The 8th Senate resumed in Abuja on Tuesday with 81 senators  passing a vote of confidence in Senator Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and leadership of the Senate during the plenary. The vote of confidence followed a motion moved by Senator Sam Anyanwu (Imo East) at the resumption of the Senate from four weeks’ recess and supported by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West). The motion on the floor of the assembly amidst tight security was in obvious response to the investigations of Ekweremadu and the National Assembly bureaucracy over the allegations of forgery of Senate Standing Orders as well as recent moves by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to investigate Toyin, the wife of the Senate President. “Considering the sustained interference in the internal affairs of the senate by detractors and media propaganda against the senate and senators by selfish politicians, I therefore move to call on the senate...

There was pulpable panic last Friday at a prayer ground in Abuja as residents feared for the life of President Muhammadu Buhari  following his narrow escape from a mob action after prayers to mark the end of Muslims traditional 30days fasting, Buhari had during and immediately after the prayers been bombarded by the youths who almost overwhelmed the security, but he had to hold tight to his gown to get to his car. But responding to the incident when a delegation of the Muslim community in the Federal Capital territory, FCT paid him Eid-el Fitri homage at the villa , the President said his safety and security was in the hand of God and not mere mortals. He told his guests that during the encounter he was advised to enter the car from the ADC side and he refused adding that he went across trying to hold his hand to the wild youths who wanted to see him. “On an occasion like this, it shows that after what happened to President Ronald Reagan of the USA, it is only God almight...

As the tenure of Professor Attahiru Jega ,the chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission expired on Tuesday June 30, he has reportedly handed over to  Ambassador (Dr.) Ahmed Wali . Ambassador Wali becomes the new helmsman at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) so as not to create a vacuum in that office and pending a formal appointment of another chairman by the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Prof Jega is leaving the Commission after  the conduct of the 2015 general elections in the country which majority of Nigerians and the international community regarded as free and fair elections,and which resulted in an opposition party defeating a seating administration The new INEC boss,Dr. Wali is a graduate of the Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, where he studied Management and thereafter  went on to obtain an MBA from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Wali is known at the INEC headquarters as the right hand man of...

Barring any unforseen developments, Osun State now seems ready to have 66 local councils. This development followed the passage by the State House of Assembly on Wednesday of the bill to create 36 additional local council development authority. According to a statement which emanated from the Osun Assembly Speaker and made available to the media by his media aide, Mr. Goke Butika, on Wednesday, the lawmakers passed the bill to create the additional councils because of administrative convenience. The statement read in part, “Osun State House of Assembly has finally passed the law creating additional 31 local council development authorities, three Area councils and two administrative units. " “At a plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Najeem Salaam, the parliament explained that the creation of local governments, Area Councils and Administrative units became imperative in order to bring government closer to the grassroots. “The primary purpose of t...

The controversies surrounding the Osun State Governorship election has been put to rest finally as the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by Sen. Iyiola Omisore, challenging the Court of Appeal’s judgment, which affirmed Gov. Rauf Aregbesola’s election victory in Osun. Omisore, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the election held on August 9, 2014, had challenged Aregbesola’s victory at the Election Petition Tribunal, and lost. He had earlier appealed against the tribunal’s judgement at the Appeal Court but lost again as the court upheld the tribunal verdict. Not satisfied, Omisore approached the Supreme Court to set aside the Appeal Court’s judgement, claiming that there was miscarriage of justice in the process. He was however further proved wrong as the apex court’s panel of seven justices, in its judgement read by Justice Centus Nweze on Wednesday held that Omisore’s appeal was devoid of merit ...

The People's Democratic Party, PDP took Nigerians by surprise last Monday,as it  endorsed Former Minister of Defence, Haliru Mohammed  as the new acting chairman of the Party's Board of Trustees. Haliru Mohammed choice was made contrary to expectations and calculations within and outside the party that President Goodluck Jonathan would automatically evolve to become the new BOT chairman in accordance with an earlier recommendation by Tony Anenih. The endorsement of Haliru Mohammed, was made  at a meeting which held at the Aso Rock Presidential villa, in Abuja on Monday night, May 25. Haliru Mohammed had once served as chairman of the party as well as chairman of the team which organised Jonathan's declaration for Presidential reelection PDP had been engrossed in crisis following its abysmal outing in the 2015 general election resulting in former Chairman of the BOT, Tony Anenih, resigning as well as the party’s national chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, stepping do...

