The National Director of Publicity of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba Ahmed, has said that Muslim-Muslim ticket is a fraud. Baba Ahmed stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, while commenting on APC’s zoning of Senate Presidency. He said the legislators should be allowed to decide whom they want to lead them. According to him, the North Western region should be allowed to produce the next senate president, saying their votes brought President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to power. Commenting on the Muslim Muslim ticket in Kaduna State, he said, “What did he (El-Rufai) do for the Muslims? He demolished their houses. Ninety five percent of the houses and building he demolished belong to Muslims. So for what value has Muslim-Muslim. It’s fraud. “Politicians have poisoned faith. They took it made it a political capital. And they are fooling everybody. The earlier we open our eyes, the better. They are destroying the political process by bring faith into it. They are deceiving people into thinking that they represent a class, which is not true.”

  A man, Ali Abubakar, who was dragged to a Shari’a court sitting in Kaduna by his wife, Ajinomo Ohunenene-Ummi on Wednesday was absent owing to a lack of transport fare to the court. Abubakar had sent word through the court messenger, Tajuddeen Saidu that he would not be available for the hearing because he does not have transport fare from Abuja to Kaduna. He prayed the court to go ahead with the proceedings and grant the petitioner her wishes. Earlier, the petitioner, through her counsel, Nafisa Ibrahim stated that she wants to redeem herself from the marriage and was ready to return the N50,500 dowry her husband [aid. She also prayed court to grant her custody of their one-year-old daughter. She also prayed the court to order he defendant to pay N20,000 monthly feeding allowance. The judge, Malam Abdulrahman Isiyaku, ordered that the court messenger and the petitioner to call Abubakar on phone so that he can respond to the claims. The court messenger reported to the judge that Abubakar had agreed to the divorce and child custody to mother but said he would pay N10,000 monthly feeding allowance for his daughter. He added that Abubakar had agreed for the complainant to use the N50,500 dowry as monthly feeding allowance for their child for five months. The judge asked the complainant if she agrees with the amount and she agreed. Isiyaku dissolved trhe marriage through Khul’i (redemption) and ordered the petitioner to keep the N50,500 meant for refund of the dowry to feed her baby for five months in place. The judge also Abubakar to continue taking care of the child’s health, clothing and education until she reaches school age.

  A student of Physics in the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) in Kogi State, identified simply as Williams, was reportedly stabbed to death on Saturday by an SS3 student for allegedly toasting the secondary student’s elder sister. City & Crime reports that before the incident in the late Williams’ father’s compound at the 200 Housing Estate (Old Poly Quarters) in Lokoja, the victim, it was gathered, was having issues bothering on love with the sister of the assailant. A source explained that Williams’ assailant came to the compound in the Old Poly Quarters demanding to see him to assist him in a particular subject, feigning to be preparing for WAEC exams. City & Crime gathered that the late Williams’ father who did not suspect the ulterior motive of the assailant pointed Williams’ room to him and that he went into the room and stabbed Williams in the stomach and rushed out of the house. Williams was said to have died before his family could rush him to the Specialist Hospital, Lokoja. City & Crime further learnt that the suspect was later arrested by the police. The spokesman of FUL, Mr Daniel Iyke, who confirmed the incident, said, “The police are on the matter. The thing is that the student lived with his parents. The stabbing happened in his house as alleged.” The Kogi State Police Command’s spokesman, SP William Aya, did not respond to a call and an SMS on the incident.

  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is currently holding his maiden meeting with governors across the 36 states of the federation under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) at the State House, Abuja. In attendance at the meeting which started around 12:36pm are the governors of Zamfara, Kano, Taraba, Kogi, Ogun, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Lagos, Rivers, Osun, Jigawa, Benue, Taraba, Delta, Enugu, Rivers, Oyo, Plateau, Kebbi, Abia, Imo, Bauchi. The deputy governors of Edo and Niger are representing their states. The governors, who are conspicuously missing before the start of the meeting are governors of Katsina, Kaduna, Gombe, Borno, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ekiti, Sokoto, and Ondo. Vice President Kashim Shettima and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, are equally attending the meeting. President Tinubu had on Friday met with the governors of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) under the auspices of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF). Details later…

