Author: Hamza Rufai

THE House of Representatives Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Midstream) have urged security agencies to clamp down on fuel marketers hoarding petrol and engaging in the arbitrary increment in the price of the premium commodity. In a statement on Wednesday jointly signed by the Chairmen of the two committees, Ikenga Ugochinyere and Henry Okojie, the lawmakers said they reached out to the stakeholders in the petroleum distribution value chain to end fuel queues in the country. The lawmakers said they have engaged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Petroleum…

THE Federal Government had declared Wednesday, May 1st, 2024 as a public holiday to mark this year’s Workers’ Day event.  Nigeria’s Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo made the declaration, according to the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Aishetu Ndayako. “The Federal Government has declared Wednesday, 1st May 2024 as a Public Holiday to commemorate this year’s Workers’ Day Celebration,” Aishetu said in a Tuesday statement. She quoted the minister as re-echoing the need for excellence, efficiency, and equity in all spheres of labour. “In alignment with this year’s theme, which focuses on ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate,…

A FORMER Governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, on Monday lamented the activities of bandits in the north. He revealed how bandits made him abandon his 10,000 hectares of land in Kaduna State. Speaking tp newsmen on the backdrop of the high cost of foodstuff in the country, Bafarawa noted that people now seek permission from bandits before going to the farm. He said bandits were the ones who decided which farm to cultivate or not in his community. “I used to have farmland, which is over 10,000 hectares in Birni Gwari of Kaduna State. I have been cultivating that…

THE Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has assured that any customer not currently enjoying 20 hours of electricity would not pay the new tariff. The minister stated this on Monday while appearing before the Senate Committee on Power, for a one-day investigative hearing on the need to halt the proposed increase in electricity tariff by eleven successor electricity distribution companies amid the biting economic situation in Nigeria. According to him, the government had introduced a new policy to save the drowning sector, assuring Nigerians that the pains were temporary. The clarification comes as electricity consumers grapple with the recent increase…

A FORMER Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, says the Northern governors’ recent United States trip to discuss insecurity in the region exposed their ignorance of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lamido stated that embarking on such a journey to discuss insecurity, which he said is a matter on the exclusive legislative list, showed the substance of the governor. “But to engage on issues which are on the Exclusive Legislative List such as security says a lot about the substance they are made of. “Security is a very wide subject which their excellencies must have the capacity…

THE Nigeria Correctional Service has stepped up efforts to track down and recapture escaped inmates of the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre, Niger State. The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Thursday, said the government would relocate a lot of correctional centres to create better infrastructure and security. Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited the Niger custodial centre, where 119 inmates had escaped following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday. This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Ozoya Imohimi. The minister said it was…

THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has unearthed how Kano state-led New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Thursday mobilised a crowd of persons in Abuja to protest against the continuous stay in office of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as the party’s National Chairman. The party, in a statement signed by the Special Assistant to the National Chairman on Civil Society and Support Group, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, revealed that the Kano state government hired protesters from the street, mostly Kwankwasiyya members, some of whom are from the North-central zone, to demand for the National Chairman’s resignation. According to Ogenyi, the protest was…

PROFFESOR Nwoke Friday Chijioke, the former Vice President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, has spoken out against the press conference conducted by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), particularly in relation to its discussion of Yahaya Bello, the former Governor of Kogi State. Speaking on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, Prof. Chijioke criticized the EFCC’s approach, denouncing it as an unfair trial and labelling it as a form of media trial. He stressed the importance of discretion in such matters, emphasizing that institutions of justice, like the EFCC, should conduct investigations discreetly without…

THE Federal Government has revoked an additional 924 dormant mineral licences with immediate effect. The revoked mineral licences which include 528 exploration licences, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licences, and 273 small-scale mining licenses, were disclosed to journalists by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday. Recall that in November 2023, the ministry under the current administration made a revocation of 1,663 mineral licences, which was the first batch of licences revoked. Speaking during the briefing, Alake lamented the high rate of licence racketeering, as well as dormant mineral licences, which…

THE Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, has reiterated claims that the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), under the leadership of the former executive secretary, Simbi Wabote, “wasted” over $500 million of the industry’s fund on equity investments, private establishments, and non-performing loans. Lokpobiri was reacting to a recent media statement by Wabote that his office requested an increase in the NCDMB budget by N30bn for the minister’s office. “It is a blatant lie from the pit of hell,” Lokpobiri said in a statement signed by his Senior Adviser Media and Communication Officer, Nneamaka Okafor. Lokpobiri…

