BUHARI WILL GET 21-GUN SALUTE, ARMY ALERTS PUBLIC

The Guards Brigade of the Nigerian Army on Monday in Abuja alerted the public on firing of artillery guns for Presidential Inauguration and Swearing in Ceremony come May 29.

This was contained in a statement issued by Maj. Charles Ekeocha, the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations in the Guards Brigade.
The statement quoted Ekeocha as saying “rehearsal for the Presidential Inauguration and Swearing in Ceremony has commenced since May 4 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
He said the rehearsal involved firing of the traditional 21 gun salute.
He stated that “the practice session for the 21 gun salute will take place on May 20 and May 25, and on the inauguration day, May 29.

YOU’RE AN HYPOCRITE, FAYOSE REPLIES FALANA

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has faulted a claim by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, that he (Fayose) was providing cover for armed gangs to operate in the state, saying such comment is “ridiculous and nonsensical.”
Falana, while reacting to Fayose’s ‘Save Our Soul’ message to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, in a statement on Sunday, had blamed the governor for the increasing wave of kidnapping in the state, saying armed thugs had been given immunity by the impunity in the state.
He cited the example that the armed thugs had, in connivance with state government, occupied and shut the House of Assembly since November 2014.
But the governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti on Monday, wondered why the Lagos-based lawyer would always keep silent whenever All Progressives Congress-controlled States are involved.
He asked, “Is this not hypocrisy? And Falana did not find it important to ask those All Progressives Congress-controlled states what they have done with their workers’ salaries if truly he is a human rights activist as he claims to be.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN DISSOLVES CABINET TOMORROW

Barring last minute change of plan, President Goodluck Jonathan will tomorrow dissolve his cabinet, Daily Trust has learnt.
A presidency source told our correspondent yesterday that the president would dissolve the cabinet after a valedictory session scheduled to hold inside the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, Wednesday morning.
The source also confirmed that the Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting would be the last in the life of the administration of President Jonathan.
He said the president would use the opportunity to thank his cabinet members and request prayers for the country.
The valedictory council session, prayers would also be offered for the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

UNIZIK Suspends SUG President On Grounds Of Indiscipline

The Students Representative Council(SRC) rose from an emergency sitting on the 18th day of May and placed the President of the Students Union Government (SUG) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Comr. Noble Eyisi on suspension.

The President was summoned to the house for explanations and to answer to the "Vote of no Confidence" passed on him by his fellow executives. The President failed to show up for the sitting and in line with the constitution of the SUG,he has been suspended.

With the suspension in place,he ceases to function in the full constitutional capacity as the President of the Students Union Government. Further publications made henceforth representing him as the Union's President is misrepresentation and the party or parties involved will be served with procedural sanctions.

WIKE: AMAECHI IS SEEKING COURT ORDERS TO STOP MY INAUGURATION

Rivers State governor-elect, Chief Nyesom Wike, has accused the state Governor, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, of shopping for court orders to stop his inauguration on May 29.
He also alleged that the governor had embarked on a “heartless looting of state resources” preparatory to his leaving office.
Wike spoke monday in Port Harcourt when he granted audience to elders and chiefs of Elele Alimini community of Emohua Local Government Area of the state.
The governor-elect alleged that Amaechi was scouting for illegal court orders to stop his (Wike’s) inauguration on May 29, saying the latest was the processes filed by the out-going governor at the Federal High Court in Owerri monday.
Wike described the outgoing governor as a man suffering from the “poverty of the spirit”, adding that all efforts to frustrate his administration would not work as he was focused on delivering on his campaign promises.

JONATHAN REJECTS PDP BOT CHAIR OFFER

As the post-election crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) continues, there are mounting pressures on President Goodluck Jonathan to take up the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party at the end of his tenure.
A competent source told the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, on Sunday, that shortly after the presidential election, a team comprising the members of the National Working Committee (NWC), national caucus, BoT members, National Executive Committee (NEC) and some elders of the party visited President Jonathan at the Villa and impressed it upon him to take the chairmanship of the party's BoT as a mark of honour for him.
It was gathered that though the president thanked members of the delegation for their concern, he, however, declined the offer.
The president was said to have told the audience that he wanted to rest for a year before he would probably return into active politics.

