Author: Chronicle Editor

The United Nations’ World Food Programme could in a few weeks run out of funding to feed millions living on the brink of famine in Nigeria, four people familiar with the matter said, intensifying one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. In the northeast, 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from the conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, need rations to survive, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), one of the main aid groups handing out food. Many of those living in camps for displaced people say they already barely get enough to eat. “With the money they…

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike has introduced a new twist to the $43,449,947, £27,800 and N23, 218,000 recovered on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from Osborne Towers, a luxury residential complex in Ikoyi, Lagos. The governor told journalists at a briefing in Port Harcourt last night that the money belonged to the Rivers State Government. Wike issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to return the money to his government or he would be forced to take legal measures to recover it. Governor Wike declared that the money (N13 billion) found in the Ikoyi apartment…

Nigerians rallied Friday to mark the third anniversary of the mass abduction of 276 schoolgirls by Boko Haram, as their parents cling to the hope that they can be safely returned. Parents of the missing girls, who congregated at the school in the northeastern village of Chibok, described their kidnap as an unending “nightmare” but said the negotiated release of 21 last year had given them strength. Spearheading the rallies, broadcast on national television, was the Bring Back Our Girls movement, which urged the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to ramp up efforts to free the 195 girls still believed…

Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State says he was never banned from coming to the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja and that nobody can stop him from visiting the place. The governor stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after joining President Muhammadu Buhari to perform the two-raka’at Juma’at weekly prayer at State House Mosque, Abuja, on Friday, Reports on the social media said El-Rufa’i was banned from the Presidential Villa for allegedly leaking a memo he wrote to Buhari on Sept. 22, 2016. In the memo, El-Rufai alerted President Buhari that he was losing the vision and…

French race for the presidency looked tighter than it has all year on Friday, nine days before voting starts, as one poll put all four main candidates within touching distance of the two-person run-off round. The Ipsos-Sopra Sterna poll for daily Le Monde showed centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen tied on 22 percent each in the April 23 first round, with the far-left’s Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillon on 20 and 19 percent respectively. That 3 percentage point gap among the top four was within the poll’s margin of error, suggesting the election is wide…

The Eko Electricity Distribution Plc (EKEDC) says it will ensure uninterrupted power supply throughout the Easter period in the zone. To this end, the electricity company said it had already adopted some measures. Mr Godwin Idemudia, the General Manager, Corporate Communications of the company, told the the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday that the company was aware of the high expectations of customers to enjoy regular power supply during Easter. “EKEDC has put in place measures to ensure that the customers’ hopes are not dashed. “We assure customers within our operational territory of uninterrupted electricity supply…

Former Managing Director, Operations at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue has denied ownership of the large sums of money: $38,000,000,N23,000,000 and £27,000 uncovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) from an apartment in Osborne Towers, Osborne Road, Ikoyi Lagos, Lagos State. Nnamdi-Ogbue in a statement by her lawyer, Emeka Etiaba SAN, said she was shocked as many other Nigerians at the uncovering and recovery of the said sums of money and wishes to salute the courage and efforts of the EFCC in the war against corruption. The statement reads: “The attention of Our Client, Mrs. Esther…

US judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first black woman to serve in New York’s highest court, has been found dead in the city’s Hudson River. The 65-year-old is also widely reported to have been the country’s first female Muslim judge. New York police said they pulled her from the water and pronounced her dead on Wednesday after being alerted by an emergency call. Her husband had reported her missing, police said. Judge Abdus-Salaam’s family identified her and a post-mortem examination will determine the cause of death, New York police say. The body was fully clothed and showed no signs of trauma,…

President Muhammadu Buhari has said on Thursday that his government is in talks to release the remaining captive Chibok girls. This comes a day before the third anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by Islamist insurgents Boko Haram. The kidnapping is one of the most infamous of Boko Haram’s insurgency, now in its eighth year and with little sign of an end. More than 20 girls were released in October in a deal brokered by the International Red Cross. Others have escaped or been rescued but 195 are believed to be still in captivity. “(The government) is in constant…

The Director General on Media and Publicity, Kingsley Fanwo has described as “blatant falsehood”, reports by some group of “ rumour peddlers” that the Governor was attacked when he visited Kogi East to flag off a major road project and also attend to issues of security of the people in the area. The Governor’s spokesman flayed the report while fielding questions from journalists at Government House, Lokoja, describing the architects of the falsehood as people “imprisoned in ethnic cage who have sworn not to see anything good in the New Direction Administration of the present administration.” ”The people of Kogi…