Newspaper of the Year
Southeast to Buhari: give us SGF Page 4
•ANDMORE •Fayose agrees to pay 19 APC lawmakers ON PAGES •Kwara community protests arrest of members 8,56&61 •Role of methanol in Ondo strange deaths , by experts •Oyo APC suspends Akinjide, Adeseun, Balogun
NEWS
•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper
VOL. 10, NO. 3201 FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015
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TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH
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•SIX BANKS FAIL CBN’S STRESS TEST P11 LAGOS SPENDS N1.13TR ON PROJECTS P11
•Some women and children rescued by troops from some of Boko Haram camps in Sambisa forest…yesterday.
•A woman and her malnourished child after their rescue from the forest
PHOTO: NAN
Army rescues 160 more women, children from Sambisa
STORY ON PAGE 4
APC: Jonathan is plotting against smooth transition Party alleges blackmail in reaction to parallel govt accusation
F
ROM the All Progressives Congress (APC), came yesterday a punchy reply to the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s accusation of running a parallel government. Instead, the party accused the government of: •plotting to hinder a smooth handover; and •blackmailing the incoming Muhammadu Buhari
From Imam Bello, Abuja
administration. President Jonathan complained on Wednesday about the terms of reference of the 19-man transition committee set up by the APC. The committee is to give an overview of some agencies, including Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nige-
ria Communication Commission (NCC) and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). To the Jonathan administration, this is like running a parallel government. It kicked. “The incoming government should avoid creating a parallel government…the magnanimity of Mr. President should not be taken to be cowardice,” Minister of National Planning
Suleiman Abubakar told reporters on Wednesday. The APC defended its position yesterday in a statement by its spokesman Lai Mohammed. It is, according to the APC, becoming apparent that the Jonathan administration will not co-operate with the incoming administration for a smoooth handover on May 29. In the statement issued in
Abuja, the party also described as “an act of hostility and a patently-misplaced aggression” the “unnecessary vituperation against the incoming Buhari administration by the Jonathan government, ostensibly because of the terms of reference of the Buhari Transition Committee but in reality part of an orchestrated plot to sabotage the transition”. It rejected what it called the
continued blackmail by the Jonathan Administration as a result of President Jonathan’s concession of defeat, wondering whether the concession, gracious as it was, has now become a shield for all wrong doings. ‘’We are sick and tired of being blackmailed by the Jonathanians. Gen. Buhari won the 28 March PresidenContinued on page 4
Mu’azu absent as President gets PDP’s report on polls •‘PDP defectors will return on empty stomach’
P
RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan predicted yesterday that those defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) will return on empty stomach. He spoke in Abuja at the submission of a report on the PDP’s performance in the general elections. Party Chairman Adamu Mu’azu was not at the ceremony. Dr. Jonathan said: “I encourage members
From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja
of our party to remain loyal to the party, not to be so disillusioned because we lost the presidential election and decide to go where they think they will fill their stomachs or something. It’s not easy. I have been here for five years plus, you hardly satisfy even 15 per cent of those who work for you. Continued on page 4
•From left: Sterling Bank Plc Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Yemi Adeola, Chairman Asue Ighodalo and Company Secretary Justina Lewa at the bank’s 53rd Annual General Meeting in PHOTO: ADEJO DAVID Lagos...yesterday
•MARKETERS GET N156B TO END FUEL SCARCITY P3 COURT FINES IGBINEDION N3M P57