Governor of Kano state, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
Ahead of the September 19 Governorship election in Edo state, the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has been appointed head of a newly created 49-member APC National Campaign Council that is expected to lead the party to victory at the polls.
The campaign council, which will be inaugurated on Monday, 6th July 2020 by the Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee of the APC, has four state governors, the Deputy Senate President and two former National Chairmen of the party among others as members and Hon. Abbas Braimoh to serve as Secretary.
APC’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena in a statement in Abuja on Thursday said the appointment of the council followed the approval of the National Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Mai Mala Buni.
Statue of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson is being removed by crane in Richmond, Virginia.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Wednesday ordered the immediate removal of all Confederate statues on city land, saying he was using his emergency powers to speed up the healing process for the former capital of the Confederacy amid weeks of protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
Work crews began removing a statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson early Wednesday afternoon. Flatbed trucks and other equipment were also spotted at several other Confederate monuments along Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue.
File Photo: Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai says the Nigerian Army will collaborate with sister agencies to bring a decisive end to armed banditry in the North-west zone of the country.
The Army Chief stated this at the commencement of this year’s Nigerian Army Day Celebration in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
General Buratai explained that the week-long event was being marked in Katsina State to boost the morale of frontline troops in the war against armed banditry in the North-west zone of the country.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari has issued a directive to the armed forces to extinguish the fires of banditry in the zone, through the ongoing ‘Operation Sahel Sanity’.
He tasked the troops carrying out the operation under the ‘8 Division’ and the ’17 Brigade’ of the Nigerian Army to locate every bandits’ camp in the forest and deal with them decisively.
The Army Chief assured communities across the five affected states that the army in collaboration with sister agencies would defeat armed banditry.
“The troops will move into the bush and defeat them tactically, that is our mission, and that is what we want to achieve. Anything short of that will only prolong the security crises.” So we are determined to deal with them in the bush or wherever they are, even in the towns and cities. We will deal with them decisively,” Buratai reiterated.
This year’s Nigerian Army Day Celebration has the theme “Nigeria’s Territorial Defence and Sovereignty: the Imperative for Nigerian Army’s Sustained Training and Operations”.
A file photo of an attendant filling the fuel tank of a car.
The Federal Government has increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol from N140.80 to N143.80 per litre.
This increment was disclosed in a statement released on Wednesday by the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Abdulkadir Saidu.
“After a review of the prevailing market fundamentals in the month of June and considering marketers’ realistic operating costs, as much as practicable, we wish to advise a new PMS pump price band of N140.80 – N143.80 per litre for the month of July 2020,” the statement read.
“All marketers are advised to operate within the indicative prices as advised by the PPPRA.”
In April, the Federal Government had announced a reduction of the petrol pump to N123.50 per litre.
This upward review in petrol price comes only hours after a UK based newspaper, The Guardian revealed that the petrol that Nigeria buys from Europe is dirty and harmful.
According to laboratory analysis: “Black market fuel made from stolen oil in rudimentary “bush” refineries hidden deep in the creeks and swamps of the Niger Delta is less polluting than the highly toxic diesel and petrol that Europe exports to Nigeria”, the newspaper reported.
President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday nominated 41 non-career ambassadors-designate.
Buhari, in a letter addressed to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, requested the lawmakers to confirm the nominees.
The President also nominated one career ambassador-designate, representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The nominees are: Engr. Umar Suleiman (Adamawa); L.S. Mandama (Adamawa); Oboro Effiong Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Chief Elejah Onyeagba (Anambra); Abubakar D. Ibrahim Siyi (Bauchi); Philip K. Ikurusi (Bayelsa); Hon. Tarzcor Terhemen (Benue); Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue); Al-Bishir Ibrahim Al-Hussain (Borno); Brig Gen. Bwala Yusuf Bukar (Borno); Prof. Monique Ekpong (Cross River); Oma Djebah (Delta); Ominyi N. Eze (Ebonyi); Yamah Mohammed Musa (Edo); Maj. Gen. C. O. Ugwu (Enugu); and Dr. Hajara I. Salim (Gombe).
