November 27, 2014

Page 1

Newspaper of the Year

Court bars DSS from APC’s centre NEWS

Page 3

•‘Produce detained workers’

News Sports News

Thugs attack Ahmed’s convoy P10 Injured Victor Moses out till 2015 P24 Akala, others reject congress result P8

•Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

VOL. 9, NO. 3045 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

•www.thenationonlineng.net

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

Naira exchanges N186 to $1 at ‘black market’

Deadlock at meeting as IG won’t recognise Tambuwal as Speaker

P

OLICE chief Suleiman Abbah finally showed up at the House of Representatives yesterday. The Inspector-General had been invited by the House Committee on Police Affairs to shed light on the November 20 invasion of the National Assembly

From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

when Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and other members of the House were tear gassed. The meeting was, however, ill- fated. The session, which began at 2.20pm on a tense note, ended abruptly because Abbah refused to acknowledge Tambuwal as Speaker in

his speech, drawing the ire of the committee’s members. The IGP blamed everyone except the police for the November 20 incident. He described the lawmakers who climbed the gate to enter the complex as “suspected hoodlums” and blamed the security beef-up at the National Continued on page 6

N150.00

From Nduka Chiejina, Abuja

T

HE naira touched a record low against the dollar yesterday, the day after Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele announced its devalua-

tion. The CBN devalued the naira by 8 per cent and raised interest rates sharply, trying to stem losses to its foreign reserves spent defending the currency as the price of oil - Nigeria’s dominant export - slides on gloSEE ALSO bal markets.

PAGES 4,5&11

•CBN boss Emefiele

Continued on page 6

•INSIDE: BUHARI’S PLANE DENIED LANDING P6 SENATE PROBES POLICE INVASION P3

Obasanjo warns Jonathan: economy is in big trouble ‘

In the end, more businesses will close down, business men and women, entrepreneurs and investors will incur more debts. Foreign investors may temporarily stop investing in a downturn economy...The scenario, which may sound alarmist, is hard to imagine but the signs are there and it would appear that those who should act are dancing slow foxtrot while their trousers are catching fire

?

WILL THE CHIBOK GIRLS KIDNAPPED ON APRIL 15 EVER RETURN?

•Chief Obasanjo

Boko Haram ‘is big industry in govt’ ‘Don’t crush opposition’

F

ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo delivered yesterday another blistering criticism of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, saying the “economy is in the doldrums”. The government has been celebrating the rebasing of the economy, saying it is Africa’s biggest. But, to Obasanjo, the economy “is in the doldrums, if not in reverse”. The elderstateman spoke yesterday in Abuja at the presentation of former Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Chairman Justice Mustapha

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

Akanbi’s two autobiographies—”The story of my two worlds: challenges, experience and achievement” and “A life of Service and grace (Perspective Shared)”. He said a drastic devaluation of the Naira – a step which will hurt Nigerians —was likely. The naira was devalued on Tuesday, exchanging at N168 to the dollar. Interest rate went up to 3% from 12%. Obasanjo challenged the government to release records of crude oil proceeds to the public. He also faulted the $78 benchmark

for the 2015 budget and warned that the nation might be in a bind if oil price falls to $75 per barrel. He wondered why Nigeria could not prepare for shocks, like Saudi Arabia, which is planning next year’s budget on $68 per barrel as benchmark. Obasanjo delivered an eight-page address. Clad in a light brown agbada, the former president, who looked serious all through, told the audience that Nigeria had not prepared for the rainy day. He said: “One, on NNPC, we were the only government that declared

what we received, how it was distributed to the states and to the local governments and published. “Two, there is something called Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI). I went into that against even the oil companies. And whether it continued or not is a different thing.” “The fourth issue I will briefly like to comment on is the economy. What the public know or see of the economy is not what the economy truly is. “For quite some time, the covered and the hushed up corruption has had Continued on page 6

•POLITICS P15 •SPORTS P24 •EDUCATION P25 •N/HEALTH P53 •E-BUSINESS P60 •FOREIGN P67


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