Author: Vardiafrica

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested and detained controversial cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky, over abuse of naira, spraying of naira notes and currency mutilation. Bobrisky, who has been embroiled in several controversies over the past weeks, was arrested in Lagos on Wednesday night, and has since been detained at the Lagos Command of the EFCC. Confirming the development to our correspondent in a telephone interview on Thursday, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, noted that Bobrisky would be charged to court Oyewale said, “Bobrisky is with us. He was arrested last night in Lagos, and he…

The Labour Party (LP) says Julius Abure, its national chairman, has escaped an assassination attempt. Obiora Ifoh, national publicity secretary of the LP, said in a statement that Abure’s Abuja residence was “gutted by a mysterious fire” around 1 a.m. on Wednesday. “The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure early this morning allegedly escaped an assassination attempt on him at his Abuja residence,” the statement reads. “His residence was also gutted by a mysterious fire which started a few minutes after 1 a.m. while Abure and the members of his family were asleep. “According to a member…

Rivers State governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has warned that he will surprise those who consider his honest decision to implement the presidential peace accord on the political crisis in the State as a sign of weakness. The governor said he had been inundated with several comments in the media about the implementation of the peace pact, and had chosen to be silent out of maturity and wisdom. Fubara spoke on Wednesday when he received members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) from the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State on a solidarity rally at Government House,…

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday signed the National Students Loan Amendment bill into law The President signed the bill in a short ceremony at the State House in the presence of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Minister and Minister of State for Education, Hannatu Musawa, the Minister of State for Youth, Ayodele Olawande, the president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, other government officials and aides to the president. Tinubu initially signed the student loan bill into law back in June 2023, to…

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says the increase in tariff will only affect customers enjoying 20 hour power supply across the country. Mr Musliu Oseni, Vice Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said this at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday. According to him, the commission has approved the increase in electricity tariff paid by Band A customers from N68/KWh to N225KWh adding that the increase will not affect customers on bands B and C. Oseni said that the increase only affect about 15 per cent electricity consumers that have been proven to enjoy 20 hours power supply daily. He…

The federal government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has approved a hike in the electricity rates for consumers categorized under Band A. This is contained in a press statement by the Vice Chairman of NERC Musliu Oseni on Wednesday. Oseni, the Vice Chairman of NERC, stated that the tariff hike would result in customers paying N225 per kilowatt hour, up from the existing N66. He mentioned that these customers account for 15% of the 12 million electricity consumers in the nation. He further stated that due to the failure to meet the necessary electricity supply hours, the commission has moved…

The pump price of Automotive Gas Oil, popularly called diesel, has dropped from about N1,700/litre which it sold for a few weeks ago, to around N1,350/litre in some locations across the country following the sale of the commodity by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery. It was gathered on Tuesday that the $20bn worth refinery started pumping out diesel to the domestic market last Wednesday. It sold a minimum of one million litres to each registered oil marketer that got the product from the plant since it commenced diesel sale. Officials of the multi-billion dollar plant and oil dealers confirmed that the…

The seven-man panel set up by the Chief Judge (CJ) of Edo State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa, to investigate the allegations of misconduct levelled against the embattled deputy governor of the state, Comrade Philip Shaibu, on Wednesday, begun sitting. The panel, headed by retired Justice S. A. Omonuwa, was set up by the Chief Judge following the resolution of the Edo State House of Assembly, which initiated the impeachment proceedings against Shaibu. At the panel’s inaugural hearing on Wednesday morning, the House of Assembly was represented by its Deputy Clerk (Legal), Mr. Ohiafi Joe, while the deputy governor Shaibu was represented…

A total of 1.3 trillion naira worth of revenue has been generated by the Nigeria Customs Service in the first quarter of 2024. Speaking during a press briefing on Wednesday, the Comptroller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, explained that over 572 seizures were made with a duty-paid value of N10bn. He said, “In the first quarter of 2024, the NCS demonstrated remarkable performance in revenue collection. Total revenue collected during this period amounted to NGN 1,347,675,608,972.75. The collection for the first quarter represents a substantial increase of 122.35% compared to the same period last year, where NGN 606,119,935,146.67. “When compared…

The Nigeria Police Force has claimed that its operatives no longer torture suspects to extract information from them whenever they are arrested and held in the custody. The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Muyiwa Adejobi, said this while speaking on the arrest of some suspected killers of the Divisional Police Officer in Rivers State when he featured on a Channels TV programme on Tuesday night. According to the Force spokesperson, the police are now conscious of the provisions of the Anti-torture Act 2017. He said that the police do not need to torture anybody to get needed information, noting that…