THE Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday adjourned to Friday, May 19 for continuation of pre-hearing in the petition by presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi against the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu. LP National Chairman, Julius Abure was also in court on Wednesday. The party’s factional chairman, Lamidi Apapa was also present. The Tribunal had last week adjourned the pre-hearing session on Obi and the LP’s petition till May 17 at the instance of the petitioners. On Wednesday, the justices arrived to commence the day’s proceedings and also refused to acknowledge the representation of the…
Author: Maryam Garba
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JUSTICE Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja has granted the request of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to protect the identity of witnesses in a suit against the suspended deputy commissioner of police, Abba Kyari. At the day’s proceedings, Counsel to the NDLEA, Sunday Joseph, asked the judge to restrict lawyers, litigants, visitors and journalists, who are not parties in the suit, from accessing the court during the testimony of the witness. The NDLEA lawyer said the application was to give protection to witnesses who are intelligence officers. Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, granted the application…
THERE were indications, yesterday, that Dangote Petroleum Refinery has the capacity to supply adequate petroleum products — gasoline, diesel, kerosene and aviation jet — to consumers in Nigeria. In the Facts Sheet, obtained by this newspaper, the company, stated: “Dangote Petroleum Refinery can meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products (Gasoline, 53 million litres per day; Diesel, 34 litres per day; Kerosene, 10 million litres per day and Aviation Jet, 2 million litres per day) and also have surplus of each of these products for export. “Designed for 100% Nigerian Crude with flexibility to process other crudes.…
THE Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has declared a five-day warning strike following the failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands. The resident doctors said the strike will commence at 8am on Wednesday, May 17, and will end Monday, May 22, at 8am. This was the decision reached after its six and half hours extraordinary National Executive Council meeting held virtually on Monday. NARD had on April 29, 2023, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands or face industrial disharmony. The ultimatum ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023. The doctors are demanding an…
NIGERIA is now second highest among countries with a high number of maternal deaths in the world, a new report from the World Health Organisation, WHO has disclosed. The report tagged the 2023 Progress Report, revealed that Nigeria accounts for 29 per cent of the global toll in 290,000 maternal deaths cases every year and may miss the SDG target by 2030 The country also ranked highest globally in incidences of neonatal and child deaths. The report also highlighted 8 other countries with high maternal, neonatal and stillbirths including Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia,…
THE Federal Government on Thursday revealed that Nigeria will spend N22.4 billion feeding inmates in correctional centres nationwide. This is according to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr Shuaib Belgore, who disclosed this at a two-day High Conference on Decongestion and Corrections Management in Abuja, the nation’s capital. Belgore stated that the fund is budgeted for in the 2023 Appropriation Act. He said that there has been a steady rise in the population of the custodial centres with at least 80% of the inmates awaiting trial. According to him, there are 244 custodial centres nationwide, with a 75,507-inmate population,…
THE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, on Wednesday, said it has sanctioned no fewer than 35 companies in Kano as of the first quarter of 2023. The NAFDAC State Coordinator, Kasim Idrisa Ibrahim, who made the disclosure to this newspaper, while spotlighting the activities of the agency during the period under review, noted that the agency carried out 280 regulatory activities, within the period, adding that the agency equally carried out 85 unscheduled visits to companies and other business premises. In addition, it carried out 108 surveillances, as part of redoubled efforts towards ensuring best practices,…
THE Emir of Ilorin and Chairman Kwara State Council of Chiefs, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari CFR, has been appointed as the Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano. News Point Nigeria reports that, this is contained in a letter conveyed to the monarch and signed by the Minister for Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, dated 11th April, 2023. See letter below:
THE results of the 80,000 candidates who participated in the mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Saturday, May 6, 2023, have been released, News Point Nigeria can confirm. News Point Nigeria had earlier reported how the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board following an emergency board meeting held in Abuja on May 1, 2023, arranged a mop-up UTME for candidates who missed the chance to sit the examinations between the period scheduled by the board owing to “no faults of their own.” The examination body in the minutes of the meeting cited three categories of candidates namely the candidates, “who were…
ON Monday, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja commenced pre-hearing into the case of some aggrieved parties challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election. This followed the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu as the winner of the keenly contested poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). His rivals – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) rejected the result and are challenging the outcome in court. News Point Nigeria reports the names of the Justices who will be presiding over the various…
