The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won Ogbia Local Government Area in the Bayelsa State governorship election held Saturday. The local government includes Otuoke, the hometown of former Nigerian leader, Goodluck Jonathan. In Ogbia, APC scored 58,016 votes to defeat the state's ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 13,763 votes.…

Soldiers have arrested the chairman of Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Ebinyo Turner, who repeatedly led thugs to disrupt the collation exercise at his council hall. The exercise is still underway at the time of filing this report at 11:28 AM on Sunday. Mr Turner, a PDP leader,…

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is leading with a wide margin in President Goodluck Jonathan's Ogbia Local Government Area, the results of Saturday's governorship election in Bayelsa State show. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is trailing the APC from results of the wards collated so far at the local…

Voting has ended in some polling units in Bayelsa State where a governorship election is holding. PREMIUM TIMES has provided live updates of the election which was characterised by the late arrival of electoral materials, violence, and intimidation of voters. The electoral commission, INEC, has had to cancel the election…

Voting has been cancelled in Ologi (Ward 03) of Ogbia Local Government Area (LGA), a senior electoral official has said, following a violent incident that included "seizing" of an electoral official. The official, Ukuachukwu Orji, who is the INEC supervisory resident electoral commissioner for Ogbia LGA, said members of the…

The people of Bayelsa, South-south Nigeria, go to the polls today to elect a new governor. A total of 45 political parties are taking part in the election to govern the oil-rich state. The contest is, however, expected to be between David Lyon of the APC and Duoye Diri of…

The All Progressives Congress will participate in tomorrow's governorship election in Bayelsa State, the electoral body, INEC, has confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES. "APC will participate in the election in Bayelsa State," Festus Okoye, INEC's spokesperson, said Friday morning. On Thursday, the Federal High Court in Yenagoa ruled the party had…

Three of the governorship candidates running in Saturday's election in Bayelsa State are women, representing a low 6.6 per cent female inclusion rate. The three women are under-48. Seiyefa Eches, 47, is the candidate of DPC, and she holds a Bachelor's degree, according to information obtained from the electoral body,…

The EXIM Bank of China is Nigeria's biggest bilateral creditor in nearly 2 decades, having lent the African largest economy $6.5 billion (or N1.9 trillion) since 2002, analysis of official disclosures exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES has shown. Based on separate Freedom of Information replies by the finance ministry and…

As it drizzled one October morning in Port Harcourt, Samuel Tamuno stepped out of an office where he had been meeting with his community school's head over mounting concerns about the students' number outgrowing available classrooms. "This set will proceed to SS1 next year but there will be no class…

Four suspected gang leaders previously wanted for "terrorising" communities in Rivers State have been apprehended following raids of their hideouts by the army, an official said. The media coordinator for army operations, Aminu Iliyasu, who just left as the spokesperson for Army 6 Division in Port Harcourt, said this on…

The closure of Nigeria's land borders may be impelling local rice producers to raise their capacities in response to concerns about the consequent shortage, which has induced price hike. Rice is the most popular food staple in Nigeria with local demand in excess of seven million tonnes. But until the…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-Msd4Kmdg&w=560&h=315] READ - Special Report: For Nigeria, darkness has great cost: trillions of naira and over 59 years

Oilfields across the resource-abundant Niger Delta spew flames day and night, fired by gas associated with oil production. Daily, Nigeria flares some 700 million standard cubic feet of such gas at over 170 sites. Nigeria's proven reserve of natural gas stands at 202 trillion cubic feet (tcf). This includes non-associated…

President Muhammadu Buhari has warned of "severe consequences" should any of Nigeria's revenue-generating agencies fail to meet set targets. Mr Buhari handed the warning during his National Independence address on Tuesday morning. "Our revenue-generating and reporting agencies will come under much greater scrutiny, going forward, as the new performance management…

President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his commitment to achieving 25 Gigawatts electricity capacity for Nigeria through a three-phase modernisation plan designed by German tech giant Siemens AG. "We are resolute in reforming the power sector," said Mr Buhari during the National Independence Day's broadcast on Tuesday morning. In August, the…

President Muhammadu Buhari appears to have confirmed the transfer of the control of his administration's Special Intervention Programmes (SIPs) from the Vice President's office to the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development. Mr Buhari hinted at the change Tuesday morning during his National Independence Day's…

The lack of cost-reflective tariffs is discouraging investments in the ailing Nigerian electricity sector, a firm involved in power generation in the country has said. Azura Power, which in 2018 delivered Nigeria's first privately-financed power plant in Edo State, has acquired a new power plant in Senegal, investing funds an…

Nigerian officials, on a day in January 2010, sat facing a familiar business team across the table, ready to sign an agreement for gas supply and processing (GSPA), capping years of lobbying and conversations, which involved late President Umaru Yar'Adua. The agreement, a copy of which has been obtained by…

The IPOB attack on a Nigerian lawmaker, Ike Ekweremadu, in Germany "stands as a crime" and "an act of terrorism," Nigeria has said, challenging the German police to bring the perpetrators to book. The attack in August during an Igbo cultural festival in Nuremberg, Germany, was dismissed as 'just a…

Most political parties in Nigeria, including the front-running APC and PDP, as well as reforms-touting parties of Omoyele Sowore and Kingsley Moghalu, among others, breached the country's law on financial disclosure to the electoral commission, INEC, findings by PREMIUM TIMES show. Section 93(4) of Nigeria's electoral law provides that "a…

The village of Gomani lies inward from Yangoji on the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway. The journey is taxing due to the unpaved, bumpy road, dotted on one side with electric polls not linked by cables, indicating abandonment due to either insufficient funds or misappropriation. On one edge of the village is the…

The governor of Nigeria's central bank, Godwin Emefiele, on Monday said the presidential directive against the provision of foreign exchange for food importation runs in consonance with the apex bank's existing policy. President Muhammadu Buhari had in the past week asked the CBN to stop providing forex for food importers,…

The chief executive of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Tunde Fowler, has replied the query issued him by the presidency. While Mr Fowler agreed that actual tax collection since the beginning of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is lower than the 2012-2014 period under former President Goodluck Jonathan, in general terms, he…

President Muhammadu Buhari has queried the chief executive of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, over worsening tax collection since 2015. Sources within the FIRS confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday after a letter querying Mr Fowler's delivery appeared on the social media in the morning.…