Parties
U.S. Senate confirms Joe Biden nominee Lloyd Austin as defense secretary
The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee, retired Army General Lloyd Austin, to serve as Secretary of Defense – the first Black American in the role. The vote was an overwhelming 90-2 in the 100-member chamber, far more than the simple majority needed. Lawmakers from both parties said they were pleased that Austin would be installed to lead the Pentagon just two days after Biden was sworn in as president on Wednesday. Senator Jack Reed, the incoming Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, noted the wide range of challenges facing the country – including the coronavirus pandemic and competition with China and Russia. “General Austin is an exceptionally qualified leader with a long and distinguished career in the U.S. military,” Reed said before t...
Voter apathy mars Kano council poll
Saturday’s Kano State local government election, recorded low turnout of voters, as only a handful voters were seen in polling units, newsmen reports. NAN correspondent who went round polling units across the metropolis, reports that there was voter apathy in almost all polling units during the poll. Areas visited included Chedi, Zage, Zango, Gandu, Sharada, Wailawa, Dorayi, Kabuga, Rijiyar Zaki in Kano Municipal, Gwale, and Ungogo local government areas of the state. NAN reports that the election started around 10:30 a.m. with heavy presence of policemen and other security personnel.However, voters interviewed, expressed delight at participating in the election. Malam Jazuli Yusuf a voter in Gwale, said he voted at the election to exercise his civic right. Yusuf said the election would en...
Nigerian government seizes bank’s assets over Shell’s N183 billion debt
File Photo Nigerian government have moved to sequester the assets of the country’s premier lender First Bank of Nigeria Limited in an effort to recover the damages oil major Royal Dutch Shell owed the Ejama Ebubu community of Rivers State in a legal contest spanning many decades, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Police operatives and court officials arrived the bank’s main branch in Port Harcourt on Tuesday to execute an order to seize the lender’s asset, FirstBank said in a statement. The bank said the incident leading to the confiscation of its properties was “unjustified, illegal and a reckless misuse of the machinery of justice.” Lagos-headquartered FirstBank resolved to guarantee the damages awarded against Shell by a Rivers State high court judge a decade ago. According to the estimation...
Derby County unable to pay first team in full amid takeover doubts
Derby County’s chief executive has told the first-team squad that the club is unable to currently afford to pay them their outstanding wages from December, but is working to address the problem. Most of Derby’s first-team squad were only paid 50 per cent of the money that was due to them on December 15 and were told the rest would be paid in full, together with their current month’s wages, on January 15. But, repeated delays in the protracted takeover by Sheikh Khaled’s Derventio Holdings has meant the club has a major cash flow problem. After a number of missed deadlines, it had been hoped that the deal would be concluded on Tuesday night, but the purchase of the club remains incomplete. Sky Sports News has been told that there is a legally binding agreement between the two parties for th...
Ebonyi governor pledges to abide by peace pact with political opponents
Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi has pledged to abide by the peace pact he made with political opponents in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Umahi made the pledge on Tuesday at his hometown Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state while briefing newsmen after a state Security Council meeting. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state founding fathers forum in conjunction with the Catholic Church in Ebonyi, recently organised a peace meeting between Umahi and stakeholders of the PDP in the state. The stakeholders include former Senate President, Sen. Pius Anyim, former Gov Sam Egwu among others whom had been at loggerheads with since his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The governor urged his supporters to cease all attacks, saying that he had ‘moved on...
Ohanaeze election: Uche Okwukwu, Richard Ozobu risk contempt of court – Ikedi Ohakim
File Photo For asking the court to stop the Ohanaeze general election, former Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, has warned that Mr. Uche Okwukwu and Prince Richard Ozobu, risk being dragged to court for alleged contempt. In a court process filed before an Umuahia High Court, on Wednesday, Okwukwu, an embattled secretary-general of Ohanaeze is seeking an order of court stopping the election committee raised by the Ime-Obi led by Ohanaeze President-General, Chief John Nnia Nwodo from conducting the election. He wants the court to allow his election committee chaired by Prince Ozobu to conduct the election. Looking at the issue, Chief Ohakim, in a press statement, hinged his warning on “an online publication made by Uche Okwukwu, the suspended Secretary General of Ohanaeze”. His word...
