Welcome to Edward Jaleyemi's Blog

The Senate has on Wednesday cleared 19 ministerial nominees forwarded to the upper legislative house by President Muhammadu Buhari. Minieterial-Screening 1. Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma(A-Ibom) 2. Dr. Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) 3. Chief Audu Ogbeh (Benue) 4. Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (Ebonyi) 5. Dr. Osagie Ehanire (Edo) 6. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau(Kano) 7. Alhaji Lai Mohammed(Kwara) 8. Amina Ibrahim Mohammed(Gombe) 9. Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu (Jigawa) 10. Ibrahim Usman Jibril(Nasarawa) 11. Babatunde Raji Fashola 12. Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu 13. Abubakar Malami,SAN 14. Dr (Sen.) Chris Nwabueze Ngige 15. Sem. Aisha Jummai Alhassan 16. Barrister Solomon Dalong 17. Mrs Kemi Adeosun 18. Sen. Hadi Sirika 19. Barrister Adebayo Shittu

By Edward Jaleyemi U MUAHIA —  FOR the family of Mr. Emmanuel Uwagbaokwu of Ohobo Afara in Umuahia North Council Area of Abia State, happiness and peace of mind have eluded them for now following the gruesome murder of their 21 year old son, Ikechukwu  Uwagbaokwu, allegedly by the operatives of the Abia State Police Command. Until his tragic death, Ikechukwu Vincent Uwagbaokwu was a student of Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, in Ohaji- Egbema Local Government Area. Murdered victim, Ikechukwu Uwagbaokwu The Uwagbaokwu family is strongly linking the tragic killing of their son to a land dispute it has with the Ndukwe and Uwaga families. Specifically, the family is alleging that the said families framed their son and connived with the police to kill Ikechukwu because of the land dispute. The land dispute was said to have lingered and was getting messier when the community’s traditional peace makers, Ibeku Okonko Arbitration Panel waded into it and had indeed fixed a date to hear

Recently, the Group Managing Director, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachuikwu, had an interactive session with journalists in Lagos. A Q&A session ensued as captured by Sebastine Obasi. Excerpts: What is the NNPC going to do about the joint venture contracts, some of which have been taken away from the NPDC? Kachikwu They are under review. People signed contracts, and what I have tried to do is to review those contracts and get the best value yield. When you enter into an operatorship agreement for a certain number of years and people go ahead and make some investments, sometimes we presume that you just cancel it and walk away like that. It has some financial implications. What I am doing is to review each of those contracts, get the best value we can from them. We are now migrating from sole operatorship of third parties to joint operatorship between them and NPDC (National Petroleum Development Company). Basically, we are setting up operatorship clubs in which both parties have t

By Edward Jaleyemi ABUJA—–‎The Akwa Ibom State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, this afternoon, affirmed‎ the former governor of the state, Godswill Akpabio, as the winner of ‎Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial Seat‎. In its judgement, the tribunal headed by Goddy Anunihu, dismissed the petition that was lodged against Akpabio’s election by the All‎ Progressives Congress, APC, and its candidate for the Senatorial District, Chief Inibehe Okori. ‎‎ The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove that the erstwhile governor was not validly nominated by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to contest the March 28, 2015, National Assembly election. ‎It held that the fact that Akpabio was in an initial list that was sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, by the PDP, erroneously identified as the Senatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom North East, did not invalidate his election. “There is abundant evidence that the electorates, includin

By Edward Jaleyemi ABUJA–Again, the Senate has deferred the scheduled screening of former governor of Rivers State and ministerial nominee, Rotimi Amaechi. Amaechi The action of the Red Chamber, which was the second time since the screening of the first batch of ministerial nominees began, was due to the inability of the Simon Anyanwu-led Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions to submit its report on petitions against Amaechi. Before the Senate resumed plenary Wednesday, Senator Anyanwu informed the Senate President that the report of his committee which received and treated petitions against Mr. Rotimi Amaechi was still not ready to be submitted to the floor of the Senate. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who presided over the plenary, asked Senator Anyanwu to ensure the committee’s report was ready the next day for subsequent treatment Details coming–

