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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Catholic Church Asks Tinubu, Sani To Caution El-Rufai Over Divisive Statement

  Against the backdrop of a controversial statement on Muslims dominance in the governance of Kaduna State credited to the immediate past Governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai, the Catholic community in the state has called on the President Bola Tinubu and Governor Uba Sani to call the former governor to order before he sets the entire country into a religious crisis.   In the trending video, El-Rufai, at a meeting with some Muslim clerics, said in Hausa language that most Christians in Kaduna did not vote his party (the All Progressives Congress), hence the reason he orchestrated their exclusion from being even Deputy Governor. He also said that the APC can win elections without the Christians and that for the same reason, he deliberately excluded Christians in all the top cadre. However, in an open letter copied to the Presidency and the Governor of Kaduna State, the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA), Kaduna State chapter asked Governor Sani to make his official position on El-rufai’s inciting utterances known because he (Sani) was at the event where El-rufai made the controversial statement. The letter jointly signed by chairmen of Kaduna Archdiocese, Rev. Fr Joseph Gandu, Kafanchan Diocese, Very Rev. Fr Douglas Rock, and Zaria Diocese, Very Rev. Fr Samuel Ameh, the Priests said they expected Uba Sani to use his good office to correct the fallacies that the former governor’s actions and comments have created and propagated in Kaduna State in the past eight years.   The open letter was copied to the Presidency, the three Catholic Bishops of Kaduna, Kafanchan and Zaria; Archbishop Matthew Man’oso Ndagoso, Bishop Julius Yakubu Kundi and Very Rev. Fr Michael Kagarko respectively. of the governance of the state. “We cannot fold our hands and watch unpatriotic persons who neither live in the state nor care about it, come and set it ablaze at will. More so, we and our congregations have prominently been at the receiving end of the terrors of ineffective governance, especially in the last eight (8) years,” the letter partly read. “We are writing you because we want you to succeed. Religion occupy the place given it under the Constitution, and should never be used as a cover up for incompetence and failure. The peace and progress of our state should never be traded for some atrocious political expediency. We assure you of our unrelenting support and prayers, trusting that God will give you the wisdom to govern and give Kaduna State an enviable reputation among other States,” the letter concluded.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Tinubu Signs Bill Increasing Judges’ Retirement Age

  The President, Bola Tinubu on Thursday, June 8, assented to a bill to increase the retirement age of judicial officers in the country to 70 years. A statement released by the State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, said the President pledged that his administration would strengthen the judiciary and empower judicial officers. Titled ‘Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alteration Bill No. 20 (Uniform Retirement Age for Judicial Officers), 2023’, the bill became the first to be signed into law by Tinubu since he assumed office on May 29. Although legislation already pegged the retirement age of justices of the appeal and supreme courts at 70, the law as well extended the retirement age of High Court judges from 65 to 70 years. The legislation will as well make uniform the pension rights of judicial officers of “superior courts of record” specified in Section 6(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The National Assembly had earlier directed its Clerk, Amos Ojo, to transmit the Constitution Alteration Bill 20 which approves a uniform retirement age for judicial officers in Nigeria to the President for assent on Tuesday, May 2. However, TheCable reported that the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, advised former President Muhammadu Buhari to decline assent to the bill. In a memo dated May 23 and addressed to the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Malami said the bill appeared to be “far-reaching, unduly wide” and “ambiguous”, adding that it made no “justification” for the extension of retirement age and benefits for judges. He further disclosed that the approval could lead to further agitation for the extension of the retirement age of justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Man, 30, commits suicide

  A 30-year-old man, Usman Sanigoga of Akula Quarters in Babura Local Government Area of Jigawa has hanged himself. Spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Jigawa, Mr Adamu Shehu, stated this in Dutse on Thursday. He stated that Sanigoga’s spouse found him hanging from the ceiling in their bedroom on Wednesday as she returned from a social visit. He added that the spouse reported that Sanigoga, a photographer, dropped her off at a relative’s house on Wednesday at about 2 p.m. with a promise to return in the evening to take her home. After waiting for long and he did not show up, she called his cell phone several times, but there was no response and she decided to take a commercial motorcycle back home. She added that she met the house under lock and solicited the assistance of the commercial motorcyclist to scale over the fence to unlock the main entrance. “Upon opening the door, she saw her husband’s motorcycle parked in an unusual manner. She hurried inside where she met his body hanging from the ceiling of their bedroom. “She lost consciousness and passed out at the horrific sight and it was the motorcyclist who shouted for help before neighbours rushed to the scene,’’ she told the NSCDC. The corpse was rushed to a hospital where a medical practitioner certified Sanigoga dead on arrival. An investigation by the NSCDC showed that a bedside drawer was used on top of a wide bed to reach the ceiling where a rope was tied to a hook.   Shehu stated that Sanigoga’s close associates told the NSCDC that he had a relapsing mental disorder. The couple got married about four months ago and had been living happily together before the incident, neighbours said. The NSCDC has launched further investigation into the case while the deceased had been buried according to Islamic rites.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

