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Buhari clocks 77 today, Nigerians Speak!

Published

3 years ago

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The current Nigerian President, Mohammad Buhari, was born on 17 December 1942 in Daura, Katsina State. He had his early education in Katsina, then went to Kaduna for military training and later Sandhurst in Great Britain, India, and the United States.
The former army major-general and military head of state between 1984 and 1985, has now been twice elected as Nigeria’s leader in 2015 and 2019.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Buhari usually marks his birthday quietly. Many Nigerians began tweeting and wishing the President happy birthday wishes this early morning.

TNC’s open question to fellow Nigerians is:-what do you wish Buhari as he marks his 77th birthday? Femi Adeshina,  the special adviser on media and publicity to President Muhammadu, wrote this essay on why he remains a ‘Buharist.’ The article says-

PMB at 77: ‘Please tell Baba we are with him all the way’
By FEMI ADESINA

I boarded a commercial airliner heading to Lagos from Abuja. I was already seated, and strapping my seat belt, when a young man approached me. He must have been in his late 20s, or at most, early 30s. I shook hands, greeted him warmly, and he slipped something in my palm. He went back to his seat.
It was a piece of paper, and on it was written: “Please, tell Baba we are with him all the way.”
My eyes became misty. I knew who he was talking about. My principal and Baba of the country, President Muhammadu Buhari, who turns 77 today.
“Please, tell Baba we are with him all the way.” What a message! What confidence! What love! And what reassurance.
At times, if you listen to the Babel of voices in the country, particularly on social media and some critical segment of the traditional media, you think everything is all wrong with the land. You think it’s all sorrow tears and blood, the regular trade mark of failed or failing countries.
The biblical prophet, Elijah, felt at a time that he was the only true prophet of God left in Israel. And he complained to God: they have all followed Baal, the strange god. I am the only one left with you.
But God gave him a tutorial: you only think so. I have for me in this land 7,000 other prophets, who have not bowed the knees to Baal.
That was what happened in that aircraft. The young man who slipped the note into my hand is like millions upon millions of quiet Nigerians, “who have not bowed the knees to Baal.” People who love President Muhammadu Buhari, who appreciate that he is here for such a time as this, and who believe that he is leading us to a new Nigeria, a land flowing with milk and honey. I believe. I am in the number of millions of people, who daily wish Buhari well, and pray that he will lead the land to fair havens, halcyon shores, before 2023.
If all the information you consume is from social media, and the critical segment of the traditional media, you will likely miss the correct pulse of the country. Let me share an experience here.
Some months before the 2019 general elections, I ran into Governor Nasir El-Rufai in the Presidential Villa, as he was going in to see the President. We greeted warmly, and I asked if he could please stop by in my office on the way out. He promised to do so.
What was my worry? The trend on social media, as to how the elections would go. I had a broader view of the reality, but I needed some reassurance. And I knew El-Rufai was analytical, and constantly had statistics at his fingertips. He’s not a first class quantity surveyor for nothing.
The governor turned up. I unfolded my worries, and asked for his opinion. He merely opened his laptop computer, and shared the result of a scientific research with me.
What did the research say? With large sample size from across the country, and painstaking state by state analysis, it stated that President Buhari was going to beat his closest opponent by millions of votes. And wait for this: the social media would account for just between nine and 11 percent of the votes. And wait again: that percentage would not go to one party alone. It would be shared between the two leading political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It turned quite prophetic.
The young man in the plane is among the millions of Nigerians who tilted the scale. They know that Nigeria is not where she should be, not yet, but it is not business as usual. There is one man who is laboring hard to turn the country right side up. He is Muhammadu Buhari, and the journey may be tedious, arduous and slow, but we are headed in the right direction.
Friends, Nigerians, countrymen. Yes, I have come to celebrate Muhammadu Buhari, as he turns 77 today. See the sycophant, the fanatic, some people would say. But do I mind them? I don’t. I have chosen my own hero, let them choose theirs. As we say in local parlance, ‘say your prayers, and let me say amen. No quarrel for church.’
I have said it before, and I say it again. I have followed Buhari since he was a military ruler, when I was an undergraduate, and if that regime had lasted for longer, Nigeria would not be in the doldrums that she found herself. It was a tough administration, but which was leading us on the right path. Till forces of reaction struck, and we were back to worse than square one.
You could imagine my joy when Buhari eventually emerged civilian President after 12 years of struggle. I didn’t think I was going to ever serve in government, but I found myself in it. Just because it was Buhari. More than four years down the line, have I changed my mind? No. Is it a perfect government? There’s none anywhere. But I still remain a Buharist, just like millions of other Nigerians.
