President
#EndSARS: Groups embark on reconciliatory visit to affected states
African Children Talent Discovery Foundation (ACTDF), an NGO, in Collaboration with Nigerians in Diaspora Mentoring Corp (NidMeCorp) have began nationwide reconciliatory visits to some states affected by the EndSARS protest. Founder of the foundation, Mr Noah Dallaji made the disclosure while addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, Dallaji said that the visit was for the sake of nation and collective wellbeing and to avoid further damage to lives and properties. He said the group visited to Lagos State due to the Lekki Tollgate incidents and met with various groups to find a lasting solution to the issues that were played up as aftermath of the #Endsars protest. He also said that the group met with stakeholders in the entertainment industry focusing on social media influencers to with vario...
French president says he ‘understands’ Muslims shock over Prophet Muhammad cartoons
French President Emmanuel Macron said he can understand why Muslims were shocked by caricatures depicting the prophet Muhammad. But in an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Saturday, he said he could never accept the issue being used to justify violence. “I understand and respect that we can be shocked by these caricatures,” Macron said. “I will never accept that we can justify physical violence for these caricatures and I will always defend in my country the freedom to say, to write, to think, to draw.” Tensions flared with some Muslim majority countries who have held anti-Macron protests and called for a boycott of French products after he publically promised France would not “renounce the caricatures”. Macron made the comments following the October 16 murder of French school teacher...
US election: Nigerian primate tells Joe Biden how to oust Donald Trump
Just two days to the United States, US, presidential election, the leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual church, Primate Elijah Ayodele on Sunday, issued a waning to the candidate of the Democrat Party, Joe Biden. Primate Ayodele warned that Biden would lose the presidential election if fails to focus on some states like Ohio, California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Colorado. Addressing his members in a live service, the clergyman said the Democrat candidate should not rejoice over results of polls which puts him ahead of of the incumbent President, Donald Trump. According to Primate Ayodele, “Joe Biden should not rejoice yet if at all he is leading in any part of the country according to the polls. Trump still has some technicality to come ahead of Joe Biden, unless Joe Biden uses Trump w...
Top Turkish officials close to President Erdogan test positive for coronavirus
Two top Turkish officials who work closely with Turkey’s president have said they tested positive for COVID-19. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Saturday he had light COVID-19 symptoms and was nearing the end of treatment. He did not say how long he has been sick. His comments came hours after Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said he, his wife and daughter all tested positive after feeling unwell on Monday. They are being treated in a hospital. “Thankfully we are a bit better,” he said. Soylu was criticised in April for announcing Turkey’s first weekend-long coronavirus lockdown just two hours before it went into effect, leading to scenes of chaos at markets. The president rejected his resignation. Both men routinely meet Erdogan, who was travelling on Sat...
Zambian leader defends investments in road works
Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Friday defended his government’s decision to embark on massive road works across the country, saying it was necessary to enhance investments. Lungu, who commissioned a newly-constructed flyover bridge in Lusaka, the country’s capital said; “Of course our critics have said, and they continue to campaign that we were reckless for having borrowed but they were shy to tell the people frankly how that money we borrowed had been used.’’ The Zambian leader said his government had prioritised investing money into improving the country’s road networks because of the benefits that would be realised. According to him, investors will only come to Zambia if there is a proper road network. Lungu said that investors were not keen to put up factories in a country with a po...
Liberia launches new national carrier ‘Lone Star Air’
Liberian President George Weah on Friday inaugurated a new national carrier for the West African country, named Lone Star Air, about 30 years after the country’s previous airline went bust. Speaking at a ceremony at Liberia’s international airport, near the capital Monrovia, Weah said the new airline would “connect our country to our region and to the world”. “It is my dream, my hope and my ambition that we will very soon see Lone Star Air, the wings of Liberia, flying our flag in international skies, shining so brightly,” said the footballer-turned-president. Liberia’s flag bears resemblance to the flag of the United States but features one star instead of 50. The country was founded in the 19th century with US support as a home for freed American slaves, whose descendants have a long his...
