Oyo Governor, Seyi Makinde, says fiscal federalism and devolution of powers remained the only ways to take Nigeria out of its problems. Makinde said true federalism is the future of democracy in the country and urged the federal government to allow States have more powers. He said states deserved to control their natural resources and the security architecture “to avoid the path of destruction”. Makinde spoke at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, on Tuesday, during his keynote address at the maiden Seyi Makinde National Democracy Summit. In attendance were Ondo Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, represented by the Commissioner of…
Author: Ifeanyi N.
Fifty-eight people have been killed during anti-government protests that began in Colombia five weeks ago and have also led to roadblocks and clashes with police, the country’s human rights ombudsman said Monday. In a report presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the ombudsman office also said it had received more than 400 allegations of human rights violations during the protests that started April 28, including cases of police beatings, arbitrary detentions and sexual abuses of protesters in police custody. Colombia’s police have come under scrutiny from human rights groups for their behavior during the protests, in which videos…
Lawan considers the 100 per cent implementation of the 2020 budget as an achievement. President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday, bagged two awards – the Parliamentary Leadership for Good Governance and Budget cycle restoration. The awards presentation and dinner was organised by the Press Corps of the Senate in Abuja on Monday. Other senators also bagged awards with the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Sen. Ajibola Basiru, conferred with the Parliamentary Image Defender award. Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Jibrin Barau, won the Budget Cycle Restoration Facilitator award while Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary,…
The Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) has given reasons why it would not conduct elections into the 37 Local Council Development Areas created by former Governor, Ibikunle Amosun. OGSIEC said the constitution does not recognise the LCDAs, saying it is focusing on the existing 20 LGAs. InfoStride News reports that Amosun, during his second term in office, created the 37 LCDAs and was passed into law by the Ogun State House of Assembly. At the time, Amosun said the local council areas would “open up remote and far-flung parts of the Gateway State, bring government closer to the people…
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Enugu State, Barr. Ejikeme Ugwu has urged the people of the South-East to sheath their sword and support the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Ugwu spoke amid the ongoing security challenges in the zone and the rising agitation for Biafra. The people of the region are also lamenting what they have described as total exclusion from the President Buhari government. But Ugwu while speaking with journalists at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, said the current administration had done visible projects in the South-East more than the 16 years of the Peoples…
Chuks Ibegbu, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has insisted that Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu and Governor Yayaya Bello should forget their 2023 presidential ambition. He called on those he suspected to be aspiring to run in the election to support the campaign for an Igbo president in 2023 so as to rebuild Nigeria and beyond. Ibegbu made the call during an interview with the media on Monday, in Umuahia, maintaining that a pan-Nigeria Igbo man or woman as Nigerian President in 2023 will ensure rapid development in all facets of governance…
President Donald Trump’s ex-White House counsel Don McGahn “shed new light” on the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. elections and the pressure the lawyer was under to stymie the federal probe, congressional Democrats said on Friday. McGahn, who served as Trump’s presidential lawyer for nearly two years before resigning in October 2018, testified in a day-long, closed-door session before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. McGahn appeared under a subpoena issued about two years ago to testify as the committee was looking into allegations of wrong-doing by Trump. Late in 2019, the House voted to impeach…
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pledged to publish a comprehensive list of its new polling units across the nation next week. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja. Yakubu was speaking at the formal handing over of a new state of the art fire truck, deployed to the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja by the Federal Fire Service (FFS). He said that details of the locations of its registration centres and the procedure for the commencement of online registration for resumption of nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) would be made available in the second week…
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government against harassing foreign envoys and other members of the international community for speaking out against the infringement on the rights of Nigerians by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. This was contained in a statement on monday by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the party. According to the statement, “The PDP’s position is predicated on the summoning of the envoys of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada among others by the Federal Government, for standing on the side of Nigerians…
Two political appointees, Mark Bookie Obi, Special Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on administration and Cecil Cecil Ita, Director General Urban Renewal Commission (South) have resigned their appointments. In their letters of resignation addressed to the governor, the duo said they decided to remain with the People Democratic Party (PDP), after due considerations. Mark Obi said, “Following recent happenings in the political alignment of the State Governor, I am persuaded to review my involvement in the current administration. “Consequently, being a founding and subsisting member of the People’s Democratic Party in Cross River State, I cannot in good conscience remain…
