Press Secretary
White House: No plans for Joe Biden to meet new Iranian leader
There are currently no plans for U.S. President Joe Biden to meet with Iran’s newly elected leader, according to the White House, which downplayed Ebrahim Raisi’s influence. Raisi, a strident critic of the West, will take over from pragmatist Hassan Rouhani on Aug. 3 after an election on Friday. In a news conference on Monday, he backed talks to salvage a tattered nuclear deal with Washington but ruled out personally meeting with Biden. read more White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that little had changed because Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the key decision maker in Tehran. “We don’t currently have any diplomatic relations with Iran or any plans to meet at the leader level,” she told reporters. “Our view is that the decision maker here is the Supreme Leader.” ...
James Ibori loot: Delta asks federal government to return recovered fund to state
Delta State Government on Tuesday reacted to receipt by the Nigerian government of the £4.2 million first tranche of the Ibori loot from the goverment of the United Kingdom. The state government restated its earlier stand that since the returned money was illegally taken out of Delta’s Treasury, it should appropriately be returned to Delta State. This is coming on the dissolution, on Tuesday, of the Delta State Executive Council (EXCO) with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa asking the Secretary to State Government (SSG), all civil commissioners and the governor’s aides to surrender all vital government documents and property to their respective permanent secretaries in the ministries, departments and agencies. The outgoing state commissioner for information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, reiterated the positio...
Ogun governor suspends aide arrested for ‘fraud’ in US
The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, has suspended his aide, Abidemi Rufai, who was arrested in the United States for an alleged $350,000 (about N140 million) COVID-19 unemployment fraud. Kunle Somorin, Abiodun’s chief press secretary, confirmed the suspension to newsmen on Tuesday. This was also confirmed to newsmen by the chief press secretary to Abiodun, Kunle Somorin. “Our position is that the law should take its course,” Somorin said in a WhatsApp interview. “Meanwhile, the governor has ordered his immediate suspension from office to answer charges against him.” Sources within the government told newsmen that the governor took the action immediately he was briefed about Rufai’s arrest. This newspaper earlier reported that Rufai, Senior Special Assistant to Abiodun, was arrested l...
CSOs: Bandit attacks a risk to food security in Nigeria
Bandit attacks heighten risks for acute food crisis in Nigeria, stakeholders from the civil society and the media have said. This is even as they vowed to unite against terror rather than do anything that could promote it. “In addition to displacement, insecurity has hampered agricultural activities and heightened the risk of acute food uncertainty in the country”, they said in a communique issued on Thursday after a meeting of civil society groups and media in the nation’s capital. But they insisted that the adoption of new approaches by the government will address the specific political, economic, and social challenges that encourage banditry and terrorism in the country. The communique co-signed by Gbenga Onayiga and Adamu Ladan, the Acting Chairman and the Executive Director of the Vis...
Benue governor commiserates with assemblyman over wife’s demise
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue has commiserated with the Majority Leader of the Benue State House of Assembly (BSHA), Mr. Tyoapine Cheme, on the death of his wife, Roseline. This is contained in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Terver Akase, and made available to newsmen on Saturday in Makurdi. Ortom in the statement described the death of Mrs Cheme as “shocking and quite painful, not only to her family but also to the entire state”. He described her was a God-fearing woman who upheld true Christian virtues and related cordially with those who came in contact with her. The governor urged the Majority Leader and the entire Cheme family to take solace in the fact that their wife and mother lived an exemplary life and had gone to be with the Lord. Get more stories like this...
Osun monarch declares war on ritualists
The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, has declared war against ritual killings in his domain, saying he would confiscate the ritualists’ den that was recently discovered in Iwo. Oba Akanbi, who condemned ritual killings, said no man of conscience would kill fellow human beings for monetary gain. In a statement made available to journalists through his press secretary, Alli Ibraheem, the monarch expressed shock that some elements in his domain engaged in ritual killings despite the regular campaigns against the ills. It described the perpetrators as “bastards” and urged security agencies to conduct full investigation into the development. The statement partly read, “As an ardent campaigner against ritual killings, I condemn in totality the recently discovered ritual den in Iyemoja, Iwo...
Joe Biden picks diverse team of top economic advisers
President-elect Joe Biden named former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his Treasury secretary nominee on Monday, and named three women to other top economic posts, setting the stage for a more diverse White House. While Biden’s transition to the presidency on Jan. 20 appeared to be hitting its stride, he himself was hobbling after fracturing his foot while playing with his dog on Saturday and will wear a protective boot for several weeks, his doctors said. The incoming administration has been hampered for weeks by Republican President Donald Trump, who has refused to concede to Biden, a Democrat. Trump has said without providing evidence that the Nov. 3 vote was fraudulent, claims that state and federal election officials have dismissed. Biden named leading members of an economic tea...
Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa passes on at 81
Former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa has died age 81 in a Dar es Salaam hospital, the government announced Friday. He was the country’s third president after independence from Britain in 1962 and ruled from 1995 to 2005. “I’m saddened by the death of the third president of Tanzania and that is a big loss for us as a country. Let’s pray for him and more information will follow later,” said President John Magufuli in a short televised speech. He did not reveal the cause of death. Mkapa was born in 1938 to a poor family in south-eastern Mtwara. He earned a degree in English in Uganda and later worked as a journalist before being appointed the press secretary for the country’s first president Julius Nyerere. He held several cabinet posts, such as foreign minister and information minister ...
Adamawa imposes curfew on crisis-ridden Lamurde communities
The Adamawa State Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on warring communities in Lamurde Local Government Area. A statement to this effect said the curfew is government’s response to “the violence that erupted on Thursday, May 14th 2020 and the attendant tension.” The statement, signed by Humwashi Wonosikou, the Press Secretary to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, said, “Sequel to breach of peace in Tigno Dutse Tito, Sabon Layi and Bagashi communities, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has approved the imposition of a 24-hour curfew from 6:00pm to 6:00am with immediate effect.” The statement added that Governor Fintiri views the disturbances as unacceptable, warning that security agencies have been directed to enforce the curfew, and urging residents of Lamurde Local Government Area to shun rumor-mo...
Mike Pence spokeswoman tests positive for spokesperson
The US vice president’s spokeswoman became the second White House staff this week to test positive for the coronavirus, officials said Friday, even as President Donald Trump continued to go mask-free at a World War II commemoration with veterans in their 90s. News that staffer Katie Miller had fallen ill boosted fears that the White House is at risk of becoming a viral hot spot just when Trump is leading efforts to wind down nationwide quarantine measures that have devastated the world’s biggest economy. Miller is spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence, giving her frequent access to high-level meetings. She is also married to top Trump aide Stephen Miller, the speech writer behind the administration’s hardline immigration measures. A senior administration official initially said only th...
