Politics
INEC to hold Aba Reps by-election on March 27
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed March 27, for the Aba North/South Federal Constituency by-election in Abia. Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. Okoye said that the commission met on Thursday and deliberated on a number of issues including the federal constituency by-election. He said the official notification for the election would be published on March 1. “Political Parties shall conduct their primaries between March 4 and Match 10 while the last day for submission of list of nominated candidates is at 6p.m. on March 16. “Political Parties shall submit the names of their Polling Agents for the election to the Electoral Officers in the respective L...
Bauchi deputy speaker asks Benue governor to apologise to Bauchi people
Following the statement by the Governor of Benue State, Mr. Samuel Ortom describing his counterpart in Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed as a terrorist, the Deputy Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly (BAHA), Hon. Danlami Ahmed Kawule, who is also representing Zungur/Galambi Constituency has urged Ortom to apologise to the people of Bauchi State for making the alleged derogatory statement. The Deputy Speaker who stated this yesterday during an interview with journalists in Bauchi, said that the citizens of the state as well as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state are not happy over the strain in relationship between the two PDP governors who are supposed to be working towards the unity of the nation. He maintained that leaders in the country should refrain from making...
PDP: Ex-service chiefs’ ambassadorial portfolio insufficient to stop ICC investigation
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has taken a swipe at the All Progressives Congress, APC, leadership in the Senate for “betraying Nigerians” by clearing former services chiefs for ambassadorial portfolios despite allegation of crime against humanity committed under their command. The party however insisted that the clearance will not stop the investigation and possible prosecution of the accused commanders by the International Criminal Court, ICC, for crime against humanity, with preliminary steps to have been initiated. In a statement issued by Kola Ologbondiyan, national public secretary of the party, the PDP described as horrendous the fact that the APC leadership in the Senate “could choose to betray Nigerians by rushing to clear the accused ex-service chiefs in a desperate attempt t...
Mariachi Band Trolls Ted Cruz Outside His Houston Home
Senator Ted Cruz may not have been able to carry out his tone-deaf vacation to Cancún, but some residents of Texas made sure that Mexico came to him. As The Independent reports, a Mariachi band held a lively performance outside of Cruz’s Houston home on Sunday, because as one organizer put it, “No one should go to Cancún and not listen to Mariachi.” Cruz, who is responsible for approximately 90% of the terrible haircuts in the Senate and at least 10% of its jowls, flew to Cancún on Wednesday, February 17th. The timing struck almost everyone as less than ideal, given that his home state of Texas had been rocked by catastrophic winter storms. With millions snowed-in without water or electricity, Cruz used the powers of his office to arrange a police escort to the airport and made a beel...
Official: Why Imo government invited soldiers to Orlu
The Imo State Government has declared its support for the “ongoing military operation” in Orlu Local Government Area of the state. There were apprehensions in Orlu a few days ago when a military helicopter flew at low level in the area. Channels TV quoted the Attorney General of Imo State, Cyprian Akaolisa, as saying the operation, which was conducted jointly with the police, was aimed at “clearing camps” said to have been built by the Eastern Security Network, a security arm of the pro-Biafra group, IPOB. Akaolisa, who briefed reporters on Friday in Owerri, said the Nigerian Army was invited to Orlu by the Imo State Government. He said “the state government got intelligence that IPOB was planning an attack against the Orlu people and the government, under the pretext of looking for herder...
Asiwaju Tinubu: How Lateef Jakande rejected calls to contest for president
National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has recounted how late first civilian Governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande rejected calls to contest for the president in Nigeria. Tinubu revealed this on Friday during the eight-day Fidau prayer for Jakande in Ilupeju area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. He said Lagos State was luck to have a man like Jakande and that those in government had been extremely lucky to draw from his fountain of knowledge. ”To all of us in Lagos, we have been extremely lucky to have him, extremely lucky to draw from the fountain of his knowledge, Nigeria equally is lucky but when the crisis of military and many other arose, we met him, we said, we want Jakande but he said, he was no longer interested in becoming the president in the mi...
