US President Donald Trump has said US Government will remain shutdown, no matter how long until the border wall is founded 

After meeting top Democrats, he also said he could declare a national emergency to bypass Congress and build a US-Mexico border wall.

Trump insisted he would not sign any bill without wall funding, which Democrats adamantly oppose.

Around 800,000 federal workers have been without pay since 22 December.

The Republican president initially gave a positive account of yesterday’s meeting at the White House, describing it as “very productive”.

But then he acknowledged in response to a journalist’s question that he had threatened to keep federal agencies closed for years if necessary.

“I did say that, absolutely I said that,” said Trump in the executive mansion’s Rose Garden. “I don’t think it will but I am prepared.”

“I’m very proud of doing what I’m doing,” the president added. “I don’t call it a shutdown, I call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and safety of our country.”

When asked whether he had considered using emergency presidential powers to bypass congressional approval of funding, Trump said he had.

The U.S. Constitution assigns Congress the power over funding the federal government, so Trump would likely face legal challenges if he tried to bypass Congress on financing the wall.

Dino's Saga enters the third day, and policemen keeping vigil at the house of Senator Dino Melaye in Abuja. The Police has fired tear-gas canisters into his compound on Sunday also cutting of Power and Water supply into the Melaye's House.

The policemen were said to have fired several shots of the canisters with the view to forcing out the senator, whom they believe is hiding inside the building.

Officers of the Nigerian Police Force had invaded the house of the senator on Friday to effect his arrest over allegations he was involved in the shooting of an officer in July 2018.

Electricity supply to his house was also cut off on Saturday.

It was gathered that neighbours living within the area were not spared, as many of them inhaled the tear-gas, and had difficulties breathing. The entire atmosphere was also said to have been enveloped in thick smoke emanating from the house. The incident has led to confusion in the area.

The Police have blocked the entire Shanga Street in Maitama, where the house is located, and prevented many residents from gaining access to their houses. Residents of the area have decried the presence of the policemen, stating that it is an affront on their fundamental human rights. Both human and vehicular movement in the area have been restricted, as only residents with proper identification are allowed into the area.

The house directly behind Melaye's has also been taken over by the Police in the attempt to prevent him from escaping through the fence. Journalists covering the siege were chased away from the area.

The lawmaker's brother, Moses Melaye, had raised the alarm that the Police may have perfected a plan to plant ammunition in the house to implicate him.

At the time of this report, the whereabouts of the senator could not be ascertained, but he has promised to surrender himself to the Police.

The Nigerian Police has given a detail account about the arrest of Dino, and why there at the resident of senator to arrest him.

Police PRO said "the Men of the Force were there to effect his arrest over a case of culpable homicide".

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Melaye and some suspects were accused of shooting a police officer, Sgt. Danjuma Saliu, attached to 37 Police Mobile Force (PMF) while on duty in Aiyetoro Gbede, Mopa Road in Kogi.

A statement by the force spokesman, acting DCP Jimoh Moshood in Abuja, said the police would continue to occupy his residence until he surrendered.

“The police operatives will continue to be at the residence of Sen. Dino Melaye until he surrenders himself for arrest,” he said.

Moshood said that the offence for which Melaye was being investigated was capital in nature and not compoundable.

He said that the officer was yet to recover from the gunshot injury he sustained during the attack.

The spokesman alleged Melaye had refused to report to the police command in Kogi to answer the charges in spite of the letter written to the Clerk of the National Assembly.

“The force will not tolerate attack on its personnel by any individual, no matter how highly placed. The law must take its course,”he said.

He said that members of the public would be kept informed on further development in the investigation of the matter.

NAN also reports that a combined team of mobile and regular police personnel have laid siege to the Abuja home of Melaye at 1 :40 p.m on Friday

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign organization has released more fact about buhari's ownership of the some companies and declared that Nigeria’s president and candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, no longer has the moral standing to seek re-election until he directly responds to corruption allegations by its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The PDP presidential candidate had demanded a probe into the ownership of Etisalat Nigeria and Keystone Bank.

