Ondo state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has sacked all media aides seconded to the office of the deputy governor. Those affected were press secretary to the governor, Kenneth Odusola; special assistant to the governor (new media), Okunniga Oladipupo; and special assistant to the governor (Photography), Abayomi Samson Adefolalu. A statement by the chief press secretary to the governor, Richard Olatunde, said the affected aides were to submit all government properties in their possession to the acting permanent secretary, office of the deputy governor. The statement said the press crew attached to the office of the deputy governor has been disbanded. It read: “Consequently, all members of the Press Crew are to report back to their various ministries and stations. “Equally, the Ministry of Information and Orientation is directed to provide adequate coverage for the activities of the deputy’s governor office henceforth.”

  Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the United States house of representatives, says a formal impeachment inquiry will be opened about President Joe Biden. McCarthy, who spoke on Tuesday, said the inquiry would focus on “allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption” by the president. The speaker’s announcement comes amid months of pressure from the Republicans in the Congress’ lower body to move swiftly in opening an impeachment inquiry about Biden. Biden, who is running for a second term, has been accused of “weaponising” the justice department against political opponents to protect Hunter, his son. In June, Hunter pleaded guilty to two tax crimes and struck a deal with federal prosecutors regarding a separate felony gun charge while he was a drug user. Critics of Biden’s governments have alleged that Hunter’s dealings and repeated run-ins with the law indicate a pattern of corruption. In a brief statement at the US Capitol, McCarthy said there were “serious and credible” allegations involving the president’s conduct. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption,” he said. “They warrant further investigation by the house of representatives. That’s why today I am directing our house (committees) to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.” Ian Sams, spokesperson for the White House, condemned the move and labelled it as extreme politics. “House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing…His own GOP members have said so…He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn’t have support… Extreme politics at its worst,” Sams tweeted. McCarthy did not mention when votes would be cast to launch the inquiry. If followed through, the inquiry will give congressional investigators greater legal authority to investigate the president, including by issuing subpoenas for documents and testimony.

  West and Central Africa’s largest carrier, Air Peace, has concluded plans to commence direct flights from Nigeria to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The inaugural flight is slated to take place in October 2023. The airline made this disclosure during an engagement session with travel agents in Kano yesterday. Lagos and Kano to Jeddah will operate three days every week with a possible connection from Abuja. However, while commenting on the development, Air Peace’s Ground Operations Manager, Ayodeji Adeyemi, stated that the connectivity would be direct using the luxury Boeing 777. He commended the travel agents, reinstating that the airline is committed to working with them in other to ensure the new route is maximised for everyone to enjoy the payoffs. In his words: “In the first half of this year, we launched two major international destinations- Mumbai and Tel Aviv- and now we are gearing up for Jeddah next month. “This does not only signal growth and expansion for the airline but it also demonstrates our firm commitment to reducing the burden associated with connecting cities with stopovers. “We promise direct connectivity and this is evident in our international route network. We offer direct flights at affordable fares.” The Vice-president, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies, Northern Zone, Abdulrazak Ibrahim, commended Air Peace for the planned Jeddah route and reaffirmed their support while also urging the airline to keep blazing the trail in driving route connectivity across domestic and international cities. Air Peace, which operated a flight to Antigua and Barbuda in August, with prospects of scheduled operations into the Caribbean nation, has a network of twenty domestic routes, 8 regional and 5 international destinations.

  Former Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) says he does not need a title to serve in the President Bola Tinubu-led administration, which in his view, is birthing the next generation of leaders. Fashola, a close aide of Tinubu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Lagos State University, Ojo, on Tuesday. He was at the University to deliver a keynote address at the institution’s fifth research and innovation fair.   The former Lagos State Governor, who also served as Tinubu’s Chief of Staff when the President was governor of the state. was responding to a question on his role in the present administration at the federal level and possibility of an appointment. He said, “I do not need a title to serve: the president can only appoint at least one minister, for example, from each state which he has done that. “There are just enough places in parastatals, they are doing that; we are estimated to be 200 million, so there are not enough offices to take everybody. “All of us must play our roles as citizens, and a citizen does not need a title to serve. “The biggest title you need is that of being citizen and play our role; we are also talking about the next generation. ”If some do not move on, where is the place for the next batch?” He said there was the need to bring more outstanding public spirited people to occupy spaces as they evolve. Fashola said he looked forward to a lot more youthful people being part of the administration.

