Author: Hamza Rufai

SOME bandits in the early hours of Tuesday invaded a mosque at the Sabon Layi, Kakangi ward in Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing the Imam and one worshipper identified as Kabir, with two others sustaining various degrees of injuries. Two other worshippers who sustained serious injuries from the attack were identified as Bilya Mairabo and Ashiru Mairabo. They were said to be receiving medical attention at the Jibrin Maigwari General Hospital, Birnin-Gwari. A community leader, Zubair AbduRrauf, told this newspapwer on the telephone that the incident occurred during the early morning prayers (Subhi) around 5am. AbduRrauf, who…

DOMECTIC flight operations resumed at the Kaduna International Airport after over five months when commercial airlines suspended their flights into the airport due to bandits’ threat and other logistics issues. At exactly 5:10 pm on Monday, a commercial passenger plane from Lagos landed at the airport amidst tight security, thereby marking the resumption of flight operations along the route. The Manager of Kaduna International Airport Manager, Adamu Sheikh, declared the airport safe and secure for both passengers and airline operations, insisting that the airport was never shut down due to bandit attacks. Bandits had attacked the precinct of the airport…

BANDITS have killed a local hunter, Bashir Unguwar Shekarau, and two commercial drivers, Mustapha Adamu and Malam Muktar, well known as “Teacher” along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna State. It was learnt that the local hunter was fatally shot last Wednesday when their vehicle came under fire while patrolling the highway. The two commercial drivers were returning to Birnin Gwari around 3:30pm on Saturday when the bandits opened fire on their vehicles. A resident of Birnin Gwari and relative of one of the victims, Shehu Randagi, told this newspaper that another driver also lost his eyes after being hit…

GOOGLE has celebrated Nigeria’s iconic all-time leading goal scorer, Rashidi Yekini with a special doodle on his 60th posthumous birthday. Yekini is fondly remembered for his iconic goal celebration where he held on to the net after scoring Nigeria’s first goal at the USA 1994 World Cup match against Bulgaria, which ended 3-0 in favour of the Super Eagles. The doodle opened with a bio about the Kaduna-born striker “Today’s Doodle celebrates iconic Nigerian footballer Rashidi Yekini, an accomplished forward nicknamed the “Goalsfather” for his ability to sneak shots by the keeper. On this day in 1963, he was born…

FILLING stations, particularly those operated by independent marketers, now dispense Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at prices that are higher than the bands approved by the Federal Government, with some filling stations in the North selling as high as N685/litre. In July, the pump price of petrol was raised from between N537 and N550/litre to N617/litre at filling stations operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto and many states in the North. The price of PMS was also increased from between N488 and N500/litre in Lagos and other South-West states to around N580/litre.…

ANOTHER justice of the Supreme Court, Musa Dattijo will officially retire from the bench on Friday, October 27, 2023. This is coming after the retirement of Justice Amina Augie on September 22, 2023, and the death of Justice Chima Nweze on July 31, 2023. With this development, the apex court has been reduced to 10 justices, 11 short of the 21 stipulated by Section 230(2) of the 1999 Constitution. Announcing Dattijo’s retirement on Sunday in a statement, the Court Spokesperson, Festus Akande said a valedictory court session would be held in his honour on Friday. Akande said the Chief Justice…

A FORMER Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has called for an amendments to the Electoral Act, 2022. He said though the country’s electoral law could be said to be the best in Nigeria’s history, it is not perfect; and there was the need for further amendments to remove ambiguities, clarify and strengthen some of its sections. Jega spoke at a two-day retreat organised for senators by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State. The amendments, he said, should make the electronic transmission of results mandatory from…

A NEW report by the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CeFTIW) has placed Ekiti, Kaduna, Ondo, Lagos and Gombe states top of its Index Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch list and Bauchi, Adamawa, Benue, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states are bottom. The index was released this month by the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation. According to the report, the index looked at six key areas in assigning the scores: Accessibility, Open Budget, Public Procurement, Human Resources, Anti-Corruption, and Citizens Engagement. The index is also an annual assessment that examined the…

ALHAJI Mansur Nuhu Bamalli, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Morocco, is dead. He was also the Magajin Garin Zazzau and biological younger brother to the Emir of Zazzau. A statement by the Media and Publicity officer of the Zazzau emirate council said Mansur Nuhu Bamalli died at a private Hospital in Lagos while on transit to Morocco. The statement added that “funeral prayers will be announced later.” He is survived by a wife and 2 children. Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed the deceased a year ago. In a letter dated October 7 and signed by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey…

