President Muhammadu Buhari has announced a new appointment.
 
Buhari on Tuesday approved the appointment of Rear Admiral Yaminu Ehinomen Musa (rtd) as the pioneer Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
 
The NCTC is established in the Office of the National Security Adviser as the coordinating body for the harmonization of all counter-terrorism and terrorism financing efforts in Nigeria.
 
The NCTC is also charged with the coordination of counter-terrorism policies, strategies, plans and support in the performance of the functions of the National Security Adviser, as provided in the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022.
 
This was disclosed in a statement by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President, on Tuesday.
 
Before his appointment, Musa had been the Director of the Counter Terrorism Directorate in the ONSA since 2017.
 
He was responsible for the review of the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), and the creation of the Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), which President Buhari signed into law in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
 
Additionally, the retired Naval senior officer served as the Nigerian representative at the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) for the last three years.
 
His appointment is to take effect immediately and to run for an initial term of 5 years.

Musk is worth around $260 billion, meaning that he could easily afford buying the Old Trafford outfit.

World's richest man, Elon Musk has clarified reports that he's interested in buying Premier League giants, Manchester United.
 
Musk, who, while in the midst of a political ideology discussion on Twitter, announced his intention to buy the struggling club, said he was not ready to acquire any sports team now.
 
He had tweeted, “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome”.
 
Musk is worth around $260 billion, meaning that he could easily afford buying the Old Trafford outfit. His tweet caused controversies on Twitter leading to his clarification.
 
“No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams,” he said.
 
He further explained that if he was to buy any club at all it would be the Manchester outfit because, according to him, it was his childhood favourite.
 
“Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid,” the billionaire added.
 
Meanwhile, fans of the Red Devils are no longer comfortable with the current club’s owners, the Glazer family and have been protesting, asking them to go.
 
Manchester United are languishing at the bottom of the Premier League table after two embarrassing defeats from their two opening games.

Gov Hope Uzodinma of Imo state has stated that he is very confident that reasonable minds in his state will elect his party, APC, in the 2023 general elections.

Speaking during an interview with Channels TV this evening, Uzodinma said;

''I am very confident that the reasonable minds in Imo state will vote for my party''

While responding to a question on the number of states within the SouthEast region he will be able to deliver for his party, Gov Uzodinma said

''It is not a predetermined arrangement. I am confident that APC has done so well to the extent that they can win all the states in Nigeria''

 Watch a video of him speaking below;

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In a post shared on his Instastories this morning, Harrysong asked people not to just read but study, think and research.

Popular Nigerian singer, Harrysong has opined that God is not in heaven.

In a post shared on his Instastories this morning, Harrysong asked people not to just read but "study, think and research.'

He shared the bible verse that stated that God created heaven and earth and then asked ''How possible is it for you to be in a location and later create that location?''

Read his post below...

Gunmen abducted six occupants of a Hummer bus on Monday night, August 15, at about 7.30pm in Kwara state.

The occupants were said to have been attacked by the five-man gang between Obbo-Ile/Osi road.

Confirming the abduction, SP Okasanmi Ajayi, spokesperson of the state police command, said the police received a report of the incident in the early hours of today August 16.

He said on receiving the report, detachments of conventional policemen, Tactical teams, Vigilante and Hunters were immediately dispatched to the area for possible search, rescue and arrest of the suspects.

''Consequently, the  victims' vehicle, loaded with foodstuffs was found abandoned, inside of which was recovered an empty shell of 7.62mm  ammunition .

The intensity of the pressure during  the search and rescue efforts led to the abandoning of four of the abductees who have now been rescued and presently with the police.The  kidnappers  who are believed to be in the bushes with the two  remaining victims would soon be smoked out and arrested.'' he assured.

President Muhammadu Buhari will be presenting the 2023 budget to the national assembly in 2023.

Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze revealed this in Abuja during a training on budget preparation using the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System.

Akabueze who was represented by the Director, Expenditure (Socials) in the Budget Office, Mr Fabian Ogbu, said the federal government under Buhari is determined to ensure consistent and timely preparation, submission and approval of annual budgets as part of its Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms.