Mr Abubakar in a statement by a spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, said the call was necessary, “in view of reports that members of Mr Buhari’s family now own substantial share in Etisalat Nigeria, which has an estimated $2 billion (about N727 billion at 360 per dollar) of its estimated $20 billion global net worth.”

The PDP campaign council, in a statement signed by its director, media and publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, said that Mr Buhari should perish the thought of going ahead with his re-election campaign without clearing what he described as a pertinent issue, because it directly bothers on his integrity, both as a person and the exalted office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The PDP Presidential Campaign challenges President Buhari to explain how his family members came about the sum of N1.032 trillion for this scandalous acquisition,” Mr Ologbondiyan said in a statement.

He said Nigerians are not interested in “mere rhetoric or attempts by the Buhari Presidency to divert public attention from the issue at hand, but demand that President Buhari, who hitherto, prides himself as Mr. Integrity, squarely addresses these grave issues in person.”

“This is not an issue for President Buhari’s aides to howl about in the media, it touches directly on his person, particularly his perception as a symbol of the Talakawas. He must therefore address them on this issue.”

“It is a norm that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. President Buhari and his family members have entangled themselves in corruption. Mr. President’s hands can no longer be said to be clean, until he proves otherwise.”

The campaign organization said it wants Nigerians and the whole world to note that Mr Buhari’s refusal to personally address the matter means consent.

Mr Ologbondiyan dared Mr Buhari to put forth a denial on the disclosure by Mr Abubakar, adding that the party will spare no thoughts in furnishing the public with details of his corrupt activities, within and outside Nigeria.

“Our party has full details of how persons related to President Buhari, by consanguinity and affinity, have been paved the way to loot trillions of naira from government agencies for corrupt acquisition of shares in major companies, purchase expensive property within and outside Nigeria, as well as to finance their very luxury lifestyles, under Mr. President’s cover.”

“In fact, no Nigerian has made more money in the last three and half years than relations of President Buhari, many of whom have found themselves controlling stupendous wealth frittered from our economy, yet our President is asking Nigerians to get ready for more hardship in the coming year.”

He also stated that his party is privy to facts of how the relations of the president have been hounding government agencies, major business concerns and intending foreign investors over kickbacks as well as strangulating companies that refuse to accede to their demands.

“Nigerians will also recall how the Buhari Presidency muted the case of the Aide of the First Lady, Mr. Baba-Inna, who was arrested in September this year, over accusations of receiving N2.5 billion from politicians, businessmen and women on behalf of the First Lady.”

“Nigerians can also recall how the Buhari Presidency gagged the confession of one Amina Mohammed, paraded by the Department of State Services (DSS), who stated in public that persons close to President Muhammadu Buhari were involved in serial fraud and looting of public resources under the official cover of the Buhari Presidency.

“In fact, there is incontrovertible evidence, as provided by the Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, that President Buhari is not as clean as his handlers want Nigerians to believe.

“In October 4, 2010, el-Rufai accused Buhari of corruption in allowing 53 suitcases, belonging to his ADC’s father, to enter Nigeria, unchecked, at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new in 1984.”

He further stated that the president should not continue to dress himself in what he described as borrowed garb of integrity until he cleans himself of the “stinking corruption of his acolytes, family and friends, under his cover.”

Responding to the allegations by the PDP campaign organization, spokesperson of the Buhari Presidential Campaign Organization, Festus Keyamo, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES accused the PDP of a plot to release a series of wild, unsubstantiated allegations against the president and vice president, Mr Osinbajo, including their friends and family members, in the next few weeks.

“With the latest revelation,” he said, “the said shares are rather linked to relatives of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, it has become a case of the thief calling the farm owner the thief, as the Yorubas would say, in a popular proverb.
These impending wild allegations would naturally border on corrupt practices, without any evidential basis.”

Mr Keyamo said the purpose is to attempt to dent the greatest forte of the president and vice president, which, according to him, is their personal integrity, ahead of the 2019 elections.

