innosreport

Out going Pope Benedict XVI: Pope Benedict XVI, who is quitting tomorrow, admitted he faced "choppy waters" during his eight years at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church, but says he was guided by God and felt his presence every day. The Pope, 85, will retire on Thursday,  the first pope to abdicate since Gregory XII in 1415. Thousands of pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square in the Vatican for Pope Benedict's final general audience. His successor will be chosen in a conclave to take place in March. Pope Benedict told the crowd his papacy had been "a heavy burden" but he accepted it because he was sure that God would guide him. At times he "felt like St Peter with his apostles on the Lake of Galilee", he said, making reference to the Biblical story when the disciples were battling against heavy waves and Jesus Christ appeared to them. The Church has been beset by scandals over sexual abuse by priests and leaked confid

*Jimoh Ibrahim Former Chief Executive Officer of Newswatch Communications Limited, Mr Ray Ekpu, Wednesday,  told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, that only a part of his retirement benefits was paid to him, after Mr Jimoh Ibrahim acquired majority shares of the company. At the resumed hearing in the suit by two minority shareholders,   Mr Nuhu Wada and Prof. Jibril Aminu, who   are challenging the method through which Ibrahim acquired the majority shareholding of the company, Ekpu under cross-examination by Ibrahim’s counsel, said that Ibrahim cheated him by refusing to pay him a balance of N30 million of his retirement benefits.   *Ray Ekpu "The sum of N79 million was paid to me out of N109 million. During his meeting with me and four other directors, he called on the accountant who read the figures to us. The figures were less than what we expected to be paid and we had since submitted our request for regularisation to the board on May 5, 2011. “Whe

Gov Murtala Nyako Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State and candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Wednesday, won in the appeal by Dr Umar Ardo, in which he (Ardo) had sought a fresh primaries of the party in the state. He (Ardo) had  argued that Nyako was not the valid candidate of the PDP for the governorship election. Ardo was the only aspirant cleared by PDP to contest 2011 governorship primaries with Governor Nyako. Ardo has, meanwhile, said he was appealing the Court of Appeal decision to the Supreme Court. The appellate court in its ruling, Wednesday, dismissed Ardo’s case and affirmed the lower court's position that Ardo did not actively participated in the primaries and therefore, lacked the locus standi to challenge the outcome of the said primaries. Ardo had insisted that he participated actively in the primary and scored zero vote, contending that he did participate actively in the primary. Ardo who dragged Gov Nyako and PDP to court was seeking the declar

9,718 persons were affected in different communal clashes in South South Nigeria in 2012. South South zonal Coordinator of National Emergency Management   Agency, NEMA, Mr Emenike Umesi, who spoke to newsmen, Wednesday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, pleaded with people of the region to explore the option of dialogue in resolving their differences. He said 2,076 perons were also affected in different fire incidents in the region and urged state governments in the region to take the issue of emergency response serious. He also employed the state governors in the region to take steps to improve on emergency services in their respective states. He tasked Edo and the Rivers State governments to fast track legislation of their State Emergency Management Agency into existence. “People should look at the various hazards around and be conscious. People should be mindful of the person you get to handle wiring in your house and the type of wire you use. This way you will guide ag

Joseph Daudu, SAN Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, LPDC, Wednesday, insisted on hearing the N117.5 million property fraud.allegation against Justice Ibironke Harrison of the High Court of Lagos. Chairman of the committee, Mr Joseph Daudu, SAN, in his ruling, held that Harrison's objection to the petition was baseless because the alleged offence was committed when the judge was a lawyer in 2008. "The Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee Act is empowered to try any reported acts of misconduct by legal practitioners. The objection is, however, over-ruled and the judge is expected to file her defence on the allegation. The matter is hereby adjourned to March 6 and March 7 for continuation," he said. Mr Solomon Onwukwe had in 2008 approached the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, with a petition, alleging fraud by Harrison over the sale of his property. Counsel to NBA, had argued that Harrison had allegedly sold a property located at 24 Iroko Awe Road,

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Wednesday, charged seven suspected oil thieves before a Federal High Court, Benin City, Edo State. They were charged for conspiracy and illegal dealing in Petroleum Products. The accused are Paul Ojo, Oduwere Edobor, Lucky Okorie, Andrew Anthony, Kadiri Aloysious, James Aker and Lucky Egbede. They were arrested at locations and dates, had in their possessions a truck, bus and kegs loaded with litres of substance suspected to be deisel. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges respectively. The charge against them reads, "that you Paul Ojo and Oduwere Edobor and others now at large on or about January 21, 2013, on Sapele Road, Benin City, within the jurisdiction of this court did conspire with each other to commit felony to wit dealing in Petroleum Products without appropriate authority and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act CAP M17 of the Revised Edition (Laws of the F

ANGRY villagers in Diebiri and Batan communities in Delta State have shut down the Batan flow station in OML 42, operated by Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, a subsidiary of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, over alleged pollution, compensation and other disagreements with the company. Chairman, Diebiri Governing Council, Mr. Samuel Ako, who confirmed the shutdown of the company’s flow station, said “Our action was occasioned by NPDC’s failure to pay compensation, carry out clean-up, remediation and re-vegetation of our environment arising from the equipment failure oil spill of July 5, 2012. “The company also refused to sign Memorandum of Understanding with us on agreed issues despite the notice given them by the community. This was why we shut down Batan flow station on February 23, 2013 by Diebiri and Batan communities. “NPDC instead of dialoging with the communities involved to resume operations, had taken different steps to cause divide and rule,