Years
Lagos deputy governor: Nigeria must not disintegrate
Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Lagos State Deputy Governor on Tuesday urged religious leaders to propagate peace and morals so as to avoid disintegration but engender unity among Nigerians. Hamzat made the appeal during the 40-day Fidau prayer for late Alhaji Lateef Jakande, former governor of the state. He said that religion, being the strongest pillar in Nigeria, had the people’s heart and respect. He charged the clerics to help the citizens to act in accordance with the norms of the society and shun all anti-social vices. The deputy-governor also implored the clergymen to propagate the gospel of a better use of Lagos roads by urging motorist to avoid driving against traffic. “People respect their religious leaders and they do listen to them. “So, please do not leave the preaching of moral values to...
Germany banking on victories to regain support
Germany will seek redemption for November’s humiliating thrashing against Spain as Joachim Loew’s squad look to get the fans back behind them by winning their first three World Cup qualifiers. Germany host Iceland in Duisburg on Thursday before facing Romania away on Sunday, then play North Macedonia three days later back in Duisburg. “We want to start the European championship year with an exclamation mark and please our fans again,” Loew said after naming teenagers Jamal Musiala, 18, and Florian Wirtz, 17, in his squad. “Our ambition and goal is to get ourselves into a good starting position with three wins.” A fortnight ago, Loew announced he will step down, after 15 years in charge, following the European championships, due to take place from June 11-July 11. He badly needs convincing ...
UN official highlights values of water in fighting coronavirus pandemic
Water has many values that are just not priced, Sasha Koo-Oshima, the Deputy Director, Land and Water Division, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told Xinhua ahead of the World Water Day on March 29. The official highlighted that with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a large part of the world population still lacks access to handwashing facilities at home. “This is the first line of defence against this virus and the value of water is very evident in this progression. “The first thing we realised is handwashing. Many countries just don’t have clean water to even just wash hands,” she said. The UN on Monday warned that more than two billion people do not have direct access to water, the “blue gold” which is essential in defeating the pandemic. In its World Water Development Re...
Ebonyi governor: South East benefited more from APC government than PDP’s 16 years
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum weekend, said the South East benefitted more from the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC, federal government than from Peoples Democratic Party’s sixteen years of governance. Speaking to newsmen in Lagos through his Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, Umahi said the Igbo have had a fair-play under Buhari’s administration in terms of economic and infrastructure development. According to him, the N10Billion Airport rehabilitation, the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Expressway and other infrastructures are pointers to the benefits the South East States are getting from the Buhari administration. “These are indications that this administration is helping t...
Polls open in Congo as main opposition party boycotts election
Polls have opened in the Republic of Congo’s presidential election that is boycotted by the main opposition party and attacked by critics as tilted toward veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso. Voting centres opened at 07:00 (06:00 GMT) and will close at 17:00 (16:00 GMT). More than 2.5 million voters have registered to take part in the election which Nguesso, 77, is widely expected to win against six contenders. The list of contenders is led by economist and 2016 presidential runner-up Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who was hospitalised on Saturday. Kolelas’ campaign did not say what illness had struck the 60-year-old but a family member told the Associated Press he had been diagnosed with coronavirus. Nguesso, a former paratrooper, first rose to power in 1979 and has since accumulated 36 years...
Femi Falana: EFCC can mandate bank MDs, executives to declare assets
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of all laws relating to economic and financial crimes, Africa’s leading human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has said. Consequently, according to the senior advocate, the anti-graft commission is empowered to cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person as stipulated under Section 7 (1) (b) of the EFCC Act, 2004. Also yesterday, Transparency International (TI) argued that if the provisions of the Bank Employees, etc. (Declaration of Assets) Act, 1986 were effectively enforced, Nigeria could save between $15 billion and $18 billion illicit financial flows (IFFs) annually. Falana clarified the roles of the EFCC in a response to inquiries on whethe...
Rumble in Edo as governor runs government without cabinet
Precisely 129 days into his second tenure as governor of Edo State after his election on September 20, 2020 and inauguration on November 12, 2020, Godwin Obaseki, has not formed his cabinet. This has generated some flaks from different quarters, including the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), constitutional lawyers, political analysts, public commentators, residents among others. While others feel that Obaseki has not committed any crime or breached any law, others believe that he is running a one-man administration and must go ahead to form his cabinet. They argued that going by Section 192 of the 1999 Constitution, the governor is obliged to form a cabinet, saying this is a circumvention, which the state House of Assembly should take action on. Obaseki had said that his ...
Controversy over ex-minister threatening his aide with hammer in trending video
A video released by Sahara Reporters showing former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, interrogating his former Personal Assistant with a hammer in his right hand, has been trending on social media and generating reactions. In the video, Fani-Kayode can be seen visibly holding the hammer in his right hand until he discovered that he was recovered before hiding it with his body. The video was recorded by his estranged wife, Precious Chikwendu, who can be heard in the background saying the former Minister had a hammer in his hand. Meanwhile, Fani-Kayode has released a statement denying that he threatened his former PA with a hammer. The press release was signed by his Media Aide, Jubril Oladimeji Olaiya. The statement said: “The allegation that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is a violent man th...
Justice Onnoghen: How ex-President Obasanjo saved me from conspiracy by some judges
File Photo Former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has rated ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo as a better listener than President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking in Abuja at the book launch of Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the former CJN said Obasanjo did not act based on falsehood. Buhari had in 2019 removed Onnoghen — weeks to the presidential election — over alleged failure to declare his assets and operating foreign accounts. He was thereafter convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and barred from holding public office for 10 years. At the event, Onnoghen said he was removed from office without being given the chance to defend himself, adding that he was never confronted with the allegations against him. Onnoghen recounted how a similar incid...
Justice Onnoghen: Why I was sacked as CJN
The Leader Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, on Friday, stressed that Nigeria as a nation may not record any meaningful achievement in life until they are able to free the nation’s judiciary from the stronghold of politicians. Onnoghen who spoke publicly for the first time since his removal from office two years ago, attributed his sack to political manuevre. The former CJN, who was speaking at the unveiling of a book titled ‘Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009, Practice, Procedure, Forms and Precedents’, by a legal luminary, Chief Ogwu James Onoja (SAN), attributed his sack to political intrigues. Onnoghen revealed that prior to his removal, he was accused by the executive of having met with former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in Dubai, United A...
Ogun council polls: Governor Abiodun urges OGSIEC to conduct credible election
Ogun State governor Prince Dapo Abiodun has urged members of the newly inaugurated Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) to be transparent in their dealings with all political parties. The governor said this Friday while swearing-in the newly constituted 6-man electoral commission at the Executive Council Chambers of Governor’s Office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital. Abiodun specifically charged new OGSIEC members to make fairness, firmness, dedication and objectivity their watchword as the state prepares for the local government poll to be conducted later this year. The governor said the inauguration was a demonstration of his administration’s commitment towards ensuring that democratic dividends get to the grassroots through electoral processes at the local gover...
Chelsea owner takes legal action over ‘Putin’s People’ book
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has launched legal action for defamation over the book Putin’s People. The Blues owner’s case relates to “a number of false and defamatory claims made about our client in the book published by HarperCollins.” The book was written by author Caterine Belton and contains a number of claims about Abramovich and others close to Russia president Vladimir Putin. Abramovich’s statement, published on Chelsea’s club website, says: “Today my legal representatives have issued legal proceedings in England in relation to a book that was published in the UK. The book contains a number of false and defamatory statements about me, including about my purchase, and the activities, of Chelsea Football Club. “Today’s action was not taken lightly. It has never been my ambition to ...