Country
Nigerian Army seeks media support to end insurgency
The Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Faruk Yahaya, has called on the media to support the ongoing operation to rout Boko Haram terrorists out of the country. The theatre commander made the call at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri on Saturday during a luncheon organised in honour of the media practitioners in Borno State. Gen Yahaya expressed appreciation to the media, describing practitioners as critical stakeholders in the fight against the terrorists. He added that the media as an important component could enhance operations when effectively harnessed and deployed. The theatre commander charged the media to be reliable partners by effectively deploying its skills and competence in the support of the operations in the North-east. “Media should make effort to deny the crimi...
Prince Charles pays tribute to ‘my dear papa’ Philip for devoted service
Britain’s Prince Charles paid a personal tribute on Saturday to his “dear papa” Prince Philip, saying the royal family missed him emormously and that the 99-year-old would have been amazed at the touching reaction across the world to his death. Philip, the husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth who had been at her side throughout her record-breaking 69-year reign, died at Windsor Castle on Friday. “As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father enormously,” Charles, the couple’s eldest son and heir to the throne, said outside his Highgrove House home in west England. “My dear papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him and from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful f...
Senate president condemns attacks on correctional facilities
President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan has decried recent attacks on Police formations and Correctional facilities in Imo. A statement by Mr Ola Awoniyi, the senate presidents Special Assistant on Media, said Lawan described those responsible for the attacks as enemies of the people and country. Lawan stated this in Owerri on Friday while inaugurating a road project completed by Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo. He said that the aim of the attackers was probably to cause a distraction for the Imo government or even the Federal Government. The road which was named after a former Senate President, Late Chief Evan Enwerem, was one of the infrastructural projects inaugurated to mark Uzodinma’s one year in office. Lawan advised the people to take ownership of the projects, utilise them well and protect t...
South-West PDP congress: Seyi Makinde, Ayo Fayose’s groups fight over 756 delegates
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, are to test their popularity with 756 delegates that will elect officials of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South-West on Monday. While Makinde is backing a former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Taofeek Arapaja, for the position of chairman, Fayose is mobilising for Dr Eddy Olafeso. Olafeso, who is from Ondo State, is a former occupant of the office. He resigned to contest the party’s governorship ticket in the last Ondo State election, which he lost to Eyitayo Jegede (SAN). Makinde had wanted the congress to hold in Ibadan, but the Fayose faction wanted it in another venue, saying the Oyo State capital was not safe for it and its supporters. However, two days ago, the National Working Committee of...
First Country: New Music From Luke Bryan, Lanco, Priscilla Block and More
Lanco, “First Beer” Lanco lead singer Brandon Lancaster looks back fondly on his first beer, and the memories it evokes, as he recalls the buzz the situation brought on as much as the intoxication of the company he was keeping as he sat on a blanket with a crush. The mid-tempo, wistful track is sure to get the cell phone flashlights waving in concert. Priscilla Block, “Wish You Were The Whiskey” TikTok sensation Block continues to show her vocal and songwriting strength on this smoky tale about being drunk “right where you left me at the bottom of a bottle,” as she hopes the liquor will put her out of her misery in this mid-tempo track, but it only increases her misery. Kat & Alex, “Heartbreak Tour” and “You and the Radio” The 2020 American Idol alums, who competed individually on...
Imo attacks: IGP tasks CPs, AIGs to evolve new policing strategies
The Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Usman Alkali Baba, on Friday, met with Police Strategic Commanders, Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police, Commissioners of Police, and Deputy Commissioners of Police (Operations), in the South-South and the South-Eastern States of the country and tasked them on checkmating security challenges. A statement by CP Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer, said the meeting, which held at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, is part of efforts by the new Police leadership to critically diagnose the security threats in the region and evolve new policing strategies and responses towards tackling the threats. The IGP, while noting that the South-East and South-South geo-political zones of the country are very critical in the socio-economic stability and ...
