Gist Arena

T he Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says it has secured 1.55 billion dollars from multilateral corporations to finance its transmission expansion projects in the country. The Managing Director of TCN, Mr Usman Mohammed, said this in Kano , while addressing newsmen . He said that TCN had approached multilateral donors to raise significant finance to execute its numerous projects in the country. He said sourcing of fund was also designed to realise TCN’s ambition of increasing transmission capacity by 20,000 megawatts in few years time. He said that the provision of the fund had resulted in the resuscitation of some projects that were hitherto abandoned . “The Abuja transmission project, which is supposed to provide three sub-stations and provide another avenue for supply through Abuja from Lafia, has been completed.” “We have also resuscitated the JAICA project that has been on the drawing board for a long some time now.” “Those two pro...

IPOB has finally unveil their own Biafra Secret Service, with some Igbo men and women, who have volunteered themselves for the service

S outh-East Governors on Monday re-assured Ndigbo residing in different parts of the country of their safety. The Governors, who met in Enugu said they were in constant touch with the Northern Governors over the October 1 ultimatum issued to Igbos in the area. Chairman of the Forum and Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, who read the communique issued after the meeting, said the position of the Northern governors was commendable. Apart from the quit notice, issues of power, economic integration, among others, also featured prominently during the meeting. The communique read in part:? “the Geometric Power Company made a presentation to us about the establishment of independent gas plant and we commend them very highly for a very beautiful project and we have adopted that power plant as a model for regional integration. We throw our weight behind the success of the project. “In the same vein, we commend Shell and our partners in the gas project in Asa. “We t...

T he Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), on Monday, warned pro-Biafra groups such the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to desist from including Ijaw territories in the map of Biafra, stressing that the Ijaw ethnic nationality never consented to be a part of Biafra. Dismissing claims credited to pro-Biafra organizations that the Ijaw nation is part of Biafra, the IYC, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Daniel Dasimaka, said the Ijaw people have never been Biafrans. The IYC said that the old eastern region of Nigeria was a political contraption that enslaved the Ijaw people, adding that it was created by those who also orchestrated "this miscarriage of a state called Nigeria." The group noted that the Ijaws are not in any way against the genuine aspirations of all peoples, including the MASSOB and IPOB, to attain self-determination or secession, but they should not drag the Ijaw eth...

T he Academic Staff Union of Universities in Nigeria, ASUU, has expressed displeasure at the mandatory sale of handouts by some lecturers in tertiary institutions. Biodun Ogunyemi, President of the union, expressed this view in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Tuesday in Abuja. “It is not wise for lecturers in our tertiary institutions to compel students to be buying handouts, though it is not a widespread practice; we have few people that are misbehaving. “But the system has a way of handling them, so anywhere they see them they always put them on check. “It is not permitted in the system and there is a structure for tracking and dealing with that so ASUU as a union don’t condone it and we discourage it anywhere and everywhere we go,” he said. However, a cross section of Nigerian students had decried the rate at which some lecturers extort money from them in the name of selling of handouts. Speaking in separate interviews with NAN, s...

A loysius Ikegwuonu popular known as Bishop who is believed to have been the target of the Ozubulu church massacre which led to the death of 13 persons including his father paid a visit to the 22 injured victims at their various hospitals.  According to the police, the massacre which occurred on the 6th August 2017 at St. Phillip’s Catholic church, Ofufe-Amakwa Ozubulu, Anambra state, was due to a gang war and they revealed that are currently working undercover to fish out the perpetrators of the crime.  Ebubechukwuzo Foundation and their leader, Aloysius Ikegwuonu were pictured in various hospitals where the victims are receiving treatment. See the photos below...

A n 18-seater bus with passengers was involved in a fatal accident in Anambra state yesterday. Some of the occupants were severely burnt in the explosion that occurred as a result of the accident. The remains of the victims have been deposited at the state morgue

F ormer Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reacted to the recent court rulings secured by the EFCC for her to permanently forfeit some cash traced to her. In a statement released by her media team, the embattled former Minister says she cannot forfeit properties or monies that she does not rightfully own.  The embattled ex-minister said the anti-graft agency has never notified her of any evidence or indictment so that she would prepare to have legal representation in court. “I am deeply disturbed and bewildered by recent media reports claiming that by virtue of an order of the federal high court, I have forfeited to the federal government the sum of $153.3m, which I purportedly stole from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Whilst the reasons for my being out of the country are public knowledge, the principle of fair hearing demands that I should have been notified of formal charges if truly there was a prima facie evidence o...

