Gist Arena

A faction has emerged in the Peoples Democratic Party with a secretariat opened in Asokoro, Abuja. The FRESH PDP group led by Emmanuel Nwosu said it is emerging due to imposition of a unity list on members on December 9. Credit:  @ Sumner_Sambo

P resident Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, breached the provisions of the constitution in the recent reconstitution of the Board of Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), PREMIUM TIMES can report. The duo also showed disregard for court processes by ignoring the pending suits on the dissolution of the former Board of CCB at the Court of Appeal and the National Industrial Court (NIC). Mr. Buhari had, on November 29, forwarded the names of 10 nominees and copies of their curriculum vitae to the Senate for confirmation. The nominees and their states of origin are Muhammad Isah (Jigawa State, North West) who will serve as chairman; Murtala Kankia (Katsina, North West); Emmanuel Attah (Rivers, South-South); Danjuma Sado (Edo, South-South); and Ubolo Okpanachi (Kogi, North Central). The others are Ken Madaki Alkali (Nasarawa, North Central); S.F. Ogundare (Oyo, South West); Ganiyu Hamzat (Ogun, South West); Sa’ad Abubakar (Gombe, North East); and Vincent Nwanli ...

L aw enforcement officers said to be from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have arrested Innocent Chukwuma, the founder and chairman of Innoson Motors. PREMIUM TIMES learnt from a spokesperson for the company, Cornel Osigwe, that Mr. Chukwuma was arrested at his residence in Enugu around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday. “His arrest is in connection to the ongoing case he has with GTBank,” Mr. Osigwe said by telephone. Mr. Osigwe said his principal was accused of jumping bail, wondering how someone who was never invited by the EFCC much less being arrested would be accused of fleeing from the law. “He was never invited by the EFCC, we challenge them to come forward with any evidence showing that he jumped bail,” Mr. Osigwe said. “This is GTBank using federal authorities to persecute an illustrious citizen who has done a lot to improve the economic development of this country.” The EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said he had not been briefed about t...

According to Facebook user, Victor Ufot, the owner of a popular Calabar night club known as Amber Bar and Karaoke Lounge, buried a pig in front of his club in order to attract customers.  Akeem was exposed after other business owners of the mall his club is situated in, reported the case to a powerful prophet who with the help of his worshippers, dug out the said items. Akeem said it was pigs and not children that were buried... Read his report below... CALABAR NIGHT CLUB: Amber; Where Owner, Akeem Buries 2 Children, pig to attract customers There was tension, last week in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, following the discovery of three corpse reported to be two infants and a Pig were exhumed at the entrance of a popular night Club, Amber Karaoke and Lounge. The suspect who is also the owner of the Night Club simply identified as Mr. Akeem allegedly opened the Club about a year ago at 112 Marian road, Calabar after he reported resigned as a bouncer at Jasper...

F ive firms are bidding to acquire troubled telecom firm 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat), The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday. It was learnt that the five were picked as qualified among the 16 that Expressed Interest to Barclays bank, the financial advisers on the bid. NCC Executive Vice Chairman Prof. Umar Danbatta said yesterday the five successful bidders had been “allowed access to the data room of 9mobile in order for them to assess the financial situation of the company and subsequently make bids for the takeover under a regulated manner.” He added: “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NCC are supervising what is going on through the Interim Board that was jointly appointed by both of them. We are going to look into the financial standings of the potential bidders as well as their technical capacity. “In the final analysis we would like to see 9mobile taken over by a bidder who has the financial as well as technical capacity to ful...

R otimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, says Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, has just one agenda which is “Amaechi”. The minister, who governed Rivers between 2007 and 2015, said this when he featured on Question Time, a programme on Channels Television. “The governor has just one agenda – if he is in his toilet, ‘Amaechi’; if he is outside his toilet, ‘Amaechi’,” the minister said. Referring to Wike as one of his sons, Amaechi denied having any rift with the governor. “He (Wike) was my staff; he is like one of my sons,” Amaechi said. “Why should I engage him? He was local government chairman when I was the speaker of the state.” Amaechi said his impact is still being felt in the state, particularly in the education sector. “When I was governor, I used Rivers state’s money on projects in the state. If you visit the state, you will see the primary schools that we built. No matter what the governor does, the projects are there,” he said. ...

N igerians on twitter have commended the Nigerian Army on the professionalism shown in replying a twitter, who accused Nigeria Defense Academy (NDA) by saying that some cadets of the Academy abscond from the institution for days, keeping their military uniforms and other property in the care of Fulani herdsmen. Nigeria Army took to their twitter handle to address the allegation and also promised a full scale investigation. Read the Nigeria Army tweet below The attention of the Nigerian Defence Academy has been drawn to a report, specifically on Twitter, in which the writer purports that some cadets of the Academy abscond from the institution for days, keeping their military uniforms and other property in the care of Fulani herdsmen — Nigerian Army (@HQNigerianArmy) December 14, 2017 The Nigerian Defence Academy genuinely appreciates the vigilance and forthrightness of the writer of the article and wish to assure the writer and other well-meaning Nigerians that the Aca...