  The minister of interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo on Tuesday, September 12, said 55,000 passport application backlogs have been cleared out of 200,000 following his two-week deadline to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). The minister who made the remarks in his office in Abuja during a meeting with the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Betta Edu, noted that the information was from daily updates he received from the NIS over his directive. He maintained that under his watch, Nigerians home and abroad would not be subjected to unnecessary hardships and bottlenecks in the process of obtaining passport booklets. He also assured that when the backlogs are cleared, Nigerians would be collecting their passport documents after two weeks of applying for them, insisting that the present administration is poised to remove all bottlenecks hindering the delivery of such services. According to a press statement signed by the Director of Press in the Ministry of Interior, Afonja Ajibola, the two ministries agreed to collaborate in order to reduce poverty in Nigeria. They agreed on a joint Inter-ministerial committee to address the challenges of poverty, insecurity and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). Tunji-Ojo said the two ministries have a semblance of mandate, believing that it is in such collaboration that the objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can be delivered effectively. He appreciated the Humanitarian Affairs Minister for broadening the mandate of the ministry to cover vulnerable ex-servicemen of Services under the supervision of the Ministry and inmates of Correctional facilities. Earlier, Beta Edu applauded the minister of interior for taking his work head-on, asserting that the mandate of her ministry has been expanded to cover more Nigerians, especially about 16 million Nigerians who are susceptible to insecurity. She regretted that their plight had led to their displacement, and caused humanitarian crises. She also said her ministry is ready to intervene in the provision of soft loans to the widows of deceased NSCDC, correctional officers, men and officers of Nigeria Immigration Service and Fire Service officers who died while on duty. According to her, inmates of correctional facilities will start enjoying similar interventions through a skills acquisition programme. Edu said since the Federal Fire Service is an agency under the supervision of the ministry of interior with responsibility for disaster issues, due attention would also be given to it while the NSCDC’s role in security intelligence would be activated as part of the joint partnership. The meeting had in attendance the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Oluwatoyin Akinlade, Directors in the Ministry, CGs of Agencies, DG NAPTIP, and directors of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry and the Minister’s aides.

  The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has said the sit-at-home order enforced by the Indigenous People of Biafra across the South-East states has ended. IPOB in August 2021 commenced the sit-at-home order to demand the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, from prison. The order impacted the economy in the region and resulted in the loss of lives and properties of residents in the South-East. Speaking at the COAS combined second and third quarters conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Lagbaja said the menace ended as a result of the heightened efforts of his men and collaboration with relevant stakeholders. He said, “We have equally heightened our efforts in containing criminalities perpetrated in the South East Region by the Indigenous People of Biafra and Eastern Security Network. Through Operation Udo Ka, our troops have, in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, put an end to the infamous sit-at-home order that has almost crippled socio-economic activities in the Region. “Law-abiding citizens of the Region now go about their businesses and everyday life. Similarly, our joint efforts with various government agencies have quelled attempts by criminals to disrupt economic activities in the South West Region.” Lagbaja also revealed that the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist activities have been curtailed, adding that residents of the troubled states had commenced commercial activities in the states. He said, “It is heart-warming to note that our activities in Operation Hadin Kai in the North East have effectively curtailed Boko Haram and other terrorist activities in the Region. Overall, our efforts have resulted in the large-scale surrender of members of the terrorist groups and the submission of a large cache of arms and ammunition. “The good people of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States are steadily picking up their livelihood as the military, in collaboration with the government, is helping to restore governance to the hitherto deprived areas.” He also said the Nigerian Army has established some Special Forces units to tackle insecurity across the country. Lagbaja said, “In a bid to further enhance our operational effects, the Nigerian Army has established some Special Forces units using specially trained personnel to tackle various criminalities across the Country. “The Special Forces units have continued to record impressive performances through intelligence-led operations and the use of special equipment. As we continue to procure and induct more sophisticated platforms and equipment into the various theatres as force multipliers, I charge field commanders to ensure the maintenance of these platforms and equipment to prolong their life span and enable the nation to optimize its investment.” He promised that under his watch, the welfare of troops and their families would be given priority. “To this end, troops’ welfare and that of their families will remain predominant in all our efforts. I intend to consolidate all existing welfare arrangements to enhance the well-being of our troops and their families, as this will keep them focused on their tasks. “In addition to providing befitting living quarters for our personnel, we shall ensure the newly introduced ‘Affordable Home Ownership Option for All Soldiers Scheme’ designed to provide affordable and high-quality post-service homes for our soldiers”, Lagbaja said.