I know many people who started with us in the Buhari camp, but who are now on the other side. Some were were lured away by the garlic, cucumber, onions and leeks of Egypt, while some others jumped ship because of the color of the currency they saw. Some others, who expected quick fixes, are now singing the Lord’s song in a strange land. Some others are vacillating between many opinions. But for some of us, it is the immortal words of Sir Walter Scott: “Other people’s resolutions may fluctuate on the wild and changeful billows of human opinions. Our’s, now and forever, are anchored on the rock of ages.”
Why are we dyed-in-the-wool Buharists? Is he a perfect, infallible man? Show me who is. So, why do we remain resolute, irrespective of what people on the other side see as foibles and failings of the administration? Many reasons.
Buhari is not a thief. Can you say the same of many past leaders in this country? No, you can’t. I’m not saying they’ve all been light fingered, but we know those who served us honestly, and those who stole the living daylights out of the country. They and their confederates.
When I then see a honest man, the Mai Gaskiya, should I not follow him? Should I not trek from here to China for his sake? I would even trek further from Beijing to Yokohama. Larceny and plunder have been bane of our country. That was why we were consigned in gross backwardness and underdevelopment. Now that I see a man who has come to make a difference, I choose to stand by him all the way.
We know people who were worth only thousands when they got into leadership positions in this country. But they came out in obscene wealth. In other words, they went not to serve the country, but themselves. And here is Muhammadu Buhari, a man who wants nothing from Nigeria, but who has come to empty himself in the service of the country. And some people say we are fanatical supporters? Yes, for the sake of our country. For the future of our children. For the good of ordinary people, we are Buharists.
Simplicity. President Buhari is a Muslim, a good one, and I am a Christian, trying daily to be a good one. I see him at close quarters. At home, in the office, in the country, out of it. What a simple man. He holds power with simplicity. He eats simply. Wears the most modest things. No swashbuckling, no ostentation. And when we talk privately, I love when he indicates that he’s in a temporal position, which he wants to use for the good of the larger majority of Nigerians. That’s why I’m a Buharist, and no apologies.
Abhorrence of corruption. I said it before. President Buhari is not a thief, and he cannot vouch for you if you are tarred with the brush of corruption. You will simply be on your own. There is the jaded talk of the anti-corruption war in the land being selective. Well, those who say that are merely operating from a mindset. No matter who you are, however close you can be to him, when it comes to corruption, this President speaks up for no one. That is why the anti-corruption agencies are making conquests. He tele-guides them in no way.
An eye on history. That’s where the President keenly focuses. He wants to be positively remembered as a man who came, who saw, and made a difference. That’s why the country is one big construction site. Roads, rail, airports, power, water projects, and many others. Nigeria must get a new lease of life, and history must record it that the revolution started under one man: Muhammadu Buhari.
A kind man. Don’t mind the names you hear. Tyrant. Iron fist. Military ruler. Violator of rule of law. Major General (as if he’s not one). And many others. But you know what? This President is a kind man.
In 2015, some months into office, a proposal was thrown up at a meeting. The civil service was unwieldy, the economy was down, and salaries were being paid through the noses. It may well be time to cut the civil service strength by half, since most of them were even idle.
But the idea didn’t sell. The President said if he had his way, not a single civil servant would be sent home due to rationalization. Things were tough enough for them, not to add loss of jobs. And so it happened.
When labor unions came some years later to agitate for higher pay, the President first balked. He said it was not sustainable, which was the truth. But eventually, he buckled, due to a kind heart, and new wages are being paid at serious cost to government.
Let me say this, with the presumed permission of the President. He kept the Service Chiefs he inherited in 2015 for a couple of months. And when it was time to let them go, he sent for me one afternoon. He gave me the names of the new appointees, and told me not to announce till the next day.
“I have informed the outgoing Service Chiefs some minutes ago. But I don’t want their families to hear the news over radio or television. I want them to get home, and break the news themselves,” the President said.
I told him we would not be able to keep the news under wraps till the next day, that it should rather be announced immediately. He looked at me, laughed, and said: “You have not been sacked before. That’s why you are talking that way. Me, I’ve been sacked from office before, and I know how it feels.” We laughed.
When the chief executive of a major corporation was also going to be replaced, he gave me the new name, and said I should not announce for an hour or two, so that the outgoing man would have received his letter, and not hear it from the media.
Many acts of kindness have I seen the President shown to many, and also to me, yet some people want to call him strange names. And I should believe it? I hear!
On this auspicious day, I celebrate our President. Cynics and scoffers would say why won’t you applaud him since you are part of the largesse of office. Yes, I hold office under the President, but I am yet to see the largesse. Maybe tomorrow. Or day after. And whether in government or out of it, count me among those who believe.
I am a Buharist. So are also millions of Nigerians. We thank God for bringing him our way. May his strength be renewed daily. He’s our miracle man, whom nobody could have predicted two years ago would still be with us today. We love him because he first loved us, and is serving us with all that is in him. Like that young man in the aircraft, “Please, tell Baba we are with him all the way.”

.Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari

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Inside Nigeria

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie writes Biden, blasts INEC

Published

2 months ago

on

April 6, 2023

By

Nigeria’s Hollow Democracy

Why is America congratulating the winner of this disastrous election?

By Chimamanda Adichie

Dear President Biden,

Something remarkable happened on the morning of February 25, the day of the Nigerian presidential election. Many Nigerians went out to vote holding in their hearts a new sense of trust. Cautious trust, but still trust. Since the end of military rule in 1999, Nigerians have had little confidence in elections. To vote in a presidential election was to brace yourself for the inevitable aftermath: fraud.

Elections would be rigged because elections were always rigged; the question was how badly. Sometimes voting felt like an inconsequential gesture as predetermined “winners” were announced.

A law passed last year, the 2022 Electoral Act, changed everything. It gave legal backing to the electronic accreditation of voters and the electronic transmission of results, in a process determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The chair of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, assured Nigerians that votes would be counted in the presence of voters and recorded in a result sheet, and that a photo of the signed sheet would immediately be uploaded to a secure server. When rumors circulated about the commission not keeping its word, Yakubu firmly rebutted them. In a speech at Chatham House in London (a favorite influence-burnishing haunt of Nigerian politicians), he reiterated that the public would be able to view “polling-unit results as soon as they are finalized on election day.”

Nigerians applauded him. If results were uploaded right after voting was concluded, then the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has been in power since 2015, would have no opportunity for manipulation. Technology would redeem Nigerian democracy. Results would no longer feature more votes than voters. Nigerians would no longer have their leaders chosen for them. Elections would, finally, capture the true voice of the people. And so trust and hope were born.

By the evening of February 25, 2023, that trust had dissipated. Election workers had arrived hours late, or without basic election materials. There were reports of violence, of a shooting at a polling unit, and of political operatives stealing or destroying ballot boxes. Some law-enforcement officers seemed to have colluded in voter intimidation; in Lagos, a policeman stood idly by as an APC spokesperson threatened members of a particular ethnic group who he believed would vote for the opposition.

Most egregious of all, the electoral commission reneged on its assurance to Nigerians. The presidential results were not uploaded in real time. Voters, understandably suspicious, reacted; videos from polling stations show voters shouting that results be uploaded right away. Many took cellphone photos of the result sheets. Curiously, many polling units were able to upload the results of the House and Senate elections, but not the presidential election. A relative who voted in Lagos told me, “We refused to leave the polling unit until the INEC staff uploaded the presidential result. The poor guy kept trying and kept getting an ‘error’ message. There was no network problem. I had internet on my phone. My bank app was working. The Senate and House results were easily uploaded. So why couldn’t the presidential results be uploaded on the same system?” Some electoral workers in polling units claimed that they could not upload results because they didn’t have a password, an excuse that voters understood to be subterfuge. By the end of the day, it had become obvious that something was terribly amiss.

No one was surprised when, by the morning of the 26th, social media became flooded with evidence of irregularities. Result sheets were now slowly being uploaded on the INEC portal, and could be viewed by the public. Voters compared their cellphone photos with the uploaded photos and saw alterations: numbers crossed out and rewritten; some originally written in black ink had been rewritten in blue, some blunderingly whited-out with Tipp-Ex. The election had been not only rigged, but done in such a shoddy, shabby manner that it insulted the intelligence of Nigerians.