How DSS’ Attempted To Arrest Anambra Lawmaker Was Foiled

  There was drama at the Anambra State House of Assembly when armed operatives of Department of State Services (DSS) tried to whisk away a member-elect on Thursday. The armed men drove into the Assembly complex in three vehicles and grabbed the member-elect for Nnewi North constituency, Mr Onyekachukwu Ike. He was picked up after participating in a valedictory thanksgiving mass for the seventh Assembly. The operatives bundled him into their vehicle and were trying to drive out of the Assembly complex when security personnel quickly blocked and locked the exit gate of the chamber. Finally, Nasarawa Assembly names principal officers Abaribe: How Orji Kalu handed my convoy to his wife after my swearing-in as Deputy Governor The Acting Clerk of the Assembly, Mrs Esther Aneto, and another senior staff member lamented that the DSS operatives did not inform them or even the Police personnel before trying to whisk away the lawmaker. One of the operatives, however, explained that they had a warrant to arrest the member-elect, but they were not allowed to take him away. The Speaker, Dr Uche Okafor, and Deputy Governor, Dr Onyeka Ibezim, who came to represent the Governor at the Valedictory session, also stepped in to prevent the lawmaker’s arrest.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Pope Making Steady Progress After Hernia Operation — Vatican

  Pope Francis, 86, on Thursday began several days of convalescence a day after a hernia operation, as questions resurfaced about his health. “Pope Francis passed a quiet night and managed to have a lengthy rest,” the Vatican said. “He is in a generally good condition, is alert and is breathing without assistance,” it said in a statement. “The medical staff following the pontiff’s post-operative course reports that he has been fed a water diet. His haemodynamic and respiratory parameters are stable. The post-operative course appears regular,” the Vatican said later Thursday. It said the pope had personally thanked over the phone the mother of a little boy he had baptised at the end of March after they sent “a poster wishing him a speedy recovery,” the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, wrote. The Argentine pontiff was “grateful” for those sending him well wishes and asked people to pray for him, the Vatican added. Francis underwent a three-hour operation at the Gemelli hospital in Rome Wednesday, and was reportedly cheerful when he woke up. The pope, who had colon surgery in 2021, had been suffering from a hernia on the site of a scar from a previous surgery, doctor Sergio Alfieri told reporters Wednesday. He was placed under general anaesthesia and the abdominal wall was repaired with a surgical mesh, Alfieri said. All papal audiences have been cancelled until June 18 to give the pontiff time to recover. The Vatican said the pope would stay in hospital for “several days”, and Alfieri, who operated on him, would not be more specific. He said the operation usually required a stay of between five and seven days, but the pope’s age and illness in March — when he was hospitalised with a respiratory infection — may affect his recovery time. Italian gastrosurgeon Andrea Mazzari told AFP that “in the case of older people, full recovery can take between eight to 10 days”. Francis, who has been the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics for a decade, has suffered increasing health issues over the past year and his hospital stays have sparked concern and fuelled speculation over his future as pontiff. Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, who died in December, stepped down in 2013 due to failing health. – Papal suite – The Argentine pontiff was admitted Wednesday after holding his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square and doing a round in his popemobile, cheerfully waving to the crowds. He is staying in the papal suite at the Gemelli hospital, which is the favoured choice of pontiffs to the point of being dubbed “Vatican III” by John Paul II. The suite is painted white and furnished simply. In addition to the pope’s room, there is a meeting room for medical staff, a kitchen, bathroom and rest areas, as well as a small chapel. Francis stayed there in July 2021, when he underwent surgery for a type of diverticulitis, an inflammation of small bulges or pockets that can develop in the lining of the intestine. He was discharged after 10 days, but in an interview in January, he said the diverticulitis had returned. Francis was also hospitalised for three nights at the end of March with a respiratory infection, which was cured with antibiotics. For about a year, Pope Francis has had to rely on a wheelchair because of recurring knee pain. He has said he does not want to have an operation on his knee because of the side-effects he suffered from the general anaesthesia for his colon surgery. However, Alfieri said: “The Holy Father has never had any problem with general anaesthetic, neither two years ago nor now.” He added that the pope “does not have other illnesses”. At the Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican, Raimondo Zanfani, who has been selling religious objects to tourists for 50 years, said he had prayed for the pope. “I am Jewish, I said a prayer in my own fashion,” he said. AFP

