Author: Hamza Rufai

THE federal government of Nigeria is currently holding a meeting with the executives of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, over the ongoing nationwide strike. This newspaper gathered that the meeting is taking place at the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA. Those in attendance are the Minister of Labour Simon Bako Lalong, Minister of State Hon. Nkeiruka Onyeajeocha and NSA Nuhu Ribadu. Also in attendance are labour leaders led by TUC President, Festus Osifo, NLC Secretary General Emmanuel Ugboaja and other Labour leaders. Recall that the NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, had declared a nationwide strike, demanding…

THE Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has condemned an online report attributed to its Head of Public Affairs that there would be a national blackout on account of the ongoing nationwide labour strike, describing the report as false and totally misleading. n a statement by its management on Tuesday, the company also said the report was “mischievous and baseless,” adding that “TCN, through the Public Affairs Head, did not make such statement.” The statement is mischievous and baseless as TCN, through the Public Affairs Head, did not make such statement. We hereby note that the nation’s grid is intact and…

NATIONAL Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, has attributed the current financial distress being faced in the country to bankruptcy inherited by the administration led by President Bola Tinubu. Ribadu, however, said despite the financial constraint that has affected budgetary allocations, the federal government would do everything within its power to ensure that there is a robust and viable defence management and apparatus in the country. The NSA stated these in Abuja when he spoke at the Chief of Defence Intelligence Annual Conference 2023 themed: “Leveraging Defence Diplomacy, and Effective Regional Collaboration for Enhanced National Security”. This newspaper reports that the conference,…

THERE was panic and shock when the Saudi Arabian Authorities cancelled the visa of all the 264 passengers airlifted to Jeddah from Lagos and Kano on Sunday. The authorities insisted that the airline should return them back to Nigeria. The flight took off from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos via the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano on Sunday night and landed at King Abdul-Aziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But to the consternation of the airline staff, the Saudi Arabian authorities announced that all the passengers’ visas had been cancelled. This was despite the fact that the passengers…

THE National chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has congratulated Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo state over his re-election in the Saturday off-cycle governorship poll in the state. Ganduje also expressed happiness with the overwhelming support exhibited by the electorates in Kogi state in electing Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo in the state governorship poll. The APC National Chairman, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, Sunday, remarked that the electoral feats of both Uzodimma and Ododo reinforced the fact that Nigerians are well at home with the APC. Ganduje also…

Dozen members of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), band team have died in a fatal accident along the Kano/Zaria road on Sunday morning. Unconfirmed reports said all the band members died in the unfortunate accident. However, the cause of the accident and the actual number of personnel who died were yet to be confirmed at the time of filing this report. The Headquarters of the Service in Abuja has been thrown into a pensive and mourning mood following the tragic accident. It was gathered that the bus conveying the band was returning from Kano on Sunday morning after the band…

A NIGHT fire has razed a part of Gambarou Market, the second market in Maiduguri metropolis, the capital of Borno State. Our correspondent reports that the fire was still raging as of the time of filing this report. This is coming five months after a similar night fire razed part of the international market in March 2023. The cause of the inferno could not be immediately ascertained, but firefighters were still battling to put it out. An eyewitness told our correspondent on the phone that the fire broke out from the shops of spices and grains sellers section of the…

OPERATIVES of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested 14 suspected vote buyers in Otueke, Adawari playgrounds in Bayelsa and at various polling units in Imo and Kogi. EFCC Spokesperson, Dele Oyewale. announced this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja. According to him, the suspects were arrested on Saturday in intelligence-driven operations that commenced several days before the ongoing governorship elections in the three states. “Also, a total sum of N11,040,000, comprising N9,310,00 intercepted from suspected vote buyers and sellers in Bayelsa, and N1,730,000 intercepted from electoral fraud suspects across Imo State, were recovered from them. “Also,…

THE Federal Government has begun compiling the list of new ambassadors, this newspaper gathered. On September 2, President Bola Tinubu recalled all Nigeria’s ambassadors, both career and non-career. They were asked to return to the country on or before October 31, 2023. Nigeria has no fewer than 300 foreign missions. The recall was communicated to the affected envoys by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar. Our correspondent gathered that some ambassadors had returned, while a majority of them still left behind had formally handed over to their most senior officers but perfecting travel plans to return home as…