  Governor Hope Uzodimma has dropped his deputy, Prof Placid Njoku, ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the state. In the list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the list showed that Uzodimma has dropped Placid for a female deputy governorship candidate, Mrs. Ekemaru Chinyere Ihuoma. The list also included the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Anyanwu, who chose a former House of Representatives member, Jones Onyeriri, as his deputy. The Labour Party has Senator Athan Achonu as its governorship candidate with a former Reps member, Tony Nwulu, as his deputy. Analysts said that the choice of a female deputy by APC aimed at capturing the votes of the female population in the state. They also contended that the choice of Ekemaru, who is from the same Mbaike block as the PDP candidate, is to effectively checkmate the growing influence of the major opposition party in the November election. Ekemaru is also a compensation for the people of Ikeduru as she is of the same political block as Placid Njoku.

  No fewer than 108 stranded Nigerians in Libya have been repatriated and were received by the federal government delegation led by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The returnees who arrived from Tripoli aboard Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 with registration number 5A-DMG touched down at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA), Lagos around 5: 55 pm. The returnees who were assisted back to the country by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) included 46 female adults; two female children and one female infant. Others were 52 male adults, four male children and four male infants. Receiving the returnees, the Director General of the agency, Alhaji Mustapha Habib Ahmed reiterated the determination of the new administration to tackle the challenges facing the country and carry out all measures that would turn around the nation’s economy for positive development. Ahmed also stated that the present administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would leave no stone unturned to address the challenges confronting the youths.

  A private Nigerian Airline, Air Peace Ltd, has sued the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) before the Federal High Court in Lagos over the alleged disruption of its operations by the unions and its officers.   The airline is asking the court to award it N1 billion as general damages, N450 million as special damages and N250 million as exemplary damages. The suit was brought before the court pursuant to Order 6(6)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Order 28 Rules 1 & 2 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, and the inherent jurisdiction of the court. Also joined in the suit as defendants are the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero; the President of TUC, Festus Osifoh; the Sec-Gen. of NLC, one Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja and the General Secretary of TUC Comrade Nuhu Toro. Air Peace is asking the court for a declaration that given the very sensitive nature of aviation ordinarily, and particularly in the current climate of pervasive fear of insecurity over long-distance travels within Nigeria by other modes of transportation, the defendants’ calculated precipitation of grounding all the plaintiff’s flights throughout Nigeria for the singular reason that it is responsible for the majority of air-passenger and goods flights in the country in order to cause substantial nationwide paralysis, constitutes condemnable sabotage of the national economy and security. The plaintiffs also asked the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants by themselves, their agents/servants/privies or otherwise, howsoever, from repeating/continuing the acts of intimidation and coercion against it. In documents put before the court, the airline, through their lawyer, Senior Adviser of Nigeria, Chijioke Okoli, stated that on May 3, 2023, its employees on duty were confronted by a noisy mob which invaded their offices, check-in counters and work areas at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos and the Murtala Mohammed Airport Terminal 1 (MM1) premises, essentially disrupting their work; disorganising and upturning tables, unplugging and pushing away desktops and personal computers used for employment by the employees, some of whom sustained injuries in the melee. The airline also claimed that from the songs they sang and the instructions that the apparent leaders loudly issued during the disruption, it immediately became clear that the mob causing the disruptive scene were members of the NLC and TUC, some of whom got into violent altercations, injuring some of its customers and staff who voiced their frustrations at the disruption and frustration of their travel plans by the defendants’ antics. They also stated that the defendant’s actions had inevitable ripple effects on their operations in other airports in the country, including the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, and Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, all of which the plaintiff’s scheduled flights could not take off from or land at. The airline says it later learnt that the defendants, had some grouse against the Governor of Imo State, Chief Hope Uzodimma, and to “punish him”, decided upon a total shutdown of Imo State beginning from Wednesday, May 3, 2023, as was stated among other things in their joint communiqué of May 1, 2023. “That Lagos is the operational hub and nerve centre of the airline operations, and a direct consequence of the defendants’ malicious and unlawful invasion of its work areas/offices and forcible prevention of its functions, as detailed above, was the cancellation of its flights billed for different destinations,” it said. “Several Air Peace staff suffered physical molestation and incurred bruises which led to their psychological trauma and hospital visitations for treatments, with some having to be excused for some days’ absence from work to recover.” In addition to the financial losses, Air Peace says it has also suffered a grave injury to its business reputation, not only in the eyes of its flying customers but also in those of the general public and its investors. It said its lawyers wrote letters, dated May 12, 2023, to the defendants demanding that they promptly make amends for their unjustifiable, grievous and malicious injuries to it, but which demand they have disregarded and are instead threatening more disturbance and harm to its operations. “That the defendants threatened and intend, unless restrained by the Honourable Court, to continue to intimidate and coerce the Plaintiff’s servants and customers and consequentially cause it more harm and losses,” it added. Air Peace therefore concluded that the defendant’s conduct in the circumstances of this suit and leading to its significant losses are egregiously malicious, scandalous and most deserving of reproach by the award of general, special and exemplary damages which they put at N1.7bn.

