THE much-awaited clean-up at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) began yesterday, with the retirement of two directors. Thirteen more are likely to go. The retired directors are those who have spent more than eight years on the same position – in line with the Federal Government’s policy on retirement of directors. Some of the [...]
Elections to the office of the president will hold January 15 next year, NEXT has been informed. The date is historical because it was on the same date that the military truncated the nation’s first democratic experiment after the 1960 independence. The military toppled the government of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa on January 15, [...]
The state of insecurity in Bauchi State manifested yesterday with an attempt made on the lives of security aides to the state’s governor. Unidentified gunmen shot Sule Giwa, a police sergeant who serves as orderly to the state’s governor, Isa Yuguda, within the metropolis on Saturday in what seems like an assassination attempt on the [...]
In what may throw spanners in the preparations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2011 elections, 22 of the 62 registered political parties are heading for the law court to challenge the newly signed Electoral Act over perceived undue advantage conferred on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by certain provisions in [...]
President Goodluck Jonathan may have cut down the seven point agenda to three; and his Facebook fans were the first to know. The president’s fans on Facebook, a popular social network website, were greeted with the news on Thursday morning, when the president confirmed on his page that the focus of his administration is on [...]
ABUJA—THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, may release the timetable for 2011 elections this week following the signing of Electoral Act by President Goodluck Jonathan last Friday. Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, and his national commissioners were, yesterday, putting finishing touches to the time table which a source at the [...]
LAGOS—AHEAD of formal declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan to contest 2011 presidential election, a campaign team headed by Vice-President Namadi Sambo and former Chairman of Board of Trustees, BoT, of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, is already in place. This is even as former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), former Vice [...]
The President yesterday swore in Precious Kassy Garba as the nation’s first female chief economic adviser, with a charge to develop blue prints that will help in turning around the economic fortunes of the country. Mrs. Garba, an economist, took over from Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi who served the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua in the [...]
Tomorrow’s expected presidential declaration of Atiku Abubakar may face a hitch with a declaration on Friday by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it is not aware of the membership status of the former Vice President. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Rufai Alkali, while reacting to a question over the waiver policxy of the party, [...]
ABUJA—THE House of Representatives, yesterday, passed the N87.9 billion budget for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. N74.6 billion of the amount will go for the preparation of a fresh voters’ register and N15 billion for the preparation of the 2011 elections. The drama that, however, trailed the process was whether the prospects of INEC [...]
As usual, the federal executive council meeting yesterday was devoted to the approval of contracts, the biggest of which was the purchase of three new jets for the Presidential Air Fleet. The planes, which include a Gulfstream G550 and two new Falcon 7X Aircraft, will cost the country $154.3 million or N23.2 billion. This is [...]
The Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Boniface Egboka, said yesterday he has received several death threats over the strict measures his administration has taken to restore discipline in the university as part of measures to restore the pride of the institution. Mr Egboka, who announced this at the inauguration of five principal officers [...]
CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT:Abuja high Court gets 2 stoppage suits. ABUJA—THE Federal High Court has so far received two suits challenging the amendment of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly. A News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, investigation revealed that 50 clauses in the 1999 Constitution were altered by the National Assembly while 29 of the amendments [...]
President Jonathan Reshuffles Cabinet, Appoints 3 New Ministers. The presidency has announced a cabinet reshuffle. The former Minister of State for Finance, Remi Babalola is now the Minister for Special Duties, while the former Minister for Special Duties, Caleb Olubolade, takes over as the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory. New ministers have [...]
About N1.5 trillion is needed by the federal government to carry out the long awaited police reforms. Already, the police affairs ministry has contributed N70 billion. The Vice President, Namadi Sambo disclosed this while speaking at a retreat for Police high command and officials of the Ministry of Police Affairs, held in Abuja. He added [...]
KADUNA—THE Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, yesterday made a u-turn, asking all the political parties in the country to field northerners as presidential candidates in the 2011 elections. Despite its earlier decision to distance itself from zoning because the issue is not a constitutional matter, ACF in its new position said the practice of zoning was [...]
The Senate has approved a supplementary budget of N87.7 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)to aid the commission in organizing credible elections in 2011. The approval is N2 billion less than the N89.59 billion the electoral body had requested. Following a meeting of INEC officials and INEC committee members of both the House [...]
OVER 60 Research Institutes, colleges and agriculture and allied institutions across the country, yesterday in Abuja, gave a 7-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to conclude stalled negotiations over wage increase and payment of outstanding monetisation arrears, among others, or the entire research institutes nationwide would be shut down. At the end of its meeting, [...]
In Abeokuta, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, 73, moved quickly on Monday to announce that he is still alive and well, on the back of the death in Benin of Oghogho Omorogbe, 34, a House of Representatives aspirant murdered at the weekend. Five gunmen shot Omorogbe dead in his residence in Ugbor four days after he [...]