He said the latest tactics of the main opposition is premised on the following grounds:

“Since their stuttering campaigns started, they have felt the pulse of Nigerians and realized Nigerians have not forgotten their misdeeds of 16 years whilst in office.

“They have decided to run a campaign of “we-are-all-corrupt” rather than defend their sordid records of merciless looting of the public purse, which has brought us to where we are today.

“The aim is to push Nigerians to equate an Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with President Muhammadu Buhari on matters of corruption. They want to deceive Nigerians to think that the 2019 elections is really a choice between two “corrupt” persons.

“By repeating the lies a million times, they aim to get Nigerians to begin to give some serious thought to the lies. This is how the “Jubrin from Sudan” story started, before even some well-exposed and educated Nigerians were nearly converted on that issue.

“Their latest desperate diversionary tactics is because even the most uneducated Nigerian has now understood that all the issues upon which the main opposition is campaigning are self-indicting issues, especially on the Economy and Security.”

He said the foundation for the challenges in these sectors, are firmly rooted in what he termed as “16 years of disastrous governance which he said President Buhari has just started re-building.

Mr Keyamo said Nigerians should brace up for six weeks of despicable lies from the pit of hell against the president and vice president, to try to suggest to Nigerians that the president and his deputy are part of the league of looters to which the PDP belongs.

“But Nigerians should understand that the choices before them have never been this clear: It is between a fugitive from the law in America and a President who has never been accused of stealing anything in his entire life and is respected both locally and internationally;”

“It is between a man who claims he wants to ‘get Nigeria working again’ yet has always refused to pay his taxes AS AT WHEN DUE and a man who has NEVER cheated the Nigerian State.”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Vice-presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi has said that with President Muhammdu Buhari leading Nigeria the country is going no where saying that ‘Nigeria will not survive if Buhari’s goes ahead with plans to tax “poor Nigerians,” in line with provisions of the proposed budget which is largely focused on debt servicing.’ Obi further decried the economic situation in Nigeria saying: “Unless the right steps are taken to stop the bleeding, we will still be where we have been for years.

“It’s going to be difficult but we know where we are going and what we are going to do. To put the Nigerian economy back on a sound footing, we have to take a holistic look at SMEs because only then will you rescue the dwindling economy. 

“We need to change the way we do things in this country if we ever hope to come out of this economic quagmire we have found ourselves in. We must change the way we do things in this country or we will continue to grope in the dark.

Obi in Lagos yesterday said : “We need to know where we are going as a nation but with Buhari at the helms of affairs, we do not know where we are going. Buhari is not in charge of this government as he does not know or care what the poor people are going through,”.

“Nigerians are currently the poorest people on earth, yet the Muhammadu Buhari administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is still looking at taxing them the more. 

“Take look at the budget presented by the President a few days ago and you will see that it does not give anyone hope instead, it tells us that we are still where we have always been. “A quarter of the budget is meant to service debts, and that is about 60% of the budget while the President keeps telling Nigerians to tighten their belts because of the harsh times staring at us in the future.

Two buses branded ‘Buhari/Osibanjo campaign’ and the campaign office of one of the All Progressives Congress, APC, party factional governorship candidate in Enugu state, Mr. George Tagbo Ogara, were on Saturday, set ablaze by hoodlums still at large.

Both the buses and the office were alleged to be burnt by some improvised explosive device, IEDs, as report claims. According to the report, Mr. Ogara claimed the Improvised Explosive Devices were used to destroy his buses and campaign office by hoodlums he said he does not know where they came from or who sent them.


According to him, “Improvised Explosive Device, IED, bomb is not a matter a civilian like me can intervene. The police and DSS will investigate that matter.” Mr. Ogara is currently embroiled in a legal battle with his party, APC, for publishing the name of a former senator in the state, Ayogu Eze, as its candidate for the 2019 election. Mr. Ogara who took his party to court is claiming right to the governorship ticket. The case will be up for hearing at a Abuja Federal High Court in Abuja on January 10

Kim Kardashian and her hubby  West have become well acquainted with President Donald Trump lately. Giving credence that the president may be on the next episode of keeping up with the kardashians

Kim Kardashian pleaded with President Trump to free a female prisoner Alice Marie Johnson. Earlier this year, the 38-year-old fought for the convict after reading Alice was serving a life sentence for a first offence drug crime. 