THE DAY GOODLUCK JONATHAN BECAME MY HERO

By Femi Aribisala
I WRITE this as someone who does not know President Jonathan personally. I have never met the man. Neither have I ever spoken to him electronically. All I know about him is what I read in the papers, or what I have seen of him on television. Nevertheless, he has been my president for the last five years.
When you write positively about the president, his opponents insist you must either be a card-carrying member of the PDP or be looking for a job. They act as if it is impossible to like him without having an ulterior motive. I have ignored this cheap blackmail designed to discourage people from expressing freely their liking for the president. But it has already outlived its usefulness. In a matter of days, the president will leave office. From now on, those ostensibly looking for a job are the praise-singers of president-elect Buhari.
Sabotage
For over 20 years, I refused to write anything that was not religious. I took no interest in politics, and did not participate in political debates the way I used to. When that proscription was lifted two years ago, I became interested in President Jonathan because some people were so adamant that he must not succeed. Indeed, they did their level best to sabotage his administration. Boko Haram was one of their many weapons. The press and the social media also became their tools of persecution where the president was maliciously labelled “clueless.”

VIO NOT PERMITTED TO CHECK DRIVERS LICENCE, VEHICLE PARTICULARS---FRSC

The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, on Monday, said that the corps would commence a crackdown on drivers who possess fake drivers license.
He also explained that the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) were not permitted by law to inspect vehicle and drivers licences.
Paying a courtesy visit to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, Oyeyemi explained that people who work with some elements to procure fake drivers licence would not have a hiding place
He also appealed to the Inspector General for improved collaboration with the corps, especially in the areas of security, sharing intelligence and prosecution of offenders.
He also declared war on some youths who constitute themselves into nuisance on Abuja streets driving vehicles recklessly in the name of "stunting", adding that they constitute danger not only to themselves, but also on the generality of road users.
Oyeyemi equally lamented the abuse of siren and construction of speed breakers indiscriminately by some persons or communities.

PDP RIGGED S-EAST ELECTION MASSIVELY – KALU

Former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, says it is unfair to accuse the Igbo of voting en masse for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), stressing that PDP massively rigged the election in the region.
Kalu, made the statement said this during an interview session on a Channels TV programme, tagged, “View from the Top,” yesterday..
According to the former governor said who failed to secure the Abia-North senatorial seat, on the platform of the Progressives Peoples Alliance, believed that he did not lose in the election but was rigged out by the PDP.
He said, “The issue is that what happened in my constituency was a rigged election. Apart from Enugu and Ebonyi states, where the PDP had very good outings, every other state they won in the South-East was rigged.
Kalu said the people of Abia State voted against the PDP because of their feelings towards Governor Theodore Orji and the overbearing nature of the President’s wife, Patience Jonathan.
“So, the Igbo did not make any mistakes, I feel bad when I see people blaming the Igbo. In the presidential election, the result brought out from Abia where I was, did not reflect the voting pattern of the people.

BORNO GOV TO BUHARI: GIVE N/EAST 13% OIL DERIVATION

The Borno State governor, Kassim Ibrahim, yesterday appealed to the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd, to allocate 13 per cent of petroleum revenue to the North East region which has been ravaged by insurgency when he assumes office.
The governor, who made the demand known in a paper which he is expected to deliver today at Day-Two of a conference organised by the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCDDD), asserted that the current insurgency was the direct outcome of the inequality in oil revenue distribution.
The governor, at the conference which has the theme, ‘Post-2015 Elections Conference on Security and Governance Challenges in Africa’s Largest Democracy’, urged the incoming All Progressive Congress (APC) government to immediately recommend the allocation of at least 13 % of revenue derived from petroleum resources in addition to the usual monthly location to the states in north eastern Nigeria to ameliorate their plight.
The governor’s position was contained in a paper entitled ‘Holistic Approach for the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of the North East Nigeria Region Ravaged by Terrorism and Insurgency: The National and International Policy Options/Perspectives’, which is to be delivered at the event by his representative and secretary, Borno Elders Forum, Dr Bulama Mala Gubio, expressed regret that the petroleum deposit in the North East had been left untapped.