The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed conveyed the Federal Government’s support for the proposal. He spoke during a speech at the 20th Edition of President Muhammadu Buhari Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023) in Abuja, on Monday. He declared that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government remains committed to ensuring free, fair and credible elections, adding that those who undermine the nation’s democracy must be sanctioned, and made to pay the penalty due their crime. “As a government, we are proud to say that no administration, since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, has shown more fidelity to the democratic process than ours. “No President, since 1999, has been as unambiguous as President Muhammadu Buhari, in word and in deed, with regards to leaving office after the constitutionally-stipulated two terms,” the minister stated. “Let those who undermine our democracy be sanctioned, and let them carry their own cross. As a government, we have no r...

  Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says appointments in government are jagged and lopsided based on nepotism and mediocrity with omission for merit and competence. The prominent head of state made the statement in Abuja over the weekend while rejoicing with the old students association of the Federal Government College, Kaduna, on its 50th anniversary. He also said Nigeria is staring disunity in the face because many leaders are more concerned about their selfish interests than the survival and health of the nation. Obasanjo said the economic situation in the country has increased hardship, and insecurity, and affected the quality of leadership. He urged Nigerians to change the political outlook of the country by participating actively in the forthcoming elections. He said, “In addition to the economic hardship is political mischief. Never have we been so politically divided along religious, ethnic and other fault lines and deliberately so. Appointments in government are skewed ...

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the deadline for the use of the old notes till February 10. CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the extension in a statement signed on Sunday. Nigerian lawmakers,  m embers  of the  public and the  presidential candidate of  The  Peoples Democratic Party  [ PDP] Atiku Abubakar had called on the central bank to extend the Jan 31 deadline. The latter said that  an extension would help  in "reducing the financial consequences for citizens".

  Testimony Jaga A Lagos-based wife and mother Mrs Abimbola Agbede has demanded justice over an alleged physical assault by  a Nigerian Gospel  singer Salau Aliu Olayiwola, aka  Testimony Jaga  and his loyalists on January 17, 2023  in Agbado Local Council Development Area (LCDA).  Mrs Agbede Abimbola alleged that the singer poured urine and water on her after she accused him of obstructing vehicular movement in the estate. The victim, Mrs. Abimbola, told Vanguard that her trouble with him started after she invited her friend to deliver frozen foods to her in preparation for her son’s 15th birthday, last week. According to her, when I confronted him over the way the whole streets are blocked during his church sessions, he unleashed his church boys on me and I was beaten and bathed in urine. Mrs. Abimbola said she was still on the ground after being beaten when water was poured on her and also urine which splashed on some of the neighbors who tried to h...

  The prosecuting counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN) said that the lead counsel to the former minister Norrison Quakers (SAN) had written to the court seeking an adjournment of the case to enable him to attend to some urgent personal issues. In response to our enquiries, Mr Oyedepo noted that the senior lawyer is not given to frivolous adjournments and so the EFCC was not opposed to the request for the adjournment. With the agreement of the parties in the case, the court subsequently adjourned to April 25th & 26th for the continuation of the trial. Mr Fani-Kayode himself was present in court today even though the proceedings did not go on. It was also learnt that the parties are before the court of appeal in respect of an appeal filed by the defendants on territorial jurisdiction. Fani-Kayode is charged alongside a former Minister of State for Finance Nenandi Usman; a former Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of N...

                                           Image courtesy- Ron Lach Federal authorities Wednesday said 25 people had been locked up in connection to a scheme to sell fake nursing diplomas.  The scam involved the distribution of over 7,600 fake nursing diplomas and certificates issued by Florida-based nursing programs, according to officials. “The last thing we want to learn is that the nurses administering medications, the ones charged with carrying out doctors’ orders, took shortcuts on their clinical training,” said Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Authorities also said the  counterfeitED    diplomas and transcripts were sold from what had been accredited schools to aspiring nurses, in order to help candidate skip  admission prerequisites  to sit for the national nursing board competency exam and lic...

  The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has said that no Nigerian is licensed to build bank vaults at home. The CBN governor, who talked after the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, also announced that there is no going back on its January 31, 2023 deadline for the validity of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes. He said there is no reason for the nation’s currency in circulation to rise from N1.4 trillion to N3.2 trillion in seven years, saying that some persons are hoarding the naira and embracing currency speculation. “There is no reason why currency in circulation will grow from N1.4 trillion to N3.2 trillion in seven years,” the CBN governor said. “People are hoarding it, people are keeping vaults in their homes. We cannot allow them to be banks in their homes; they don’t have the license to build bank vaults in their homes. “They should release that money back to CBN because what they are doing is that they ar...

