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Kashim Shettima, governor of Borno state, says President Goodluck Jonathan nearly removed him in 2014 with the belief that he was responsible for the disappearance of Chibok schoolgirls. He said Mohammed Bello Adoke, who was the attorney-general of the federation at the time, told the president “you don’t have the power to remove even an elected councillor”. Adoke’s position was supported by Taminu Turaki, minister of special duties, Shettima said. He was speaking on Thursday at the launch of ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’, written by Bolaji Abdullahi — who served as a minister under Jonathan from 2011-2014. ”The people around Jonathan told him that I was hiding the girls, that there was no abduction. They said I was hiding the girls to embarrass him,” he said. He described Jonathan as a “decent person” who was misled by the people around him. ”The whole world was talking about the abduction for three weeks before Jonathan spoke with me for the

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Ondo State has berated the state government led by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for its unfair labor practices and anti-workers policies. The Congress said Mr. Akeredolu in his deliberate attempt was shortchanging the civil servants in the workforce of the state their welfare and benefits.  It stated this in an electronic statement issued on Thursday in Akure.  Ekundayo Soladoye, Chairman of the Trade Union Congress signed the statement obtained by Sahara Reporters. Comrade Soladoye said the workers are embittered about their unpaid arrears mostly as Christmas is nearing the corner.  He disclosed that all effort being made by the joint labor leaders to address the welfare of dying workers in the state was being frustrated by Mr. Akeredolu. He expressed bitterness at the long list of issues concerning the worker’s welfare that the governing All Progressive Congress (APC) government in the state has its closed blind eyes to. “The issues ran

A Kwaya Kusar, Borno State man stormed Jafi Primary School on Thursday morning and hacked two male students to death with a machete, Borno State police have confirmed. The vicious attack, which occurred at around 9:30 a.m., also left a teacher and female student wounded. They have since been taken to Gombe General Hospital for medical treatment. The attacker, identified as Gaji Adamu, was mobbed by students after his rampage and was promptly reported to the police. He was left unconscious after the counter-attack and was arrested before being transferred to a hospital, where he is receiving medical attention under protective custody. Borno State Commissioner of Police Damian A. Chukwu ordered the suspect to be transferred to the Borno State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) for questioning upon regaining consciousness. While police have not confirmed the attacker's motives, the Borno State Police Public Relations Officer, Victor Isuku, said they bel

Members of the public were shocked to hear that, the embattled erstwhile Chairman of Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina was operating a valid United States of America (USA) passports, as American citizen. Comptroller General of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), mohammed Babandede dropped this hint on Thursday, at the ongoing public hearing organized by the House of Representatives, on the disappearance, reappearance, reinstatement and subsequent promotion of Maina. The Immigration boss said, aside the Nigerian regular passport, Maina was also in possession of an official passport which had expired recently, and a valid America passport. He said the America passport would expire on the 26th August, 2022. Babandede said, his formation had no prior knowledge of Mr. Maina, until he was declared wanted by the Senate and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “We only knew about Maina on 27th September 2013, when he was accosted at

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Senator Umar Dahiru, challenging the election of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as the Governor of Sokoto State. In a ruling read by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the court also awarded a cost of N100,000 against the appellants. Dahiru had filed the appeal challenging the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja which in June dismissed his suit and that of another APC governorship aspirant, Aliyu Abubakar Sanyinna, on the ground that they could not prove the allegations of irregularities in the primary election conducted on December 40 2014. Justice Gabriel Kolawole had ruled that even if the applicants had succeeded in proving that there were irregularities in the December 4, 2014 primary, the court could not grant the reliefs because it was not an election petitions tribunal and therefore lacked jurisdiction. Counsel to the appellants Chief Roland Otaru SA

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has received donation from The United States Government to support the agency. According to a statement on Wednesday by the US Consulate General in Lagos, the gesture was an extension of the US government’s support for the counter-narcotics agency. Items and equipment donated to the NDLEA are three Honda Accord vehicles, three Toyota Hilux trucks, one Toyota Hiace van, one Smith Detection Body Scan Unit, 16 laptop computers and 16 Analyst Notebook Software. Others are 20 digital cameras, five electric bill counters and 25 battery power supply backup. The US Consulate General, John Bray, presenting the items to the Director of Training and Manpower Development, NDLEA, Dr. Linus Opara, stressed on the importance of law enforcement cooperation between the US and Nigeria in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse. “We are pleased to support the NDLEA in its efforts to fight drug trafficking. We share the same objective of

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has received donation from The United States Government to support the agency. According to a statement on Wednesday by the US Consulate General in Lagos, the gesture was an extension of the US government’s support for the counter-narcotics agency. Items and equipment donated to the NDLEA are three Honda Accord vehicles, three Toyota Hilux trucks, one Toyota Hiace van, one Smith Detection Body Scan Unit, 16 laptop computers and 16 Analyst Notebook Software. Others are 20 digital cameras, five electric bill counters and 25 battery power supply backup. The US Consulate General, John Bray, presenting the items to the Director of Training and Manpower Development, NDLEA, Dr. Linus Opara, stressed on the importance of law enforcement cooperation between the US and Nigeria in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse. “We are pleased to support the NDLEA in its efforts to fight drug trafficking. We share the same objective of

At least five people were feared dead in an attack Wednesday night by Boko Haram insurgents on Wuna village in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The attack came days after about 50 persons were killed in a similar attack on a Mosque in Mubi town during morning prayer. Sources said scores of fighters stormed the village, a few kilometres from Gulak, the administrative headquarters of Madagali. “They came in numbers and just started shooting sporadically into the air with their guns; and there was pandemonium as people started fleeing for their lives,” a resident said. “They held sway for almost an hour during which they killed over five people, burning houses, food stuff and carted away domestic animals. Presently, we are hiding somewhere in a nearby village,’’ the resident stated. Another resident said: “They were on the rampage to steal food and medical supplies. Even last two days, they raided a nearby village, Humbli, and many others. There is tension eve

The Federal Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) have called for collaboration to reduce the number of out-of-school children. Nigeria currently has the highest number of out-of-school children with 10.5 million. UNICEF’s Education Specialist, Swadchet Sankey, at a media dialogue in Kano, on early childhood development (ECD) said the figure was alarming. The dialogue was organized by UNICEF in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Information She said Nigeria needs to get its early preprimary education right in other to begin to reduce the huge figures. According to her, building Amajiri schools would not reduce the figure, adding that the federal government  must get its early learning and preprimary education right. Sankey, who commended the rate of enrollment in schools, called for more efforts to keep children in school. She said: “We are contributing to the number of out-of-school children. “One of the strategies of reducing out of schoo

The Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, have denied that the former chairman of the Presidential Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, was still paid salary years after being sacked. The duo said Mr. Maina was last paid in February 2013. They spoke on Thursday at a hearing organised by an Ad Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives to investigate Mr. Maina’s reinstatement. “From my findings, the last salary Maina received was in February 2013. From March 2013, he was removed from payroll,” said Mr. Idris. “I made a test run, giving different combinations of his names but found nothing. I don’t know where he has been getting salaries from.” Affirming this, Mrs. Adeosun said several searches were made in the payroll and nothing was found. “We do not have his biometric data. I can state that he is not receiving salary from the Federal Government,” she said. She further said that the Ministry of Finance ha