By Edward Jaleyemi ABUJA –  Over $500 million is currently waiting to be accessed by the Nigerian States from the World Bank coffers for the development of health facilities, Chairman, National Governor Forum, NGF, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari has said. This came the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu also briefed the forum on various reforms so far carried out by corporation to reposition the Nigerian economy. Yari who is also the Governor of Zamfara State spoke to State House Correspondents at the end of the Forum’s meeting at the Banquet Hall of the presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday According to him, the meeting was called at the instance of the President Mohammadu Buhari to enable the Governors to get first hand information of the reforms and the lofty expectations thereto. He also stated that some agencies such as United Nations Population Fund, UNPF, World Bank in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health made

By Edward Jaleyemi Strong indications emerged on Wednesday, that President Muhammadu Buhari may have withdrawn the name of immediate past Deputy Governor of Niger State, Ahmed Musa Ibeto from his ministerial list. Ahmed Musa Ibeto Vanguard can exclusively report that President Buhari has earlier sent a letter to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, notifying him of the withdrawal of Ibeto. The letter Vanguard gathered from an authoritative source will be read on the floor of the Senate before screening commences on Wednesday. Ibeto made the first batch of 21 ministerial nominees sent to the Senate President by Buhari on September 30. However, Vanguard gathered last night that the withdrawal of Ibeto’s name may not be unconnected to the fact that like Ibeto, another ministerial nominee, Abubakar Bawa Bwari, who was among the second batch of 16 nominees announced by Senate President yesterday, also hails from Niger State. See the full profile of Ahmed Musa Ibeto  here 

The Borno Police Command on Wednesday confirmed the death of seven persons, including three suicide bombers, in Tuesday night’s explosion at the outskirt of Maiduguri. Mr Aderemi Opadokun the State Commissioner of Police, made this confirmation while speaking with newsmen in Maiduguri. “At about 7.41 pm on Tuesday, there were Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in three locations at the outskirt of Maiduguri. “The locations are Gidan Shanu behind Bakassi estate, Sajeri and Bulumkutu,” Opadokun said. “Seven people, including three suspected suicide bombers, died, while eleven persons were injured. “All the casualties have been removed from scene and taken to the hospital and normalcy has been restored,” he said.

By Edward Jaleyemi ABUJA – THE House of Representatives Tuesrday resolved to probe the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan on the sale of power assets. The House in a resolution on the motion titled, “Alleged Non-transparent and Fraudulent Sale of Power Assets by the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, ” by the Jonathan’s administration, bemoaned the what it called lack of openness in the processes leading to the sale of Nigeria’s power infrastructure to private investors by the previous administration. The sponsor of the motion, Rep. John Chike Okafor representing Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency of Imo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the House of Representatives in his lead debate stressed the importance of power to every business, family, public or private institution, household and the general growth of the nation’s economy.

Ilorin – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday said the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier between the Super Eagles and Etalons of Burkina Faso would now hold on Saturday. The 2016 CHAN final round first leg qualifier between the home-based senior national teams was earlier scheduled for Sunday. In a statement on its website, the NFF however said the match’s venue remains the Adokiye Amiesieamaka Stadium in Port Harcourt, with kick-off scheduled for 4 p.m. Already, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed Boubou Traore from Mali as the Centre Referee for the encounter. Traore’s compatriots Bobo Yomboliba, Boubacar Kinta and Harouna Coulibaly will serve as Assistant Referee 1, Assistant Referee 2 and Reserve Referee respectively. Angolan Pedro De Morais will be the Match Commissioner. Meanwhile, a total of 25 players are in the Nigerian team’s camp in Port Harcourt under the watchful eyes of assistant coaches Salisu Yusuf and

By Edward Jaleyemi The improvement recorded in the supply of electricity and distribution of petroleum products since the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in May 29, may have come as a surprise to many Nigerians. Buhari-oil There appears to be a new awakening in the sector, which has for long kept the country below the development indices. It must be noted that the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, commissioned a lot of power projects at the twilight of his administration. It is no surprise that the effect is being felt in this new dispensation. However, the resolve of the Buhari administration to strengthen every institution appears to be paying off. It was confirmed that no single case of gas pipeline vandalism has been recorded since Buhari assumed office. This could be attributed to the fact that the Federal Government has been engaging stakeholders where the pipelines pass through to allow peace to reign. The action h