He also lamented that MDAs do not study the Budget Call Circular in detail and as such make mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with the relevant sections of the Budget Circular.

Akabueze said;

“The main goal of this training is to provide continuous learning to equip budget personnel with the requisite knowledge, skills and the tools they require to prepare and submit the 2023 budget.

“It has been observed that MDAs do not study the budget circular in detail, as such make mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with relevant sections of the budget cycle.”

Channels Television reported that Akabueze who pointed out that the 2023 budget is also being prepared in tandem with extant federal government policies and guidelines as articulated in the 2023 Budget Call Circular and other relevant laws/regulations, added that one of the modules at the training would address key items and sections to note in the 2023 Budget Call Circular.

The Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike has stated that he will not be interested in a ministerial position at the end of his tenure as Governor.
 
This comes following claims that he is demanding to be a Minister, as one of the conditions to work for the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar.
 
Speaking on Tuesday, during the commissioning of the newly constructed VIP lounge at the Port Harcourt International Airport Omagwa, Wike said he's not interested in becoming a minister.
 
He said “only one person can be a minister from a state, I will not be a minister. I will not. I am not a liability, Rivers State is an asset.
 
“So if you don’t want to win an election, it’s your business. I’m not the one running the election.
 
“He who wears the shoes knows where it pinches him”.
 
So allow Rivers State to continue to do what they are doing by using our projects to campaign to our people.
 
The Governor also challenged leaders of the PDP in the state to come home and campaign for their presidential candidate, instead of “carrying rumours” against him in Abuja.
 
“You want to support a candidate, you are not at home you’re in Abuja.
 
“Come home and campaign and work for the party.
 
“Stop this Abuja politics of carrying rumours to the candidate”.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has said the creation of state police will help the country tackle insecurity better.
 
Obi stated further that every state should protect itself without any hindrance to the national police.
 
The presidential candidate made this known on News Central where he discussed his plans for Nigeria ahead of the 2023 general elections.
 
He said, “What I always tell people is that when it comes to issue of listening to politicians, it comes to issue of trust. All these people contesting, whom among them do we trust? On what I am going to do with the issue of insecurity, it will be decisive and immediate. If you are talking about state policing, for me, there is no reason why we shouldn’t even have local government police.
 
There is nothing wrong in state police because for me, every state should be able to protect itself. It will not stop us from setting up the national police. Whatever we can do to secure the country, I will do it. It is non-negotiable. It is imperative in your clime to attract investment, there is an intangible asset of growing your GDP- security, rule of law, all these have to be in place. It is not negotiable at all. Whatever it takes to ensure that these two are there, I will do it. “
 
On states not contributing to the GDP, he said, “Let me tell you, everything in Nigeria is viable. Nigeria is not a productive country. That is why I said we are going to move them from consumption to production. That is what Nigerian states are. Take Borno State for example. Borno State is on 70.9 square kilometres of land.
 
Fertile land that can be used for anything. Even the Sambisa forest is about 60,000 kilometres of land, and you say we are poor. We are poor because we chose to make our states unproductive. The Netherlands is 33,000 square kilometres of land minus water.
 
Total food export last year is $120b. That is agriculture alone. So, if Borno state decides to do one per cent of what the Netherlands is doing, it is $1.2 billion. At 600, it is N700 billion, which is five times the budget of Borno State.

We chose to make our states unproductive. If we are productive, Borno State is three times the size of Israel. Israel is 22,000 kilometres of land while Borno state is 70.9 land kilometres and I can go state after state like that. We have been unproductive and living on handouts.
 
The greatest asset of a country is one, human beings. Human infrastructure delivers four times what physical infrastructure can contribute. Nigeria is a huge country of 200 million people that are not productive.
 
That is why we have unemployment and that is what we are going to turn around.”

 
A spokesman for the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Daniel Bwala has given insights on why he dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC).
 
Bwala said he supported Buhari for seven years because he thought the President was an honest man.
 
