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The Police on Friday advised members of the public using ATM at various banks to be security conscious as some criminals now disguised as customers queuing to withdraw money. This is contained in a statement on the Nigeria Police Force website exposing the antics of criminals. The statement noted that on July 30, at about 12.10 a.m., a male bank customer went to withdraw money from one of the ATMs at the Central Business District (CBD), Abuja. It stated that three young men who pretended to have come to withdraw money also were on queue with the plan to attack the man. “The victim raised an alarm which attracted nearby Police Patrol team to the scene. The hoodlums took to their heels upon sighting the advancing policemen. “One automatic pistol fell from one of the suspects and was recovered by the police and the victim was safely rescued. “However, another male victim was unlucky as hoodlums attacked him and snatched the N500,000 cash he withdrew from ATMs on July 28. “Police r...

With the formation of a stronger regional coalition, Nigeria and its neighbouring countries now have an increased capacity to deal effectively with Boko Haram and other terrorist groups, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday. The President reaffirmed his belief that the full activation and deployment of the Multi National Joint Task Force which has been established under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission will lead to the speedy defeat and elimination of Boko Haram. He spoke during an audience with Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Buhari, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, added that with the Command and Control Centre of the Nigerian military now in Maiduguri, Borno State, the morale of troops in the front-line states had improved significantly. “You can tell the Secretary-Gene...

Angry workers of the Peoples Democratic Party have accused the members of the National Working Committee of the party of squandering N12bn in nine months. Out of the total sum, the workers said N11bn was realised from the sale of nomination forms while N1bn was got from the sale of delegates forms. They alleged that the money was squandered shortly after the sale of the forms commenced on October 27, 2014 till date. The workers said this in their response to the letter sent to them by the party’s National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, on Wednesday. Oladipo, in the letter, had informed the workers about the decision of the NWC to reduce the party’s workforce by 50 per cent and to also cut the salaries of those to be retained by the same percentage. The national secretary of the party said the decision, among others, would take effect from August. He said, “Establishment staff who would remain are required to obtain individual letters of revalidation from their state chapters wi...

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has ordered government agencies occupying rented apartments to vacate such and relocate to their mother ministries. It was gathered that no fewer than 20 agencies were currently paying rents across the state. A government source said the rents were deemed too exorbitant, while some of the rented apartments allegedly belonged to friends and cronies of some people in the government. “The cost of running the apartments was inflated, which made this development inevitable,” the source said. Our correspondent gathered that among the affected agencies are the Motor Vehicle Administration Agencies, the Lagos Water Regulatory Commission, the Law Reform Commission, the Lagos State Safety Commission, Magodo, and the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, the Audit Service Commission, the Lagos State Valuation Office, the Lagos State Christian Pilgrims Board and the Lagos State Planning and Environmental Monitoring Office. The order to vacate the r...

Lupita Nyong'o is headed from the big screen to a New York stage. The 32-year-old actress will star in Eclipsed, a play from Danai Gurira, 37, that will open this fall at the city's Public Theater. This will mark the New York City debut of both Lupita and the play, which was previously performed in 2009 in Washington, D.C. and New Haven, Connecticut. Stage actress: Lupita Nyong'o will make her New York City stage debut in Danai Gurira's play, Eclipsed +7Stage actress: Lupita Nyong'o will make her New York City stage debut in Danai Gurira's play, Eclipsed Eclipsed is set during the Second Liberian Civil War (between 1999 and 2003) and focuses on a group of women who are the wives - and prisoners - of a rebel officer. Their already chaotic world is disturbed even more when a new woman arrives. 'Danai Gurira has written a brilliant play, ripped from the headlines, that looks at the terrible conflicts in post-colonial Africa with an eye that is both inci...

