By Sunday Bassey

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Eket office says it had discovered 50 illegal filling stations in the state.

Mr Tamunoiminabo Kingsley-Sundaye, the Operations Controller of DPR in Akwa Ibom made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Eket on Monday.

He explained that the illegal filling stations refused to obtain Federal Government licenses nor follow due process in their construction.

He added that the filling stations were built without appropriate approval by the department in the state.

There are 50 illegal filling stations in the state. We have come to a point in this country where people have decided to do things that are wrong.

When I resume a year ago, we observed that there are some fuel stations that are built without appropriate approvals from the department, he said.

He said that when building filling stations, there are things that are considered such as engineering design, safety, earth considerations and social economy of the area.

He condemned marketers that build filling stations that share boundaries with markets, schools, hospitals, saying that such stations would affect the economy of the area.

He warned marketers that site filling stations before coming to DPR for consideration to desist from it.

He said that the department had sensitised the marketers who are involved to come to DPR office for reassessment and appropriate documentation.

We have compiled those names and send them to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) to take appropriate actions, he said.

Kingsley-Sundaye said that the department was working with law enforcement agencies and the state government to dismantle illegal filling stations in the state.

We will work with the state government to dismantle illegal filling stations in the state and the department was working towards getting rid of those stations, Kingsley-Sundaye said.

He noted that owners of such stations have violated the Petroleum Act of 1969 which says that nobody can sell or store Petroleum product in Nigeria without federal government license.

Source: NAN

By Florence Onuegbu

Blackberry Mobile Nigeria on Monday unveiled Blackberry KEY2 LE, an Android version of Blackberry smartphone in the Nigerian market.

The re-born icon Blackberry brand is being sponsored by Ngilex Mobile Ltd.

Speaking during the unveiling in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer, Ngilex, Mr Kingsley Obaji, said that with the Blackberry KEY2 LE, the company was targeting 10 per cent market share in Nigeria by end of 2019.

Obaji said that Nigeria was 7th in the world in terms of cell phone usage; hence, the Nigerian smartphone market had to be taken seriously.

He said that Blackberry was ready for the competition in the market, as it had the best product that would enable it become the leader in the smartphone market in a couple of years.

According to him, Ngilex Mobile wants Blackberry phones to be organic, to be part of Nigerian smartphone business; hence, is looking at what the market demands.

Nigerian market demands the best. The market is large; the Nigerian users are smart and looking for better options.

We are looking at capturing some five per cent to 10 per cent market share within the next year and this requires a lot of efforts in marketing and outreach, he said.

The Ngilex boss said that the all-new Blackberry smartphones brought together iconic Blackberry features; with new experience that included dual-SIM, dual-rear camera, more intelligent keyboard, extended battery life and improved privacy controls.

He said that the Blackberry KEY2 LE ran the latest Android 8.1 Oreo operating system and provided access to millions of applications in the Google Play store.

Obaji said that Nigeria was the first country in Africa to receive and market the Blackberry KEY2 LE smartphone.

He said that the KEY2 LE came at a time when the Nigerian market was looking for a different smartphone option.

According to him, the company brings values of productivity, reliability and security to the next level.

Talking about productivity, the BlackBerry KEY2 LE has all the features you need to manage your work, travel, and personal life on the go.

This includes support for dual personal accounts and business ready software that makes it easier to manage all aspects of your business and personal life.

The BlackBerry KEY2 LE is the first BlackBerry with dual account management built in to enable you to separately manage both personal and professional social media profiles on apps like Facebook and Instagram.

All Blackberry devices we are bringing into Nigeria are dual SIM enable and will support dual WhatsApp and other apps that require unique numbers.

In Nigeria, most cell phone users are carrying multiple phones on multiple carriers. You can have these lines on a single device, while avoiding carrying the power bank that most users are used to here in Nigeria, he said.

Obaji said that the phone came with BlackBerry Hub, which brought all your messages into one consolidated place including emails, texts and messages from almost any social media account; including WhatsApp.

He said that for reliability, the phone had power to get one through the day with enhanced battery features.

The BlackBerry KEY2 LE features a powerful and efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and battery that can stay powered through a full day and often into a second day of use (22 hours of mixed usage).

With contextual battery reminder, the BlackBerry KEY2 LE will learn from your daily charging habits and calendar appointments to recommend when to charge.

