THE leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have declared a total nationwide strike effective next Tuesday, November 14, 2023. The leadership of the two union reached the resolution after an extraordinary National Executive Council meeting on Tuesday in Abuja. The two major labour unions said nationwide mobilisation of members and allies have begun immediately. The action by the Organised Labour followed the brutalisation of NLC National President, Joe Ajaero, last week in Imo State. There had been widespread outrage by the Organised Labour accusing the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Mohammed Barde,…
Author: Abdullahi Maitama Sani
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THE Senate on Tuesday urged the Nigerian government to work with the United Nations and other countries of the world to ensure immediate ceasefire in the ongoing Israeli-Palestine war. It also urged the federal government to press for two-state solution to end the conflict, in which thousands, including women, children and aid workers had been killed. According to the health ministry, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 10,000 people — including more than 4,000 children. Referencing the Nigerian civil war and the concomitant horror encountered by Nigerians, the Senate equally urged the United Nations to revisit the issue of…
DESPITE the federal government’s warning on the US Mission in Nigeria and other foreign missions in the country against “needless security advisories”, Canada also joined the United States and the United Kingdom in issuing a warning against non-essential travel to Nigeria. News Point Nigeria had reported that the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi had stated 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…
THE Presidency on Monday threw a jibe at the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, saying that the businessman once benefited from judicial pronouncements when he reclaimed his mandate as governor of Anambra State in 2007 but he now castigates the same when the Supreme Court ruled in the favour of President Bola Tinubu on October 26, 2023. The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made this known in a statement hours after Obi faulted the Supreme Court verdict which affirmed the electoral victory of Tinubu, the then candidate of the…
WITH days to the November 11, 2023 off-season governorship polls in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that polling unit results will be uploaded real-time on the Result Viewing Portal (IReV). INEC’s Acting Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mary Nkem, stated this on Channels Television’s People’s Townhall on Election Security in Abuja on Sunday night monitored by News Point Nigeria. The official said all the glitches experienced during the general elections earlier in the year had been fixed. She said INEC has put a lot of plans in place to guarantee…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will, this week, depart Abuja for Riyadh, capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to attend the Saudi-Africa summit and the Arab African summit both scheduled to hold on November 10 and 11, 2023, respectively. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, who briefed State House Correspondents on Sunday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, disclosed that Tinubu’s appearance at the summits marks fresh moves to engage Arab nations to attract businesses and additional Foreign Direct Investment to Nigeria. Ngelale said, “ President Bola Tinubu will be heading to Riyadh, the Kingdom of…
AHEAD of Saturday’s governorship elections in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states, the Inspector-General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, has deployed undercover agents, who are currently carrying out covert operations to identify criminals’ hideouts and clamp down on them in the three states and neighbouring states. This newspaper also gathered that President Bola Tinubu had approved the allowances for police officers deployed for the off-season elections in the three states, as well as other officers on special duties. Governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa have in recent years been marred by several unsettling events, which led to avoidable loss of lives…
THE United States has warned its citizens in Nigeria of threats to major hotels in the “larger cities” of the country. The US issued this warning in an emergency information for American citizens dated November 3, adding that the Nigerian security agencies are working to counter the threat. It also advised US citizens to exercise vigilance at major hotels, be alert of their surroundings, keep a low profile, and review the travel advisory for Nigeria before checking into any hotels. “The U.S. Government is aware of credible information that there is an elevated threat to major hotels in Nigeria’s larger…
AMID the raging debate on the N5bn presidential yacht to be procured by the Federal Government, as captured in the 2023 supplementary budget submitted to the National Assembly, the Nigerian Navy on Friday affirmed that it had taken delivery of the yacht. The Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan, in an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, stated that the yacht had been in the country since June, 2023. He explained that the service made a “long overdue request” for the replacement of the defunct presidential yacht during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. He…
THE Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is deploying back-channel strategies to restore constitutional order in Niger Republic. The regional bloc, while trying to avoid bloodshed in the West African nation, would also explore diplomatic interventions. This was disclosed on Friday by President Bola Tinubu who received the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Catherine Colonna, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital. According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, the Nigerian leader said he has to guide the regional bloc carefully to protect detained…