Senator Dino Melaye who represented the Kogi Central Senatorial District in the 8th National Assembly has identified himself as the number three defaulter of the Federal Governments ban on Twitter. The FG had last week suspended the microblogging platform for allegedly allowing contents that are capable of threatening the corporate existence of Nigerians. However, many Nigerians have been accessing the platform via the use of Virtual Private Network, VPN. The Senior Pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye tweeted on Monday, stating that his church will not comply with the FG’s ban. Similarly, a former aviation…
Nepal’s embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said that misunderstandings with India have been resolved and that the two countries should move forward looking at the future, asserting that neighbours share both love and problems. In a recent interview to BBC Hindi Service, Oli accepted the fact that once, there were misunderstandings between the two neighbours. However, he did not elaborate on those issues. Oli, in a televised address to the nation last month, said that the outstanding issues relating to the border issue with India will be resolved through diplomatic channels on the basis of historical accords,…
Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, has reacted to his 2023 presidential campaign posters with former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Charles Soludo. Posters bearing ‘Atiku for President in 2023’ and Charles Soludo for Vice President have been sighted at different parts of Abuja. The campaign materials claimed that only the Atiku-Soludo alliance can rescue Nigeria from the brink of collapse. Reacting, Atiku distanced himself from the posters, saying he was spending his time finding solutions to Nigeria’s problems. A statement signed by Atiku’s Spokesman, Paul Ibe, urged Nigerians not to be misled by the disingenuous plot because he knows…
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Dr Olusegun Osinkolu, has described the death of Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), as painful and sad. Osinkolu said Nigerians and the entire world would miss Prophet Joshua’s philanthropism and evangelistic skills that had gone global and touched the lives of many families and nation’s positively. The Director-General, Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Council in Ekiti in the 2019 election, said this on Monday, in his condolence message, mourning the cleric. TB Joshua died on Saturday evening, at the age of 57. Speaking on…
The Special Adviser to Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River State on Sustainable Development Goals, Mr Mark Obi, has resigned his appointment. In his resignation letter, which he signed and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Calabar, the state capital, Obi said that “as a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)”, he would not defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC). “Following recent happenings in the political alignment of the state governor, I am persuaded to review my involvement in the current state administration. “Consequently, being a founding and subsisting member of…
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned political parties against giving their presidential ticket to a Christian from the Southwest. MURIC, an Islamic rights organization, warned that any political party that gives its presidential ticket to a Christian from the Southwest would “lose woefully.” Director of MURIC, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, issued the warning while lamenting over marginalization of Muslims in the Southwest by Christians. Akintola accused Christians in the Southwest of downplaying the fundamental human rights of Muslims in the region. In a statement sent to the media, Akintola warned that Muslims in the Southwest would be confined to slavery…
President Joe Biden and Republicans entered the weekend sharply at odds over how to craft an infrastructure deal that could satisfy their camps, imperiling the odds of a bipartisan deal. Democrat Biden shot down a new proposal from the main Republican negotiator on infrastructure, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, that increased spending by about $50 billion over their last offer, the White House said. Biden rejected the offer, saying it “did not meet his objectives to grow the economy, tackle the climate crisis, and create new jobs.” Republicans had previously offered roughly $257 billion in new spending, short of the $2.25…
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kunle Adegoke has said the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami are threading the wrong path. He said this while reacting to the order instructing the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, DPPF, to commence the prosecution of those found using Twitter. He stressed that before an act will constitute an offence, there must be a law enacted by the parliament, a legislature either by the National or the State Houses of Assembly criminalizing that particular act and providing punishment for it. Malami had in…
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the National Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being behind the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. This was contained in a statement on Sunday by Kola Ologbondiyan, the National Publicity Secretary of the party. “The PDP says revelations available to it showed how APC leaders at one of their party’s national caucus meeting recommended the regulation of social media in Nigeria and how they have been plotting to obliterate internet-based interaction platforms such as Twitter. “The PDP recalls how the APC Caucus has been pushing bills in the National Assembly, particularly…
It appears the efforts of the Bukola Saraki-led reconciliation committee to unite the Ladi Adebutu and Buruji Kashamu factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State has not yielded the desired result as the two groups renewed their rivalry over the forthcoming local government elections in the state. InfoStride News reports that the July 24 local government election in the state has once again triggered another infighting, with the two factions battling for recognition before the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC). The Spokesman of the PDP in Ogun State, Akinloye Bankole, had earlier raised the alarm that…