After visiting the White House to plea the grandmother’s case, Trump granted clemency to Alice seeing her release from the Aliceville Correctional Facility in Alabama. And now it looks as though the pair may be appearing on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

In a preview clip of what’s coming up in the series, Kim can be seen chatting to her sister Kourtney about the case. She says: ‘I stumbled across a story of Alice Marie Johnson. She’s been behind bars for 22-years.’

The star continues: ‘The only person who could grant her clemency would be the president.’ Showing a clip of the fashion mogul entering the White House, Kim can be heard saying in a voice over: ‘The White House has agreed to set up a meeting, I know we have one shot to plead our case.’ She then addresses the camera, and says: ‘Knowing that someones life is in my hands, it’s a really scary feeling.’

The clip didn’t reveal whether or not Trump will be in an episode, however, if the series follows Kim’s struggle to get Alice freed then it’s highly likely the president will be making an appearance. When he did finally grant clemency to Alice, Kim couldn’t contain her excitement, and at the time, took to Twitter to let all of her fans know about her success. 

She wrote: ‘BEST NEWS EVER!!!!’ before adding: ‘So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson.’

The Executive Director, Administration and Finance, Delta State Oil Producing Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Askia Ogieh, has ordered the arrest of one Mrs. Doris Ogbor, for participating in a protest over non-payment of their 13 months' bonuses and other entitlements.

News agency gathered that Ogbor, a mother of three, is currently being remanded at the Okere Maximum Prison, Warri, Delta State.

In January 2017, aggrieved workers of DESOPADEC protested naked over "maltreatment and refusal to pay their 13-month' bonuses and other entitlements".

One of Ogbor's colleagues, who asked not to be named while speaking with Reporters, said: "The arrest and trial of our colleague resulted from the protest by workers of the DESOPADEC over the non-payment of our 13 months' bonuses and other entitlements".

According to a staff member of the commission, "among all those who participated in the protest, Mrs. Ogbor was singled out by Ogieh and was arrested and charged to court in Warri over trumped-up charges. Doris is reported to have been remanded in the Okere Maximum Prison in Warri.

Some senior management staff of the commission who confided in SaharaReporters stated that all efforts to pacify Ogieh were rebuffed, as the Executive Director was said to have claimed that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was aware of the issue and was in support of the arrest and court case.

"For the past one week also, we have tried all we could to pacify the Executive Director, Administration and Finance, (DESOPADEC), Askia Ogieh, to drop whatever trumped-up charges he has against Mrs. Doris Ogbor, who is also from the same ethnic group with him. But Askia told us pointblank that he was not afraid of anything, that Governor Okowa was fully aware of the arrest and the court case," a senior member of staff of the commission said.

"He said to our faces that the he has the Governor's full backing on the issue and Doris will rot in jail. After the arrest of Mrs. Doris Ogbor, she was first charged to the customary court. After a time, Askia Ogieh withdrew the case and to the surprise of everyone, he took the case again to the High Court in Warri with trumped-up charges and she was finally remanded last week in Okere Maximum Prison, Warri."

Speaking on the development, a director in the commission who preferred not to be named, expressed disappointment and sadness over the action of his colleague, Ogieh.

"We have all condemned his action. Askia's name is synonymous with trouble. Since the inception of the board, he has continued to give the commission a bad image," the director said.

He is so arrogant, corrupt and fraudulent. Askia used his closeness with the governor to intimidate management and staff. He inflates contracts, collects kickbacks from contractors, uses fictitious company names and cronies to grab contracts from the commission."

Meanwhile, management and staff of DESOPADEC have called on the Governor to intervene in the matter so that Ogbor can get her freedom and reunite with her family.

Contacted on the issue, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, expressed shock over the linking of the Governor to the issue, saying: "Of course, you know the Governor cannot order the arrest of any innocent person."

