First solar-powered plane begins flight

                                                                          The plane in the air

A Swiss solar-powered plane has taken off from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates marking the start of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel, Al Jazeera reports.

The Solar Impulse 2, piloted by Andre Borschberg of Switzerland, took off at 7.12am local time (0412 GMT) on Monday from the UAE’s Al-Bateen airport and headed to Muscat, the capital of Oman, where it is expected to land later after the first leg of the journey.

The developers said the aim was to create awareness about replacing “old polluting technologies with clean and efficient technologies”.

Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse co-founder, was at the controls of the single-seater when it took off from the Al Bateen airport in the UAE on Monday morning.

Jega, RECs to review card reader test tomorrow

                                                                             INEC Boss, Attahiru Jega

There were indications on Monday that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, would on Wednesday (tomorrow) review the outcome of the card reader test with Resident Electoral Commissioners.

The PUNCH learnt that the meeting would also review the commission’s readiness for the     March 28 and April 11 general elections.

An INEC commissioner, who confided in one of our correspondents, said, “The commission has been impressed by the testing of card readers. We are so happy that Nigerians are appreciating our efforts.

“Nothing can stop us from using the card readers, which we believe will eliminate fraud during the elections.”

FG slashes Works Ministry’s budget from N100bn to N11bn

                                                            Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen

The Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said the ministry’s N100bn proposed budget for 2015 was slashed by the Ministry of Finance to N11bn, representing an 89 per cent slash.

Onolememen, who was in the Senate to defend his ministry’s estimates for the fiscal year, added that no sum was approved for   the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency’s capital projects   and the Office of the Surveyor -General of the Federation.

He said the Finance ministry predicated its action on the economic realities on the ground.

The minister expressed concern that only 33 out of the 210 ongoing road projects had been provided for in view of the “lean allocation” to the ministry.

Electricity meters now sell for N60,000

The cost of acquiring pre-paid electricity meters by consumers in the country has risen due to the fall in the value of the naira following the currency’s recent devaluation by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A single-phase meter, according to findings by our correspondent, can now be obtained for N39,375, while the three-phase meter now goes for N60,909.

Before now, the single-phase and three-phase meters were selling for N25,000 and N50,000.

However, with the latest development, the cost of the single-phase meter has risen by 56 per cent, while that of the three-phase meter has jumped by 20 per cent.

This means that household electricity consumers, who are majorly the users of single-phase meters, will pay more for the devices in relative terms compared to the users of the three-phase meters.

Fayose asks Buhari to quit presidential race

                                                              Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose

Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has asked the All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to withdraw from the March 28 presidential election.

Fayose said Buhari and the APC no longer had the moral right to participate in the presidential election, having allegedly lied to Nigerians on several occasions.

According to a press statement issued in Ado-Ekiti by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor argued that the APC had lied severally to Nigerians.

He said, “In saner climes, you can’t lie and be discovered to have lied repeatedly as done by the APC and still want to stand for elections.

PDP, APC disagree on card reader test outcome

        PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh and APC’s National Woman Leader, Ramatu Aliyu

The Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress on Sunday disagreed on the outcome of the mock testing of the card readers conducted on Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary,   Olisa Metuh , said it had noted a series of complaints by Nigerians regarding   lapses experienced during the exercise.

It   therefore challenged on   the commission   to tell the public the outcome of the testing

The party claimed that   the   fall-out of the test “vindicates earlier widespread calls by stakeholders that the card readers should be thoroughly tested to ascertain their workability   before   the general elections. “

PVC collection deadline extended for two weeks

                                                                  Nigerian permanent voters card

The All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party and   lawyers on Sunday lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission for extending the deadline for the collection of permanent voter cards from March 8 to March 22.

The commission, in a terse statement on Sunday   by the Chief Press Secretary to its Chairman, Kayode Idowu, said “the latest extension offers the last opportunity for registered persons to collect their PVCs before the March 28 and April 11 general elections.”

“INEC hereby calls on registered persons that are yet to collect their PVCs to use this last opportunity in doing so, in order to participate in the forthcoming general elections,” Idowu added.

The commission had last Wednesday said that it had succeeded in distributing 80.24 per cent of the PVCs to their owners.

Army begins trial of General, 22 others today

                                              Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade

The military authorities will on Monday (today) commence the trial of a Brigadier General, four colonels, seven Lt. Cols, and 10 other officers of the Nigerian Army in Lagos.

The soldiers are being tried for alleged negligence and complicity in the invasion of the 21 Artillery Brigade, Bama, by Boko Haram insurgents on September 2, 2014.

