Author: Chronicle Editor

Daily Mail, a UK newspaper has agreed to pay damages to the U.S. First Lady, Melania Trump over an article about her modelling career. During the run-up to the U.S. Presidential Elections in 2016, the newspaper had reported that Melania Trump once worked as an escort, but later retracted its article. Mrs Trump accepted damages and an apology from the newspaper at London’s High Court. She filed her lawsuit in February, seeking damages of $150m (£120m) but the amount accepted by Mrs Trump was not disclosed in court. However, Reuters news agency reports that the amount was less than $3…

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, says a panel of inquiry has been constituted to investigate the fire incident that occurred at its headquarters in Lagos. Fire had on Monday engulfed the headquarters of the agency at the Lagos airport. In its reaction, the agency had said that the immediate cause of the outbreak was unknown. But a statement released Monday evening by the agency’s Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Henrietta Yakubu, said that a commitee had been set up to investigate the incident. The statement noted that the Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma, made the dsclosure after…

As South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma marks 75th birthday protesters organised by opposition parties descends on Pretoria demanding he step down. The celebration of Zuma’s birthday took place in Soweto and Johannesburg. His party, the African National Congress (ANC) organised a celebratory rally to be held at the Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown. But in the capital, Pretoria, organisers say at least 10,000 people are expected to join the second anti-Zuma march‚ this time organised by seven opposition parties. The first march, organised by Save South Africa, was held countrywide last Friday. The opposition parties are the Democratic Alliance (DA),…

The presidency on Tuesday gave the clearest indication yet that it would not succumb to the Senate and remove Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the anti-graft EFCC. The Senate recently refused to screen presidential nominees for the position of the resident electoral commissioners, saying it would not do so until Mr. Magu is removed as Acting EFCC Chairman. The Senate had twice rejected the president’s request to confirm Mr. Magu. But speaking at an interview with journalists and activists on Tuesday night, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Mr. Magu enjoys the confidence of he and the president. “I’m fully in…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has written the presidency for further action on six of its former personnel involved in alleged N23 billion election bribe. They include one of its retired National Commissioner, and five Resident Electoral Commissioners. Malam Mohammed Haruna, INEC’s National Commissioner disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, while addressing newsmen on update about the commission’s investigation. Haruna, who is also a Member, Information and Voter Education Committee, said the Commission had also blacklisted and deleted a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), West African Network of Election Observers (WANEO) found to be involved in the alleged bribery.…

The Federal Government plans to provide at least 15 million jobs for Nigerians by the year 2020 as captured in the recently launched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, gave the assurance at a news conference on ERGP on Tuesday in Abuja. Udoma said that the implementation of the plan would deliver some key outcomes including generation of at least 10 gigawatt of electricity by 2020. The government, he said, want to bring down the rate of unemployment by creating over 15 million direct jobs by 2020 in agriculture,…

Nikki Haley, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, is describing Russia as nervous and isolated in the wake of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s deadly chemical weapon attack last week that killed scores of civilians, including children. On Tuesday, U.S. officials charged that Russia was trying to cover up the attack, and Haley said in an interview with CNN’s Jamie Gangel that she thinks that Moscow “knew” about it beforehand. “I think that if you look at the fact that when this information came out, they were so quick to defend,” Haley said. “They didn’t look shocked, they didn’t look…

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday released his salary payslip that shows he earns about N402,500 monthly. Mr. Dogara released the payslip in response to a challenge by the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who on Monday released details of his state’s finances. Mr. El-Rufai had challenged the Speaker to make the details of the National Assembly’s N115 billion budget public. Although Mr. Dogara has promised to do so in 2017, he only released his personal salary details on Monday. The released amount is different from the quarterly ‘illegal’ office running cost, about N15 million,…

German police say a letter has been found near the site of a “targeted attack” on Borussia Dortmund’s team bus. Three explosions went off as the bus departed for the stadium for Tuesday night’s Champions League match with Monaco and defender Marc Bartra required an operation for a broken bone in his right wrist after he was injured in the incident. The events unfolded as the squad left their hotel en route to the Signal Iduna Park stadium for the first leg of a quarter-final tie against Monaco, which was swiftly rescheduled for Wednesday. The local police force – Polizei…

A tip-off by a whistle blower on Tuesday, 11 April has led to the discovery by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of N4 billion kept in two separate accounts at the GTB Plc. The money was suspected to be proceeds of crime. Investigations as to the owner of the funds revealed that the money belongs to a former deputy governorship candidate in Niger State. The suspect uses the names of two companies– Katah Property & Investment Limited and Sadiq Air Travel Agency- in laundering the funds. Each of the company has N2 billion fixed in its deposit account…