Senator Uba denies hijacking APC registration exercise in Anambra
File Photo Former presidential aide and Senator representing Anambra South senatorial zone, Andy Uba, has denied reports that he has hijacked the membership revalidation and registration exercise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State. Uba said report of him attempting to highjack the registration of party members in the ongoing registration programme in the state was false, and should be discarded as untrue. In a statement issued by his media office yesterday, the former lawmaker said: “As you can see, the APC in Anambra State has been having a seamless registration exercise where citizens of the state, owing to the numerous successes of the federal government in the state, are daily registering in their hundreds with the party. “Part of this success can be attributed to ...
NMPA President: Unmatched Royalties Finally Turned Over to MLC Brings Insight and Progress (Guest Op-Ed)
How we got here is complicated. Separate from the effort to improve how much songwriters are paid from streaming is the challenge of even receiving the money at all. It’s been well known that streaming services were stockpiling unpaid royalties, and over the years that money continued to accrue with little recourse other than costly lawsuits that didn’t solve the underlying problem and threatened the growth we needed in a post Napster world. For over a decade experts have estimated, debated and debunked theories about how much was being held. Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others have long said they employed exhaustive searches for copyright owners. There have been congressional oversight hearings, studies done by the U.S. Copyright Office and industry experts, however the magni...
Governors Abiodun, Ganduje, Akeredolu, others receive Gbenga Daniel into APC
Former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel has been officially received into the All Progressives Congress (APC) by state Governor Dapo Abiodun. Supported by governors of Ondo, Kebbi, Kano and Niger states, Rotimi Akeredolu, Atiku Bagudu Abdullahi Ganduje and Abubakar Sanni Bello, respectively, Abiodun received Daniel, a one-time Director-General of the 2019 Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, into the party Tuesday night at his Asoludero Court residence in Sagamu. The ex-governor had in March 2019 officially resigned from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and announced his exit from partisan politics. Receiving Daniel into the party, Governor Abiodun said: ‘Daniel will come with a lot of experience, a lot of wisdom, he is a very dynamic individual, he is referred to as the ...
Ex-Army chief Azubuike Ihejirika joins APC
Former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd), yesterday formally joined the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ihejirika, who was the Chief of Army Staff between 2010 and 2014 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, made his declaration to join the APC at Isuikwuato country home in Abia-North senatorial district. His joining the party has heightened the speculation that he might be running for the governorship seat in the state in 2023 as it is expected that power would be moving to the Abia North in line with Abia Charter of Equity. Ihejirika registered at Ezere ward 2 under the supervision of the APC ward Chairman, Mr. Iheanyi Chukwu in the presence of stalwarts of the party which include: Senator Orji Uzor Kalu; State Secretary of the party, Mr. Perfect Okorie...
Proud Boys Threaten Colin Kaepernick’s Miniseries Production
The filming location for the Netflix miniseries about Colin Kaepernick is on high security alert after a reported threat from the right-wing Proud Boys organization. On Friday, as TMZ reports, the anti-Black Lives Matter group was allegedly planning to protest the production about the former NFL quarterback-turned-civil rights icon. Producers were told in a memo last week that, “anti-BLM sentiments may protest against the production.” Additionally, two anonymous production members told TMZ that the office received an ominous phone call last week, believed to be from the militant far-right Proud Boys. Fortunately, the threat never materialized into anything physical. But TMZ reports that there were internal emails between executives and staff that added additional security measures in order...
Senator Saraki: Former governor committed to PDP victory in 2023
Former President of the Senate and Chairman, National Committee on Reconciliation and Strategy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bukola Saraki, has said that former governors under the platform of the party are committed to the victory of the PDP in the 2023 general elections. Saraki also said that although the PDP doesn’t make noise about who is joining the party, but many, even those, who left the party are coming back to join the PDP. Addressing newsmen shortly after meeting with the former governors in Abuja, Saraki said, “yesterday we met with one of our former Presidents. Today we are consulting with our former governors who are key stakeholders and leaders in their states. “There is no way we can talk about consultations and unity of the party without consulting them. We have b...