President Goodluck Jonathan has warned members of Peoples Democratic Party and his cabinet to stop campaigning ahead of the 2015 elections.
The President warned at the National Executive Committee meeting of the party in Abuja that he would sack any member of his cabinet found wanting.
Some of those in attendance were Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Senate President David Mark and a former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar who are believed to have presidential ambitions.
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola says his administration would continue to sustain the peaceful co-existence of people of different religious backgrounds resident in the state.
He said the government is conscious of the right of residents to worship the way they chose to, saying the state would ensure that such right was always protected and promoted.
The governor said the government had put in place mechanisms to ensure religious integration in the state, as well as support religious organizations in their causes.
***
Four people were feared dead, while 20 vehicles were vandalized yesterday in a renewed clash between factions of the Lagos chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers.
Several people were also injured while shops were torched during the mayhem which reportedly began at 2am and lasted five hours.
Reports say some hoodlums, allegedly loyal to a leader of NURTW’s faction in Lagos Island, besieged Onola, Agarawu and Itafaji and unleashed mayhem on youths suspected to be loyal to another faction.
***
Former Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has asked an Ibadan High Court to quash corruption charges leveled against him and two others by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The three were arraigned on 11 counts, including conspiracy, contract scam and other criminal acts to the tune of N25 billion by the EFCC. EFCC objected to the accused persons’
application.
But the trial judge, Akintunde Boade, adjourned hearing to April 26, urging the two parties to file their written addresses within the court’s time frame.
***
Kwara State Government has directed erstwhile Chief Judge of the state, Raliat Elelu-Habeeb to immediately resume office, following her reinstatement by the Supreme Court last Friday.
Justice Commissioner, Kamaldeen Ajibade, said the state government was a respecter of the rule of law and would not in any way flout or disobey the judgment of the apex court.
It will be recalled that the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria in the state protested against the reinstatement of the judge and embarked on strike, locking up the courtrooms yesterday.
***
At least 30 persons were feared killed in a gun duel yesterday between soldiers and members of Islamic sect, Boko Haram, at the Baga market in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Though the military claimed it killed eight members of the sect and that no civilian was killed in the exchange, witnesses and medical accounts confirmed that the death toll included women and children.
The sect members had reportedly stormed the market mid-afternoon yesterday and shot sporadically at traders, apparently to avenge the arrest of their members in the market last week.
The Maiduguri incident coincided with a revelation by the arrested spokesman for the sect, Abu Qaqa, that the Boko Haram leaders drive around town in expensive cars that were stolen.
Qaqa said security agents were often intimidated to stop such cars because they believe only influential men have such cars and they are not checked.
He reportedly told interrogators that sect members snatched cars used by their leaders and the ones they used for suicide bombing.
A coalition of election monitors under the aegis of Project Swift Count has ranked the governorship election in Sokoto State higher than a similar one in Bayelsa State a week earlier.
In a report by the first Co-Chair of the project, Dafe Akpedeye, yesterday, the group said the process leading to the outcome of the election was more transparent than the one in Bayelsa.
The group said the conduct of the election was improved. But problems remain with late arrival of polling staff and materials and cases of intimidation. LNEWS1703
FOREIGN NEWS
Rebels in Sudan's Darfur province have released 49 African peacekeepers they accused of entering their territory without permission.
But rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement say they are keeping three other people they suspect of being Sudanese security agents.
The joint UN-African Union peace mission says the soldiers will not leave without their colleagues. UNAMID says the three are a Yemeni policeman are two Sudanese translators.
United States and Mexico have agreed to work together to develop deep-water oil and gas fields that straddle their maritime border in the Gulf of Mexico.
The deal was signed at a meeting of the G20 group of industrial and developing countries in Los Cabos, Mexico.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it would ensure responsible energy exploration in the Gulf.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said it would ease Mexican fears that their oil might be appropriated by the US.
BUSINESS
Bureau of Public Enterprises has put off the sale of the 17 successor companies to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria till October.
They were earlier scheduled to be sold in April. This is the second time that the agency has changed the deadline for the privatization of the companies.
It had originally stated that the companies would be sold before May 29, 2011.
BPE spokesman, Chukwuma Nwokoh, said the opening of the financial bids by the prospective investors in the power companies would now hold between September 25 and October 25.
Consumer inflation rose to 12.6 per cent year-on-year in January, compared with 10.3 per cent the previous month.
According to a statement by the National Bureau of Statistics, yesterday, the rise was as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.
Fuel price fell but stayed higher than it had been before the subsidy was removed.
Analysts had expected January inflation to rise to 11.75 per cent.
ENTERTAINMENT
Oscar contender the Help has been named best picture at this year's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Image Awards, winning additional prizes for stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.
The NAACP's event also saw Star Wars creator George Lucas receive a special award.
The US awards show honors diversity in film, television, music and literature.
Accepting her honour, Davis said The Help had just been the joy of her life.
SPORTS
Organizers have confirmed that Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell will take on compatriot Usian Bolt at the Golden Gala in Rome in May.
The pair will go head-to-head in the 100m at the Stadio Olimpico on 31 May. Powell, the former 100m world record holder, is expected to be one of Bolt's main rivals at the London Olympics.
Bolt, the Olympic champion over 100m and 200m, had already confirmed he will race over the shorter distance in Rome and Oslo on 7 June.
TODAY IN HISTORY
February 21, 1965 - Black US Muslim leader, Malcolm X, was shot dead during a meeting;
ODD SIDE OF NEWS
Police in Florida have arrested a wheelchair-bound suspect accused of robbing a convenience store when his motorized wheelchair got stuck in the sand.
Officers said the clerk at the store said the man in the motorized wheelchair came into the store and brandished a pocket knife.
The clerk said she was overpowered by the man who left with a 12-pack of beer and a roll of electrical tape.
Police said John Christopher Champion, aged 22, was found only a few minutes later with his wheelchair stuck in the sand near the store.
