Nigeria: 92 Boko Haram Terrorists Killed, 850 Hostages Freed

Cameroon's army in collaboration with Nigerian forces have killed 92 members of Islamist militant group and freed 850 villagers in a joint operation, the government of Cameroon said on Friday.
 The operation in the Nigerian village of Kumshe, close to the border with Cameroon, was conducted under the auspices of a multinational force fighting Boko Haram, the statement from Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said.

 Reuters

Nigeria soccer coach Oliseh resigns

The Nigeria Head coach Sunday Oliseh quit early today, citing unpaid wages and lack of support for his team.
Oliseh announced on twitter that he is quitting.
He tweeted his resignation today after a long stand-off with the Nigeria Football Federation, he said “I feel fortunate, blessed and eternally grateful for having had the honour to play, captain and coach this great nation of ours, Nigeria. Due to contract violations, lack of support, unpaid wages, benefits to my players, Asst. Coaches and myself, I resign as Super Eagles Chief Coach.”
Oliseh was appointed Coach of the Super Eagles in July 2015 after former Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi was sacked by the NFF for a breach of trust.
Nigeria are scheduled to face Egypt's Pharaohs in two games of the Gabon 2017 AFCON qualifiers next month.

Gov. Election: INEC releases dates for Edo, Ondo State

The Independent National Electoral Commission has released dates for the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States. The gubernatorial election in Edo state will hold on September 10th while that of Ondo will hold on November 26th this year.
#LIB

TSA: Senate orders CBN to dump SystemSpecs’s Remita

The controversies trailing the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, came to a head on Wednesday, as the Senate directed the  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to terminate forthwith the 2013 e-payment contract renewal with SystemSpecs.
The Senate also ordered the CBN to disregard the one per cent charge provided in the contract agreement with SystemSpecs.
The Senate made the order in line with the 11- point recommendations made by its Joint Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions and Public Accounts.


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MTN withdraws suit against NCC, pays N50bn ‘in good faith’

MTN has withdrawn its suit against the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and paid N50 billion ($250 million) towards an amicable resolution of the fine imposed on the telecoms giant. ncc mtnMeanwhile, the Federal Government, yesterday, denied knowledge of the development and payment of the money. NCC had fined MTN N1.04 trillion for failing to deactivate 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards and later reduced the amount to N780 billion after the first round of negotiations. However, MTN filed a suit as the December 31, 2015 deadline drew nearer, and later requested an out-of-court settlement. Yesterday, the mobile phone company finally withdrew the case at the Federal High Court in Lagos in response to a request by the Nigerian authorities.
 Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/mtn-withdraws-suit-against-ncc-pays-n50bn-in-good-faith/

Wenger Rects As Arsenal Lost To Barcelona In UCL

Barcelona on Tuesday defeated Arsenal at the Emirates by two Lionel Messi goals. Speaking after the match, Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has this to say:
"Barcelona is a great team. We put a lot of energy in the game and technically we were very average.
 "The regret I had was once we looked like we dominate the game, we give the goal away. Similar to Monaco last season, naive, and that is frustrating. When we looked like we could win the game, we just gave it away.
 "Realistically it is very,very difficult, if not impossible. We have to go there and fight. We had the chances, we didn't score."
 "We knew we could not afford to give them counter attacks and that is exactly what we did. It is too easy to blame, you have to respect the effort. They always can kill you when you think you are on top.
 "In their transition they never make a bad pass. They are better than us, there is no shame, they are European champions and that is no coincidence."
nigerianbulletin

Relationship Turmoil As James Harden cheated on Khloe Kardashian?

According to TMZ, this is what Khloe claimed on a episode of her TV Show, Kocktails with Khloe'. Here's how they reported it.
"James Harden is being called out by Khloe Kardashian - who says James begged her to be in an exclusive relationship ... only to cheat on her ass!
KK put Harden on blast on "Kocktails with Khloe" on FYI -- saying the Houston Rockets star was so into her, that he sweet talked her into monogamy -- and then screwed her over. "He sought me out, he wanted to be committed ... then wasn't committed."
Hmmm
#LIB #TMZ

Benue re-run: Two-time loser, Onjeh heads to Tribunal

Once again, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the just concluded Benue South Senatorial re-run election, Mr Daniel Onjeh is still unsatisfied with the conduct of the election, and has vowed to challenge the victory of Senator David Mark at the Tribunal
The re-run election as ordered by the Appeal Court was held on Saturday and INEC declared Sen. Mark who has been in the upper chambers since 1999 as winner of the exercise.
But Onjeh said in an interview that he will approach the Tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election, and seek
 the nullification of the exercise on the grounds of over voting and ballot box stuffing.


http://www.ripples.com.ng/benue-re-run-two-time-loser-onjeh-heads-to-tribunal/

Naira Appreciates Against Dollar After PMB's Statement On Devaluation

The Nigeria's naira on Monday firmed sharply on the parallel market following President Muhammadu Buhari's defiant stance over the country's currency.
 President Buhari had on Saturday again rejected the idea of devaluing the West African nation's currency, despite a hammering of the naira on the secondary market last week.
 The naira appreciated to 375 against the dollar, as importers started to reduce demand for dollars after Buhari's statement.
 The naira firmed 4 percent from Friday's close of 390 to the dollar, while the official interbank rate remained at 199.50 to the dollar at the close of trading on Monday.
 Aminu Gwadabe, the head of Nigeria's bureaux de change association said retail currency operators were working to introduce a single quote across the parallel market and maintain a bid-ask spread of 3.5 percent for trades.
 "We have set up a unit to monitor compliance with the new measures," he told Reuters, adding that the central bank has been informed of the measures," he said.

