Nigerian Gazette

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has dared the Federal Government to carry out the alleged plot of preventing him from travelling out of the country , saying; “under the federal system of government, State governors are not appendages of the President and as a leading opposition figure in Nigeria, he cannot be cowed by President Mohammadu Buhari and his agents.” The governor, who reacted to reports that two governors, one from the Southwest and another from the South South have been placed on travel restriction on President Buhari’s order, in a press conference addressed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said; whenever he wished to travel out Nigeria, he will do so in the full glare of the public. He said; “I am not surprised or disappointed by this latest plot of the Buhari’s government because the President Buhari that we know is a man without any atom of respect for the rights of Nigerians as enshri...

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has recovered N900m from Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa, a former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. A reliable source at the EFCC told our correspondent on Sunday that the money was found in one of Dudafa’s accounts, which was immediately frozen. The source said, “Dudafa told us that he had no money; so, we began to investigate his accounts. We then found N900m that was hidden in one of his accounts through the connivance of his account officer. “Dudafa initially denied owning the account but when he was confronted with evidence, he had no choice but to admit. Some people, who had paid money into the account based on Dudafa’s instructions, even came forward to say that the account indeed belonged to Dudafa. The N900m will be used as evidence against him in court.” Dudafa, who was a close aide to and a kinsman of Jonathan, was arrested on April 18 at the ...

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has lamented that in just one year of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Mohammadu Buhari, the country’s economy was ruined so much that States could no longer pay workers’ salaries, millions of jobs were lost, prices of essential commodities skyrocketed to the extent that Nigerians could no longer afford common tomato to cook and the middle class wiped away completely.  In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said; “Despite President Buhari’s electoral promise to reduce petrol pump price from the N87 per litre that he met it and make life more bearable for Nigerians, he increased the price of petrol to N145, increased electricity tariff in spite of lack of power supply.”  He said; “food scarcity last experienced when Buhari was military Head of State between 1983 and 1985 has returned to the country, with Nigerians being unable to feed...

Facts have emerged why Alhaji Buruji Kashamu a drug baron and fugitive from the United States law, who is inexplicably a SENATOR of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has been fighting the critics of President Muhammadu Buhari and APC. On the 25th of September 2009, Alhaji Kashamu’s name came up in a Court ruling by Judge Charles R. Norgle of the United States District Court in Chicago, Illinois in which the Judge upheld Kashamu’s indictment by the U.S government on drug trafficking charges and conspiracy to smuggle heroin into the country. Kashamu was described by the U.S government as the kingpin of a strong drug cartel. Having realised that the matter is far from being over, and coupled with the United States government insistence on Buruji Kashamu that he's the one they are looking for and not his brother, he's been doing all possible to remain in Nigeria. The government of the U.S still regards Buruji Kashamu as a drug kingpin and a fugitive from the United States law, ...

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose yesterday in an interview session with press men spoke on salient issues affecting the state, top of which is the inability of the government to meet its obligation in the area of salary payment. Excerpts... His reaction to the possibility of Ekiti workers going on strike any moment from now: I want to make some clarification particularly on issues that affects the welfare of our workers. I want to say very expressly that workers are the engine room of government and they deserve all the encouragement but currently we are in crisis financially, the average wage bill in terms of payment of workers is between 2.5 to 2.6billion which includes parastatals, university, college of education and all that. And since I became governor I have always put this before the leadership of labour, each time they give us a figure from Abuja, I give the paper to them for them to share and bring it for signature. obviously at some point we all realized that the...

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has said he has nothing against the Fulani people or any other tribe in the country. He also said he is not an ethnic jingoist who is out to cause confusion in the country. He stated this in Lagos on Wednesday while attending the funeral ceremony of Mama Violet Oluremilekun Phillips-George, mother of a stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George. In a statement by the Governor's Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, the governor added that his call for the Federal Government to stem the rising tide of Fulani herdsmen attack on communities across the country was borne out of the need for national cohesion, unity and peace. "I have nothing against the Fulani people or any other group in the country. My call for the Federal Government to put a check to the excesses of the Fulani her‎dsmen is for national unity, peace and harmony. "The issue of incessant attacks on communities across the country by the her...

