Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, All Progressives Congress(APC) presidential candidate, has tasked governorship and National Assembly candidates of the party to protect Nigeria’s future by ensuring clear victory in the 2023 general election. He said this at a meeting with APC governorship and National Assembly candidates on Sunday in Abuja, adding that they must collectively work for the party’s victory in the general election at all levels. “We have the mandate to deliver the party to victory so that we may protect Nigeria from those who will devour all of its fruits,” Tinubu said. According to him, this is critical to ensure that the party’s project of growth and development for the country is assured. Tinubu who said he had been eager to meet with the party’s candidates, also urged them to ensure that they do not disappoint members of the party who elected them to fly the tickets at the poll. “With the many unproductive years of the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s government, Nigerians and indeed APC members are expecting a new lease of life from the candidates. “I am pleased to meet with you today because, in you, I see our party’s hope and path to success, in you I see the hope of historic national progress as well. “As so often in life, victory is not a cause for rest or celebration, it is a call to a greater challenge and harder toil. “Thus, you all have won the primaries, but now must climb the higher mountain called the general election,” he said. Tinubu said that the APC was formed not just to be another political party, but as a champion of the people to rescue democracy from the ravages of the PDP who boasted of ruling the country for 60 years. According to him, the APC was formed to rescue the people and their collective prosperity from the avarice and greed of an elite that will devour the nation’s God-given endowment. “If we allow such people back into power, as those flying our party’s flag, we carry a heavy burden on our shoulders. “We have the mandate to deliver the party to victory so that we may protect Nigeria from those who would devour all of its fruits. “The party has placed its trust in us. Democratic victory in the coming elections is a task we must accomplish,” he stressed. Tinubu urged the party’s candidates to go to the poll starting from the presidential and National Assembly election on Feb. 25 to the governorship and state Houses of Assembly election on March 11 with a united front. The former two-term governor of Lagos State promised to continue to work for everyone, even as he also desired to become the country’s next president. “But winning takes us working as a united force, we have to act like the broom, the symbol of our party. “A stick cannot clean any dirt, but coming together under the band as one, we can sweep aside all the bad and wrong things that impede our nation’s growth and development. “As individuals we must strive to win our respective elections, but that is not enough. We have to work together to deliver everyone contesting in our party,” he said. He added that the presidential election, for example, was not solely about Tinubu, but the project of all APC members just as the election of the party’s candidates was equally his project. “We need each other, whatever position you are contesting, you need me as much as I need you. “If I work for you, I am helping myself; if you mobilise for me, you are working for yourself at the same time. Our individual and collective fates are one. “Let us win and rise together. This is as it should be.I, therefore, rededicate myself to the victory of you all just as I do for myself. “As you can see, they call me weak, but I am canvassing back and forth and in every corner and space of the nation. My opponents are not,”Tinubu said. He added that he was already outworking his opponents because the general election was a great mission for him, much more than his personal ambition. He charged the party’s candidates to re-dedicate themselves to the course of the party and the county’s future, saying he could not be everywhere and no one could. Tinubu stressed that the party’s strength lied in the number and spread of its members and candidates. “Having you across the length spread of this country makes me comfortable. “I am working round the clock for our collective victory, we all should not rest until the entire election is over and victory is ours,” he said. The meeting which attracted a large number of APC candidates was attended by the National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Senate President, Ahmed Lawan. Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, some APC governors, National Working Committee (NWC) members and the Presidential Campaign Council also attended the meeting.

  Unknown gunmen suspected to be IPOB/ ESN militants have attacked INEC office in Imo State, killing one in the process. EverydayNewngr.net gathered that the Gunmen, who were about 20 in number, operated with two SUV vehicles, one Blue coloured Lexus Jeep and one ash coloured Highlander Jeep. Dressed in ESN regalia, the gunmen stormed INEC Office at Ahiazu Local Government Secretariat in search of INEC staffs distributing PVC cards. Unfortunately, they discovered that the officials were yet to arrive to work. They reportedly beckoned on a Local Vigilante staff by name Ekene “m” of Umuokirika Ahiazu Mbaise LGA, of Imo State, standing in the midst of people who came to collect their PVC’s. When they could not force him into one of their vehicles boot, they shot him twice on his head, chanting no election in Biafra land, then zoomed off through Mbaise Aba-branch road. The dead body of the guard has been deposited at the mogue. Efforts to reach Imo Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mike Abatam failed as he did not pick calls put across to him.