Nigerian democracy had long been a two-party structure—power alternating between the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party—until this year, when the Labour Party, led by Peter Obi, became a third force. Obi was different; he seemed honest and accessible, and his vision of anti-corruption and self-sufficiency gave rise to a movement of supporters who called themselves “Obi-dients.” Unusually large, enthusiastic crowds turned up for his rallies. The APC considered him an upstart who could not win, because his small party lacked traditional structures. It is ironic that many images of altered result sheets showed votes overwhelmingly being transferred from the Labour Party to the APC.

As vote counting began at INEC, representatives of different political parties—except for the APC—protested. The results being counted, they said, did not reflect what they had documented at the polling units. There were too many discrepancies.

“There is no point progressing in error, Mr. Chairman. We are racing to nowhere,” one party spokesperson said to Yakubu. “Let us get it right before we proceed with the collation.” But the INEC chair, opaque-faced and lordly, refused. The counting continued swiftly until, at 4:10 a.m. on March 1, the ruling party’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, was announced as president-elect.

A subterranean silence reigned across the country. Few people celebrated. Many Nigerians were in shock. “Why,” my young cousin asked me, “did INEC not do what it said it would do?”

It seemed truly perplexing that, in the context of a closely contested election in a low-trust society, the electoral commission would ignore so many glaring red flags in its rush to announce a winner. (It had the power to pause vote counting, to investigate irregularities—as it would do in the governorship elections two weeks later.)

Rage is brewing, especially among young people. The discontent, the despair, the tension in the air have not been this palpable in years.

How surprising then to see the U.S. State Department congratulate Tinubu on March 1. “We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle,” the spokesperson said. And yet the process was described as a “competitive election” that “represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.”

American intelligence surely cannot be so inept. A little homework and they would know what is manifestly obvious to me and so many others: The process was imperiled not by technical shortcomings but by deliberate manipulation.

An editorial in The Washington Post echoed the State Department in intent if not in affect. In an oddly infantilizing tone, as though intended to mollify the simpleminded, we are told that “officials have asserted that technical glitches, not sabotage, were the issue,” that “much good” came from the Nigerian elections, which are worth celebrating because, among other things, “no one has blocked highways, as happened in Brazil after Jair Bolsonaro lost his reelection bid.” We are also told that “it is encouraging, first, that the losing candidates are pursuing their claims through the courts,” though any casual observer of Nigerian politics would know that courts are the usual recourse after any election.

The editorial has the imaginative poverty so characteristic of international coverage of African issues—no reading of the country’s mood, no nuance or texture. But its intellectual laziness, unusual in such a rigorous newspaper, is astonishing. Since when does a respected paper unequivocally ascribe to benign malfunction something that may very well be malignant—just because government officials say so? There is a kind of cordial condescension in both the State Department’s and The Washington Post’s responses to the election. That the bar for what is acceptable has been so lowered can only be read as contempt.

I hope, President Biden, that you do not personally share this cordial condescension. You have spoken of the importance of a “global community for democracy,” and the need to stand up for “justice and the rule of law.” A global community for democracy cannot thrive in the face of apathy from its most powerful member. Why would the United States, which prioritizes the rule of law, endorse a president-elect who has emerged from an unlawful process?

Compromised is a ubiquitous word in Nigeria’s political landscape—it is used to mean “bribed” but also “corrupted,” more generally. “They have been compromised,” Nigerians will say, to explain so much that is wrong, from infrastructure failures to unpaid pensions. Many believe that the INEC chair has been “compromised,” but there is no evidence of the astronomical U.S.-dollar amounts he is rumored to have received from the president-elect. The extremely wealthy Tinubu is himself known to be an enthusiastic participant in the art of “compromising”; some Nigerians call him a “drug baron” because, in 1993, he forfeited to the United States government $460,000 of his income that a Chicago court determined to be proceeds from heroin trafficking. Tinubu has strongly denied all charges of corruption.