T he All Progressives Grand Alliance has fixed August 15 (today) for its governorship primary to affirm the incumbent Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, as the party’s sole candidate for the November 18 poll in the state. The National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Oye, disclosed this at a press conference at Amawbia, near Awka, the state capital on Monday. He said no fewer than 1,119 delegates of the party would participate in the exercise. The participants are made up of 150 statutory delegates and 969 elected from the 326 wards in the state. The APGA chairman, who stated that the election would be in the mode of ‘yes’ or ‘no’, said only Obiano would participate in the primary. He said, ‘We printed many forms but only His Excellency; Governor Willie Obiano, purchased our form and met all the criteria.” He said the Independent National Electoral Commission, the police and other agencies involved in the exercise had been duly informed and would be par...

W ith the confirmation by Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, that contractors reconstructing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway were set to suspend work, the irresponsibility of our federal legislators is once more laid bare. By shaving off funding for this important interstate highway, the National Assembly has succeeded in further squeezing the economy and inflicting agony on businesses and thousands of commuters using the road. The tortuous fate of this road is an apt representation of the terribly poor leadership this country has been subjected to for decades. The stoppage by Julius Berger Plc on its allotted section of the 127.6 kilometre-long highway came only weeks after Reynolds Construction Company, the contractor handling the other half, halted work. Both cited lack of funding to continue. According to Fashola, speaking through his spokesman, the firms, in their letters of notice to suspend work, complained of delays in the payment of their fees, whic...

T he Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, on Monday called on Nigerians to focus on the devolution of the economy rather than the restructuring the country. The News Agency of Nigeria reported that Abubakar made the call at the Niger State Investment Submit in Minna. The summit, which attracted economic experts, industrialists and manufacturers as well as some state governors from different parts of the country, was organised to attract investors in various fields to boost the economy of the state. The Sultan said the nation was blessed with human and mineral resources needed to achieve greatness. He advised that the Shiroro Dam in Niger, Goronyo Dam in Sokoto and others across the country should be used to start all-year farming. He argued that the proper utilisation of the nation’s dams would enable farmers to produce food crops for both local consumption and export. “Rather than the clamour for the restructuring of the country, the Federal Governme...

The operatives of the Anti Cultism Unit of the Enugu State Police Command on Sunday, August 13, arrested two men, Emmanuel Ogbonna and Odo Chinedu with sixteen bags of weed. Ogbonna claimed to hail from Okpanam Delta state while Odo is from Aguabo, Enugu. Also recovered from Ogbonna, is a suspected identity/warrant card, portraying him as a member of Director of security services with the name Emmanuel Tako and number FCA552447. The suspects were nabbed when the operatives acting on intelligence information, swooped on them at New Market axis of the state and where the bags of the weeds suspected to be indian hemp was concealed in the booth of their camry car with registration Number LSR 769 DF hence the bags of the weeds alongside the vehicle were recovered from suspects. Suspects are helping the police operatives in their investigations just as Emmanuel has revealed that he was dismissed as a DSS Personnel but uses the alleged identity card to ferry weeds...

S enior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has written an open letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan, informing him that his government left Nigeria's Economy in tatters in 2015. Garba's letter is in reaction to Jonathan's speech at the PDP's convention in Abuja last Saturday where Jonathan spoke glowingly of his administration and how Nigerians are eager to have PDP back in government. Read Garba's open letter below: Your Excellency Jonathan, this is the economy you left behind, in case you have forgotten: With due respect to the former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, these are the facts about the economy you left behind, in case you have forgotten. I hope this will help to erase the wrong statement credited to you at your party, the PDP Convention at the Eagle Square last weekend that you handed to President Buhari a robustly healthy economy. To the same extent, this should also help to erase yet a...

Y esterday, members of the Edo state House of Assembly impeached their speaker, Justin Okonoboh, on grounds of high handedness, illegal award of contracts and abuse of office. The impeachment process did not come easy as the lawmakers in support and against the former speaker exchanged some blows and kicked each other in the chambers. Watch the video below

I t's no longer news that the Ooni of Ife's marriage to Olori Wuraola has crashed irrevocably, what is news is that a new queen has already been picked for the Ooni. According to a source close to the Ooni, the new queen is Yoruba while Olori Wuraola is from Benin, Edo state. "The new queen will be unveiled by the end of the month or sometime in September" a reliable according to source  "The king of the Yorubas can not be a bachelor"

I mo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, says the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and his members are deceiving Igbos with their call for a separation from Nigeria. According to a statement issued by his chief press secretary, Sam Onwuemedo yesterday, the governor stated this while handing over Staff of Office and certificates of recognition to sixteen traditional rulers in the state. Okorocha said he is worried that traditional leaders in the South East and clergymen have not come out to speak against the recent calls for separation by IPOB members. “On IPOB, the cloud is gathering storm, nobody is talking even our traditional rulers, Pastors and leaders, this is bad for our people. If you will remember vividly that a few years ago, during the Civil War, it was a similar story. That was how it all started. At that time, we believed that the Ohafia warriors will be able to fight and disseminate the North. Now we are been deceived that IPOB will drive aw...

