Gist Arena

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on assumption of office, vowed to leave no stone unturned to raise the standard of living of Enugu State people, following the blistering goodwill he enjoyed during the electioneering campaigns. In the same vein, Ugwuanyi, last Monday, at Nike-Lake Resort Hotel,venue of the Federal Government organized Town Hall Meeting for political,religious,judicial,civil society,socio-cultural groups,charged President Muhammad Buhari to redeem his campaign promises to the people of Enugu. Accompanied to the Town Hall Meeting by members of the State Executive Council, the governor revealed that the appeal became imperative, following the sustained poor power supply in the country.  Ugwuanyi said the situation was discouraging investments even as he urged the Federal Government to make substantial investment in the Ugwuoba Gas Field in Oji River Local Government of the state. His words: “I recall the President’s campaign promise to revive the coal min...

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, speaks with  JOHN ALECHENU  about his recent return to the All Progressives Congress, the anti-graft war, and how Peoples Democratic Party leaders approached him recently to be the party’s national chairman Y ou  recently returned to the All Progressives Congress, a political party you participated in founding. Why did you leave in the first place? I joined politics during the 2010/ 2011 elections. By 2014, we were actively engaged; we almost succeeded in setting up the All Progressives Congress. At that time, I decided to go back home and start my politics at the local level in Adamawa State. Like they say, ‘all politics is local’ and it makes sense for you to concentrate at the local level for you to see how you will build your political career. I paid more attention to that. In 2014, a lot of people moved into the APC after it was formed. Some of us who formed the party, opened the ga...

A French gymnast, 26 year old Samir Ait Said broke his leg and the sound of the leg snapping was audible from down on the floor to up in the rafters. The next sound was a collective gasp from the crowd, then a groan, then silence. Said collapsed after he landed and broke his leg during a vault training on Saturday, his left tibia broke on impact and his leg twisted grotesquely away from his thigh. After he landed, he grabbed his leg and covered his face with his right hand while trainers surrounded him for several minutes. A wheelchair was rolled out to the side of the mat where he lay but he couldn't use any of those items, he was strapped to a stretcher and carried off as sympathetic fans cheered. French coach Denis Charlieux said that Said had been taken to the hospital and that they were waiting for further information from doctors. He called the day “a nightmare.” He said: “It’s so hard to deal with something like ...

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed as malicious a statement linking him to the militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks on oil facilities as well as employees of oil companies in the Niger Delta. A splinter group, Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA), which recently split from the NDA, had issued a statement earlier today alleging that former President Jonathan was the “grand patron” of the violent group, NDA. Speaking briefly to our correspondent from Zambia, where he is scheduled to monitor elections next week, Mr. Jonathan dismissed the list released by Cynthia Whyte, an alias for the spokesman of RNDA. Former President Jonathan said he would soon issue a formal statement, but clarified that he was in no way tied to the NDA. Asked if President Muhammadu Buhari had invited him to help broker peace in the oil-producing zone, Mr. Jonathan said he had received no formal request from his su...

A group that recently split from Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), a militant organization that has claimed responsibility for bombing numerous oil facilities, has claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan was the grand patron of the NDA. In a statement issued today by Cynthia Whyte, an alias for a male spokesman, the splinter group also named several former and serving governors as sponsors of the Niger Delta Avengers. Those named as “sponsors” included Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Seriaki Dickson of Bayelsa. Mr. Whyte also identified Senator Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, ex-militant turned contractor, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), Raymond Dokpesi, the founder of African Independent Television (AIT), the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Kingsley Kuku, Kimi Angozi, and Patrick Akpobolokemi as other sponsors. The splinter group, which renamed itself Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA), had recently decla...