Gist Arena

PDP Chieftain Atoza Ihindan was shot dead last week Friday July 17th by unknown gunmen. Right is the scene of the incident with the late Atoza slumped on a chair after he was shot dead. Read his son's press statement on the unfortunate incident after the cut...

Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike says if President Buhari was really serious about his fight against corruption, he must start by probing the administration of former Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi. The governor gave the charge in a statement released and signed by his special adviser on media and publicity Opunabo Inko-Tariah today July 26th. The governor added that an appointment of Rotimi Amaechi by Buhari will be an endorsement of corruption .. “If Buhari is sincere in his fight against corruption, let him probe the Amaechi’s government and he will discover that there cannot be a government official that is more corrupt than Amaechi. From the genesis to revelation of his government, Amaechi’s fiscal recklessness and dictatorial policies and approaches are responsible for the financial woes of the state that should ordinarily be buoyant. A man like Amaechi must not be allowed to flaunt the fruits of his crime with impunity. He has to account for the monthly ...

APC fires back at PDP's statement. Read below...  The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the PDP as a party cannot provide any worthwhile opposition to the APC-led Federal Government if its spokesman continues to issue convoluted and fustian statements just so that he can be in the news. Today’s statement is the most tortuous yet by the PDP and, honestly, sounds more like a compendium of beer parlour gossips and side talks than a serious criticism of a sitting government,” the APC said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. ”To be in opposition does not mean you have to constitute yourself to a nuisance by rushing to the press with all sorts of hot air statements. It is the quality, rather than the frequency, of your interventions that makes you relevant as an opposition in a democracy,” the party said It said that in the light of the above, the APC will not dignify the latest in a series of confused...

The Nigerian army today released photos of burnt cars and weapons seized form Boko Haram members after it recaptured of Dikwa town in Borno state today last week. Continue to see more photos...

There was a fire incident at the pool side in Cosmopolitan Hotel, Las Vegas hours ago. Here are some pictures from before & after the incident. More when you continue...

Below is the full text of a press conference addressed by PDP national secretary, Oliseh Metuh today July 26th. PDP alleges that the APC government has had no direction since they assumed power  Gentlemen of the press, we have once again called you up to address a number of very important issues constituting a threat to our democracy, the general health of our nation and our welfare as citizens under the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration. Last Thursday, our dear President, President Muhammadu Buhari returned from his much-publicised visit to the United States of America. A visit which has proven to be anything but successful, yet another miscarried cosmetic intervention to hide government’s inefficiency and inability to face the real business of governance. As a responsible political party, committed to peace and the stability of our dear nation, the PDP restrained itself from embarrassing the President by not raising, while he was in the States, issues...

Following the press statement by the Kwara State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in which it stated that its petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led to the invitation of wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Toyin Saraki , the national headquarters has directed the state chapter to disclaim the statement. A highly ranked member of the party, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the national headquarters of the party called immediately the story was published by major newspapers and blogs online. In a statement early today, the party’s publicity secretary, Rex Olawoye, was quoted as revealing how the petition the party submitted in early 2015 to the EFCC detailing how certain individuals in high places during the tenure of Saraki as Kwara State governor milked the state dry, was instrumental to the invitation of the former first lady of the state by the anti-graft agency. According to the petition, Mrs Saraki was...

Medical Students of the Benue State University, Makurdi, have deposited the coffin of their dead colleague at the office of the Vice-Chancellor in protest. SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that the deceased, Idoko Nicholas Inalegwu, died in controversial circumstances after receiving the news of his withdrawal after spending 10 years in medical school. Idoko was withdrawn for failing a re-sit. A student, who spoke to one of our correspondents on telephone on condition of anonymity, said they believed that Idoko took his life because he could not bear the news that his 10 years in medical was in vain. “He had been talking about it; that he wished he died a painless death; that the school had finished him. There is nowhere in the world that a medical student is withdrawn after spending 10 years,” he said. The student said the students had complained about the manner in which examinations were conducted, where re-sits were prolonged for up to one year, as against th...

The latest cross-dressing transvestite Boko Haram terrorists have just been killed along the Maiduguri-Damaturu road. This happened around 7pm Sunday evening. The man dressed in full female Islamic garb with hijab was gunned down by vigilant Nigerian security men in operation Lafiya Dole along with another terrorist driver in their four wheel drive. His hand bag was discovered to hold mixed contraptions of bombs and RPG head and other bomb material. Earlier today a 10 year old bomb strapped girl was detonated at the gate of a Sunday market in Damaturu, Yobe State, killing 16 innocent victims and injuring over 50. The blasted Jeep and terrorist bag as well as the dead terrorists’ pictures are below:

The Nigeria Police have concluded their probe into the forgery of the Senate Standing Order and given a copy of the report to President Muhammadu Buhari,SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively report. The President received a copy of the report last week, a highly reliable source in the presidency told one of our correspondents on Saturday. The Police report confirmed that the Standing Rules used to inaugurate the 8th Assembly were forged, our source said. In the report, the Police recommended the prosecution of those found culpable of forging the orders, which had been used in the controversial election of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on June 9, 2015. The report was said to have indicted the management of the National Assembly, especially the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa and recommended the prosecution of the suspects. Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi (All Progressives Congress, Kaduna State), th...

The Peoples Democratic Party has debunked claims that the ruling All Progressives Congress and one of its national leaders, Bola Tinubu, were behind the ongoing investigation of the wife of the President of the Senate, Toyin Saraki, for corruption. PREMIUM TIMES had on Wednesday exclusively reported the invitation, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, of Mrs. Saraki, who was the first lady of Kwara between 2003 and 2011, in relation to alleged questionable inflow of funds into companies in which she has interest. But shortly after that news broke, a group of senators loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki, under the aegis of ‘Like Minds,’ questioned the investigation, expressing concerns that the probe might be politically-motivated and suggesting that the leadership of the APC might be hounding Mrs. Saraki as a way of getting at her husband. Mr. Saraki has been locked in battle with the leadership of the ruling party over his emergence as senate president ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally revealed what will be the fate of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, saying the national oil company will be divided into two successor entities under his administration. The President, who stated this in an interview with journalists in Washington DC during a four-day visit to the United States, an extract of which was made available to Saturday PUNCH, explained that the decision would form one of the key steps of his reform of the country’s oil and gas sector. The NNPC is considered a cesspool of corruption and fraud signposted by the non-remission of revenues from oil sale to the Federation Account. Hence, one of the first reform moves by All Progressives Congress –led administration is expected to start at the NNPC. There had been insinuations that Buhari would unbundle the NNPC into four companies but the President, in the Washington interview, said rather than breaking the NNPC into four companies, it would be d...