In a chat with The Punch, Bwala said he thought Buhari‘s honesty was enough to bring about the change the country needs, but he has been disappointed so far.
 
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain added he was confident that the socialist ideology of the APC was going to help through the Social Investment Programmes and Interventionist Policy, but none of the policies have worked after seven years.
 
He said: “I started supporting the APC because of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). I considered him someone honest and who meant well for Nigeria, and I thought that was enough to bring about change. So I decided to support him and the platform upon which he was running and was governing.
 
“I also thought that at that time, we had tried the capitalist philosophy, which was canvassed by the Peoples Democratic Party (free market economy), and there was an outcry and widespread belief that there was poverty in the land.
 
“We thought the socialist ideology of the APC was going to help through social investment programmes and interventionist policy. But after seven years, I realise that has not worked because all the social investment programmes of the party that were implemented in one state or the other always had strong criticism from people owing to lack of accountability and waste related matters.
 
“When you look at the privatisation of the downstream sector in the oil industry, even when they say they have turned it into a limited company, you can see it is still controlled and influenced by the government.
 
“After seeing how public institutions and enterprise are dying because of corruption and lack of administration, I decided that the idea of a free market economy where you allow full private participation in business is likely going to help Nigeria lift people out of poverty.”

A 16-year-old boy identified as Ibrahim Lawan has taken his own life by hanging in Kuki village, Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State.

The Public Relations Officer of Rano Emirate, Nasiru Habu Faragai, said the district head of Bebeji submitted the report of the tragic incident to the Emir of Rano, Ambassador Kabiru Muhammad Inuwa, during the Emirate Council meeting on Monday, August 15, 2022.

He explained that the emir directed that the report be taken to the police in the Emirate Council for discreet investigation into the cause of the death.

The PRO told Daily Trust that the deceased’s father was interrogated by the village head on whether the boy was into ''drugs or mentally ill.''

"The emir was worried about the incident and asked the district head whether the boy was into drug abuse. He also asked the father whether he had some mental problems or they had grudges with someone, but the father said nothing was done to him. He also said he was not into drugs,” Faragai said.

He added that the emir directed district heads of the council to embark on intense prayers to ward off similar occurrences.

Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai has refuted reports of renaming the state.

Reports had it that Kaduna State had been renamed Zazzau State.

It was reported that the National Assembly had passed a Bill renaming Kaduna State, which Senate President Ahmad Lawan subsequently sent to President Buhari for assent.

It also claimed that the bill, which was jointly sponsored by Senator Suleiman Abdu Kwari and Senator Uba Sani of Kaduna central got the approval of 13 members out of 15 of the lower chamber representing different parts of Kaduna State.

Reacting, El-Rufai rubbished the report, which he described as fiction.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser for Media and Communications, Muyiwa Adekeye, the governor described the “news as fake and urged citizens of the state to ignore the elaborate piece of fiction that made the claim of renaming the state.

“Please ignore the elaborate piece of fiction that made the claim. It is fake news.”

Some angry aspirants under the All Progressives Congress have demanded a refund of money they paid for nomination forms.
 
According to Punch, the angry aspirants who took part in the March 26 National Convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress vowed to take the leadership of the party to court over its failure to refund the payment for their Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.
 
The development is coming four months after they were asked to step down for the current National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other members of the National Working Committee.
 
Some affected politicians who spoke in separate interviews expressed concerns that they have explored and exhausted all their options with the only obstacle being the national chairman.
 
Depending on the category of the expression of interest and nomination forms, the 126 aspirants who contested various positions were made to cough up between N20 and N2.5 million.
 
At the end of the exercise, APC raked in well over N700 million with an additional N3 billion generated among stakeholders and party members ahead of the presidential primary.
 
There were also complaints that despite the huge revenue generated by the leadership of the party between March and August, ad hoc workers, staff and affected party members who were engaged were equally not paid their welfare allowances.
 
