The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian Newspaper

  • Buhari, South Africa special envoys meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with the special envoy from President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.

    The three envoys arrived the forecourt of the Presidential Villa, Abuja around 2.13pm in company with Acting South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Bobby Monroe.

    The envoys are in Abuja over the increasing xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other Africans living in South Africa.

    Apart from many Nigerians losing their lives in the country due the attacks, the first batch of 189 Nigerians returned to Nigeria from South Africa last week Wednesday.

    Read Also: Zikist-Buharist movement greets Buhari

    Many more Nigerians are being expected back to the country on Tuesday.

    Due to the continued attacks, many Nigerians have been expecting the Nigerian government to take far reaching decisions over the matter.

    But to ward off diplomatic row over the matter, Ramaphosa had dispatched three special envoys to Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, to deliver messages of pan-African unity and solidarity.

    The envoys are expected to deliver messages on the violence that erupted in some parts of South Africa resulting in attacks on foreign nationals and destruction of properties.

    They are in Abuja to reassure President Buhari and Nigerians that South Africa is committed to the ideals of pan-African unity and solidarity.

    At the meeting, they are also expected to reaffirm South Africa’s commitment to the rule of law.

    They will also brief Buhari on the steps that the South African government is taking to bring a stop to the attacks as well as to hold the perpetrators to account.

    Xenophobia attacks in South Africa have been on the rise as foreigners were accused of taking up employment that should have been for locals.

    As a result of the attacks on Nigerians, President Buhari had a fortnight ago also sent a special envoy led by the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Abubakar Rufai, to Ramaphosa.

    Rufia had submitted his report to President Buhari on his return to Nigeria.

    The meeting of the South African special envoy with President Buhari was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

  • Foundation advises FG to appoint citizen with integrity to head Police Trust Fund

    Cleen Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, has advised the Federal Government to appoint a citizen with integrity to head the Police Trust Fund (PTF) as the Executive Secretary.

    Mr Benson Olugbuo, Cleen’s Executive Director, who gave the advice on Monday in a statement in Abuja, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute the Board of Trustees of PTF in line with the powers and functions enshrined in the PTF Act.

    This, he said, would prevent conflict in the powers of the Executive Secretary, the Minister of Police Affairs, Inspector General of Police and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission.

    He urged the Board of Trustees when constituted, to ensure accountability and transparency in the operations of the trust fund.

    “The Board of Trustees should ensure that the disbursement of funds is based on needs assessment duly prepared by the Nigeria Police in a transparent and accountable manner.

    “They should also tackle the issues of lack of comprehensive needs assessment data by the Nigeria Police to enhance budgeting, planning and the overall development of police personnel,’’ he said.

    Olugbuo said that the issues of absence of an oversight body and a mechanism in the PTF’s Act for checks and balances should also be addressed by the board.

     

    Read Also: Buhari assents to Police Trust Fund bill, others

     

    He said that addressing the issues would reduce the vulnerability of the trust fund from corruption, embezzlement, fraud, nepotism, mis-allocation and diversion of resources that erode public good, efficiency and legitimacy.

    According to him, the government has long underfunded the Nigeria Police and the funds appropriated for it are quite different from actual funds released.

    “All relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should be directed to release all levies and monies due to the fund and should also comply with the act.

    “The budgetary provisions for the management of the fund should commence through the 2019 supplementary budget by the National Assembly,’’ he said.

    Olugbuo urged the Ministry of Justice to correct typographical errors in the PTF Act before publishing the law in the official gazette of the Federal Government.

    “The PTF Act can be subjected to holistic amendment or reviews in the future to address gaps that have been identified or that may emerge from implementation,’’ he said.

     

    (NAN)

  • BREAKING: South African envoys arrive Abuja

    Special envoys sent by South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa to President Muhammadu Buhari have arrived Abuja.

    The envoys, led by the Acting South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Bobby Monroe, arrived at the Villa at 2.15pm to meet with the president.

    The meetings are part of efforts to end the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.