  Dayo Olumide, the acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, has disclosed that the airplane that landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on 26th May 2023, was a chartered one from Ethiopia. Recall a few weeks ago, an aircraft bearing the logo of Nigeria Air was sighted in Abuja. Speaking before the Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday, Olumide said the plane was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines to launch the country’s official airline. The Nigeria Air MD added that his mandate is to secure an operating licence for the airline that is still in its early stages. He said; “It is a pleasure to be here and to finally make our position known where I can clarify all the misconceptions regarding Nigeria Air as it pertains to the technical aspects of it. “As you know this airline was launched with the logo in 2018. Several things have transpired since then that has nothing to do with me. “I was invited last February, my mandate is to secure an air operating certificate for the airline not necessarily to operate the airline but to secure a licence to fly. And that is entirely my responsibility.” Senator Olujimi, Chairman of the Committee on Aviation, expressed her thoughts on the situation adding that the arrangement of the Nigeria Air was shrouded in suspicion. Olumide, while responding to Olujimi’s question said the aircraft, causing the conversation did not require a licence, as it was hired. He said, “I will like to address your question first before I go on. The aircraft that came in and left was a legitimate charter flight. Anyone of us here if we have a destination wedding in Senegal, we can charter an aircraft. “You don’t need to have a licence to do that, you just charter an aircraft, an aircraft you paid for it, it will be brought here, take your passengers, and off you go. “And that is what we did. But in this case, it was to unveil. Ever since 2018, all you have ever seen about Nigeria Aircraft were pictures, and drawings, not the real aircraft, and we thought it was time to show what the real aircraft will look like and also to let shareholders know. “You see we have institutional investors, they are not in aviation, but they are putting their money for 10 or 15 years and to exit may be at the premium. So they need to see what the actual aircraft will look like. “So we brought it in here to show them what the aircraft will look like. Then the social media dimension came into it. “It is an Ethiopian-registered one. Why is it Ethiopian-registered? To operate aircraft in Nigeria, they must be Nigerian registered; on 5th November. That aircraft was not on 5th November registered because it was a chartered flight and it came in with just a few day’s clearance and off it went. “For us to get that licence which is my mandate, we must among other things have three aircraft before the NCAA will give us a licence and those three aircraft must be Nigerian-registered aircraft.” “There are five steps that one goes through to have a licence. We have gone from the first one to the second one but the problem is that when you change what we call post holders. “Post holder is a technical term for director of maintenance, or chief pilot, when you change them and replace them completely, you have to go back to phase one to interview them to be compliant to the authority, to the civil authority. But haven gone back to phase one doesn’t mean you have done anything thing wrong. That is a correct and normal process. “So when this aircraft came on a chartered flight, everybody said we have launched Nigeria Air. “There are learned people in the aviation industry who could have countered that when social media came out, they chose not to.”