Others are: Obiezu Ijeoma Chinyerem (Imo); Ali M. Magashi (Jigawa); Prof. M. A. Makarfi (Kaduna); Hamisu Umar Takalmawa (Kano); Imam Galandanci (Kano); Amina Ado Kurawa (Kano); Amb. Yahaya Lawal (Katsina); Dare Sunday Awoniyi (Kogi); Ibrahim Kayode Laaro (Kwara), Abioye Bello (Kwara); Zara Maazu Umar (Kwara); Ademola Seriki (Lagos); Henry John Omaku (Nasarawa); Chief Sarafa Tunji Ishola (Ogun); Mrs. Nimi Akinkube (Ondo); Adejaba Bello (Osun); Adeshina Alege (Oyo); Debo Adesina (Oyo); Ms. Folakemi Akinyele (Oyo); Shehu Abdullahi Yibaikwai (Plateau); Hon. Maureen Tamuno (Rivers); Faruk Yabo (Sokoto); Adamu M. Hassan (Taraba); Alhaji Yusuf Mohammed (Yobe); and Abubakar Moriki (Zamfara).
The Nigeria American Public Affairs Committee (NAPAC) in New Jersey, the United States of America has expressed support towards the “Black Lives Matter” movement, saying it could no longer keep quiet in the face of oppression.
While noting that Blacks are Blacks everywhere in the world, NAPAC condemned in strong words the horrible and partial treatment being meted out to the Black people in the USA.
NAPAC NJ, in a statement by its Chairperson, Amb. Hon. Olamide Davies Talabi, denounced the one per cent Candace in the USA, explaining that this category of people does not represent the Blacks’ collective views.
Talabi added that the Black community has lost so many people to senseless police brutality, including Chinedu Okobi (Nigerian); Momodu Lamin Sisay (Gambian); Matthew Ajibade (Nigerian); George Floyd; Breonna Taylor; and others.
According to her, “NAPAC NJ proudly supports Black Lives Matter and the fight against injustice.
“A mentor once told me: ‘You are either on the left or on the right side, try not to be neutral on important issues.’
“As Africans, we have picked a side which is on the right side of history to call out racism and the ill treatment of blacks in the USA.
“We denounce the one per cent Candace amongst us. They do not represent us or our collective views. We can no longer stay silent in the midst of oppression. As a community we know that our African American brothers and sisters paved the way for the freedom African immigrants are enjoying in this country.
“We know that Blacks are Blacks everywhere in the world; we are one.
“We strongly condemn in strong words the horrible and partial treatment given to Black people in the USA. As a community we have lost so many people to senseless police brutality.
“May the souls of Chinedu Okobi (Nigerian); Momodu Lamin Sisay (Gambian); Matthew Ajibade (Nigerian); George Floyd; Breonna Taylor; and many more that we don’t know due to lack of footage continue to rest in peace.”
A statue in the grounds of Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa, featuring a bust of King Leopold II, was covered in red paint and topped with a traffic cone "dunce's cap." Photo Credit, CNN.
Idowu Sowunmi
King Philippe of Belgium has sent his “deepest regrets” to President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the “suffering and humiliation” his nation inflicted while it colonised the region but stopped short of apologising for his ancestor Leopold II’s atrocities, CNN has reported.
On the 60th anniversary of the DRC’s independence, King Philippe wrote a letter to President Tshilombo in which he admitted that “to further strengthen our ties and develop an even more fruitful friendship, we must be able to talk about our long common history in all truth and serenity.”
Philippe is a descendent of Leopold II, who owned what was then called Congo Free State between 1885 and 1908 and ruled its people brutally, exploiting their labour and committing atrocities against them. Historians estimate that under Leopold’s rule, as many as 10 million people died.
“Our history is made of common achievements but has also experienced painful episodes. During the period of the Congo Free State, acts of violence and cruelty were committed, which still weigh on our collective memory,” the King wrote.
