A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the remand of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), at Kuje correctional centre until his trial is concluded. Justice Okon Abang of the court gave the order at the resumed trial of the ex-pension boss on Friday. Maina is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on N2bn money laundering charges. He had jumped bail and fled to the Republic of Niger but was arrested on Monday and extradited to Nigeria on Thursday. The defendant is already on bench warrant, his bail having been…
Author: meridianspy
The Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade has launched a special operation, code-named operation Akpakwu, to flush out criminals from the state, especially kidnappers, Channels TV reports. Speaking at the event, Governor Ayade said though statistics indicate that the state remains one of the safest in the country, he decried recent incidents of criminality, especially kidnappings in the state. Handing over 100 patrol vehicles fitted with cutting edge communication gadgets, power bikes, and drones to service commanders in the state, Ayade vowed to return the state, particularly Calabar, to the paradise it once was. Upon distributing the vehicles to…
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it has not yet suspended its strike action that has lingered for months. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU president, told Vanguard the union is still consulting with its members nationwide to determine its response to the recent offer by the federal government. “We have what the government is offering and have transmitted the same to our members nationwide, and we are consulting on what the next line of action will be. You know a tree does not make a forest, and our union is democratic in nature and practice,” said Ogunyemi. “As for…
On Saturday, November 28, about 43 farmers who had gone to their farms during the current harvest season were attacked by Boko Haram terrorists. They were tied up; their hands behind their backs, one after the other their throats were slit. The United Nations puts the number of casualties at 110, not 43. Amnesty International says over 10 women and others are missing. The people of Zabarmari were so outraged they refused to bury the dead. They asked that the Governor of Borno State, Professor Baba Gana Zulum, must show up to witness the tragedy that has befallen their community.…
The police in Malaysia have arrested a Nigerian man in Danau Kota, Setapak, Malaysia, after he allegedly threw his step-grandson, aged four, out of an apartment window, Malay Mail reports. The Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department Chief, Nik Ros Azhan, preliminary investigations showed that the 42-year-old tried to rape his 24-year-old stepdaughter, who was the victim’s mother. He was, however, stopped by his wife and other stepchildren, which made him “furious”. According to Azhan, the suspect also acted “out of control” when he saw his stepchildren screaming for help. He allegedly hit and stomped on his wife and four stepchildren…
Publisher of Meridian Spy, an emerging Nigerian digital newspaper, Sunny Ibeh Jnr, has launched his debut book. The book was launched on Saturday in a webinar hosted from Abuja Nigeria. The book entitled ‘The Master Plan’ was launched amidst commendations and reviews by distinguished personalities. The event was greeted with the hallowed presence of distinguished personalities that cut across different spheres of endeavours, both from the academia; politics and the business world. In his address, Mr Ibeh Jnr, thanked God Almighty for the wisdom that saw the actualization of the book. He said his life was a repository of people’s…
The hypocrite minimises his own flaws and makes allowances for imperfections while homing in on and exaggerating the problems of another. We have an even distribution of hypocrites among all sections of the country. But I think there is a more bubbling joint of whited sepulchres in the south-east. Yes, a host of people lost in gyrations of affected piety and plaster saints who capitalise and summarise their troubles with third-party headlines. They are never responsible for own their problems; there is always someone or some people in the north, south-west or south-south to blame. Even the gully erosion ravaging…
Afenifere, Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has insisted that the nation must be restructured and the practice of true federalism be restored, saying that Nigeria is already on the brink of collapse. This was contained in a communiqué signed and issued by Yinka Odumakin, the National Publicity Secretary, at the end of the group’s national leadership caucus meeting in Akure, on Thursday. Odumakin noted that the last five years of President Muhammadu Buhari administration has “besieged by attendant poverty, as insecurity worsens across the land with kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits on the prowl and government helpless and unable to govern effectively”.…
Napoli are considering renaming its San Paolo stadium after late Diego Maradona who died at the age of 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest. The late Argentine football legend, regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, forged a strong bond with the Italian club and its supporters during his seven-year spell between 1984 and 1991. The forward, who inspired Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, joined Napoli from Barcelona and won their only two Serie A titles – in 1987 and 1990 – along with the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup. Napoli President, Aurelio de Laurentiis…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has mocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the recent defection of some members of the opposition party to the ruling party. MERIDIAN SPY reported Wednesday, Elisha Abbo, Senator representing Adamawa North in the National Assembly, quit his membership of the PDP and joined the ruling APC. This came weeks after Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State similarly defected to the ruling party. Reacting to the recent defections, the ruling party, in a statement issued on Thursday, said it was not surprised that “progressive-minded members of the PDP have been defecting enmasse from the opposition…
Nigeria has been ranked as the third most terrorised country in the world for the sixth consecutive time in recent Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report. According to recent GTI report, the number of deaths attributed to Boko Haram in Nigeria increased by 25 percent from 2018 to 2019. It said despite the rise in the number of casualties from Boko Haram attacks in the north-east, Nigeria is the second to record a fall in violent deaths after Afghanistan in 2019. GTI said 2,043 people died from “terrorism-related acts” in Nigeria in 2018 but only 1,245 deaths were recorded in 2019.…
The Kano State Government says it spent the sum of N1.8 billion to sponsor students to private universities. MERIDIAN SPY learnt the programme started during the administration of ex-governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and was inherited by the current administration of Abdullahi Ganduje. This was made known in a statement by Abba Anwar, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, on Wednesday, noting that over 1,150 students were inherited from the Kwankwaso administration. “They were the set of students who were taken to the university during the administration of Kwankwaso, with the payment of their tuition and other fees at less than 10 per…