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it has noted the appearance of fuel queues in some parts of Lagos and a few other locations around the country. The retail management of the NNPC in a statement on Thursday, said the queues are due to reduced Depot loadout in Apapa, Lagos over a few days. It added that the root cause of the queues has since been addressed. “We assure all Nigerians that there is ample supply with sufficiency of at least 30 days,” the statement said. The NNPC, however, advised motorists to desist from panic buying as distribution…

THE Senate on Wednesday confirmed Ola Olukoyede as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The red chamber also confirmed the appointment of Muhammad Hammajoda as the Secretary of the anti-graft agency. The confirmation of both men followed their screening by the upper chamber on Wednesday afternoon, about a week after they were appointed by President Bola Tinubu. The Senate also screened and confirmed the appointment of Halima Shehu as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA). The President had on October 12, 2023 appointed Olukoyede and Hammajoda as chair and secretary…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Alhaji Ahmad Alhaji Jalal Ahmad Arabi to serve as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for a term of four (4) years in the first instance. This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Ajuri Ngelale, Tuesday. The statement read in full: PRESIDENT TINUBU APPOINTS NEW NAHCON CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER; APPROVES DISSOLUTION OF NAHCON BOARD PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Alhaji Jalal Ahmad Arabi to serve as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the…

TROOPS of Operation SAFE HAVEN from October 9 to 16, witnessed the neutralisation of bandits and armed robbers, the arrest of numerous suspects, the recovery of arms and ammunition, and the conviction of several criminals in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, and Bauchi State. In a statement released by the Nigerian Army via its X account on Tuesday, the operation dubbed “HAKORIN DAMISA IV,” highlighted that throughout the operation, the troops thwarted attacks, rescued kidnapped individuals, and apprehended suspects involved in various criminal activities. On the neutralization of suspected bandits, the “troops neutralised a suspected bandit named Saidu AKA Director, who attempted…

A SENIOR Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collected approximately 3.2 trillion Naira from various sources but had only printed 402 billion Naira when it tried to phase out the old N200, N500 and N100 notes with new ones. Speaking on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily monitored by News Point Nigeria, Falana berated former central bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, for the currency redesign earlier in the year which led to a scarcity of the naira currency at the time. In response to these distressing events that followed the naira redesign…

BANDITS have released popular Kaduna Islamic scholar, Malam Abubakar Mushawy Ibrahim, who was abducted two months ago, but his 14-year-old eldest son and brother-in-law are still in the bandits’ custody. This reported that the bandits forcibly entered the scholar’s residence in Fondisho, a community along the Kaduna-Zaria highway, and abducted him, his wife, newborn baby, and eldest son on August 9, 2023. The tragic incident occurred a day after the scholar’s wife gave birth to their newborn. According to a close associate of the scholar, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the bandits eventually released the wife and the newborn…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will today (Monday) swear in three additional ministers into his 48-person cabinet, this newspaper learned. A senior official in the Presidency, who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, confirmed to our correspondent that the three new ministers will be sworn into office at the Council Chamber of the State House before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council meeting. Monday’s FEC meeting is the second since Tinubu’s inauguration as President on May 29. It is coming after a 48-day hiatus. News Point Nigeria reports that the Council…

SPOKESPERSON of the Nigeria Police Force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, says police personnel who trot guns at Nigerians in order to extort them are not different from armed robbers. A crypto trader and influencer on X, had dragged the police after his house was allegedly broken into and he was arrested forcefully. The man claimed the police broke into his estate wearing normal clothes without any search warrant, taking all the men who lived there to the station, questioning them and claiming they were internet fraudsters. He provided debit alerts where they took some money from him, while stating that they collected…

THE Federal Government, on Friday, announced that Nigeria’s oil production has increased to about 1.7 million barrels per day, up from the 1.1mbpd recorded in August 2023. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed this in a session with journalists at his office in Abuja on Friday. He said, “We have a sole agenda and it is to increase crude oil production. Once you increase production there will be more revenue for Nigeria and that is the recipe to virtually all the problems we have in this country. “You know that Nigeria is very dependent on…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal filed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging his victory in the 2023 presidential election. The President described the appeal as abusive in nature and prayed for its dismissal. The President insisted that the PDP presidential candidate (Atiku) and his party failed to prove all their allegations and submissions at the Tribunal. Tinubu submitted that the tribunal was correct in arriving at its verdict and affirming his election. He urged the apex court to affirm the decision of the lower court while…

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday took a jibe at the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, saying he is seeking “cheap” media attention. Earlier, Obi had in a press conference asked President Bola Tinubu to save Nigeria and himself from what he described as “protracted embarrassment and undue anxiety” over the controversy surrounding his certificate. He was speaking in light of what has transpired recently where a US court ordered the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the President’s academic records at the request of the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. In a statement on Wednesday,…