Author: Maryam Garba

THE Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered all police convoys, henceforth, to obey all traffic regulations with immediate effect. IGP Egbetokun issued this directive on Monday at the meeting with the Mobile Police Squadron and commanders at the Force headquarters in Abuja. According to him, it was important that his men lead by example and be held accountable before the law. ” Let me end this speech by reminding you that those who keep the peace must be the epitome of peace. Those whose duty is to enforce the laws of the land must themselves respect and obey…

OVER two million Muslim pilgrims crowded Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat on Tuesday, the climax of a potentially record-breaking hajj pilgrimage held in fierce June heat. As dawn broke, groups of worshippers recited Qurán verses and the pilgrimage recitations on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Muhammad SAW is believed to have given his final sermon. The ritual is the high point of the annual pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, that officials say could be the biggest on record after three years of Covid restrictions. More than 2.5 million pilgrims were expected to join the hajj, one of…

GARBA Shehu, a former spokesperson for ex-President Muhammadu Buhari has explained that the former Nigerian leader put petrol subsidy removal and the unification of the country’s foreign exchange rates on hold “for a better time”. Shehu made this known in a statement on Monday exactly four weeks after President Bola Tinubu took over from Buhari on May 29, 2023 and announced petrol subsidy removal, with a litre of the vital commodity jumping from N184 to over N500, amid attendant economic pain. “Removing subsidies for the Naira and PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) was cued and put on hold. Look for example…

THE Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed on Monday announced his voluntary resignation. Rasheed disclosed this in an interaction with our correspondent and noted that he would be returning to the Bayero University Kano to continue his job as a lecturer. News Point Nigeria reports that Rasheed was appointed as the NUC boss seven years ago during the tenure of the erstwhile minister of education, Adamu Adamu. Under his tenure as NUC executive secretary, the commission approved the highest number of private universities. The university system also witnessed the highest number of industrial actions. More details…

BARRING any last minute change, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will return to the country on Tuesday, a day before the Sallah celebrations. A source close to the Presidency confirmed this to News Point Nigeria on Sunday, saying the President would spend the Sallah holiday in Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub. According to the source, an advance team has already been dispatched ahead of the President’s arrival. On Friday, Tinubu concluded his official trip to Paris, during which he participated in the summit for ‘A New Global Financing Pact’ hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. The President used the opportunity of…

THE Federal Government said 125 stranded Nigerians have departed Sudan to Nigeria on Saturday morning. Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocol, Nigeria in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), disclosed this on Saturday. In a message, he said Tarco Airline aircraft: ST-TAL B737-300 “Left Port Sudan International Airport today, 24th June 2023, at 10:45am. local time, with 125 Nigerian nationals (Evacuees).” Recall in May, News Point Nigeria had reported that, about 160 women claiming to be Nigerians working in Sudan have no passports to fly back to the country. The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha…

THE Department of State Services told the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Tuesday that suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, will flee the country if granted bail. The Attorney General of the Federation also supported the argument of the DSS, describing Emefiele as a “flight risk”. The former head of the apex bank is challenging his detention by the DSS and denying him seeing his family members and lawyers. This newspaper reports that Emefiele was suspended by President Bola Tinubu and subsequently detained by the DSS on Saturday, June 10, 2023. At the resumption of hearing on…

THE Federal Government says the Boards of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) are not dissolved. In a statement on Tuesday, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume said the two boards are exempted from the dissolution of the Boards of Federal government parastatals, agencies, institutions and government-owned companies earlier announced later Monday. The statement with the clarification was signed by the Director of Information in the SGF Office, Willie Bassey on behalf of Akume. “Further to the directive on the dissolution of…

IN a bid to further strengthen the nation’s judiciary, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has sworn in six newly appointed judges of the National Industrial Court at the Supreme Court in Abuja. Justice Ariwoola on Monday charged the judges to discharge their duties with utmost honour and integrity in line with their calling by shunning all forms of corruption. He said the nation’s judiciary is in need of men and women of unquestionable character, who will dispense Justice to the citizens without the fear of external intimidation and manipulation. In his address, he asked the newly…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Monday approved the dissolution of boards of Federal Government parastatals, agencies, institutions and government-owned companies. See full statement: PRESS RELEASE PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU APPROVES DISSOLUTION OF BOARDS OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARASTATALS, AGENCIES, INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNMENT-OWNED COMPANIES President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has approved the immediate dissolution of the Governing Boards of all Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies, Institutions, and Government-Owned Companies in the exercise of its Constitutional Powers and in the Public interest. The dissolution does not, however, affect Boards, Commissions and Councils listed in the Third Schedule, Part 1, Section 153 (i) of the 1999…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will on Thursday, June 22, 2023 make his first official trip overseas since his inauguration as Nigeria’s new leader on May 29, 2023. The President will join world leaders in Paris, France, said his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Dele Alake. In a statement on Monday, Alake said the President will join other world leaders to review and sign a New Global Financial Pact that places vulnerable countries on priority list for support and investment, following devastating impact of climate change, energy crisis, and after effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Summit, which will…

