EO Blog

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday engaged in a war of words over the fate of Prof. Attahiru Jega as the chairman of the the Independent National Electoral Commission. Fayose began the verbal onslaught when he described the claim by the APC   of a plot by the Presidency to fire Jega, as a “mere comedy.” The governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, advised the opposition party to stop acting as if Nigeria belonged to it. “President Goodluck Jonathan can sack Jega if he wishes and if he does, heavens will not fall,” Fayose boasted, alleging that the APC had, by its actions, shown that it had a pact with the INEC chairman. “By turning themselves to advocates and defenders of the INEC chairman, the APC and its agents have shown that they have a deal with Jega to manipulate the elections,” he added. The governor however said “that the deal will be frustrated if ...

The university feeds families in a town inundated with people made refugees by Boko Haram violence The kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok in Nigeria by Boko Haram caught the attention of the world. Some of the girls who escaped are being taught at a school run by the American University of Nigeria. The university now finds itself helping to feed 270,000 displaced people, pushed out of their own homes by violence. The university's president describes the humanitarian crisis unfolding around her. How does an American-style university survive in northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been waging war against education? Can a university function in a town that has doubled in size with people fleeing the terror? This is a region where thousands of citizens have been killed, villages have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Against this backdrop, at the edge of Boko Haram controlled territory, sits the American University of Nigeria (AUN), which sta...

APC Exposes Plans By The PDP/Jonathan Administration To Manipulate 2015 General Elections, Implicate Opposition Leaders Being the text of a press conference addressed by the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Wednesday, March 4th 2015 Good morning gentlemen and welcome to this press conference. It’s just about three weeks to the start of the rescheduled 2015 general elections, and the expectations across the country and outside our borders are very high, just as the tension among Nigerians! The eyes of the world are focused on our country, Nigeria, to organize a free, fair, credible and violence-free election that will not only deepen our democracy but will also show to the world that our leadership position in the West African sub-region and the African continent is not a fluke. While we in the All Progressives Congress (APC), and definitely most Nigerians, also expect nothing less than very transparent electi...

Pep Guardiola has no intention of leaving Bayern Munich at the end of the 2014-15 campaign amid rumours linking him with a move to Manchester City. The 44-year-old's contract with the Bundesliga champions runs until the summer of 2016, but negotiations over an extension have been put on hold until the summer, fuelling speculation about a potential exit. Nevertheless, Guardiola has made it clear that he is keen to stay at Bayern for the foreseeable future and has not been in touch with any other clubs. "Manchester City? I did not receive any offers and I am not waiting for them. I hope to stay at Bayern Munich for a long time," Guardiola said at a press conference. "I have a contract with this wonderful club and aim to fulfil that. I have not received any offers. "We'll sit down in the summer and talk. I am very happy here and this is a extraordinary club Guardiola joined Bayern ahead of the 2013-14 campaign and guided them to the domestic doubl...

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has awarded a N1.2bn contract to the Carpenters and Furniture Association of Ekiti State. The association on Monday evening signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government on the contract. The Chief of Staff to Fayose, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, who represented the governor at the occasion, said the contract was part of the stomach infrastructure programme of Fayose. Anisulowo said, “This is an empowerment project. We are awarding the furniture aspect of the Millennium Development Goals project to these local furniture makers. The project covers about six local government areas in Ekiti State, so they will make the chairs and the tables for all the schools in the six LGAs. “The whole project would cost the government about N1.2bn. This gesture by the governor is the first of its kind in Ekiti State. The governor did this to make good his promise to empower local contractors and artisans in the state.” He appealed to the artis...

The Economic and Financial Crimes on Wednesday took a gang of 20 men including one Captain Daniel Lebile before a Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly dealing in petroleum products without lawful authority. The accused were arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba on three counts in relation to the offence. Apart from Lebile, the others are Ala Ibanibo, Wole Ajayi, Adesunloye Fani-Kayode, Michael Mgbanwa, Segun Ekundemi, Johnson Mashebinu, Ndidi Benjamin, Bright Nwaezuoke, Blessing Omoviye and Kayode Ireti. Others are Chuks Isiwepkweni, Friday Nchikpa, Peter Bayo, Ubom Amos, Zuopamo Embiowei, Olabamerun Owolemi, Adams Husseini, Ebisingha Timmy and Godwin Oputeh. The accused were arraigned alongside their vessel, MV Long Island and their companies Afa Global Impex Services Limited and GFL Marine Service Limited. As contained in the charge sheet numbered FHC/L/38C/15, the accused, on or about December 2, 2014, allegedly conspired and dealt in about 200 metric tons of petroleu...

While the pump price of the product had risen to N120 per litre in most filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory, the few stations that had petrol in Lagos on Monday maintained the N87 per litre official price except in some remote locations where the attendants charged N100.      In order to eliminate the scarcity, the Federal Government has approved the payment of the foreign exchange differential to the marketers of the product. Marketers said the supply promised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation only got to them over the weekend and that it might take a week for the product to go round and cushioned the effect of the shortage being witnessed currently.  Product loading began on a slow note on Monday morning at depots in Apapa, Lagos but picked up later in the day, with one of our correspondents gathering that three vessels were offloading the product at the Apapa Port.      One of the markete...

In order to boost voice communication and allow its customers a long and uninterrupted talk time, MTN Nigeria recently re-launched the MTN TruTalk, which is a prepaid tariff plan that offers customers the opportunity to make calls at a new tariff rate of 11 kobo/sec to 11 selected numbers from any network of choice. The new rate is equivalent to half the cost of making calls at a flat rate of 20kobo per second. Speaking at the re-launch event in Lagos, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, MTN Nigeria, Funmi Onajide, said with the re-launch of the MTN TruTalk service, the company is striving to meet and exceed the expectations of its subscribers, with a promise to create other innovative products in the course of the year. “For us at MTN, the launch of these extensions to the MTN TruTalk plan is an attempt to demonstrate our understanding of the desires of the vast majority of customers. This is the desire to talk and to talk cheaper. Whilst it is true that this ind...