Democratic chairman resigns after Wikileaks releases email showing how party favoured Clinton

Democratic party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has stepped down following an outrage over hacked emails suggesting the Democratic National Committee favored Hilary Clinton during the primaries against Bernie Sanders.

Sanders had repeatedly accused the DNC of backing Clinton during the primaries. The controversy exploded over the weekend, prompted in part by the publication of some 19,000 hacked emails on Friday, some of which suggested the Democratic Nation Committee was favouring Hillary Clinton during the primary season.

Omisore pledges to return N1.3bn

Pm News is reporting that Senator Iyiola Omisore, the former Deputy Governor of Osun State may have settled for plea bargain in the money laundering case he has with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
He has agreed to refund the N1.310 billion given him by Rtd. Colonel Sambo Dasuki from the fund meant for the purchase of arms.

FIFA President arrives Nigeria

FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrived Nigeria yesterday in the company of FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura on a two-day visit.
They were received by the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, as well as several members of the Federation’s Executive Committee and management staff.

MEND confirms peace talks with FG

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it is in talks with the government to end violence in the Niger Delta.

The group confirmed this in a statement on Sunday which reads; “The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wishes to confirm that indeed it has been in preliminary talks with the federal government through oil companies and law enforcement agencies,”.

The group had called for a dialogue after rival group, the Niger Delta Avengers, claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on oil facilities.

Former Kano Deputy Governor, Abdullahi is dead

Former Deputy Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Magaji Abdullahi is dead. 

Abdullahi, 69, died in the early hours of today after a protracted illness.

Magaji was a Deputy Governor to former Governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, from 2003 to 2007.

FG denies asking Nigerian Athletes to buy their tickets to Rio 2016

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development says it did not direct foreign based athletes going to the Olympic Games in Rio to buy their own air tickets. This is as a result of news online that alleged Nigerian athletes received messages which directed them to purchase their own travel ticket for the Olympics at Rio 2016 and which was said to have originated from the Ministry.

Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has released a statement denying claims that they asked the Nigerian Athletic contingent to Rio 2016 Olympics to purchase their tickets themselves.

Barrister Dalung stated that the Director, High Performance Angie Taylor has been saddled with the responsibility of arranging for the flights and movement of the foreign based athletes to and from Rio.

Omisore released after 19-days in detention

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,(EFCC), has released Senator Iyiola Omisore. It was gathered that Omisore was released on bail by the commission after meeting his bail conditions, yesterday.
The former Osun state deputy governor, who was declared wanted by the EFCC in May after N1.310bn was traced to the accounts of five companies allegedly belonging to him and was arrested on July 3, 2016 .

Hillary Clinton picks running mate

Hillary Clinton has named Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate as she prepares to take on Donald Trump in the race for the White House in November.The Democratic candidate for president announced the news in a text message to her supporters. The text reads; 'I'm thrilled to tell you this first: I've chosen Sen. Tim Kaine as my running mate. Welcome him to our team.'

Appeal Court Upholds David Mark’s Election

The Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi, Benue state today has affirmed the decision of the state election petition tribunal to uphold the February 20th, 2015 election of former Senate President, David Mark for the Benue South Senatorial district.
Daniel Onjeh of All Progressive Congress (APC) had dragged Senator Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) to Appeal Court after the Tribunal struck out the petition for lack of merit and filing behind the stipulated time. Onjeh had approached the Tribunal alleging irregularities in the election after Mark’s convincing victory at the rerun election.

Niger Delta Avengers denies being in talks with FG

The Niger Delta Avengers militant group on Friday denied claims by President Muhammadu Buhari that his administration was holding talks with the militants in other to reach a possible compromise.
Mudoch Agbinibo, the group’s spokesman, in a statement, said the group was not aware of any ongoing peace talks. It said the militants would only hold peace talks with the government if the international community were involved.

The economy will pick up in the third quarter, says Mins of Budget and National Planning

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said that the economy is presently in a bad shape but would start to pick up as from the third quarter.

Speaking to state house correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council, NEC, yesterday, he said;“Recession is basically when you have two quarters of negative growth. We had a first quarter of negative growth and we are still waiting to get all the figures for the second quarter, which has just ended in June.