PRESIDENT BUHARI HAS GIVEN EFCC GO AHEAD TO PROBE JONATHAN

President Muhammadu Buhari may have given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the nod to probe ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan. According to The Punch, President Buhari’s special assistant on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, in a chat on Friday, March 11, noted that there was no secret agreement between the present and past presidents to exempt Jonathan from the list of corrupt people to be probed by this administration. “The President does not teleguide the EFCC in any way,” Adesina said while answering questions on whether the EFCC would seek the consent of President Buhari before probing Jonathan. Speaking in the same vein, Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, told The Punch that, “there is no secret pact between President Buhari and any past President. “If you know or understand him, President Buhari is not the kind of person who will go into secret agreements. He is open about everything he does. READ ALSO: Powerful Nigerians oppose $2bn Malabu probe “The war against corruption is open-ended. Nobody knows how it will end.” Shehu explained further that the war against corruption in the country is not a witch hunt. He said: “But the President is not on a witch hunt. If you remember his acceptance speech after being announced as the winner of the 2015 general elections, he said without any equivocation that he would not victimise or subject anyone to witch hunt. “One thing very clear from the way he has carried on with the war against corruption is that past officials of government have a window to return looted funds to avoid investigation and trials which may be drawn out and sometimes inimical to the exercise. “People can help themselves and help the country without being noisy about anything. “The President is aware that he is under watch, locally and internationally, in his handling of the war against corruption. “Whatever international support he will get will depend on how open and effective his government is in carrying out the anti-graft war. “To that extent, the war against corruption knows neither friend nor foe.” The body language of the anti-graft agency had initially suggested that they may be reluctant to bring in ex-president for questioning over multi-billion dollar corruption allegations, especially the $2.1billion arms deal. This report also comes on the heel of Chief Olisa Metuh’s call for the probe of erstwhile president, Jonathan, as he ordered most of the payments being made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP spokesperson, who has been standing trials over his involvement in the $2.1bn arms deal scam, was released on bail in January, 2016 after initially spending some nights at the Kuje prison.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAVE APOLOGISED TO NIGERIANS ABOUT THE POOR POWER SUPPLY

The minister Lai Mohammed, who tendered unreserved apology to Nigerians for the hardship caused bt the development, said efforts are being made to resolve the situation and ensure a gradual improvement in the power situation. “There will be a decent improvement in the power situation from this weekend, thanks to ongoing remedial efforts that will double the current power supply to 4,000WM. Getting back to the 5,074MW all-time high that was reached earlier will take a few more weeks,” he said. Mohammed explained that the routine maintenance embarked upon by the Nigeria gas company affected the supply of gas to power stations, reducing power supply from an all-time high of 5,074 MW to about 4,000MW, adding that a combination of unpleasant incidents further crashed the power supply to about half that figure. “The vandalization of the Forcados export pipelines forced oil companies to shut down, making it impossible for them to produce gas. Then, workers at the Ikeja Discos, who were protesting the disengagement of some of their colleagues after they failed the company’s competency test, apparently colluded with the National Transmission Station in Osogbo to shut down transmission. “Finally, the unfortunate strike by the unions at the NNPC, over the restructuring of the Corporation, shut down the Itarogun Power Station, the biggest in the country. Due to these factors, only 13 out of the 24 power stations in the country are currently functioning. It is this same kind of unsavoury situation that has affected fuel supply and subjected Nigerians to untold hardship,” Mohammed said. He lamented a situation whereby some Nigerians, under the umbrella of different oil and gas unions or absolute vandalization, will always be sabotaging the nation’s power infrastructure. READ ALSO: Buhari advised to take over Ministry of Power “The bitter truth is that for as along as these groups of Nigerians continue to sabotage the power infrastructure, Nigerians cannot enjoy a decent level of power supply. We therefore admonish all Nigerians who may be agitating for their rights in whatever form to refrain from any action that will further hurt the same people they claim to be protecting,” Mohammed said. 

Nigerians should be hopeful of uninterrupted power supply as The Punch reports that Africa’s richest man and the president of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, revealed that by 2018, his company should be able to generate about 12,000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria. He made this known at the Nigerian Economic Summit which was organised by Economist Events in Lagos on March 7. Meanwhile, power sector workers under the aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees and Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies on Monday picketed the head office of the Ikeja Electric over the sacking of 400 workers of the company. The union last week Tuesday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the management of the company to recall the disengaged workers or face industrial action

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KIM KARDASHIAN POSTS ADORABLE PICTURE OF SAINT WEST

RUSSEL WILSON FINALLY PROPOSES TO CIARA

Congratulations to Ciara and Russel on their engagement. Ciara posted this picture on her instagram page.