THE Federal Government has described the hoopla generated by President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly, in which he said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will coordinate the activities of the government in his absence, as a needless distraction.

There was uproar in the polity yesterday over wording of the letter President Muhammadu Buhari sent to the Senate on his medical vacation, in which the President said that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo “will co-ordinate the activities of the government.”

Following the release of 82 Chibok school girls, indications have emerged that the Federal will initiate fresh talks on how to end suicide missions with the Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram and ensure return of normalcy to communities in the North-eastern part of the country.

As the three-man Committee set up by the Federal Government of Nigeria to unravel the circumstances surrounding the placement and discovery of $43million, N23m and £27,000 from an Ikoyi apartment is set to submit its report tomorrow, information suggests that, whereas Mrs Folasade Oke, wife of the suspended Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, paid $1.6m cash for Flat 7B, Osborne Towers, the apartment was immediately transferred to the intelligence agency.

There were indications, last night, that 82 of the more than the 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted by the terrorist group, Boko Haram, in April 2014, may have been released.

Governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, have commenced moves to take over the leadership of the ruling party on the claim that they cannot depend on President Muhammadu Buhari for re-election or to position loyal successors in the 2019 round of elections.

CATHOLIC Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, yesterday, x-rayed the state of the nation and returned a grim verdict: ‘’Nigeria has broken down, it is not working and we are not safe.’’

The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday said that the total public debt of the Federal Government and the 36 states jumped by 43 per cent to N18 trillion in 2016.

ON a day three former Heads of State, all retired generals – Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar met in Minna, Niger State, to discuss the state of affairs of the country, wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, said, yesterday that the President is in good health.

THERE was pandemonium, yesterday, at the Eagle Square, Abuja venue of National May Day celebration, organised by leaders of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and their Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterpart, as aggrieved workers disrupted proceedings over absence of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo.

NIGERIA Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and United Labour Congress, ULC, will today task federal and state governments on review of minimum wage, good governance, improved security, payment of backlog of salaries, unemployment and corruption, as they join their counterparts worldwide to mark May Day, otherwise known as Workers Day.

ampler: After attending a course at Forte Benning, United States, the military authorities in the US offered an extra course, para-trooping. While all his colleagues who attended the earlier course turned down the offer, Akinrinade grabbed it with both hands. Always seeking knowledge, no wonder his meteoric rise in the military was due to nothing more than focus, diligence and hard work.

EXACTLY 563 days after his arrest and detention, Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, regained his freedom around 6:40pm, yesterday, after he perfected all the bail conditions handed to him by trial Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has revealed that US government officials invited, at least, 12 northern governors to the US to ascertain their level of commitment to removing Jonathan and not just on how to curtail the Boko Haram insurgency as suggested.

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, rebuffed claims of official harassment of family members of his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, insisting that claims to the contrary were only being echoed by those with skeletons to hide.