DANGOTE Petroleum Refinery has again reduced the prices of diesel and aviation fuel to N940, and N980 per litre, respectively. This comes after its widely celebrated price reduction to N1,000 barely two weeks ago. The price change of N940 applies to customers buying five million litres and above from the refinery, while the price of N970 is for customers buying one million litres and above. The Head of Communication, Mr Anthony Chiejina, who announced the development in a statement, explained that the new price aligns with the company’s commitment to cushion the effect of economic hardship in Nigeria. “I can…

THE Corporate Affairs Commission has revoked the certificates of incorporation of NIPOST Properties and Development Company and NIPOST Transport and Logistics Services Limited. This revocation followed the discovery of an illegal transfer of N10 billion in restructuring funds released by the Federal Ministry of Finance to the agency’s subsidiaries. The CAC, in a statement on Monday, said, “The General Public is hereby informed that the Commission, sequel to its powers contained in Section 41 (7) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 3 of 2020, revoked the Certificates of incorporation of the below-mentioned companies because the same was improperly…

THE Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun believes the country is not “mature” for state policing despite the myriad of security challenges facing it. He spoke on Monday during a national dialogue on state police held in Abuja with the theme ‘Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria’. “On the issue of state police, it is the submission of the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that Nigeria is not yet mature and ready for the establishment of state-controlled police,” the IGP, represented by AIG Ben Okolo, said at the event organised by the Speaker of the House…

VICE President Kashim Shettima; former President Goodluck Jonathan and elder statesman Abdulsalami Abubakar are among dignitaries attending a dialogue on state police. The event holding in Abuja is organised by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives with the theme Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria. While speaking at the event, the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun said the country is not ripe for state police. The police chief represented by AIG Ben Okolo cited abuse by those who want to score political points. He argued that some governors may likely use state police against…

YOUTHS of Ebiraland under the aegis of Ebiraland Youths Coalition have called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that nothing happens to the immediate past governor of Kogi state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. The Youth, in a Press statement signed by its Coordinator, Mr Fache Onimisi Moses, said that  some people in high places, conniving with other ethnic bigots from Kogi State, were working tirelessly, not only to put the former governor’s life in the harm’s way, but also to ridicule the entire people of Ebiraland. They said the simultaneous actions of the DSS and Police to withdraw the…

Describe Issue Of Evading Arrest As Deliberate Misinformation HUNDREDS of human rights activists, on Saturday, hit the streets of Lagos to condemn what they described as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s antidemocratic approaches to issues of law enforcement as well as unjust application of state power by the Federal Government. The Anti-Corruption Civil Society Organisations, numbering over 120, along with a huge crowd of members and supporters, stressed that the actions of the Federal Government in the ongoing face-off between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, which took an ugly dimension…

THE Federal High Court in Kano has intervened in the purported suspension of the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, by his ward. The court order came on Wednesday following an ex parte motion filed by Ganduje, seeking to enforce his fundamental right to a fair hearing. The respondents in the application include the Police, Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and nine other individuals. Ganduje’s purported suspension stemmed from actions taken by APC executives in Dawakin ward, Tofa LGA of Kano, on April 16, over alleged corruption. However,…

TROOPS of the Nigerian Army deployed in the North-East have announced the rescue of Lydia Simon, a Chibok girl who had been held captive by Boko Haram terrorists for several years. A statement from the Department of Army Public Relations said Lydia, who was on serial number 68 among the abducted missing Chibok Secondary School girls, was rescued along with her three children by troops conducting Operation Desert Sanity III, around Ngoshe in the Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State. Lydia is five months pregnant at the time of her rescue and claimed to be from Pemi Town in…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been asked to call the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to order as the anti-graft agency exhibits another flagrant disregard for rule of law in an attempt to arrest former Kogi  state governor, Yahaya Bello. Despite a subsisting Order of injunction granted on 9th February 2024 by the High Court of Justice, Lokoja Division in Suit No. HCL/68M/2024 between Alhaji Yahaya Bello v. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, restraining the Commission either by itself or its agents from harassing, arresting, detaining or prosecuting Alhaji Yahaya Bello, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive…

THE embattled Chairman of the Kano State Anti-Corruption and Public Complaints Commission, Muhuyi Magaji, says he is being instigated by some persons to investigate the current governor of the state, Abba Kabir. Magaji, who stated this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme monitored by News Point Nigeria on Tuesday said he started probing the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, when he was governor of the state. Magaji said though he was appointed by Ganduje to head the agency, he won’t hesitate to prosecute alleged corruption by the immediate-past administration in the state. He said, “Incidentally,…