Gist Arena

GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State has emerged the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Governors’ Forum, PDPGF, an umbrelal body of governors elected on the platform of the PDP. Immediately after his election, Mimiko vowed to engage President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC in a very constructive manner. Governor Mimiko was elected Chairman of the Forum at the meeting, which was slated for 7pm, Tuesday night and did not start until about 9pm, but came to a close at 12am Wednesday morning. The Ondo State governor replaced former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio who was the first to occupy the position following the formation of the forum. Speaking with Journalists shortly after his emergence, governor Mimiko said, “We will do everything that we can do to engage the presidency and APC in a very constructive manner. We have also agreed to create formal and informal mechanisms of pair review, all for the developme...

Press statement from PDP Watchdog. Read below... The PDP Media Watchdog has reacted to the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari in which he declared and admitted that age will limit the rate of his performance in office as President of Nigeria. The group while reacting to the statement on  Wednesday June 17, 2015  said the APC and President Buhari are gang of hypocrites and liars. "The PDP is again vindicated by this confession from President Muhammadu Buhari and many more that are yet to come. Nigerians will recall that during the presidential campaigns, the PDP and other well meaning Nigerians complained on the choice of sponsoring Pa. Muhammadu Buhari as Presidential Candidate of APC and the effect it will have on the country when it comes to managing the affairs of a multi dimensional nation like Nigeria, but the APC and its leaders said that age is just a number". The PDP Media Watchdog again reminded Nigerians of their earlier stateme...

Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, is not finding private jet ownership a worthwhile investment. Vanguard gathered in Uyo, yesterday, that in view of Governor Emmanuel’s unfavourable disposition to the private jet acquired by his predecessor, Chief Godswill Akpabio to ease his movement outside the state, he is contemplating disposing of the aircraft. Since his inauguration on May 29, 2015, Emmanuel is said to prefer travelling by chartered helicopters which he considers less-ostentatious. An Akwa Ibom State Government House source told Vanguard that the governor was shopping for buyers of the jet to relieve him of the burden of fuelling and maintaining it. The source could, however, not disclose the cost of fuelling and maintaining the jet. “Governor Emmanuel is not comfortable with the idea of sustaining the ownership of the jet and is contemplating selling it, more so, because of the slash in states’ allocations and the high cost of aviation fuel,” the...

As President Muhammadu Buhari settles down to work, the Presidency has called for the Bank Account Balances of all federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs. The directive to all Chief Executive Officers and Accounting Officers of MDAs was contained in a circular Ref No: TRY A4 & B4/2015 /OAGF/CAD/026/V .1/254 and dated 1 June, 2015. It was issued by former Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, before he retired from service, last week. The circular was titled “Urgent Request for Account Balances of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, in the Central Bank and Deposit Banks, as at May 29, 2015”. According to the circular, all accounts of each MDA, including accounts held in foreign banks must be included. Accounts of the nation’s Diplomatic Missions were also affected. It contained a subtle warning that there would be consequences for any officer who failed to disclose any account or distort information on any account su...

Frank Azuekor, one of four suspects charged with kidnapping Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, on Tuesday, said his gang took a N28 million ransom before releasing Mr. Ozekhome. Mr. Azuekor told a Federal High Court in Abuja that he received N4.1 million as his share of the ransom. Mr. Azuekor, Kelvin Ezeigbe, Michael Omonigho and Momoh Haruna, were arraigned in 2013 on a 13-count charge bordering on conspiracy, armed robbery, kidnapping and acts of terrorism. The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, had ordered trial-within-trial after Bala Dakum, counsel to the accused persons, objected to the admissibility of their confessional statements to the State Security Services. Mr. Dakum had argued that the confessional statements purportedly made to the SSS were not voluntarily made by his clients. At Tuesday’s resumed hearing, the SSS produced a video footage of the conditions of the statement-taking to prove the voluntariness of the statements. In one...

At least 63 persons were reportedly killed Tuesday when a massive explosion from a bag found by members of the Civilian-JTF in Monguno town of Borno state went off as residents gathered to take a look, security sources and witnesses said. Many other onlookers and by-passers were also injured by the blast that occurred at about 5pm.   Haruna Bukar, an operative of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), who claimed to have witnessed the incident informed journalists on phone that a group of Civilian-JTF member discovered a heavy bag filled with explosives at an old camp of the Boko Haram sec along Monguno-Marte road, and decided to bring it into the city. “It was not an attack by Boko Haram, but explosion from a discovered bag filled with bombs”, he said. “When they found the bag containing what later turned out to be improvised explosives, they brought it to Monguno town where people gathered to take a look at it. As they were busy fiddling with the content of the...

Following different statements attributed to him in recent times, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has raised the alarm over a plot by some people to pit him against President Muhammadu Buhari.  Tinubu denied a report claiming he accused Buhari treachery by helping Senator Bukola Saraki to emerge as Senate President.In a statement by his media office Tinubu says “The story first published on an online news site and later parroted by other online news outlet is an example of irresponsible journalism. This story has no source. It is a blatant fabrication to serve the interest of its sponsors. Tinubu has not spoken about the Senate election. This story is a perverse fiction. Not journalism.  “He has never said these lies so wrongly attributed to him. There is no chance he will ever utter such words against President Buhari, a man he worked very hard for to become President, along with millions of Nigerians who voted. ...