THE organised labour comprising of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has declared a plan for a nationwide strike over the beating and abduction of their President, Joe Ajaero. The strike scheduled to be held on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, was made known in a press briefing on Friday. According to the leaders of the joint union, the Federal Government is given a six-point demand, including the immediate removal of the Commissioner of Police, Imo State, and Area Commander, among other officials, for their alleged complicity in the brutalisation and humiliation of Ajaero and other workers.…
THE Supreme Court has fixed January 26, 2024, for judgment in the appeal by a former member of the House of Representatives Farouk Lawan who is presently in jail. A five-member panel led by Justice John Okoro chose the date after lawyers to parties made their final submissions and adopted their written briefs. Lawan’s appeal is seeking to set aside the February 24, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sentenced him to a five-year jail term and discharged him on two out of the three counts on the corruption charge brought against him by the Federal…
THE Court of Appeal Abuja has affirmed the victory of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs, Jibrin Isah. Delivering judgment on Thursday, the appellate court held that the witness on which the tribunal relied its judgment, was incompetent. The court subsequently expunged the exhibits presented by the witness from the records. The appellate court, thereafter, set aside the judgment of the tribunal and affirmed Isah’s victory. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Isah of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Kogi East Senatorial District election. But the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who…
THE House of Representatives has moved the proposed allocation for the procurement of a Presidential Yacht to the student loan policy of the Federal Government, thereby increasing it from N5.5billion loan to N10billion in the 2023 supplementary budget. The chairman, House Appropriations Committee, Hon. Abubakar Kabir Bichi, made this known on Thursday while addressing journalists shortly after the approval of the supplementary budget. “As far as we are concerned, we don’t have that presidential yacht anymore. We have increased the student loan (budget). “If you recall, the student loan was N5billion in the budget, but we have increased it to…
THE Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday, defended the N18bn contained in the proposed supplementary budget for the commission when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. The INEC chairman was among the guests who appeared before the committee. He explained that the N18bn in the supplementary budget is not entirely for the conduct of the Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo governorship elections, but majorly personnel cost. According to the INEC chair, chairman, N1.6bn would be used to conduct 11 by-elections in constituencies and senatorial districts across the country. Yakubu said, “The…
THE Senate, on Thursday, sworn in Senator-elect for Kogi Central Senatorial District, Barr Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as a member of the 10th Senate. This followed her presentation with Certificate of Return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the duly elected Senator for Kogi Central. Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), becomes the first female Senator from Kogi State. Earlier on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, upheld Akpoti-Uduaghan as the duly elected candidate in the Kogi Central Senatorial Election held earlier in February. The court dismissed the appeal filed by Abubakar…
THE House of Representatives, on Wednesday, issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein, to submit a detailed report on the use of the N100bn COVID-19 intervention funds approved and released by the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari to ministries, departments and agencies between 2020 and 2022. The Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Bamidele Salam, who issued the notice in Abuja expressed dismay at the AGF’s refusal to comply with the resolution of the committee to submit the report on October 27, 2023. He noted that the House had mandated the committee…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, challenged his 48 ministers to deliver on their responsibilities or get sacked. Tinubu said he is determined to succeed in discharging his duties as President and charged his cabinet members to ensure they don’t become clogs in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress. The President gave this charge while declaring open, a three-day Cabinet Retreat at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja. President Tinubu, who stated that at the end of the retreat, a bond of understanding would be signed between the participants and himself, said: “If you’re are performing, nothing to fear. If you’re…
THE scheduled meeting between the organised labour and Federal Government today, over the 30-day ultimatum to meet the demands of the former as contained in a signed Memorandum of Understanding, has been postponed. A top official of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who spoke with this newspaper, said the meeting will now hold next Tuesday. He said that the meeting was postponed at the instance of the Federal Government; “they shifted it because they did not remember that the supposed date was to be their Federal Executive Council meeting.” The essence of the meeting with the government is to agree on…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has warned his son, Seyi, and other persons from interrupting meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The president said he observed Seyi and other unauthorised persons breezing in and out of the federal cabinet meeting convened every week to discuss the most crucial issues of national importance. He cautioned specifically that such activities must end. “Last week, I noticed the undue access of people sneaking in and out of this Council, including… I saw the photograph of my son, Seyi, sitting behind. That is not acceptable. I will announce to you those people who are supposed…