  The Niger State Emergency Management Agency has revealed that a tree stump inside the Jabba Dam River was responsible for the boat accident which led to the death of 30 people in Niger State on Sunday. Tragedy struck the state on Sunday when a boat fully loaded with over 100 persons believed to be farmers capsized in Mokwa Local Government Area. 30 passengers were killed while 30 others were rescued. The state government on Monday conducted a mass burial of the dead in the LGA. The spokesman for NSEMA, Hussain Ibrahim, disclosed the cause of the crash to The PUNCH on Tuesday in a telephone interview. He said the state government would assist the families who lost their loved ones with either cash or food items. The people stay up on the stream of Jebba Dam and the river was recently dredged to create more space for carrying parcels of the water. In the process of this dredging, some trees were cut down but not completely down, they call them tree stumps inside water. “So, when the water rises, you will not see these tree stumps. If you begin to move with your boat sometimes you will not see them. The boat had a collision with a tree stump and it was what caused the breakage of the boat and caused it to capsize,” he said. Ibrahim said the rescue operation had ended and officials of the agency went round the communities to find out if there were persons who were not captured. Search and rescue has ended and nobody has complained that their person is missing. We went round all the houses and nobody was complaining that their person was missing. “It is not all of them that were rescued. Some people on their own swam out because they were already close to the river bank, so some of them swam on their own. Those who could not swim were mainly children and some women who had children on their backs. “We are not concerned about the survivors, they are still alive, It’s going to be the second phase. The first people we are concerned about now are those who lost their loved ones, to cushion the effect. Then, we’ll go to the second phase of providing relief assistance to those who survived. “It’s going to be normal relief assistance. You know the government or its agency doesn’t pay compensation in such matters. We just recommended it could come in the form of cash or food items. Whatever the government approves, whether to give them cash or food items, we’ll do that,” he said. Ibrahim explained some of the measures the government put in place to forestall the recurrence of boat crashes in the state and some agencies they were collaborating with to provide lifejackets and new boats. “We are working together with the Nigeria Inland Waterways Agency. They are the ones responsible for setting regulations. And we are trying to see how we can domesticate those regulations in Niger State and then liaise with them. “We put the boat owners and the divers into different cluster groups so that we’ll see how the government can assist them by providing some free and subsidised life jackets for them. At the same time, having some officials that are going to be there from these associations that they have will serve as a check to make sure that they observe water regulations before they embark on anything Intermittently NSEMA and NIWA will be moving round to observe and scrutinise the life span and the safety of the boats they are using because some of them are rickety, they don’t repair them, people are looking for money to eat, they’re just managing them. So what do we do, even to construct some for them at subsidized prices and then put them in clusters so that they can put money and then the government would come to their aides so that they can buy new ones or get new ones? “HYPADEC will ensure that in each place where there are water transport activities, they’ll have representatives through these divers and boat owners association and volunteers who will serve as a guide in those cooperatives to ensure that regulations that are for commuters on top of the water are seriously affected,” Ibrahim said.

  The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Enugu has sacked the Member representing Udi/Ezeagu Federal Constituency Barr. Sunday Umeha of the Labour Party. The panel led by A.M Abubakar declared Dr. Festus Uzor of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as the Winner of the February 25th poll. Justice Abubakar while ruling on the petition by Dr. Uzor, averred that Umeha didn’t properly resign from the PDP before seeking the ticket of the Labour Party. The panel also held that even the purported resignation letter by Barr. Umeha was signed by someone that’s no longer a leader of the PDP. Justice Abubakar thereafter, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to issue certificate of return to Dr. Uzor.

  No fewer than 10,000 people were feared missing in Libya on Tuesday as floods caused by a devastating storm which burst dams and wiped out one-quarter of the eastern city of Derna. The report from Reuters said that more than 1,000 bodies had already been recovered in Derna alone. Officials were expecting the death toll to be much higher after Storm Daniel spread across the Mediterranean into a country crumbling from more than a decade of conflict. Derna, a coastal city of around 125,000 inhabitants, experienced vehicles overturned on the edges of roads, trees knocked down and abandoned flooded houses. Reacting to the havoc, Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation and member of the emergency committee in the administration that controls the east, said corpses have littered the area. “I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous. Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings,” Abu Chkiouat said. “The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more than 1,000,” he said. “I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed.” The minister also said that he expected the total number of dead across the country to reach more than 2,500, as the number of missing people was rising. Tamer Ramadan, head of a delegation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told reporters in Geneva via video link from Tunisia, “We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far.”