Welcome to Gee's Blog

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, seems to have acquired imperial powers with the recent recommendations made by the House Ad-hoc Committee on Rules and Business led by Hon Aminu Shagari. The new rules give Dogara a somewhat overwhelming powers to deal with any of his perceived enemies or erring member. CELESTINE OKAFOR looks at the implications of the new powers of the Speaker as well as the controversy surrounding the composition of the new House Committees, wondering if Dogara is not stirring the hornets nest. House of Representatives Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, seems to be courting trouble in recent times. The House Speaker has incurred the wrath of many of his colleagues across party lines with the October 8 adoption of a new House rules which has legally given the speaker sweeping powers to deal with Reps members who appear to have stepped on his toes or rather stepped out of line. The new rules however came in the aftermath of the stiff op...

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his government and Nigeria can not afford to pay forty two ministers and that not all the minister nominees that have been screened will have portfolios. Moreso he went on to say that he will reduce the numbers of ministries. Buahri in an interview with Channels TV and Nigerian Television Authority in New Delhi in India said that he is working with a team of people introduced to him by others that he trust and must work with them. Buhari while reacting to question on the the divide in the National Assembly over Rotimi Amaechi’s confirmation as minister said he did not walk into the presidency alone hence he can not work alone and that some of those having problems at the National Assembly he has never meet them. ‘This is team work I said I know people but there are people that I accept from other people in our team that I trust without even knowing them. ‘May be those that are having problem in the National Assembly I doubt if I have me...

The Cross River Government has suspended indefinitely, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Anne Odey, for “flouting civil service rules”, amid a controversy over ban of morning and afternoon prayer sessions in schools. Jude Ngaji, the State Security Adviser to Gov, Ben Ayade, disclosed this on Friday in Calabar while speaking to journalists. Mrs. Odey in a statement had directed all private and public primary and secondary schools in the state to stop morning and afternoon devotion forthwith. According to her, the directives came from the Commissioner of Police, Henry Fadairo, in view of the security challenges facing the nation. On Wednesday, the state Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Archbishop Joseph Ukpo, in a statement, called on the state government to immediately withdraw such directive. The CAN leader said that such directive negated freedom of worship. “This directive to suspend morning devotion will negatively affect the moral upbrin...

According to a four-count charge against him, he was said to have accepted about N70million bribe among others allegations. Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe  will reportedly be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on November 9, over alleged false declaration of assets and bribery. According to a four-count charge against him, which is currently pending before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), he was said to have accepted about N70million bribe among others allegations. Count one reads:  “That you, Godsday Peter Orubebe, while being a Minister of Federal Republic of Nigeria in charge of Niger Delta Affairs, on or about June 29th 2011 did make a false declaration in your asset declaration form by failing to declare plot 2722 Kyamu District Abuja on assumption of office on 26th September 2007 and on leaving office (at the end of your tenure), on June 29, 2011 and you thereby committed an offence under section 15 of Code o...

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele has stated that there was no intention by the federal government to further devalue the naira. Addressing State House correspondents, Mr Emefiele said that the apex bank was rather concentrating on how to improve and deepen the foreign exchange market by improving supply of foreign exchange into the market. He added that the CBN is also concentrating on how to reduce the import of items that could be produced locally. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has also said that devaluation of the naira is not an appropriate option in the current economic realities in the country as it is not healthy for the Nigerian economy. The Vice President, while receiving the Italian Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Fulvio Rustico and the Canadian High Commissioner in Nigeria Mr Perry John Calderwood in his office on Thursday shared similar views as the CBN Governor. In his reckoning, FDI is more forward looking than portfolio inves...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has dismissed a communique issued by the Peoples Democratic Party’s national caucus on the political developments in the nation, saying it is a rehash of the party’s “infantile whining” which will not save it from going down unless it rebrands most urgently. ”It is time for the PDP to take a long, hard look at itself in the mirror and change everything that is ugly about the party, instead of wasting its energy and time on irrelevancies,” the party said in a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed. It said the PDP cannot continue to do things in its “trademark old, crooked ways and expect a different result”. ”The PDP just doesn’t get it, despite being the architect of its own fall from power. The days of winning elections with the aid of slush funds, brigandage, deceit and rigging are gone forever, hence the PDP must return to the drawing board to fashion out decent and empirical ways of repack...

