Author: Chronicle Editor

Millions of barefoot devotees on Monday joined the largest religious event in the Philippines to honour a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ despite warnings that Islamist extremists might attack the gathering. Thousands of police officers and soldiers were deployed to guard the feast of the Black Nazarene in central Manila, the highlight of which is a day-long procession that traverses nearly 6 kilometres. The US, Britain and Australia warned their citizens to stay away from the procession after authorities said extremists who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State might retaliate for the killing of a leader last week. The threat,…

Alhaji Hassan Abubakar, Chairman, Taraba Union of Pensioners, says the state government is owing members of the union gratuities amounting to N14. 9 billion. Abubakar told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo on Monday that the government owed its pensioners over N9 billion while it owed local governments’ pensioners N5.9 billion. He said, though, the payment of pension to the state pensioners was up to date, the government owed local government pensioners between two to six months due to several cases of omission. The chairman said out of the total 7,163 pensioners in the state, 575 recently captured…

No fewer than five people have been reported killed in clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Delta states. The victims are indigenes of Abraka and Obiarukwu in Ethiope East and Ukwani local government areas of Delta State. According to the Sun, there has been a protracted animosity between the herdsmen and farmers in the communities over incessant destruction of farmlands by cattle. The state government, it said, had attempted to intervene in for quite sometimes. Tension climaxed during the week as the herdsmen stepped outside the temporary grazing line allocated to them, an action the community protested, thereby leading to…

Former Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media, Reno Omokri, has reacted to the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s retirement. Recall that Adeboye, on Saturday announced he was stepping down as the overseer of the church in Nigeria, but will continue to head the ministry worldwide. Omokri said the policy by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, FRCN forcing the pastors to resign was not in the best interest of the country. On his Facebook page, the outspoken personality joined the league of persons who have shown mixed reactions following…

The President of the Senate Dr. Bukola Saraki has expressed shock over the death of the former Governor of Niger State, Abdulkadir Kure. In a statement issued by Bamikole Omisore, Special Assistant (New Media) to the President of the Senate, Saraki described Kure as a man who sacrificed all he had for nation building. He said that the death of Kure had left a void in that could not be easily filled. “I received the shocking news of the demise of a political Icon, Engineer Abdulkadir Kure, his demise no doubt leaves a void that cannot be easily filled,” he…

Confirmation hearings begin this week on Capitol Hill for Alabama Sen. Jeff Session as U.S. attorney general and other Cabinet picks from President-elect Donald Trump amid increasing partisan threats about derailing nominees and calls to keep politics out of the process. The most recent exchange began Saturday when Democrats called for a delay in the hearings including at least seven this week because several of Trump’s nominees have purportedly failed to complete ethics reviews to avoid conflicts of interest. Democrats called for the delay based on letter this weekend from the Office of Government Ethics to Senate leaders stating that…

Five Nigerian soldiers and more than 15 Boko Haram fighters were killed when the jihadists attacked an army base in the remote northeast where the group has been fighting for an Islamic state, a military source said on Sunday. Boko Haram attacked an army brigade in Buni Yadi in Yobe state late on Saturday, an army spokesman said by text message, without giving a casualty figure. “Five soldiers lost their life in the attack though more than 15 Boko Haram were killed by troops,” the military source said. Several explosions could be heard on Sunday in Maiduguri, capital of Borno…

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, blamed oil marketers in the country for scarcity of kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas and the high price of the commodities across the country. The price of cooking gas had shot up from about N3,500 in most places before the Christmas holidays, to a minimum of N5,000 for a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder last week, while kerosene which went for as much as N250 per litre is now sold for a minimum of N500 per litre. Some retailers of LPG in Abuja, told Vanguard that though it was…

MMM Nigeria says it has introduced Bitcoin, said to be the world’s best performing currency in 2016, as part of its mode of payment in its comeback plans. The Ponzi scheme, which froze accounts of its three million participants on December 13, 2016, is preparing to return, and it is throwing up a number of plans to get its community active again. Last week, MMM promoters issued instructions to its participants whose accounts were frozen, to perform “Promo Tasks: A New Tool for MMM Community Development.” In the MMM message, subscribers were told to perform tasks, both online and offline,…

Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt and Justice Okon Abang in Abuja division have been redeployed, in a major shake up ordered by the Chief Judge of the court. A circular addressed to all judges of the court, announced that Justice Liman had been moved to Enugu division, while Justice Abang is transferred to Asaba division. The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, who endorsed the redeployment of Justices Liman, Abang and nine others, was silent on the reason for the movement. He mainly attributed it to “the recent developments in…