Atiku: Automatic Ticket is Unconstitutional

Atiku Abubakar

The suggestion by the chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, that President Goodluck Jonathan and governors of the party should be given automatic tickets to contest the 2015 election has drawn flak from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. In a statement last night in Abuja by his media office, Atiku said such an arrangement was unconstitutional and a “travesty of democracy.”

The former vice president said he remained opposed to “consensus arrangement” and “adoption” in the choice of candidates, stressing that transparent election to produce candidates for all elective offices, including the presidency, remains the best option.

EXCLUSIVE: Task Force Arrests Three Benninoise, One Ghanaian for Pipeline Vandalism

The suspects

 

The Inspector General of Police Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism, led by the Officer-in-Charge, Friday Ibadin, Assistant Commissioner of Police, have arrested three Benninoise and one Ghanaian for pipeline vandalism.

 

The suspected pipeline vandals were identified as Fufo Soglo (the Ghanaian) and the three Benninoise- Christopher Suso, Yovo Itoh and Matilda Idowu, who also doubled as their treasurer. 

 The suspects, who were arrested on May 24, were said to have attempted to bribe the task force with the sum of N550, 000 so as to have unhindered access to bunker PMS.

Jonathan Has No Intention of Probing Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo

  

The Presidency  Saturday dismissed speculations that President Goodluck Jonathan was planning to  probe former president Olusegun Obasanjo's regime. In a statement issued by Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, the Presidency denied recent media reports to the effect that Jonathan planned to probe the Obasanjo administration because of the former president’s constant criticisms of the Jonathan administration.

Abati also condemned a video footage of the Qatar-based global television, Al-Jazeera, which showed the Nigerian soldiers killing innocent civilians in the embattled Borno State under the guise of enforcing the state of emergency imposed on three states of the north-east, saying it was contrived.

Kano Arms Cache: SSS Seals Off Abuja Supermarket, Park

Kano Arms cache

Culled from THISDAY- Operatives of the Department of State Security Service, SSS  Saturday raided the Abuja home and business concerns of a Lebanese owner of the popular Amigo Stores and Abuja Wonderland.

The action, according to a security source, may not be unconnected with last week’s discovery of a large cache of arms in a superstore in Kano State. The store is alleged to be linked to the owner of Amigo Stores.

PREMIUM TIMES EXCLUSIVE: EXCLUSIVE: Sanusi Lamido, his CBN mistress and their sweetheart escapades

Note: Saw this on Premium Times and the story accused CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido of being a serial womaniser. Oh Dear! Read and draw your own conclusions!

It started with: Twenty minutes to midnight on February 25, 2013, and a day before the board of the Central Bank of Nigeria was due to meet, Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi developed a craving for romance—he badly needed a kiss.

The governor, married, with children, grabbed his mobile phone and typed out a message.  “Maybe you should come kiss me before board meeting tomorrow,” Mr. Sanusi wrote and then squeezed the send button.

At about 9 a.m. the next day, Mrs. Maryam Yaro, a married mother of two, an assistant director and subordinate to the governor at the CBN, arrived Sanusi’s unnamed Abuja hotel, seeking to keep the date and help address her boss’ craving for a kiss.  (Insiders say board members, including those who live in Abuja, are usually lodged in hotels ahead of board meetings).

DELE MOMODU: Another Epistle to President Jonathan

Pendulum By Dele Momodu

“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

             – Corinthians 10: 11-12

Your Excellency, please permit me to intrude into your busy schedule again today. After my last letter, I was so sure there would be no need to contact you so soon. But I was encouraged to return by two developments. The first was your response to a mid-term analysis of your achievements and shortcomings as well as that of your cabinet in the past two years of Transformation Agenda. The impression most people have is that Nigerian leaders don’t read newspapers. As a matter of fact, that belief was corroborated by President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his brutally frank manner when he declared he had no time for nosey journalists and could not be bothered to read what they wrote about him. I was therefore gladdened to read your own assessment of what the newspapers published as well as the eloquent defence you gave of some of your hardworking Ministers. This gave me hope that you might stumble on this letter and find time to digest its content.

Dana Crash: Lagos Unveils Cenotaph for Victims Monday

Governor Babatunde Fashola

Lagos State government at the weekend disclosed that it had completed a cenotaph in remembrance of the 153 victims of the Dana plane crash, which threw the entire country into mourning and will be unveiled on June 3, 2013.

The state government added that the cenotaph would be publicly unveiled on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the plane crash, which claimed the lives of all passengers on board.

Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed disclosed the plan to officially unveil the cenotaph at a news conference held at the state secretariat, Alausa to mark the first anniversary of the incident.

Shocking: Don Jazzy Gives Follower N100k for Retweeting Fullstop

So one of Don Jazzy's loyal follower @Bmillions1 is billed to receive a largesse of N100, 000 for simply retweeting a Fullstop tweeted by jazzy. ITZ funny but true. Well, lets see if he'll actually get it. I'm sure plenty people including mua would start retweeting anything Don Jazzy tweets. Hahahhahahah

Buhari Slams FG over Boko Haram

Maj. Gen. Mohammadu Buhari

Former military Head of State and three time Presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Mohammadu Buhari has criticised the current war against the Boko Haram Islamic sect, saying it is a gross injustice against the north.

Buhari who featured on the “Guest of the Week”, Hausa programme of the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio Sunday, said unlike the special treatment given to the Niger Delta militants by the federal government, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished.

SIMON KOLAWOLE: Fellow Nigerians, It Is All Politics!

Simon Kolawole Live!: Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

This story often summons a smile to my face. About 20 years ago, we took my little cousin, Motunrayo, to a studio for a photo session. She sat in front of the camera and we started applying some make-up to her pretty face. Make-up done, lights on, camera ready, preamble finished, she innocently stood up and headed for the exit door. We laughed and informed her that she was yet to do what we actually came for – a photo shoot. The three-year-old girl probably thought we only came to glamorise her face. This, tearfully, reminds me of Nigerian politicians. They so often fail to understand that the main reason for getting political power is not the glamour of sirens and convoys. Power is not an end in itself; it is, alas, a means to an end.