ABUJA—THE Minister of State for Petroleum/Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Ibe. Kachikwu, yesterday said the Federal Government did not pay any subsidy on petroleum products in January 2016.

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has asked President Mohammadu Buhari to stay at home and find solution to the myriad of problems confronting the country, rather than wasting the nation’s resources on unnecessary foreign trips.

FORMER president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, dissected the state of socio-economic affairs of the country, especially the initiatives of the current administration, and returned a verdict of doubt. His words:

The trial in the ongoing legal battle between the widow of the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, Bianca Ojukwu and his brothers over the family estate commenced yesterday before a Lagos state High Court sitting at Igbosere.

THE two remaining embattled senators from Anambra State, Senators Andy Uba and Stella Oduah yesterday made a bold appearance in the National Assembly to disprove assertions of their removal from office.

ABUJA — Still shopping for evidence to nail top Nigerians who might have benefitted from the $2.1 billion arms cash, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, have raided the Abuja office of former Vice President, Namadi Sambo, carting away $50,000 from his safe.

LAGOS — As part of preventive measures against possible outbreak of Zika virus, the Federal Government says it has put measures in place to ensure that the virus is not transmitted by mosquitoes in the country.

Military sources have confirmed that over 50 persons were killed by scores of Boko Haram terrorists armed with AK 47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons in the attack on Dalori village, about 4 kilometers away from Maiduguri.

SCHOOLS, both secondary and primary, as well as health centres, in Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Kurutie, Kunukunumam, Egboba, Benikurukuru, Egwa, Abitte, Tebijoh and other Ijaw communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State, have been forced to shut down following the over two-week siege to the riverine communities by soldiers hunting for pipeline bombers.

THE former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko, has alleged that the June 21, 2014 governorship polls in the state that led to the emergence of Chief Ayodele Fayose as governor, was never an election but a coup against the people.

The leadership of St. John’s Anglican Church, Agbarho in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State was thrown into confusion when the church vicar, scheduled to lead a team of ministers at a funeral service, suddenly died after he was rushed to hospital.

Following his alleged indictment in the N29 billion arms probe, former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Adesola Amosu, was, Wednesday, invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, grilled on his role and detained because all issues pertaining to his alleged indictment were not concluded.

lagos—NOTABLE scholars were yesterday unanimous in their call for meritocracy to be entrenched in the manner Nigeria is governed in order to have strong institutions needed for growth. They also noted that the prevailing malfunctioning of the various institutions of the state, makes it imperative for the Federal Character Principle to be abolished.

More revelations emerged, yesterday, on how the embattled National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, spent part of the N400 million he received from the erstwhile National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, (retd).

THE House of Representatives, yesterday, described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letters to the leadership of the National Assembly, accusing the lawmakers of greed, graft and insensitivity to the declining state of the country’s economy, as misdirected, saying they would not be distracted from performing their constitutional duties.