Amnesty International, one of the biggest human-rights groups in the world, is calling for prostitution to be legalized worldwide. But it's facing major backlash from human trafficking groups, who say that could do more harm than good. In August, the group will ask its delegates to vote on a proposal that calls for the decriminalization of sex work. The proposal makes it clear that human trafficking for sexual exploitation should be criminalized around the world, and certainly if the prostitution involves children. "Criminalization, in its varying forms, exposes sex workers to increased risk of human rights abuses," the proposal But part of the proposal has led activists to raise their eyebrows: the issue of consent. "By definition, sex work means that sex workers who are engaging in commercial sex have consented to do so," the policy reads. But an open letter signed by more than 400 human rights advocates, plus celebrities like Lena Dunham, Meryl Streep, and...

Alex Badeh, the immediate past commander of the Nigerian military, has revealed that the effectiveness of the fight against the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, was greatly hampered by fifth columnists within the military who leaked sensitive information and operational plans to the terrorist sect. Mr. Badeh, whose hometown, Mubi, was briefly captured by Boko Haram in 2014, was speaking on Thursday during his valedictory ceremony from the Nigerian Armed Forces. He said the activities of saboteurs within the military led to the unnecessary deaths of many soldiers and officers who unknowingly walked into ambushes laid by Boko Haram who had prior knowledge of troops movement. “The activities of fifth columnists in the military and other security agencies who leaked operational plans and other sensitive military information to the terrorist, combined to make the fight against the insurgents particularly difficult,” he said. “The activities of these unpatriotic members of the mi...

Nearly one month after announcing the end of his 10-year marriage to Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck has begun to move on. And the two-time Oscar winner, 42, didn’t have to look far to find a new romance. In the new issue of Us Weekly, multiple sources reveal Affleck has been dating 28-year-old California native Christine Ouzounian, a woman he and Garner hired as a nanny for their three kids this spring. When Ouzounian — an employee at a high-end Beverly Hills nanny agency — first started caring for Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3, Affleck and Garner, 43, were in the midst of a secret 10-month trial separation. The Arizona State University communications grad soon developed an attraction to the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice star “They would hang out without the kids,” explains an Ouzounian pal. “And they were very flirty.” When Garner discovered there was something going on between her estranged husband and Ouzounian, she let the babysitter go. But the ex-sorority girl...

He can change, if he tries. Macklemore had a big 2014. His breakout album, The Heist, won the 2014 Grammy for Best Rap Album and earned Macklemore and collaborator Ryan Lewis the Best New Artist Award, not to mention their handful of No. 1 singles. Afterward the rapper, 32, and Lewis, 27, retreated to their native Seattle, Wash., to work on new music. It was then, while they were trying to craft their new album, that the recovering addict began slipping back into some of his old bad habits. Now the “Thrift Shop” emcee is opening up about his recent relapse in the August/September issue of Complex. “I don’t feel like I’m grown up. I feel like I’m a kid,” he told the magazine. “I feel like I’m the 15-year-old kid down the street, trying to escape, get out of class, smoke weed in the street, and kick it. And that’s a version of myself that I don’t feel that far removed from.” His most recent relapse, he shared involved taking pills and smoking weed. “I held it together for...

The Federal Government has overruled the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on its new admission policy that recently sparked off protests in parts of the country. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. MacJohn Nwaobiala, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Tuesday, after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari of his ministry’s activities and challenges at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. JAMB had, at its 2015 Combined Policy Meeting, adopted a policy whereby candidates of universities with surplus applicants for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations are reassigned to other universities with lower number of applicants than their capacities. Protest started at the University of Lagos when the institution’s authorities announced that only candidates whose names were officially forwarded by JAMB are eligible to participate in this year’s UNILAG Post-UTME. Nwaobiala told reporters that the decision was jointly taken at a stakeholders’ meeting that ...

The convoy carrying the wife of the former President, Dame Patience Jonathan, was stopped from taking her to the foot of the aircraft on the tarmac of the Port Harcourt International Airport, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has said. The former First Lady was reportedly stopped from using the VIP lounge of the airport. But the FAAN said it was not so. It was learnt that Dame Jonathan had gone to Port Harcourt on a private visit. Sources at the airport also alleged that the former First Lady was denied access to the lounge by security operatives of FAAN, who reportedly said they were working based on orders from “above.” But reacting to the report, FAAN, in a statement on Tuesday, described it as misleading and mischievous, stressing that the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan was not denied access to “the VIP lounge at the Port Harcourt International Airport on July 27, 2015.” However, the authority was quick to state that what its security officials did was to ...

