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By SaharaReporters, New York Contrary to the impression created by President Goodluck Jonathan that he plans to ‘probe’ the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah over the fraudulent purchase of two BMW armored cars, Saharareporters can authoritatively report that the President and his team are working very hard to shield the Minister. SaharaReporters investigations show that Mrs. Oduah was listed as one of the 54 officials that traveled within the inner circle of the President to Israel.  President Jonathan however gave her the permission to travel ahead of the delegation 24 hours early under the guise that she would be signing the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Israel.  As it turns out, the BASA agreement is not due for signing until October 29, following which Mr. Jonathan will depart for Nigeria. Mrs. Oduah is also one of the ministers listed to follow the President to a meeting wit...

By SaharaReporters. New York The latest effort by President Goodluck Jonathan to save the neck of his embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, hit the rocks last night in Israel. The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday, was drafted to broker peace between the Minister and members of the National Assembly who are currently investigating her stunning purchase of two BMW armored cars, a scam that was first exposed by SaharaReporters. Ekweremadu called a meeting of two Nigerian lawmakers in the country, a Senator and a Member of the House of Representatives, to meet with the minister.  The meeting was attended by Ekweremadu, Stella Oduah, Rep. Jagaba Adams of Kaduna Kachiya/Kagarko federal constituency, and Senator Philip Aduda, who represents Abuja.  Also in attendance was Kola Adesina of Sahara Oil and Gas, a company now seen to be a front for President Jonathan. ...

Found this very interesting report on Punchng.com . According to the report, the Presidential Air Fleet has more aircraft that three domestic airlines combined! SMH! Read below... The declining fortunes of the domestic airlines have made President Goodluck Jonathan’s 10-aircraft Presidential Air Fleet larger than the fleets of three domestic airlines combined, investigations by Punch correspondent revealed on Tuesday. The three carriers are Chanchangi, MedView, and FirstNation airlines. Chanchangi has one aircraft; Medview Airlines, three; while FirstNation has  two. IRS Airlines, with five aircraft in its fleet, has only one that is currently operational. The four others have been sent overseas for routine maintenance for a long time now. It can be technically assumed that the Presidential Air Fleet is bigger than the four domestic airlines, according to industry experts. Aerocontractors, the second largest domestic airline, which currently has ab...

Former House of Reps member and Executive Director, Anti-Corruption Network, Dino Melaye was this afternoon arrested by the Nigerian police during a protest at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja. Dino led a group of protesters to the Federal Secretariat, Abuja around noon today, calling for the sack of the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, over the purchase of two BMW armoured cars. Drama ensued during the protest as another group emerged from nowhere to stage a counter protest to drum up support for the minister. The police led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the FCT, Sunday Olukoya, arrived at the scene and promptly arrested Dino Melaye's group. They were taken away in a Toyota Hilux van, marked NPS 21280 at about one this afternoon.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pulled out the rug from the feet of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): it refused to recognise the new PDP. INEC had dropped the bombshell in a letter to the Baraje faction dated October 3, declining the faction’s application seeking to be recognised as the authentic leadership of the PDP. The regulatory body insisted that the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur-led executive remains the authentic leadership of the PDP. According to the letter by INEC with reference number INEC /LEG/PDP/19/111.25 and signed by U.F Usuman, acting secretary of the commission, the leadership of Tukur remains the authentic leadership of the National Working Committee (NWC), adding that it will not withdraw its recognition of leadership of the PDP elected at the election duly monitored by the commission.

By: Rebecca Burn-Callander on October 9, 2013 - 3:53am Africa, the world’s fastest growing emerging market, is now home to 55 billionaires, with an average net worth of $2.6bn. The price of oil topped $100 a barrel this year, up from $20 a barrel in early 2000, creating a new crop of African billionaires. Africa is now home to 55 billionaires, up from previous estimates of 16-25 billionaires, new research has found. These super rich are worth a combined total of $143.88bn (£89.27bn). The UK, in contrast, is home to 84 billionaires, worth a nearly £250bn, according to the 2013 Sunday Times Rich List. With 55 billionaires, Africa is comparable to Latin America, which has 51 at last count (Forbes). However, Africa has some way to go if it’s to top the super-rich tally in Asia , which is home to 399 billionaires as of 2013. The new study, undertaken by African business magazine and news service Ventures Africa, is the most extensive list ever compiled, claims founder Chi...

•Aliyu accuses presidency of inducing agents to cause trouble in Niger                                                   Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu By Chuks Okocha   and Aisha Wakaso The breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday claimed that its membership has swelled with the decamping of five more governors of the ruling party to the group. Although the splinter PDP did not name the five governors that had joined it, if the claim is correct, it would bring the number of governors in its fold to 12. The New PDP said the new governors would join them at their meeting on the next adjourned date slated to hold after the Eid-el-Kabir holiday. Last night, THISDAY was privy to the na...

