Author: Chronicle Editor

European Union lawmakers will vote for the next President of the European Parliament on Tuesday, seeking a successor to current assembly leader, Martin Schulz. Schulz is leaving Brussels for a return to German politics. The showdown between seven candidates has no clear front runner and is expected to last several rounds during which candidates will try to broker deals with parliamentary groups to get the necessary support. The election is not without drama amid a spat between parliament’s two largest political groups – the right-leaning European People’s Party (EPP) and the social-democratic Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). According…

The leadership of Omega Fire Ministries, OFM, Worldwide, led by Johnson Suleiman, has sacked one of its pastors, Joseph Aiyedun. The cleric was relieved of his duties after it was revealed that he used the ministry’s name and bank account to register for money doubling scheme, Mavrodi Mundial Movement, MMM. The church’s head of administration, David Apelorioye, made this known in a statement. A controversial cleric, Mr. Suleiman, an apostle, is best remembered for the infamous ‘death sentence’ he pronounced on the Kaduna State Governor last year. Speaking during a service in 2016, Mr. Suleiman condemned the MMM scheme, and…

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has said his government is poised to implement the recommendations of the Staff Verification Committee to further deepen his drive towards a disciplined and efficient civil service in the state. Speaking through his Director General on Media and Strategy, Kingsley Fanwo, at an interactive forum organized by a civil society Group, Equity Forum in Lokoja, the Governor said he expects corruption to fight back as starling revelations have exposed the rot in the system. “Popularity secured through the protection of corrupt practices and corrupt individuals can never last. Between such popularity and saving Kogi State…

Ivory Coast’s government has begun paying bonuses to soldiers who staged a two-day mutiny earlier this month, leaders of the revolt said on Tuesday, in a move aimed at quelling unrest that could undermine the country’s post-war success story. Soldiers poured out of their barracks and seized the top cocoa grower’s second-largest city, Bouake, on Jan. 6 in an uprising that quickly spread across the West African nation, forcing the government to capitulate to the mutineers’ demands. Negotiators for the mutineers say that, among other promises, the government agreed to pay bonuses of 12 million CFA francs ($19,541) each to…

Gambia’s ministers of finance, foreign affairs, trade and the environment have resigned from President Yahya Jammeh’s government, state television said, as ECOWAS forces prepare to oust the veteran leader unless he steps down by Thursday. Jammeh, in power since a 1994 coup, has become increasingly isolated at home and abroad after he refused to accept his December 1 defeat to opposition leader Adama Barrow. 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…

Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has said that the relocation of operations of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to Kaduna would cost over N1.1 billion. Sirika while briefing the senate on the logistics implication of the relocation said that the ministry had taken into account relevant agencies that would be deployed to facilitate the relocation. Recall last week, the Senate could not reach a conclusion with the ministry as issues such as the cost of the relocation could not be answered. However, while briefing the lawmakers on Tuesday, Sirika said that the relocation will gulp N1.134 billion.…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called for combined efforts among federal, state governments and civil society organisations to solve the numerous challenges in the Niger Delta region. He spoke on Monday in Osceola, Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta. The vice president who was on a fact-finding visit to some states in the Niger Delta said that the Federal Government alone could not solve all the problems in the region. Osinbajo and his entourage were received by the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Oboro Gbaraun 11. He advised governors in the region to make sufficient provisions in their…

Leader of terrorist group, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau has taken responsibility for the bomb blasts at the University of Maiduguri early Monday morning. Shekau who spoke in Hausa in an audio message uploaded on YouTube said the institution’s mosque was ‘ungodly’, hence the reason for its attack. He also said the Nigerian Army did not kill any member of his sect in Sambisa Forest. “The bomb that happened this morning, it’s my people. Don’t deceive people that it’s a mosque, how would you build a mosque and do ungodly things in it,” Shekau said in the recording. “We are not…

The skyrocketing price of cooking gas is set to crash with the delivery of 13,000 tonnes of LPG by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited at the Lagos jetty during the weekend. General Manager, External Relations, NLNG, Mr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, said following the delivery of the 13,000 tonnes of LPG, the vessel is scheduled to return to NLNG’s facility in Bonny, Rivers State, to reload, adding that NLNG would continue in its efforts to ensure adequate supply and price stability to the market. Consumers across the country have had to contend with a 53.3 per cent increase in the…

Punk rockers Green Day renewed their attack Monday on President-elect Donald Trump, warning of dangers ahead for the world in a video that celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. The video for the song “Troubled Times,” released on the US holiday for the slain civil rights leader’s birthday, begins with footage of historic marches for equality. It then cuts to recent protests against Trump’s proposals to ban Muslim visitors and build a wall on the Mexican border. Filmed by Spanish director Manu Viqueira largely in black-and-white with splashes of red, the video also features a dancing Trump — in a…