Wednesday
NDA reaffirms commitment to turn out best officers
The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Comandant Maj.-Gen. Jamil Sarham, reaffirmed the academy’s commitment to turn out the best officers for the Nigerian Armed Forces. The Academy Public Relations Officer, Major Abubakar Abdullahi, said in a statement issued on Wednesday in Kaduna. “The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Kaduna has reaffirmed its commitment towards producing the finest quality officers to be commissioned into the Nigerian Armed Forces. The NDA Commandant Gen Sarham revealed this on top of Shere Hills in Jos Plateau State on Tuesday as he inspected the progress being made by final year army cadets of 67 Regular Course and Short Service Course 46 conducting Exercise Camp Highland. According to Sarham, who ascended the peak of the Hills in company of his Deputy and other NDA manag...
Former Ekiti governor wants Ibrahim Magu placed on watch list so he won’t flee
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has asked security agencies in the country to place suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, on watch list. Fayose took to his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday to call on the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service, amongst others. According to the former governor, Magu should be placed on the country’s watch list so that he won’t disappear into thin air. He wrote, “Just as Magu directed that I be placed on “watch-list” even when I had immunity as a sitting governor, Magu too must be placed on watch-list so that he won’t run away. EFCC, DSS, Customs, Police, Immigration, Army, Navy, Air Force, oth...
FRSC alerts motorists on imminent diversion on Lagos 3rd mainland bridge
The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, says diversion and safety precaution are imminent, owing to the emergency rehabilitation on the third mainland bridge in Lagos. In a statement issued by the FRSC Public Education Officer (CPEO), Mr Bisi Kazeem, on Wednesday in Abuja, Oyeyemi said that the bridge would be partially closed for three months for the first phase of the job. Newsmen report that the Federal Government had announced plans to shut down the third mainland bridge for maintenance work from July 24 to Jan. 24, 2021. The first phase of the project covers the rehabilitation of the Oworonshoki bound lanes. He added that another three months for the second phase would cover the repairs of the Lagos bound lanes. “Traffic will be diverted to make wa...
Donald Trump’s niece to release memoir on July 14
Donald Trump’s niece will release her unflattering book on the US president on July 14, her publisher announced Monday, after a judge lifted a temporary ban on publication. Simon & Schuster has brought forward the release of the memoir by two weeks, according to an update on its website. In her 240-page book, Mary Trump dubs America’s leader “the world’s most dangerous man.” It is set to be the latest bombshell book to dish dirt on Trump after former aide John Bolton’s tome, which describes Trump as corrupt and incompetent, hit shelves last month. Last Wednesday, an appeals court judge in New York ruled that Simon & Schuster is allowed to release Mary Trump’s book “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.” The president’s brother Robert Trump...
Lagos, Abuja, Kano airports ready for operations
Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, says that Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, are ready for recommencement of domestic flights. The minister said during the daily Presidential Task Force briefing on Monday in Abuja that Lagos, Abuja and Kano airports would recommence domestic flights on Wednesday. He urged all passengers and crews to obey the COVID-19 protocols to ensure safety of the airports and airplanes against the virus. Sirika said that five countries in Africa and over one hundred countries across the globe have already started domestic air service. On the preparation on the airplanes, the minister stated that the last row of the aircraf...
Novak Djokovic, wife recover from coronavirus
Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena, who last week both tested positive for coronavirus following his exhibition tournament in the Balkans, have now tested negative, his press service said Thursday. Neither the 33-year-old player nor his partner felt any symptoms, the statement said. The couple had been self-isolating since returning to Belgrade from Zadar in Croatia, the town which hosted the second leg of Djokovic’s ill-fated Adria Tour. Four players — Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki — tested positive for the virus after the event which saw little social distancing and packed stands. The world number one’s coach Goran Ivanisevic also contracted COVID-19. Players had embraced across the net, played basketball and even danced in a nightclub during the week of the f...