THE Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has revoked provisional letters of allocation offered to beneficiaries of the National Housing Programme. This was disclosed in a press release signed by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Mahmud Mamman, and obtained by our correspondent on Friday. It was titled, “Review Of Sale Of Houses Under National Housing Programme.” The ministry, claiming to review the conditions and procedures of sales of the houses, said the affected subscribers include beneficiaries of the programme from the first batch to the 14th batch. The statement read, “I write to inform the general public and the…

THE National Industrial Court (NIC) has restrained the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as their affiliates from proceeding on any form of strike or industrial action. The two major labour unions were on Friday evening ordered to stop their nationwide strike action scheduled to commence on November 14. President of the Court Justice Benedict Kanyip issued the restraining order following an ex-parte application brought before the Court by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. Justice Kanyip invoked Sections 17 and 19 of the…

THE House of Representatives on Thursday summoned some agencies to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday to respond to queries issued against them by the Auditor General for the Federation. This newspaper reports that these agencies include the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Niger State Command, Investment and Security Tribunal, and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria. The failure of the agencies to appear before the committee on Thursday angered members of the panel, some of whom said they could not accept the disrespect meted out to the House. The…

WITH hours to the November 11, 2023 governorship elections, the Department of State Services (DSS) has cautioned politicians against provocative comments. In a statement, DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, “observed rising trends and patterns of incendiary comments by some personalities of influence and representatives of non-governmental entities within and outside the country”. The secret police said “such statements run against public peace and harmony”. “With the elections and the attendant contentions legally over, it is expected that we should forge ahead in nation building without rancour or acrimony. This is against the backdrop that reckless rhetorics have the capacity to lead…

MANY passengers missed their flights as members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) mobilised their members for a protest at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Abuja on Thursday. The organised labour gathered at the airport around 8:58am to enforce their directive to members working in the aviation sector to stop all flights to Owerri, the Imo state capital. It was gathered that the protest is part of a series of actions that the two labour unions say they will zero in on Imo State, following the attack on the NLC President, Mister Joe Ajaero. The…

THE Chairman of Media Trust, Publishers of the Daily Trust Newspapers and Trust Television, Malam Kabiru A Yusuf, was yesterday returned to office as the President of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN, for another term . The election also returned some other officers of the Association, as Mr Frank Aigbogun, Publisher of BusinessDay, was elected Vice President, while the Chairman of The Punch Newspapers, Mrs Angela Emuwa, elected as General Secretary. Mr Fidelis Anosike, who until yesterday was the Assistant General Secretary, was elected treasurer, thus paving the way for the election of Mr Azubuike Ishiekwene, the Editor-in-Chief…

AHEAD of the governorship elections held November 11 in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun has deployed three Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) to oversee the security arrangements and ensure the elections run smoothly in the respective states. They are the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Department of Force Intelligence, DIG Habu Sani who is deployed to Kogi State; DIG Daniel Sokari-Pedro in charge of the Department of Information and Communication Technology deployed to Bayelsa State and DIG Frank Mba, DIG Department of Training and Development, who is deployed to…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents registered to participate in the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states. In a list of polling and collation agents released by the electoral umpire on Tuesday, INEC said at the close of the deadline for uploading the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State and 37,995 for Kogi State, making a total of 137,973 agents. The statement was signed by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman,…

THE Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Tuesday announced that there will be no vehicular movement as well as movement of canoe, ships and other means of transportation via waterways in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa starting from Friday. Egbetokun, who said the decision was in line with measures put in place to ensure free, fair and credible elections in the three states, also barred some state security outfits like Ebubeagu and other quasi outfit from carrying out operations during the exercise. The top cop, who disclosed this at the ongoing press briefing at Force Headquarters, explained that both marine and…

THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi, has cautioned the US Mission in Nigeria and other foreign missions in the country against “needless security advisories”. The minister told reporters in Abuja on Monday 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 country is secured. On November 3, the US Mission alerted its citizens in the country of “an elevated threat to major hotels in…

THE former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele didn’t make it to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on Monday.  This is despite an order of a trial judge Justice Olukayode Adeniyi for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce him in court for hearing of his motion on fundamental rights enforcement. Justice Adeniyi had last week ordered the anti-graft agency to release the former CBN governor unconditionally or produce him in court for the hearing of a motion determining his bail. This follows his arrest by the EFCC shortly after his…