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Hon . Douye Diri is the member of the House of Representatives for the Yenagoa/Kolokuma-Opokuma Federal Constituency, in Bayelsa State. In this interview, Diri states that the governorship contest in Bayelsa State is not about personalties but about issues.  Excerpts: By Lindsay Barrett H on.  Diri what do the defections in Bayelsa State, from the PDP to the APC portend? In recent weeks some well-known personlities from the PDP who were regarded as your close associates have surfaced not merely as members of the new party but also as aspirants for the governorship slot. Will their popularity in the past translate into a switching of public loyalties in the forthcoming contest? While I must admit that many of us have been disappointed by the defection of some members of our party we are glad that they have shown their true colours at this point in our state’s political history. As we prepare for a new set of political circumstances in which we will confront adversity rather than

By Edward Jaleyemi O peratives  of the of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, yesterday arrested a Bureau De Change operator and five other suspected money laundering syndicate for   swallowing $156,000  (N31, 083, 000.00) at Excel Oriental Hotel along Airport Road, Lagos. The six suspects were arrested in the hotel while they were busy swallowing the large sums of money with the intention of exporting $156,000 to Brazil. Speaking on the arrest, the chairman of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said  the six suspected members of the group, including a Bureau de Change operator, had been apprehended in connection with swallowing $156,000. Alhaji Giade further pointed out that the agency would track down suspected drug  traffickers and currency launderers in a bid to rid the society of crimes. According to him, operators of bureau de change who fail to work within the confines of the law establishing them shall be severely sanctioned. Meanwhile, NDLEA Commander, Joint Task F

By Edward Jaleyemi A total of 19 aspirants will on Tuesday slug it out for the ticket of the All Progressive Congress in the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa   State. However, intrigues continued to dog the contest till yesterday with revelations the a major candidate has camped most of the delegates in hotels outside Yenagoa to make them inaccessible to his rivals. The candidates were, however, not giving up on the chase. Among the leading aspirants are former Governor Timipre Sylva; former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, Timi Alaibe; former Nigeria envoy to Japan, Ambassador Emmanuel Otiotio. Surprisingly, in spite of the large number of aspirants vying for the party ticket, there has been relative calm at the party secretariat. The relative calm in the party may not be unconnected with the intervention of the national leadership of the party in the crisis rocking the state over the alleged interference of the state executive in the l

By Edward Jaleyemi T he  Deputy Managing Director of The SUN Newspaper, Mr Steve Nwosu, whose wife,, Toyin ,  was released  72 hours after abduction by robbers who invaded  their Ago , Lagos residence, has said no ransom was paid. Toyin, a member of staff of the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, was released at about 2am yesterday by her abductors. She was said to have been picked at First gate, Festac Town by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Awoseni , alongside members of her family. Steve Nwosu and his wife, Toyin But efforts to get her to explain her three days ordeal in her abductors den failed, as she was said to be too traumatised to speak. Rather, her elated husband expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to her release, explaining that she would be taken to the hospital for doctors to access her state. Nwosu  however  declared  that he had forgiven those who abducted his wife. According to Nwosu :  “If you have got  used to having a wife

Perhaps, never before in history had Europe faced the suffocating number of displaced persons desperately knocking on its doors to be let in. Wars, religious extremism, repressive regimes and battered economies are responsible for the uprooting of over 19 million people worldwide, especially Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The greatest flashpoint of the human displacement is Syria, where over four million people have fled their homes, and Lebanon alone already harbours about 1.2 million, spilling from this war-torn hitherto stable enclave. The years of steady trickle by migrants to reach Europe through the Mediterranean Sea for a supposed “better life”, especially by African economic refugees, developed into a mob stampede this year when the war in Syria deteriorated, with the Bashir Assad regime losing enormous ground to rebels (seeking to overthrow it), the Islamic State terrorists, Hezbollah and Kurdish fighters. Daily reports of boats carrying hundreds of migrants capsisin

By Edward Jaleyemi L agos —Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State yesterday, commissioned the renovated Agbala Paediatric Centre in Ikorodu as well as the newly constructed Accident and Emergency Ward, at the General Hospital Ikorodu area of the state. The project was executed through Social Corporate Responsibility, CRS, by the Heineken African Foundation of the Nigerian Breweries Plc. Speaking at the ceremony, Ambode, represented by his deputy, Dr. Idiat Adebule, praised the contribution of the Nigerian Breweries Plc, through its foundation, to the improvement of the health standard of residents, stating that the two projects undertaken by the company was in line with his administration’s desire to provide accessible and qualitative healthcare for the people of the state. The governor noted that having commissioned similar health improving projects in recent time, noted that the paediatric centre will not only complement the existing Mother and Child Centre at the hospita

By Edward Jaleyemi BRITAIN has within a week, set three new records. Wayne Roonney by scoring his fiftieth international goal for England  in the Euro 2016 qualification match against Switzerland, set the record as the country’s highest goal scorer. Queen Elizabeth II after scoring sixty three years and  seven months on the throne, became its longest serving monarch, erasing the record of  her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria. But the major record was set by Jeremy Corbyn, who as an  outsider in mainstream political leadership, and opposed by party heavy weights, scored a landslide victory; 59.9 percent of the over 500,000 votes,  to win the leadership of the British Labour Party. Ironically, the  record-setting Queen Elizabeth was an accidental Queen; she would not have ascended the throne had her father’s elder brother, Edward, not fallen in love with American, Wallis Simpson and deciding to abdicate rather than live without her. King Edward VIII was crowned in January

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blogspot.com.ng Lagos—A 49-year-old lawyer, Shina Ibrahim, and his accomplice, Falilulai Sarumi, a businessman, 67, were yesterday arraigned before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court for allegedly obtaining N13 million under the false pretence of selling a landed property. The duo, who reside at 42 Okesuna Street, Lafiaji, on Lagos Island and 12, Ifenirepo Close, Akowonjo, respectively, were docked before Magistrate L.A Owolabi. The defendants are facing seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, obtaining under false pretence malicious damage and threat to life preferred against them by the Police. Police prosecutor, Francesca Okere, told the court that the defendants and others still at large, committed the alleged offences on September 2, 2015, at about 10.am.

