The popular Wuse market in the Central Area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was gutted by fire on Tuesday evening. The cause of the fire outbreak could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report but the incident abruptly ended the business of the day around the market area. The outbreak led to gridlock on all the roads leading to the market as people were seen running in different directions. Policemen, who arrived at the market, barricaded the entrance to prevent people from moving into the markets. Some vehicles in the car park have been burnt already as firefighters have commenced rescue operations.

  The Senator representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, has resigned as the chairman of the Northern Senators Forum. Although the resignation letter was dated March 11, a copy was made public shortly after Ningi was suspended for three months by the Senate over his statement on the alleged padding of the 2024 budget. Ningi, in a letter sent to the forum, wrote, “I will like to resign my position as the Chairman of the Northern Senators forum. “This is of course necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the nation at large. “I will like to especially thank members of the forum for the opportunity given to me for the last eight months to spearhead this very important forum. I believe this forum is very important and fundamental to the progress and development of Northern Nigeria,” Ningi was suspended after about three hours of debate over his interview where he alleged that the National Assembly padded the 2024 N28.7tn budget. The Senate also warned Senator Suleiman Kawu (NNPP, Kano South) against sharing and distributing disturbing news about the Senate.

  The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has taken its war against fake products to Bonny Island in Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers State, closing 10 substandard and unregistered bakeries and eight table water factories. NAFDAC in a statement signed on Tuesday, March 12, by its public relations officer, South-south Zone, Cyril Monye, described the feat as an unprecedented move to rid Rivers of fake and unwholesome products. Speaking during the operation, NAFDAC Director, South-south Zone, Chukwuma Oligbo said that the action was initiated after the agency’s painstaking investigations and surveillance in line with consumers’ complaints from the Island concerning such bakeries and factories. Oligbo said: “It was discovered that some of the quack bakeries were producing in ramshackle facilities made with woods and rusty corrugated iron sheets with inappropriate baking equipment while the workers were not properly kitted. “The bread was stored in a very unhygienic manner with flies perching on them. Some of the bakeries also bear the names of popular bread in Port Harcourt. “Most of the bakeries were not registered by NAFDAC and unregistrable because they cannot meet the minimum requirement for registration, while few that were registered by the agency have expired licences or have relocated from their initial place of registration in Port Harcourt to Bonny Island without notifying the agency for formal documentation and mandatory inspections.” Oligbo further observed that some of the table water factories mostly involved in the production of sachet water were not using filtration equipment. He said the agency discovered that a facility that was in production of bottled and jar water was manually filling the jars with a locally improvised machine instead of an automated process, which he said was the acceptable standard recommended by NAFDAC. The zonal director urged those in default of their product license renewal to use the waiver magnanimously provided by the Director-General from January to March and renew their licenses. He said that NAFDAC was always ready to guide producers in doing the right thing and warned that hard times awaited those, who intentionally flouted NAFDAC regulations. The three-day operation took NAFDAC to the length and breadth of Finima and Bonny. Pharmacies and Supermarkets were also inspected where various violations were discovered ranging from unregistered products and unsafe storage of injections

  There was uproar in the Senate on Tuesday over the revelation that ranking senators received N500 million each for projects. Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe of the People’s Democratic Party representing Cross-River North had revealed during a Senate session that ranking senators received a sum of N500 million each. The Senator revealed this while speaking during the plenary while discussing Senator Olamilekan Adeola’s motion on breach of privilege by Senator Ningi. Senator Ningi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Population and he represents Bauchi Central. Senator Ningi had alleged in a media interview that the 2024 Budget was padded to the tune of N3.7 trillion. Senator Adeola had invoked orders 9, 10, 41, and 51 to present a motion of privilege and raise an issue of national importance regarding Senator Abdul Ningi’s interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (Hausa Services). In his interview, Senator Ningi alleged that the Senate operates with two distinct budgets, highlighting over N3 trillion in unexplained funds within the 2024 budget. However, Senator Agom-Jarigbe’s revelation that ranking senators received N500 million each sparked an uproar among the senators and caused a rowdy session. He said, “We are going back and forth on this issue and coming up with issues of the budget and individual issues concerning what came to our various constituencies. If we want to go into all those issues, all of us are culpable. Some so-called Senior Senators here got N500m each, I am a ranking Senator I didn’t get anything, did I go to the press? The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) while speaking after the uproar had died down clarified that the said N500m was for constituency projects.

  The bandits, who abducted 16 students of a Qur’anic school in Sokoto State have demanded a N20 million ransom. The proprietor of the school locally known as Tsangaya, Liman Abubakar, revealed this to our reporter on Tuesday. “I received two calls from them this morning (Tuesday’s morning). In the first call, they asked me whether I don’t care about the plight of my students that was why I didn’t contact them. I told them I didn’t have their contact. “They then asked me to wait for another call around 11am. Some minutes after 11am, they called again and directed me to meet our village head and tell him to raise N20 million for the children. “I wanted to plead with them but they said they would not reduce anything from the money. I went and discussed the matter with the village head but we are yet to reach a conclusion,” he said. Daily Trust reported that the students were abducted at Gidan Bakuso in Gada Local Government Area of the state last Saturday while fleeing into their rooms to escape the attack on the community.

  The Senate has suspended Senator Abdul Ningi for three months over the allegation he brought that the National Assembly passed two versions of the 2024 budget. He was suspended on Tuesday on the floor of the Senate. The Senate was turbo-charged on Tuesday following the suspension of the senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Abdul Ningi, A member of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, Jimoh Ibrahim, moved a motion for Ningi’s suspension for 12 months over misinformation and breach of peace in the National Assembly and the country by extension. Ibrahim, who represents Ondo South Senatorial District, also moved that the senate should send a note of warning to the Senator representing Kano South Suleiman Kawu for posting inciting information on social media, and demand that he (Kawu) tenders an apology. The Ondo senator’s motion was immediately seconded by his colleague representing Delta Central Senatoral District, Senator Ede Dafinone. Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the motion on the floor of the senate.

  Armed hoodlums suspected to be kidnappers on Tuesday morning again attacked the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku Ozalla, in Enugu State. Earlier this year, a resident doctor was attacked by gunmen on the hospital premises and abducted but later managed to escape from the kidnappers’ den. Vanguard learnt that the kidnappers allegedly abducted a female deputy director of the hospital and a security man. An SUV allegedly belonging to the abducted woman, a nurse, was seen abandoned in a viral video with bullet-perforated glass on the front passenger side. The police and hospital management are yet to confirm the incident at the time of filing this report. But a reliable source who confirmed the incident said it occurred at the same location where a medical doctor was abducted a few weeks ago. “This is so sad; we are not safe at all in this hospital; everywhere is porous,” a distressed staff member lamented.”