In a bid to find the mysterious snake that swallowed N36m in the Benue office of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Sen. Shehu Sani on Tuesday, stormed the headquarters of the board with snake charmers.

The senator who represents Kaduna Central in the National Assembly said, the visit, was with a view to getting to the bottom of the issue.

It emerged over the weekend that Philomena Chieshe, a sales clerk in the JAMB office, Makurdi, told an investigating team set up by the JAMB registrar that “she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards.

“In the course of interrogation, Philomena denied the allegations that she stole the money but confessed that her housemaid connived with another JAMB staff to spiritually (through a snake) steal the money from the vault in the account office”, the report said.

The reinstated Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf, on Monday in Abuja resumed duties amidst peaceful protests by both supporters and non-supporters.

A pocket of non-supporters early in the morning embarked on a protest against Yusuf, but workers on the platform of their union staged a peaceful protest in support of Yusuf, necessitating the invitation of the police to maintain the peace.

The workers’ peaceful protest at the headquarters of NHIS in support of Yusuf was planned by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) and Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN).

Alhaji Yusuf Buratai, the father of Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is dead.

Brig.-Gen. Sani Kukasheka, the Director, Army Public Relations, confirmed the death in a statement issued on Friday in Maiduguri.

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Barrister Julie Okah-Donli, has been accused of lopsided recruitment of staff into the agency as well as deliberate victimisation of Northern Muslims since her appointment.

In a petition against the DG, addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation, a copy of which was obtained by Vigil360, Okah-Donli was accused of systematic segregation against staff of Northern extraction with an alleged 70% of the current staff composition coming from a section of the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, has explained why ranching remains the best solution to the clashes between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria.

Speaking during his appearance on a special Channels Television programme – The Core on Wednesday, Mr Ogbeh believes people are against the decision because ranches are poorly managed.

“It’s very nice to say ranches won’t work, they won’t work because they were not well managed. It’s not enough to cut out an area and say it’s a grazing reserve – grow the grass,” he said.

A civil society organization, Media Initiative against Injustice, Violence and Corruption (MIIVOC) has warned the Federal Government to immediately act on the report of the Committee to harmonize issues around the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Agency Bill, to save the nation from imminent expulsion from the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.

The group also charged the government to call the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to order, adding that the consequences of Nigeria’s expulsion would be far-reaching for the local economy.

Executive Director of MIIVOC, Dr. Walter Duru, who gave the warning while addressing newsmen in Abuja, Tuesday, expressed shock at what he described as the desperation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to retain control of the NFIU, against the interest of the country and international best practice.