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The court of appeal sitting in Sokoto has struck out a judgement earlier delivered by the Federal High court in Gusau affirming Senator Hassan Muhammad Nasiha as Zamfara PDP chairman. The National Working Committee led by the then PDP national chairman Senator Ali Modu Sheriff had earlier dissolved the Zamfara state PDP executive committee led by senator Hassan Nasiha. Senator Hassan Muhammad Nasiha then challenged the action of the NWC in court on the ground that their tenure as the party exco had not lapsed. The Federal High Court delivered a judgement in his favour. But in a copy of judgement delivered by Justice Frederick O. Oho of the Appeal Court which was made available to newsmen by Alhaji Nasiru Abubakar Milo who was elected the PDP's chairman after the Nasiha's led Congress was dissolved the court set aside the earlier judgement. The court explained that it is a notorious principle of law that the courts generally have no business meddling in the...

Former Nigerian first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan is a political enigma. Her political consciousness was visible during her time in office. Mrs Jonathan might proceed to the Senate in 2019. Multiple sources in Rivers state have expressed that former Nigerian first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan is under pressure to contest for the Rivers East senatorial election in 2019. Mrs Jonathan, 59, is from Okirika in Rivers state and is eligible to contest for elections in the state as well as that of her husband; Bayelsa constitutionally. One of the source said that a team of politicians have already started mobilising themselves for the task ahead. His words: ”There is already a team on ground working towards achieving this objective. Mummy (Mrs Jonathan) is aware and has not told them to stop which means she is okay with the idea. ”The team has started reaching out to influential leaders in Rivers East senatorial district and beyond to ensure that their plans come to fruition.” A...

The Federal Government has declared Monday, December 26 and Tuesday, December 27, 2016 as well as Monday, January 2, 2017, as public holidays to mark the Christmas, Boxing Day and 2017 New Year celebrations respectively. The Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government on Wednesday in Abuja. He urged Christians and Nigerians in general to remain committed and supportive of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari “in his sustained efforts towards building a peaceful, united and prosperous nation.” The minister, in a statement by the acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, called on Nigerians to use the occasion to pray for peace, unity and peaceful co-existence across the country. “The minister wishes Nigerians at home and abroad a merry Christmas and prosperous New Year 2017,” the statement said.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, stated this in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. She explained that the payroll system shut itself down automatically immediately the affected agencies reached their salary limit for the year. Adeosun said the problem had been recurring every year and the government had approached the National Assembly to seek approval for virement to take care of the affected agencies. The minister said with the receipt of the virement advice on Monday, the government would soon log it into the system so that the agencies could be paid. She said, “All agencies have an allocational IPPIS which is the salary platform. If, for example, an agency’s salary for the year is N12bn, what we insist they should do is to continue to pay until that N12bn. “So, instead of taking N1bn a month, the agencies are taking N1.2bn or N1.3bn. So, by the time it gets to October, many agencies had exhausted their allocation...

The Federal Government has begun the process of extraditing former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was released from jail in the United Kingdom two days ago. Ibori has finished serving his 6-year jail term, after pleading guilty to money laundering and diversion of state funds. According to The Punch, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, has told the EFCC to make Ibori’s 170 charges file available. A source said: “We have started the process of extradition in conjunction with the Office of the AGF. We had started extradition process years ago but stopped it since he was in prison. “We have now reactivated the process. It is the AGF that will communicate with the British Government, which will then extradite Ibori to Nigeria. The court process will be sent to the UK Government for extradition.” Spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren in a text message said: “His (Ibori’s) fate will be determined by the provisions of the law.” Ibori’s case was...

Washington — Propelled by populist energy, President-elect Donald Trump’s candidacy broke long-standing conventions and his incoming Cabinet embodies a sharp turn from the outgoing Obama administration. Trump, a Republican who pledged major changes after eight years of a Democratic White House, has assembled nominees for a Cabinet that includes many business executives who have never served in government, and military leaders are in line to oversee defense and homeland security. In one case, Trump has named someone who once called for dismantling the agency he’d lead. A change of political parties at the White House almost always brings policy adjustments. But Trump’s Cabinet expects to carry the outsider flair of his campaign, a role reversal compared with more conventional teams under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama that were heavy on former lawmakers, governors and veterans of past administrations. A look at the expected shift in the federal government: State...

Now that Donald Trump has named ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his pick for secretary of state, the transition has reached a milestone of sorts. Nominations for the most prized jobs in the Cabinet — the people who lead the Departments of State, Defense, Justice and the Treasury — are all in place, filling what have come to be known as the "big four" jobs. As The Post wrote in 2011, these are the "original departments created by George Washington, with the heftiest portfolios" — the most high-profile positions and among the foremost voices guiding the president's thinking on critical military, foreign affairs, justice and economic issues. And for the first time in more than two decades — if those four names are ultimately confirmed — the "big four" jobs will be entirely white and male. As one ABC News producer, Chris Donovan, put it Tuesday: "If Trump's picks confirmed, 1st time in 24 yrs no woman/minority serving at least 1 of "...

Talk about something often enough and the idea can become real, especially if people around you are talking about the same thing. That, in short, gives a good indication why there had been so much chatter about the possibility of the Electoral College voting against Donald Trump on Monday, even though it was never likely to happen. Electors voted for Trump as expected, and the letdown for Clinton supporters and Trump detractors has no doubt whipped them straight back to dismal reality. But psychologists say the good news is they're not likely to feel dismal about their situation for long, despite the many blinking lights of false hope. Clinton fans first got an unrealistic jolt of hope from a New York Magazine article that offered quickly debunked evidence that voting machines in Wisconsin had been rigged for Trump. But before that "evidence" could be sufficiently swept from the public's mind, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein launched a three-state...