    Details shortly…

  • Nigerian artist, Bankulli speaks on writing for Beyoncé

    Nigerian artist and talent manager, Bankulli Osha has revealed details of his work with Beyoncé on ‘Lion King: The Gift’.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the music heavyweight announced his appearance in the upcoming documentary for the album on Monday.

    On his Instagram page @bankulli, he posted a preview of the documentary and captioned it, “Watch me on the making of The GIFT album with Beyoncé.

    “Find your way back and the other side, watch on ABC Network. Beyonce presents ‘Making The Gift’,” he said.

    NAN reports that in July, Beyonce enlisted Bankulli alongside other Nigerian music superstars Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Burna Boy, Tekno and Mr Eazi in new ‘Lion King’ album.

    Bankulli had taken to his twitter handle @bankulli to announce that he contributed vocals and writing on three songs on the album.

    He wrote, “Three songs CC @Beyonce THE LION KING : THE GIFT.”

    READ ALSO: ‘Beyonce needs Nigerian artistes than we need her’

    Bankulli was responsible for the subtle ode to fuji music on ‘Find Your Way Back’ and provided spiritual outro on ‘OTHERSIDE’.

    He sang in Yoruba with the lyrics, “Sokale o Oluwa, wa wonu okan mi lo” (“Descend from the heavens, Lord and take over my soul”).

    The lines, which are a recognisable staple of Nigerian pentecostal church music, elevated the song in ‘Lion King: The Gift’ album.

    NAN reports that Bankulli has been making waves in the Nigerian music scene for a long while, before expanding to the international scene.

    He was one of the first members of the Mo’ Hits team and introduced D’banj to Kanye West thus kicking off the G.O.O.D Music/Mo’ Hits relationship.

    (NAN)

  • Police arraign fake herbalist for allegedly cheating housewife of N13m

    The police on Monday arraigned a fake herbalist, Muhammed Bako in an Upper Area Court in Mpape, Abuja for allegedly cheating a housewife of N13 million.

    Bako, whose address was not given, is charged with criminal conspiracy, extortion and criminal intimidation.

    The Prosecution Counsel, Mr A.O Olaofe, told the court that the case was reported to the National Intelligence Agency, Abuja by the complainant, Mrs Magret Igbinobaro.

    Olaofe told the court that on April 25, the defendant, who is also a driver, picked up the complainant in his car from Minna, Niger state to Abuja.

    The prosecutor said that the defendant in the course of the trip deceived Igbinobaro into believing that was a traditional medicine man capable of curing all her alleged ailments.

    Olaofe alleged that during investigation the defendant confessed that he hynotised Igninobaro into paying N13 million into a Guaranty trust bank account number 0259536443 belonging to his wife’s niece to pay.

    READ ALSO: Police arraign “fake pastor” for allegedly raping a woman

    He said that during investigation, the defendant confessed to have used the money to build a house .

    Olaofe alleged that the defendant extorted the complainant and put fear of untimely death on her if she reports to anyone.

    This, he said continued until the defendant was arrested.

    The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of sections 97, 293 and 397 (b) of the Penal code.

    Bako, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The Presiding Judge, Hassan Muhammad, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N30 million with two reasonable and reliable sureties.

    Muhammed adjourned the case until Oct. 4, for hearing.

    (NAN)

  • Appeal Court dismisses petition against Ondo PDP Senator

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the Ondo state capital on Monday dismissed the petition of the United People’s Congress Party (UPCP) filed to nullify the victory of Senator Nicholas Tofowomo, representing the Senatorial District of Ondo South at the Senate.

    The UPCP filed an appeal having dissatisfied with the judgment of the Federal High Court in Akure, on July 5, 2019, which dismissed the application filed by the Candidate of Action Alliance (AA), Mr. Olatunji Felder.

    Felder prayed the court to nullify the victory of the Senator over the conduct of supplementary election of March 9, 2019 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) in Ondo South, on the ground that the electoral umpire did not write officially to inform necessary parties before embarking on the said rerun election.