“The colonial period which followed also caused suffering and humiliation,” the letter adds, referring to the subsequent 52 years of rule by the Belgian state until Congo’s independence and the formation of the DRC. Leopold had ruled the region personally until 1908.
“I would like to express my deepest regrets for these wounds of the past, the pain of which is now revived by the discrimination still too present in our societies,” he added.
A reassessment of Belgium’s colonial legacy has taken place in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter protests. Several statues depicting the former leader have been taken down in the country.
Earlier this month, Belgium’s parliament approved an inquiry into its colonial history.
“I welcome the process of reflection that our parliament has started, so that we may finally make peace with our memories,” the King wrote.
But he did not take the opportunity to apologise to the DRC for the acts committed by Leopold II or by Belgian governments until 1960.
With no offer of visas, very few Congolese people came to Belgium until very recently — so while the country became home to people from a number of European nations, colonial sentiments towards African cultures have never been fully shaken off in the country.
That has led to a number of high-profile incidents of blackface in the country, including by leading politicians.
Last year, a group of UN human rights experts visited several cities in Belgium and found “clear evidence that racial discrimination is endemic in institutions in Belgium.”
A Leopold II statue in Antwerp was removed after Black Lives Matter protests swept around the globe earlier this month, while another opposite Brussels’ Royal Palace has been repeatedly covered in anti-racist graffiti.
Els Van Hoof, a Belgian MP who leads the chamber of representative’s foreign affairs committee, says the parliamentary inquiry may tackle the question of what to do with statues of Leopold II, though the exact scope of work has yet to be determined.
Abia State government has given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seven days ultimatum to remove all the offensive notices placed on some assets and estates of Abia State government.
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Abia State, Chief Uche Ihediwa gave the ultimatum while briefing news men on the recent development in the State, where the EFCC sealed off some properties purported to belong to a highly placed politician in the State. Chief Ihediwa demanded the EFCC to tender an unreserved apology to the State within seven days in view of the inconvenience its action has caused the State, failure of which the State would take appropriate redress in court.
He explained that those assets marked by the EFCC belong to the State government, also that Abia government duly entered into partnership arrangements with credible investors for the development of those properties under public private partnerships while the reversionary interest in the properties still resides in the State government.
Chief Ihediwa informed that the law establishing the EFCC makes it clear that the Commission can only seal property of persons under investigation and noted that ownership of the property in question is not under investigation. He recalled that in 2016, the same EFCC investigated the ownership of most of those property and the certificates of occupancy and public private partnership agreements between the State government and investors of the various assets.
The Commissioner described the action of the EFCC as unwarranted and unlawful, regretting why the agency did not write the State government to find out the ownership of the said property whose title documents are domiciled in the State Ministry of Lands. He stated that the action of the EFCC has caused harm to the State economy by scaring investors from the State.
The assets sealed by the EFCC include; The Abia Mall, the Adelabu Housing Estate, the former township main market at Ogwumabiri, the Millenium Luxury Apartment, Abia hotels and Linto estate, Old Timber Market, all in Umuahia.
Following the investigation ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari into the ugly brawl at the State House involving his personal assistant and security personnel attached to the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, the President Monday approved the appointment of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Aliyu Abubakar Musa, as his new Chief Personal Security Officer (CPSO).
It would be recalled that there was an incident at the Villa, which was triggered by the First Lady, who led a security operation to insist that one of the aides of the President, Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf, must self-isolate on arrival from Lagos State, where he had gone to see his wife who had just been delivered of a baby.
The incident led to a shooting which caused a security breach at the Villa.
This led to Buhari’s decision to order an investigation into the matter.
The aftermath of the investigation led to the appointment of Musa.
The new CPSO, from Nigerian Police Force Zone 5 in Benin City as his last station, hails from Niger State, said a statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu
Musa’s appointment followed the redeployment of his predecessor, Commissioner of Police (CP), Abdulkarim Dauda.
Analysts speculated that some other security officers may be affected by the developing situation.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