Lagosians in the Victoria Island axis today, October 30, witnessed an accident involving an articulated truck carrying a container during the mega city’s rush hour. The container fell of from the truck around the popular Bonny Camp area which caused heavy traffic in the area. Men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) were however on hand to manage the situation. The incident is coming one month after the Lagos state government reiterated its determination to ensure strict enforcement of the Lagos state Road Traffic Law 2012, which restricts trailers and other long vehicles from plying the metropolis between the hours of  6am to 9pm . The state government had vowed to go tough on any trailer and long vehicle that contravenes the law as such vehicle will be impounded and made to pay the stipulated fine accordingly. Recall that on Wednesday, September 2, a heavy duty container skidded off the Ojuelegba bridge in Lagos and landed on tw...

NIGERIA knew, knows and is still knowing about prophets in the Lord’s Vineyard. The prophethood exhibited by the founder and head of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, according to investigations, appears to be one on the side of development that must be taken serious. This is a prophet who told this reporter before jetting out to Enugu enroute Achalla on Monday October 12, 2015, among many other prophecies that a young man would emerge as Ooni of Ife and that his emergence would not only come to pass but that it will bring prosperity to Yoruba race. This triggered this follow-up that has deliberately been embarked upon as a way of critically looking into how religious leaders can actually positively partner the state in matter of growth and development. Primate-Ayodele When contacted over the most recent prophecy the Primate said, “My prophecies coming to pass is not for me to celebrate. I tell the government and peoples of the ...

Barely 24 hours to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deadline for the registration for Bank Verification Number (BVN), citizens in Anambra State have called for an extension of the exercise. The citizens are demanding for another one month, to enable those in the rural areas to participate. While speaking in Awka, the Anambra State capital, some of the residents said that many people are yet to be verified, due to reasons ranging from time constraints to access to where banks are located, especially for those in the rural areas. They, however, hailed the Central Bank initiative on the BVN exercise, as they agreed with the need to check trends in the banking system, in order to ensure sanity while clamping down on corruption and fraud. According to the data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in September 2015, out of about 52 million active accounts owned by adults and children in various banks, the t...

The Osun State Government and lecturers in the four state-owned polytechnics and colleges of education have finally agreed to sheath their swords. This agreement brought to an end the industrial action embarked upon by the Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State-Owned Tertiary Institutions (CASUOSTI) that has led to the closure of all the institutions for over seven months. ‎At the signing of the agreement at the Governor’s office in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, Secretary of the CASUOSTI, Olusegun Lana, said that the suspension of the strike followed government’s decision to accede to their demands as identified in the agreement signed. He urged the state government not to renege on the agreement but ensure it is followed to the letter. The Chief of Staff, Gboyega Oyetola, who represented Governor Rauf Aregbesola, appealed to the lecturers to build the required trust in the government to foster peace. He said that it was never the wish of the government not to imp...

Image copyright   Facebook Image caption   Under the new system, messages from outside a user's network will appear as "requests" There has been a mixed reaction to Facebook's changes to its Messenger service, announced this week. In the next few days it will phase out the Other inbox, where members currently receive messages from people they are not Facebook friends with. Some members have expressed concern about harassment and spam gaining increased visibility. Facebook users who run groups are also affected as they often communicate with group members who are not friends. Once the phasing is complete, all messages from people outside of a member's friend network will arrive as "requests" which the recipient can accept or reject. The messages will however arrive automatically if the sender is not a Facebook friend but stored as a contact in the recipient's mobile device - as long as the service is synced. Message received Many of the ...

One of the newly confirmed ministers and likely Attorney General of the Federation, James Ocholi has been accused of defending high profile criminal suspects with high criminal records.                                                 James Ocholi James Ocholi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria reliably described as one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s top picks for appointment as Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, represents several controversial clients including an Indian accused of defrauding several Nigerian banks of billions of naira, a former Managing Director of Finbank, Okey Nwosu, who is undergoing prosecution for questionable financial transactions, and a university professor from Kogi State currently facing trial over his suspected links with an Islamist terrorist group whose attacks have claimed thousands of Nigerian lives and led to bill...