    In a unanimous judgement delivered by the trio of Justices M.A Danjuma, R.M Abdullahi and P.A Mahmood, the Court of Appeal, dismissed the petition of the UPCP for lack of merit.

    Read Also: Ondo CP orders probe into alleged stabbing at Akure Night club

    The court also awarded the sum of N300,000 cost against UPCP.

    Two lawyers,A.A Ojopagogo and A .Kuku who were defence counsels to Tofowomo and INEC respectively, described the judgment as victory for democracy.

    Tofowomo had polled 79,036 to defeat his closest rival, the incumbent Senator, Yele Omogunwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 51,993, while Felder of the AA came third.

    The poll was however declared inconclusive because the victory margin was less than the total votes cancelled in 56 polling units of four councils estimated at 28,300 votes.which necessitated the supplementary election by INEC.

    After the supplementary election, INEC Returning Officer for the district, Prof. Kayode Onifade, declared Tofowomo winner with 81,892 votes against Omogunwa’s 55,610 and Felder with 27,150 votes.

  • BBNaija (S4): ‘Biggie’ forgives all strikes, introduces Veto twist

    Big Brother has issued a clean slate to all housemates and introduced a new Veto power of chance twist.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Sunday, all strikes and warnings were forgiven. This means that Omashola, Tacha, Ike and Mercy have no strikes.

    While Mercy and Omashola had one strike each and warnings, Ike and Tacha were on the verge of exiting the show with two strikes each.

    In the spirit of twists, Biggie also initiated a new veto power of chance game which began immediately after the eviction show.

    Tagged ‘the Ultimate veto power card’, it will be the last veto game of the season and housemates must prove their worthiness to clinch it.

    The housemates have a pool of 60 pictures for a whole week before the winner of the Ultimate VPH will emerge.

    Every day till Sunday, each Housemate will pick a picture of an object that must match the one in the red box. This means for a week, each Housemate will have picked 6 pictures.

    READ ALSO: #BBNaija: Khafi Kareem the ‘controversial’ constable and self-acclaimed ‘celibate’

    In the end, whoever comes with the one picture that matches the content of the red box wins the final Veto Power for the Pepper Dem Season.

    Another interesting twist is that whosoever wishes to swap his/her pictures can do so. However, housemates must protect the red box from harm.

    For the first draw, housemates picked their number cards from the magic hat and proceeded to pick the pictures of their choice.

    The game will continue for the whole week until a picture that matches the exact duplicate in the red box is picked.

    NAN reports that Khafi was evicted at the last live show after polling the least votes alongside Tacha, Mike and Seyi.

    (NAN)

  • Musician, Dammy Krane docked over alleged defamation

    A musician, Johnson Oyindamola, also known as Dammy Krane on Monday appeared before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly posting a defamatory message on the internet about Merrybet Gold Ltd.

    The Police arraigned Oyindamola, 27, on a three-count charge of threat to life, defamation and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

    He, however, pleaded not guilty.

    The Prosecutor, Insp. J. I. Enang, told the court that the defendant committed the offences with some others still at large on July 29 at Cool FM in Lagos.

    Enang said the defendant posted a video on the internet accusing the sport betting company of owing him.

    He alleged that the defendant attended a game show sponsored by the company, but lost.

    “The defendant, however demanded some money for appearing on the show, the firm disagreed, insisting that the sum was only for the winners.

    READ ALSO: Popular singer Dammy Krane arrested in US for fraud

    “The musician subsequently breached a contractual agreement with the firm.

    “He also conducted himself in a manner likely to cause breach of the peace by posting an audio and a video message on Cool FM 96.9,” Enang said.

    According to the prosecutor, the offences contravened Sections 168 (d), 301 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Counsel to the defendant, Mr Adebayo Oniyelu, urged the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms.

    “We humbly apply for the bail of the defendant. Section 35 (5) states that an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

    “He is a popular musician, if granted bail, he will not jump bail, meanwhile he has been in police custody since Sept. 13,” Oniyelu added.