Aspirants asked to withdraw at National Convention
 
The affected aspirants who stepped down for Adamu in the category of National Chairman included Senator Umar Al-Makura, Salihu Mustapha, Muhammed Sani Musa, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, Senator George Akume and Mohammed Etsu.
 
Those in the category of National Deputy Chairman (North), who withdrew for the consensus candidacy of Senator Abubakar Kyari, were Yakubu Dogara, Faruq Aliyu, Sunny Sylvester Monidefe, Senator Ken Nnamani, Malam Isa Yuguda and Emmanuel Joseph.
 
For the post of the National Secretary, three aspirants which included former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu; Oyedele Ifeoluwa and Prof Olaiya Olaitan were sacrificed for the candidacy of Senator Iyiola Omisore.
 
In the category of National Vice Chairman (South-South), Yekini Nabena and Worgu Chambers were asked to step down for Victor Giadom.
 
Aside from the aforementioned aspirants, there are 113 other aggrieved politicians who are also yet to be refunded.
 
One of the affected candidates, who spoke with our correspondent in confidence, vowed to recoup their nomination forms before Adamu is kicked out of office.
 
He said, “We know how much was raised at the convention and even the APC presidential primary. So what is the problem? We the party members are equally aware of how much was doled out for Osun and Ekiti elections. I still don’t get why Adamu is finding it hard to comply with the directive of the president.
 
“The only reason we delayed in taking this issue to court until now was to avoid putting our presidential candidate, Asiwaju, in a bad light. But as it stands, we have no option but to head for court. Everybody knows what took place at the convention where we had to step down cannot be called an election. Perhaps, that’s why some of them in the NWC including Adamu has been acting with impunity.”
 
In one of the letters written to Adamu dated June 21 and appended by 107 signatories, the aggrieved aspirants also accused the party leadership of excluding them from active participation and assignments at the last party primaries for the election of various candidates.
 
The letter partly read, “Your Excellency, recall that President Muhammadu Buhari in his speech at the convention directed that for those who agreed to step down, the party should refund the money they paid for the purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms.
 
“For the record, it is not worthy to envisage the reality of the huge expenses we incurred in our campaigns, which amount was far beyond the cost of purchase of forms.
 
“Our able chairman, we want to assure you and the APC leadership that we will give our best to ensure the party emerges victorious in the forthcoming 2023 general election.
 
“While yet not being discouraged, we wish to express that we were excluded from the lists of just concluded party primaries committee assignments for the election of our various party candidates for the general elections.”
 
Speaking with The PUNCH, one of the affected aspirants from North Central, Yusuf Elaigwe, however, expressed optimism when he told our reporter that he is still keeping with Adamu over the issue.
 
“I can’t comment on it. But there is progress. I will be having a meeting with the national chairman on it next week,” he said.
 
Another aspirant, Sunny Sylvester Monidefe, who stepped down for Kyari confirmed that they have written to Adamu.
 
Monidefe, however, expressed frustration that the chairman has yet to reach out concerning details on how they hope to refund them.
 
According to him, it was hard having meetings with many of the affected candidates because the majority are not residents in Abuja and only come around only when they have official duties to attend.
 
In a separate phone conversation, former communications minister, Adebayo Shittu, told our correspondent that the APC national chairman has reassured them that they will be fully refunded.
 
Shittu stated that though they are angry, there was no plan to file a suit against the leadership of the party as alleged.
 
“I don’t think that is true. Nobody will do that. I have spoken personally with the national chairman of the party too and he has reassured me that discussions are ongoing to pay us. We are still hopeful it will be resolved,” he said.
 
Responding to the development in a phone interview, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, said the matter ‘is receiving attention and will resolve it soon.’
 
“I am sure the party will resolve it. The APC just came out of the primaries. They are dealing with it.”
 
In a related development, APC national vice chairman (North-west), Salihu Lukman, expressed regret over the delay, which he said was being looked into.
 
Lukman made the clarification in Abuja on Sunday.
 
