Obi Kingz Blog

The Federal Ministry of Education has advised students to stay clean and resist any pressure to use substances to enhance their performances during sporting activities. The Permanent Secretary, Mr. Sonny Echono gave the advice at the 99th annual inter-house sports competition of the King’s College, Lagos, Echono, who was represented by the Director, Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Lami Amodu, said the spirit of competitiveness is expected at every sporting event, adding that there could therefore be pressure on contestants to go against their friends in such competitions. He sports should promote discipline, team spirit and healthy rivalry, as well as promote national and international peace, understanding and cooperation. “It is in line with the foregoing reasons that the Federal Ministry of Education has continued to encourage sporting activities such as the one we are witnessing here today. “Here, your character will b...

Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that the increasing incidence of inconclusive polls has dented Nigeria’s evolving democratic culture Every season of political activities gives nuances to existing words and throws up new phrases. In Nigeria’s contemporary history of politics, the June 12, 1993 Presidential election popularised the word ‘annulment’. In the current Fourth Republic, the word ‘inconclusive’ has been reintroduced into the political lexicon. Inconclusive gained a new acceptance last year in the governorship election in Osun State, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared that there was no clear winner after the first round of ballot. Since then, the word has gained notoriety. Many political pundits had predicted that the recently concluded presidential election may be declared inconclusive because of the envisaged keen contest. Though the presidential election escaped the ridiculous dispositio...

Family members of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people were to visit the site of the accident on Wednesday, an official said. Asrat Begashaw, Head of Public Relations at Ethiopian Airlines, said embassy officials from various nations would accompany the families on the grim trip to the scene where human remains are still being gathered. “What we have collected so far is stored in freezers but there are plans to move them to hospitals. DNA work has not started yet,” Begashaw said. Meanwhile, officials have yet to decide where to send the retrieved black box for investigation into why the Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down on Sunday shortly after take-off for Nairobi. “There is no decision made yet on where to send it. What we can say is we don’t have the capability to probe it here in Ethiopia,’’ Begashaw said. The crash, which was the second deadly accident involving that model of Boeing in several...

A Federal High Court Lagos, Wednesday, fixed April 12, to hear oral evidence in a suit by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seeking final forfeiture of about 8.4 million dollars, and N7.4 billion linked to former first Lady, Patience Jonathan. Justice Mojisola Olatoregun had in a ruling delivered on Feb.28, on the motion for final forfeiture, held that there were conflicting affidavit evidences, which could be best resolved if respective parties were called upon to give oral evidence. The case was consequently, adjourned until March 13 (today) for oral evidences. On Wednesday, the case could not proceed as earlier scheduled , while April 12 has been fixed as return date. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the EFCC had secured an interim order for forfeiture of the sums on April 20, 2018, before Olatoregun, following a motion ex parte. It joined as respondents: Patience Jonathan, Globus Inte...

Bukola Saraki The Senate on Tuesday agreed to debate the general election held on February 23 and March 9 across the country at its next legislative sitting. This was sequel to a motion raised by Senator Dino Melaye (PDP Kogi West) via Order 42 for the Senate to discuss happenings during the recent polls in the counrty. Melaye said the debate of the issues surrounding election dates will be devoid of political learnings “but will be robust debate by the Senate on what happened during the elections and for the President to be advised accordingly”. Although there were grumblings among APC Senators on the motion but the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, ruled that the debate on the elections will be taken during the next legislative sitting of the Senate.

The Kaduna state government has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in Kajuru and parts of Chikun Local Government Areas of the state. There had been growing tension in the affected areas following the invasion and massive killings in rural communities by gunmen suspected to be fulani herdsmen. It was gathered that no fewer than 83 people had been killed in three communities in Kajuru Local Government Area since Sunday following the attacks. Some of the communities that came under the deadly attack since Sunday, according to Danladi Yarima, a lawyer and former President of the Adara Development Association (ADA), include Anguwan Barde, Anguwan Gamu and Kyamara village among others. He said in Anguwan Barde, which was attacked on Sunday, 35 people were killed, although the police said 16 were killed. Yarima said in Anguwan Anguwan Gamu which was attacked on Monday, 46 people were killed with several others still missing while in Kyamara village w...