I n three separate posts shared on his Facebook page, Senator Shehu Sani, shared his opinion on the total strike declared by the Academic Statff Union of Universities ASUU, yesterday August 14th. According to Sani, if you do not see anything wrong when leaders flash the images of their siblings matriculation or graduation ceremonies in some of the world's most prestigious or elitist universities, you shouldn't see anything wrong with ASUU strike and demand for a better deal for Nigerian Universities. He asked those whose children are in prestigious universities worldwide should think for those whose children school here in Nigeria. Read all his posts below

T he Ogun state police command have arrested one Nasiru Adeyemo, and his wife, Idayat, for cutting off the index finger of his daughter from his previous marriage, tying her up in a sack and dumping her by the roadside to die at Asabala area along Papalanto-Sagamu Road in the state on Sunday, August 13th. A statement by the state's police public relations officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, says that passersby who saw the sack alerted the police and when it was loosened, it was discovered to be a little girl who was writhing in pain following her cut off finger. She was taken to the hospital for medical examination. After she was stabilized, the little girl told the police that it was her father and step mother that tied her up in a sack and dumped her on the road. "On the strength of the information, the DPO Owode Egba, CSP Shehu Alao, led his men to the scene, where the white rice sack was untied. Surprisingly, a seven year-old-girl, whose right index finger was cut off,...

I was really excited on Saturday when I received news of the eventual visit of President Muhammadu Buhari’s media team to him in London. I had always felt that the exclusion of the media team from the London medical vacation and the various visits practically undermined the Presidential media office, and created the space for the mismanagement of the communication process around and about the President’s illness. I could never have imagined my own boss in our time, travelling without me or shutting me out of any important event. He took my team everywhere. Every President has what is called a Main Body. This comprises his first line of assistants, namely his Chief Security Officer, Aide-de-Camp, Chief Detail, Chief Physician, State Chief of Protocol, Personal Assistant (Luggage), Personal Assistant (Private matters), and of course, the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity)/Official Spokesperson. Whereas other parts of this body face their own challenges, the major probl...

N orth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly dropped plans to launch a missile at Guam- for now. Kim was pictured for the first time in weeks last night, examining plans for a strike on American military targets in Guam. Pyongyang's state media said Kim "examined the plan for a long time" after his army chiefs handed him a proposal. North Korea said last week that it would finalise by August 15, its detailed plan to fire four intermediate-range ballistic missiles up to 18 miles off Guam’s coast. However, it seems that plan has been dropped. The country’s army is now awaiting Kim’s approval. US President Donald Trump previously warned Kim that he would be met with fire and fury if he dared attack US- territory- Guam. Guam, a Pacific island which is home to two US military bases, strategic bombers and about 163,000 people.

Y esterday there were reports that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi's marriage to his wife Olori Wuraola has crashed after just 17 months and we can tell you authoritatively that this is true. A few weeks ago, the Ooni told his wife he was no longer interested in the marriage and asked her to leave. The former Olori has relocated from Osun state and now lives in Lagos. So what led to the marriage break up? Here's all we know and this is authoritative. The Ooni married Olori Wuraola shortly after meeting her last year. According to sources close to the estranged couple, after he ascended the throne, a wife was needed asap and he was introduced to Wuraola who at the time was with a Lebanese business man. But immediately the Ooni indicated interest to marry her, she quickly dumped the Lebanese man and went with the new Ooni. "She was with this guy in February 2016, infact she had their photo on her Whatsapp DP and just the following mo...

N o fewer than four persons were killed in an attack by Boko Haram insurgents at Wanori-Amarwa community of Konduga Local Government Area of Borno. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the incident occurred on Saturday at about 11:00 p.m. at a village along Maiduguri-Konduga Road. A witness, Idrissa Musa, said that heavily armed insurgents stormed the village in the night, killed and maimed the inhabitants. Mr. Musa said that the insurgents also carted away food items and razed down houses in the village. He added that four persons died at the scene of the attack while two others sustained various degrees of injuries in the attack. “The attack lasted for about two hours. The insurgent moved from house-to-house committing various forms of atrocities. “Some of the surviving villagers with help of security operatives evacuated the wounded to the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri,” he said. According to him, the village was located few metres away from a ...

T he Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Monday said that he has no idea who foots the medical bill of the president. Mr. Adesina said this when he appeared on a Channels Television talk show, Politics Today, monitored by our correspondent. Mr. Buhari has been away on medical vacation since May 7. He has been in the United Kingdom for treatment of an undisclosed ailment. During the interview, Mr. Adesina said details of how payments for Mr. Buhari’s hospital bills are effected do not matter. “Does it matter at this point?” he said in response to a question posed by the programme presenter. “We need to know, he is our president. He is a public official. This shouldn’t be shrouded in secrecy,” the presenter, Seun Okinbaloye, replied him. “I do not know who is paying,” Mr. Adesina said, “but as a president, he has a right to be treated by the country.” When asked specifically whether Nigeria is taking ca...