I hope it will not surprise you, President Biden, if I argue that the American response to the Nigerian election also bears the faint taint of that word, compromised, because it is so removed from the actual situation in Nigeria as to be disingenuous. Has the United States once again decided that what matters in Africa is not democracy but stability? (Perhaps you could tell British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who quickly congratulated Tinubu, that an illegitimate government in a country full of frustrated young people does not portend stability.) Or is it about that ever-effulgent nemesis China, as so much of U.S. foreign policy now invariably seems to be? The battle for influence in Africa will not be won by supporting the same undemocratic processes for which China is criticized.

This Nigerian election was supposed to be different, and the U.S. response cannot—must not—be business as usual. The Nigerian youth, long politically quiescent, have awoken. About 70 percent of Nigerians are under 30 and many voted for the first time in this election. Nigerian politicians exhibit a stupefying ability to tell barefaced lies, so to participate in political life has long required a suspension of conscience. But young people have had enough. They want transparency and truth; they want basic necessities, minimal corruption, competent political leaders, and an environment that can foster their generation’s potential.

This election is also about the continent. Nigeria is a symbolic crucible of Africa’s future, and a transparent election will rouse millions of other young Africans who are watching, and who long, too, for the substance and not the hollow form of democracy. If people have confidence in the democratic process, it engenders hope, and nothing is more essential to the human spirit than hope.

Today, election results are still being uploaded on the INEC server. Bizarrely, many contradict the results announced by INEC. The opposition parties are challenging the election in court. But there is reason to worry about whether they will get a fair ruling. INEC has not fully complied with court orders to release election materials. The credibility of the Nigerian Supreme Court has been strained by its recent judgments in political cases, or so-called judicial coronations, such as one in which the court declared the winner of the election for governor of Imo State a candidate who had come in fourth place.

Lawlessness has consequences. Every day Nigerians are coming out into the streets to protest the election. APC, uneasy about its soiled “victory,” is sounding shrill and desperate, as though still in campaign mode. It has accused the opposition party of treason, an unintelligent smear easily disproved but disquieting nonetheless, because false accusations are often used to justify malicious state actions.

I supported Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, and hoped he would win, as polls predicted, but I was prepared to accept any result, because we had been assured that technology would guard the sanctity of votes. The smoldering disillusionment felt by many Nigerians is not so much because their candidate did not win as because the election they had dared to trust was, in the end, so unacceptably and unforgivably flawed.

Congratulating its outcome, President Biden, tarnishes America’s self-proclaimed commitment to democracy. Please do not give the sheen of legitimacy to an illegitimate process. The United States should be what it says it is.

Sincerely,

Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda Adichie is the author of Americanah and, most recently, Notes on Grief.

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Inside Nigeria

News Headlines from Nigeria’s Major Newspapers

Published

1 year ago

on

January 31, 2022

By

NATION
*Nigerians to pay more for chicken, fish
*NIMASA generates over N108b revenue
*Satellite to play key role in 5G rollout
*‘Why most SMEs fail in three years’
*NETCO empowers youths
*NALDA farm estate to empower 400 in Abia
*AIB partners NCAT on manpower development
*Notore grows turnover by 43% to N27b
*PZ Cussons pays N992.6m dividend to shareholders
*‘Digital assets can stimulate capital formation’
*Airtel Africa joins FTSE 100
*Sterling Bank holds awards for young tech founders
*Wema Bank gets two new directors
*Threats to Nigeria’s march to digital economy
*Evolving railway connection and emerging opportunities
*Boosting downstream with low-interest loans
*Oyebanji, Kolawole: Who succeeds Fayemi?
*February… A ruling party’s month of decisions
*Typically NLNG
*Ritualists on the prowl
*Fuel subsidy sandstorm
*Ritualists on the prowl
*Fuel subsidy sandstorm
*Nigeria and the hunger hotspots
*Subsidy: triumph of reason
*Abubakar’s stained hands
*Tackling Nigeria’s cumulative leadership failure
*Subsidy suspension; stale logic

LEADERSHIP
*AFCON: Egypt Edge Out Morocco, Face Cameroon In Semi-final
*Terrorists Flee, Abandon Trucks As Troops Clear Enclaves
*11 Killed, Others Injured In Southern Kaduna Attack
*Alleged Defamation: JAMB Spokesman Sues Human Rights Radio, Demands N6bn
*Army Keeps Mum Over Attack On Soldiers In Rivers
*APC Has A Flawed Reward System – Princewill
*Manchester United Ban Greenwood Indefinitely Over Alleged Assault
*NDLEA Arrests 3 Trans-border Traffickers With 48,000 Tramadol Tabs
*Aborted Zamfara Trip: Presidency Explains Reasons, Blasts PDP
*Employment: KWASU VC Urges Youths To Embrace ICT
*We Want You To Defect To APC, Lawan Tells Akwa Ibom Gov

