News

Friday, 30 December 2016 17:17

Many feared dead as Nigerian troops, Boko Haram battle in Borno

At least 15 Boko Haram fighters were killed in Borno on Friday as Nigerian troops of Operation Lafiya Dole and Boko Haram terrorists engaged in prolonged fierce battle in Borno State. Military insiders told PREMIUM TIMES the battle ensued at 6 a.m this morning and did not end until after 9 a.m. Our sources said the battle began when fighters of the terror group launched a surprise attack on troops location in Rann, in northern Borno, shooting sporadically. Troops from 3 Battalion and 112 Task Force Battalion are stationed in the area, our sources said. The soldiers responded promptly, killing…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:19

Shekau, Boko Haram leader, denies Sambisa forest defeat

A man purporting to be the leader of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, denied the jihadist group has been pushed out of its stronghold in the Sambisa forest, but the army said the base had been captured. President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday said Boko Haram's last enclave in the forest, a former game reserve in northeastern Nigeria, had been captured in the "final crushing" of the group. Reuters has been unable to independently verify that the area was captured. "We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere," the man identifying himself as Shekau said…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:17

Customs DG Hammed Ali blasts SSS boss Lawal Daura; accuses him of unprofessionalism

Heads of two key federal agencies who are also close allies of President Muhammadu Buhari have been sparring over allegations and counter allegations of unprofessionalism and illegality. The disagreement by the two officials appear to confirm insinuations of division among some leading lights of the Buhari administration. The turf war stems from a letter written by the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Lawal Daura, to Mr. Buhari on September 8. In the letter, the security chief accused the Nigerian Customs Service, (NCS), of introducing a $25,000 as new Temporary Import Permit (TIP), levy on each vessel that berths…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:16

Seized rice not plastic but unfit for consumption, says NAFDAC

The imported rice seized by the Customs and labelled as plastic rice is not plastic after all. But it is unfit for human consumption. The report of the laboratory test conducted on the rice by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC), ruled it out as not plastic but unfit for eating. There was panic early this month when Customs officials intercepted a consignment of “imported plastic rice” meant for sale during the Yuletide. Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole debunked the report after preliminary tests revealed otherwise. The final result announced yesterday by NAFDAC said the…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:14

Naira note scarcity looms as CBN stops printing small denominations

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has not printed the small naira denominations for about a year, causing the scarcity of the notes in the economy. Sources at the CBN said for a year now, the apex bank did not award contract for the printing of the notes such as N5, N10, N20 and N50 usually done abroad. It said it gathered that the recently printed notes in circulation – N200, N500 and N1,000 – were produced by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting plc (NSPM). The Nigerian Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) produces currency notes and coins for the CBN…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:13

Lawyer: 3 death row inmates secretly executed

Three convicted criminals on death row for about two decades have been secretly executed in the first hangings in Nigeria since 2013, human rights lawyers and a fellow inmate said Thursday. The executions breach a seven-year moratorium on the death penalty in this West African country. The hangings went ahead despite outstanding appeals, making them "unlawful killings," Chino Obiagwu of the Legal Defense and Assistance Project told The Associated Press. Debate about the death penalty has revived recently in Nigeria, with some calling for people convicted of gross corruption to get a death sentence. Obiagwu said the three inmates were…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:09

Abia Assembly Speaker impeached

Abia House of Assembly on Thursday, elected a news Speaker, Hon. Kennedy Njoku, representing Osisioma-Ngwa North Constituency. Njoku’s election followed the removal of Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike, representing Isialangwa North Constituency. Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe, who presided over the plenary, said that 20 out of 24 members signed the impeachment notice against Azubuike. During the election conducted by the Clerk of the House, Mr. John-Pedro Irokansi, Njoku, polled 17 votes to defeat Chikwendu Kalu, representing Isialangwa South Constituency, who polled three votes. Deputy Leader of the House, Hon. Solomon Akpulonu, representing Obingwa East Constituency, who…