Ghana army steps in to quell parliament clash ahead of swearing-in
Ghanaian soldiers intervened overnight to quell a clash between opposing parties in parliament ahead of the body’s swearing-in set for Thursday. Chaotic scenes erupted after a ruling party deputy tried to seize the ballot box during the vote for parliament speaker. The ensuing clash lasted several hours until the army stepped in, with national television broadcasting the drama live. “There was total breakdown of law and order,” said MP-elect Kwame Twumasi Ampofo of the opposition National Democratic Congress. “Looking at a member of parliament and a minister of state snatching ballot papers… was so shameful.” The new parliament will be virtually split down the middle between the two main parties, posing the risk of gridlock with key issues on the agenda including how to turn around an econ...
Court orders Governor Obaseki to open defence in ‘certificate forgery’ case
The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday, closed the forgery case it instituted against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, after it called a total of six witnesses and tendered 17 Exhibits. Lead counsel to the APC, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, announced decision of the party to rest its case, shortly after the court discharged the sixth witness, PW-6, Dr. Mikano Asekome, who is an Associate Professor in Banking and Finance Department at Benson Idahosa University, Benin city, Edo state. The PW-6 told the court that he was on December 23, 2020, summoned to appear as witness in the matter. The witness went ahead and tendered in evidence, the original copy of his certificate in Agricultural-Economics, which the University of Ibadan awarded to him on July 31, 1978. Under cross-examination, ...
Edo election: Comrade Shaibu warns Adams Oshiomhole not to subvert the people’s will
Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu has urged a former Governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, not to subvert the will of the people and to jettison the plan to overturn the victory of Governor Godwin Obaseki at the September 2020 governorship election through the Judiciary. Shaibu during an empowerment programme for Afemai Youths in Ogbona and Jattu respectively at the weekend reaffirmed confidence in the judiciary and President Muhammadu Buhari to protect the nation’s democracy and the collective will of Edo people. The Deputy Governor said that Oshiomhole was instrumental to the Supreme Court victory of Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and alleged he is ready to do the same to upturn the popular victory of Obaseki in Edo State. He said, “The Nigeria Jud...
Ghana’s opposition NDC to petition against election results this week
Ghana’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), which has been crying foul about the results of the 7 December presidential and parliamentary elections, says it is ready to contest the outcome in court. A member of the party’s legal team, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, said on Saturday that the election petition against the results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) will be filed by Wednesday. “We’ll go to court. We’ve made that clear… Certainly, by Wednesday, all these matters would be placed before the court,” Dafeamekpor was quoted by the local media as saying. Under the electoral laws, the aggrieved party has 21 days to file its petition at the court. This will be the second time in the Fourth Republic, which started in 1992, that the outcome of a presidential election ...
George Moghalu: Igbo presidency not by mouth
YouTube The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Inland Water Ways (NIWA), Chief George Moghalu has told the Igbo to widen their horizon to convince other ethnic nationalities, if a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction must be realized. The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant for Anambra 2021 election, Chief Moghalu said this during an interactive session with journalists in Nnewi on Saturday. He noted that the Igbo known for work hard should apply same and traverse the width and breadth of Nigeria to garner support for the 2023 presidency project and not to sit down at one place nursing self-pity. He declared that power could only be taken, not given. “Since it’s a democratic dispensation where number matters, there is need for Ndigbo to sit down an...
India arrests 75 in Kashmir after local elections
The Indian government has arrested at least 75 Kashmiri political leaders and activists to forestall political unrest after an alliance of Kashmir’s regional political parties won local elections, leaders and a police official said on Saturday. The District Development Council elections, concluded early this week, were the first local polls since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the special status of the Muslim-majority region last year. New Delhi then cracked down on the opposition and rounded up hundreds of people to preempt protests and violence. The latest detentions, which include separatist leaders and members of the banned Jamat-e-Islami group, were for preventive custody, said a senior police official, who asked not to be identified. But Imran Nabi Dar, spokesman f...
