YellowStone Media International

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders on Thursday called on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to resign ahead of the general elections in 2019. The party also asked the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to resign his position. PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, made the call while addressing the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party at its National Secretariat in Abuja. With 78 days to the polls, the PDP chairman accused the police boss of working for the incumbent to arrest and intimidate its opponents and alleged that the INEC chairman lacked the will and capacity to deliver free and fair elections next year. Responding, Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, dismissed the allegation and described the call by the main opposition party for the resignation of the police boss as laughable. Ahead of the general elections in 2019, the Police spokesman stressed that t

Barely 48 hours to the commencement of the governorship and state assembly campaigns, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State has declared a one-week fasting and prayers for peaceful and violence-free elections in 2019. The party appealed to the people and residents of the state to join in observing the prayers. The state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of PDP is set to slug it out against a former senator, Chief Ayogu Eze of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  in the gubernatorial election.  Briefing journalists at the party's campaign office in Enugu on Thursday, the  Director-General of the state PDP Campaign Organisation, Dr. Charles Egumgbe, said the party was committed to having a credible election in the state.  Egumgbe said the prayer and fasting  session will be observed from December 1 to 7, 2018. The former chairman of PDP in the state, and  Commissioner for Water Resources, asked t he people to also pray for issue-based, smooth and succ

Ahead of the 2019 general election, the National Peace Committee and political parties on Thursday agreed to adopt the 2015 code of conduct model to ensure peaceful and credible conduct of the general election. As a means to consolidate on the peace efforts, the committee headed by the former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) said political parties would meet on December 11 to formally sign a peace agreement for the conduct of the elections. While presenting the resolutions of the peace committee at a meeting held with political parties on Thursday in Abuja, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, His Grace Hassan Kukah, said the parties have resolved to adopt the same principles that guided the ‘successful’ 2015 elections as a template for ensuring that all stakeholders commit themselves to peaceful election in 2019. He said the committee and political parties discussed extensively on the need to ensure that politicians create a f

Ahead of the 2019 general election, the Civil Society Joint Action Committee, a coalition of civil society organisations, has warned against likely election and post elections violence in 20 states. The Senior Team Manager for the Africa Programme of the Open Society Justice Initiative, Chidi Odinkalu, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, said the rise in violent killings across Nigeria in 2018 is a cause to worry as the country is yet to record a single week in which multiple violent killings are not reported. He said: "According to Nigeria Watch, between June 2006 and May 2014, there were about 915 cases of election violence resulting in about 3,934 deaths; the North-central recorded about 1463 deaths; 911 deaths were recorded in Northwest; 644 deaths in the South-south, while 319 and 386 deaths in the Northeast and Southwest respectively." He explained that based on the factors stated, they are alerting all stakeholders in

The Senate last Wednesday confirmed Olanipekun Olukoyede as the Secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Olukoyede, who is the current Chief of Staff to the acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was nominated as secretary to the commission by President Muhammadu Buhari, in a letter dated September 10, 2018. The Senate had on Tuesday suspended Olukoyede’s confirmation opting to stand down his confirmation after a member of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Isa Misau (PDP, Bauchi Central) accused some committee members of preparing a report without the consent of others. Misau had also complained that only three of eight members of the committee signed the Endorsement Page of the report. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, then directed the Chairman and members of the committee to meet and deliberate on the issue and re-present the report. The lawmakers, however, confirmed the EFCC secretary on Wednesday amidst alter

  Rivers State Government and the Nigerian Army are at loggerhead following the disruption of the training of applicants into the state Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency at the state NYSC Orientation Camp, Nonwa in Tai Local Government Area of state on Thursday by the Nigerian army. While the state government described the army as a political weapon against defenceless Nigerians and warned it to steer clear of the state politics, the 6 Division of the Nigerian army described the Corps as “an illegal militia training camp” and subsequently shut it down for preliminary investigations. Reacting to the incident, the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, declared that the Nigerian army has been transformed into a political weapon that has abandoned its security responsibilities. He stated that the disruption of the training of the state Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency training programme by the Nigerian army is the worst act of irresponsibility, aimed at instigati

Attempts by factions of the Anambra State House of Assembly led by Hon Ikem Uzoezie and Mrs. Rita Maduagwu to take possession of the seat of the Speaker on Thursday resulted in a fight in the chambers of the assembly. Both factions of the assembly, led by their separate speakers, had arrived at the state assembly complex at about 10a.m. but could not seat for plenary because of the tussle over which of the two speakers should preside over the meeting. About 22 out of the 30 members of the assembly had three weeks ago removed Speaker Maduagwu, replacing her with Uzoezie. But Maduagwu had quickly denied being sacked, while the Uzoezie faction insisted she remained sacked. This had led to the sealing of the assembly by police authorities to forestall any breach of peace. But at about 10:30 p.m. last Wednesday, police unsealed the complex ahead of yesterday sitting, but both factions insisted on their choice of speaker to administer the assembly. Maduagwu h

