Governor Adams Oshomhole of Edo State has appealed to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria - Muhammadu Buhari to grant Presidential pardon to 66 soldiers who were convicted and sentenced to dealth but were recently commuted to 10 years imprisonment by Nigeria Army Authorities for offences ranging from insurbodinate behaviour to mutiny, among others. The governor said based on the strength of the recent revelations on the $2.1 billion fund for arms purchase which was mismanaged by the last aministration, the President should in the spirit of theArmed Forces Remembrance Day, spare them the jail term but could dismiss them from the Army for their acts of indiscipline. The governor made this appeal while delivering his speech at the grand finale of the 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Benin City on Friday. The governor said it would be injustice if the military personnel who were sent to the war front without arms were made to wallow in prison while th...

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has presented the state’s 2016 budget of N 111.5 billion to the state House of Assembly for approval. Tagged “Budget of Finishing Well” the 2016 budget is 12.6% lower than the 2015 budget which was revised downward to N127.01 billion due to economic realities. While presenting the budget, Governor said the “reduction is in line with current economic realities, especially developments in the international oil market and the dwindling inflows from the Federation Account.” He said the policy focus of the Year 2016 Budget is the completion or near completion of on-going road construction/rehabilitation projects across the State. Noting that  roads at various stages of completion will be accorded priority. Capital expenditure will take N 58.9 billion representing 52.84% of the total budget, while the proposed recurrent expenditure is N 52.6 billion representing 47.16% of the budget. A breakdown of the budget shows that Education and Heal...

By Dele Cole RECENTLY two Ijawcitizens have come under the light of the agents charged with corruption – Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madukwe, and Chief D. S. P Alamieyesiegha. One was arrested in London plushest address at 1 Park Lane, another one was being sought out by the British police to answer charges of money laundering. This piece in no way condones their alleged corrupt practices and no one should read it as such. For the benefit of doubt Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke was charged for corruption; the NNPC over which she presided was the Sodom and Gomorrah of corruption and the stories about how allegedly corrupt NNPC was a legion. As for Governor DSP Alamieyesiegha, he ran away from Nigeria to undergo a tummy tuck operation in Germany, when the warrant for his arrest was issued in Dubai, he ran to London where he was thoroughly watched by the Secret Services of Britain. He left London, according to some sources, with the active connivance of the British authorities...

on December 16, 2015   Former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, has denied reports that a former Minister of State for Finance, Mr Bashir Yuguda, gave him N100 million out of the money collected from the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd). In a statement yesterday, Dr Odili said he never had any dealings with the former National Security Adviser or Mr Yuguda, so the issue of collecting N100 million does not arise. He explained: “As part of preparations towards the 2015 election, the PDP set up contact and mobilisation committees across the six geo- political zones and I was appointed the Chairman of the South-South mobilisation committee. “Consequent upon this, the party, not the former NSA or Yuguda, gave the South-South Committee, through me,  the sum of N100 million along with other zonal Chairmen, at the house of the National Chairman, Dr. Adamu Mu’azu, for the assignment. This amount was subsequently disbursed ...

Following Wednesday’s ruling by the three-man Court of Appeal panel sitting in Abuja, which struck out the appeal filed by Governor Nyesom Wike, seeking a dismissal of the judgment of the Rivers election petition tribunal which sacked him as governor of the state, Wike has called on all his supporters and the people of Rivers State to remain calm, even as he has instructed his lawyers to appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court. Wike In a 110-page ruling delivered by Justice M.B. Dongban-Mensem, the Court ruled that the election of Nyesom Wike did not conform with the electoral act. The Court ordered a rerun in 90 days. Delivering a final ruling, the Court of Appeal decided all the seven issues raised by Governor Wike in favour of Dakuku Peterside and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). In a statement issued today, by Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, Governor Wike stated that he disagree...

By Our Correspondent Lawmaker representing Andoni-Opobo-Nkoro Federal Constituency and son of Madam Mabel Dagomie Abiante, Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante, has pleaded with the abductors of his mother, kidnapped at Ngo Town, Andoni local government, Rivers State, three weeks ago, to release her unconditionally owing to her deteriorating health condition. Ma Abiante was kidnapped on Saturday, November 28, 2015 at about 8:30pm from her residence, at Ngo town headquarters of Andoni local Government area of Rivers state. Awaji-Inombek Abiante Hon. Awaji-Inombek Abiante whose his seat at national assembly was nullified by the Appeal Court made the passionate appeal to the kidnappers today in Port Harcourt. The abductors have turned down all entreaties by the family of 78-year old woman, insisting that a ransom of N50 Million be paid or she would be killed even as her health worsens. Before she was kidnapped, the septuagenarian was recuperating from a major surgical ope...

Report by Eranga Isaac Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says Nigeria must return to its strict tax policy which was applicable before the oil boom of the seventies as a way of getting out of the present crisis caused by a crash in the price of crude oil. The Governor who was a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said nobody is above taxation as even the President and Governors pay their taxes, said states and Federal Government must deepen their Internally generated Revenue base as this is what obtains in developed countries of the world. Speaking during a visit to his office by Course 24 participants of the National Defence College, on a study tour of Edo State, on Friday, Oshiomhole said, “central to every debate to every country with mature democracy is the issue of tax payment. We have to find the courage to be firm and just and we have to give commensurate service. “When I was growing up, the only thing we had was the Local Government Auth...