Reserves Rising Again As Nigerian Crude Hits $39.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves are on the rise again, as the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed on Thursday that the Nigerian crude, bonny light, is trading at $39.07 per barrel.
The current selling price, which is above the 2016 budget benchmark of $38 per barrel of crude by $1, is also the highest point for Bonny Light in 2016.

According to the latest figures from the central bank, the reserves rose to $27.88 billion following a nine-day rising streak from $27.82 billion at the beginning of the month.
The reserves had a four-day rise in February, the very first of such, since President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May 2015.

30 Senators Flood CCT To Support Saraki.

Senate President Bukola Saraki is at present at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where his trial for alleged false declaration of assets continues.
He arrived at 9:56am in company of at least 30 senators.
He wore a flowing milk-coloured agbada and sat gently in the second row of benches reserved for senators.

Saraki: I Wasn’t Allowed To Explain Myself.

Senate President Bukola Saraki has insisted that his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) is “political”, saying he was not given the opportunity to explain what could have led to perceived inaccuracy.
Saraki is currently at the tribunal after the supreme court failed to grant his wish to halt the trial.
He is facing a 13-count charge of alleged corruption and false declaration of assets.
In a statement signed by Gbenga Makanjuola, his deputy chief of staff, the senate president said the act which established the tribunal accord anyone whom allegation is laid against the right to deny or admit the claim.

Fayose: I Drove Trucks Before I Became Governor

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, on Thursday revealed that he drove trucks before he was elected number one citizen of the state. Fayose was first elected in 2003 but he was impeached three years later. However, he returned in 2014 after defeating Kayode Fayemi, then the incumbent governor, in the year’s governorship election, and has spent two years in his new term. In a message posted on Twitter, Fayose charged people to be proud of their professions. “We must be proud of our profession. I sell trucks, I did haulage, I can drive this truck to Lagos. I did this before I became governor,” he wrote. Last year, he told members of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in his state that he was once a commercial driver. “I was once a driver like you. I used the money I got from driving to sponsor myself for HND at Ibadan Polytechnic. Being a driver, you can make it in life. You will become what you want to become in life through hard work,” he had said. “Don’t join evil gang for you to get rich overnight. Though I am part of you, if you breach the law, I won’t spare you. I don’t want to be the enemies of drivers, I want to be your friend.

Babatope: PDP Will Sack Buhari From Aso Rock In 2019

Ebenezer Babatope, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says his party will “dislodge” President Muhammadu Buhari from Aso Rock in 2019.
Speaking when he visited Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, Babatope accused the current administration of using security agencies to harass and intimidate its opponents.
Babatope said his party was regaining its strength, as the PDP has had good outings in recent times.
“We have been preparing for him (Buhari) such that come 2019, we will become stronger in PDP and dislodge him from Aso Rock,” he said.

Buhari Sweeps Off 184 Top Officials Over Budget Padding

President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday, made good his threat to deal ruthlessly with top civil servants who altered figures in the 2016 budget thereby making nonsense of his zero budget plan. No fewer than 184 top budget officials were flushed out of budget duties and sent to establishments that have little or nothing to do with budget, as a punishment for their roles in padding this year’s fiscal document, now before the National Assembly. A top official in the Budget office confirmed that 22 top officers from the Budget Office of the Federation were affected in the mass deployment.

Sixty Five Lawyers Represent Senate President Saraki As Tribunal Adjourns Corruption Trial

The Code of Conduct Tribunal has adjourned the trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to March I8.
The tribunal, Friday, took the decision after Mr. Saraki’s new lawyer, Kanu Agabi, asked the tribunal to rule first on the senate president’s objection to the powers of the tribunal to try him.
Mr. Saraki is facing charges of alleged false asset declaration and corruption.
The senate president’s bid to thwart the trial failed after the Supreme Court said the tribunal has powers and was constituted to hear the case against Mr. Saraki.

Doctors Spend More Time On Strike Than They Do In Theatre – Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has noted that public doctors in the country spend more time on industrial action than on their duty post, noting that such disposition is treasonable in other climes.
The former Labour leader made this assertion yesterday during the formal commissioning of Alliance Hospital, a multi specialty hospital in Abuja, where he observed that many things have gone wrong in the Nigerian environment.

Noting that doctors spend more time on strike than they spend in the theatre as every grievance is always settled with a strike, he said, “Many things have to change. It’s not just a factor of equipment. If the human factor and orientation is inappropriate, facilities and equipment cannot translate to good health outcomes.”