  Di ector General :   Mojisola Adeyeye The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Government of Benin Republic have intercepted and destroyed five containers of unregistered drugs including Tramadol worth N95 billion. Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who disclosed that the agency got a tip from the presidency on shipment of 31 containers of fake pharmaceutical products labelled building materials in August 2018, noted that the Agency had been patiently monitoring the products until they were intercepted for examination. The agency said although some of the containers were found to contain building materials, others were found to contain unregistered drugs. While briefing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, the NAFDAC DG listed some of the drugs contained in the 5×40-feet containers to include; tramadol and reality extra diclofenac tablets. She said: “The first approach was to collaborate with the Nigeria Customs Service under ...

  Mr Dele Momodu, the Director of Strategic Communications of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council, has said that the party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will be elected President of Nigeria in the forthcoming election. Momodu in a statement on Monday, brush off polls conducted by surveying agencies which predicted victories for either Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress or Labour Party’s Peter Obi in the past few months. According to him, the “elitist polls have failed monumentally due to the over-reliance on technology in a largely illiterate population”. In situating the forecast, the PDP chieftain said history has shown that each time the South produced two strong candidates, the dominant Northern candidate wins and as such, Atiku will dominate the North East, North West, North Central and South South. Mr Momodu was of the opinion that Tinubu may pick a few states in the North and South West but won’t have enough to win. Nigeria has become so polar...

  Adeleke  Blessing  Oluwadamilare  a Nigerian national, has been jailed in the USA.  Adeleke was convicted to more than three years in prison by a U.S. District Judge, James Gwin. The 31-year-old was found guilty of conspiracy to obtain stolen financial information, fraudulent purchases of retail goods and gift cards and stealing funds from bank accounts in Northern Ohio and elsewhere. It was reported that police arraigned Oluwadamilare  in Ghana before the district court on the basis of the Extradition Treaty between the U.S. and United Kingdom of December 22 1931, and the applicant was granted GH ¢200,000.00 bail with two sureties on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.  Between January 2014 through October 2016, Adeleke served as an administrator for an online marketplace where compromised data, including credit numbers and personally identifiable information (PII), were sold. Adeleke shared stolen credit card information with others, including co-defendant, K...

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum has invited the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele to a meeting over the redesigned naira notes and the timeline to fade out old notes. The invitation which was sent out by the Director-General of the Forum, Asishana Okauru noted that the agenda of the meeting will dwell significantly on the recent redesigning of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes, as well as the withdrawal policy of the CBN. According to him, the agenda of the virtual meeting, is titled, ‘The Economic and Security implications of naira redesign and withdrawal policy’. A statement by the NGF Head of Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo said the discussions promise to foster participation and dialogue between various stakeholders including governments and civil society organisations to come out with a solution to the lingering issue. The redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 notes were launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 23, 2022. However,...

  The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said available data indicates that Nigeria has 16.7 million more voters than the rest of West Africa. Yakubu made the disclosure while delivering a lecture at Chatham House in London on Tuesday afternoon on the topic ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: Preparations and Priorities for Electoral Integrity and Inclusion’. “Based on figures compiled from electoral commissions and interior ministries in West Africa, Nigeria’s current voter population is 16.7 million higher than the 76.7 million registered in all the other countries put together – and there are 14 other elections in the sub-region. “This means that a general election in Nigeria is like conducting an election in the whole of West Africa and beyond,” he said. Yakubu dismissed any speculation of plans to put off the elections scheduled for February 25th and March 11th, saying INEC is not contemplating let alone planning to post...

  The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) says, a total sum of $4.820 billion was earned by Nigeria from non-oil export earnings in 2022. The Executive Director of NEPC, Dr. Ezra Yakusak, made this known while presenting the non-oil export performance for year 2022. He says there is an increase of 39.91 per cent over 2021 adding that the figures represent data collated from the various Pre-shipment inspection agents appointed by the Federal Government under the Pre-shipment Inspection Act, 2004. “About 214 different products ranging from manufactured, semi-processed, solid minerals to raw agricultural products were exported in 2022. “Of these products exported, Urea/Fertiliser topped the list with 32.87 per cent. “The emergence of Urea/Fertiliser as the highest exported product in 2022 can be attributed to the Russia-Ukraine war which created an avenue for Nigeria’s Urea/Fertilizer to thrive. “It is worthy to note that our products were exported to 122 countries with Brazil re...

  The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is set to spud the first oil well in Nasarawa State in March this year. Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Mallam Mele Kyari disclosed this when Governor Abdullahi Sule led a delegation of prominent indigenes of the state on a courtesy visit to the NNPC Ltd. in Abuja on Friday.  Addressing his guests, he said that results of exploratory activities confirm the presence of substantial hydrocarbon resources in the state. Kyari called for prompt action on the project as the global energy transition has led to a reduction in investment in fossil fuels. “This work must be done very fast because the whole world is walking away from fossil fuel due to energy transition, the earlier you go to market, the better for you, otherwise, ten years from now, no one will agree to put money in petroleum business except it comes from your cash flow’,” he said. He added that community support and a conducive environment was key to...