This is to ensure you have the battery power to get through important meetings, trips, and events. Never get caught out again with suddenly needing to charge before going flat.

Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 enables up to 50 per cent charge in just 36 minutes. Turbo Charge your battery and get power fast, to do more, when you need it most.

The BlackBerry KEY2 LE includes enhanced security and built-in privacy features right from the start, he said.

The Vice President, Ngilex Mobile Ltd., Thomas Larson, said that the Blackberry KEY2 LE experience was different, compared with many smartphone options in the market.

Larson said that the phone combined the best of professional and personal use and the price could not be matched.

All our phones come with standard one-year warranty provided by McDorsey Services Company Ltd., he said.

Source: NAN

President Muhammadu Buhari has publicly disagreed with the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress over the right of aggrieved members to seek redress in court.

In a statement by Femi Adesina, the presidents media adviser, President Buhari stressed that if anyone is displeased with the way and manner anything has been done, and feels deprived of his/her rights, then such a person is at liberty to approach the courts for redress.

It was the presidents first public reaction to the discontent within the party over the conduct of primaries, in the selection of candidates for elective offices.

Until now, President Buhari had tried to appease members behind the scenes, begging and cajoling aggrieved members to bury the hatchet.

In a different reaction, the NWC of the party headed by former governor Adams Oshiomhole forbade members from dragging the party to court. It even went further to threaten the litigants.

President Buhari disagreed with the party:

We cant deliberately deny people of their rights. We agreed that party primaries should be conducted either through direct, indirect or consensus methods, and if anyone feels unjustly treated in the process, such a person can go to court. The court should always be the last resort for the dissatisfied. For the party to outlaw the court process is not acceptable to me.

In the statement, President Buhari still favoured non-legal approach for reconciliation of the aggrieved as he urged them to embrace the partys reconciliation panels.

According to Adesina, President Buhari advised members to work with the reconciliation committees empanelled for the six geo-political zones by the APC, and not a purported Presidential Committee on Reconciliation, stressing that the Party is the only body authorised to constitute such committees.

The APC had threatened aggrieved members who have headed to the courts, saying that: The Party intends to activate constitutional provisions to penalise such members as their action is capable of undermining the Party and hurt the Partys interest.

We hereby strongly advise such members to withdraw all court cases, while approaching the appropriate party organs with a view to resolving any outstanding disputes. In addition to this, aggrieved members are urged to take full advantage of the reconciliation committees the Party has put in place.

APC members should understand that as a progressive party that operates on the principle of change, it is not a matter of choice to keep to the rules.

Source: NAN

Jack Ma, founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, is among the worlds richest people but he has now emerged as a member of another club: Chinas 89-million-strong Communist Party.

The billionaires Communist bona fides were revealed by the Peoples Daily, the partys official mouthpiece, in an article praising contributors to Chinas development.

He is not the first nor likely the last Chinese super-rich capitalist to join the party, which counts property titan Xu Jiayin and Wanda Group founder Wang Jianlin among its billionaire members.

But Mas membership had not been known until now as Chinas richest man had previously suggested that he preferred to stay out of politics.

In Mondays article, the Peoples Daily said Ma was a party member who has played an important role in pushing Chinas Belt and Road global trade infrastructure initiative a pet project of President Xi Jinping.

He has also been honoured as one of the outstanding builders of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Zhejiang Province, where Alibaba is based, the daily said.

Joining the party can be helpful to private businessmen and women in the country as they navigate a complicated business environment where the state-led economy dominates many industries and private business can be unwelcome.

Xi has renewed a push to expand the Communist Partys influence in private business, requiring any company with more than three party members to set up a party cell, or lacking numbers, join with nearby firms.

Three in four private companies already host party organisations.

We must do a good job in the education and management of party members and guide them to play an active role, Xi told officials in Shanghai earlier this month, noting the increase in private employment and new types of employment.

Xi is pushing to further intertwine the party and business, with the latest rewrite to the rules for party organisations published Sunday by official news agency Xinhua.

In private companies party cells should guide and supervise the enterprise to strictly abide by national laws and regulations, the draft order says, according to Xinhua.

Ma did not reveal his Communist Party membership in paperwork filed for Alibabas 2014 initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. It is not known if Ma was a member at the time.

A spokeswoman for Alibaba declined to comment.

Ma who announced in September that he would step down as head of Alibaba next year has previously indicated he preferred to keep the Chinese state at arms length.