The United States of America has handed over the names of Nigerian oil thieves to President Muhammadu Buhari, a member of the President’s entourage during last week’s visit to the US confided in The PUNCH on Tuesday. “I can tell you that the President already has the list of names of the people engaging in the stealing of Nigeria’s oil. The list, when released by the President, will shock Nigerians. But let’s wait and see first,” the source said. The source said Buhari was taken aback when he saw the names on the list and that the list given to the President by the US might compel him to probe the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. A Presidency source also confirmed that Buhari had such a list but that “the President has been keeping the list to himself.” The source, who told our correspondent about the list in the President’s possession, said the US gave Buhari two separate lists – one listing the names of top government officials who have been stealing the coun...

A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday urged Nigerians who have been accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of being too slow to allow the President at least 100 days of honeymoon. He said change, which was at the centre of the party’s campaign ahead of the presidential election, would not be achieved with a magic wand. Tinubu spoke with State House correspondents shortly after meeting behind closed-doors with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. “May 29 was when this President was sworn in. It is an international norm; there is a honeymoon period, at least, a minimum of 100 days’ honeymoon. And won’t you allow honeymoon at all? You said change is not coming. Change is not by magic. It is driven by the people, the spirit and the character and the planning,” he said. The former Lagos State governor said the nation had witnessed many problems in the past because policies were made in a hurry without proper planning. He said it was bett...

The Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State has received an eviction notice, directing it to vacate its state secretariat in Ado Ekiti for failure to pay its rent. The landlord of the property, a two-term state PDP Chairman and now a member of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Ropo Adesanya, said the PDP issued him a dud cheque. Electricity supply to the party secretariat had been disconnected by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company as a result of unpaid bills. Adesanya, who was the PDP state chairman for eight years, including the tenure of Governor Ayo Fayose, is asking for N1.5m as owed rent. Describing the situation as “very embarrassing,” the acting Chairman of the PDP in the state, Tunde Olatunde, confirmed that the cheque issued to Adesanya was not honoured by the bank. Olatunde took over from the immediate past chairman of the party, Idowu Faleye, who was removed. Faleye, an ally of the governor, purportedly stepped down on May 13 following pressure from members of...

THE Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, reportedly passed on, on Tuesday, at 85 years and seven months. He was born on January 1, 1930. Unconfirmed sources said the monarch, who was said to have been flown out of the country since last Friday, died in the United Kingdom. Most top Ife indigenes and Osun State government officials contacted by The PUNCH late on Tuesday kept sealed lips but some traditional rulers in the state confirmed that Sijuwade had died. The spokesperson for the Ooni, Chief Funmilola Olorunnisola, told one of our correspondents that, “I don’t have anything to tell you immediately.” One Osun traditional ruler, who asked not to be quoted, confided in one of our correspondents on the phone last night that the Ife monarch had died. He said, “The Ooni is dead. It is true. He died about two hours ago in the UK. His two oloris (wives) – Olori Moni and Olori Odun – were with him in the UK. “He travelled out for treatment anytime he fell ill but he couldn’t make it th...

The House of Representatives has named Femi Gbajabiamila the majority leader, in a move likely to help calm a house frayed for weeks by leadership tussle. Mr. Gbajabiamila emerged the All Progressives Congress caucus leader hours after the House leaders met with the leadership of the ruling APC in Abuja. The meeting was at the behest of President Muhammadu Buhari. The house has been racked by leadership tussle since its inauguration June 9. Mr. Gbajabiamila, a former minority leader, was pushed for the speakership slot, but narrowly lost to Yakubu Dogara. Mr. Dogara’s rejection of the party’s demand that Mr. Gbajabiamila be given the majority leader position, split the house into two factions, each insisting on its term for resolving the conflict. Also, Ado Doguwa was named chief whip and Buba Jibrin, deputy leader. Pally Iraise was named deputy whip. Premium Times

