Good morning! Here are 10 things you need to know this morning:
1. Report now has it that President Muhammadu Buhari who has already received the amended copy of the 2016 budget would not immediately sign it as he is expected to get the approval of his Ministers, who raised concerns on the earlier version of the budget.
2. The Nigerian Army have convened a Special Court Martial to try two senior officers of the service. The officers include Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Sani and Maj. Gen. Patrick Falola. Report claims the officers were being accused of professional indiscipline but the charges have not been reeled out to them yet.
3. The Nigerian Army has announced that its men killed 18 cattle rustlers with several others injured in an operation in Zamfara State. The soldiers who were on patrol, laid ambush for the suspected cattle rustlers and some armed bandits who came in large numbers on motorcycles fully armed, killing 18 and injuring several others.
4. The seven Kano State students and their driver, who were killed on Tuesday in an auto crash while returning from Lagos after a national quiz competition along Iroko road were on Thursday buried at the Tarauni Graveyard, Kano yesterday amid tears. Those who attended the prayer conducted at the Emir’s Palace, Kano, around 9 am were Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, members of the state Executive Council, other top government officials, parents and sympathisers.
5. The Federal Polytechnic, Bida, has suspended a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration for allegedly raping an ND1 student in the department. The Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Police Command, Bala Elkana, said the culprit would remain in custody pending the completion of investigation.
6. The Federal Government on Thursday, through the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, declared that it will no longer provide bailout funds for state governments to meet their financial obligations, including the payment of salaries of workers. It advised the state government to restructure their finances in line with the current economic realities.
7. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is now questioning those believed to have received part of the $115m (N23bn) disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, through Fidelity Bank PLC. Some of those grilled by the EFCC included Senator Chris Anyanwu and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Mike Ahamba (N700m); a former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the last dispensation, Amb. Aminu Wali (N950m); and a former Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Dr Nurudeen Muhammad (N500m). Others are the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Cross River State, Mr. Ntufam Okon (N500m), and INEC officials in Kano and Jigawa states.
8. Suspected militants in the Niger Delta on Thursday blew up a major valve platform owned by Chevron Nigeria Limited around Escravos in Warri, Delta State. A group known as Niger Delta Avengers has already claimed responsibility for the explosion, threatening that the deployment of soldiers in the region would not stop them from frustrating the Nigerian economy.
9. More prominent Nigerians and companies with hidden assets in Panama, a tax haven were on Thursday made public. Those listed in the current document include the owner of telecommunication giant, Globacom, Mike Adenuga; Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sadiq Sani Bello and the late Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade, Chairman of Arik Airlines, Joseph Arumemi-Johnson and his wife, Mary, as well as two serving senators, Andy Uba from Anambra, Ibrahim Gobir, Sokoto among others.
10. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has dismissed media reports that he is hiding from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over an allegation that he illegally received government funds for his party’s campaigns last year. He said the rumour that he was hiding shows that the EFCC was looking for a way to arrest and humiliate him publicly and as well lock him up indefinitely.
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