AHEAD of the Wednesday’s judgment to be delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Court, the Presidency says that President Bola Tinubu is not worried about the outcome of the court. “He (Tinubu) is not worried simply because he knows he won the election,” said presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday monitored by News Point Nigeria. According to Ngelale, the President sees no need to threaten judicial officers, saying that the judiciary is in the best position to make independent decision based on the merits of the case before it. “The President sees no need…
Author: Abdullahi Maitama Sani
THE leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has boycotted the meeting convened by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, with a view to averting the two-day warning strike already declared by the organised labour. Our correspondent, who is currently covering the meeting, reports that only the leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) by its President, Festus Osifo, showed for the meeting slated for 3pm but started at exactly 5:52pm. The meeting has currently gone into a closed-door session, with the minister appealing to the journalists to excuse the stakeholders to deliberate on critical issues. The NLC…
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday received briefings from service chiefs on their ongoing operations ahead of his proposed trip to India to attend the G-20 summit. The second regular routine national security council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja was attended by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla. This newspaper reports that the meeting on general security situation in the country, including review of areas where the service chiefs…
THE Department of State Services (DSS) says it has uncovered plans by some elements in parts of the country to stage violent protests in order to discredit the Federal Government and security agencies over sundry socio-economic matters. The agency’s spokesman Peter Afunanya raised the alarm in an early Monday statement but said the DSS has identified the ring leaders of the plot. “The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby informs the public that it has uncovered plans by some elements in parts of the country to stage violent protests in order to discredit the Federal Government and security agencies over…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will jet to New Delhi, India, on Monday to attend the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, has said. In a statement on Sunday made available to News Point Nigeria, Ngelale said the President will be departing Abuja for the summit in India on the special invitation of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The President will travel to India alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani; and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite.…
THE bickering over the Contract for Service Boat Operations Monitoring Agent in the pilotage districts of Lagos, Warri, Bonny/ Port-Harcourt and Calabar came to an end on Wednesday with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) giving the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) a No-Objection approval to engage contractors who had been pre-qualified for the job. With the issuance of the Certificate of No-Objection dated August 30, 2023, the new firms are now due to take over the Service Boat Operations Monitoring contract previously handled for years by Intels. The new companies approved for engagement by the BPP are ICA Logistics Limited…
IN its desperate effort to avert the Nigeria Labour Congress’ warning strike scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, the Federal Government says it is ready to meet with the labour union on Monday. However, the labour union said there was no going back on the two-day warning strike, even as it affirmed that it remained open to negotiations with the government despite breaking its previous promises. Already, some state chapters of the NLC said they were ready to proceed with the strike, while some others said their executive committee would meet on Monday as a precursor to the strike. The NLC…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has recalled all ambassadors, both career and non-career. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, disclosed this on Saturday, September 2. Tuggar’s Adviser on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, in a statement, confirmed that all Nigerian ambassadors have been recalled. The statement confirming the recall of the ambassadors states: “Sequel to the inquiries on the letter recalling the Nigerian ambassador to the UK, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has clarified that all career ambassadors and non-career ambassadors have been recalled on the instructions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. “Ambassadors as representatives of…
KANO state Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabiru Yusuf has described Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima as a gentleman of proven integrity, intellect and wisdom whose visionary and exemplary leadership has positively impacted on the lives of millions of Nigerians over the years. This was contained in a letter of felicitation signed by the Governor to the vice president as he clocks 57 years today, Saturday. Governor Yusuf expressed optimism on the capacity of Shettima to provide enormous contributions towards general development of the country as demonstrated during his two-term tenure as the Governor of Borno State. “I am very optimistic…
THE Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in charge of Economic Policy, Kingsley Obiora, was reportedly released by the Department Of State Service (DSS) late Friday after three days in custody. News Point Nigeria had earlier on Friday reported that Obiora was arrested by the DSS, in connection of a wider part of allegations of financial mismanagement under the embattled and suspended governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele, who is in custody of the nation’s secret police. A source within the CBN alleged that the Special Investigations Panel set up by President Bola Tinubu to investigate…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Friday approved the appointment of Khalil Suleiman Halilu as the new Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, by this appointment, Khalil Suleiman Halilu will serve for an initial term of five years in accordance with the relevant sections of the NASENI Act, 2014. “Halilu, 32, is expected to bring his significant experience as an innovator and technology expert to bear in this important new national assignment. ”The tenure…