About eight people were killed and 26 others injured on Saturday when a female suicide bomber detonated an Improvised Explosive Device at the entrance of the Damaturu Central Motor Park in Yobe. The figure was given by the medical director of Sani Abacha General Hospital in Damaturu  Dr  Garba Fika Fika was  briefing Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam about the condition of the victims when he, (the governor) visited the victims whose figure he gave as  a total of 33 victims of bomb blast that occurred an hour ago. He said all of them sustained various degree of injuries, out of which seven are dead, while seven are under a very critical condition. ” We might refer those under critical condition to the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru and Federal Medical Centre Azare in Bauchi State respectively. ” Already, the Yobe State government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with these health institutions, in case of emergency of this nature, ” Fika said. Meanwh...

Kinsley Ku                                The Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, has said that he was not plotting to stay on as the head of the organisation after the end of the tenure of this administration on May 29.                                                                                                                                     Kuku,the special adviser to PresidentJonathan on Niger Delta, made the clarification following strident calls by some influential Niger Delta individuals and groups on ...

Barring any unforseen change of plan,the wife of the Vice President, Hajia Amina Sambo, has said that she would go back to the classroom to acquire more knowledge after the woeful loss of her husband's political party, the PDP at the last election on May 29. Hajia Sambo, a graduate of Political Science from the Bayero University, Kano, bared her mind while speaking at a ceremony organised in her honour by the Coalition of Nigerian Muslim Women at the National Mosque, Abuja. She used the opportunity of the event to apologize to womenfolk in the country to forgive all the shortcomings of the outgoing administration, assuring that as a private citizen she would always continue to support them. The CMWIN said they were honoring Hajia Amina and the wife of the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Hajia Aisha Mohammed, for their strive towards uplifting humanity. The group also applauded them for being pious and not allowing the demands of office to sway them from the right path.  Ha...

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, have unanimously rejected a motion seeking the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government. The rejection was sequel to a motion promoted on the floor of the house by  Hon Sunday Kareem PDP, Kogi entitled:’The recurring crisis of fuel subsidy’ which was quashed on arrival by members of the House. The lawmakers in turn swiftly and roundly condemned the motion, describing it as anti-people to remove fuel subsidy.

THE All Progressives Congress APC, has appointed embattled 73-year-old deputy governor of Ondo state, Alhaji Ali Olanusi who was impeached last week as a member of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the party. According to a letter issued and  signed by the secretary of APC's National Executive Committee, NEC, Hon. Mai Bala Buni. Buni ,Alhaji Olanusi’s appointment as a BoT member took effect from July 4, last year. The impeached deputy governor defected to the APC barely 24 hours to the last March 26,barely 24 hours to the 2015 Presidential and National Assembly elections which was squarely won by the APC across the country. He was however later impeached following allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him by the executive arm of government in Ondo State which the House of Assembly tried and found him guilty of. He has since been replaced by the former Commissioner for Agriculture  Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo. However, Olanusi by his new appointment as a member of the p...

President-elect General Buhari  By Goke Charles .  . The 2015 General Elections has held in Nigeria and the All Progressives Congress,APC's candidates recorded victory across board but it is an irony of life whist some are still basking on the euphoria of that victory, the situation of yet many others could be likened to the theory of monkey they work bamboo they chop. Prominent in this category is AJAKAYE, the wonderful songster who is behind the African most globally rated political theme song of the year, the APC Sai-BUHARI creative Theme Song who was discovered to still be eating from hand to mouth. Ajakaye was recently sighted on the street recently on the street sweating profusely in town while the DeeJays and other performers that mimic his song were heavily rewarded and paid whooping sums while some also smile to their banks. Penultimate weekend GOKE OLUWOLE, the egghead, and Editor In Chief of the ThePODIUMEDITOR.com pinned him...