My philosophy is to be in love with the government, but never marry them, he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2007.

But party members must hold up their right fist and recite an oath upon joining.

Be loyal to the party, work actively, fight for communism all ones life, always be prepared to sacrifice everything for the party and people, and never betray the party, they recite.

*AFP

Source: NAN

Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola will be sworn in today as the new governor of Osun state, succeeding Rauf Aregbesola, who has completed an eighth-year tenure.

Oyetola is the fifth civilian governor of the state, created in August 1991. Others before him were Isiaka Adeleke, who ruled between 1992 and 1993, Chief Bisi Akande,(1999-2003), Olagunsoye Oyinlola(2003-2010) and Rauf Aregbesola(2010-2018).

The swearing in ceremony will take place at the Osogbo Township Stadium today, with the former governor retiring to Ilesa, his hometown.

Oyetola, the 64 year-old new governor won the post with the smallest margin ever in Nigerias governorship elections, defeating the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, after a rerun with 482 votes.

Adeleke is disputing the verdict at the election tribunal.

The election held on 22 September went into a rerun in some seven polling units. The PDP candidate had led the APC candidate with 353 votes before the rerun.

The difference was wiped out in the rerun, with the Social Democratic Party candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was the second runner up in the first election, going into alliance with the APC.

The alliance was the game changer as Omisore gave the APC candidate, the votes needed in Ile-Ife to wipe out the PDP candidates lead.

Oyetola was born in Iragbiji in Boripe LGA of Osun State on 29 September 1954.

He went to Ifeoluwa Grammar School in Osogbo for his secondary education which he completed in 1972

He was a graduate of University of Lagos and had a B.Sc (Hons) Insurance in 1978 and MBA in Finance in 1990.

He is also an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, London and Nigeria and a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management.

He started his Insurance Career with Leadway Assurance Company after his NYSC in Maiduguri in 1980 as an Assistant Manager and rose to the position of Area Manager, Control Office, Lagos.

He worked at Crusader Insurance as Underwriting Manager, Corporate Alliance Insurance as Controller Technical before he left to set up Silvertrust Insurance Brokers in 1990. He was on the Board of many companies.

He was the Executive Vice Chairman of Paragon Group of Companies with interest in Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Stock Broking etc. until his appointment as the Chief of Staff to the Governor of the State of Osun.

He is happily married and has children.

Oyetola will be inheriting a load of economic and financial problems in the state, with the state owing workers salaries and pensions to retirees. However, junior workers were consistently paid.

The new governor is expected to deploy his financial skills to overcome the problems.

Source: NAN

The parliament in the United Kingdom will vote on 11 December, after five days of debate, whether to accept or reject the Brexit deal agreed with the European Union on Sunday.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who will start a campaign today to sell the deal in Wales and Northern Ireland, has warned parliamentarians that Britain would be thrust into the unknown if the deal is rejected, as lawmakers from all sides lined up to criticise the agreement.

Under the deal secured with EU leaders on Sunday, Britain will leave the bloc in March with continued close trade ties, but the odds now look stacked against May getting it approved by a divided British parliament.

As May tried to win over her critics, lawmakers from both her own Conservatives and opposition parties attacked the deal, warning that parliament would not support it, and urging her to set out an alternative plan.

There is not a better deal available, May told the House of Commons. We can back this deal, deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future .. or this House can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one.

No-one knows what would happen if this deal doesnt pass. It would open the door to more division and more uncertainty, with all the risks that will entail.

May has warned lawmakers that if they reject it, Britain could face leaving the EU without a deal something businesses say would hurt the worlds fifth larges

The EU has also been clear that there is very little appetite to reopen the Brexit negotiations if parliament votes it down.

Her plan faces opposition from both eurosceptics and europhiles among her partys 314 lawmakers and around 313 lawmakers from opposition parties. The 10 lawmakers of the Democratic Unionist Party, the Northern Irish group that props up Mays minority government, said at the weekend they will vote against the deal.

May needs to win a simple majority in parliament 320 votes if all active lawmakers turn out and vote but former whips, who have long studied parliamentary arithmetic, say the prime minister may end up needing only 305 votes if illnesses and abstentions are accounted for.

This will never get through it is as dead as a dodo, Conservative lawmaker Mark Francois said, adding he agreed with the Sun newspapers verdict that the deal was a surrender.