Banks and discount houses will from next week August 1st commence the publication of the list of loan defaulters in newspapers, as directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The CBN in a circular referenced BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/08/022 dated April 22, 2015 entitled: Recovery of Delinquent Credit Facilities, asked the banks to give three month deadline to all loans defaulters starting from May 1, 2015 to settle their debts or get their names published in the papers. In the circular, signed by the CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Mrs Tokunbo Martins said it has observed the rising trend of non-performing loans (NPL) in the industry. Furthermore, banks and discount houses are required with effect from May 1, 2015 to: Give the delinquent debtors three months of grace to turn their accounts from non-performing to performing status. “Publish the list of delinquent debtors that remain non-performing in at least three national daily newspapers quarterly (The delinquent debtors are those who...

Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has amended his original stance that only Nigerian players in the top division clubs will be invited to the team during his tenure. “We need those who are used to playing at top tempo to serve and play for Nigeria. That is why we took that decision. And of course this applies only to field players but doesn’t really apply to goalkeepers because goalkeepers are made of a different breed,” he said in a new Oliseh Tv video uploaded to YouTube on Monday and which he personally sent out via Twitter. Oliseh’s statement at his unveiling on July 13 to the effect that “Only first division players are the ones that we find eligible to serve our country” generated a lot debate with many critics insisting that the policy could not work as many of the Nigerians abroad had dropped to lesser clubs. “And this doesn’t also apply to players that are already in the national teams. By this I mean players that have excelled in the national U-17, U-20 or U-23 team as th...

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of hounding its leaders and supporters to jail in a bid to run the opposition out of the state. A statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said the alarm became imperative in the face of persistent victimisation of APC members arrested on trumped-up charges that saw them ending up in jail. He was reacting to the Sunday night arrest of a former Ekiti Chairman of Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria, Mr. Rotimi Olambiwonnu (a.k.a. Mentilo), who was later arraigned before an Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Olambiwonnu was accused of complicity in the murder of a former Ekiti State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Omolafe Aderiye. Magistrate Idowu Aiyenimon has adjourned the matter till Friday, following an objection by the Defence Counsel, Niran Owoseni, that his client was brought to the court when the case had been concluded. Aderiye, a...

Senators opposed to the leadership of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on Monday filed a fresh suit at Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking the nullification of the inauguration of the 8th Senate carried out by the management of the National Assembly, on June 9. The senators are operating on the platform of a group called Senate Unity Forum. A member of the group, who confirmed the development to one of our correspondents on conditions of anonymity, explained that one of their prayers was that the court should declare the inauguration of the 8th Senate as well as the election of the presiding officers as null and void. He said the group, based on the revelations in the police report on the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Order 2015, was of the view that the document used for the inauguration and the election were fake. He added that the group expected the state to commence a criminal prosecution against person and persons indicted in the alleged forgery scandal to se...

The meeting President Muhammadu Buhari held with the All Progressives Congress members in the House of Representatives on Monday failed to resolve the leadership crisis in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. At the end of the meeting which lasted about 20 minutes, members of the two factions in the House stuck to their different positions and interpreted the President’s message to them during the closed-door meeting in a manner that suited their camps. A mild drama played out as members of the different factions struggled to grant interviews to State House correspondent. The thrust of their positions was that the President directed them to remain with the party with a view to ensuring that the APC delivers the promised change to Nigerians. A leader of one of the factions and former Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, later told journalists that the meeting dwelt extensively on party supremacy, adding that before the end of the day, Nigerians would be briefed on the de...

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Monday, said the Peoples Democratic Party government of former President Goodluck Jonathan had destroyed the country. Oshiomhole, who was on the entourage of President Muhammadu Buhari to the United States, said Nigeria had in Buhari a President who talked with confidence unlike “a President that is blabbing and is not sure of what the issues are.” The governor spoke with State House correspondents shortly after meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said, “The PDP destroyed the country. I mean from the lips of American officials; senior officials of the State Department said one minister under PDP cornered as much as $6bn. “The man said even by Washington’s standard, that is earth-shattering. “So, the PDP is a party that presided over the liquidation of our nation, destroyed all our institutions, converted the Armed Forces commanders to use them as if they were political thugs, converted the Nigerian Television Authorit...

