Author: Farouk Abbas

THE United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Kano Field Office has disclosed that 556,750 children in Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina have not received a single dose of vaccination, sparking fears of vulnerability to preventable diseases. Mr. Michael Banda, Officer-in-Charge of the UNICEF Field Office Kano, expressed these concerns during a media dialogue on vaccines and immunisation held in Kano, represented by Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammed Farah, Chief of Field Office. Banda emphasised the critical role of immunisation in protecting children from vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio. He stressed the urgent need for collaborative efforts among government agencies, development partners, religious and traditional…

AFTER a manhunt spanning 13 years, Police operatives in Bauchi State have announced the arrest of the suspected killers of six National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members serving in Giade local government area of Bauchi State in 2011. The Corps members were gruesomely murdered by the suspects during the 2011 post-election violence. The suspects also allegedly killed a Police officer, Rifkatu Bappa, who was on counter duty at a Police Charge Room in Giade LGA of the State during the 2011 post-election violence. Parading the suspects on Thursday at the State’s Police Command headquarters in Bauchi, the Commissioner of Police,…

BARNKSFORTE Group Limited has congratulated the newly appointed Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps )FRSC), Mr Shehu Mohammed. This is contained in a statement issued and personally signed by the Manging Director and Chief Operating Officer of Barnksforte Group Limited, Mr Adedayo Bankole on Thursday. Bankole said,  “On behalf of myself, and the entire Barnksforte Group Ltd., it is with immense pride and heartfelt joy that I extend our warmest congratulations to you on your appointment as the new Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). “Witnessing your journey and the exemplary service you have rendered over…

THE Northern Reform Organisation has urged President Bola Tinubu to use the anniversary of his first year in office as an opportunity to reflect and proffer solutions on a slow march to national development. The northern elders group also call on Nigerian leaders to consider this period for powerful rumination on our match for peace, progress and development. NRO in a statement signed by its Director, Publicity, Mahmoud Adnan Audi and Director, Research and Planning, Hamisi Isa Sharifai, said, “our development journey has been hampered by a lot of obstacles both homemade and foreign inspired. Our leaders need to redouble…

THE Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, has provided some hope for Nigerian health professionals, promising adjustment in their wages very soon. The Minister made this declaration on Channels Television’s May 29 Special programme monitored by News Point Nigeria on the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu. Asked if there will be a significant increase in the salary of health workers soon, Pate said: “I think in the context of compensation for workers in Nigeria we should expect an adjustment.” Over the years, health professionals in Nigeria have several times complained of low wages as well…

INDIGENES of Kogi State have cautioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  against those they described as embittered and desperate ethnic jingoists who are strengthening the public opinion that the Commission is collaborating with certain opposition figures to persecute the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. The indigenes said since the allegation of corruption by the EFCC against the former Governor became a national discourse, “some persons who are afraid of chasing their dreams at the polls have hidden under the veneer of activism to sponsor their tribesmen to impugn on the character of ex Governor Yahaya…

THE Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has summoned the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and the Chief Judge of Kano State High Court over conflicting interim injunctions regarding the Kano Emirate, causing uncertainty in the state. The Federal High Court in Kano, presided over by Justice S. A. Amobeda, issued an order for the eviction of Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II from the Kofar Kudu Palace, reinforcing the authority of the 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero. “An order of interim injunction restraining the respondents from inviting, arresting, detaining, threatening, intimidating, harassing the Applicant, or…

THE Federal Government on Tuesday said it had reinstated the suspended social investment programme, disclosing the scheme would provide direct payments to 75 million Nigerians in 50 million households to reduce the suffering of citizens, especially vulnerable groups. It stated that the cash transfer programme was overhauled to tackle fraud. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, announced this at the ministerial sectoral briefing to mark the first year in office of the President Bola Tinubu administration in Abuja. On January 12, Tinubu suspended all the programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme…

THE Senate has pardoned and recalled Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi, who was suspended on March 12, 2024. The recall process was initiated on Tuesday after a motion moved by Deputy Minority Leader Senator Abba Moro, who expressed regret on behalf of the suspended senator. He pledged to assume full responsibility for Ningi’s actions, acknowledging the gravity of the suspension. The senator’s conduct during the period of suspension has been a matter of scrutiny and debate within the legislative body. The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, announced the unconditional recall of Ningi after a brief plea by some lawmakers. Akpabio…

THE Organised Labour has again rejected a fresh minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government. This time, the Organised Labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) rejected the offer of the Federal Government to pay ₦60,000 as new minimum wage. The Organised Labour also shifted grounds from its ₦497,000 stance last week to ₦494,000. A prominent member of the Tripartite Committee for the negotiation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers told News Point Nigeria’s correspondent that the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector side of the talks proposed a ₦60,000 monthly…

