The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State says it is aware of a plan by Governor Nyesom Wike to pay six months’ salary arrears of civil servants in Ekiti State.

The Rivers APC alleged that Governor Wike intends to offer the bailout to his Ekiti State counterpart, Ayo Fayose, ahead of the governorship election in that state.

The spokesman of the APC, Chris Finebone, noted in a statement that the purported move was coming against the backdrop of imminent reduction of the number of civil servants in Rivers State and what he called a decaying secretariat complex where Rivers State civil servants endure untold inconveniences every working day.

Finebone also noted that pensioners in Rivers State are also suffering because of several months of unpaid gratuity and pension.

The State Publicity Secretary of the APC therefore called on Rivers people to protest the purported plan by Governor Wike to embark on what he called senseless and atrocious decision to spend billions of naira to pay six months outstanding salaries of Ekiti State civil servants while the workers and people of Rivers State are suffering poverty, indignities and penury.

Rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has asked the Acting Chairmen of both the Code of Conduct Bureau and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate allegations abuse of office involving Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lasun Yusuff.

SERAP in a statement says the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, LASUN should be investigated for allegedly using his personal company to win water contracts amounting to about one point one billion naira from the Ministry of Water Resources.

The organization urged the anti-corruption agencies including the EFCC to prosecute Lasun and other people and companies suspected to be involved if there is relevant and sufficient admissible evidence of abuse of office and complicity against them.

Deputy Director of SERAP, Timothy Adewale in the statement threatened that the organization will institute legal proceedings if the anti-corruption agencies fail to take any action against the Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun in fourteen days.

The Presidency has said President Muhammadu Buhari has not been in the good books of the country’s elite because of his performance in office.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated this in an opinion titled “June 12 tsunami and the ones who won’t forgive Buhari” made available to newsmen in Abuja.

Although SHEHU did not mention names, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been in the forefront of the ‘anti-Buhari’ campaign, asking the President not to seek re-election over alleged non-performance.

Shehu said the unnamed elite ganging up against Buhari knew that they would lose once corruption-free governance was put in place and economic growth was guaranteed as the President was doing.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has yet again raised an alarm that the Federal Government led by the All Progressive Congress has perfected fresh plans to frame him for gun running.

Governor Nyesom claimed that some agents of the Federal government have contacted a Lebanese who has been directed to claim that he received money from him to procure arms for the 2019 elections.

The Governor made the allegations during a Thanksgiving Service in Port Harcourt.

He added that the APC Federal Government has entered a devious mode where it believes that framing opponents will enhance its political fortunes.

The governor stated that the APC Federal Government is also planning to sponsor crisis in Rivers State ahead of the 2019 elections, for the state's election to be postponed.

The governor also alleged that Sergeant Ndubuisi Okoro, the Police Orderly of the Rivers State Commander of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Akin Fakorede has been arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping while another member of the Rivers State SARS Commander's team; Sergeant Christopher Abakpa has also been arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping.

Governor Wike declared that he is alerting Nigerians because the Police High Command will sweep the matter under the carpet.

At the time of posting this report, the Rivers state Police Command is yet to respond to the latest allegations of Governor Wike.

The Presidency says there is no hidden agenda on the proposed National Water Resources Bill.

The clarification is in view of the criticism suffered by the Executive Bill seeking to centralise the control of water resources in the hands of the Federal Government.

When the bill was introduced in the Senate, it divided the lawmakers across regional lines‎, with those opposed to it arguing that it would further worsen the problem of over concentration of power and resources at the centre.

However; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters,‎ Senator Ita Enang, said one of the objectives of the bill is to ensure that the nation's water resources are protected.

Rivera State Governor, Nyesom Wike has faulted the Nigeria Police Force on the investigation of the Senate President Bukola Saraki over the multiple bank robbery in Offa, Kwara State, which claimed the lives of thirty-three people.

Governor Wike warned that the move by the Police High Command was capable of driving investors away from the country.

The Governor was speaking at the annual of conference of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations in Port Harcourt, where he was honoured with investiture as patron of the institute.

Governor Wike noted that although no one is above the law, but said the action of the police was rather putting the country in bad light.

He said the country would continue to face challenges until the Federal Government apologizes to Rivers State for alleged ill treatment.

Meanwhile; the influx of quacks has been observed as a major challenge for public relations practice in Nigeria, including negative public impression.

The Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the NIPR, Dike Bekwele noted that the more the institute tries to regulate the practice, the more quacks continue to infiltrate the system.

The local government election in Rivers State, scheduled for 16th of June will go ahead as planned, as the All Progressives Congress has failed to secure an order to stop the polls.

Justice Folake Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt declined to grant the interlocutory order sought by the APC on grounds that it was against the Electoral Act.

However; Justice Ogunbanjo reiterated the court’s earlier decision to grant accelerated hearing on the matter.

Our correspondent Victor Ezeama reports that the Peoples Progressive Party, National Unity Party of Nigeria and the All Progressive Grand Alliance have also applied to be joined in the matter.

Addressing newsmen outside the courtroom; Accord Party’s counsel, Osima Gina said the court took a wise decision to have declined to grant the injunction, while Nemi Erema who is standing in for the APC, frowned at the additional parties joining the matter.

Meanwhile; the hearing on the applications of the fresh parties seeking to join the matter has been adjourned to 21st of June.

The United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions on six leaders of human trafficking networks operating in Libya.

Four Libyans among those blacklisted by the UN include the head of a regional coastguard unit, while the remaining two are Eritrean nationals.

Details of the sanctions include a global travel ban and assets freeze, which were approved following an internationally-backed Dutch proposal.

The proposal was initially presented on 1st May but held up by Russia, which sought to examine the evidence against the six men.

The sanctions, which are the first to be slammed on traffickers, follow widespread outrage after CNN aired footage showing the auctioning of migrant men as slaves in Libya late last year.

United States Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley said the sanctions send a strong message that the international community was united in seeking accountability for perpetrators of human trafficking and smuggling.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has pulled out seventy-one of its international staff from Yemen.

The ICRC personnel have been relocated to Djibouti due to security incidents and threats, due to the raging conflict in Yemen.

However; ICRC spokeswoman Marie-Claire Feghali said some four hundred and fifty employees remain in Yemen, including dozens of expatriate staff.

Feghali said the international aid agency is demanding all the warring sides in Yemen’s three-year conflict to provide security guarantees so it can keep running its surgical, water and food assistance programmes.

The Ghanaian government has ordered the dissolution of its national football association.

This followed the filming of the president of the Ghanaian Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi, apparently accepting a cash gift of sixty-five thousand dollars from an undercover reporter pretending to be a businessman.

Ghana's Information Minister, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said the government decided to take immediate steps to address widespread rot in the system, adding that interim measures to govern Ghanaian football would be announced soon.

Nyantakyi, who is Vice-President of the Confederation of African Football and a member of the FIFA Council, has not commented on the allegations.

Similarly; football's world governing body, FIFA is yet to react to the decision to dissolve the Ghanaian FA and the alleged cash gift claims exposed in a documentary by Ghana’s celebrated undercover reporter Anas Aremayaw Anas.

This is because FIFA laws prevent government interference in football administration, and it had previously banned countries that breached the rules.