Benchmark Naija

In less than two months after he accused Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, former governor of Borno State and former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika of being sponsors of the Boko Haram sect. Stephen Davis this time has accused the opposition party of hindering the release of the Chibok schoolgirls. Further to the delayed release of the girls and the reasons for it, he warned that if the girls are set free without the leaders of Boko Haram either reined in or their sponsors stopped, Nigeria should expect an endless orgy of abductions by the same group in future. In an interview Davis granted a UK news network, Channel 4 few days ago, he stated that: “The Nigerian opposition politicians sponsor­ing Boko Haram have to be stopped if hundreds of local girls are to be saved.” The credibility of the plat­form given to Davis was an indication that international support for his allegations is rapidly gaining acceptance. He claimed to have been frus­trated by a number of unsuc­ces...

Nigeria’s senior national team, Super Eagles, dropped five places to 42nd in the latest Fifa world ranking released on Thursday. The African champions were adjudged the 38th best football playing team in the world according to the ranking released earlier in September. The Eagles are now the ninth-ranked African side behind Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Ghana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt and Senegal following their poor run in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers earlier this month. Their drop comes after losing 1-0 to Sudan in Khartoum after playing out a 0-0 draw in South Africa. Meanwhile Algeria remain at the summit of African football with 989 points which put them in the 15th position in the world while Cote d’Ivoire are second in Africa and ranked 25th in the world. Tunisia stay third on the continent after amassing 780 points which places them in the 31st spot in the world. Germany, Argentina and Colombia hold the first, second and third spots in the world...

The Nigerian government has approved that henceforth National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members will receive N500 as daily feeding allowance. Director General of the NYSC, Johnson Bamidele Olawumi, disclosed this yesterday at a House of Representatives Committee hearing on the N4, 000 online registration fee mandated for corps members, Leadership reports. A civil society group launched a ‘Say No Campaign’ to protest the registration fee. It was during the hearing that Olawumi made the announcement about the new feeding allowance. He disclosed that the federal government approved N500 as feeding allowance for each corp member per day. He also disclosed that over N800 million was required to setup the computer system to be used   the NYSC is presently using for its online registration. While noting that the N4,000 for the online registration is voluntary, he said rather than request for money to install the infrastructure, he would prefer to canvass for increment...

Olayinka, in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti  on Thursday , said; "as against the falsehood being spread by the Speaker and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Speaker's Petrol Station, alongside three others were sealed up for contravening environmental laws." The governor's aide listed the four filling stations affected by the government action to include; INIS Integrated Services located along Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti; belonging Hon Churchill Adedipe, NIPCO Petrol Station (Morolu Global Services), Isato-Oke in Ado-Ekiti (belonging to Mr Oloko), T5 Petrol Station, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti (owned by Dr Adewale Omirin) and PHENROSE Limited, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti (owned by Mr Gilbert Igweka). Olayinka, who advised the Speaker to thread softly so as to prevent himself from being pushed into perdition, added that; "Code 2 (b) of the Code of Conduct Act prohibits public office holders like the Speaker from participating in management or running of an...

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan: When men were boys.

The Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin, has accused the state government of intimidating him in view of his membership of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC. Omirin said that he would not buckle under ‘undue political pressure’ to abandon his party for the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, for selfish and pecuniary motives. The speaker, who in a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Wole Olujobi, reacted to the closure of his petrol filling station in Ado-Ekiti, allegedly on the orders of the governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, said the action amounted to intimidation for his refusal to defect to the PDP. Omirin said he fulfilled all necessary environmental laws in the location of the filling station, and got necessary approval, wondering why the governor was starting early in the day victimising those who do not share his political belief. He said: “The present atmosphere in the state does not call for highhandedness and persecution against pe...

The Conference Committee of the National Assembly on Constitution Review yesterday retained the immunity clause for the President and the Governors, which was originally in the Nigerian Constitution but was recommended for removal last week by the House of Representatives. The Conference Committee retained the immunity clause for the President and the Governors and also approved immunity for legislators in respect of words spoken or written in the exercise of their legislative duties. The report, which contains 23 amendments, confers immunity on lawmakers, “In respect of words spoken or written in the exercise of their legislative duties” through amendment of section 4. Also adopted by the Committee was the power conferred on the National Assembly and the State Assemblies in Section 58 and 100 to override the President or the Governor in an event there was an impasse where the President or the Governor of a state refused to append his assent on any passed law. The Com...