Thursday
House mourns army chief, others
Members of the House of Representatives have expressed sadness over the death of Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and his entourage in an air crash in Kaduna. Attahiru, along with six senior officers and four crew members were onboard Nigerian Air Force Kingair 350 from Abuja to Kaduna, ahead of today’s passing out parade of soldiers from the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, when the crash happened amid torrential rainfall, on Friday evening. The Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in a statement issued on Saturday described as shocking and sad the death Attahiru and others involved in the plane crash. Gbajabiamila said the death of the Army Chief was unfortunate coming at a time that the Nigerian military was finding solutions to the security challenges in the country...
Strike: Kaduna government, NLC reach agreement
The Kaduna State Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress have reached an agreement on the plan by the state government to lay off workers. The NLC has since Monday led workers to protest against the plan by the Kaduna government to lay off the workers. The late Thursday agreement between the two parties was brokered by the federal government in Abuja. Part of the agreement was that the Kaduna government will follow due process and the “principle of redundancy,” as stipulated in Section 20 of the Labour Act, in its Public Service Revitalization and Renewal Programme, which is expected to lead to the retrenchment and sack of workers. The parties also agreed that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) twill no longer continue with its industrial action while no worker shall be victimized by the...
House speaker welcomes Governor Ayade’s defection
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed joy over the defection of the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party is opened to all. Gbajabiamila in a statement on Thursday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, said Ayade’s action has once again shown that “APC was the party to beat in the country.” The Speaker said the Cross River State governor has taken the right decision and shown a good example for others to follow. He said the ruling party remains open to all, calling on well-meaning Nigerians to join the APC to move the country forward. The Speaker noted that APC will continue to be just and fair to all its members. Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PD...
Ebonyi governor: Some people in South-east think 2023 elections won’t hold
David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, says some people in the south-east region are convinced that the 2023 elections will not hold. Umahi said those with such a mindset believe that if elections do not take place, the national assembly will declare a state of emergency in the region. In recent times, the south-east has witnessed a spate of attacks on police stations and government facilities including offices belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Speaking at the presidential ministerial press briefing on Thursday, Umahi said the country will remain together under the 1999 Nigerian constitution (as amended), noting that “until it is changed, nobody can do anything about it”. “A lot of people have been brainwashed in the south-east about Biafra. The Biafra I des...
Kano council boss laments influx of illegal miners from Zamfara
Bashir Abdullahi Kutama, Chairman of Gwarzo Local Government Area in Kano State, has raised concerns over the influx of Zamfara-based miners into his locality for illegal mining operations. The Chairman raised the alarm during a town hall meeting on Thursday with representatives of security agencies, village heads, transport unions and sections of the public. The meeting was intended to streamline modalities to improve and strengthen security of lives and property in his area. Kutama told his audience that he had recently introduced a migrants registration system in all parts of the local government, directing traditional leaders to form security watch committees in their respective communities. He added that the local government management was taking adequate precautionary security measur...
Hamas official predicts ceasefire soon in Israel-Gaza conflict
A senior Hamas official predicted a ceasefire within days in the Israel-Gaza conflict, after U.S. President Joe Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a “de-escalation” in the fighting. Rocket fire into Israel died down overnight, a lull that stretched into Thursday morning. Israel was launching new air strikes in Gaza after daybreak, but, Israeli media said, at a slower pace than in past days. An Egyptian security source said the sides had agreed in principle to a ceasefire after help from mediators but details were still being negotiated in secret. “I think that the ongoing efforts regarding the ceasefire will succeed,” the Hamas political official, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV. “I expect a ceasefire to be reached within a day or two, and the c...
Anglican archbishop calls for national dialogue
An Anglican Archbishop, Isaac Nwaobia, has urged the federal government to convene a national dialogue to address issues of insecurity in the country Mr Nwobia, who is the Archbishop/Bishop of Diocese of Isiala Ngwa South (Aba Province), made the call during the 4th Synod of the diocese at St. Peter’s Cathedral Owerrinta, Abia State on Thursday. The archbishop, while speaking with reporters during the opening session of the Synod, said that national dialogue was important, as the communication gap could be responsible for some of the present security challenges in Nigeria. “The president should summon us, either as a meeting or a confab, so that people can say why they are annoyed. “The solution should be that we need to sit down, dialogue and sort things out,” he said. The cleric condemne...
Myanmar army battles anti-coup rebels as armed resistance grows
Myanmar’s army battled local militia fighters in the northwestern town of Mindat on Saturday, residents said, to try to quell a rebellion that has sprung up to oppose the junta which seized power in the Southeast Asian country in February. The fighting is some of the heaviest since the coup and underlines the growing chaos as the junta struggles to impose order in the face of daily protests, strikes and sabotage attacks after it overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “We are running for our lives,” one resident told Reuters from Mindat, a hill town just over 100 km (60 miles) from the border with India. “There are around 20,000 people trapped in town, most of them are kids, old people,” the resident added. “My friend’s three nieces were hit by shrapnel. They are not even teens.” The ju...
Police arrest suspects over murders in Osun
The Police Command in Osun on Friday, said it has arrested five suspected hoodlums who allegedly attacked a residence in Ede and killied two persons. A statement by the State Police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, said that about 30 hoodlums at 5:30p.m. on Thursday, attacked the residence of Wakili Olayiwola in Ede, Osun, shooting sporadically into the house before setting a car ablaze. According to the statement, “the hoodlums allegedly shot bullets into the house of Wakili, set his car ablaze and also made attempt to burn down his house before the police came to the rescue”. She said “the police immediately swung into action when it received a distress call on the attack, but the hoodlums fled on sighting the police patrol team while five of them were apprehended. She said that the police ...
Osun: Five ‘gunmen’ arrested after killing two
Five suspected gunmen have been arrested after they launched an attack on a residence around Arulogun area of Ede in Osun State where they killed two persons. It was gathered about 30 gunmen invaded the Arulogun area to attack a house that belongs to Wakili Olayiwola around 5:00am last Thursday. They were said to have rained bullets on the residence. A resident, who preferred anonymity, said: “Those gunmen got to the house and started to fire bullets on the building for minutes after that they razed the car belonging to the house owner. “We are still in shock over the incident because we don’t know the reason why those gunmen perpetrated such a dastard act.” Our correspondent learnt while the gunmen were trying to raze the building, policemen arrived the scene. The gunmen engaged them in a...
INEC seeks measures to secure assets due to incessant attacks on facilities
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has called for urgent measures to stave off further attacks on its facilities across the country, lamenting that in less than two weeks, three of its offices in the Southeastern part of Nigeria have come under attacks by arsonists. “The spate of fire incidents involving the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in some States of the Federation has unfortunately persisted”, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye disclosed this in a statement on Friday. According to him, the attack this time around, is in Enugu State, where the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the State, Emeka Ononamadu, reported that the INEC office in Udenu Local Governmen...
Taiwan says request to drop word ‘country’ preceded BioNTech vaccine deal collapse
Germany’s BioNTech asked Taiwan to remove the word “country” from an announcement they planned to make on a COVID-19 vaccine sale to the island, its health minister said on Thursday, giving details of the deal whose axing was blamed on China by Taipei. Taiwan and China are engaged in an escalating war of words after Beijing offered the shots to the Chinese-claimed island via Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd, which has a contract to sell them in Greater China. Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told a daily news briefing the government had signed and sent back a “final contract” agreed with BioNTech after months of negotiations, and the two sides were on the verge of issuing a press release on Jan. 8. But four hours later “BioNTech suddenly sent a letter, saying they strongly ...