PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on the fifth day of the official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, shared a warm moment with some of the country’s Governors and other officials, where he was updated on ongoing situations including the conclusion of outstanding elections back in the country. At the Makkah Guest Palace where he is accommodated by the government of the host country, President Buhari received Governors Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, Professor Babagana Zulum of Borno and the incoming Governor of Katsina State, Dr Dikko Umar Radda. The others were the Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Chairman…
Author: Amina Ibrahim
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Drama ensued as the Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the victory of Adamawa state All Progressives Congress candidate earlier declared by the state REC as null and void. In a statement signed by the National Commissioner, Information & Voter Education, Barr. Festus Okoye on the Commission’s official Twitter handle, INEC said, ‘The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a purported declaration of winner in the Adamawa Governorship election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) even when the process has clearly not been concluded.” The Statement reads in full: The attention of the Commission has been drawn…
THOUSANDS of voters are expected to hit the polls on Saturday as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts supplementary elections across 23 states. On the heels of the February 25 presidential/National Assembly elections, and the March 18 governorship/state assembly elections, INEC fixed Saturday, April 15 for governorship, national, and state assembly supplementary elections. In the Adamawa governorship poll, the incumbent Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 421,524, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru, scored 390,275. However, INEC state collation officer, Prof Muhammadu Mele of the University of Maiduguri, declared the election inconclusive…
THE United States has charged three Nigerians with money laundering and a fraud scheme with losses of more than $6 million. The Nigerians – 29-year-old Kosi Goodness Simon Ebo, James Junior Aliyu aged 28 and Henry Onyedikachi Echefu, aged 31 – are accused of conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering related to a business email compromise (BEC) scheme with losses of more than $6 million. One of them is being extradited from Canada to the U.S. to face a federal indictment on Friday, April 14 in a U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, MD. In a statement on Thursday,…
AMNESTY International has decried what it describes as the utter failure of the Nigerian authorities to learn from the heartbreak of Chibok town in Borno State and, ultimately, to protect children. The non-governmental organisation made the assertion in a statement on Friday upon the backdrop of the ninth anniversary of Boko Haram’s abduction of 276 students from a girls’ secondary school in Chibok. At least 98 girls are reportedly still being held by Boko Haram and a slew of abductions have taken place since. Since the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram, other schools have been targeted, with girls…
THE President-Elect, Bola Tinubu says the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has always lost his bid to lead the country since 1993. Tinubu asked Atiku not to see his loss at the last election as strange, arguing that it would have been a miracle for the PDP and its candidate to win in view of the crisis rocking the party before and during the elections. The President-Elect said these in his response to the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP before the Presidential Election Petition Court in which they are praying to be declared the…
TROOPS of Operation Forest Sanity have arrested a suspect who specializes in the supply of arms and ammunition to bandits in Kaduna State. The suspect, Aminu Abdullahi was arrested while he was conveying a large quantity of ammunition to bandits around the Polewire area in Birnin Gwari local government area of the Kaduna State. According to a statement by the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, the troops followed up on credible intelligence around gunrunning activities in the area, and in the course of diligent checks, stopped a suspicious-looking vehicle within the location of interest. During…
THE Federal Executive Council has approved the provision and installation of baggage scanners at all railway stations in the country at a cost of N495 million. The Minister of State for Transportation, Ademola Adegoroye stated this at a briefing on Wednesday after the council meeting presided over by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. He stated that the devices had become imperative because of the need to advance the security of lives and property in the nation’s railway facilities and in continuation of the railway revolution in the sector. The FEC also gave approval for the maintenance of the pavement…
FOLLOWING a tip-off from human intelligence sources, troops of operation Forest Sanity under 1 Division Nigerian Army ambushed and neutralised a notorious bandit leader, Isiya Danwasa and his cohort. Intelligence gathered, revealed that the bandit leader intended to send one of his errand boys named Yunusa, to purchase some arms and ammunition in Kaduna town. Army Spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Musa Yahaya revealed in a statement on Wednesday that subsequently, the errand boy was trailed and picked up by plain cloth soldiers and later used to lure two of the bandits leaders to a selected ammunition collection point. Upon their arrival,…
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar did not meet the constitutional requirements to be declared winner of the February 25 election. Urging the Presidential Election Petition Court to dismiss the petition by Atiku and his party, the commission said the PDP flag bearer failed to score, at least, one-quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and as such could not have been declared the winner. As against the claim by the petitioners, INEC…
THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received 152 Nigerian returnees from Libya through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. NEMA Zonal Coordinator for South-West, Ibrahim Farinloye, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday. Farinloye said the returnees departed Libya aboard a chartered Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 with registration number 5A-DMG Buraq Aircraft. The victims who arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Lagos airport consist of 54 adult females, 73 adult males and children. On ground to receive them were NEMA Director General, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, alongside officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service, National Agency for the Prohibition…
THE immediate-past managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, has said that failure to extend the Intels’ service boat management contract by one year was one of the reasons why former minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi recommended her suspension and eventual removal from office. In her new book released on Tuesday, titled “Stepping On Toes: My Odyssey Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority”, Ms Usman revealed how stepping on toes to ensure due process and good governance cost her the plum NPA job. This newspaper gathered that a former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate…
THE National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has opposed the House of Representative Bill mandating Nigeria-trained medical and dental practitioners to practice for five years before being granted full licence. NARD made its position known in a communique issued at the end of the emergency extended National Officers’ Committee (NOC) meeting of the association which was held virtually over the weekend. According to the statement obtained on Monday by News Point Nigeria, the resident doctors expressed shock by the action of the sponsor of the bill, Honourable Ganiyu Johnson (APC/Lagos). The doctors also decried the non-payment of salaries of members…
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will travel to Saudi Arabia on official visit from Tuesday, April 11 to 19 on his last trip to the Kingdom as Nigerian President, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu has said. In a statement on Monday, Shehu said the President during the visit will perform Umrah, the Lesser Pilgrimage. He will be accompanied by his aides.
THE United Kingdom Government has barred active recruitment of health workers from Nigeria by health and social care employers in the UK. The UK disclosed this in its updated ‘Code of Practice’ for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel’ posted on its website. Nigeria has now been included in the red list of countries facing critical shortage of health workers as contained in the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s health workforce support and safeguards list. In March, the WHO published the safeguards list comprising 55 countries — including Nigeria — struggling with a shortage of health workers. The…
25 PROMINENT journalists and writers from across the country have come together to write a book on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN. Entitled “OSINBAJO STRIDES: Defining Moments of An Innovative Leader,” the book is scheduled to be launched virtually on 28th April, 2023, at 4 p.m. prompt. There were altogether 25 writers. They are Richard Akinnola, Azu Ishiekwene, Garba Mohammed, Etim Etim, Donu Kogbara, Sadiq Abdullateef, Fatima Mamman-Daura, James Akpandem, Mustapha Ogunsakin, Dayo Akintobi, Dr. Wale Adeduro, Columba Ogah, Haruna Abdullahi, Temilade Okesanjo, Arukaino Umukoro, Olaolu Beckley, Ore Ogunbiyi, Jude Zoho, Vitalis Obidiaghaa, Seun Bisuga, Seyi Gesinde, Faith Dafe-Joseph, Muritala…
GUNMEN in the early hours of Saturday attacked Chitumu, a community near Zuba town in Gwagwalada area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Muhammad Liman, secretary to the community’s village head, said the attackers numbering about fifteen, arrived some minutes after 12 am, and went straight to the house of a cattle dealer, one Isiaka Alhassan Dogara. “They immediately abducted him with one of his daughters name Fatima, aged fourteen years old. Some of the gunmen killed the father, Alhassan Dogara, as the wives of the abducted person raised alarm.” He further stated that, three uncles of the man…
THE member-elect of the Kwara State House of Assembly representing the Owode/Onire Constituency, Rukayat Shittu, has asserted that her identity as a woman and youth are not barriers in politics. On May 31, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Not Too Young to Run Act into law with the aim to reduce the minimum ages for elective offices provided for by law. The enactment paved the way for Shittu’s historic emergence as the youngest female House of Assembly member-elect in Nigeria. Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily on Friday monitored by News Point Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress…
FAMED author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has criticised the United States over its congratulatory message to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who was declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election. A spokesperson for the US State Department commended Nigeria on Tinubu’s victory, the same day the President-elect was declared the winner, while calling for calm amid accusations of voter fraud and concerns over technical glitches. According to him, many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time…
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday evening, terminated the appointment of Hajiya Saratu Umar as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, with immediate effect. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Thursday titled ‘President Buhari terminates appointment of Saratu Umar as NIPC boss.’ Umar’s sacking comes barely a week after a scathing report unearthing fault lines in the Commission’s administration. The report alluded the challenges to the NIPC boss’ “incompetence and mismanagement.” More details in a while…