  The Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has ruled out the possibility of the military taking over power in Nigeria, saying democracy has come to stay in the country. The CDS stated this on Sunday while responding to questions from journalists at at the National Arcade, Abuja, during the wreath laying ceremony that marked the climax of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration. The question which he reacted to went thus: “As the nation heads to a crucial election, any assurances from the armed forces to the people of Nigeria, that never again, will we see men in uniform take power?” Irabor, in his reaction, said: “Well, I mean, democracy has come to stay. Government of the people, by the people and for the people in Nigeria has come to stay. That is an assurance and then of course for the elections, I am sure you know, that the police are on the lead. “I have been discussing with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and of course, we have also made contingencies should we be required to give support to the police as the election is conducted. I think for Nigerians, you are rest assured that the armed forces remain solidly behind the police to be able to give them all the support as required.” On the significance of Sunday’s event and the expectations, the CDS said: “The armed forces remembrance day celebration is not a day of mourning. It is the day that we need to give thanks to God; that men and women of this great nation once served, are serving and will continue to serve this country. And that we have that level of love for country that men and women have committed to and, if need be, sacrifice their lives so that the rest of us can be live. I think it’s a worthy thing. “So today, it is quite a very unique day, that the nation has set it aside to value, to place a premium on the services and honouring the services of men or women of our great country. “And I think that is the message that has gone across the length and breadth of the members of the armed forces. So, we are more motivated to continue to play our part. “And then for the veterans to also know that their services, the sacrifices that they made is not in vain, which, of course, is quite motivating for them too.”

  Sixteen people have been confirmed dead in an accident involving a truck conveying supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau state. The accident occurred on Saturday at Jwak village, Panyam district of Mangu LGA, after the zonal rally of the party which was held in Pankshin. Peter Longsan, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) public education officer in Plateau, confirmed the incident. Longsan said the truck was conveying 99 supporters of the major opposition party.   He said 83 people sustained various degrees of injury in the accident. TheCable had earlier reported that seven people were initially confirmed dead. “It was a lone crash involving a truck conveying people from a political campaign rally of the PDP,” Longsan later told NAN. “Ninety-nine people were involved, 16 people, mainly adult males were killed in the crash, while 83 sustained various degrees of injury. “The unfortunate incident occurred as a result of excessive speeding and overloading, which led to loss of control that resulted in the crash.” Longsan said the injured are currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Mangu. Caleb Mutfwang, the PDP governorship candidate in the state, has commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.   Mutfwang said he would visit the victims at the various hospitals to ascertain the severity of their condition and the necessary steps to take. Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the party, has expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. “I am numbed by the tragedy in which scores of lives were lost and injured in a road accident at the end of the Plateau Central PDP Campaign flag-off yesterday in Pankshin LGA. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims,” he said.     In December, two persons lost their lives while seven others were injured in a boat accident involving supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta state. The supporters were returning from the party’s rally in Okerenkoko community in Warri south-west LGA of the state.

  Millions of opioids pills and bottles worth over N5 billion have been seized at a warehouse in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos State. The arrest was made by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) which busted another Tramadol cartel in the nation’s commercial capital at the weekend. In a statement sent to Channels Television on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, confirmed that two suspected drug kingpins were also arrested. “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the weekend busted another Tramadol cartel in Lagos with the seizure of millions of opioids pills and bottles worth over Five Billion Naira (N5billion) from their warehouse in Amuwo Odofin area of the state and arrest of two of the kingpins,” he said. Anti-narcotics officers also uncovered and dismantled a clandestine “skuchies” laboratory in a remote part of Sagamu, Ogun state where several pieces of equipment and various quantities of illicit substances used to mass produce the dangerous new psychoactive substance were recovered on Saturday. Babafemi noted that the drug cartels took the first heat on Tuesday, January 10 January from determined officers who intercepted an imported consignment of Loud, a strong variant of cannabis, weighing 4, 878.72 kilograms along Awolowo road Ikoyi, Lagos. He added that after a near-fatal encounter with some suspected fake security agents escorting the drugs, the NDLEA operatives succeeded in recovering the consignment with a white truck marked BDG 548 XX conveying it. This was followed by the seizure of 121,630 pills of pharmaceutical opioids and some quantity of Molly from a dealer, Charles Okeke on Wednesday 11th January in the Idumota area of Lagos Island. Last Friday, NDLEA operatives tracked and located a major warehouse for pharmaceutical opioids at 17 Sir Ben Onyeka Street, off Ago palace way in the Amuwo Odofin area of the state while the owner of the store, Aloysius Okeke was arrested. Illicit drugs recovered from the warehouse include 3.2 million pills of tramadol; 3,490 bottles of codeine and 915,000 capsules of pregabalin 300mg. This came on the heels of the arrest of a suspect, Olarenwaju Lawal Wahab who distributes for the cartel the same day. Recovered from his white Mercedes distribution bus include 14,690 bottles of codeine-based syrup; 402, 500 tablets of Tramadol 250mg; 50,000 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, and 210,000 capsules of pregabalin 300mg. In Abuja, NDLEA operatives raided the notorious Tora bora hills on Thursday, January 12, and recovered 350.7kgs of skunk and 794 bottles of codeine hidden under rocks. This comes as 756kgs of C/S were recovered at Dawo village, Kaga LGA, Borno, and transferred to the Agency on Friday 13th Jan. by officers of the Nigerian Army, FOB 29 Task Force Brigade, Benishiekh, in conjunction with Hunters group, based on intelligence from the State Command of NDLEA. Similarly, operatives stormed Alayere, Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State, where they arrested a suspect, Sunday Make with 275kgs of Cannabis Sativa and Seeds, while a total of 272kgs of C/S were recovered from two suspects: Nwele Friday, 35, and Egbe Nnaemeka, 47 at Ifo layout, Abakpa Nike, Enugu. In Katsina, 34.3kgs of cannabis were also recovered from an uncompleted building in Muduru, Mani village after which the owner, Murtala Isiya was arrested in a follow-up operation. In the same vein, a notorious drug dealer who is physically challenged, Abiodun Emaria, 40, was on Saturday 14th January arrested with 6.2kgs of cannabis at his hideout in Ohada village, Uhunmonde LGA, Edo state. Reacting to the arrests, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), charged officers and their compatriots across the country to sustain the heat on drug cartels in Nigeria while balancing their efforts on supply reduction with drug demand reduction activities. He also commended the officers and men of Lagos, FCT, Ondo, Enugu, Borno, Katsina, and Edo Commands for the arrests and seizures.