       . Benjamin Mendy Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against four young women. The jury did not arrive at verdicts on one count of rape and one of attempted rape and a retrial will take place. Louis Saha Matturie, 41, was also found not guilty of three counts of rape against two teenagers. Jurors at Chester Crown Court could not reach verdicts on six other counts by five other women. Mr Mendy, 28, and his friend Mr Matturie, had been accused of raping women at the player's home in Prestbury, Cheshire, and at a Manchester flat. Mr Mendy covered his face with both hands as the jury foreman repeated "not guilty" to the six counts. During a six-month trial, prosecutors told the jury Mr Mendy was a "predator" who turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game. But jurors were also told by defence lawyers that while the trial, involving money, sex and celebrity, had "all...

  A coffin maker from Limbe in Cameron have been arrested for allegedly removing drips from patients in the hospital. According to report, the 33-year-old coffin seller whose struggling to makes sales invaded a nearby hospital to remove the drips from cholera patients who were on admission. He was sighted by one of the nurses on duty and tried to flee the scene, but was restrained by people before the hospital authorities called the police. 

  .Lai Mohammed The Federal Government on Tuesday assured that the 2023 general elections will be held as planned.   The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed gave the assurance on Tuesday at the 17th edition of President Muhammadu Buhari scorecard series from 2015-2023. “Let me use this opportunity to respond to inquiries from the media over a widely-circulated report, credited to an INEC official that the 2023 general elections face a serious threat of cancellation due to insecurity,” he said. “The position of the Federal Government remains that the 2023 elections will be held as planned. Nothing has happened to change that position. We are aware that INEC is working with the security agencies to ensure that the elections are successfully held across the country. “The security agencies have also continued to assure Nigerians that they are working tirelessly to ensure that the elections are held in a peaceful atmosphere. Therefore, there is no cause for alarm.” Th...

  Sebastien Haller played for Borussia Dortmund in a friendly in his first game since his return  six months after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The striker came off the bench after 73 minutes against Fortuna Duesseldorf in Marbella. Dortmund were leading 2-1 at the time and eventually won the match 5-1. The 28-year-old Ivory Coast international joined the Bundesliga side from Ajax in July as a replacement for Erling Haaland.  It was the first time the 28-year-old played for Dortmund as his cancer diagnosis came shortly after he signed for them from Ajax in July. He had surgery and chemotherapy before returning to training at Dortmund's training camp in Marbella. Dortmund are sixth in the Bundesliga, nine points behind leaders Bayern Munich after 15 games. Their next game will be is against FC Augsburg on Sunday, 22 January. "When everyone is of the opinion that it would be a good idea for me to play, then I'll play," said Haller. "Of course I want to...

  The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has confirmed that seven of its personnel were ambushed and killed at Kuriga mining site in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The NSCDC Director of Public Relations, Mr Olusola Odumosu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the five others were from a sister security agency and local vigilance group. “The personnel who were attached to the Kaduna State Ministry of Mines were ambushed and killed by bandits while on official duty at a mining site in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State,” the statement read. “The sad incident took place on Monday 9th of January 2023, at about 10.00hrs at the Kuriga mining site in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State. “After the attack, the bandits carted away riffles of the slain operatives and the remains of the slain officers and men have been recovered and deposited at the Barau Diko Hospital Kaduna. “The Commandant General, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, mni, OFR, ...

                                            Benjamin Hudenyin- Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer One person has been confirmed dead after operatives of the Lagos State Police Command and Yoruba Nation agitators clashed on Monday in Lagos. It was reported that the Yoruba Nation agitators had planned to hold a mega rally at Ojota area of Lagos to demand for self-determination.  A source claimed that shortly after the agitators took to the streets, the men of the Lagos State Police Command came out in procession with a detachment of personnel from Rapid Response Squad, State Taskforce and conventional divisional officers. Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benjamin Hudenyin,  confirmed the death of the unidentified person. He blamed the violence on people he described as gun-wielding miscreants masquerading as Yoruba Nation agitators. He state...

  NIGERIA - The prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a couple, Kehinde and Bukola Fatinoye, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, has escaped from the police custody,  according  to some  reports.  The police authority in the state have yet to confirm this development . The suspect simply identified as Lekan escaped from police custody at Ibara Police Divisional Headquarters, after his arrest on Tuesday. The suspect was said to have been driving Mrs Fatinoye for almost two years and was well known within the community of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), where Fatinloye worked. According to a family source, Lekan was taken into custody at Ibara Police Station after the house help, who also escaped assassination by the assailants, identified him as one of the killers at the scene. It was further revealed that at the point of taking a statement from Lekan, he slumped and was almost lifeless, not known to the police that it was only an act and a plo...