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blogspot.com.ng Rick Ross Loses  Infringement Claim Over LMFAO’s “Everyday I’m Shufflin” T-Shirts Back in January 2014,  we reported on a new lawsuit from the desk of Rick Ross . The rapper was suing LMFAO for copyright infringement, over the fact that they had a “direct interpolation” from his 2006 hit “Hustlin'” in their own single, “Party Rock Anthem.” On top of which, they began a clothing line which featured the lyric in question (“everyday I’m shufflin'”) prominently. Thus, Rozay wanted proper compensation from the EDM-pop group, on both issues. However, according to a federal judge in Florida, Ross has no claim of copyright infringement, at least when it comes to LMFAO merchandise that bear the lyrics “everyday I’m shufflin’.” A portion of the lawsuit came to a close, with U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams stating in her summary judgement, “The question presented, however, is not whether the lyrics of Hustlin’, a

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blog.com.ng T he  visit of President Muhammadu Buhari, to Cross River State, for the groundbreaking of the 260km dual carriage way has been postponed. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Professor Ben Ayade, Mr. Christian Ita, said the decision to postpone the ceremony was communicated to the governor in a letter by the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari. The statement said the Presidency attributed the shift to a letter written to the President by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nana Fatima Mede, in which she claimed the proposed highway, if allowed to go on, would cut through the Cross River National Park.

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blog.com.ng LAGOS – Tragedy struck at Ejigbo, Lagos State, on Tuesday afternoon after an SUV rammed into a store, killing an 8-year-old child. Five other children, including three siblings of the deceased, were injured after the crash which occurred around 3pm. The incident which happened at Olutimeleyin Street, Ejigbo, also destroyed goods displayed for sale inside the store. An eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Vanguard that the female driver of the SUV was on a very high speed when she lost control of the car and swerved into the store. Passers-by and others who witnessed the incident, reportedly rushed to the scene only to find five of the children bleeding profusely on the floor, while one of them was already dead. Sympathizers were said to have held the female driver hostage after which they called an ambulance. The driver was nearly lynched but for the quick intervention of policemen from Ejigbo Division who

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/Edwardjaleyemi.blogspot.com.ng Y ENAGOA —All Progressives Congress, APC, has rescheduled its Bayelsa State governorship primaries to September 22. The governorship primary was earlier slated for September 19. Confirming the shift in date, the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Fortune Paniebi, said the postponement was to enable the party put things in order to ensure a hitch free exercise.

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blogspot.com.ng Mr Kola Ogunleye, is an architect, and a chartered accountant of repute. He is also an economic policy analyst and commentator. His wealth of experience spanned both the public and private sector of the economy. He spoke to a select group of newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, expressing concern about the debt profile of South-West states, which he blamed on financial recklessness of the governors. He also criticized the Federal Government for not raising questions on why many of the states incurred huge debts before providing soft landing which he said has put the future generation in  bondage . Excerpts: By Adeleke Adeseri, South West Regional Editor Your opinion about the bond arrangement by the Federal Government to give reprieve to many states groaning under the yoke of debts? I believe that Federal Government had been misled into taking some of the steps in respect of the state debts. The FG should have b

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blogspot.com.ng O WERRI— Imo State government appears set to close all unregistered and unapproved private institutions currently operating in the state. Feelers emanating from the recently inaugurated Task Force on Education indicate that the state government is fine-tuning arrangements to declare outright war against all unapproved schools in the 27 local council areas of the state. Vanguard gathered that the Task Force, which is headed by the House Committee Chairman on Education, Dr. Uche Ejiogu, had already invited and held crucial meetings with the proprietors of  private schools in the state. A reliable source at the meeting told Vanguard:  “Dr. Ejiogu properly briefed the school proprietors of the new development, especially the fact that all institutions without operational licenses or permits would be shut down.” It was also gathered that several schools without the requisite operational permits have been springing up in the

Story by Edward Jaleyemi/edwardjaleyemi.blogspot.com.ng One –time Secretary General of then Nigeria Football Association, Honourable Sani Ahmed Toro has given thumbs up to the Executive Committee of Nigeria Football Federation for the conditions it has rolled out for those Nigerians who have pronounced their aspiration to vie for the Presidency of world football –governing body, FIFA. The highly –experienced administrator insisted on Thursday on the NFF site said that the conditions listed by the NFF Executive Committee at its meeting of September 7 in Port Harcourt were very much in order. “I want to commend the NFF for the conditions the body has rolled out. They have done very well. Just as they said, we cannot allow people to go out to the international sphere to ridicule Nigeria. “Look, vying for the FIFA Presidency is a very serious business with strong political waters to navigate. It is not a picnic. How many votes does Africa as a whole have? Fifty–four, out of the 20