Prime Minister I plead with you, the House of Commons has never ever surrendered to anybody and it wont start now.

Asked if May was confident of getting a deal through parliament, her spokesman told reporters: Yes.

May said her deal was in the national interest, but opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said ploughing on with a deal that did not have the support of parliament was an act of national self-harm.

Her de facto deputy David Lidington will meet Labour lawmakers on Monday to discuss the deal, her spokesman said, in a move seen by many as an attempt to win their support.

May sought to reassure pro-Brexit lawmakers angered by comments from French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday demanding access to UK fishing waters after Brexit.

These remarks deepened worries that Britain will be forced into a so-called backstop to avoid a return of controls on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish republic.

Theresa May starts the hard sell of Brexit deal
The EU have maintained throughout this process that they wanted to link overall access to markets to access to fisheries. They failed in the Withdrawal Agreement, and they failed again in the Political Declaration, May said.

It is no surprise some are already trying to lay down markers again for the future relationship, but they should be getting used to the answer by now: it is not going to happen.

Source: NAN

Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi has floated a football talent fishing programme, that he styles Africas Next Football Superstar.

The programme, which is for kids across Africa is the initiative of the football stars Mikel Obi Foundation. African kids aged between 12 and 16 will participate.

The event will take place in Nigeria, South Africa and Algeria, with each country holding three different trials in three cities.

In Nigeria, the trials will take place in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Each country will have five winners, with the 15 reduced to nine players, who will be given an opportunity to have trials with a top English club.

Mikel, the former Chelsea midfielder, who now plays in the Chinese Super League, said having tasted life on the streets, he wanted to use the project to take kids off the streets and help them realise their dreams as world-class footballers.

Im so grateful to be the captain of the Nigerian football team, so this is for me now to give back to the kids. This is why the Mikel Obi Foundation and Africas Next Football Superstar, we want to make sure we help kids achieve their goals to become the next superstars, he said.

Mikel has hit the road to get heavyweight endorsement for the project.

On Monday, he visited the former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to get his support. Tinubu gave his endorsement, without hesitation.

To hear of your programme, through your foundation to help the kids to achieve their talents in football is commendable. I will commit myself to supporting you in any way you seek. We regard you as a family member of this house. I support initiatives like yours in art, culture, music and other areas. So, I will commit myself to this, for you to even inspire the nation more. Im proud of you, Tinubu stated.

Source: NAN

Tekno, Nigerian popular hip-hop maestro, is reported to have temporarily damaged his vocal box and has therefore taken time off music to overcome the set back.

Triple MG boss Ubi Franklin revealed that Tekno will be taking time off the music industry.

Franklin unveiled the reason for Teknos long absence from the industry in a statement released on his Instagram where he confirmed that the singer had damaged his vocal box temporarily.

He wrote: @ubifranklintriplemg His vocal box is temporarily damaged due to strain from overtime performances and cannot sing or perform for a while.

Franklin explained that Tekno has been having tough times lately due to the ailment.

These past few months have been trying times for your favorite boy Tekno Miles.

He tried to downplay the severity of his ailment, but after several diagnoses doctors have advised that he takes time out to fully recover.

Franklin appealed to Teknos fans to put him in prayers and send love and positivity his way considering the Pana crooner is going through tough times.

The management reassured fans that despite Teknos absence, there will be some music released.

He also wants to reassure his fans that they have nothing to worry about because he has put in so much work, so a lot of great music will be put out.

NAN recalls that in April, 2017, Tekno was forced to cancel booked shows after he was admitted in an American hospital for acid reflux.

In 2018, Tekno released three non album singles including Jogodo, Your love, and Choko.

Tekno won the Best New Act at the MTV Africa Music Awards in 2016 and was nominated for the Best International Act Africa at the BET Award 2017. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Source: NAN

By Ismaila Chafe

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his condolences over the passing of former Military Governor of the defunct North Central State, retired Brig.-Gen. Abba Kyari.

President Buharis condolence message is contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Sunday evening.

The president also condoled with the government and people of Kaduna, Katsina and Borno states over the demise of the elder statesman.

He said: We are extremely saddened by the news of Gen. Abba Kyaris passing away, an officer and a gentleman for whom we have a lot respect.

President Buhari prayed to God to accept his soul, and grant fortitude to the family and friends he left behind to bear the loss.

Source: NAN