PDP governors: Restructuring necessary to avert civil war
File Photo Amidst rising tension across the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, yesterday, said an urgent devolution of power and restructuring of the polity has become imperative, as the country cannot afford another civil war. The Forum raised the alarm that the country is fast becoming a failed state, under the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government. The PDP governors expressed worries that all fault lines and differences in the country has been stretched to the limit by the present administration, because it allegedly lacks the capacity to governors. The opposition governors stated this, in a communique, issued at the end of their meeting, in the Benue State capital, Makurdi. The meeting was attended by Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Sokoto St...
Garth Brooks to Kick Off 125th Annual Cheyenne Frontier Days: See Full Lineup
Other acts slated to perform as part of the 2021 Frontier Nights lineup — which runs through Aug. 1 at Frontier park in Cheyenne, Wyoming — include: Ned Ledoux, Kaen Brown, Cody Johnson, Rhett Atkins, Ashley McBryde and Restless Road. “We are so glad to be sharing this lineup for 2021 tonight,” Contract Acts chairman Randy Krafft said in a statement about the event, which is returning after its 2020 cancelation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has been a long year for all of us and we can’t wait to welcome our fans back to Frontier Park.” According to an announcement on Wednesday, the 19,000-capacity event is a, “go at full capacity, with no mask requirement”; there will, however, be stepped-up cleaning and sanitizing, touchless digital ticketing, cashle...
NNPC to partner Borno government to establish gas power plant
The Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Alhaji Mele Kyari has said that the corporation will partner with Borno State Government to establish a Gas Power Plant following the vandalization of the national grid by insurgents which put the state almost three months into total blackout. Kyari who led a powerful delegation on a courtesy call on Governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Friday said, the Federal Government will not fold its arms and neglect the state which is been ravaged by insurgents, especially cut off from the national grid, as power is a source of income to the teaming people of the state. “We are here with my colleagues, the Head of Gas and Power Business, Engineer Yusuf Usman, Representatives of Greensville Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which is a...
Sheikh Khalid: Politicians, religious leaders behind Nigeria’s insecurity
Renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Nuru Khalid, on Thursday, alleged that some influential people, including religious leaders and politicians, were the real sponsors of insecurity in some parts of the country. He stated this in Abuja during the public presentation of a book titled, ‘The Infinite Light, The Pride of Humanity,’ authored by Sheikh Fathullah Gulen a spiritual leader of Hizmet. Khalid claimed that bandits, who were predominantly youths of northern extraction, had been terrorising innocent citizens because they were getting engaged by some prominent politicians and religious leaders working towards the Balkanisation of the nation. So, he urged the government to address the issues of education and unemployment as a solution to the security challenge. The Muslim scholar sa...
Nigerian government receives stolen Ile-Ife artefact from Mexico
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, on Thursday in Abuja received a stolen Ile-Ife artefact recovered from Mexico. Receiving the artefact, he called for a more secured border to prevent future occurrence of theft. Onyeama collected the artefact from Dr Yakubu Dadu, Charge d’Affaires of the Nigerian Mission in Mexico. The minister hailed the Embassy’s efforts in recovering the artefact. He said that the interventions of Nigerian Envoys in recovering stolen possessions of the country shows the important works they were doing as against negative reports of Nigerian missions on social media. Onyeama also appreciated the government of Mexico for its cooperation in ensuring that the artefact was duly returned to Nigeria. He however stressed the need for sensitising Customs o...
Jimmie Allen & Gabby Barrett Named ACM New Male & Female Artist of the Year
The other nominees for new male artist of the year were Travis Denning, Hardy, Cody Johnson and Parker McCollum. The other nominees for new female artist of the year, besides Guyton, were Ingrid Andress, Tenille Arts and Caylee Hammack. Both Allen and Barrett will perform on the three-hour ACM telecast on April 18. Allen’s booking brings to five the number of Black artists who will perform on the show — an ACM record. Guyton is set to perform, along with Kane Brown, whose Mixtape Vol. 1 is up for album of the year; Americana duo The War and Treaty; and gospel great CeCe Winans, who is expected to team with Carrie Underwood to perform “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” which they recorded for Underwood’s current gospel album, My Savior. Barrett’s “I H...
