Chinese firms plan car assembly plant in Oyo

Three Chinese companies, Calmaco YTO Group, Geely International Corporation and Shaolin Bus Manufacturing Limited, have entered into a partnership agreement with the Oyo State Government to establish an assembly plant for cars, buses and tractors.

The Regional Director of Camaco YTO, Hai Anto, who spoke on behalf of the three companies, said the partnership was the result of months of planning and discussion among all the parties involved, adding that the project would bring about sustainable socio-economic development in the state.

He spoke on Wednesday during a business meeting with the Oyo State Governor, Mr. Abiola Ajimobi, which was also attended by the Director of Industrial Infrastructure, National Automotive Council, Mr. Waheed Odetoro, in Ibadan.

Curbing street gang menace in Lagos

AS unemployment bites harder, Lagos State is increasingly facing gang-related killings and youth crime. In a now too familiar pattern, gunmen struck at Amodu Street in Mushin, killing an eight-month pregnant woman, Musili Bello, and her 12-year-old daughter, Suliat Olowu, in late January. While the mother was shot in the stomach and in the face, the hoodlums put bullets through Suliat’s head in a 20-minute operation.

On February 3, a street gang stabbed a 300-level undergraduate, Opeyemi Odusanya, 17, to death in her house for rejecting their sexual advances. And, as usual, the state Police Commissioner, Umaru Manko, promised to give the criminals a hell of a time if they don’t “have a rethink.” But, to make the streets safe, the police chief should clamp down on criminals, not preach to them.

Kwakwanso’s deceit causing disunity among govs – Jang

Factional Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Jonah Jang, on Thursday accused his Kano State counterpart, Rabiu Kwakwanso of being dishonest.

The Plateau State governor said it was Kwakwanso’s “dishonesty and deceit” that was responsible for the division among members of the NGF.

“The dishonesty and deceit of Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, is directly linked to the present division among the governors and not the Presidency,” Jang said.

The NGF has been polarised since its election in June last year. While Jang leads a faction of the governors, Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi is leading the other.

Jang spoke in response to Kwakwanso’s allegation on Wednesday that the Presidency was responsible for the division among the governors.

2015’ll determine Nigeria’s unity –Abdulsalami

A former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, has said that the conduct of the 2015 general elections will determine the unity of the country.

He said the determination of the North to reclaim power in 2015 and the desire of President Goodluck Jonathan to seek another term portend danger for the nation.

Abubakar, who spoke as the chairman of a conference organised by the Peoples Dailyin Abuja on Thursday, warned that the election must be well handled in order not to create friction.

He said, “As political animals that we are, nothing seems to have gripped the imagination of Nigerians as the issue of the coming 2015 general elections, which in my view is a watershed moment in the history of our dear country.

APC leader got N84bn contract under Sanusi – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has alleged that an unnamed leader of the All Progressives Congress got a contract of N84bn from the suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi.

The party said this was one of the reasons why the opposition party was pained when President Goodluck Jonathan suspended the CBN governor.

Apart from this, the party also alleged that another leader of the APC got another N5bn consultancy contract while Sanusi was in office.

The National Publicity Secretary of the ruling party, Chief Olisa Metuh, made the allegation at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

Metuh was commenting on the unveiling of the APC manifesto, which he said lacked character.

EFCC re-arraigns Fani-Kayode for laundering N100m

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday re-arraigned a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, before a Federal High Court, Lagos on N100m money laundering charges.

Fani-Kayode, whose arraignment for the same charges was the fourth since 2008, again pleaded not guilty to all the 40 counts.

The re-arraignment before Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia on Thursday followed the amendment of the previous 47 counts involving about N230m.

It made it the second time of arraigning the accused before Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia, after two other judges had previously handled the matter.

Ofili-Ajumogobia, after the re-arraignment on Thursday, granted the plea by the accused person’s lawyer, Mr. Wale Akoni (SAN), to allow his client to continue in the bail conditions he was earlier granted.

US seizes $458m Abacha loot

Less than a week after President Goodluck Jonathan honoured the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, with an award for “his contributions to the nation,” the United States has ordered a freeze on $458m in assets stolen by the former dictator and his accomplices.

AFP quoted the Justice Department as saying  on Wednesday that the corruption proceeds – stashed away in bank accounts in Britain, France and Jersey – were frozen at Washington’s request with the help of local authorities.

Abacha died in office in 1998, but his surviving relatives still include some of the richest and most influential figures in Nigeria.