He said, “It is part of the unfortunate internal challenges. Administratively, this should have been resolved long ago. For instance, in my case, about four people stepped down for me and they have been talking to me. I have been drawing the attention of the party and I think now it is clear that the party has to resolve it as quickly as possible. I can assure you that it is going to happen,” Lukman said.

Nigerian singer, Timi Dakolo has said that the framed image of a whiteman hung in homes and churches claiming to be Jesus is not him.
 
He made the observation in a tweet.
 
He emphasised that the framed image was of an actor and certainly not Jesus Christ.
 
He argued since the white man who they steadfastly look up to isn’t Christ, he certainly can’t save them.
 
“Jesus Christ is not that white man you framed and hung on the wall. That guy is an Actor, he can’t save you,” Dakolo tweeted.

Jesus Christ is not that white man you framed and hung on the wall. That guy is an Actor, he can’t save you.

— Timi Dakolo (@timidakolo) August 14, 2022

According to a report by Vanguard, the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai reportedly demanded kep positions from APC presidential flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu just before he won the party's ticket.
 
According to the report, Nasir El-Rufai, led the presentation of a position paper by the North West caucus of the party to the Tinubu, asking for the positions of VP, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Finance, Works, Agriculture, FCT and interior ministers among others in exchange for its support to win the 2023 Presidential elections.
 
According to details of the presentation, the North West caucus of the All Progressives Congress, APC, asked the flagbearer and the national leadership of the party to yield to the region other key political appointments, including Office of the National Security Adviser, and the headships of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA; Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing system for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL; Bank of Agriculture, BOA; Bank of Industry, BOI; Department of State Services, DSS, and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN.
 
In the presentation, the zonal caucus of the party noted that in view of the region’s importance and contributions to electoral victory at the forthcoming polls, all these key appointments should also be reserved for the area.
 
But the APC flagbearer went ahead and quickly announced his VP choice, while noting the other demands.
 
Currently, the north west region has nine federal ministers, representing the states of Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Jigawa. On policy focus for the region, the APC north west caucus demanded that the incoming federal administration must address security issues frontally, especially banditry and kidnapping in the region.
 
It demanded that investment in quality and affordable education, especially for the young and out-of-school children in the region must be accorded priority.
 
The regional leaders also wanted the incoming APC administration to focus on agriculture and development of brown field industry to support value chain creation in the zone; focus on infrastructure “as it is currently being done in the South West;” and leveraging the region’s opportunity cost in mining, agriculture, green and renewable energy for economic diversification.
 
The party leaders in the North West hinged their demands partly on the basis of the role played by governors from the zone in ensuring equity and fairness in power rotation, during the election of the party’s presidential candidate.
 
According to the document which detailed the historical analysis of the region to the party’s victory at presidential polls, the leaders noted that the North West zone is the game changer for the APC in 2023.
 
The presentation argued that the region contributed hugely to the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as President of Nigeria in 2015 and his re-election in 2019.
 
Comparing the share of votes across the six geo-political zones, the North West caucus stated that the region’s (APC) share of votes represented 46% and 39% of the entire APC votes in 2019 and 2015 respectively.

“The North West contributed to the electoral victory of the APC in 2015 and 2019 Presidential elections by winning 7 out of the 7 States of Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Jigawa.

“Indicative of its voting contributions in recent national elections, 5 out of every 10 votes for the APC in 2015 came from the North West, while 4 out of every 10 votes for the party in 2019 came from the region,” the document showed,’’ the presentation read.
 
Projecting ahead of the 2023 polls, the zonal caucus noted that the region, which contributed the largest number of delegates for the emergence of the party’s presidential candidate and boasts of the highest number of APC governors (6 out of 7), would naturally provide a base for any successful electoral operations for the APC, especially in 2023.

Convener of Concerned Nigeria, Deji Adeyanju has placed a bet of $10,000 on Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP)  to emerge “third” in the 2023 elections.

According to Mr Adeyanju, Obi falls short in terms of support and national reach compared with Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar.

Adeyanju called on Obi’s supporters in Nigeria and the diaspora, particularly a person he called Ben, to make a bet with him.