A Surulere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Friday admitted 47-year-old Chigoziem Onyeneke, who is accused of manslaughter, to bail in the sum of N200, 000. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A. A. Famobiwo, in her ruling ordered that the accused should present one responsible surety in like sum. She said the surety must be gainfully employed, with a verifiable address. Onyeneke, who resides at No. 60, Asabo St., Mobil Estate, Satellite Town, Lagos is facing a two-count charge of driving in a manner endangering the lives of other road users and manslaughter. He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge. Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Clement Okuoimose, told the court that the accused committed the offences at Second Rainbow Bus Stop, Apapa/Oshodi expressway, Lagos on Oct.16. He said the accused, who was driving a Honda Pilot SUV with Reg No. (LAGOS) FST 755 AT, drove on the public highway, in a manner dangerous to other road users, which caused the death of Raphael Falere. “The 71...

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Friday announced the retirement of 34 of its officers. A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Mr Wale Adeniyi, said the retirement was part of the re-organisation in the service. He said the retirement of the affected officers was with immediate effect. “As part of the ongoing re-organisation in Nigeria Customs Service, 34 Senior Officers have been retired from Service with immediate effect. “The re-organisation of the service is one of the core mandates of the Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali,’’ the statement read. He said those affected were five Deputy Comptrollers-General of Customs (DC-Gs) who had earlier given notification to the Comptroller-General for voluntary disengagement. They are John Atte, Ibrahim Mera, Musa Tahir, Austin Nwosu and Akinade Adewuyi. Adeniyi said the three Assistant Comptrollers-General involved are Madu Mohammed, Secretary to the Nigeria Customs Board, Victor Gbemud...

Ahead of the governorship election in Kogi State, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that about 1,397, 780 voters are eligible to vote. The Resident Electoral Commissioner in State, Mallam Hussaini Halilu Pai gave the figure on Friday at the INEC headquarters in Lokoja when presenting a clean copy of Voters Register to the 23 political parties participating in the governorship election. He noted that the idea was to enlighten the major stakeholders of the current figures of those eligible to participate in the election. Political parties head and representatives, security agencies, civil societies, and pressmen were at the INEC’s office in Lokoja for the official presentation of soft copies of the Voters Register to all political parties participating in the forthcoming election in the state. While performing the ceremony, the Resident Electoral Commissioner said the event was held to enlighten the major stakeholders of the current figures of those eligib...

The People Democratic Party has called on the President Mohammad Buhari to stand up for justice and equity and stop all undemocratic attitudes. The PDP made this known in a communique signed by Prof. Adewale Oladipo after a meeting on Thursday in Abuja The PDP caucus reviewed the political developments in the nation’s polity and resolved as follows. A: That there is serious cause for concern in the nation’s political environment, especially as it concerns the survival of the nation’s democracy. B: That the gains recorded in the 16 years of nurturing of democracy in the country by the PDP is rapidly being eroded with non-functioning of basic tenets of democracy and perpetuation of actions tilting towards dictatorship. C: That the insensitivity of the ruling government to very critical issues being raised by the opposition is a huge threat to viable democracy and dangerous to the peace, unity and progress of the country. D: That the undue interferences by the executive a...

With final year projects making the waves in Unizik, UNIZIKMATA presents to you Another Team of Zikites that has assembled in same line of creativity to produce a made in Nigeria ELECTRIC POWER BIKE which they have named EBS ONE. This team of Mechanical Engineering Students comprises of ONYEBUCHI CHINONSO, PAUL OVOKE, CHIKA PAUL, UDORA EDISON, NWAFOR PAULING, and from the department of Electrical Engineering VICTOR IKEH TOCHUKWU. The project (EBS ONE) has to do with having an electrical system in place of an Internal combustion engine of a motorcycle. This electrical system comprises mainly of; the batteries, a DC motor, the gear system, and an inverter. The batteries power the motor which in turn moves the gear to bring about the movement of the rear wheel. i.e batteries-> motor-> gear> rear wheel. The idea of this project is to reduce the dependence on fuel for motorcycles and  reduce ozone layer depletion by carbon compounds due to combustion of fuels. They f...

ABUJA— The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, yesterday, expunged some paragraphs of the petition that led to the annulment of the April 11  governorship election that brought Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to power. In a judgment it delivered, a three-man panel of Justices of the Appeal Court headed by Justice Datti Yahaya, struck out portions of the petition alleging that security agents were used to rig the election in favour of Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The decision of the appellate court followed an interlocutory appeal that was lodged before it by the APC and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside. Both APC and Peterside had gone before the court to challenge the ruling of the previous chairman of the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal panel, Justice Muazu Pindiga, which deleted paragraphs of the petition containing criminal allegations  against unnamed security operatives. Justice Pindiga...