Author: Chronicle Editor

The trial of a former Chairman, Presidential Implementation Committee on Marine Safety and Security, PICOMSS, Air Vice Marshal Saliu Atawodi (retd), Rabin Hassan and his company, Hypertech Nigeria Limited continued on January 17, 2017 before Justice U.P. Kekemeke of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, with the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness, Usman Cholli. Atawodi and Hassan are accused of using the company to defraud the Federal Government of about N620 million through suspicious contracts to procure armoured patrol boats. Cholli, an EFCC operative, told the court that investigations revealed that no boats were supplied to the military by…

Nigeria’s newest warship, the NNS Unity, is sailing towards The Gambia ahead of possible military intervention over President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to accept election defeat and step down when his term expires on Thursday. A Nigerian military source tells the BBC that the patrol vessel is currently sailing off the coast of Ghana after leaving from the commercial caital, Lagos. The initial aim is to put on a show of force rather than to launch an attack. Senegal is preparing ground troops ahead of Thursday’s deadline. The Gambia’s tiny army is no match for the regional powers. In recent years,…

No fewer than 1,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State. The decampees include former Minority leader of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Humphrey Azubuike; Major Gen. Ogbonna Okoro (rtd); former Transition Committee Chairman, Bende council, Hon Ben Kalu; former member of the State House of Assembly, Hon Chidi Nwosu and Chief Uche Akwukwaegbu. The defectors were received by the state chairman of APC, Hon. Donatus Nwankpa, who expressed gladness at the number of eminent persons who had joined the party. Speaking on behalf of other defectors at…

Burundian First Vice-President Gaston Sindimwo has announced the pullout of troops serving in the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) over failure by the AU to pay Burundian troops. “If our (Burundian) troops are not paid while other troops from Uganda or Kenya are regularly paid, how can a serious government accept that?” Sindimwo told a press conference. “If the African Union has failed to pay Burundian troops serving in the AMISOM, we will withdraw them from Somalia, and we will also withdraw their equipment,” he said. Sindimwo was referring to a letter from the office of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza…

Gambia’s Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Environment have resigned from President Yahya Jammeh’s government, according to report on Tuesday. They all resigned as regional forces prepare to oust the veteran leader unless he steps down by Thursday. The surprise loss was seen as a boost to democracy in the former British colony, which has had only two presidents since it gained independence in 1965. But Jammeh’s defiance has sent the tiny West African country into crisis, causing government defections and opening up the prospect of military intervention by other countries in the region. A senior Nigerian military source…

The Kebbi Government has approved the release of N5 billion for the payment of pension and gratuity to pensioners. The Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Ibrahim Augie, disclosed this on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi while briefing newsmen. “Further to recent expanded meeting between Gov. Atiku Bagudu and stakeholders on payment of pension and gratuity, the governor has approved N5 billion for the settlement of outstanding pension and gratuity of pensioners in the state,” Augie said. He said the payment covered the pensioners’ verified by Kwaido Pension and Gratuity Verification Committee, and all new retirees. “The payment of the Kwaido Committee verified…

The Nigerian Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Raji Babatunde Fashola dazzled the Senate on Tuesday, when he said that the proposed closure of Abuja international Airport was the best decision for Nigeria, adding that other countries across the world had, at one time or the other, closed their airport too, as safety measures. Mr. Fashola was summoned by the Senate on Thursday, to make contributions on the ongoing debate on the planned closure of the airport. According to the Minister, closing the airport for the period of 6 weeks was a good safety measure, as failure to carry out…

The Osun State Command of the Nigeria Prison Services(NPS)on Tuesday decorated 71 newly promoted officers of the service. The Comptroller of the command, Mr. Segun Oluwasemire, who decorated the officers advised them to make discipline and excellence a priority in the course of discharging their duties. It would be recalled that the 71 newly promoted officers are part of the 10,979 whose promotions were recently announced by the Comptroller General of Prisons, Mr. Ja’afaru Ahmed. Oluwasemire lauded the commitment and unalloyed patriotism of the officers, charging them to do more to justify their promotion with utmost dedication. “You have done…

President Muhammadu Buhari has celebrated an elder statesman and administrator, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who will mark his 84th birthday on Wednesday. The former Secretary General of Commonwealth was born in Obosi, Anambra state on 18th Jan. 1933. A statement on Tuesday in Abuja by Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), President Buhari described Anyaoku as seasoned diplomat, elder statesman and administrator. “The President joins the diplomatic community, the Anglican Church, where he served many years as a chorister, and Chief Anyaoku’s family and friends in celebrating the quintessential diplomat.’’ Anyaoku’s distinguished international career, he said,…

The United States and its allies hoped to take advantage of groups they themselves designated as terrorists – such as Islamic State and al-Nusra Front – in their efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia charged on Tuesday. Specifically, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Moscow press conference that the US avoided fighting Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-aligned al-Nusra so those groups would have forces available to weaken al-Assad’s regime. He noted that al-Qaeda emerged amid US funding of mujahedin groups during the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s and that Islamic State arose amid the US…