The Lagos trial promises to be the biggest of the recent military court martial in the country.

For the first time, 23 very senior officers of the service would be arraigned for offences bordering on the counter-insurgency operations in the North-East zone.

The PUNCH learnt that the 23 Army officers would be prosecuted for various military offences under the 81 Division, GCM, Lagos, scheduled for inauguration at the Ikeja Cantonment today.

APC reports Patience Jonathan to ICC

                                                                             Mrs. Patience Jonathan

The presidential campaign organisation of the All Progressives Congress has reported the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, to the International Criminal Court.

Two weeks ago, Patience had, while campaigning for her husband in Calabar, Cross River State, told the supporters of the PDP to stone anyone canvassing for change in the state.

The campaign organisation said the letter of complaint was signed by its Director-General, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who is the Governor of River State.

It said that the letter would be delivered to ICC on Monday (today), adding that the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the National Human Rights Commission would also be sent copies of the letter.

“Change, as the entire country knows by now, is the slogan of the APC – the rallying cry of a political party that wishes to bring hope of greater and better things to come for Nigeria and Nigerians.

Fresh explosion rocks Borno market, kills five

                No go area: The road to the bombed Maiduguri market and security operatives ... on Saturday

There was another bomb attack on a market in Borno State on Sunday where five persons were killed, a member of the youth vigilante group Boko Haram, who does not want his name in print told one of our correspondents on the telephone.

He said, “The insurgents planted a bomb at the entrance to the Beneisheikh market around 10am on Sunday and this led to the death of five persons while 15 others were injured.

“Today, being the market day in Benisheikh, villagers do come to buy and sell grains and other farm produce but they had bad news to tell as a bomb suspected to be planted by a suspected Boko Haram insurgent exploded leading to the death of the five people.”

Ibrahim said the casualty figure could have been higher had the bomb been planted within the market.

Anti-Buhari protesters at Chatham House were paid —Graham

                                                                                        Rose Graham

Nigerian freelance journalist in the United Kingdom, Mrs. Rose Graham, whose footage of anti-Muhammadu Buhari protesters at Chatham House two weeks ago has now gone viral, tells TOBI AWORINDE that she was not paid by the All Progressives Congress for her support

What happened at Chatham House on March 26, the day of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s talk?

I had never been to Chatham House; that was my first time there. I was given a description and saw a young, dark-skinned man. I just knew he was going there, so I followed him. When I got to Chatham House, right in front of the building, I saw the demonstrators getting ready. I felt General Buhari was not in yet and that it would be embarrassing for him because these people would put their placards in his face. I then told myself that before his arrival, I would quickly find out from the people why they were there and allow them to vent their anger about the military rule in the 1980s.

I did not attend secondary school — Prof. Adeniran

                   Former acting Vice-Chancellor of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Prof. Adekunle Adeniran

Former acting Vice-Chancellor of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Prof. Adekunle Adeniran, tells OLUFEMI ATOYEBI how he got his two biggest promotions in his academic career in one day

Kindly shed light on your career.

I was born in 1935 and like the life of most Ibadan people of my generation; life for me began in the rural area. My grandfather moved out of Ibadan central to settle in Ogeye village in Lagelu council area of the city. At six, I started schooling at Methodist Primary School, Kelebe, a village that is one kilometre away from Ogeye. I also attended Christ Apostolic Church School and returned to the village and attended St. Luke’s Primary School, St Andrew’s Primary School and then back to Ibadan central to complete my primary school education at Agbeni Methodist School.

Tinubu superior to Afenifere leaders —Opadokun

 Former Secretary-General of the Afenifere and ex-General Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition, Chief Ayo Opadokun

Former Secretary-General of the Afenifere and ex-General Secretary of the National Democratic Coalition, Chief Ayo Opadokun, speaks on the crisis in Afenifere and the controversial endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by leaders of the pan-Yoruba organisation, in this interview with LEKE BAIYEWU

There are different stories on what led the lingering crisis among the Yoruba leaders under the umbrella of Afenifere. What is your take of the state of the organisation today?

First, I want to remind you that I was the General Secretary of Afenifere for 15 years. We came to irreconcilable relationship in 2001 and since then, I have been out of that body. I have resisted every effort to make me to comment on Afenifere. Mr. Wale Oshun (President of Afenifere Renewal Group, a breakaway faction of the Afenifere) wrote about ‘Afenifere and the Kiss of Death.’ Sometimes in 2000 after we had won (governorship) election in six states in Yorubaland,

Shame on PDP —Senator Tinubu

                                                                 Senator Oluremi Tinubu

The senator representing Lagos-Central Senatorial District, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, at the All Progressives Congress rally in Lagos on Saturday described the way the country is being run by the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as shameful.