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Enugu Governor Meets Tinubu, Seeks Nnamdi Kanu’s Release

  Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has opened conversations on the release of the self-acclaimed leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu requesting President Bola Tinubu to give the matter utmost consideration to extend hand of fellowship to the South-East people. Mbah told State House correspondents after a private meeting with the President on Thursday that among the issues discussed was the possible release of the secessionist agitator who has had series of favorable court judgement over his prosecution. The governor said Kanu’s release will engender national healing process, already begun by the President. He expressed the hope that the President would give a favorable consideration to the request. Mbah also disclosed that he also appealed for the assistance of the Federal Government to explore the abundant mineral resources in Enugu State for the benefit of the people. Addressing State House correspondents after his meeting with the President, the Enugu governor said, “We have a number of dominant assets in Enugu which we believe partnering with the Federal Government, we’re able to transform them into productive assets. “A lot of people do not know but we have huge mineral resources in a new group. And these resources are sitting under our ground not being productive. So, we believe with the partnership we’re trying to basically build with the Federal Government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets. “Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by private sector and private sector want the ease of doing business and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure. “So, we also had that conversation with Mr. President. We have made a very strong announcement. We’ve banned sit-at-home on Mondays in Enugu. And obviously, what that means is that we will, of course, need to, you know, heighten our security, tackle the challenges that would flow from that, and, you know, essentially that’s what I have come to do. “And finally, we also of course, talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion. “So, we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship.”

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Presidential Tribunal: How BVAS failed to transmit results – INEC officials

  Two ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission acting as subpoenaed witnesses of the Peoples Democratic Party have admitted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System failed to transmit the results of the presidential election after the collation. The witnesses, Friday Egwuma and Grace Timothy told the Presidential Election Petition Court on Thursday that the BVAS machine allocated to them developed a system error immediately after the results of the Senate and House of Representatives aspects of the poll were freely transmitted. In their subpoena evidence, the two workers of the electoral body explained that they had to resort to other means of getting the results when it became clear that the BVAS machines would not help them. Egwuma was a Presiding Officer in a polling unit in Abia State while Grace Timothy served INEC in Plateau State. Apart from the failure of the BVAS machines to transmit the presidential election results, the two witnesses admitted that voting went smoothly in their respective places of work. They were led in evidence by Atiku’s lead counsel Chief Chris Uche SAN. Under cross-examination by Abubakar Mahmud SAN, who stood for the electoral body, Egwuma explained that he resorted to an offline system in place of the BVAS machines. In her own testimony, Grace Timothy told the Court that the greatest challenge she experienced during the election was the uploading of the presidential election results into the I- rev portal. The witnesses were also cross-examined by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN who stood for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN who represented the All Progressives Congress APC. Meanwhile, further hearing in the petition has been shifted to June 9 by the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

No man’s land: Rhodes Vivour cautions Obasa against divisive laws

  The Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos state for the 2023 election, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour has condemned the comments made by Rt. Hon Mudasiru Obasa, Speaker of the state House of Assembly that the house will make laws to protect the property right of indigenes. He cautioned the Speaker against laws that will divide Lagos residents along ethnic lines. He warned that any enacted law that seeks to reverse property rights in favour of the indigenous people of Lagos state at the expense of other residents is divisive and not in the economic interest of Lagos. Rhodes Vivour stated this in a statement posted on his official Twitter handle on Thursday The PUNCH reports that Mudashiru Obasa had in his acceptance speech after his re-election as the Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly said lawmakers will go to any length in protecting the state indigenes even if it means reversing existing law. Rhodes Vivour described such a move as an attempt to undermine the fundamental right of residents as enshrined in the country’s constitution, adding that well-meaning Lagosians should resist “the divisive bill” He also said that in considering such legislation, the speaker has disregarded the Nigerian constitution, adding the law will discourage the participation of local and international investors in Lagos’ economy. “By considering this regressive bill, the Speaker disregards the spirit of the Nigerian Constitution and perpetuates a discriminatory system that divides our society along ethnic lines. “The proposed bill undermines the principle of private ownership and could severely affect investment, economic growth, and overall prosperity in Lagos State. By considering such legislation, the Speaker is sending a damaging message to local and international investors, discouraging their participation and confidence in the state’s economy,” Rhodes Vivour said Instead of promulgating such a law, Rhodes Vivour advocated for state laws that will rather “protect heritage, historical sites, and traditional institutions from political vandalism.” He also urged the state government to stick to its duty of catering to the welfare of its citizens irrespective of the state of origin.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

