Author: Chronicle Editor

Lagos State on Tuesday unfolded plans to repeal the public officials’ pension law which grants certain benefits to former elected governors and deputy governors. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who gave the hint during his 2021 budget presentation to the House of Assembly, said he would send an Executive Bill to scrap the law because the entitlements were not sustainable due to financial constraints. The N1.155 trillion budget was christened: “Budget of Rekindling Hope.” The governor said the repeal of the law would reduce the cost of governance and foster the spirit of selfless service. He said: “In the light of keeping…

President Donald Trump has sacked Defence Secretary Mark Esper, announcing on Twitter that the top US official has been “terminated”. Christopher Miller, the current head of the National Counterterrorism Center, will take on the role immediately. It follows a public falling-out between Mr Trump and Mr Esper in recent weeks. Mr Trump has so far not conceded the US election to President-elect Joe Biden, and has vowed to challenge the projected result in court. In the weeks before Mr Biden takes office on 20 January, Mr Trump is still empowered to make decisions. Mr Miller was seen entering the Department…

An Ibadan-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Life Support Network (LSN), has said about 17.5 million children in Nigeria do not have access to education and health facilities. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NGO, Miss Itunuoluwa Ajayi, reeled out the statistics from a report of an international organisation while delivering a speech at the 2020 admission of new international volunteers into the organisation in Ibadan. Speaking about the topic: ”Nigeria, towards Rebirth of our Collective Destiny,” she said 13 per cent of Nigerians have been rendered homeless in recent times due to poverty. Ajayi lamented the prevalent poverty, particularly…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has opposed a suit seeking to remove the Ajami (Arabic) inscriptions on naira notes. It told the Federal High Court that it would cost the country a “colossal sum of money” to discard the existing notes and print new ones without Ajami. The CBN said Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid non-English speakers who are literate in and use Ajami for trade. The apex bank made the submission in a counter-affidavit to a suit filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, before Justice Mohammed Liman.…

Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said Senator Kabiru Marafa has no locus standi to speak on the any issue affecting the party. It insisted that the Zamfara Central senator had been suspended from the party since 2019. Marafa, on Sunday, asked the Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the party to organise a national convention in December, in line with the mandate given to it or quit. But in a statement yesterday in Abuja, Zamfara State APC Chairman Lawal Liman said having been suspended from the party since last…

The Osun State Judicial Panel of Inquiry constituted to look into cases of police brutality, human rights violations and extra-judicial killings by operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Osun, has announced that it will begin sitting on Thursday. Secretary of the Panel, Kemi Bello said this in a statement she signed and made available to journalists in Osogbo on Monday. Bello said that the sitting would hold at the Council of OBA’s Chambers, Finance Building, State Secretariat, Abere, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., adding that subsequently the Panel will hold sitting on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.…

President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman has vowed the legal battle to contest Joe Biden’s White House election victory is only just beginning. “This election is not over,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told a news conference. “Far from it.” She made a flurry of allegations of election corruption, although no evidence of systemic fraud that might have influenced the result has emerged. Mr Trump, a Republican, has not conceded the race. What are Biden and Trump up to? Since media projected on Saturday that Mr Biden had won the critical state of Pennsylvania, accumulating enough votes to claim the White…

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Monday handed over to retired Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu, as the acting chairman of the commission. Retired Air Vice-Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu was born on 6th September 1957 at Gombe, Gombe State. Mahmood who was nominated for a second five-year term is yet to be confirmed by the National Assembly. Speaking before handing over to Mu’azu, Yakubu recalled that the current commission was inaugurated in three batches. According to him, he and five commissioners were sworn-in on 9th November 2015, followed by another six commissioners on 7th…

The Association of Resident Doctors in the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMEDTH) on Monday began its indefinite strike action over non-payment of four months’ salary. This is just as the legal officers in the Ondo State Ministry of Justice under the auspices of Law Officers Association of Nigeria (LOAN) withdrew its services over what it termed worsening despicable and deplorable conditions its members were subjected to. Last week, the UNIMEDTH ARD had embarked on a three-day warning strike with a threat to totally down tools if their demands were not met. Acting President of ARD, Ondo…

The Federal Government has inaugurated a committee to sell off both movable and immovable looted assets recovered so far through the anti-corruption efforts of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, while inaugurating the 22-member committee in Abuja on Monday, urged its members not to betray the trust placed on them by the government. Malami said members of the committee, tagged: “The inter-ministerial committee on the disposal of Federal Government of Nigeria’s forfeited assets,” are drawn from relevant agencies that deal with the recovery and disposal of Federal Government of…