The crises rocking the Ogun State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP may be far from being over as dramatist personnel  in the party have started to take themselves to the cleaners  in the public. An indication in this direction took place last  Tuesday between the senator-elect of Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu and the State Presidential campaign Co-ordinator, Prince Segun Seriki at the Nicon Hilton Hotel in Abuja . The two PDP politicians who were reportedly at the hotel for a political meeting threw caution to the wind and engaged each other in violent verbal intercation over President Jonathàn's N700million campaign funds to Ogun state during the last elections and how it was spent. It was further gathered the was a sort of show of shame as the two politicians uttered various unprintable words against each other in the open. Seriki, a former member of the Federal House of Representatives, who confirmed the incident which he described as unfortunate said ...

Lawmakers of the Kebbi State hous e of assembly have served the state governor, Alhaji Saidu Dakingari ,  with an impeachment notice for alleged gross misconduct . The 12 members had on Tuesday claimed to have impeached the Speaker, Mohammed Shalla and deputy, Mohammed Ja’afaru and subsequently installed a former Speaker, Habib Jega, who was impeached in a controversial manner in November 2014, as the new S peaker. They later made available to newsmen on Wednesday a signed notice in which they listed six impeachable offences against the governor. T he offences which they listed against the governo r are: * That Governor Sa’idu Dakingari committed grave violation of the provision of Section 5(1)(a) of the Kebbi State Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Bureau Law,2006 in that the Chairman of the Bureau is to be a retired civil servant, but the governor appointed a serving Permanent Secretary/Solicitor General of the State Ministry of jus...

Last-minute appointments at some federal government agencies by the outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan are now creating a stir and generating furore following what insiders describe as acts suggestive of suspicion. Two of the agencies affected, according to investigations are the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which is under the  Presidency, and the Voice of Nigeria (VON), supervised by the Ministry of Information. Investigations revealed that prominently cited as "stinking" in the administrations impunity is the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo which met recently and confirmed six acting directors as directors and also appointed two new ones in circumstances that are now raising dust following flagrant abuse of geopolitical balancing and equity. Equally generating discordant tunes and bad blood within the service, it was learnt, is the appointment of Sampson Worlu as director-general of VON as two un...

More than 500 people have been killed by a massive earthquake of 7.9 magnitude which hit large parts of Nepal on Saturday, according to the Indian government. Major tremors were felt for nearly a minute across large swathes of Northern India including Delhi rendering 14 people dead in Bihar and 40 children  injured after their school was damaged in Bengal's Malda town. This earthquake of magnitude 7.9 was the worst to hit Nepal in 80 years making the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to urgently convene a high-level with some of the country's ministers and top officials to assess the situation. Meanwhile , police deputy inspector general Kamal Singh Bam has given the number of the dead so far to be 597. Nepal's capital of Kathmandu has been left devastated with roads split open, and homes and iconic landmarks collapsed into rubble. Modi has in the aftermath of the earthquake appointed Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy to supervise events after the earthquake in stated bord...

President Goodluck Jonathan.  By Tunde Olowu. The Federal Government has on Wednesday clarified that President Goodluck Jonathan will hand over power to General Muhammad Buhari, Nigeria President elect on 29 May and not 28 May as previously reported. The Minister of Information, Mrs Patricia Akwashiki told journalists after  a meeting of the Federal Executive Council that President Jonathan will remain Nigeria’s President till  May 29,2015. ? Mrs Akwashiki explained that  she was misquoted in the statement attributed to her last week that President Jonathan will hand over power on May 28. Her purported statement as reported by several news media organisations in the country had attracted controversies especially within the circles of members of the  opposition All Progressives Congress, APC. The said handover date earlier announced is said to have almost pitched  the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.)against outgoing Presi...

By Tunde Olowu. President Goodluck Jonathan has announced the immediate sack of Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, the 17th indigenous IGP and appointed Mr Solomon Arase. a Deputy Inspector General to take over in acting capacity. Abba, an experienced officer in criminal investigation, intelligence led policing and crime fighting operations,who hails from Jigawa State has appointed by Jonathan on August 1,2014. A statement by Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati said Mr Solomon Arase,DIG Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department is to take over from him with immediate effect . The new Acting IGP holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Law, Political Science and Strategic Studies. It is not immediately clear why Mr Suleiman Abba was suddenly fired.barely spending one year in office and at the twilight of the Jonathan led administration having recently lost at a general election expected to grant him a second term in off...