By Pius Adesanmi 1) He does not have the resources of Lagos. It is not fair to ridicule his dane guns vis-a-vis Ambode's sophisticated weaponry in Lagos. If a man is going to heaven and puts on his shoes, it is no longer fair to say that his feet are not yet off the ground. 2) The man arranging sophisticated 21st-century equipment for the police in Lagos and the man mobilizing the dane guns of a local hunters' guild in Ekiti on an "awon tia" level are to be engaged equally as an indictment of the Nigerian state. Because security is mostly federalized on the basis of Nigeria's mockery of Federalism, it is not really in their place to be equipping the police or traditional hunters. 3) With her monopoly of the apparatuses of violence, security, and power such as the police, the military, etc, security is the primary responsibility of the Nigerian state. If you refuse to allow state police and insist on exercising a monopoly over security in an overbearing unitary...

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has granted an interim injunction restraining/ the immediate past national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, and Professor Adewale Oladipo who were removed from office at the PDP National Convention held on Saturday May 21, 2016, from parading themselves as national officers of the party pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice brought before it by the Peoples Democratic Party. A copy of the court injunction has been exclusively obtained by The Trent. (Scroll down to view) The court on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 also granted a restraining order on any member of the National Working Committee of the PDP who was removed from office by the party’s national convention in Port Harcourt from receiving nominations and or submitting names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as officers or candidates of the PDP in whatever capacity pendin...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has traced the source of the $40million paid to Roberts Azibaola, who is former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, to a bank in London. The cash was wired through Citibank N. A. Canada Square Canary in Wharf London E 145 LB into the account of One Plus Holdings Nigeria Limited of Azibaola. About $6million of the money was paid to a bureau de change in Abuja. Azibaola, who was yet to make any refund, has been relocated from Lagos to Abuja in preparation for his trial. Charges have been filed against the ex-President’s cousin at a Federal High Court in Abuja. No date has been fixed for his arraignment. According to a document obtained by our correspondent, the $40million came from the account of the Special Services Office of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). “The Special Services Office has a joint account with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and some se...

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has said the former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party was dissolved and caretaker committee appointed at the last Saturday National Convention held in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State to save the party. The governor said even though he was one of those who supported the former chairman, he had no option than to support his removal so as to forestall disintegration of the party, adding that; “We cannot sacrifice the party for any individual.” Special Assistant to the governor on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti yesterday urged Sheriff to accept his removal in good faith and join others to build the party. The governor said; “I supported Senator Ali Modu Sheriff in good conscience. But when it became obvious that his continuous stay in office as the National Chairman will jeopardise the collective interest of the par...

The crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) assumed a new dimension yesterday as governors under the platform of the party, dumped Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the party. This happened as elders of the party under the aegis of Concerned PDP Stakeholders Forum, led by Prof Jerry Gana, held a parallel national convention in Abuja. According to an inside source, the governors’ decision to dump the embattled national chairman, who they had earlier rallied support for, was the aftermath of a discovery that Sheriff, who is nursing a presidential ambition in 2019, had promised four governors the vice president position. LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that Sheriff’s game caught up with him when the 12 governors elected on the platform of the party upon arrival in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday, realised that he (Sheriff) had been talking to four of them, namely; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State governor; Dave Umahi, Ebonyi State governor, Ayo Fayose, Ekiti St...

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has banned grazing and rearing of cattle in the State, saying those interested in cattle farming should get their own private cattle ranch and that a bill to make movement of cattle from one location to another criminal in the State will soon be sent to the State House of Assembly. Governor Fayose, who made this known when he visited Oke-Ako in Ikole local government area of the State that was invaded last Friday by Fulani herdsmen that killed two residents of the town and injured others, warned that government will henceforth confiscate any cattle seen anywhere in the State apart from ranch created for them by their owners. He described the Fulani herdsmen that attacked Oke-Ako and other communities in the country as “agents of the devil that must be fished out and punished accordingly.” The governor said; “We will not leave our lands for Fulani herdsmen and in a system where the leadership of the country looks the other way while our peop...