DAILY TRUST
*I Was Denied My First Job Because Of Hijab – FOMWAN President
*Edo Journalists To Benefit From Govt’s Health Insurance Scheme
*Ekiti Gov’ship: Anger Over Outcomes Of APC, PDP Primaries
*2023 Presidency: Age Not On Atiku’s Side – Bala Mohammed
*I Joined PDP Because Of Political Mess In Kano – Suspended Anti-Graft Boss
*2023: Tricky Storms Before Atiku
*Transforming Skills Development In Nigeria
*Professor Zulum And His ‘Empty Seat Of Power’
*Health Insurance: HMO Must Pay Hospitals
*Witnessing The Remorse Of A Secessionist
*Gender Inclusion For Uneducated Nigerian Woman Voter?
*281 Nigerians Crypto Account Restricted On Security Concern
*5G Rollout: NCAA Allays Fears On Flight Operations
*How Navy Recovered N67bn Worth Of Crude, AGO In 2021
*Emefiele Flag Off 100 For 100 Policy On Production And Productivity Today
*Fidelity Bank Rewards Customers In GAIM 5 Promo
*NIMASA Paid N37.7bn To Federation Account In 2021 – Jamoh
*Entrepreneurship Success: Contract Negotiations (II)
*‘Nigeria Will Never Go Into Recession If Real Estate Sector Is Stabilised’
*Appeal Court Dismisses Case Against Owners Of Abuja Estate
*Land Prices In Lekki, Ikoyi, Others Grow By 63% In 2 Years – Report
*Royal Choice Inn Builds N1b Hotel For Visitors, Sabbatical Lecturers In UniJos
*3-Year-Old Girl Abducted From Home In Kwara
*Report Sexual Harassment By Staff, Students, Unijos VC Urges
*Amosun Donates Food Items To Prisons, Orphanages

VANGUARD
*The merits in power shift to Southern Nigeria
*The plight of Nigerian workers [opinion]
*Presidential election campaign researchers look at 2015 and 2019
*Obaseki’s former Chief of Staff declares for House of Representatives
*If Nigeria were a democracy
*Lawmakers as rigging addicts
*Group educates Nigeria startup ecosystem on Nigeria startup bill
*We ‘re committed to making Niger Delta region better-Tunji-Ojo
*Law barring littering of polythene underway in Nasarawa — Commissioner
*FG saves N124bn yearly from IPPIS, digitalisation — HoS
*2023: Utomi, Na’Abba, Agbakoba’s mega party issues APC, PDP quit notice
*Why LASTMA personnel are hated by many
*Attacks on Adeleke can destroy Osun PDP — Party Chieftain warns
*Senate Constitution Review Committee bows to Buhari, rejects State Police
*Police arrest 5 suspects over killings, robbery in Osun
*2023: APC not sellable —Ondo Senator
*2023: Shun purported report on plans to replace Sanwo-Olu — Governance Council
*Yobe govt debunks report of crisis, churches burning
*PDP’s attack on Buhari over cancellation of Zamfara visit, shameful, disgraceful — Presidency
*Gunmen burn 10 sleeping locals in Southern Kaduna

PUNCH
*Sorrowful letter to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (1)
*Senate invites 62 revenue-generating agencies over low remittances
*Refineries rehabilitation gulped N100bn in 2021, says NNPC
*Ekiti APC primary didn’t hold, we’ll challenge outcome – Bamidele
*Transport fares jump by 283% amid rising fuel subsidy – NBS report
*Presidency: APC in dilemma over zoning, may throw race open
*FG must justify fresh N3tn vote, others for fuel subsidy – Senate
*Motorist seeks Lagos task force officers’ prosecution for perjury
*NDLEA seizes 48,000 tramadol tabs, 22 UK, France, Portugal passports
*Ogun police arrest three for vandalising telecoms mast