Imo govt, FUTO partner to improve sanitation, ICT

  The Imo State Government and the management of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State have resolved to partner to improve sanitation, Information and Communications Technology, security and crisis resolution mechanisms amongst the varsity’s students, staff and the host communities. The Special Adviser to the state Governor, on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Godson Okereke, popularly known as Bishop spoke when he met the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Nnenna Oti on Thursday. Okereke, a former leader of National Association Of Nigerian Student said that the VC was doing well in promoting academic excellence and discipline in the university.   The governor’s aide said that he was at the school to fine tune ways with the Management to revive the existing overhead Water Tanks in the University for adequate and regular supply of clean water to FUTO community and how the State government could partner with the University management to improve sanitation and conducive teaching and learning environment. While reflecting that FUTO was rated as the 12th Institution in Engineering in Nigeria with high match in the world, Okereke said in due course FUTO is going to be number one centre of academic, economic and ICT excellence in Nigeria. “FUTO remains one of the oldest Institutions in South East with fast growing population and track records of academic excellence as number 12th in Nigeria in engineering ranking with high match in the world. FUTO has continued to be on the news for the right reasons. Hence recently, FUTO now has a Federal University Teaching Hospital which was facilitated by His Excellency, Hope Uzodimma, the Executive Governor of Imo State. This milestone was a plus to the institution. “Not forgetting the recent construction and equipping of FUTO ICT Centre which is an SPDC/NCDB Project sponsored by Shell. Together with the digital economy center of South East Region to be sited in FUTO are all geared towards making FUTO a permanent center of excellence in South East and Nigeria at large”. He said he was impressed with the astronomic rise of infrastructure and moral development in FUTO under Oti as VC, observing that FUTO had experienced a lot of federal and state governments presence, believing that when the projects are fully implemented FUTO would be number one University in Nigeria and one of the best in the world. Okereke thus appreciated the Vice Chancellor for her wisdom, intellectual ability and leadership charisma in addressing community crisis, insecurity, advancing students and staff welfare, enhancing academic excellence, lauding FUTO Management and lecturers for their firm support to the First Female Vice Chancellor of FUTO, imploring them to remain steadfast in making FUTO great.

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Post Date : June 9, 2023

DAILIES TOP STORIES: Nigeria, others slow Africa’s GDP growth by 65% – Report

  Friday 09 June 2023 INEC, APC oppose LP’s request to quiz IT experts National Assembly leadership: Tinubu’s meeting with lawmakers fails to resolve zoning crisis INEC, APC oppose LP’s request to quiz IT experts Support Akpabio, Tajudeen – Tinubu Urges Lawmakers-Elect How Economy Fared Under Obasanjo, Yar’adua, Jonathan, Buhari Two INEC Officials Tell Tribunal They Couldn’t Upload Presidential Results To IReV Uproar As DSS Attempts To Arrest Anambra Lawmaker-Elect What G5 Members Discussed With Tinubu — Makinde Catholic Church Asks Tinubu, Sani To Caution El-Rufai Over Divisive Statement Presidential Election Tribunal: Labour Party Witness Accuses INEC Of Sabotage Enugu Governor Meets Tinubu, Seeks Nnamdi Kanu’s Release Buhari Spent More Than $19bn Used For Dangote Refinery In Failed Bid To Revive Nigeria’s Refineries, Says Gov Sule Tinubu Assents To Bill On Uniformity In Retirement Age Of Judicial Officers Obi, Soludo Mourn Senator Annie Okonkwo Umo Eno visits Tinubu, seeks intervention on federal projects in Akwa Ibom Court extends order restraining EFCC, DSS from detaining Yari Democracy Day: FG declares June 12 public holiday 10th NASS leadership: Uncertainty over presiding officers Oil revenue crash pushes FG’s deficit to N513bn in February There was no plan to proscribe ASUU under Buhari — Ngige Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

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