THE National Industrial Court (NIC) has restrained the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as their affiliates from proceeding on any form of strike or industrial action. The two major labour unions were on Friday evening ordered to stop their nationwide strike action scheduled to commence on November 14. President of the Court Justice Benedict Kanyip issued the restraining order following an ex-parte application brought before the Court by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. Justice Kanyip invoked Sections 17 and 19 of the…
Author: Hamza Rufai
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THE House of Representatives on Thursday summoned some agencies to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday to respond to queries issued against them by the Auditor General for the Federation. This newspaper reports that these agencies include the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Niger State Command, Investment and Security Tribunal, and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria. The failure of the agencies to appear before the committee on Thursday angered members of the panel, some of whom said they could not accept the disrespect meted out to the House. The…
WITH hours to the November 11, 2023 governorship elections, the Department of State Services (DSS) has cautioned politicians against provocative comments. In a statement, DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, “observed rising trends and patterns of incendiary comments by some personalities of influence and representatives of non-governmental entities within and outside the country”. The secret police said “such statements run against public peace and harmony”. “With the elections and the attendant contentions legally over, it is expected that we should forge ahead in nation building without rancour or acrimony. This is against the backdrop that reckless rhetorics have the capacity to lead…
MANY passengers missed their flights as members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) mobilised their members for a protest at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Abuja on Thursday. The organised labour gathered at the airport around 8:58am to enforce their directive to members working in the aviation sector to stop all flights to Owerri, the Imo state capital. It was gathered that the protest is part of a series of actions that the two labour unions say they will zero in on Imo State, following the attack on the NLC President, Mister Joe Ajaero. The…
THE Chairman of Media Trust, Publishers of the Daily Trust Newspapers and Trust Television, Malam Kabiru A Yusuf, was yesterday returned to office as the President of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN, for another term . The election also returned some other officers of the Association, as Mr Frank Aigbogun, Publisher of BusinessDay, was elected Vice President, while the Chairman of The Punch Newspapers, Mrs Angela Emuwa, elected as General Secretary. Mr Fidelis Anosike, who until yesterday was the Assistant General Secretary, was elected treasurer, thus paving the way for the election of Mr Azubuike Ishiekwene, the Editor-in-Chief…
AHEAD of the governorship elections held November 11 in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun has deployed three Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) to oversee the security arrangements and ensure the elections run smoothly in the respective states. They are the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Department of Force Intelligence, DIG Habu Sani who is deployed to Kogi State; DIG Daniel Sokari-Pedro in charge of the Department of Information and Communication Technology deployed to Bayelsa State and DIG Frank Mba, DIG Department of Training and Development, who is deployed to…
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents registered to participate in the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states. In a list of polling and collation agents released by the electoral umpire on Tuesday, INEC said at the close of the deadline for uploading the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State and 37,995 for Kogi State, making a total of 137,973 agents. The statement was signed by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman,…
THE Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Tuesday announced that there will be no vehicular movement as well as movement of canoe, ships and other means of transportation via waterways in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa starting from Friday. Egbetokun, who said the decision was in line with measures put in place to ensure free, fair and credible elections in the three states, also barred some state security outfits like Ebubeagu and other quasi outfit from carrying out operations during the exercise. The top cop, who disclosed this at the ongoing press briefing at Force Headquarters, explained that both marine and…
THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi, has cautioned the US Mission in Nigeria and other foreign missions in the country against “needless security advisories”. The minister told reporters in Abuja on Monday that such advisories had far-reaching implications on the general polity as well as the country’s economy. Malagi said the Federal Government was not resting on its oars to ensure that every inch of land and every citizen, resident and visitor in the country is secured. On November 3, the US Mission alerted its citizens in the country of “an elevated threat to major hotels in…
THE former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele didn’t make it to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on Monday. This is despite an order of a trial judge Justice Olukayode Adeniyi for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce him in court for hearing of his motion on fundamental rights enforcement. Justice Adeniyi had last week ordered the anti-graft agency to release the former CBN governor unconditionally or produce him in court for the hearing of a motion determining his bail. This follows his arrest by the EFCC shortly after his…
