NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday took a swipe at the opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, saying it has concluded plans to use the outcome of the ongoing membership registration to hype what the PDP termed a phantom public support.

CONTROVERSIAL Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu, who was embroiled in a running battle with Governor Rotimi Amaechi, which has fuelled the political crisis in the state has been removed. The Police Service Commission, PSC, redeployed Mr Mbu to the Federal Capital Territory and replaced him with Mr Tunde Ogunshakin who formerly held sway at the Special Fraud Unit, SFU.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, explained that he exposed the opaque management of oil revenue in the country so that it could lead to people being asked to explain what they had done with the money. He also said that he “loves controversy”.

According to the CBN Governor, the controversy surrounding the the missing oil revenue was also good for the country.

Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, told the Senate Committee on Finance that of the $67 billion crude oil sales that was supposed to be remitted to the Federation Account, only $47 billion had been reconciled between the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and CBN.

But the Committee’s Chairman, Ahmed Makarfi, cautioned the CBN Governor over making wild and unsubstantiated allegations without concrete and specific figures to back them up.

The Senate leadership has perfected plans to rebuff attempts by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to shut down government by stalling the appointment of seven of the 12 ministerial nominees recently submitted to it.

To be part of the 492 wise men and women to be saddled with the task of reshaping Nigeria, some serving commissioners are currently pressuring their state governors for a slot. According to the modalities, each of the 36 state governors is expected to nominate three delegates. The presidency, which is expected to nominate about 70 delegates is also being pressured, Vanguard gathered. Already, some ministers considered to be in President Goodluck Jonathan’s good books are being bombarded with phone calls by people angling for a seat at the confab table.

Barely a week after unknown gunmen struck in a Catholic Church in Chakawa village in Madagali local government area of Adamawa State, killing over 35 persons, another community in the local government has been attacked by suspected terrorists who killed a pastor and 10 members of his congregation.

THE Federal Government, yesterday, declared that the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria would be the only no-go area for the planned National Conference which may be convened before the end of February.

This was disclosed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, while briefing newsmen in Abuja on the Federal Government’s endorsement of the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue which submitted its report few weeks ago.

Senators elected on both the PDP and APC platforms, yesterday, united against the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, blaming her for the country’s economic woes.

They specifically accused the minister of imposing the economic policies of the International Monetary Fund, IMF and the World Bank on Nigeria.

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said that he sacked the immediate past service chiefs because of unhealthy competition which made it possible for Boko Haram insurgents to attack the Air Force operational base in Maidugur

The Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) were yesterday locked in a war of words over the opposition party’s directive to its members to shut down the affairs of the Federal Government. This came as APC House members, weekend, vowed to heed the party’s directive.

With the release of the 2015 general elections time-table by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), indications emerged, yesterday, that the campaigns for the next presidential poll would kick off not later than November 16 this year in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

The country was yesterday headed for a shutdown after the All Progressives Congress, APC, directed its members in the National Assembly, NASS, to block consideration of the 2014 Budget, as well as ministerial and military appointments until the Federal Government halts the escalating violence in Rivers State.

EMOTIONS arising from the political standoff in Rivers State overflowed for the second day in the National Assembly, yesterday, as senators on opposite sides nearly exchanged blows over the matter.

The ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, in the House of Representatives gave a foretaste of their battle for supremacy when their representatives tested their might in the House.