Process
AGF: Ohanaeze legal monitoring group on Nnamdi Kanu not necessary
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has said the legal team formed by the umbrella group for Igbo people, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to monitor proceedings of the trial of leader of the prescribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, was not necessary. He, however, welcomed the Ohanaeze team, saying it was in line with the doctrine of the right of fair hearing rooted in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution. Recall that the separatist leader was arrested in June 2021 outside the country. Kanu is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony instituted against him at the court in response to years of campaign for the independent Republic of Biafra through IPOB. He had been granted bail in April 2017 but jumped bail. After his re-arrest in June 202...
JAMB boss lists major challenges
Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) said malpractice and indiscipline are some of the board’s major challenges yet to be fully addressed. The Registrar made this known when members of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education visited the board’s headquarters in Bwari, Abuja on Monday. Oloyede said that the challenges, unfortunately, were mostly with regards to parents trying to bend the system by all means and get their wards or children into schools, irrespective of their performance. “Our challenge remains examination malpractice, especially with regards to parents who keep calling me to favour their wards or children whether they meet the requirements of the system or not. “There’s also indiscipline from the tertiary institutions...
President Buhari: Nigerian government to implement policies that will tackle Niger Delta challenges
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his administration’s desire to implement genuine policies that would help in tackling problems affecting the Niger Delta region to make life more meaningful to the people. Buhari gave the assurance during the commissioning and handing over of the erosion control and road improvement works in Owo Local Government to the Ondo State Government. The president, who was represented by the Minister of State, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Omotayo Alasoadura, noted that the erosion control of flooded area/road project was one of the ecological intervention projects approved and executed by the federal government through the Ecological Fund Office, in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), for the good people of Owo an...
Pentagon: US team going to Haiti to assess needs
A team of U.S. security and law enforcement experts is traveling to Haiti to determine what assistance Washington can provide following the assassination of the Haitian president last week, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Today, an inter-agency team largely from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are heading down to Haiti right now to see what we can to do help in the investigative process,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s really where our energies are best applied right now – in helping them get their arms around investigating this incident and figuring out who’s culpable … and how best to hold them accountable,” Kirby said in the interview. President Joe Biden will be briefed by the team when it returns and “then make decisions about the way forwa...
South Africa extends tight coronavirus restrictions for another 14 days
South Africa extended tight COVID-19 rules on Sunday for another 14 days, maintaining restrictions that include a ban on gatherings, a curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and a prohibition on the sale of alcohol. The country, the worst-hit on the African continent in terms of recorded cases and deaths, is in the grip of a third wave of infections driven by the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant. “Our health system countrywide remains under pressure,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation. Early this month South Africa recorded a new record of over 26,000 daily cases, stretching hospitals to breaking point. Ramaphosa moved the country to the fourth level of a five-tier restriction scale in late June as infections climbed, promising to review the restrictions af...
Lagos marks 70 houses for demolition, 20 on the Island
The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) said it is set to demolish 70 distressed buildings in the state. Twenty of the buildings are on Lagos Island. The agency made this known after bulldozing a partially collapsed house at 19 Church Street on the Island. LASBCA spokesman, Mr Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, said the General Manager of the agency Mr Gbolahan Oki, supervised the demolition. Oki said it has became an urgency to immediately remove the dilapidated and distressed building, which were no longer fit for human habitation, to prevent collapse. He said many defective buildings had been marked for removal in a bid to end the era of building collapses. Oki noted that his team had earlier visited the distressed buildings to get an on the spot assessment and asked the residents to reloca...
Anambra election: We’ve no hand in APGA triple candidates woes – APC
Anambra State All Progressive Congress (APC) has denied any hand in the triple candidates scenario in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state as alleged by Governor Willie Obiano of the state. The party said that was rather too busy with the self-purification and organizational process to bother about parties that were hijacked from their original goals. The State APC Publicity Secretary Okelo Madukaife in a statement said that Governor Obiano had alleged that APC and PDP were responsible for the crisis in APGA and in fact tried to stop one of the three factional candidates from emerging. “APC has nothing do with such infradig affair. PDP will speak for itself. One thing is however clear. Every leader in the place of Governor Obiano today would be ashamed of what has become of ...
Anambra election: 22 political parties storm INEC office, want participation
Twenty-two political parties, on Friday, stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Abuja, to submit names and particulars of candidates for the November 6 Anambra governorship election. The parties, which were part of the 74 political parties deregistered by INEC last year, insisted that they must be on the ballot as they had obtained a declarative judgment by the Appeal Court quashing their deregistration by the INEC. The electoral body, however, rejected their request, insisting that the parties remained deregistered. It would be recalled that the parties had, on March 18 this year, submitted letters of notice for the conduct of the governorship primaries for the Anambra poll. But INEC, then, in a swift reaction, signed by INEC National Commissi...
INEC promises to train Malawian electoral body on delineation, creation of polling units
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to teach its Malawian electoral commission counterpart the tricks it used in the delineation of constituencies and creation of polling units. Speaking when his Malawian counterpart, Justice Chifundo Kachale, led a delegation on a courtesy visit on him in Abuja on Thursday, National Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said he understand that the Southern African country is also faced similar challenges Nigeria had previously. He announced to the delegation that the Commission is currently undergoing a historic voter registration exercise, emphasizing: “We are also doing the voter pre-registration online, which will now be completed physically in person at designated centres nationwide. So you are coming at the right time. ...
NSITF raises N180 billion from employers’ enrollment in 10 years
The Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Michael Akabogu, has revealed that the agency has raised N180 billion from employers’ enrollment from July 2011-May 30, 2021. He also said that plans were afoot to plug revenue leakages, even as he warned the public to be wary of fraudsters masquerading as agents of NSITF. At an interactive session with Finance Journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Akabogu also stated that the scheme has registered almost 200,000 employers. Out of this number, 170,000 employers are actively involved in the scheme by making their contributions steadfastly. He added: “We have collected both from the private sector who have contributed about 80% of the total revenue and we have collected from the government and all other agencies, so we...
PDP vice chairman: Electronic transfer of results, a must for free, fair polls
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-south has called on the National Assembly to retain electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act The National Vice Chairman, South-south of the party, Dan Orbih, made the call on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin. He was reacting to the purported removal of the provision for the electronic transfer of result provision from the proposed amendment Act currently being debated by the National Assembly. “Nigerians should resist the removal of electronic transmission of election results during elections from the Electoral Act because it is an invitation to unending electoral fraud,” Mr Orbih said. The introduction of electronic transmission of election results from the polling units to collation cen...
Anambra election: Group hails APC panel for confirming Senator Andy Uba as party’s guber candidate
A group, under the umbrella of All Progressive Congress (APC), Concerned House of Assembly 2019 Candidates, has hailed Governor Inuwa Yahaya, of Gombe State, led Anambra APC Primary Election Committee, for confirming Senator Andy Uba, as the standard-bearer of the party, for the November 6th, 2021 Anambra governorship election. Tribune Online gathered that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, shortly after the June 26, 2021, APC Primary election, held across the 21 local governments of Anambra State, set up a reconciliatory committee, headed by Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, to address other 11 aspirants that called for the cancellation of the process, including the Minister for Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige. The group, in a statement, signed and made available to Newsmen ...