THE number of extremely poor Nigerians currently stands at 71 million, according to 2023 data from World Poverty Clock. The World Poverty Clock is a tool to monitor progress against poverty globally. Tonye Cole, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, who quoted the data also said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) classes 133 million people as multidimensionally poor. He spoke Saturday in Abuja, at the Nigeria Zero Hunger Symposium, organised by T200 Foundation to mark World Hunger Day and unveiling of Nigeria’s hunger report. Quoting the United Nations (UN), Cole said globally, 25,000 die…

THE Department of State Services (DSS) said Godwin Emefiele was granted access to his family and doctors long before a court gave a directive for such. A Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the DSS to let the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor to have access his family and lawyers. But in a Saturday statement, the DSS spokesman Peter Afunanya said the agency did that before the court order. “It is instructive to state that the Service had granted the family of Emefiele, medical officials, and appropriate persons access to him, right from the day he was…

THE Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the DSS has been ordered to immediately grant the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, unrestricted access to his lawyers and family members as it is within his constitutional right.  Emefiele was arrested by the DSS on Saturday, hours after his suspension by President Bola Tinubu on Friday evening. The order came from Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting at Maitama Abuja on Friday, following an application by J.B. Daudu SAN, counsel to Emefiele.  He informed the court…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Thursday reminisced about the special moments he shared with his late mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji. The president shared a remembrance note for his mum on social media, who died on this day, a decade ago. “10 years ago, today, my darling mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji passed away. “On this day, I remember her love, grit, devotion and generosity. “I will always cherish the time we had together and the values of hard work, forthrightness and perseverance she instilled in me,” the president wrote on his official Facebook Page. He prayed that Allah will continue to rest…

THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to immediately invite Senator Ahmad Muhammad Bulkachuwa for interrogation and proceed to prosecute him accordingly. This comes after Bulkachuwa’s disclosure that his wife, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, “extended help” to some politicians during her time as President of the Court of Appeal between April 2014 and March 2020. The NBA, in a statement by its President, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, on Wednesday, noted that the viral video clip of the comments made by the…

SUSPENDED Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, is currently in custody of the Department of State Services (DSS). It was learnt that Bawa arrived the headquarters of DSS at about 9:02pm. A source said he’s currently being grilled by the operatives of the secret police. Spokesman of the DSS, Peter Afunanya, confirmed Bawa’s presence to a select journalists but did not go into details. More details shortly…

SENATE President, Godswill Akpabio is currently at the State House to visit President Bola Tinubu after his inauguration as the 10th Senate President. Akpabio (APC Akwa Ibom) in a keenly contested election defeated his opponent, Abdullazeez Yari (APC Zamfara) with 66 votes against 43. Akpabio was a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, while Yari, who is a first-term Senator, was a former governor of Zamfara state. Two other aspirants, Orji Uzor-Kalu (APC Abia and also a former governor and Osita Izunaso (APC Imo), stepped down from the contest after persuasions from both the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu addressed Nigerians on the occasion of the 2023 Democracy Day on Monday, June 12. Democracy Day is celebrated yearly on June 12 in honour of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola and other heroes of democracy. Addressing Nigerians on Monday, Nigeria’s newly inaugurated President said the heroes of democracy paid the supreme price for the gains enjoyed in the country currently. Tinubu said the 2023 general elections showed that democracy is well alive in Nigeria. According to him, the beauty of democracy is that winners today…

WITH Friday night’s suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, President Bola Tinubu has tasked the Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate, Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, with leading the country’s apex financial institution in an acting capacity. Having served in the deputy governor role since October 2018, according to the website of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Shonubi has represented the CBN governor on the FIRS Board since December 9, 2019. Born on March 7, 1962, he attended the University of Lagos from 1978 to 1983 and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.…