THE suspended Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State Hudi Yunusa-Ari has failed to show up at the State High Court in Yola where he was to be arraigned today (Monday). Justice Benjamin Manji of the State High Court in Yola has thus ordered INEC to produce him in court during its next sitting on November 23, 2023. This follows the failure of the police to serve the hearing notice to Yunusa-Ari. According to the prosecution counsel to INEC Justice Rotimi Jacobs, the police made several attempts to serve him the hearing notice by visiting…
AN ABUJA-BASED business management expert, visionary leader and philanthropist, Alhaji Aminu Baba-Kusa, has donated a 3.25 hactares of land housing the famous Al-Noor Masjid (Mosque) and another edifice as Waqf (endowment) to the International Centre for Islamic Culture and Education (ICICE) in Abuja. Waqf is an alienable charitable endowment under Islamic law which typically involves donating a building, plot of land, a sum of money and other assets for Muslim religious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets. The donated assets will be held by a charitable trust. According to a statement signed by Special Assistant, Media…
DAYS to the November 11, 2023 off-season governorship polls in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered the redeployment of the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Muhammad Barde. “I am aware that there have been allegations on social media against the Commissioner of Police in Imo State but for this election, we are changing the commissioner of police in Imo,” the IGP said on Sunday on Channels Television’s People’s Townhall on Election Security monitored by News Point Nigeria. There had been widespread outrage by the Organised Labour including the Nigeria Labour…
TWO years after Abdullahi Ganduje, then governor of Kano State and current national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), brokered truce between the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and Chairman of BUA Group, Abdussamad Rabiu, the duo has renewed their rivalry. Elder Statesman and business mogul, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan Dantata, reportedly played a key role in making the settlement see the light of the day. Dangote and Rabiu, both from Kano, are powerful businessmen not just in Nigeria and the African continent, but across the world. Through their large investment empire that stretches across sectors, they place Nigeria…
THE Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere, has vowed on behalf of the Committee to conduct a comprehensive audit of the petrol subsidy regime from 1999-2023. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Committee in Abuja on Friday, Ugochinyere said the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act would also be reviewed comprehensively. According to him, the Committee will legislate on energy security, professionalism in the petroleum sector, economic transformation, accountability, institutional reforms and revenue recovery and generation, with a specific goal of helping the Federal Government to make $20 billion in revenue from the sector.…
THE High Court of Justice in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has ordered the unconditional and immediate release of the immediate-past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. The court made the order after Emefiele filed a Motion Ex-parte, seeking his release from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pending the hearing and determination of the originating motion. Justice O.A. Adeniyi made the order after hearing the motion filed by Emefiele. The applicant named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, (AGF) the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, and the…
THE Federal High Court in Abuja has given former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, till January 25 to appear in court to explain the circumstances surrounding the $53m judgment debt arising from the Paris Club refund. Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a short ruling on Wednesday, gave Emefiele another opportunity to appear in court in person or he would issue a warrant for his arrest. The development followed a plea by Emefiele’s counsel, Audu Anuga (SAN), that all efforts to ensure that his appearance in court had been unsuccessful as he was still in custody. A Senior…
THE Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, has ordered that sting operations at night be stopped in all the commission’s commands. Olukoyede gave the directive in Abuja on Wednesday, in reaction to the arrest of 69 suspected internet fraudsters in Ile-Ife, Osun State, by operatives of the Ibadan zonal command of the EFCC. The spokesperson for the anti-graft agency, Dele Oyewale made the development known in a statement obtained by our correspondent. Oyewale said, “The chairman gave the directive in Abuja on Wednesday, November 1, 2023 in reaction to the arrest of 69 suspected internet fraudsters…
THE Organised Labour has put workers on alert for an immediate nationwide action if the arrested President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is not released by the end of today (Wednesday). Channels Television reported that Ajaero was arrested in Owerri, the capital of Imo State earlier on Wednesday during a protest by workers in Imo State over an alleged “serial and habitual abuse and violation” of their rights by the state government. He was picked up from the NLC State Council Secretariat by heavily armed policemen in Owerri and taken to an unknown destination. Asking the workers to be…
GOVERNORS elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party will today meet former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. This newspaper reports that moves by 24 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, resulted in turbulence in the state on Monday, as the governor’s loyalists stormed the assembly complex in protest against the plot. The PDP Governors’ Forum, under the leadership of the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, in a communiqué read after a meeting of the group at the Oyo State Lodge in Abuja on…