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Chukwuma Soludo: I received 19 threats during banking consolidation era
YouTube The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, at the weekend in Awka, narrated how he received 19 written threats on his life following his decision to embark on banking consolidation in Nigeria in 2004 when he became the boss of the nation’s apex bank. In an interview, Soludo also recalled attempts made to kidnap his children at Offa, Kwara State where they were at the time because many people felt threatened by the policy. He said: “I am a very impatient person to see change happen and I am passionate in anything I focus on. When I was the chief economic adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, and the tenure of the former CBN governor ended and I came in. within one month, I announced a 13 – point agenda for banking consolidation. “At...
Senator Saraki moves to reconcile Ayo Fayose, Seyi Makinde
Ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki, is brokering peace between former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose and Governor of Oyo State Seyi Makinde. Fayose and Makinde have been on a warpath for quite some time now. Fayose insists that Makinde shouldn’t be carrying himself as leader of the PDP in the southwest because he’s the only PDP governor in the region. Fayose has also warned Makinde that he’ll work against his re-election in 2023 if he doesn’t stop disrespecting him. “When Makinde was to contest, I was the one that presented the flag to him and a red pen. It is a higher authority that hangs your rank, a senior officer hangs the rank of a junior officer, that means he saw me as a leader at the time I was giving him the flag at Ogbomoso,” Fayose said recently, adding that Makinde was ...
Israel, Bahrain leaders discuss Iran, possible vaccine plant
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa on Thursday discussed Iran and the possible involvement of the Gulf state in establishing a vaccine plant in Israel, the two countries said. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates formalised ties with Israel on Sept. 15 in part over shared concerns about Iran, in a deal forged by former U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, a move praised by Israel which has objected to the accord. His successor, President Joe Biden, wants to rejoin the deal. But in the week since Washington offered to talk with Tehran about reviving the nuclear deal, Iran has curbed U.N. monitoring and threatened to boost its uranium enrichment. Tehran denies...
Security: Northern governors, NSA, IGP meet in Kaduna
Governors of the 19 Nothern States and traditional rulers of the region are meeting in Kaduna over security challenges bedeviling the region. Newsmen report that the two-day meeting, which opened on Thursday, is also being attended by Senate President, Ahmad Lawal, Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and Information Minister, Lai Mohammed. Others are National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Monguno, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Ibrahim and Director General, State Security Service, Yusuf Bichi. The participants are expected to discuss current security challenges bedevilling the Northern region and youth unemployment. Governors at the meeting, holding at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, include those of Plateau, Adamawa, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Katsina. Niger, ...
WAEC registration: Kwara government warns principals against extortion
File Photo The Kwara Government has warned principals in public schools not to extort students during the registration of the upcoming West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) examination. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, gave the warning at a meeting with principals and stakeholders in the education sector of the state. She said it has come to the notice of the government that some schools are in the habit of charging more than the approved charges for WAEC examination. ”Henceforth, any principal found wanting will be dealt with in accordance with the Civil Service rules,” Mrs Adeosun warned. The permanent secretary further charged principals to continue to support the present administration in its efforts to revamp the educatio...
Zimbabwean vice president accused of soliciting sex at his office
Zimbabwe’s 71-year-old Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Wednesday refuted accusations of sexual misconduct by an online news outlet, saying he is the victim of “political machinations”. An online publication ZimLive has in recent days published audio recordings of phone conversations it claims are of Mohadi apparently soliciting sex from several women including, a married junior intelligence officer in his office. In one of the racy audios, a man can be heard scheduling to have sex at his office. Reading out a statement, at a news conference, Mohadi “categorically” distanced himself from the “imagined immoral behaviour”, and accused unnamed political opponents of waging a voice morphing campaign to discredit him. Victim “I am innocent and a victim of political machinations being peddled thro...
U.S. to de-link Ethiopian aid pause from dam policy
The U.S. State Department on Friday said Washington will de-link its pause on some aid to Ethiopia from its policy on the giant Blue Nile hydropower dam that sparked a long-running dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that President Joe Biden’s administration will review U.S. policy on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and will assess the role the administration can play in facilitating a solution between the countries. A bitter dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the filling and operation of the dam remains unresolved even after the reservoir behind the dam began filling in July. “We continue to support collaborative and constructive efforts by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to reach an agreement on the GERD,” P...
Senator Saraki calls for stakeholders’ meeting on solution to insecurity
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has called for a stakeholders meeting to find solution to the problems of insecurity across the country. Saraki made the suggestion in Minna, Niger State on Friday while fielding questions from newsmen after leading the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Reconciliation and Search Committee to former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida at his uphill residence. “It (insecurity) is of great concern to all of us as I have always said it is a matter that should not just be left to the government. “It is a matter that both the ruling party, opposition and elder statesmen should all meet and contribute to find solution to the problem so that we can successfully address the problem,” Saraki said. On the mandate of the committee, the former Senate Preside...
Asiwaju Tinubu: How Lateef Jakande rejected calls to contest for president
National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has recounted how late first civilian Governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande rejected calls to contest for the president in Nigeria. Tinubu revealed this on Friday during the eight-day Fidau prayer for Jakande in Ilupeju area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. He said Lagos State was luck to have a man like Jakande and that those in government had been extremely lucky to draw from his fountain of knowledge. ”To all of us in Lagos, we have been extremely lucky to have him, extremely lucky to draw from the fountain of his knowledge, Nigeria equally is lucky but when the crisis of military and many other arose, we met him, we said, we want Jakande but he said, he was no longer interested in becoming the president in the mi...
How ICPC is combating corruption in MDAs, stopped diversion of N189 billion personnel cost
File Photo In the past few years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, as part of its statutory mandate, has been conducting systems study and review of ministries and organisations in the federal public service. The overall objective of a system review is reform of the systems and procedures of public agencies with a view to identifying and eliminating, preventing, blocking and obstructing opportunities for corruption. To achieve this, the exercise targets detecting areas of vulnerabilities, actual weaknesses, leakages and corruption risks and to recommend ways of strengthening these systems and removing the discretionary gaps and such opportunities for both individual and institutional malfeasance on public resources. In addition, the review also targe...
How ICPC is combating corruption in MDAs, stopped diversion of N189 billion personnel cost
File Photo In the past few years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, as part of its statutory mandate, has been conducting systems study and review of ministries and organisations in the federal public service. The overall objective of a system review is reform of the systems and procedures of public agencies with a view to identifying and eliminating, preventing, blocking and obstructing opportunities for corruption. To achieve this, the exercise targets detecting areas of vulnerabilities, actual weaknesses, leakages and corruption risks and to recommend ways of strengthening these systems and removing the discretionary gaps and such opportunities for both individual and institutional malfeasance on public resources. In addition, the review also targe...
Senator Saraki: Former governor committed to PDP victory in 2023
Former President of the Senate and Chairman, National Committee on Reconciliation and Strategy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bukola Saraki, has said that former governors under the platform of the party are committed to the victory of the PDP in the 2023 general elections. Saraki also said that although the PDP doesn’t make noise about who is joining the party, but many, even those, who left the party are coming back to join the PDP. Addressing newsmen shortly after meeting with the former governors in Abuja, Saraki said, “yesterday we met with one of our former Presidents. Today we are consulting with our former governors who are key stakeholders and leaders in their states. “There is no way we can talk about consultations and unity of the party without consulting them. We have b...