Frank Lampard: West Ham loss shows why we aren’t contenders
Frank Lampard has said Wednesday’s loss to West Ham United is emblematic of Chelsea’s season. The Blues were downed 3-2 by the Premier League relegation battlers, a defeat which meant they missed the chance to moved into third. And speaking after the game, Lampard said the result was indicative of why his team were not challenging for the title. “It happens, it is the Premier League and if you make mistakes like we did, we dominated the game in terms of possession, but make mistakes and teams will hurt you,” said Lampard. “I’m not happy with any of the goals. You don’t get given victories for scoring two goals, you have to be better than that. “There were moments they counter-attacked, which we knew they would. There were details in the game which we knew but we lost because we didn’t get ...
Anambra guber: Era of zoning for governor over – group
A youth organisation called Anambra Ekunie has flayed what it termed imposition of governors in the state over the years and said the era was over as the state prepares for the 2021 governorship election. The group also warned politicians using a purported zoning gimmicks to fan the embers of disunity in the state to desist henceforth. President of the organisation, Dr. Ifeanyi Achusi made the disclosures in a statement on Wednesday in Enugu. Achusi said that the popular position among the various sections of the state was that zoning of the governorship seat ended with the emergence of Gov. Willie Obiano. He said that the insistence that the successor of the incumbent governor must come from a particular zone was against democratic tenets and hence unacceptable. Achusi said that the group...
National Assembly urges President Buhari to suspend plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians
The Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the implementation of the plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians for Special Public Works across the country. The position of both chambers of the National Assembly followed a sharp disagreement between the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour, Employee and Productivity and the Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, over the modalities for appointing the 20-member Selection Committee for the programme. Keyamo who had appeared at an interactive session organized by the joint committee opposed a resolution of the Joint Committee to resolve into a closed door session. The Minister said he rejected the lawmakers decision to quiz him behind closed doors because of the n...
Petrol price hike a move to end subsidy regime – expert
AHA Taxis Nigeria’s first professor of the Capital Market and former Imo State Finance Commissioner, Prof Uche Uwaleke, on Wednesday described the hike in petrol price from N123.50k/litre to a price band of N140.80 to N143.80 as an indication that the Federal Government was ready to gradually exit the fuel subsidy regime. The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), in a memo to oil marketers on Wednesday, said that the upward review of petrol price stemmed from existing market realities which were taken into consideration before the new pump price was released. Prof Uwaleke told newsmen that exiting the subsidy regime was necessary in view of plummeting government revenue and the pressure on government finances occasioned by COVID-19. ‘Fortunately for the Nigerian economy...
Edo guber: NWC members not tax collectors – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party has faulted an allegation by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, that members of the party’s National Working Committee are tax collectors. The PDP reacted to the governor’s claim in a press statement by its National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbodiyan, Wednesday. Newsmen had reported that Wike on Tuesday pulled out of the reconciliation of the Edo State chapter of the PDP. He also accused some members of the National Working Committee of the PDP of “being sycophants and tax collectors who would never tell the truth”. Wike made the allegations after a publication accused him of sponsoring disunity among PDP members in Edo. The PUNCH reports that despite efforts by leaders of the party, some aspirants of the PDP have refused to step down for Gov...
Woman hacked to death in Ibadan
A 42-year-old woman, Olusayo Fagbemi, has been reportedly murdered in the early hours of Wednesday by unknown assailants at Sasa community in the Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. Fagbemi was reported to have been killed while washing plates in front of her house around 5:40am. It was learnt that her neighbours were attracted to the scene by Fagbemi’s cry for help. On getting to the scene, she was seen struggling in the pool of her blood and later confirmed dead in the hospital. In the last three weeks, four females and a male – Mujeeb Tirimisiyu, Barakat Bello, Fagbemi, Grace Oshiagwu and Azeezat Shomuyiwa, have been gruesomely murdered in the area. The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said the police were on the trail of the criminals. Fade...