THE Department Of State Service (DSS) has arrested the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of economic policy, Kingsley Obiora this newspaper gathered. Obiora has now spent four nights in custody under questioning by the security service, which has been looking into allegations of financial mismanagement under Godwin Emefiele, the ousted governor. Emefiele, who was first appointed as CBN governor in June 2014, has been in DSS custody since June 10, 2023, a day after he was removed from office by President Bola Tinubu. While two federal judges have ordered Emefiele’s release, the DSS has continued to…
FROM October 1, 2023, all international airlines operating from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos are expected to move from the old international terminal building, which will be shut down for repairs, to the new terminal building. The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, said this on Thursday during a tour of aviation facilities at the Lagos airport. Keyamo also promised reforms in the aviation sector. According to him, all arrangements under his predecessor, Hadi Sirika, including the planned Nigeria Air, have been put on hold, to enable proper audit of contracts. The minister, who also took a bus ride…
PERHAPS stung by the ongoing military coup d’états’ in parts of West and Central Africa, President Paul Kagame has announced major changes in the security forces. The changes made by Kagame on Wednesday, August 30 affected high-ranking military personnel. Kagame retired hundreds of soldiers in a move that followed the promotions of several young soldiers in the country’s security apparatus and the appointments of new generals to head army divisions stationed in different parts of the country. A statement by the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) showed Kagame had “approved the retirement of a dozen generals, 83 senior officers and six…
THE House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the utilization of Ecological Funds and other intervention funds of the Great Green Wall Project on Wednesday queried claims by the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) that it spent N81bn to plant 21 million trees in the 11 frontline northern states. The states are Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. NAGWW Director-General, Yusuf Maina Bukar, told the committee that the agency also spent N697.71m on renovation of office accommodation and N11.28bn on capital projects. He said the main funding of the agency was from 15…
THE National Legal Adviser of the New Nigeria Peoples, Robert Hon, on Wednesday restated that the party’s Board of Trustees lacks the constitutional mandate to suspend the Presidential candidate of the party, Rabiu Kwankwaso. He explained that the only competent body to suspend Kwankwaso is the National Executive Committee, which must comply, with due process. To this extent, he described the purported suspension of Kwankwaso, as a figment of the imagination, of a non-existent BoT, who have since been dissolved. “Kwankwaso has been and is still a Bona fide card-carrying member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party. Any faction, claiming…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has expressed his deep concern over the political situation in Gabon and the socio-political stability in that country. Tinubu’s reaction came hours after a group of Gabonese military officers appeared on television Wednesday announcing they were “putting an end to the current regime” and cancelling an election that, according to official results, President Ali Bongo Ondimba won. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, while speaking with journalists, also expressed the Tinubu’s belief that the rule of law and a faithful recourse to constitutional resolution of electoral disputes must not be allowed…
THE military has announced a coup in Gabon, deposing President Ali Bongo, who was declared winner of Saturday’s election. Bongo, who came to power after the death of his father in 2009, won a third term in an election which opposition argued was heavily disputed. The BBC quoted soldiers to have appeared on Gabonese national television in Gabon to say they had taken power. The coupists also announced the annulment of Saturday’s election. The development comes amid the move to resolve the removal of a democratically elected president in Niger Republic. Both the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)…
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) made a U-turn on Tuesday and disowned campaign council lists it earlier released ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship polls in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states. “The lists are not official documents of the party,” said APC spokesman, Felix Morka, in a statement late Tuesday. The APC had earlier on Tuesday released campaign council lists ahead of the off-season governorship polls in the three states. The lists was signed by National Organising Secretary of the party, Sulaimon Argungu. The campaign council for Bayelsa prominently featured ex-Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, as a member.…
OFFICIAL of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have demolished a market called “Kasuwar Dare”. The market located at Hassan Musa Katsina Street, near Kpaduma II in Asokoro Extension, Abuja, was said to have harboured suspected hoodlums and drug dealers. In a chat with journalists, the Director, Department of Development Control, Mr Mukhtar Galadima, said the market was becoming a threat to the residents of the area and passerby. He said the area was turned into a haven for criminal activities despite relentless efforts by the FCT Administration to sanitise the area. According to him, the miscreants operating in the…