THE Director of Communications and Liaison Department, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Abuja, Dr. Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad has affirmed that since the assumption of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D, to office, has followed keenly his enunciation of his principles of taxation, which, to my mind, can translate to a pathway to Nigeria’s economic growth. He said Adedeji’s principles of taxation embody some of the normative principles of taxation which are certainty, flexibility, equity, simplicity, and utmost good faith. “At every given forum, Adedeji does not fail to reify his wholesome principles of…

THE Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on Monday, affirmed Usman Ododo as the Governor of Kogi State. In upholding the election of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the tribunal dismissed the petition of Muritala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The three-member tribunal led by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu held that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its governorship candidate, Murtala Ajaka failed to prove their allegations against the respondents. Birnin-Kudu said the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act . The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Ododo, the candidate of…

JuSTICE Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, has fixed May 29 for the trial of the detained leader of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Bodejo. The court fixed the date after dismissing the application for bail of the accused person. At the last adjourned date, the case was fixed for ruling and commencement of trial of Bodejo but his absence in court stalled the trial from going ahead. Shortly after the court fixed the date for trial, his counsel, Ahmed Raji, said his client is ready for trial. He said since the court has ordered expeditious…

THE National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has threatened to file a defamation suit against the deputy governor of Kano State, Aminu Gwarzo. The Deputy Governor had alleged that the NSA facilitated the return of the dethroned Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, by providing him with two private jets. Although Ribadu has since denied the allegation, he is threatening to sue the deputy governor if he fails to retract the claim. In a letter to the Deputy Governor from Aliyu & Musa Chambers, counsel to Ribadu, the NSA demanded an apology from the deputy governor which must be tendered within…

HUNDREDS of activists, on Saturday, stormed the streets of Lagos to protest alleged underground moves by some desperate opposition figures in Kogi State as well as other perceived political enemies to unleash terror on the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, using the platform of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The activists, who addressed a press conference and also staged a huge rally, condemned calls by a group called Zero Corruption Agenda in collaboration with another group, Kogites United Against Corruption, for the EFCC to ignore court orders guaranteing Bello’s fundamental human rights and effect an arrest…

TOP security Chiefs in Kano are currently meeting with Governor Abba Yusuf and Emir Muhammadu Sanusi. The meeting comes amid the royal tussle which has sparked tension across the state. The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) controlled House of Assembly had repealed Kano Emirates Council law which ex-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje used to dethrone Sanusi. Yusuf had assented to the law on Thursday and ordered the Emirs affected by it to vacate palaces within 48 hours. While four of the Emirs complied, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero returned to Kano and moved into the palace at Nassarawa. Irked by the development, Yusuf…

AGAIN, scores of Anti-Corruption Civil Society Organisations have kicked against what they described as the perceived use of the platform of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by politicians to fight their political battles. They said this during an emergency Press conference on Friday, in reaction to a joint press conference by “a civil society organisation and a group, which called itself Kogites United Against Corruption Coalition.” The frontline CSOs, led by the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, wondered why a few Nigerians were not seeing the persecution in the current case against the former Governor of Kogi…

THE Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered an interim forfeiture of the sums of $4,719,054, N830,875,611, and several properties linked to a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele. Justice Yellim Bogoro gave the order on Thursday, May 23, 2024, following an ex-parte application by counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Bilkisu Buhari. After listening to the EFCC Counsel, Justice Bogoro in her ruling said: “I have listened to the submission of the applicant’s counsel and also perused the motion just moved, together with the affidavit in support. “I find…

A FEDERAL High Court in Kano on Thursday issued an ex-parte order preventing Governor Abba Yusuf from reinstating Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano. In a suit brought before the Presiding Judge, Justice A.M Liman by Alhaji Aminu Bappa Dan Agundi ( Sarkin Dawaki Babba), on Thursday the Court averred that the implementation and the operation of the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law, 2024 (1445 A.H) be suspended. Justice Liman ordered that “ An order of Interim Injunction of this honourable Court suspending not giving effect to, not implementing the Operation of the Kano State Emirate Council…

A FORMER Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika; his brother, Ahmad Sirika; and a firm, Enginos Nigeria Limited, have been arraigned on a fresh ten-count charge before Justice Suleman Belgore of the the FCT High Court sitting in Garki, Abuja In the new charge, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accused Sirika, his brother, and Enginos of a N19.4 billion airport contract fraud. At the reading of the charge to the defendants, they all pleaded not guilty. The fresh 10-count charges read: COUNT 1 That you HADI ABUBAKAR SIRIKA, while being the Minister of Aviation, on or about 18 August, 2022,…