Explosion Rocks CBN Office In Calabar [PHOTOS]

A gas explosion was on Friday recorded at a section of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, office in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, which is under construction. The CBN spokesman, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed this to TheWill, disclosed that no death was recorded from the incident, adding that the resultant fire has been successfully put out. His words, “There is a gas explosion from the construction area of our premises there. There is no fatality yet. A few persons who were injured have been taken to the hospital. The Fire service personnel responded promptly and they have been able to put out the fire.”

Man arrested in the U.S with 12 passports with different names but his photo on all of them(Photo

A Nigerian man, Uchenna Azubuike has been charged with 13 counts of identity fraud and held at the Thomas County Jail, Georgia. Immigration personnel have interviewed the suspect and officials with the Diplomatic Division of the U.S. attorney’s office at Macon will interview Azubuike here in mid-March.

Azubuike, 29, of 1000 Barone Ave., Atlanta was arrested after allegedly attempting to purchase two cell phones from a Vericon store using a fake passport of a woman in New York.

Employees at the Thomasville Verizon store, 13915 U.S. 19 South, became suspicious when someone using a New Jersey woman’s identification purchased phones in late February. Personnel contacted the woman and learned she had never been in Thomasville.

OMG: Woman Soaked In Blood After Being Involved In A Tragic Accident.

According to reports making the rounds online, this woman was involved in a tragic accident during a journey within Cameroon on Tuesday. The woman who suffered serious injuries was soaked in blood as people around with the help of some local medical personnel tried to help her. The cause of the accident was not revealed and the condition of the women is still yet to be ascertained.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO


CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTO

Apple Says FBI Could Force Company to Turn on iPhone Cameras & Microphones

Company representative says the San Bernardino case would set a precedent allowing government to convert smartphones into domestic surveillance devices.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of services, warned Thursday that, if the FBI wins its case to force the company to unlock an iPhone 5C owned by the employer of a terrorist, it will force a precedent opening the door to indiscriminate domestic surveillance. Cue suggests that the case could give the FBI power to force companies to make users’ cameras and microphones accessible to government surveillance apparatus and anyone else who gains access to the code.

The next Presidential election: a meaningful choice for the first time?

I don’t vote.  For one thing – I don’t want to acquire the US citizenship.  But even if I had a US passport I would not vote for the following reasons: First, the choice between the two parties is like Pepsi-Cola vs Coca-Cola: both are toxic and impossible to tell apart.  Second, every time the American people voted to support one policy, they got the exact opposite, from Bush’s “read my lips no new taxes” to Obama’s “change you can believe in”. 

Folasade Tinubu-Ojo Protests Against APC Government

The Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Chief Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, on Thursday, led market women to protest the non-inclusion of market women in President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress administration.

Tinubu-Ojo who is also the daughter of the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu led several women who converged at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.

According to her, it was the opinion of market women of Nigeria that the present administration is not carrying them along even after they worked tirelessly to ensure the party emerged victorious during the 2015 election.

The Cameroonian army intercepted a French helicopter delivering weapons to Boko Haram

The website Afrique News Info issued a scarcely credible information, the Cameroonian army might have  intercepted a French helicopter at the North of the country providing arms, ammunition and money to the terrorist group affiliated with Daech. Citing as source a Cameroonian politician Banda Kani, national president of the New People’s Movement (NPM).

“You also know that there are two French terrorists who were arrested at the Briqueterie with explosives. […] Another factor is that a helicopter was intercepted in the north of Cameroon depositing arms, ammunition and dollars […] take their loot deposited by the helicopter. “
In support of the facts, they recall that these practices have already been seen during the post-election crisis that was played in Ivory Coast.

Photo: Mother of 2 killed by bus that suffered Brake failure in Lagos

 Marnie-Rae Harvey, a teenager who is unable to leave her home for her daily activities because she suffers from a rare condition in which blood spontaneously seeps from her eye, ears, beneath her tongue and from her scalp, says doctors are unable to determine what the cause of her illness is and have since dubbed her the ''Mystery Girl".


Baffled doctors have no idea what is causing the bleeding, which is steadily getting worse, and have dubbed her the "Mystery Girl" as they struggle to come up with a diagnosis.
Until they do, the teenager is forced to stay at home as the bleeding could start at any time, and must cope with the stigma of her condition which means she has lost most of her friends.

We spent N600m buying police dogs in the last few years- IG Arase says

The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, today revealed that the Nigeria Police Force spent N600 million in the last few years to purchase dogs. According to The Cable, Arase said this while speaking at the inauguration of the Police Dog Breeding Centre and Ultra Modern Mounted Troop in Abuja today March 10th. Speaking at the event, Arase said spending such a huge amount of money on the importation of dogs from foreign countries that rarely adapt to the country’s policing objective, is not sustainable in the face of the economic reality of Nigeria. He said the establishment of the Police Dog Breeding Centre will help save the federal government the foreign exchange used to purchase foreign dogs.