SUSPECTED drug barons have abandoned their drugs in Lagos State after a gun battle with operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). News Point Nigeria gathered that following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives laid ambush for the traffickers last Thursday along the Eleko beach road in the Lekki area of the state. NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying that the two trucks were flagged down by operatives of the narcotics agency but they failed to stop. He stated that the situation led to an exchange of gunfire that lasted 30 minutes by armed…
KING Charles III has been crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey at a solemn Christian coronation steeped in 1,000 years of history and tradition, but adapted to reflect 21st-century Britain. News Point Nigeria reports that, the build-up to the ceremony — the religious confirmation of Charles’s accession after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II last September — has been mostly celebratory. Queen Consort Camilla was also anointed and crowned in a simpler ceremony – although she is not asked to take an oath. She’s crowned with Queen Mary’s Crown. Thousands of people turned central London red, white and blue…
EGYPTIAN authorities have sent over 500 students back to Sudan following the failure of two of them to provide either a passport or Emergency Travel Certificate. According to a voice note of a Nigerian official obtained by our correspondent on Friday morning, students without passports or ETC had been instructed to stay back. The official added that two students without any of the documents were impatient and joined their colleagues, adding that the Egyptian authorities were angry and ordered that all the students should be taken back to Sudan to get the needed permits. The voice note said, “Our children…
OFFICERS of the Nigerian Customs Service have expressed dissatisfaction over the non-payment of their election allowances, two months after the 2023 general elections. The officers include Customs Assistants, Assistant Inspector of Customs, Inspector of Customs, Assistant Superintendent of Customs, Deputy Superintendent of Customs, Superintendent of Customs as well as Chief Superintendent Customs officers who were deployed across the country to complement the strength of the Nigeria Police Force during the elections. This newspaper reports that some personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) had made similar complaints in March, even though investigations revealed that some of them were later paid…
NIGERIA has reported a total of 532 confirmed cases out of 1,686 suspected cases of meningitis, including 124 deaths, for a case-fatality ratio of seven per cent. Ther cases were reported from 81 local government areas in 22 states, including the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria from From October 1, 2022, to April 16, 2023. This is according to the epidemiology situation of the disease in Nigeria as of April 27, 2023, released by the World Health Organisation. The report showed that males account for 57 per cent of the total suspected cases. “The highest proportion of reported cases is…
THE Federal Government on Sunday gave a breakdown of the $1.2m spent on the bus fare to evacuate stranded Nigerians from war-torn Sudan to Egypt borders for onward airlifting to Nigeria. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry and Chair of the Situation Room on evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan, gave the explanation after a closed-door meeting of the ministry in Abuja. He explained that $30,000 was paid per bus and that 40 buses were procured for the proper evacuation of Nigerian citizens stranded in Sudan. He also explained the delays experienced by Nigerians at the Egyptian…
THE first batch of 13 buses conveying 637 evacuees have arrived safe borders at Aswan, Egypt and are undergoing necessary documentation and clearance before admission into the Egyptian territory for their eventual evacuation to Nigeria, Daily Trust has learnt. This was disclosed by Ministers of the Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk. A joint statement signed by Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Amb. Janet Olisa and Permanent Secretary, Humanitarian ministry, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo said movement of the second batch of 29 buses would commence…
THE Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has evacuated a total of 2,544 persons from Sudan following the outbreak of a military conflict in the country. Among them, 119 are Saudi citizens while 2,425 are from 74 countries among which 10 are from Nigeria. This was contained in a press release by the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Nigeria on Friday. It reads in part, “In continuation of the evacuation efforts being made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the directives of the Kingdom’s Leaderships, more evacuees continue to arrive at Jeddah Port from the Republic of Sudan on Thursday, bringing the…
VICE-PRESIDENT Yemi Osinbajo and others are billed to speak at the 2023 Mo Ibrahim Governance Weekend, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity Laolu Akande said in a statement on Friday. According to the statement, the Vice President leaves Abuja today for the event in Nairobi, Kenya this weekend and is expected back “soon.” The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the organiser of the annual forum, was established in 2006 with a critical focus on the importance of good governance and leadership for Africa. This year’s theme is “Global Africa.” The forum, tagged The Ibrahim Governance Weekend (IGW),…
THE Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has disclosed that the first set of stranded Nigerians from Sudan, have arrived in Aswan, Egypt. The NiDCOM Chair in a tweet further revealed that they arrived late which saw them meet an already closed border but are expected to leave early in the morning and proceed thereafter to the Airport. She said, “The first set has arrived at the Aswan border in Egypt but the border is already closed. They will leave early morning and then proceed to the airport.” Speaking on the development, an evacuation committee member told News…