintain governorship election credible in Enugu

07:50 09/07/2015
Enugu - The 17 electoral officers involved in the April 11 governorship election in Enugu State have maintained that it was 'credible, free and fair'.

They told the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu on Wednesday that the election was not marred by irregularities as alleged by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Electoral Officer for Aninri Local Government Area, Eric Ani, said that the election was conducted in line with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines and regulations.
“When I received the election materials, sensitive and non-sensitive, I distributed them to the various polling units in the local government area,” he said.

“The card readers were used for accreditation of voters before the commencement of voting and those wards that had problems with their card readers were taken care of.

“When I got information from the presiding officers that the card readers were malfunctioning, I immediately deployed the ICT officer sent to us from the head office to address the problems,” he said.

Ani denied tampering with the election result from the area, adding that he returned all the materials used for the election to the INEC headquarters in Enugu.

He submitted that the scores awarded to the political parties were lawful votes, pointing out that all the party agents were present during accreditation, voting, counting and announcement of results.

The electoral officer said the number of votes cast was not higher than the number of accredited voters except those with special cases in which incident forms were used.

“Our records and documentation showed that there are some cases of people whose finger prints were rejected by the card reader and incident form was issued to them,” he said.

The Electoral Officer for Igboeze South, Hyacinth Nwoba, who corroborated the submissions of Ani, said that apart from the problems encountered by the card readers, the governorship election was free, fair and peaceful.

Meanwhile, the counsel to APC, George Ogara, stopped the cross examination midway and urged the court to order the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Professor Chukwuemeka Onukogu, to provide all the materials used for the election.

The tribunal gave the party two hours to produce the REC.
The APC requested the tribunal to allow it to cross-examine all the 17 electoral officers on their conduct of the election.

Terrorist attacks: Army confirms arrest of mastermind

07:50 09/07/2015
Abuja - The Nigerian Army on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of the mastermind of the two recent bomb and gun attacks in Jos and Zaria towns of Plateau and Kaduna states, respectively.

The confirmation is contained in a statement signed by the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, and made available in Abuja.

It said the suspect, in company of two other persons were arrested at a checkpoint in Dadin Kowa town of Gombe state while attempting to flee.

The statement said their arrest was made possible following a security cordon of the general areas especially along the volatile areas on the North Eastern axis.

It said the security cordon which led to the arrest of the suspects was conducted by troops of 3 Division, Special Task Force and the Department of State Services.

"The terrorist kingpin and his colleagues who disguised in a trailer while trying to evade checks were fished out by troops of Nigerian Army.

"The arrested terrorists are currently being processed for further action and would soon face the full wrath of the law," the statement quoted the army spokesman as saying.

The statement urged the general public to be more vigilant, security conscious and report any suspicious persons, movements and facilities to security agencies.

On Sunday, July 5, suspected Boko Haram terrorists carried out coordinated bomb and gun attacks on worshippers at Yan Taya mosque, Dilimi Street, Jos.

Another attack was unleashed on Shagalinku Restaurant, along Bauchi Road, Jos, which led to death of over 48 persons, injuring several other persons and destruction of property.

A similar attack was executed by suspected terrorists on workers undergoing verification exercise at Sabon Gari local government secretariat, Zaria, which claimed more than 25 lives.