  The National Assembly leadership has been urged to cut the lawmakers’ budget in line with the current economic realities. In a statement on Sunday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) asked the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to “promptly cut the outrageous National Assembly budget of N228.1bn, including the N30.17bn severance payments and inauguration costs for members (the highest ever).” SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, wants them to “propose a fresh budget for the National Assembly that would reflect the current economic realities in the country, address the debt crisis, and prevent retrogressive economic measures.” The National Assembly had increased its 2023 budget from N169bn proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to N228.1bn. The approved budget shows an increase of about N59.1bn. The country’s budget of N21.89tn is based on a N10.49tn revenue, and N11.34tn deficit. But the rights group said it is a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for the members of the National Assembly to increase their own budget at a time when some 133 million Nigerians are living in poverty.” “Cutting the National Assembly budget would reduce the growing budget deficit, address the unsustainable debt burden, and serve the public interest,” the statement read. “By increasing its own budget, the National Assembly has unjustifiably and disproportionately reduced the budget for UBEC. This is a travesty, especially given that Nigeria currently has over 20 million out-of-school children, and half of all poor people in the country are children. “Rather than exercising its oversight functions to check the persistent borrowing by President Muhammadu Buhari, and scrutinising the apparently unlawful overdrafts and loans obtained by the Federal Government from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Assembly is increasing its own budget. ADVERTISEMENT “This outrageous waste of public money would substantially increase the cost of governance, and exacerbate the debt crisis. It is unlawful, and unfair to the Nigerian people. “We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest.”

  Today is Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Nigeria, an annual event to commemorate the nation’s servicemen and fallen heroes. The event, celebrated on January 15 each year, also honours veterans of World War I and II, as well as the Nigerian Civil War. It is a day set aside for sober reflections on the significance of the armed forces to the country. A combination of photos capturing some of the highlights of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day commemoration in Abuja on January 15, 2022. Channels TV/ Sodiq Adelakun. While the Armed Forces Remembrance Day is celebrated on November 11 every year globally, it is known as the armistice day, commemorating the end of the first World War. But with the formal end of the Nigerian Civil War following the surrender of the Biafran secessionists on January 15, 1970, the date was changed to mark the restoration of Nigeria’s unity. Amid the celebration in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari led a wreath-laying event and reviewed a presidential parade at the National Arcade in Abuja. He is expected to be joined by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Kayode Ariwoola; and the service chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, among other dignitaries. Though the prayers to be said in both Christian and Islamic ways, President Buhari as the Special Guest of Honour at the event would lay a wreath to honour the fallen heroes.   Thereafter, Professor Osinbajo and others will take turns to pay respect to the soldiers who paid the supreme price while protecting the nation’s territorial integrity. In the course of the celebration, ceremonies are scheduled to hold across various states of the federation during which governors are expected to pay tributes to the nation’s fallen heroes.

