HOT NEWS TODAY 1. NATIONAL THEATRE SOLD Recently, it was reported that the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke has sold the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, to a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The report, which was published in Nigeria Political Economist, “a liberal news magazine with global affiliations” , titled “Edem Duke Secretly Sells off National Theatre to UAE Company, Now to Become a Shopping Mall” reads in part: “Barely one year after Nigerians stopped him from turning the National Theatre into a hotel, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Edem Duke, secretly jetted off the country to the United Arab Emirates, UAE, where he traded off the nation’s cultural pride to Mulk Holding, a diversified UAEbased conglomerate with interests in retail sector and other businesses. The story has since thrown many stakeholders into palpable disquiet, as according to them, they are still in the dark as to whether the deal actually involved the restructuring of National Theatre. While many of the stakeholders support the idea, especially if it does not entail the changing or selling of the National Theatre building, others insist that it is unacceptable. 2. BUHARI TACKLES JONATHAN presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to deploy more soldiers and other security operatives in the troubled North-East ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents rather than keep them for the 2015 general elections. He argued that the Boko Haram onslaught would have been a thing of the past if the Federal Government had moved the number of soldiers, police and operatives of the State Security Service deployed during elections to Borno and Yobe states as well as the other areas affected by insurgency. He said, “I have made this comment before and the Federal Government refused to react to it; the number of soldiers, policemen and officers of the State Security Services they deploy during elections, if they had deployed them to Borno and Yobe states to fight Boko Haram, by now, Boko Haram would have been history. 3. JONATHAN TACKLES BUHARI In what appears like a frontal attack meant to puncture the accusations of weakness and cluelessness leveled against his administration, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at the commencement of the presidential campaign in Lagos, challenged his principal opponent, the presidential candidate of the (APC), Major General Muhammadu Buahri (rtd) to explain to Nigerians how he spent his Defence budget while he served as the nation’s Head of State. President Jonathan who was addressing a crowd of party supporters at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos noted that the fight against terrorism is dragging on because of lack of equipment owing to the fact that previous governments including that of Gen Buhari failed to equip the Nigerian soldiers. “He did not buy a single rifle”, he announced, referring to Gen Buhari while he served as a military Head State, lamenting that Nigeria “had great soldiers but who had no arms”. Jonathan said: “Ask him, when he was the head of government, did he buy one rifle for the Nigerian military? Have an opinion to share?
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 19:19:10 +0000
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