Media mogul, Dele Momodu confirmed Adeyanju credited his account with $10,000 on Monday.

“Now waiting for Ben the Obidient to do his part. We don’t display fake cash on social media here. Still ready to bet more because I’m looking for money for my PhD. next year,” Adeyanju wrote on Twitter.

In another post, Adeyanju said, “The Obedient guy, Ben is telling new stories now after agreeing on a call with Egbon Dele MOMODU and giving me the go ahead to pay the money in the Whatsapp group we created for this purpose.

“After displaying fake money online, the guy is suddenly afraid to perform. Obidents, why do you always lie like your mentor? Pay up Ben!”
 

A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmed Makarfi has reacted to the candidacy of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate.
 
According to Makarfi, Obi is qualified to run for president.
 
He made the observation in an interview with The Guardian.
 
The former Kaduna State governor described Peter Obi as friendly and humble.
 
He, however, stated that the Labour Party presidential candidate left the PDP due to frustrations from his state, Anambra State.
 
Makarfi said: “For Peter Obi, let him be honest and say who frustrated him out of PDP. That frustration was from home, not from anywhere, not from any other part of this country.

“We know him to be a good man, he is qualified, he is humble, he is very friendly, but his problems are home-based. If some people from elsewhere are supporting him, I don’t know, but his problems are home-based.”
 
Makarfi downplayed any possible negative impact that Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s defection from PDP could have on the party’s electoral fortunes in 2023.
 
He stressed that the former Kano State governor would still have defected.
 
On claims that the national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, did not handle the fallout of the presidential primary and presidential running mate selection, Makarfi said Ayu informed him that he had been talking to all groups.

Ibrahim Magu, the former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission abandoned 14 fraud cases totaling N118 billion and $309 million (EFCC), according to findings by the presidential panel which investigated him.
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The EFCC, under Magu's supervision, was also accused of failing to remit another N48 billion loot recovered in foreign and local currencies in the final report submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2020, a report by TheCable stated.
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The panel, led by former Supreme Court President, Ayo Salami, was formed to investigate the EFCC from May 2015 to May 2020, when Magu was in charge.
The report has now been submitted to the office of the secretary to the federation's government. According to presidential sources, a panel to create the white paper will be formed soon.
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The former EFCC chief was accused of mishandling the recovered loot and selling seized assets to his associates. The report examined over 100 witnesses' written and oral testimonies, having completed nationwide physical verification of recovered forfeited assets, which included real estate, automobiles, vessels, and other non-cash as well as cash assets.
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According to an examination of the report of the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets (PCARA) obtained by TheCable, the anti-graft commission provided contradictory figures on the total number of recovered real estate.
The EFCC under the watch of the suspended Ag. Chairman in its submission to PCARA reported N46,038,882,509.87 as being the foreign currency equivalent recovered by the commission between May 29, 2015, and November 22, 2018,” the report stated.
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Furthermore, the panel claimed that Magu abandoned multi-million dollar fr@ud cases involving high-profile individuals and transferred some commission officials who were investigating the cases. He was also accused of disobeying court orders and presidential directives.

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Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum’s government has denied receiving N1.2 billion from President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, contradicting a statement by Nigeria’s minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed.

Ms Ahmed had confirmed that Mr Buhari’s regime disbursed N1.2 billion to the Niger Republic on August 3. The Nigerien government insisted that was not true though its troops continue to protect Nigerians from armed bandits.

Nigerien Minister of Defence, Alkassoum Indatou, rebutting Mr Buhari regime’s claim, revealed that Zamfara residents rely on the neighbouring nation’s soldiers for protection against bandits.

Mr Indatou pointed out that Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara gifted the Maradi region Hilux vans, not the Buhari regime as claimed by Ms Ahmed.

“The state of Zamfara which has given five vehicles to the Maradi region, four of which have already been received, it is not the federal government as the Minister of Finance of Nigeria Zainab Ahmed declared,” said a translation of the French statement of a top Nigerien official familiar with the matter. “The populations of Zamfara who are on the border with Niger call more on the Nigerien soldiers who respond to the minute than even those of their own country.”

