Leaders
Coronavirus: President Buhari extends tenure, mandate of PTF
President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the mandate of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 “for a further period till the end of March, 2021 bearing in mind the new surge in the number of cases and the bid for vaccines.” The president disclosed this Tuesday in Abuja while receiving the End-of-Year Report of the task force. He said: “Recent reports reaching me indicate that Nigeria is now facing a rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide which is similar to the second wave of infections occurring in other countries across the world. “New epicentres have been identified and the nation cannot afford to lose the gains of the last nine months. ”I have critically evaluated the situation and remain convinced that urgent measures have to be taken to halt the spread and the attendant f...
PDP wins 17 chairmanship seats in Abia
File Photo The Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC) has declared the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) 17 chairmanship candidates, as winners of the just concluded local government councils election. Prof. Mkpa Mkpa, the Chairman of ABSIEC, announced the results on Sunday in Umuahia. Mkpa said that the Labour party won six councillorship seats, out of the ten in Ikwuano Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, while PDP cleared all councillorship seats in the remaining LGAs of the State. He commended the electorate for the peaceful conduct of the election. Also, he further commended ABSIEC officials for their commitment to duty during the election, as well as law enforcement agencies for their role in maintaining peace and order during the poll. The commission’s chairman sa...
NIMC insists on deadline for linking of NIN to mobile numbers
File Photo Despite criticisms from many Nigerians of the two-week ultimatum for the registration and linking of National Identity Number (NIN) to mobile numbers, the federal government has insisted on the deadline. The director-general of the National Identity Management Commission, (NIMC), Aliyu Abubakar, in an interview with newsmen on Friday said there was no extension for the announced deadline. “Right now, the way it is, there is no extension. We should not be complaining, rather we should see how it can be done,” he said. “It is until after 10 to 12 days then we will see how far it has gone before we beg the government for anything.” When the agency issued a two-week ultimatum for the enrolment, Nigerians took to social media platforms to kick against such a deadline. “In the whole o...
2023: There was no pre-merger agreement in APC on zoning – Senator Yerima
A former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, has denied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had any premerger agreement to rotate the presidency between the north and the south. Yerima disclosed this yesterday during a media interaction with reporters covering the activities of the APC. His claim was contrary to the views of the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who recently said that the party had a gentleman agreement on zoning. Yerima said: “I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr. President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such agreement. Agreement can’t be verbal. It has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is co...
Foundation feeds 1,000 Calabar orphans at yuletide
The Romeo Odey Cares Foundation has visited Infant Jesus Orphanage Home and Good Samaritan Home, both in Calabar, Cross River State, feeding over 1,000 orphans as part of its mission to cater for the most indigent members of society. A statement delivered to newsmen by the Brand Manager of the Foundation, Gidyon Thompson, explained that the gesture extended to helpless children from the streets of Calabar. The foundation, owned by network marketing expert Romeo Odey, said the gesture was a way of giving back to society. According to him, the move is part of Odey’s decision to affect humanity positively. He urged the federal and state government to step up and take responsibility for the children on the streets to avert impending doom. He added that the serial entrepreneur would launch two ...
Ebonyi governor denies giving cultists N3 million
Governor David Umahi on Monday said he did not give N3 million to placate notorious cult groups allegedly terrorising residents of the state. Umahi said this when the 13 Local Government Area Chairmen, Coordinators of Development Centres, with their Management Committee members, among other political appointees, paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House, Abakiliki. He dismissed the report that he gave the money to the groups through his security aide. According to him, he had ordered a manhunt for members of the groups. “How can a warrior such as me bribe cultists, to do what with the money? The duty of political leaders and the citizens is to give me the names of the cultists because I will give them a bad Christmas celebration. “I am searching for them whether they are in gover...
Thugs invade northern coalition meeting in Kaduna, attack members
Armed thugs on Monday, invaded the Arewa House Kaduna, where officials of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), were holding a security summit. A statement by Spokesman of the CNG, Abdulaziz Suleiman, said “We regret to announce that armed thugs numbering hundreds were unleashed on the Arewa House venue of the security summit hosted by the Coalition of Northern Groups on Monday, December 14. “The Summit aimed to discuss ways to achieve synergy between communities and government security and design a uniform approach to the current security situation in the North. “Participants at the meeting included retired military officers, Retired Police officers, religious leaders, traditional rulers, various women, youth and trade associations.” The CNG said just as the meeting was about to “kick o...
APC chieftain alleges plan to destabilize party using courts in Rivers
Chris Finebone, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, claims he has uncovered plans by a group working in cohort with the Rivers government to use the state judiciary to destabilize the party. Finebone, a former spokesperson for the party in Rivers made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday. He alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers chapter of PDP hatched the plot to destabilize the APC nationwide by making available Rivers State courts to enemies of the party (within and from outside the State) to file all manner of cases against it with a view to destabilizing the party as politics of 2023 approaches. Finebone further claimed that he learned from sources he did not disclose that the decision to use Rivers Courts was hatched at the highest level of government directl...
Nigerian government wants children’s parliament established in schools
Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen has called for the establishment of children’s parliament in schools to aide planning and implementation of programmes affecting children. Tallen made the call on Tuesday in Abuja during an interaction with children in commemoration of the 16 days activism to end Gender Based Violence (GBV). She said establishing children’s parliament in schools would provide a platform for students to express their views, help in implementing programmes affecting them and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. “It is my hope that after this event, the school authorities will set up guidelines to establish Children’s Parliament within the schools. “This will provide a platform for harvesting the voices of children in planning and implementing ...
Kaduna screens youths for community policing to curb insecurity
Kaduna state government has started screening youths in its preparation to commence community policing to tackle insecurity in the state. The Acting Governor, Hadiza Balarabe, chaired a meeting which is part of the consultations in the three senatorial districts on how to address insecurity on Monday. The meeting had senators, members of the House of Representatives, state House of Assembly members and chairmen from the 15 local government areas in Kaduna North and Kaduna Central senatorial zones as well as District Heads in attendance. Speaking with journalists after the meeting, the senator representing Kaduna Central zone, Uba Sani, said they came together to look into the security problem facing Kaduna, stressing that insecurity needs to be tackled collectively. “I’m working on a bill ...
NASS bye-election: APC’s David Lyon calls for peace, hails INEC
The South-South representative at the National Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief David Lyon, has sued for peace over the outcome of the Bayelsa Central bye-election held on Saturday. Lyon, who commended the people for the peaceful conduct of the election, expressed satisfaction with the improvements by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in distributing sensitive and non-sensitive materials across the difficult creeks of his constituency. He called for unity among the people of the State, pointing out that elections provide the opportunity for people to freely choose their own candidate and equally afford the candidate the opportunity to canvas eligible votes in a free and fair manner. Lyon condemned situatio...
Ex-President Jonathan: I was judged harshly before 2015 elections because …
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said he was wrongly judged by some of his friends and political opponents before the 2015 presidential election because of his personal convictions and the vision he had for the country. He, however, insisted that he does not hold any grudge against his detractors for their harsh criticisms. It would be recalled that the ex-President was widely criticised, before the election, for his approach to alleged corruption in his administration, the perennial problem of insecurity, and the sacking of some top government functionaries within his administration including the former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, ex-Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, among other. Speaking in Abuja during the public presentation of a book ‘Dear...