Former presidential candidate and minister for finance, Olu Falae kidnapped

Ex-finance minister and Afenifere chieftain, Chief Olu Falae has been kidnapped.

Sketchy reports on Monday, said Falae was kidnapped from his residence on Oba-Ile Road, Akure, the Ondo state capital.

The 77-year-old politician was secretary to the military government of Ibrahim Babangida from January 1986 to December 1990 and was briefly the Finance Minister in 1990.

He ran for Nigeria’s president in 1999 on the joint platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People’s Party (APP) against Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Shekau - Buhari is a liar

Nigeria’s military on Saturday claimed further gains in its counter-offensive against Boko Haram, but the group’s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau dismissed the talk of success as “lies”.

Army spokesman Sani Usman said troops destroyed more rebel enclaves and camps in the restive state of Borno, which has been worst hit by the six-year Islamist insurgency.

“The fight against the terrorists in the northeast is gaining successful momentum, with most of the camps falling to the Federal might,” he said in a statement.

A total of 62 people were rescued from around the town of Gwoza, which last year Boko Haram declared the headquarters of its caliphate but which it lost control of in March.

Some 77 men, women and children, most of them “haggard, dejected and obviously malnourished”, also arrived in the town of Bama on Saturday, Usman said.

One man picked up said he had his right hand cut off by militants in their Sambisa Forest stronghold in Borno last year, he said, adding that eight Boko Haram suspects surrendered to troops.

Nigeria’s military has claimed a series of successes against Boko Haram recently and on Friday said it had rescued 90 people and dislodged Boko Haram from two villages near Gwoza.

President Muhammadu Buhari in early August gave his new military commanders three months to defeat Boko Haram, after six years of violence, at least 15,000 dead and more than two million homeless.

Sen Moa Ohabunwa - Buhari can't succeed without Ndigbo

Senator Mao Ohiabunwua representing Abia North district, has told President Muhammadu Buhari, that his administration would be a flop if he continues to sideline the Igbos.

The Peoples Democratic Party Senator who made the assertion on Saturday in an interview with journalists in Umuahia, Abia State capital, expressed disappointment in Buhari for excluding the South East zone in his appointments so far.

The former Speaker, ECOWAS parliament, described the deliberate exclusion of the South East from the political equilibrium of Nigeria by the All Progressives Congress-led federal government as “a time bomb waiting for explosion.”

He said, “I don’t believe we can be running this country without Ndigbo. I believe that sidelining Ndigbo is a time bomb that is waiting to explode.”

Ohuabunwa told Buhari to stop denying Ndigbo opportunities to serve in his administration under the pretense of searching for saints, contending that Ndigbo parades an army of people with unquestionable character.

He asked Buhari to go outside the APC camp and choose other competent hands with proven integrity from the zone, carrying Ndigbo along.

“But since the man said he is looking for people with impeccable character, lets assume he hasn’t found any among South East APC members. Let him come to me and I would donate a man of integrity to him.

President Buhari commiserates with Osibanjo

President Muhammadu Buhari has placed a personal call to the family of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to commiserate with them over the death of the matriarch of the Awolowo family.

The late Hanna Idowu Dideolu Awolowo is the grandmother of Dolapo, the Vice President’s wife.

He described the deceased Mrs. Awolowo as “an institution in her own right”and “a model of motherhood.”

In a statement on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, the President described the late Hanna Idowu as one of the greatest female political icons in Africa who was deservingly revered for her remarkable virtues.

Buhari noted that Idowu’s shining virtues as a great mother, wife and motivator, would live after her.

The President,according to the statement, has equally dispatched a powerful federal government delegation to condole with the Awolowo family at Ikenne, Ogun State.

The delegation, which met the Vice President and other members of the Awolowo family was led by Malam Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff.

He was accompanied by the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Abayomi Olanishakin and the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Ambassador Oke.

“The delegation extended his condolences to the family, the government and people of Ogun state over the death of Mrs. Awolowo,” the statement said.

Military coup in Burkina - Faso

The military in Burkina Faso has taken to the airwaves to declare it now controls the country, confirming that a coup has taken place – just weeks before national elections.

In the announcement aired early on Thursday on national television and radio, the statement said that the transitional government had been dissolved.

The statement came a day after members of the elite presidential guard unit of the military arrested the transitional president and prime minister.


A military official said on state-run media in Ouagadougou that they had put in place a national democracy council charged with organising democratic and inclusive elections.

The presidential guard was believed to be dissatisfied with plans to dissolve it and to integrate it into the military police.

The soldiers reportedly belong to the Presidential Security Regiment on Wednesday interrupted a cabinet meeting in Burkina Faso detaining Kafando, Prime Minister Isaac Zida, and arrested several ministers.

The dissolution had been recommended to Kafando by a reform and reconciliation commission formed after former President Blaise Compaore fled the country in October.

The commission, which includes prominent Burkinabes and civil society representatives, proposed that the presidential guard be integrated into the military police and the gendarmerie.

Meanwhile, demonstrators gather at central square and marched toward the presidential palace where the ministers are being held, demanding that the soldiers release them and leave.

Members of the Presidential Security Regiment fired shots to disperse the protesters but no injuries were reported.

The 1,300-strong presidential guard has been known for its loyalty to Compaore whose supporters have been banned from contesting the elections set for October 11.

Kafando was chosen interim president in November.

Initially, Zida, the second-in-command of the presidential guard, had taken power when Compaore fled to Ivory Coast on October 31 after massive demonstrations demanding an end to his 27-year rule.

The African Union has threatened Burkina Faso with sanctions unless power was handed over to civilians, and an agreement was reached on a transitional period.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for the immediate release of the president and prime minister, calling it a serious violation of Burkina Faso’s Constitution and its interim government.