Buhari’s men clash over Pastor Adeboye, newspaper review

The newspaper for Monday, December 9, report on a dispute between the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, and the executive secretary over a FRCN which stipulates 20 years tenure for heads of religious groups and civil society groups in the country among others.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, and the Executive Secretary of the Financial Regulatory Council of Nigeria (FRCN) Mr. Jim Obazee, have clashed over the a regulation by the FRCN which stipulates 20 years tenure for heads of religious groups and civil society groups in the country.

The Punch reports that the disagreement ensued after minister wrote to the FRCN boss, directing him to suspend the implementation of the controversial regulation.

But Obazee turned down the minster’s directive on the grounds that the implementation of the regulation could not be suspended because there was no gazette that indicated that it had been amended or suspended.

A source in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has also confirmed the differences between the minister and the FRCN boss

The source added: "The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment wrote a letter to us saying that he didn’t want the code to be effective now and that he wanted it to be suspended for now.

“But you know in government circles, particularly in the public sector, when you are suspending something, you back it up with a paper – a gazette and all of that, but as it is now, there is no gazette.

He said the organisation would not heed the directive of the minister on the code.

In other news, The Nation reports that two former Group Managing Directors (GMDs) and three former Executive Directors (EDs) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have been questioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over their roles in the transfer of $153m to some banks.

An EFCC source confirmed that the five ex-officials and a few others had been quizzed in connection with the transfer of the funds declined to name the former officials, saying it could jeopardise the probe.

“We are however not stopping at this bend because we discovered that some of these officials were used for many illicit transactions,” the source said, adding

“By the time we extend our investigation to crude oil lifting, you will appreciate the sleaze during the tenure of Diezani as minister of Petroleum Resources. A syndicate was used to perpetrate the fraud in the oil firm.”

Vanguard reports that suspected Fulani herdsman have murdered five persons in Delta state.

Two cousins from Eku community residing in the Delta’s State University community, Abraka, were reportedly their farm the same day two males and a female, indigenes of Obiaruku community, were also reportedly killed at a separate farm inside a forest reserve along the Abraka-Benin, Urhoka-Abraka Road.

Though the state Police Public Relations Officer, Andrew Anomiaka, could not give details of the incident when contacted, a senior officer at the Abraka Police Station, who confirmed the killings, gave the names of the brothers as Akpovona Felix and Sunday Akpupu.

To some economic news, Guardian reports that Chinese government withheld a $20 billion concession loan earlier promised Nigeria upon due verification due to the multiple negative growth recorded in the economy in 2016.

The newspaper citing a top Presidency source privy to the development said 0that the Federal Government had been hopeful that the Chinese government would release the loan last year, given the relationship between the two countries, but expressed disappointment that the money was withheld.