 Reuters

 

Dani Alves to Leave Barcelona For Good

According to nigerianbulletin,
Barcelona full-back Dani Alves has hinted that he'll soon leave the Spanish football club. The Brazilian international made it clear he will not stay with the Liga champions until the end of his career.
 Dani Alves has made over 350 appearances in all competitions for Barca since joining from Sevilla in 2008.
 However, before hanging up his boots he wants to return home to play for Brazilian side Bahia, with whom he started his professional career.
 The 32-year-old was seemingly close to leaving Camp Nou last season before opting to pen a new two-year deal, but it appears he may be ready to return home when his current contract expires.
 "I've already promised that I want to end my career where I started it, as a way of thanking those who gave me the chance to make my name in football," he told the official Fifa website.
 "I want to have a spell there before I retire, but one that's enjoyable for me and for them too.
 "I'll be sure to stay in shape so that I can go back and not be a disappointment! The idea is for it to be fun for everybody involved, and then call it a day."

 

Fayose to Buhari: Stop the self-deception, naira is already devalued

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose has stated that the continued insistence by President Muhammadu Buhari that the naira would not be devalued is an act of self-deceit, as the naira is already losing value going by its free fall to the U.S dollar.
Fayose said: “With the gap between the official rate of N199 and open market rate of over N400 to one dollar, the naira has already been devalued.
“Therefore President Buhari must stop deceiving himself and shortchanging Nigerians, especially the states and local councils in the country with his forex policy.”
The governor in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka, issued in Ado-Ekiti Sunday, said aside from breeding corruption through round tripping or foreign exchange arbitrage, Nigerians were also being duped, while middle class Nigerians who grow the country’s economy are being decimated.
He lamented that there was no time in the history of Nigeria that the gap between the official rate of the dollar and secondary market rate exceeded N200.
Fayose pointed out that it made no economic sense for the federal government to keep computing the country’s revenue on the basis of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official rate of N199 to a dollar while states and local councils that share the revenue with the federal government run their businesses at the parallel market rate of over N400 to the dollar, thereby causing enormous distortions as businesses fold up by the day and the prices of goods and services skyrocket.
The governor said Buhari was applying his 1984 failed economic policy during which the prices of goods were fixed, not minding the cost of supply, such that essential commodities like milk and sugar became scarce and Nigerians were made to line up in the sun to buy rationed commodities.
http://www.ripples.com.ng/33499-2/

Election: David Mark declared winner of Benue South Senotorial re-run

As culled from LIB, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared David Mark winner of the Benue South Senatorial re-run. The former Senate President garnered a total of 84,192 votes, to beat his main contender, Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 71,621 votes.



The returning Officer of the electoral body, Mr Ishaq Eneji, while declaring the result, said that Senator Mark met all the requirements during the conduct of the poll, having majority of the total vote cast.



Responding to the victory and call for supplementary election in the cancelled polling units, Senator Mark said that his election reflected the will of the people.



THE RESULTS FROM ALL THE 9 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS :
1. Ado LGA
 APC - 6370
 PDP - 6513
2. Agatu LGA
 APC - 3458
 PDP - 7986
3. Apa LGA
 APC - 4943
 PDP - 9191
4. Obi LGA
 APC - 8585
 PDP - 7043
5. Ohimini LGA
 APC - 6192
 PDP - 5923
6. Okpokwu LGA
 APC - 6830
 PDP - 11935
7. Otukpo LGA
 APC - 12203
 PDP - 18468
8. Oju LGA
 APC - 14159
 PDP - 10289
9. Ogbadibo LGA
 APC - 8882
 PDP - 6844
PDP won with a difference of = 12,571 votes.

U.S primaries: Trump wins South Carolina, Clinton gets Nevada

The race for White House is heating up with Hillary Clinton emerging the winner of the Democratic caucuses in Nevada, beating Bernie Sanders, while mouthy estate mogul turned politician Donald Trump emerged winner in the crowded Republican nominating party in South Carolina.
Unlike the opening contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, which the candidates split, Saturday’s contest was the first test for the White House hopefuls in a more racially diverse state.
http://www.ripples.com.ng/u-s-primaries-trump-wins-south-carolina-clinton-gets-nevada/