Day: 24 October 2024

Tinubu limits ministers’ convoy to three vehicles

Jide Ige

The President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday restricted Ministers, Ministers of State, and Heads of Agencies of the Federal Government to a maximum of three vehicles in their official convoys. In a statement he signed on Thursday, President Tinubu said: “No additional vehicles will be assigned to them for movement”. Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, who released the statement, said: “The cost-cutting measure was announced today in a statement signed by the President”. In January 2024, President Tinubu issued a directive, which…

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Three dead, five missing as chopper crashes into atlantic ocean

Jide Ige

Three persons have been killed in a helicopter crash in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital. The accident, which involved a Sikorsky SK76 with registration 5NBQG and operated by East Wind Aviation, was en-route from Port Harcourt Military Base, DNPM, to the NUIMANTAN oil rig. A statement by the Head Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Odutayo Oluseyi, said the aircraft, with eight persons on board, ditched into the waters near Bonny Finima in the Atlantic Ocean. Oluseyi also stated that search and rescue efforts were…

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June 12 electoral umpire chairman, Prof. Nwosu is dead

Jide Ige

Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the man who conducted the historic June 12,1993 Presidential election is dead. The 83 year old renowned professor of political science was former Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the electoral umpire that oversaw Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s failed trasition programme from 1989 to 1993. He died in a hospital in the United States, according to a reliable source who confirmed the news on Thursday evening. An official statement regarding his death is expected to be released soon. Born on October 2, 1941, Nwosu was appointed NEC…

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Canadian drug trafficker jailed 11yrs in Nigeria

Jide Ige

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a 41-year-old Canadian lady, Adrienne Munju, to 11 years imprisonment for importing 35.20 kilogrammes of Canadian Loud (Cannabis Sativa) into Nigeria. Justice Dehinde Dipeolu who handed down the verdict also gave her an option of N100m fine on the two counts preferred against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. The judge convicted and sentenced Munju following her plea of guilt on the two counts. Earlier when the convict was arraigned, the NDLEA prosecutor, Mr Abu Ibrahim, told…

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Petrol: Dangote refinery begins direct sales to marketers

Jide Ige

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has started supplying Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to some oil marketers directly without recourse to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. It was gathered that while more oil marketers were intensifying efforts to buy the product directly from the plant, others were importing the commodity, as hundreds of millions of litres of imported PMS should hit Nigeria’s shores in two weeks’ time. Recall that The PUNCH exclusively reported on Monday that no fewer than four vessels carrying imported PMS arrived at seaports situated along…

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Makinde leads PDP campaign train in Ondo state, predicts victory for Ajayi

Jide Ige

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has declared that the Peoples Democratic Party will win the November 16 governorship election in Ondo State. Makinde’s remarks came against the backdrop of the statement credited to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, that South West states would soon be taken over by the APC, after winning the Ondo election. In the same vein, the state governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, on Wednesday, claimed that the PDP was dead in the state. Makinde, speaking in Ikare Akoko, the headquarters of Akoko…

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Sen. Ashiru’s attack on NDLEA was out of vendetta -Spokesman

Jide Ige

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says the recent attack on the NDLEA by the senator representing Kwara South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Oyelola Yisa Ashiru, was borne out of vendetta rather than on any altruistic motive or national interest. The NDLEA said this during a press briefing at its National Headquarters in Abuja on Monday, October 21, 2024. The press briefing was held to address an allegation by Senator Ashiru that “the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency is corrupt and compromised…” Reacting, the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi,…

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I can forgive, not forget, Apostle Suleman reacts yo Halima Abubarkar’s apology

Jide Ige

Senior Pastor/General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman has responded to Nollywood actress Halima Abubakar’s public apology for her defamatory comments, asserting that forgiveness does not equate to memory loss. In a terse statement on X.com on Wednesday, Suleman said, “You all stop calling my phone. Forgiveness is not memory loss! Status quo maintained!” The statement comes after Abubakar issued a public apology to Suleman for her defamatory remarks against him. In a statement shared on her Instagram account, Abubakar admitted that her past statements were “false…

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PANDEF leader, Clark kicks as Tinubu scraps Niger Delta Ministry

Jide Ige

Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu for scrapping the Ministry of Niger Delta Affaiirs, saying the people of the region will not allow that. Reacting to the scrapping of the Niger Delta Affairs yesterday in Abuja, the Elder statesman who noted that there was no basis for the scrapping of the Ministry, accused the Federal government of plans to use the money from the South-South geo-political zones to develop the various development Commissions from the geo-political zones…

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NIGERIA : A country where corruption makes rulers deaf, dump and blind, by Lanre Ogundipe

Jide Ige

_Corruption is the enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid off. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective._ *_Pratibha Patil_* . The discourse on corruption in Nigeria remains an endless talk-shop simply because both leadership and followers are deeply enmeshed in the scourge. Nigeria’s corruption has become a virus that is ravaging the entire landscape to the extent that it would take God’s intervention to recover the country from its stranglehold. The author quoted above, would…

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Full details of Pres. Tinubu’s new ministers and portfolios

Jide Ige

The President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet reshuffle crystalised with the remival of six ministets and the injection of seven fresh hands into the administration. In a cabinet reshuffle announced on Wednesday, the President also named seven ministerial nominees, who are to be confirmed by the Senate. Among them is the Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, widow of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who died on 26 November 2011, aged 78. He led the armed struggle between 1967 and 1970 to have an independent state of Biafra. Ministers who were relieved of their appointments…

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