The prompt response of the Nigerien soldiers to Zamfara residents’ distress calls might have informed Mr Matawalle’s decision to gift the neighbouring country Hilux vehicles.

In February, the Buhari regime claimed it contracted Kaura Motors Nigeria Limited, with Fidelity Bank account 4010638472, to purchase 10 Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles for the Niger Republic for N1.2 billion.

The Nigerien government’s denial of Mr Buhari’s intervention package could strain the relationship between both countries and further ignite the controversy surrounding the matter.

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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the government of trying to blackmail its members.
 
According to ASUU, the Federal Government is not sincere about resolving the issues that led to its almost six-month strike.
 
The union which announced that it would be meeting with representatives of government today August 16, said government's move to placate its members into calling off the strike with salary increment instead of holistically addressing the issues affecting university education in the country is "unfortunate".
 
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, who featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday August 15, accused the government of paying lip service to university education.
 
He said;
 
“The government is not sincere in its dealing with us. This has been the issue all along.

“What we are doing is the sacrifice we have to save this country and its youths. A collapsed university system is a collapsed country and we are almost there.  We will not be tired, we will ensure that our university system works.

“We have not heard any serious communication from the government though they have invited us for renegotiation of the 2009 agreement tomorrow (today).

“The issues have to do with funding, structure, autonomy, and how to raise funds for the university system in Nigeria.  But the government has reduced the issue to just salary alone.

“If the government has looked at the issues comprehensively, we will not be talking about funding.  This government wants to blackmail us with salaries.

“Every university in the world is an autonomous body. You don’t subject the university to public service. This is why we are where we are today.

“The renegotiation started in 2017 when Mr. Wale Babalakin was appointed to chair the talks. We spent more than two years on that.

"That committee eventually collapsed when Babalakin was removed as the Chancellor of the University of Lagos.  Another person was appointed.

“Each time a new committee is set up, the first question we ask them is whether they have the mandate to renegotiate the whole agreement with us and they usually answer in the affirmative.

“Imagine since May 2021, we concluded renegotiation and they said they would get back to us.  Since then, they didn’t back to us since we started this strike.”
 
Osodeke also said that Minister of State for  Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo's claim of government not having money to meet ASUU’s demands as a "sad development".
 
He said;
 
“It is sad for the Federal Government to say it does not have money to meet our demand.  If anybody has a will, he or she can get what he wants.

“If the government has the will and believes that education is important, it will raise any amount to fix it.

“This is a government that has given N100 billion for Trader Moni, raised about N200 billion to feed school children?  Each of these is more than what we are asking for as revitalisation fund.”
 
On ways to resolve the crisis, the ASUU President said;
 
“We have always been asking the government to give enough budgetary allocation to the education.

“All over Africa, Nigeria has the lowest of about 5.3 percent when countries like Ghana and South Africa give about 16 percent of its budget.

“If the government signs to the agreements of the previous discussions, the strike would be called off.”

Osodeke also revealed that the issues concerning the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), and the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS, have been resolved.
 
He said;
 
 
“The issue of IPPIS and UTAS has been put to rest. If the government agrees with us tomorrow, everything will be resolved.

“The issues of IPPIS and UTAS have been put to rest as agreed with the Chief of Staff, the Utas will be implemented.

“You see, if this government is serious, this strike will not last more than two weeks. The President directed the Minister of Education to finish within two weeks, now two weeks have passed and they didn’t come back.”

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has been lambasted by Nigerians after mocking Igbo traders.
 
It started after a supporter of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party announced a planned ‘two million march’ for the Labour Party Kaduna state.
 
After seeing the tweet, El-Rufai replied that Obi supporters will not be able to get more than 200 people to join the exercise.
 
Not done, the governor then mocked Igbo traders saying that because of IPOB's sit-at-home, they cannot open their shops on Mondays.
 
He wrote:
 
In Kaduna? Not Kaduna Twitter? -