Lovers and notorious consumers of a popular local gin, known as "Ogogoro" have been warned against its consumption for this period in Irele and environs following the death of about 20 persons mysteriously in the town. Dr Dayo Adeyanju,Ondo state Commissioner for Health,gave the warning while briefing reporters on updates about the mysterious disease and government actions to date. Adeyanju said the warning became necessary in view of the notoriety of the people of the southern senatorial zone of the state in the consumption of illicit gin and reports that the deceased victims had prior to their death consumed large quantity of the gin also known as ”404',. He based the government sensitisation and warning on suggestion that the victims may have died as a result of methanol poisoning. The strange disease starts with headache,blindness and leads to death.

The United States and United Kingdom have jointly revealed that  the “global spotlight is firmly fixed” on Nigeria’s  Presidential and National Assembly Elections scheduled to hold on March 28,this year... This duo nations disclosure was  contained in a joint statement by US Secretary of State, John Kerry and UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, issued in Abuja by Sean McIntosh, Spokesman, US Embassy. Kerry and Hammond, in an op-ed titled: “Global Spotlight is Firmly Fixed on Nigerian Elections” said there were good reasons why the international spotlight was firmly fixed on Nigeria. They noted that about 70 million Nigerian voters would be going to the polls to choose their leaders for the next four years and“Whether the victor is incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan or opposition challenger General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) is entirely for Nigerians to decide. “Around the globe, Nigeria’s friends will be united in hoping that the vote will be peaceful, tr...

The Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Engineer Tele Ikuru has dumped the All Progressives Congress, APC and crossed over to join the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Announcing his defection in Port Harcourt some few days to the 2015 Presidential Election, Ikuru said his defection was based on his discovery that the APC “is a party of rebels, insurgents and anarchists clothed in robes of pretence and deceit”. In the address of declaration of defection tagged “A call on the Conscience of the People of Rivers State, he explained that he joined and followed Governor Amaechi in December 2013 who he called his boss and friend  out of extreme loyalty to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) along with other then disillusioned Rivers People. Excerpts of Ikiru’s letter to the people stated,”Ever since, as the true nature and motives of APC are unveiled, I have continued to twist and turn in extreme mental and emotional agony. The more I struggle to belong,the more the Rivers ma...

The report of the National Conference which held its sitting in Abuja and submitted its deliberations to the President late last year has been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC)  for full implementation.   T he Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Anyim Pius Anyim, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing State House Correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting held in Abuja. According to the SGF, council’s decision follow ed  the recommendation by a committee  set up by President Goodluck Jonathan  which concluded that the report is implementable.  Mr Anyim, told the correspondents that “ this is the first leg of the Jonathan administration’s concrete steps in the implementation of the recommendations and resolutions of the conference. ” “ T he recommendations and resolutions that have implications for constitutional amendment  were advised to be  be transmitted to the National Assembly for enactment ...

The  hullaba loo over the use or otherwise of the card reader for the March 28 and Aril 11 elections in the country may afterall die a natural death as the card reader test conducted by theIndependent National Electoral Commission(INEC) in Lagos State  and some other states in the country have proved somewhat successful. The card reader test which held yesterday in designated states like Ekiti, Delta, Niger, Lagos saw a good number of  residents coming out with their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) for the mock accreditation exercise. The exercise was reported to have taken place smoothly  for some, within only a few minutes and they are done, while for others it took quite sometime before their thumb print could be recognised by the card reader. He added that some other persons from some other wards came    out to check if they could be accredited but the card reader rejected the cards with an “OPC m essage which means Other Polling...

Musiliu Obanikoro        Yoruba Students have condemned in strong terms the defiant stand of the All Progressives Congress (APC) South West lawmakers who have vowed to resist their fellow kinsman, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro a Ministerial nominee from scaling through the National Assembly screening. The Yoruba Students   under the aegis of the   National Association of Oodua Students   [NAOS]   dissociated themselves   from   the attitude   put forward by some   Yoruba   APC   lawmake rs at the National Assembly   which they described as   an   embarrassment   to  the Yoruba  race. NAOS   members   also   questioned   why   the   SouthWest   lawmakers   would   neglect their   primary assignments   and abandon   the mandate freely   given to them   by the electorates so that the masses ...