Man sentenced to 5 years in prison for stabbing a stranger with scissors at London Tube station

A Nigerian man has been sentenced to five years for stabbing a passenger with a pair of scissors at Finsbury Park Tube Station, UK. 27-year-old Adeyemi Adekeye was found guilty of grievous bodily harm at Blackfriars Crown Court on January 28 and was sentenced to five years in prison on March 4, 2016.

Adekeye attacked the victim on the Victoria line platform at Finsbury Park Tube station at about 1.30pm on August 11 2015. The victim thought he had been punched and managed to get onto a train and away from Adekeye. But once on the train, he realised he had been injured and was bleeding.

Court grants Badeh N2bn bail

A Federal high court sitting in Abuja has granted embattled former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, bail in the sum N2bn and two sureties in the sum of N1bn each. Delivering judgement at the hearing of his bail application today March 10th, the presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang, ordered Badeh to deposit his International passport at the court. He also ruled that the sureties must be residents of Abuja. Badeh is standing trial for the misappropriation of N1.1 billion meant for the Nigeria Airforce and also for being involved in the $2.1 billion arms deal scandal.

See the thief who derives pleasure in stealing -

A suspected thief, Babatunde Ibrahim, who allegedly specialises in stealing phones, says he derives pleasure in the act.

The suspects
The 28-year-old suspect told the police that he had been stealing since his childhood, confessing that he had stolen over 100 phones.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Ibrahim was arrested on Sunday by operatives of Rapid Response Squad, Lagos State Police Command, at the Ikeja Along end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway while he
was returning from a burglary in the Ilupeju area of the state.

The suspect told the police that he had entered the building through the balcony door which was left ajar, and stole three phones and other valuables.

Photos From Accident On 3rd Mainland Bridge This Evening

A female passenger was left severely injured after the vehicle she was traveling in somersaulted on 3rd Mainland bride this evening...

Air Force Pound Boko Haram Camp In Borno with bombs Photo

– Boko Haram fighters have abandoned their camp in Iza, Borno state following aerial bombardment by the airforce


– Troops flush out insurgents in ground offensive backed by Mi-35 Helicopter gunships

The Nigerian Air Force Alpha Jets have pummeled Boko Haram positions at their camp at Iza, Borno state which made the terrorist scamper into the Sambisa forest.

The Mi-35 Helicopter gunships providing close air support for the advancing troops in a ground assault at Iza, Borno state – Photo credits: Daily Post.

Buhari To Attend Nuclear Security Summit In Washington

President Muhammadu Buhari is to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC in three weeks’ time.

A preliminary list of delegates shows that he will be accompanied to the three-day event, to be hosted by President Barak Obama between March 30 and April 1, by three governors and six Ministers.

Also on the preliminary list prepared by the presidency are 11 principal officers and a 23-member Advance team that includes a medical doctor, Protocol officers, State House media, bodyguards and a cook.

3 Men Arrested For Gang-raping Woman While Boyfriend Watch

Three men have been nabbed for allegedly gang-raping a woman while forcing her boyfriend to watch.  Three heartless men have been arrested after they held a young lady captive and gang-raped her severally in the presence of her helpless boyfriend, Daily Trust reports.

The incident happened when the 22-year-old lady, identified as Faith, visited her boyfriend in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, from her base in neighbouring Nasarawa State.

Is there any reason to hope for France?

by Cosimo A

A few people asked me if there’s any reason to hope for France to get better.  This is my 2 cents worth.

I might shock you by commenting that as things stand, France is in a much better situation that the US.

Let’s start with a nice fun slice of reality, a pleasant truth.

Here’s a 1 minute Youtube of Dieudonné, the humorist, at the Zenith hall in Strasbourg on Feb. 13 where  17,000 people paid about $45 a seat. His tours are a major success and halls usually sell out all the seats. The French government and the Zionist pressure groups such as CRIF have tried to get rid of him for almost 13 years, banishing him from TV, banning shows under the dictatorial power of the Conseil d’État even after courts said it was okay, pursuing him in courts on bogus charges, etc.  At his lowest, having been banned from TV in 2003 as an “antisemite”, and with even his private shows cancelled, he was reduced to giving performances to 40 or 50 people at a time on a rented bus. Back then, Gilad Atzmon, an exIsraeli, helped defend Dieudonné against the bogus charge of “antisemite”, and in the years since, he worked his way back up to become by far the most popular comedian in France. His success proves what Regis Debray once said, « Interdire, c’est répandre. »   To forbid is to spread.