Gist Arena

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has signed the 2017 appropriation bill into law. Mr. Osinbajo signed the budget at about 4:40 p.m. on Monday inside his conference room in the presence of the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari; Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Ministers and other top government officials. The total budget figure signed is put at N 7.44 trillion. Mr. Osinbajo said his signing of the budget was a milestone in the implementation of the economic and growth plan programme put in place by Mr. Buhari in April. He said the processes of putting the budget in place had been smoother than that of 2016 with no allegations of errors. “There were far few cases of acrimony unlike in the past. There is no doubt at all that our democracy is maturing very well,” he said. The National Assembly passed the 2017 Appropriations Bill on May 10 after raising from the N7...

Following the recent agitations for the creation of Biafra by some Nigerians of Igbo extraction and the quit notice given to Igbos by the Arewa Youths coalition in the Northern region, the pan Yoruba group, O’odua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC), has called for the creation of Oodua republic for Yorubas in the South West region of the country. The group which is made up of 18 Pan Yoruba groups including the Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC), Oodua Liberation Movement, (OLM), Oodua Republic Coalition, (ORC), Yoruba Revolutionary Congress, (YORC), Oodua Muslim-Christian Dialogue Group , (OMDG), Yoruba Students Nationalist Front, (YOSNF), Oodua Hunters Union, (OHUN) and 11 other groups, made the call in a statement released and signed by its leaders namely Oluwole Suleimann, Michael Popoola, and Mrs. Aduke Fadahunsi. According to ONAC, it has become necessary for the Yoruba's to have their own republic following the unending problems and conflict around the true le...

Following the receipt of a full brief on the 2017 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly, and to buttress the unity at the highest level of government, President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated that it is in the interest of the nation's economy for the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to sign the Appropriation Bill into law. In a letter dated June 10, 2017, which he personally signed and addressed to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the President also said he was "pleased by the joint resolution that the Executive would submit next year's budget proposals by October 2017 and the National Assembly will conclude the Appropriation process by December 2017, so that the country can return to a normal fiscal period from next year onwards." GARBA SHEHU Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) June 12, 2017.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is set to sign the 2017 budget into law. The signing ceremony will take place in the conference room of the Vice President’s office in the Presidential villa Abuja by 4p.m. Mr. Osinbajo is currently in Awka, Anambra State. However, the venue of the signing ceremony is already being prepared ahead of his return.

Given the Igbo predicament, and in the view that the people are said to be of Jewish ancestry, it might then be roundly apt to ask: Did the Igbo kill Jesus Christ to appear so cursed to deserve the self-inflicted marginalisation they are going through? That is, what other omen could warrant that the well-known “Igbo sense” would never be used for the collective interest of my people? The early part of June 2017 saw Arewa youth issue a “Quit Notice” to the Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. This followed the 50-year anniversary of the Biafran war, where both friends and foes of Biafra took turn to tell their stories with objective emphasis on the Igbo. After a careful analysis, it has been easy to dismiss the entire anniversary exercise as orchestrated by the politicians as busy doing something very close to nothing. Thus, I am prompted to ask: Did the Igbo kill Jesus? The Igbo people need no introduction. Though their population is unknown, the Igbo are everywhere. ...

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said Nigerians are desperate to know more about his regime. Jonathan was speaking in reaction to a new book by his former aide, Reno Omokri. Omokri captured important events in the last administration in ‘Facts versus fiction: The true story of the Jonathan years, Chibok, 2015 and the conspiracies’. The book is already an Amazon bestseller. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Jonathan said the book has emerged a bestseller on the global platform because “Nigerians are hungry for the truth”. “In a mere 24 hours, a book on my administration, Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, Chibok, 2015 and the Conspiracies, became a worldwide #9 bestseller and the #1 trending topic in Lagos, Abuja and the entire nation of Nigeria,” he wrote. The book was 23rd in the ‘politics and social sciences’ category on Amazon on Saturday. It has now risen to 11th on the same category. Source: Daily Po...

President Muhammadu Buhari will not return to Nigeria from his medical leave in the UK anytime soon, according to Reuters Africa. Presidency sources initially said their principal will return last Saturday, but that was not the case. The report claims Buhari’s doctors have to carry out a test on him on Monday and the results will determine when he will return to Nigeria. His wife, Aisha, travelled to the UK on May 30 to see the President, who has been out of the country since May 7 for further medical check-ups. “My husband is recovering fast. And very soon, he will return to the country to resume his official duties,” she said on arrival. Officials have refused to disclose details of his health condition.