Aniagwu promised to find out what was happening.

All efforts to reach Ogieh for comments proved abortive, as several calls and messages put to him were not responded to as of press time.

dailyworldgist reliably learnt that come December 4, 2018, Ogbor will be brought to court for continuation of the case.

Donald Trump has warned Theresa May that her planned Brexit deal could scupper new trade plans between the US and UK. The US president issued the warning to the UK prime minister outside the White House Monday after she spent hours defending it in Parliament. Trump said: ‘I think we have to take a look seriously whether or not the UK is allowed to trade.

‘Because right now if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us. ‘And that wouldn’t be a good thing. I don’t think they meant that.’

He added: ‘I don’t think that the Prime Minister meant that. And, hopefully, she’ll be able to do something about that. ‘But, right now, as the deal stands she may not, they may not, be able to trade with the US. And, I don’t think they want that at all.’ The president did not offer further information on what part of May’s planned deal he was worried about.

He spoke out as the UK prime minister spent two-and-a-half hours defending her draft withdrawal agreement in the Houses of Parliament. The agreement will see the UK retain close economic ties to the European Union, which formally signaled its approval of the deal Sunday. That has angered many Brexiteers who wished for a clean break from the EU, but May insists her agreement will allow the UK to regain control of its borders and slash immigration figures.

Anger over the number of migrants entering Britain was a key reason given by many of those who voted for Brexit in the June 2016 referendum. May will now put the draft agreement to a vote on December 11, with many of her own party stablemates as well as those in opposition warning that they plan to vote against it. Should May’s bill be defeated, she will almost certainly have to resign as prime minister.

White house - President trump has directed that the $1.66 billion in security assistance to Pakistan should be suspended, following directive in this regard in early 2018, the Pentagon has said. "$1.66 billion of security assistance to Pakistan is suspended," Col Rob Manning, spokesman of the Department of Defense told reporters in an email response to questions on Tuesday. No further breakdown of the suspended security assistance to Pakistan was provided.

According to David Sedney, who served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia during the previous Obama administration, the blocking of military assistance to Pakistan, which began in January 2018 is a strong signal of American frustration. "But, so far Pakistan has taken no serious steps to address the core US concern - that Pakistan tolerates and often encourages groups which use violence against Pakistan's neighbors," Sedney told PTI. "Pakistan's leaders have promised cooperation, but beyond words, serious cooperation has not happened, therefore President Trump is frustrated and so are most Americans," he said in response to a question.


"This frustration does not ignore the suffering that Pakistani people have undergone. It just asks Pakistan to recognise that it should act to help stop the suffering of others," said the Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank. Previously, Sedney was at the Department of State and the National Security Council, as well as Acting President of American University of Afghanistan. He was a part of the Pentagon when Osama bin Laden was killed in a daring raid by US commandoes in Abbottabad.

over the last few days, Trump has said that people in Pakistan knew about the presence of bin Laden. "On Osama bin Laden, I agree with the views of Carlotta Gall of the New York Times who reported in her book, 'The Wrong Enemy' that a very small group of very senior Pakistani military leaders knew about Osama Bin Laden's presence in Pakistan. I have not seen any evidence that his presence in Abbottabad was widely known by many in Pakistan," Sydney told PTI in an interview. While Pakistan has suffered terribly from terrorism by Islamic extremists, Islamabad has also enabled extremists, groups that attack its neighbours, he observed.

Donald Trump has shut up a CNN journalist and banned him from the White House following a fiery exchange during a press conference.

Veteran reporter Jim Acosta confirmed his press credentials had been suspended after Wednesday's heated exchange.

The President launched an extraordinary attack on Acosta and branded CNN the "enemy of the people and Fake"

He snapped after the journalist asked about a campaign ad which was widely described as 'racist' and which broadcasters including Fox News refused to air. Video

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The son-in-law of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Prince Goodwill Edward, was on Friday shot by unknown gunmen in Calabar.

The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo has said that as long as he remains the Acting President and President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate as president subsists, Ibrahim Magu will continue in office as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.