Author: Vincent Osuwo

President Bola Tinubu will be departing Abuja on Friday to spend the Eid-el-Kabir holidays in Lagos State. This was announced by the presidency on Friday in a statement signed by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity). According to the statement, “President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja, the nation’s capital, for Lagos State on Friday ahead of Eid-El-Kabir. “The President will observe Eid-el-Kabir in Lagos, where he will spend the Sallah holidays.” Ngelale’s statement added that “the President will mark the occasion in prayers and reflection on advancing the transformation of Nigeria in line with his…

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Minister of Interior, has announced that the Federal Government has begun an audit of inmates in the country’s 256 custodial centres.  According to him, this was part of a decongestion plan for the facilities. According to the Minister’s Media Assistant, Alao Babatunde, Tunji-Ojo revealed this after inspecting the ongoing 3,000-capacity Maximum Security Custodial Centre in Janguza, Kano State, as well as the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Abuja. According to reports, the federal government carried out a similar procedure in its detention centres across the country. Speaking at the site inspection, the minister was quoted as…

Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, has underlined the importance of local government autonomy in Nigeria.  Ezekwesili spoke at the inaugural virtual democracy dialogue on ‘Promoting Sustainable Development Models for Effective Local Governance.’ The event aimed to pressure the administration, legislature, Independent National Electoral Commission, and security establishment to take important political and electoral reform initiatives in order to ensure credible, transparent, free, and fair elections. The former Vice President of the World Bank made headlines two weeks ago when she swore not to return to the country’s previous national anthem, which was recently enacted as the new…

Police operatives from the Federal Capital Territory Police Command and their military counterparts thwarted an attack on a First Bank Plc branch and a police divisional headquarters in Abaji Area Council.  The armed robbers allegedly attacked both the bank and the police divisional headquarters on Thursday. The 15 armed robbers allegedly used dynamite to attack their targets. However, security personnel deployed to the location engaged the culprits in a ferocious gunfight, killing three of the armed robbers. According to a statement on Friday by the FCT command’s spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, some of the robbers fled the scene with injuries, while…

Two more pilgrims from Kwara State have reportedly perished while on pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.  Salman Alade and Ayishat Ologele were among the hundreds of Nigerian pilgrims who visited the holy country to make the Hajj pilgrimage. Their deaths came after those of two other pilgrims, Saliu Mohammed, who arrived with the third batch of the state contingent, and Hawawu Mohammed, who were reported in Madinah. The latest revelation brought the death toll among Kwara pilgrims to four. Salman Alade and Ayishat Ologele, two more pilgrims from Kwara State, are believed to have died while on pilgrimage in Mecca,…

Alonyenu Francis Idu, Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, has stated that the circumstances surrounding the death of the manager of Plateau Rider, a Jos-based vehicle transport firm, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, are under investigation.  The manager, Auwalu Aliyu, was shot and killed by suspected assassins at 8 p.m. on Tuesday outside the House of Assembly Complex in Amarata, Yenagoa. The assailants allegedly stole the money he earned that day. The assassination sparked alarm in the state capital as locals sought answers to what they perceived as the state’s deteriorating security situation. The deceased was said to be returning home…

The Kano State Police Command prohibited all durbar events across the state on Thursday in preparation for the Eid-el-Kabir festivities.  The ban order was contained in a statement issued by Haruna Abdullahi, the state police public relations officer, on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Usaini Gumel. There had been a conflict in the town following the state assembly’s rejection of Kano Emirate Council Law 2019, which resulted in the dethroning of the five emirs installed in 2020 by ex-Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. The Assembly amended the Kano Emirate Council Law 2019 with a 2024 version, reuniting the five emirates and…

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) opposed the law demanding a single six-year term for the President and state governors, calling it “anti-democracy and an attempt to stifle people’s choice”. It should be noted that 35 members of the House of Representatives, led by a group of legislators, filed a bill last week calling for a single six-year term for the President and state governors. Lawmakers propose rotating the presidency among the country’s six geopolitical zones to save government costs. However, in response to the bill, NANS urged Nigerians, pro-democracy groups, organised labour, and trade unions to mobilise against…

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has stated that the gross domestic product of Lagos has increased by about 50% over the last five years under his administration, surpassing the GDPs of over 40 African countries.  The governor attributed the main elements to his administration’s ongoing efforts to increase the ease of doing business and the decision to leverage its population’s technological and entrepreneurial potential for economic operations. According to Sanwo-Olu, Lagos has transformed from a deficit state during the military regime to a hub for investment and technical growth. Sanwo-Olu stated this while delivering the closing speech at the…

The leader of the Ijaw Nation, Chief Edwin Clark, has accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of subjugating Igbos from the south-eastern part of Nigeria for reasons best known to him, adding that Buhari excluded the southeast from some of his appointments during his tenure. Clark made the statement in a letter to President Bola Tinubu, where he also pointed out that Buhari did not appoint anyone from the South East in his constitution of the Board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, even though the region had three oil-producing states, including Abia, Anambra, and Imo States. Furthermore, he recalled how…