Six All Progressives Congress (APC) governors – Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa) Tuesday in Abuja held a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari over inconclusive governorship elections declared by INEC in six states. The meeting, said to be initiated by el-Rufai, it was learnt, was aimed at mapping out strategies to save four APC governors and two governorship candidates of the party walking the tight rope following the declarations of inconclusive elections in their respective states. The affected governors are Bindowo Jubrilla (Adamawa), Ibrahim Ganduje (Kano), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi) and Simon Lalong (Plateau). In the two other states of Sokoto and Benue, two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, Aminu Tambuwal and Samuel Ortom, respectively, who had dumped the APC for opposition PDP last year, are already...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed March 23 for supplementary elections to conclude the process and make a return in the governorship elections in states where polls were declared inconclusive. The electoral body had declared governorship election in Adamawa, Sokoto, Benue, Bauchi, Kano and Plateau states inconclusive. A statement Tuesday by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye, said, “the Commission will conduct supplementary elections on Saturday 23rd March 2019 to conclude the process.”

Nigeria’s provisional Balance of Payments (BOP) estimates for the fourth quarter (Q4 2018) showed a significant improvement as it recorded a surplus of $2.80 million, compared to the huge deficit of $4.542 billion recorded the preceding quarter, according to a report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It had also recorded a surplus of $6.180 billion in the corresponding period of 2017. The apex bank disclosed this in its “Brief on Balance of Payments Statistics for Fourth Quarter 2018,” released yesterday. A balance of payments surplus meant that Nigeria exported more than it imported during the period under review. Continuing, the report also showed that the country’s current account balance (CAB) improved from a deficit of $1.544 billion in Q3 2018, to a surplus of $1.104 billion in period under review. The financial account balance indicated a net acquisition of financial assets of $2.328 billion in the review period as against a net i...

Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen The trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, was yesterday stalled at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in Jabi, Abuja, due to sudden sickness he was said to have developed. Onnoghen is being prosecuted by the federal government on a six-count charge bordering on failure to declare some of his assets as required by the code of conduct for public office holders. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted bail on self-recognition. At Monday’s proceedings (less than 48hrs ago), CCT’s Chairman, Danladi Umar, ordered that Onnoghen’s trial would be on a day-to-day basis in line with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 that aims at speedy prosecution of criminal matters. However, at the resumed hearing yesterday, Onnoghen was absent in court for the trial. His lead counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo SAN, explained to...

Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika More countries ground Boeing 737 MAX 8 Boeing promises to update flight control system The federal government will continue to ensure the safety of air travellers in the country, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) have assured Nigerians, saying since the country does not have any Boeing 737 Max 8 on its register, there is no cause for concern over the recent crash of the aircraft in Ethiopia. The assurances were given against the background of concerns being raised over last Sunday’s crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 owned by Ethiopian Airlines, killing all 157 persons on board. The airline and Ethiopia had immediately grounded the remaining aircraft type in its fleet. More countries yesterday joined Ethiopia, Indonesia, China and Camay Island to ground the operations of the Boeing 737MAX8. According to BBC, the UK’s Civil Aviation Au...

House members mourn slain colleague The Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has hinted that the leadership of the 9the Assembly will be decided by the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). As mark of respect for Hon Temitope Olatoye, representing Lagelu/Akinleye constituency of Oyo State, who was shot dead last Saturday in his state during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections, the House of Representatives which reconvened yesterday adjourned till today. Gbajabiamila gave the hint immediately after a meeting of the APC caucus held at Room 1, House of Representatives wing of the National Assembly. He said the issue of the next leadership was not yet in the front burner among members of his party, and gave assurances that APC members will abide by any position taken by the party leadership. “We are not focused on that right now. It is very importa...

Yemi Osinbajo Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will serve as the chairman of the Policies, Programmes and Projects Audit Committee approved by President Muhammadu Buhari to be inaugurated Friday. Mr Olusegun Adekunle, the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja. Adekunle also said that the Deputy Chief of Staff to the president would serve as the secretary of the committee. He said that members of the committee are the Chief of Staff to the President, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Minister of Budget and National Planning and the Minister of Finance. Other members are the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Agriculture and ...

The expected re-appointment of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has caused confusion among Nigerians. While reports by some online medium claimed that the CBN Governor has been sacked, sources in the CBN reportedly refuted 

Atiku Abubakar •Inaugurates legal team to challenge result •EFCC arrests son-in-law • Former military president advises Buhari to heed cry for restructuring In an apparent reference to the arrest of his son-in-law by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in penultimate Saturday’s election and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said neither intimidation nor blackmail will make him “mortgage the mandate of Nigerians as freely expressed” at the polls on February 23. Atiku stated this in a statement yesterday in Abuja by his media adviser, Mr. Paul Ibe. Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi, who is finance director of Atiku’s group of companies, was arrested in Abuja. The former vice president’s declaration also came against the backdrop of rumours allegedly sponsored by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the presidency that he was prepared to back down fro...