  A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, on Sunday said the Federal Government is empowered by law to fix the prices of kerosene and other petroleum prices. In a statement, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said the government is backed by Section 4 of the Price Control Act and section 316 of the Petroleum Industry Act to “determine and fix the prices of petroleum products Including petrol motor spirit, kerosene and cooking gas.” He countered a claim made by the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, that the government could not intervene in the rising price of kerosene. In Africa’s most populous nation, kerosene is a major cooking energy for Nigeria’s low-income earners and rural dwellers. The product is more expensive than even petrol, diesel and gas. Diesel is sold at N808 per litre in Lagos, gas sells at N202 per litre. Petrol is sold at N169 but kerosene is sold at over N900 per litre in the nation’s commercial capital. Last Monday, the minister said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has no powers to intervene in the rising price of household kerosene. At a media briefing in Abuja to unfold the achievements of the Buhari administration in the petroleum industry since the assumption of office in 2015, Sylva pointed out that the price of kerosene had already been deregulated and could no longer be controlled by the government. “Kerosene, which is the fuel for the average household, is already a deregulated product. It is not necessarily within the purview of the government but a now a commercial decision. Companies will import and sell kerosene at a commercial rate. It is a deregulated product,” the minister said. But Falana accused the Buhari government of illegally pushing out the deregulation of kerosene on Nigerians. “With respect, the purported deregulation of the product was illegally pushed out by the Buhari administration,” he stated. “It is common knowledge that the Federal Government, through the NNPC is the sole importer of fuel into the country, claiming to be subsidising the product. So how can the Federal Government turn around to allow private companies or the so-called market forces to fix the price of the same product? “In July 2020, Chief Sylva said that an alternative source of fuel, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) would cost between N95 to N97 per litre, to make fuel more affordable in the country. About a year later, it was disclosed by the Minister that as part of efforts to ensure that the autogas conversion of vehicles yielded the desired results, the Federal Government had set aside N250 billion for willing investors in autogas assembly plants in the country. The Federal Government should tell Nigerians why the migration from PMS to CNG has been abandoned.” The senior lawyer urged President Buhari as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, “to call Chief Sylva to order for treating the valid and subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court and the Supreme Court with contempt.” “Otherwise, we shall not hesitate to commence contempt proceedings against the public officers in charge of the petroleum industry.”

  At least 67 people were confirmed dead Sunday after a plane with 72 on board crashed in Nepal, police said, in the Himalayan country’s worst aviation disaster in three decades.   Those on board the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop aircraft that plummeted into a steep gorge, smashed into pieces and burst into flames in the central city of Pokhara included six children, officials said. As light faded late Sunday and soldiers extracted bodies with ropes and stretchers out of the 300-metre-deep (1,000-foot) ravine, there was no word on the fate of the five people still unaccounted for. “We are actively working to retrieve and identify the bodies as soon as possible and hand (them) over to their families,” police official AK Chhetri told AFP at the crash site, which was still smouldering and strewn with aircraft debris, including the mangled remains of wings and passenger seats. A local official had earlier said that “some survivors” had been taken to hospital, but this was not confirmed by the aircraft’s operator Yeti Airlines or other officials. Yeti spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told AFP that 15 foreigners were on board, including five Indians, four Russians and two South Koreans, with one passenger each from Argentina, Australia, France and Ireland. The rest were Nepalis. – ‘Like a bomb’ – The flight from Kathmandu slammed into the gorge between Pokhara’s domestic and brand new international airport on Sunday, shortly before 11:00 am (0515 GMT). An unverified clip shared on social media purportedly showed the plane flying low over a residential area before banking sharply to the left, followed by a loud explosion. “I was walking when I heard a loud blast like a bomb went off,” said witness Arun Tamu, 44, who was around 500 metres (yards) away and who posted live video of the blazing wreckage on social media. “A few of us rushed to see if we can rescue anybody. I saw at least two women were breathing. The fire was getting very intense and it made it difficult for us to approach closer,” the former soldier told AFP. It was unclear if anyone on the ground was injured. Rescue workers rushed to the site littered with debris, trying to put out several raging fires that were sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky. – Poor record – Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas, as well as ferrying foreign mountain climbers.   But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance. The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns. The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge for even accomplished pilots. The weather is also notoriously capricious and hard to forecast, particularly in the mountains, where thick fog can suddenly obscure whole mountains from view. Last May, all 22 people on board a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air — 16 Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans — died when it crashed. Air traffic control lost contact with that twin-propeller Twin Otter shortly after it took off from Pokhara and headed for Jomsom, a popular trekking destination. Its wreckage was found a day later, strewn across a mountainside at around 4,400 metres (14,500 feet) above sea level. After that crash, authorities tightened regulations, with planes to only be cleared to fly if there was favourable weather forecast throughout the route. Nepal’s deadliest aviation accident was in 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane died when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu. Just two months earlier, a Thai Airways aircraft had crashed near the same airport, killing 113 people. AFP