NLC demands end to medical tourism by government officials
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Thursday called for an end to all forms of medical tourism especially by elected and appointed government officials. The NLC also said that with the quantum of resources available to government, Nigeria can afford to build and effectively equip some of the best hospitals in the world, with global best practices and personnel. President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, stated this in Abuja in his address on this year’s Global Day of Action on Care. Briefing, Wabba reiterated that the government must be ready to invest heavily in the health sector, saying no country survives without effective health care. He lamented that apart from the open fact that the country’s health care sector has been neglected for too long, health care workers have been subjected...
NCC contributes N2.272 trillion to Nigeria’s GDP – chief
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Garba Danbatta, has said that the contribution of the Telecommunication sector to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen from 8.5 per cent in 2015 to 14.3 per cent as at September this year amounting to N2.272 trillion. Danbata disclosed this when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunication led by its Chairman, Rep. Akeem Adeyemi visited the Commission on an oversight The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission also disclosed that Investments in the sector had risen from 38 billion dollars in 2015 to over 70 billion dollars now while the Commission had also paid over N344 billion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation within the period under review, an a...
CAF president confirms candidacy for re-election
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images The Confederation of African Football President Ahmad Ahmad has announced his intention to run for a second term in office. Ahmad’s confirmation comes on the back of a reported endorsement from 46 African Federations who are rooting for his success in the elective Extraordinary General Assembly in Morocco on March 12, 2021. Three years ago, Ahmad ended Issa Hayatou’s 29-year reign as Caf boss, after defeating the Cameroonian by 34 votes to 20. “I accepted to be a candidate while listening to the presidents of the federation, around 46 of whom asked me after receiving my assessment of my initial mandate,” Ahmad told BBC Sport Africa. “As I have previously announced, I said I would pursue a second mandate if the need was there. “This is an outcome of working...
Eid-el-Maulud: President Buhari preaches love, honesty
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged all Nigerians to seize the opportunity of this year’s Eid-el-Maulud to reflect on the virtues of the Holy Prophet by showing love and understanding for fellow citizens. He also urged Nigerians to avert second wave of COVID-19 in Nigeria, saying the nation’s economy cannot bear another round of lockdown. Buhari’s position was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled “President Buhari welcomes Maulud, urges love and understanding among citizens.” The statement read, “As Muslims in Nigeria join others all over the world to mark the Eid-el-Maulud, President Muhammadu Buhari has urged all citizens to use the occasion to reflect on the virtues of the Holy Prophet by showing love and understanding for...
President Buhari, General Danjuma meet at Aso Rock
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met with a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd.). The meeting held behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, took place after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by the President. The agenda of the meeting between the two leaders was not made public. Danjuma did not speak with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting. President Muhammadu Buhari meets with former Minister of Defence, Gen. TY Danjuma (rtd) earlier at the State House, Abuja. pic.twitter.com/eCOM8qhqze — Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) October 28, 2020 The Presidency has yet to release a statement on the meeting as of the time of filing this report. The meeting was however held about two days after the National Chri...
#RevolutionNow: Appeal court strikes out Omoyele Sowore’s appeal
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Wednesday, struck out the notice of appeal that convener of the 2019 #RevolutionNow protest, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, filed to challenge his bail conditions. Sowore, who was the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the last general election and publisher of an online news outlet, Sahara Reporters, is facing treasonable felony charge the Federal Government preferred against him before the Federal High Court in Abuja. Though he was initially arraigned alongside his co-defendant Olawole Bakare (A.K.A. Mandate) on September 30, 2019, on a seven-count charge that bordered on conspiracy, money laundering, cyber-stalking and for allegedly insulting President Muhammadu Buhari, the prosecution subsequently reduced the charge to two counts. Meanw...
