Nigeria
Lagos by-election: Assemblyman advises INEC to improve on voter registration
Rotimi Abiru, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has advised INEC to improve on the voter registration exercise conducted in the country. Abiru, representing Shomolu Constituency 2, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen after he had voted at his Gbagada Ward, G PU030 during Saturday’s by-election. He said since the law permitted citizens that had attained 18 years to vote, then they would be disenfranchised if the exercise was conducted only every four years. The Assemblyman said the commission should conduct voter registration every year instead of the four years exercise to allow citizens that had attained voting age to vote. “INEC should step up the game in the area of voter registration. The process should be improved upon as it should not be a four-year periodic exe...
Ex-President Obasanjo, catfish farmers brainstorm on how to move aquaculture forward
Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Catfish farmers in the country on Saturday met to brainstorm and strategize for better productivity in the industry. The farmers, under the aegis of the Catfish Farmers Association of Nigeria (CAFAN) met with the former President, who is a founding member of the body at the boardroom of Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta. Obasanjo who expressed satisfaction in returning to the association, after what he described as an interregnum, assured that the industry would be at enviable heights in no distance future if they all worked together as a body. Obasanjo said, “I started poultry farmers association and as a result of its achievements, that was why I began the catfish association too. What put me off, was that I was arrested,...
Governor Oyetola: Yoruba believe in unity of Nigeria
The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, on Saturday said the Yoruba people are a nation of hospitable, accommodating and warm people who believe in the oneness of Nigeria. Oyetola, who fielded questions from international media organisations: BBC, Voice of America, DW News and Radio France, during the 29th edition of Owu International Conference, also lauded the Yoruba race for the role it is playing in fostering peace and unity in the nation. Commenting on the theme of the conference: “Harmony in Owu polity: A recipe for national unity,” Oyetola described the Yoruba race as a believer in the harmony and oneness of the nation, adding that the migration of other tribes to their territories and settlements is not an issue because they are accommodating and hospitable. Oyetola also comme...
Rotimi Amaechi: Why I supported President Buhari in 2015, not Goodluck Jonathan
Nairaland The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, has claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan offered him every opportunity to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but he rejected it. The minister says he went ahead to support President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 because he is not tribalistic. The former governor of Rivers State was speaking in Port Harcourt on Saturday while receiving some party members who defected from the PDP. The minister explained that whatever he says in Rivers State would happen, adding that he would soon return to declare prayers in the state. He claimed that God gave him victory over Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. “You know, when Goodluck fought us, he was not fighting me, he was fighting God and I knew he would fail. Tell them from next year ...
Victor Osimhen: Napoli clears Super Eagles medics of any wrong doing
Napoli has denied reports from Italian media that Nigerian doctors complicated Victor Osimhen’s shoulder during the first treatment. Tuttosport claimed Napoli medic revealed that their Nigerian counterparts caused more damage to the shoulder in the process of treatment before he returned to Italy. However, Napoli and the player on Saturday afternoon took to their social media handle to debunk the reports and clear the Super Eagles team doctor of any wrongdoing. “The current situation regarding the injury of Victor Osimhen is only a consequence of the dislocated right shoulder,” Napoli said in a tweet. Osimhen dislocated his shoulder while in action for Super Eagles of Nigeria last month at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City. The striker went down in the second under a challenge fro...
Maritime workers to begin warning strike Monday
File Photo The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) is to embark on a three-day warning strike from Dec. 7, to protest the deplorable state of access roads to seaports in Lagos State. In a communique it issued on Saturday in Lagos, MWUN said that the situation was no longer tolerable. The communique was signed by the President-General of the union, Mr Adewale Adeyanju, and the Secretary General, Mr Felix Akingboye. It was issued after MWUN’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos. According to the communique, the union had at various occasions drawn the attention of the relevant authorities to the bad roads. It said that the poor state of the access roads had made articulated vehicles to block them, putting other road users through pains of losing man-hours and facing risks ...
Group dismisses Nigerian Army chief’s coup alarm as diversionary
A Coalition of elders under the auspices of Nigeria Elders for Peace and Good Governance (CONEPAGG), has accused the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, of raising false alarm about “imaginary” coup to divert the attention of Nigerians from the failings of the Service Chiefs. Buratai had while decorating the 39 newly promoted Major Generals, said he was aware that some Generals were being approached by politicians, warning that his eyes are on them. He vowed that the Nigerian Army will never tolerate any agent of destabilization bent on scuttling the current democratic dispensation. “Democracy has come to stay. We will not tolerate any agent of destabilization. The years of military misadventure in politics have never carried us anywhere. It is over,” Buratai had stresse...
Ayo Fayose: President Buhari must account for $1 billion taken from excess crude account
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has queried President Muhammadu Buhari to account for the $1 billion withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to battle insecurity in the country. However, newsmen found that the call may be superfluous as government rendered an account on 22 July. Oblivious of this, Fayose, in series of tweets appeared to suggest that the money had been wasted, because of the rising killings and kidnappings being witnessed on daily basis. “Nigerians should recall that I took a stand openly against withdrawal of the $1bn,” he said. According to Fayose, 30 months after the $1bn was released, Nigerians, including soldiers and FG officials were complaining of no arms and ammunition to combat insecurity in the country. “When in December 2017, FG took $1bn fro...
AU welcomes Nigeria ahead of AfCFTA kick-off
The African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Albert Muchanga, said in Addis Ababa on Friday that instruments signifying Nigeria’s entry into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will be received at the commission’s headquarters shortly ahead of next year’s kick-off of trading. Speaking during the AfCFTA Business Forum 2020 to discuss the status of preparations to launch the continental trading, Muchanga said the launch of trading will facilitate the growth of African enterprise and enhance the capacity of industries producing goods to a wider population. Nigeria, which signed the AfCFTA agreement in 2019, officially ratified the agreement on 12 November. The instruments of ratification are expected to be received at the AU on Saturday, 5 December, the deadline for the...
Ex-Defence minister Domkat Bali passes on
Former Minister of Defence, General Domkat Yah Bali, is dead. He was aged 80. Bali, a respected general, was member of the highest decision making body of government during the military era in the 1980s. He was a member of the Supreme Military Council from 1984 to 1985 during the Major General Muhammadu Buhari military regime. Bali also served as member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council from 1985 to 1990 during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the people and government of Plateau State over the passing of a highly decorated retired military officer, who served Nigeria as minister of defence during the military eea in 1980s. A statement by presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said the president who spoke with the wife of the deceas...
Lagos by-elections: INEC cautions against vote buying, others
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday cautioned politicians against vote buying, food sharing and other activities capable of buying the conscience of voters at polling units duing Saturday’s Lagos East by-elections. Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, INEC Supervisory National Commissioner in charge of the by-elections, told newsmen in Lagos that the commission would not tolerate any act that would discredit the polls. Answering questions on how the commission intended to tackle vote buying, Ogunmola said that though INEC was not a security agency, it had done quite a lot in ensuring that the menace was reduced. “We are in collaboration with EFCC and ICPC and some other security agencies in ensuring that people that perpetrate such acts were brought to book. “The issue of makin...
President Buhari: Improved Nigeria-South Africa relations will quicken African development
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday expressed optimism that improvement in relations between Nigeria and South Africa would speed up the process of development on the African continent. Speaking in concurrence with the Chairman of the African National Congress (ANC) and South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, who came to the State House, Abuja on Friday as Special Envoy of his country, President Buhari cited his last trip to South Africa during which he and President Cyril Ramaphosa worked together in resolving the migrants’ crisis between two brotherly nations. The President in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu said, “There was this ‘small problem’ between our countries. I went there and we resol...