Governors Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Rabiu Kwankwanso (Kano) are to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday (today)  at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to seek the postponement of their peace meeting. The meeting was originally scheduled for today but the  New Peoples Democratic Party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, announced in a statement last week,  that it had been cancelled because most of the seven aggrieved governors were billed for the 2013 Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

LEGAL luminary, Professor Ben Nwabueze, on Sunday, declined the offer to serve on the national conference panel on health ground. The leader of The Patriots, however, welcomed the initiative, saying it was a bold step. Meanwhile, the Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has said the state will not participate in the proposed national dialogue, adding that no delegate would attend from the state. He disclosed this during an interview with newsmen, adding that the proposed dialogue lacked constitutional backing and was a flagrant abuse of democratic institution.

Written by  Olawale Rasheed, Jacob Segun Olatunji and Leon Usigbe -Abuja   IN spite of the intention of G7 governors of the New Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stay away from today’s meeting called by President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the lingering crisis in the party, the presidency is going ahead with its plans, hoping that the governors will still attend. The president, some governors of PDP, party stakeholders loyal to him and the aggrieved governors had agreed in their meeting of September 15, held at the Presidential Villa, to sheathe their swords and return to a final round of meeting today, where they hoped all outstanding disagreements would be resolved. But the Abubakar Baraje-led splinter group, to which the rebel governors were loyal, in a media statement last week, indicated that it was seeking a postponement of the meeting, as it coincided with the time most of the seven governors would...

THE Agagu family has cleared the air on the controversy surrounding the choice of ill-fated Associated Airlines, which crashed in Lagos, last Thursday. Family of the late former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu, said the contracts for the purchase of the casket, the hiring of the hearse, arrangement for the flying of the corpse from Lagos to Akure, the stage for the lying-in-state as well as the transportation to Iju Odo were between Ondo State government and MIC as part of the plans to give the former governor a state burial. Reacting to media reports which alleged that Agagu family chose the airline that conveyed the remains of the former governor, Mr Femi Agagu, the late politician’s younger brother, dismissed the reports as “false, wicked and deliberate distortion of obvious facts.” In a statement on behalf of the Agagu family, Femi Agagu said the family knew nothing about how the airline was contracted.  ‘’We appreciate the immense support of the stat...

Written by  Jude Ossai and Ayomide Owonibi    DEPUTY Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) (Financial System Stability),  Dr Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, has said that the nation’s  economic performance had been rather weak. He stated this on Saturday in a lecture delivered at the Golden Jubilee ceremony of the pioneer graduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). Moghalu regretted that Nigeria’s economic performance does not reflect its endowments. “With a population of 170 million people, Nigeria is generously endowed with human, physical and natural resources. “The country is ranked the 6th largest producer of crude oil and also has the 6th largest gas reserves in the world. “ It also has very significant reserves of solid minerals which remain undeveloped. The country is richly endowed with about 34 different types of solid minerals in commercial quantities in about 450 locatio...

The so called 'New PDP' breakaway faction of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, has announced that it will soon expose president Jonathan's single term pact. This was reveled by the party's publicity secretary, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze.   Eze said, “When he decides to contest and the party directs accordingly, all the facts relating to his signing any document or making any promise that he would serve one single tenure would then come to the fore.”   Eze said the President would one day realise that he was surrounded by enemies, adding that by that time, it would be too late for the President to correct his mistakes.   He said, “This crisis (in the PDP) is orchestrated by some people in Jonathan’s cabinet and some of his aides. Most of these people apart from being opportunists don’t know what it is to serve the people.   “Instead, their pockets are what matter to them and in order to achieve their selfish agenda, they are ready...

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the operations of Associated Airlines, following the ill-fated crash that occurred on Thursday October 3rd, which killed 13 passengers. NCAA announced the suspension yesterday Saturday October 5th via it's Director-General, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu. He said; “Associated Airlines operations have been suspended by the NCAA. Let me say for the purpose of clarity, I said their operations, I mean all their operations of Associated Airline have been suspended by the NCAA. I did not say any certification was cancelled but all operations.” Capt Akinkuotu explained that the suspension of the airline is to pave the way for ongoing probe into the cause of the crash.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the operations of Dana Air...again. The suspension was announced on Sunday night October 6th by the Coordinating General Manager for the aviation parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati. The NCAA said it shut Dana’s operations to enable it conduct an operational audit of the carrier and its planes. This suspension makes it the third time the NCAA would ground Dana Air over safety and other related issues since the crash of Dana flight 992 that killed over 150 passengers in June 2012.

By: Abiodun Oluwarotimi The United States government has said that Boko Haram will be defeated in Nigeria just as it said that it remained concerned about the security situation in the country. The US added that it would continue to provide necessary supports for the Nigerian government to conquer the people behind the insecurity in the country. Speaking during a press briefing with journalists at the Department of State in Washington, DC yesterday, spokesperson of the White House Ms. Marie Harf, Deputy said that the United States government would not relent in its efforts to ensure that terrorism was eradicated in Nigeria. Asked why the United States preferred to assist Nigeria to tackle Boko Haram and abandoned Mali when both countries are facing the same security challenge, Ms. Harf  said: “Well, actually, I think it’s really comparing apples and oranges here, right? Because, as you know, the assistance was cut off to Mali as the result of a specific p...