An irate mob on Wednesday beat to death a Police Inspector attached to F-SARS Ikeja, Olukunle Olonade, after he shot dead a LASTMA official, Rotimi Adeyemi, 46, who rebuked him for driving against traffic at Iyana-Ipaja roundabout in Lagos State. The incident was said to have occurred at 6p.m. last Wednesday. Although a team of policemen drafted to the scene rescued him, the inspector died while being rushed to the hospital. The state Police Command spokesman, CSP Chike Oti, said the police inspector was driving his Toyota Highlander SUV, with registration number LSR 277 BJ against traffic when the unfortunate incident happened. “The two men vehemently disagreed with each other after the LASTMA official confronted him, however, during the altercation, the Inspector Olonade allegedly shot the LASTMA officer to death,” Oti said. Consequently, an irate mob, which thought that the shooter was an armed hoodlum since he was on mufti, was said to have beaten him

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide on Thursday said it was seriously concerned over the delay in the signing of the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Zabazaba Deep water project. In a statement signed by the spokesman of the organisation, Daniel Dasimaka, the group said IYC National President, Oweilaemi Pereotubo, was disturbed that the project might end the way of the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project. According to the statement, “We do not want the Zabazaba Deep water project to go the way of the Brass LNG which never saw the light of the day. We want jobs for our youths. We want the local economy of the Niger Delta region as well as the national economy to grow. "We condemn the unnecessary delay in the signing of the FID for the Zabazaba oilfield. The 2020 first production date of the Zabazaba oilfield may be compromised if the FID remains unsigned." The $13.5 billion Zabazaba oilfield is located in the Oil Pro

Senators were sharply divided on Wednesday over the authenticity or otherwise of the alleged non remittance of N177billion operational surplus made by the Nigerian Ports Authority ( NPA) into the consolidated federation account. As the Senate resumed plenary, a   member of the Senate Committee   on Marine Transport, Senator Mohammed Hassan (Yobe South), drew the attention of the Senate to the allegation through a motion moved in accordance with Senate standing orders 42 and 52 . In moving the motion, Hassan emphasised that against the spirits and provisions of the 1999 Constitution and extant laws of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the agency kept to itself N177billion operational surplus it made from accruing revenues in the 2017 fiscal year without remitting it into the federation account. According to him, the committee discovered that the agency, in its budget defence of the performance of the 2017 budget in April this year, got N303billion as total o

Less than 24 hours after, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, and the state House of Assembly under the leadership of Onofiok Luke demanded the deployment of the newly posted state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Kimo, thousands of women in state on Wednesday protested against the invasion of the state assembly, demanding the removal of the new state police boss with immediately effect. The women in the early hours marched along major streets to the state House of Assembly and Government House, calling for the sack of Kimo. This is coming as the state police commissioner, Kimo, on Wednesday absolved himself of any complacency in the invasion of the state House of Assembly by some lawmakers and hoodlums. The Police Commissioner, while speaking with journalists in his office, said he has no power to stop any lawmaker from accessing the assembly complex to perform his official duties. According to him, “For us the Police Force, we have

  The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved a reduction in the cost of obtaining Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) application forms from N5, 000 to N3, 500, starting from January 2019. The FEC meeting, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also announced a cut in the cost of Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) organised by National Examination Council (NECO) from 11, 350 to N9, 850 and that Basic Education Certificate handled by NECO would now be N4, 000 as against N5, 500. Following the announcement by JAMB that it remitted N7.8billion as proceeds from sales of Unified Tertiary Examinations (UTME) application forms in 2017, the House of Representatives in May 2018 tasked the Federal Ministry of Education to reduce the cost of JAMB forms. The lawmakers warned JAMB against becoming a revenue generating body at the expense of students (applicants). Briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting t

They have been active in supporting the efforts of first responders during California’s recent  wildfires, but  Kim Kardashian  and  Kanye West  may have fallen out of the good graces of some fans after taking a private Boeing 747 plane on Monday to an unknown location. People are now questioning how genuine the celebrity couple’s environmental concerns really are. The 38-year-old reality star took to her Instagram story to share a luxurious tour of a double-decker plane, which included multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, an office, a lounge and a dining room table — which even she admitted was “pretty insane.” Even more insane, however, was the low number of passengers onboard, including people from Team Adidas, the couple themselves, and their personal trainer. A double-decker Boeing 747 is said to accommodate up to 660 people,  according to Travel+Leisure. This luxe ride has been seen by many as a departure from the pair’s recent environmental efforts. Just last week, Ka

The Ambassador of Netherlands  to Nigeria, Mr. Robert Petri, has said the  European Union (EU) is interested in the conduct of the 2019  elections and would monitor the process to ensure compliance with standards. This is as   Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has declared  that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government, working  in liaison with security agencies, plan to disrupt 2019 Governorship Elections in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.  Speaking in Port Harcourt yesterday when he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Nyesom Wike,  the Dutch Ambassador, Petri,  assured Nigerians that the European Union would closely monitor  the forthcoming  elections to ensure they are  credible.  His words: "We are getting closer to the general election which are very important . We need free and fair elections conducted under a peaceful environment.  "The European Union, which we are part of, will be sending monitors for the Presidential and Gover