The Jehovah's Witness church hid child sex abuse allegations against more than 1,000 of its members, a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia heard Monday. The reports came across a 60-year period, and the church followed a policy of internal investigation into the allegations. Testimony to the commission also said that 401 members were kicked out of the church since 1950, but half were later allowed back in—and that the requirement that two witnesses testify to the crime meant that many of the sex abuse allegations went uninvestigated. The counselor presenting evidence said that the church looked at the "spirituality and the seductiveness" of accusers when evaluating their abuse claims, and that it blamed at least two victims for their own abuse

U.S. rapper, Snoop Dogg, was briefly arrested in Sweden on suspicion of using illegal drugs, Entertainment Weekly reported on Sunday. The 43-year-old rapper was stopped by police in Uppsala, the fourth largest city of Sweden north of the capital Stockholm, after giving a concert in the area on Saturday night. “Police carrying out roadside controls noticed that Snoop Dogg [whose car was pulled over] seemed to be under the influence of narcotics,” a police spokesman for Sweden’s Uppsala region said, according to Agence France-Presse, as cited by The Guardian. “He was arrested and taken to the police station to take a urine test” the spokesman added. However in a series of Instagram posts, Snoop claimed that the arrest was due to racial profiling and said he wouldn’t come back to Sweden. Al Arabiya

The Presidency on Sunday said President Muhammadu Buhari would not stop the prosecution of anybody indicted in the report of the Nigeria Police on the forgery of the Senate Standing Order. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this on Sunday in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja. Shehu said Buhari believed in the rule of law and would not do anything that would derail any judicial process, stressing that those who were constitutionally saddled with the process did not need the President’s clearance to do their job. He said, “They do not need the President’s clearance to prosecute anybody found guilty of any investigation. President Muhammadu Buhari, as all Nigerians know, believes very strongly in the rule of law. “The President will therefore not do anything that will stop the judicial process. He won’t stop it (the trial of suspects in the Senate forgery case).” There were reports on Sunday that the ...

Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of late superstar Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown, died Sunday at the age of 22, a representative of the Houston family said in a statement. With that, there are no more descendants from the late singer's line of her close and extended family. Bobby Kristina, "Krissie" to her close members, was Whitney's only child. “Bobbi Kristina Brown passed away Sunday, July, 26 2015, surrounded by her family,” the statement said. “She is finally at peace in the arms of God. We want to again thank everyone for their tremendous amount of love and support during these last few months.” She was treated in a hospital and then a hospice facility in the nearly six months since she was found unresponsive and not breathing in the bathtub at her Roswell home on January 31 — nearly three years to the day after her mother accidentally drowned in a bathtub in Beverly Hills, a victim of the vices she had fought for much of her career. Brown was plac...

The Mirandole beach on the French Riviera, which is usually packed with holidaymakers and sunbathers, is eerily quiet as the stretch of sand has been locked down for the lavish visit of Saudi Arabia's King Salman that has riled some locals. The king's vast holiday home overlooks the beach, where a police sign says: "Access and circulation are forbidden on this public maritime domain and swimming is banned under the right of the residence of the king of Saudi Arabia." A French police van is parked at the entrance of the royal home, where the king and 1,000 members of his entourage arrived on Saturday. Another police vehicle is stationed at the Mirandole beach, between Antibes and Marseille. In the water, two police boats patrol the coastline to ensure that no intruders breach the 300-metre radius ban. At the main entrance to the king's villa which stretches along several hundred metres of turquoise coastline, security guards can be seen relaxing on plastic ...