She told SUNDAY PUNCH that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government had run the country in a shameful way, which had drawn ridicule from the global community.

She described the rally as a march for change.

Tinubu said, “It is the month of March. Here, we are ready for a change in the way this country is being run. Everyone on the side of change has to join the movement.

Tinubu, Aregbesola, Osinbajo tackle PDP at Lagos APC rally

                                                                             Lagos one-million-man march

Thousands of members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress, on Saturday, held a ‘one-million-man march’ in Lagos for the March 28 and April 11 elections.

The march began at Maryland in Ikeja, the city’s capital, at 8.20am.

The train moved from Maryland through Ikorodu Road to Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere.

Those who led the march included former Governor of Lagos State and national leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu; Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji; APC governorship candidate in Lagos, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; and APC candidate for Lagos-Central Senatorial District, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

Jonathan in fitness walk, pledges special funds for sports

                                                                        Abuja presidential exercise

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday promised to institute a special fund for the country’s sports sector if re-elected for a second term on March 28.

Jonathan made the promise while addressing sportsmen and others at a solidarity rally organised for him at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo in his short remark at the event said Nigeria could not afford to be governed by a 73-year-old President.

The event put together by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Desire for Greatness Foundation, saw the President walking from the Presidential Villa, Abuja to the Eagle Square.

He was joined in the long walk by Sambo and President of the Senate, David Mark, among other top government officials and presidential aides.

INEC card readers pass mock exam

                                                                              INEC Boss, Attahiru Jega

The field testing of card readers which was held on Saturday was largely successful but not without some hitches.

These irregularities in the exercise that was meant to be a dress rehearsal according to findings by our correspondents ranged from the inability of the card reader to identify some finger and thumb prints and slow pace of the process.

However, occurrences of success permeated most of the poll units visited by our correspondents.

The major grouse of electorate in Niger State was the time spent on the accreditation of each voter. This, many of the participants in the mock polls described as “too slow”

This drew the attention of both the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressive Congress in the state on Saturday which commended the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Jonathan visits Ooni, monarch demands Oduduwa State

                                                                             Jonathan visits Ooni

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, on Saturday, demanded a total representation of the South-West in the cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan and the creation of the Oduduwa State with its headquarters in Ile Ife.

The monarch made the requests among others when Jonathan led notable chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, including the National Chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu, on a visit to his palace in Ile Ife, Osun State.

About 50 other traditional rulers from Osun State and environs were present to receive the president. This is the second time Jonathan would be visiting the palace to solicit the support of the royal fathers and the people of the state to ensure victory in the March 28 presidential election.

The Ooni delegated the Orangun of Oke Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, to speak on his behalf. He said, “ We want total representation. There are ongoing projects in Osun State and we know there is paucity of fund but we want you to finish all the projects.”

Moroccan king snubs Jonathan

                                                                       President Goodluck Jonathan

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has refused to accept a phone conversation with President Goodluck Jonathan based on the notion that it is politically inclined.

According to www.moroccoworldnews.com, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a communique released on Friday, said a request by Nigerian authorities for a phone conversation between Mohammed and Jonathan was refused by the Monarch who deemed it “inappropriate on grounds of the upcoming elections in Nigeria.”

The king refused to accept the request which he deemed “inappropriate” on grounds that it is linked to the important elections in Nigeria and also because of Nigeria’s positions regarding the sacred national, Arab and Islamic causes, the Ministry said in a statement.

Why Remedies broke up –Eedris Abdulkareem

                                                                                        Eedris Abdulkareem

It is no doubt that defunct Remedies made up of Eedris Abdulkareem, Tony Tutuila and Eddy Montana revolutionised today’s hip hop in Nigeria since their group was a hot cake back in the 90s.

Of course, the group broke up long ago, they even tried to come back, but so far, they are yet to come back with a hit since they made waves back in the days.

As much as they are not so vibrant as they used to be musically, Eedris Abdulkareem may likely not forget in a hurry what led to the break-up of the group.

Speaking to Saturday Beats recently, Eedris said, “Nothing serious led to our break-up. We did our 29th show during our Rothman’s Groove tour and the three of us were sharing the money given to us. It got to a stage where someone felt the other was not doing enough in the group. It did not come from me but one of my crew members. Then, the next thing that I noticed was that there was attitude change. I was close to both Tony and Eddy.