THISDAY
*Ugwuanyi Reiterates Continuous Support for Security Agencies
*NDLEA Arrests Nigeria-Cameroon Trans-border Drug Traffickers
*2023: PDP Positioned to Win Ogun, Says Party Chieftain
*SMEDAN Boss Laments Poor Reading Culture among Students
*Ex-Bayelsa Commissioner Urges Kinsmen to Shun Criminality
*Osinbajo: Masses, Not Legal Profession Own Nigeria’s Justice System
*2023: Obaseki’s Ex-Chief of Staff, Akerele, to Contest for House’s Seat
*Kogi Gov Restates Commitment to Education
*Residents Urge IG to Fish Out Killers of Two Teenagers in…
*Electoral Bill Pegs Presidential Campaign Spending at N5bn
*Report: $9.2trn Annual Investment Needed to Achieve Net-zero By 2050
*Come and Work with Us, Lawan Begs Emmanuel to Join APC
*Presidency to PDP: Don’t Trivialise Buhari’s Aborted Visit to Zamfara
*Merchants of Hate Selling Purported Plan to Replace Sanwo-Olu, Declares GAC
*PANDEMIC ENVIRONMENT AND SMALL BUSINESSES
*NIGERIA AND THE SUBSIDY SANDSTORM
*APC’s PresidentialTicket and the Early Risers
*Rice Leads the Charge in Agric Revolution
*Economics of Recovery and Recovery of Economics: A Peep into Nigeria
*As BUA Boosts Nigeria’s Cement Production Capacity
*Enterprise Asset Leasing to Boost Fleet Operations for Corporates, SMEs’ Funding
*Why is Buhari Unusually Quiet on Promise to Inaugurate NDDC…
*WACOT Rice to Complete Expansion of 120,000-ton Mill in 15 Months
*Lafarge Wins 2021 IoD’s Corporate Governance Award
*Edo to Set Up Investment Desks in Lagos, Abuja, Nigerian Embassies
*Lekki Gardens Receives SON’s Quality Management Certification
*Foundation Expands Blockchain Technology Operations to Ghana
*Cyber Future Academy Partners NAS on ICT Week
*Dana Air Reintroduces Early Flights from Abuja Feb 1 Chinedu Eze
*Ibom Air Ranked Best Airline in Nigeria by Travellers Awards
*Airtel Africa Joins FTSE100 January 31
*Interswitch Supports NITDA’s National Privacy Week, Promotes Data Protection
*‘Accident Investigation Institute to Begins Operation in Q3 2022’
*Private Sector Stakeholders to Launch N62.1bn HIV Trust Fund
*ANLCA Urges FG to Set-aside 3% Compensation for Licensed Agents
*Majiyagbe: Nigerian Custodial Services in Conformity With Global Best Practice
*NACCIMA Urges CBN to Postpone Implementation of e-Invoicing
*MTN Delights Investors With Historic N400bn Profit
*Insecurity, Forex Illiquidity Poses Threat to Nigeria’s Short-Term Growth IoD Warns
*‘Insurance Will Grow When Government Shows Responsibility to Sector’
*Banks, Others Borrowing from CBN Drops by 26.5% in January on…
*Sustained growth in revenue
*FG: No Jetty Should Operate Without Authorisation
*NIMASA Introduces Zero Import Duty on Brand New Vessels, Contributes N37bn…
*10 Customers Win N10m In Fidelity Bank’s GAIM 5 Promo
*Stephen Akintayo Foundation organises Upgrade Conference
*FG to Save N120bn from Human Resources Data on IPPIS
*Notore Sustains Growth Trajectory, Grow Revenue by 43% to N27bn
*TROM Foundation Holds Inaugural Annual Lecture, launches Maiden Science Teachers Award
*People Can Make Honest Money as Professional MCs, Says Talkademy CEO

THE SUN
*Niger: Terrorists on rampage, kill 7 top JTF commanders, others
*Ikpeazu commended on urban renewal programme
*Mbadiwe hails Buhari over suspension of fuel subsidy removal
*… President greets Onwenu at 70
*2023: Igbo group appeals to non-S’East indigenes to shelve ambition
*Ekiti guber: APC primary was hijacked, compromised -Bamidele
*2023: Desist from political prophecy, Kaigama tells religious leaders
*Plateau: PDP’ll produce better govt in 2023 –Gyang
*APC convention: Feb. 26 date threatened as CECPC mulls March option
*N450m rice factory commences operation in Imo

