APC presidential ticket: North woos Danjuma

The newly registered All Progressives Congress has begun moves to  draft  a former Minister of Defence (retd.), General Theophilus Danjuma,  into the 2015 presidential election race, Saturday PUNCHhas learnt.
It was learnt that the North had foreclosed the possibility of getting the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential ticket with President Goodluck Jonathan’s grip on the party.
Investigations showed that the North had shifted its focus to the newly registered APC.
A source familiar with the permutations of the northerners confided in our correspondent that the region was desperately looking for a candidate, who could unite its people, who had been divided by religions.
He said, “Unlike in the First Republic when the late Saudana of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, was around, the North is divided. Some northern leaders reason that as part of efforts to reunite the region, Muslims must be ready to concede the Presidency to the Christian North. We are zeroing in on T.Y.Danjuma.”
It was, however, gathered in Abuja, on Thursday, that a final decision had yet to be taken because consultations were still on-going.

Rivers crisis: Amaechi gives Jonathan condition for peace

There are indications that the political crisis in Rivers State may linger following the condition given to President Goodluck Jonathan by the State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
Amaechi, who had visited the President in Aso Villa Friday last week, had gone into a brief meeting with Jonathan with a view to resolving the crisis rocking the state, including the dwindling security situation in the state.
An impeccable source had told Saturday PUNCH that one of the conditions given to President Jonathan by the state governor was the sacking of the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
The governor, according to the source, who is a stakeholder of the PDP in Rivers State, had expressed his discomfort over Wike’s overbearing attitude in the state.

16 contestants enters MTN project fame season 6 academy

16 contestants out of a wide pool of potentially famous young music talents across West Africa has been ushered into this year’s MTN Project Fame performance Academy where they will live throughout the duration of the reality TV show competition.
The selection of these lucky contestants which took place at the Ultima Studios in Lagos last week-end was witnessed by Veteran Nollywood artiste, Olu Jacobs, amongst other industry giants, spanning telecommunications, oil and gas, manufacturing and media, who were proud to identify with the development in the project.

Jonathan lacks focus – Osoba blasts

A call has gone to the Federal Government to use good governance, social security, economic prosperity in the atmosphere of peace, and security for life and property as instruments to burnish Nigeria’s unflattering image among the comity of nations.
Journalism icon, and former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, who made this call in an exclusive interview with Saturday Sun during the week, said accountable governance and security would polish Nigeria’s image and make the country to dazzle in the comity of nations.

APC To Meet Tuesday On Membership Registration

The Interim National Executive Committee of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) is expected to hold its inaugural meeting on Tuesday in Abuja.
Sources close to the party’s hierarchy told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the main agenda of the meeting would be the modalities to be put in place to ensure mass registration of members into the party across the country.
The sources who pleaded not to be mentioned in a telephone interview stated that the meeting was called by stakeholders in the new party who stated that the move was aimed at sustaining the momentum gained so far in the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the party.
Also, the sources stated that the move is as a result of the need to follow up on the visitation of some select members of the new party to some notable Nigerian leaders who were said to have shown soft spot for APC.
“The Interim National Executive of the party is expected to hold its inaugural meeting on Tuesday,” one of the sources told our correspondent in a telephone interview but refrained from divulging information on the agenda.
Another source close to the leadership of the new party however stated that the meeting “would workout modalities for the registration of members into the party and it will it also discuss some other issues that I am not willing to tell you now.”
LEADERSHIP

Wazirin Kano Dies At 88

A Kano-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Isah Waziri, who held the exalted traditional title of “Wazirin Kano”, is dead.
He passed on yesterday during a brief illness at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and was buried according to Islamic rites. The funeral prayer for the octogenarian was held at the Galadanchi Mosque at Kano Emir’s palace ground (Kofar Kudu) and was buried at Gidan Gona cemetery. He is survived by three wives and 22 children.
Until his death, Waziri served as Sharia Court judge, school teacher, imam and “Wazirin Kano”, a senior adviser to Kano emir.
At the funeral prayers, the Imam of Kofar Mata Mosque, Ustaz Muhammad Nasir Adam, described Isa Waziri’s death as painful because “a prominent scholar has gone”.
Another Islamic scholar, Ustaz Tijjani Bala Kalarawi, said that Isa Waziri died at a time the Muslim community needs his teaching for unity in Islam.
A close associate of the deceased, Alhaji Kabiru Usman Sanka, prayed Almighty Allah to give him eternal rest.
The deceased was the Imam of the Murtala Muhammed Jummat Mosque and became the Chief Imam of Kano and Wazirin Kano.
Source

LG Autonomy: Governors To Lose Control Of N2tr Yearly

Governors of the 36 states of the federation may lose control of over N2.2 trillion revenue, which accrues to the 774 local government areas (LGAs) and oil-producing communities from the Federation Account yearly, if the planned autonomy for LGAs and the clamour for direct payment of the 13 per cent derivation funds to oil-producing areas is actualised.
In the last one year alone, all the state governors have controlled an estimated N1.53 trillion revenue, being the LGAs’ share of allocation from the Federation Account. Each month, billions of naira are paid directly to the states instead of the councils, data gathered by LEADERHSIP Weekend have shown.
In addition, the governors of oil-producing states have been controlling more than N565.86 billion paid to them as the 13 per cent derivation funds, rather than the oil-producing areas as stipulated in the country’s constitution.