Armsgate: Court adjourns Olisa Metuh’s trial until February 9

Justice Abang Okon of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned the trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh till Feb 9 for continuation of trial.

Abang’s ruling followed an application by the defence counsel, Onyechi Ipeazu, SAN, who prayed the court to adjourned the trial because he was not in the best state of health. This was, however, not opposed by the prosecution.

Armsgate: I returned N25m Metuh paid into my account to EFCC – Witness tells court

The trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh resumed on Monday at the Federal High Court, Abuja with the prosecution witness, Abbah Dabo telling the court that he returned the N25m he received from Metuh to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Dabo is a retired public servant and a former Special Adviser to the President in the office of the former Vice President, Namadi Sambo . He was the former editor of the Sunday New Nigeria, Kaduna, Gaskiya Tefi-Kwabo, the Hausa version.

He was also a one time Chief Press Secretary to former President, Shehu Shagari.

Dabo in his testimony told the court how the embattled PDP spokesman gave him the sum of N25m five days after the Presidential nomination Convention.

Nigeria Defence Academy reacts to video of army Cadets beating a man for complimenting a female officer

The Nigerian Defence Academy has reacted to the video that went viral yesterday showing army Cadets torturing a young man for saying a female officer was beautiful.

According to a statement by the Academy, preliminary investigation so far shows that the incident happened somewhere in Lagos in 2014.

The statement reads; "The attention of The Nigerian Defence Academy has been drawn to a trending video showing Cadets beating some persons. Please note that NDA is investigating the incident.

Nigeria attains electricity generation milestone of 5,000MW

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, yesterday announced that for the first time in the history of Nigeria’s electricity generation profile, the country has attained the milestone of generating about 5,074 megawatts, MW, of electricity.

Disclosing this through its Deputy General Manager, Public Affairs, Clement Ezeolisah, the System Operator department of TCN announced the attainment of the new peak generation of 5,074.7MW as well as the highest maximum daily energy of 109,372 Megawatts Hour (MWH) which it transmitted across to electricity distribution companies in the country.

Ezeolisah revealed in a statement that the new mark was attained at 9.30pm on Tuesday, February 2, 2016.

EFCC recovers $14m from oil firm

The ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission into the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation yielded fruits with the recovery of $14m oil funds from one of the companies operating in the upstream sector of the nation’s economy.

An operative of the EFCC, who confided in our correspondent told PUNCH, said that the amount translated to N4,380,95,866.00bn at the rate of N303 to the dollar.

It was stated that the company was expected to pay the money which was described as royalty for crude oil to the Federal Government between 2012 and 2012.

APC National chairman bemoans loss of oil rich states to PDP, says Supreme court judgement in favor of Wike is astonishing

APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, has bemoaned his party's loss of important oil-rich states to the opposition party, PDP. Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross Rivers states, are all being governed by PDP-elected governors.

Oyegun expressed his sadness while reacting to the Supreme Courts ruling on the Rivers state governorship election.

We’ll introduce stun guns to replace firearms - IGP Arase, says robbers in Lagos have resorted to kidnapping

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase says that the Nigeria Police Force will soon replace stun guns with firearms as part of efforts to reduce casualties from the misuse of firearms by some police officers. Arase said this while speaking at the Police Commissioners Conference held in Abuja yesterday February 3rd.

"Right now, what we are trying to do is to discourage issuing firearms to police officers, who go on metro patrol. And that is why we are thinking of introducing stun guns this year. Stun guns can incapacitate you, demobilise you, but they will not kill you.

2016 Budget: Senate faults agency’s N83m for refreshment

The Senate on Wednesday faulted the N83 million allocated to meals and refreshment by the Standards Organization of Nigeria in the 2016 Budget proposal of the agency‎.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, Senator Sam Egwu, said such amount was outrageous considering the economic situation of the country.

Egwu also queried the rationale behind over N100 million allocated for overseas monitoring and evaluation by the same agency.

Senate meets with Service Chiefs to review North-East Zone operations

The leadership of the Senate and chairmen of committees relating to security, on Wednesday held a meeting with heads of the military to review the developments in the fight against insurgency in the North east zone, particularly in the wake of the recent attack on Dalori town in Borno State.

At the closed door meeting which lasted for about two hours and presided over by Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, several issues tailored at further empowering the security agencies to win the war against the Boko Haram insurgency were discussed.

The Military chiefs led by General Abayomi Olonishakin, the Chief of Defence Staff, briefed the Senators on the various challenges faced by the military, particularly the state of their equipment which they said required serious upgrading and re-stocking.

APC Will Soon Collapse - Olu Falae

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Olu Falae, has said things would soon fall apart for the members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr. Falae, who is the national chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), mocked the APC for branding itself a “mega party,” but said the party was likely to totally collapse soon.

Shiite Youths Take To The Streets Of Kano Again To Protest Long Detention Of Leader

Hundreds of Shiite youths stormed Kano State yesterday and spent four hours protesting the continuing detention of their leader, Shiekh Zakzaky according to Sahara reporters.

The youths, including young women wearing black attires with some dressed in more Western clothing, took to the streets of Kano protesting the killings and detention of the Shiites by the authorities.