Pope Francis has laid down an ultimatum to defiant Nigerian priests: lose your job if you don’t obey me and your bishop. According to a report by Associated Press, Pope Francis met June 8 at the Vatican with a delegation from the Ahiara diocese, south-east Nigeria where priests have been refusing to accept the 2012 appointment by the then pontiff, Benedict XVI, of the local bishop. The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, reporting the pope’s unusually harsh order, said on Sunday that Francis was acting “for the good of the people of God” by threatening to suspend the priests from the ministry if they didn’t pledge in a letter, by July 9, “total obedience” to Francis and accept Bishop Peter Okpaleke’s appointment. Mr. Francis told the visiting delegation he was “very sad” about the priests’ refusal to obey and ruled out tribal loyalties as explaining the refusal. Africa has been one of the continents where the Catholic church is growing. The faithfu...

Nigeria’s controversial US trained journalist, Kemi Olunloyo, has revealed how she got married in prison. Kemi was recently released from a Port Harcourt prison after spending 81 days in detention. Recall that the daughter of former governor of Oyo State, Victor Omololu Olunloyo, was remanded in prison for purportedly publishing materials believed to have defamed an influential cleric, Pastor David Ibiyeomie, of the Salvation Ministries in Port Harcourt. In a message she shared on her Instagram page, the journalist wrote… “I GOT MARRIED LIKE I PROMISED TO IN 2017. Yes I got MARRIED to someone in prison. “This is my FIRST SUNDAY away from #PHMax prison. I lean towards Catholism and Islam which I grew up in and attended the Catholic church inside the prison. “There are up to 4 churches and a mosque in there plus the Pentecostal churches that visits inmates weekly and bring us the word of God and provisions. “I became a bible reader “The same bible I...

Most wanted kidnapper, Chukwudi Dumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, who was arrested in Lagos was behind the kidnap attempt on prominent transporter and owner of Young Shall Grow Motors, Chief Vincent Obianodo.  Evans, a native of Umudim, in Nnewi, Anambra State was arrested at his Magodo residence on Saturday, June 10 by the Joint Forces led by the Intelligence Response Team, the Lagos State Police Command's Anti-kidnapping Unit and Technical and Intelligent Unit of the Nigerian Force. In August 27, 2013, Chief Obianodo was attacked by some gunmen in Festac Town. The attack left four persons dead including two of the gunmen, a police officer and Obianodo's driver while the billionaire sustained bullet wounds.  Barely two years later, in 2015, Nigeria Police arrested some suspects linked to the attack. During interrogation at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, the three suspects (pictured)made startling revelations about the billionaire kingpin, Evans, wh...

A Nigerian man arrested in Kenya has denied raping current Miss United States International University Africa (USIU). The suspect identified as Daniel Entony Daberechukwu denied raping the campus beauty, Nneka Enyantu Obi, who is also Nigerian. She was crowned on Thursday, November 17, 2016 at Thika Road Mall Convention Centre. Daberechukwu is said to have committed the offence on March 19 after the complainant attended a friend’s birthday party at Thika Road Mall, Nairobi, where the accused was in attendance. Police allege that all the friends attending the party were drinking alcohol and enjoying the music until 11pm when they switched clubs around the campus. The court heard that around 1.30am, the complainant and Daniel left for the hostel. It is then that Daniel allegedly offered to escort the complainant to her room since she was too drunk. Police allege that Daberechukwu started kissing the complainant along the corridors. It is reported that ins...

The are photos of some of the houses owned by the Most Notorious Kidnapper, Chukwudi Dumeme Onuamadike aka Evans in Magodo Estate Lagos and he also has two other Mansions in Accra Ghana. 

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has condemned the ultimatum given by some Northern youths to the Igbos living in the North to leave the region, saying;"such reckless pronouncement could only come from a group of irresponsible and jobless youths." Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka said in a statement issued  on Sunday , that the governor chided the Northern youths for making such pronouncement at a time Nigerians needed to join hands together for the development of the nation. Governor Fayose, who also  condemned the Northern elders who openly endorsed the action of the youths, appealed to the Igbo people of the Southeast to remain calm even in the face of provocation, noting that "Nigeria is greater than any set of people." The governor, who lamented that Nigeria was now more divided than ever before, said; "Rather than giving open support to the youths, the northern el...

Police on Sunday, June 11, paraded billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudidumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, before newsmen in Lagos. The Inspector-General’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) led by ACP Abba Kyari had on Saturday confirmed his arrest saying Evans is one of the most wanted suspected kidnappers in Nigeria. Evans, a native of Nnewi in Nnewi North LGA of Anambra State was arrested at his Magodo residence in Lagos. “IRT headquarters in Abuja is celebrating the arrest of the most wanted brilliant and notorious high profile kidnapper in Nigeria." Kyari said. “He has collected several billions of Naira as ransom in the last seven years as the kingpin of kidnappers. He was arrested at about 1.00p.m on Saturday in his residence in Magodo Estate, Lagos,” Kyari added. PRESS BRIEFING PARADE OF SUSPECTS PARADE OF MOST WANTED, VICIOUS AND HIGHLY NOTORIOUS KIDNAP FOR RANSOM GANG LEADER CHUKWUDI DUMEME ONUAMADIKE a.k.a EVANS AND SIX (6) OF...