News In Brief Today 15/5/16

Good morning: Titbits from daily News you need to know this morning:

1. Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari may not do well in economy and foreign affairs, except in military matters. He said if the president fails to do well economically, another person will continue from where he stops. Obasanjo, however gave Buhari credit in the area of fighting insurgency.

2. A fresh report has emerged of factions in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The report claims that 12 of its former governors and about 14 former ministers are leading a breakaway group called Concerned PDP Stakeholders Steering Committee.

3. The South-East zonal congress of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which held on Saturday at the Michael Okpara Square in Enugu State, ended on a controversial note as participants engaged in free-for-all during voting.

4. A mansion worth N860m allegedly belonging to a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Umar (retd) has been sealed off by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC. The house on 1853 Deng Xiano Ping Street, off Mahathir Mohammed Street, Asokoro Extension, Abuja, was allegedly bought with money belonging to the Air Force.

5. The United States government has assured the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government that it would return about $350m stolen from Nigeria by past leaders. This was disclosed by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, at the Anti-corruption Summit Plenary at Lancaster House London, United Kingdom....So so promise,seems this people dont want to return any of these monies,even the UK so so promise.

6. The Nigerian Labour Congress, will as from this Wednesday shut down the country if the partial deregulation of the downstream sector of Petroleum industry by the Federal Government is not reversed. Labour is demanding a total reversal of the pump price of petrol to N86.50 from the current N145.............Buy food items for the week starting from tomorrow and stay out of harms way please,such protests never end well for the poor masses who join in.

7. A former Senate Chief Whip, Senator Rowland Owie, has advised the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff to quit the office, which, he said, was ceded to the South, on May 21. Owie, who urged some leaders of the party to stop brewing crisis in the PDP, warned that unless the party put its house in order, it will be difficult to defeat the ruling APC government in 2019.

8. President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated the commitment of the federal government in ensuring the safe return of the 219 Chibok school girls who were abducted in Chibok, Borno State, over two years ago. Buhari made the statement on Saturday in Abuja at the 2nd Regional Security Summit which had French President, François Hollande, in attendance.

9. The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinabjo has refuted claims that fuel subsidy has been removed. Osinabjo said that what the government did was to withdraw the monopoly enjoyed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and to allow free market sales. He said that at $40 a barrel, there isn’t much of a subsidy to remove...I dont even think i understand this subsidy thing at all,can something explain the VP's statement?

10. The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Unity Party of Nigeria had while commiserating with the families of the victims of a building being built by the state government, which collapsed in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Friday called for the probe of the contractors that handled the construction job and their onward prosecution.

News compiled by Dailypost.