  • General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Major General Lawrence Fejokwu,
    *Bayelsa to commission over 20 projects on Diri’s 2nd anniversary
    *NAS warns against rising number of out-of-school children
    *EBSU students reject N250,000 levy
    *Uzodimma promises traders of reconstructed Owerri market compensation
    *… Commiserates with Nnadi, Editor Sunday Sun, on wife’s death
    *2023: Disquiet in Akwa Ibom as Udom presents Umo Eno as ‘God anointed’ candidate
    *Nat Convention must arrest drift destroying APC — Ex DG Govs Forum
    *Alleged contempt: Finance minister, others face committal trial today

GUARDIAN
*Movement demands information on N3tr fuel subsidy
*In fresh attacks, bandits kill dozens in Kaduna, Niger
*SSANU gives FG February deadline to settle minimum wage, IPPIS
*Lawan woos Emmanuel as influential council backs Sanwo-Olu on re-election
*Concerns as cybercriminals unleash SMS-based Android malware on Nigerians
*Lagos Police Command begins screening exercise for applicants
*Ohanaeze warns of danger if North succeeds Buhari in 2023
*Obaseki extends street light-up project to Edo north
*Jonathan, Jack-Rich urge oil firms to impact host Niger Delta communities
*‘Soludo’s template will move Nigeria from crude politics’
*Police arrest three suspects for robbery in Yobe
*Osun government intervenes on Ilesa cult clash, promises return to normalcy
*Group condemns attack on ThisDay office in Abuja, seeks protection for media outfits
*Chief of Naval Staff tasks youths on career in armed forces
*Lawmaker seeks justice for murdered OAU PG student
*Abia government seals bank premises, prosecutes levy, tax defaulters
*Buhari commiserates with Innoson boss over mother’s death
*Bamidele to challenge Ekiti APC guber primary outcome in court
*Three rapists get life sentence in Jigawa

NIGERIAN TELEGRAPH
*Ekiti primaries and defeat of the big guns
*2023: South-East in strong push for power
*As the Senate debates Abuja Monthly Rent Payment Bill
*Ngige and the South East quest to lead Nigeria
*JUST IN: Emmanuel settles on Pastor Umo Enoh for 2023
*Federer, Djokovic praise ‘great champion’ Nadal
*Abuja Rice Pyramid smacks of deception –Ndeze
*Abia is leveraging on SME for development, says Oseiza
*Kano battling exports’ rejection, says Nasiru, Deputy Gov
*2023: South-East in strong push for power
*Bamidele vows to challenge Ekiti APC Gov Primary

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Africa

Akwa Ibom Corps Member Slaughters Boyfriend

Published

2 years ago

on

January 11, 2021

By

Princess Odume

A corps member identified as Princess Odume, was on Monday arrested by the Akwa Ibom police command for the murder of a yet-to-be-identified man.

The young woman, who is said to be a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, was stripped naked by neighbours of the victim who caught her trying to skip the fence with a machete.

The Akwa Ibom Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Ogbeche-Macdon confirmed the victim was the alleged murderer’s lover.
He also said, “The police are investigating. The police have her in custody, she committed the act, but as I speak, an investigation is ongoing as to how and why she did it.”

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Africa

COVID-19 Claims the Life of a House on the Rock Pastor

Published

2 years ago

on

January 10, 2021

By

Pastor Adeyinka Akinbami

A House On The Rock pastor, Adeyinka Akinbami(61), lost his life to COVID-19 on Friday, the 8th of January, 2021.

The Senior Pastor, of the church, Paul Adefarasin, urged Nigerians to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols.

“Yesterday (Friday), I received the rude and shocking news of someone deeply dear to me and all of the HOTR family. The passing of Pastor Yinka Akinbami has become most painful because if there truly were good men, he was certainly one. To my brother, sleep well till we meet to part no more.

“Family, kindly allow me to solicit your intercession for his dear wife of over 30 years; Pastor Tolu, his children, his children-in-law, and grandchildren. We can only at best imagine how much pain they are feeling. We share the pain of his loss but they will feel it a lot more.

“It’s important to remind the community about the deadly nature of the COVID-19 and its mutant virus strains. Please do your part by following all the recommended precautions. That way, you are able to protect yourself and others who become proximal to you. God bless and keep us all”, Adefarasin Tweeted.

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