    The Magistrate, Mrs Folashade Botoku, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N50, 000 with one surety in like sum.

    Botoku adjourned the case until Oct. 11 for mention.

    (NAN)

  • UPDATED: Seun Onigbinde resigns amid social media backlash

    Following a public outcry over his appointment as a Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Co-founder of BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde on Monday announced his resignation.

    Onigbinde had prior to the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted that whoever plans to vote for Buhari in 2019 don’t love Nigeria.

    He wrote: “I will say this for the last time, if you plan to vote for Buhari or you encourage him for another term, you really don’t love Nigeria. You are either a closet ethnic jingoist or someone who worships mediocrity.”

    His acceptance to work under the same administration he tongue-lashed backfired as many on social media blasted and described him as a man without “integrity.”

    Onigbinde made his resignation announcement on his Medium Page, a link he shared on his official Twitter handle.

    He said the recent media reports about his appointment have created a complex narrative, which I believe would engender an atmosphere of mistrust, as I planned to proceed.

    “Upon further reflections on the furore that has been generated by my new role as the Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, I humbly resign the appointment.

    “I am very grateful to the Minister, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, for believing in my expertise and I also thank everyone who sent his or her congratulations to me in the short period. I have also been humbled by the faith and belief that numerous persons have expressed in me,” he wrote.

    Read Also: Mixed feelings as Budgit’s Onigbinde becomes Technical Adviser in Budget Ministry

    Onigbinde said his sincere interest is to see a Nigeria that grows and optimises resources for the benefits of all Nigerians, adding: “My loyalty to the good cause of our nation, Nigeria compelled me to accept the call to provide technical skills and this experience has more than strengthened it.

    “I also want to wish the Nigerian Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, well. I will always be of help to the federal government in my capacity as the Director of BudgIT, a critical fiscal transparency group, as I have been to several agencies. I would also work to ensure that BudgIT continues to build civic awareness on the right of every Nigerian to know how public resources are managed. Thank you all.”

     

     

  • Chimamanda Adichie’s book ‘Americanah’ picked for TV series

    The television series adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s acclaimed novel ‘Americanah’ has been green-lit by HBO Max.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Lupita Nyong’o will star as the lead character, Ifemelu while ‘The Walking Dead’ star, Danai Gurira is the showrunner.

    HBO Max has given the limited series a 10-episode order with Gurira also writing the pilot for the award-winning novel.

    ‘Americanah’ tells the story of Ifemelu (Nyong’o), a young, beautiful, self-assured woman raised in Nigeria, who as a teenager falls in love with her classmate Obinze.

    Living in a military-ruled country, they each depart for the west, with Ifemelu heading for America.

    There, she learned that despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple for the first time with what it means to be black.

    Lupita Nyongo and Director Danai Gurira. Photo Credit: QuartzAfrica

    On the other hand, quiet and thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous undocumented life in London.

    Confirming the news on her social media handles @lupitanyongo, the ‘Us’ actress also said,“‘Americanah’ has been a passion project for me since I read Chimamanda’s beautiful novel in 2013.

    READ ALSO: Chimamanda Adichie, Ramla Ali, others grace British Vogue’s cover

    “It’s a tale that is simultaneously timely and timeless. HBO Max is the perfect partner to bring this profound and celebrated story to life.

    “I’m thrilled that Danai will bring to the project her intelligence, wit, and understanding of the stories and the worlds of ‘Americanah.’”

    NAN reports that Nyong’o purchased the film rights to ‘Americanah’ in 2014 and immediately collaborated with fellow Black Panther’s castmate, Gurira to write the screenplay.

    However, in 2018, the duo stated that the novel was being turned into a mini-series and not a feature film. They visited Nigeria to do research for the screen project.

    This will mark the third time Nyong’o and Gurira work together. Prior to playing Nakia and Okoye in Marvel’s Black Panther, Gurira wrote Eclipsed — the play that landed Nyong’o her first Tony nomination.

    (NAN)