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The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has claimed that about $1bn (N197bn) went missing every month under former President Goodluck Jonathan. The former apex bank governor, said this during a programme entitled ‘How a cancer of corruption steals Nigerian oil, weapons and lives’, which aired on The PBS NewsHour, an American daily evening television show. The monarch said many dirty and shocking deals took place under the immediate past Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who is currently being investigated in the United Kingdom His words, “In Nigeria, there is no accountability at all and that is why I think Nigeria’s corruption is worse than corruption in most parts of the world. It is the worst type of corruption. It’s stealing. “Frankly, I think a billion dollars under Jonathan a month was about what we were losing.” Speaking further, the emir claimed that during Alison-Madueke’s tenure as petroleum minister, people paid as low as $50m for access to crude oil bloc...

President Barack Obama on Sunday once again called on Congress to vote to authorize the war against the self-described Islamic State. "For over a year, I have ordered our military to take thousands of airstrikes against ISIL targets. I think it’s time for Congress to vote to demonstrate that the American people are united, and committed, to this fight," Obama said. But minutes earlier, the American public was presented with why that's not going to happen. Basically, nobody is even paying attention to the debate over the need for a new authorization for the use of military force. In a CNN segment ahead of the president's remarks, host Wolf Blitzer didn't seem to know that Obama has already sent lawmakers a draft AUMF proposal. It was nearly a year ago, but they haven't done anything with it, which is the heart of the problem. "Should the president declare this a war and seek congressional authorization for the use of military force?" Blitzer a...

Leadership reports that the new APC group has named itself ‘True APC’. Members of the new faction are said to have been unhappy because the state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, did not do anything in line with the change mantra the party represents. They also accused the governor denying the people of Kaduna the true change they yearn and voted for. Members of the new faction include the retired permanent secretary, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, former ANPP chairman, Alhaji Kabir Umar, former education commissioner, Mr. Tom Mataimaki Maiyashi, Alhaji Lawal Maiturare, Nasiru Ahmed; special adviser on strategy to Senator Shehu Sani and Murtala Abubakar who is the publicity secretary. Alhaji Murtala Abubakar who is the publicity secretary of the new APC said: “ members of “True –APC” are responsible people who successfully worked hard to remove the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and put our party in power, it is with tremendous reluctance that we make public, issues and...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, December 5, 2015 stated that the position of the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, on the ongoing pro-Biafra protests in some states in the South-East remained final The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made this known in an interview with Punch after he was asked if the president has ordered the deployment of troops. He said, “The issue of Biafra is a matter of law and order. The law enforcement agencies know what to do, and they are doing it. The IGP (Solomon Arase) has spoken on it earlier this week. That position remains.” On December 2, 2015, a pro-Biafra protest staged by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualisation of the Republic of Biafra (MASSOB) turned deadly as police, acting on the orders of Arase opened fire on unarmed protestors killing eleven people. Among them is a 21-year-old female student of the Federal College of Education in Umunze, Anambra...

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has named Mohammed Al Sada to succeed Nigeria’s Ibe Kachikwu as the organisation’s conference president. Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, became OPEC president only on Wednesday, replacing Diezani Alison-Madueke. However, a fresh election was made on Friday at the 168th ordinary meeting of the organisation in Vienna, Austria, Kachikwu’s first meeting at the helm. In a statement by the organisation, registering the resumption of Indonesian as an OPEC member, the oil cartel declared the new holders of other offices. “In approving Indonesia’s resumption of its full membership in the organization, the conference extended a warm welcome to its delegation, headed by HE Sudirman Said, minister of energy and mineral resources of Indonesia,” OPEC secretariat revealed. “The conference elected HE Dr Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada, minister of energy and industry of Qatar, as president of the conference for one year, with effect fro...

Thirty-two workers have died after an offshore oil platform operated by Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR caught fire in the Caspian Sea, the head of an independent committee said on Saturday. SOCAR declined repeated requests for comment from Reuters. "According to our information, 32 workers died, while 42 workers were rescued last night. ... The fire on the platform was finally extinguished," said Mirvari Gakhramanly, head ofAzerbaijan's Oil Workers' Rights Protection Committee. SOCAR said on Friday that the fire on a platform in Azerbaijan's Guneshli oil field had started after a gas pipeline on the platform was damaged in heavy wind. It said rescue attempts were being complicated by a severe storm. One worker called a Reuters correspondent from the platform and said there were 84 people trapped there. The worker did not want to be named. It was not clear whether his statement was now out of date. SOCAR said on its Facebook page on Saturday t...

Over a hundred angry youths attacked Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state on Friday, December 4, during the final interment of the late Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Mohammadu Chindo Yamusa II. Nigerian Tribune reports that the governor was about entering his official vehicle in Keffi, Keffi local government area of the state when the youths came at him with different weapons, throwing stones at him. Governor Tanko He was quickly rushed into his car as security operatives attached to his convoy quickly intervened. They shot sporadically to scare the youths away. As a result, shops and stores were hurriedly closed down. The youths were said to have started mobilizing themselves after the governor and his entourage arrived for the burial. After the interment, the irate youths started molesting him, calling him names and throwing stones in his direction. Addressing a press conference in Keffi, Alhaji Sani Mohammed, the state commissioner of police ordered the Keffi area co...