No fewer than 19 persons were killed in a suicide attack on a market in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, on Sunday. The State Police Command has, however, said 15 people died and 47 others were injured in the explosion. The Police Public Relations Officer of the Yobe State Police Command, Toyin Gbadegesin, told journalists that a female suicide bomber, whose age he believed could not more be more than 10 years, carried out the attack. He said the small girl detonated an Improvised Explosive Device at the entrance of the market at about 9.30am on Sunday. He said preliminary report indicated that 15 people had been killed while 47 others, who were injured, were receiving treatment at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital in Damaturu. The PPRO explained that five units of primed IEDs were also recovered from the scene of the blast, warning the people to be careful with people carrying bags as the militants had resorted to using bags in conveying their explosive devices. Meanwhi...

Medical Students of the Benue State University, Makurdi, have deposited the coffin of their dead colleague at the office of the Vice-Chancellor in protest. SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that the deceased, Idoko Nicholas Inalegwu, died in controversial circumstances after receiving the news of his withdrawal after spending 10 years in medical school. Idoko was withdrawn for failing a re-sit. A student, who spoke to one of our correspondents on telephone on condition of anonymity, said they believed that Idoko took his life because he could not bear the news that his 10 years in medical was in vain. “He had been talking about it; that he wished he died a painless death; that the school had finished him. There is nowhere in the world that a medical student is withdrawn after spending 10 years,” he said. The student said the students had complained about the manner in which examinations were conducted, where re-sits were prolonged for up to one year, as against the stipulated six weeks,...

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Mr. Muhammed Bashir, is currently in trouble over the recent leadership tussle in the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt. It would be recalled that in sacking Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi as the agency’s Director-General on July 6, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed him to hand over the management of NIMASA and all government property in his possession to the most senior officer in the agency who will remain in charge until a new DG is appointed. Following that directive, Akpobolokemi on Monday handed over to the agency’s Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Mr. Calistus Obi. But a mild drama reportedly played out at the agency’s Burma Road, Apapa, Lagos headquarters barely three days after when it became clear that Obi was not the most senior officer. That discovery led to the elevation of the agency’s Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mr. Baba Jauro, as t...

The Nigeria Police have concluded their probe into the forgery of the Senate Standing Order and given a copy of the report to President Muhammadu Buhari, SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively report. The President received a copy of the report last week, a highly reliable source in the presidency told one of our correspondents on Saturday. The Police report confirmed that the Standing Rules used to inaugurate the 8th Assembly were forged, our source said. In the report, the Police recommended the prosecution of those found culpable of forging the orders, which had been used in the controversial election of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on June 9, 2015. The report was said to have indicted the management of the National Assembly, especially the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa and recommended the prosecution of the suspects. Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi (All Progressives Congress, Kaduna State), the Police had on July 6 q...

South Africa’s ruling party, Africa National Congress, said it backed the decision of the Lagos State Government to prosecute the Synagogue Church and two engineers for the September 12, 2014 building collapse in the church. The ANC made the statement on Friday during a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, in the Lagos House, Ikeja. The leadership of the party, led by its Treasurer, Dr. Zwelini Mkhize, said that the state government’s stance on the coroner’s verdict was good for justice. Mkhize also expressed the appreciation of the party to the state government for ensuring that the bodies of South African nationals who were involved in the incident were flown to the country for burial. He said, “We are very pleased to learn of your decision on the coroner’s verdict in terms of the Synagogue disaster in Lagos last year. “While we appreciate the assistance that you made to ensure that all of the victims were repatriated to South Africa, we also support ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally revealed what will be the fate of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, saying the national oil company will be divided into two successor entities under his administration. The President, who stated this in an interview with journalists in Washington DC during a four-day visit to the United States, an extract of which was made available to Saturday PUNCH, explained that the decision would form one of the key steps of his reform of the country’s oil and gas sector. The NNPC is considered a cesspool of corruption and fraud signposted by the non-remission of revenues from oil sale to the Federation Account. Hence, one of the first reform moves by All Progressives Congress –led administration is expected to start at the NNPC. There had been insinuations that Buhari would unbundle the NNPC into four companies but the President, in the Washington interview, said rather than breaking the NNPC into four companies, it would be divided into...