Friday, 30 December 2016 03:06

Wike alleges plot to bomb his plane

Governor Nyesom Wike has raised alarm over alleged plot by his political enemies to bomb his plane, saying that the alleged evil plot will fail. The governor spoke Thursday in Port Harcourt at an end of year party by his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. Continuing, he said the alleged plot to bomb his plane was part of desperation on the part of his detractors to eliminate him, stressing that no man can destroy whom God had lifted. He said his political opponents were unhappy with the successes recorded by his administration since he came on board, adding…

Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:12

Boko Haram may have used Chibok girls as shields during attack - Nigerian army

Boko Haram fighters fleeing an attack on their base last week may have used some of the girls kidnapped in 2014 from northeast Nigeria's Chibok as human shields to prevent being fired upon by fighter jets, a military commander said on Wednesday. Major General Lucky Irabor, theatre commander of Nigeria's military campaign against the group, showed a news conference aerial footage he said was filmed during the operation in the Sambisa forest that showed Boko Haram fighters moving with women and children. "The haggard fighters were just using them as a shield," Irabor told reporters in the northeastern city of…

Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:11

Dangote's net worth declines 32% in 2016 – Bloomberg

Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has lost 32 per cent of his wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ Index. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Dangote lost $4.9bn or one-third of his wealth as the combined effect of falling oil prices and the June devaluation of the naira pushed him to No. 112 on the billionaires’ list with $10.4bn. Dangote was the world’s 46th-richest person in June. Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud fell by $4.9bn, a 20 per cent drop, the report added. Alwaleed had said in November that all of his…

More...

Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:03

Aborted flights: Airline operators decry poor state of navigational aids at airports

Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, on Wednesday decried the deplorable state of navigational aids at airports around the country. Chairman of AON, Mr Nogie Meggisson, made this known in a statement issued in Lagos. Meggisson said the situation had made flying in the Nigerian airspace difficult during the harmattan, thereby leading to flight cancellations. According to him, this has increased the sufferings of passengers and disrupted their plans for the festive season. He noted that exactly 48 years today, on December 28, 1968, the first aircraft operated at CAT lll and landed in zero visibility at Heathrow airport, yet Nigeria…

Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:01

Okorocha asks pensioners to forfeit majority of their dues and sign that they’ve collected all

Rochas Okorocha, governor of the state, wants pensioners in the state to sign off years of entitlements in order to get a meagre sum that is way below half of what is due to them. A document from the state government to the pensioners, seen by TheCable, seeks to compel the retirees to accept the plan of the state to pay them only 40 percent of pension arrears and cancel the remaining 60 percent. Not only that, 40 percent payment is only applicable to 13 months of pension; all arrears beyond 13 months are to be written off. In context,…

Thursday, 29 December 2016 03:00

Ambode offers amnesty ‎to cultists, criminals in Lagos

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has announced the readiness of his government to offer amnesty to cultists willing to renounce their membership of cult groups and turn over a new leaf. Mr. Ambode, who stated this in Ikorodu at the ongoing One Lagos Fiesta, said his administration has perfected plans to use 2017 to rehabilitate all those involved in one form of criminality or the other and are ready to be law abiding, with the view to making them live normal lives and contribute meaningfully to the society. While noting with concern the rising spate of cultism and other…

Wednesday, 28 December 2016 16:58

UNMASKED: The white man arrested in Sambisa Forest and his role in Boko Haram

The mysterious white man captured by Nigerian soldiers during last week’s storming of Boko Haram’s headquarters in the Sambisa Forest is a Frenchman and he specialises in repairing and unlocking armoured personnel vehicles and other fighting equipment, according to Daily Trust quoting authoritative military sources. It credited the sources as disclosing that the white man’s identity is being concealed by the Federal Government and military authorities for diplomatic reasons. President Muhammadu Buhari had on Friday announced that Boko Haram’s last stronghold in the Sambisa forest, Borno State, was overrun by troops on Thursday, December 22. Soldiers who took part in…

Page 807 of 819

News

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS