On Monday, President Bola Tinubu presided over the third Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of his administration at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja.

Attending the meeting were Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan, Chief of Staff to the President Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.

Absent from the meeting were Vice President Kashim Shettima, who is currently in the United States of America, as well as some ministers including those of Culture, Art and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, and the Minister of Tourism, Lola Ade-John, among others.

Last Monday, Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris announced that council meetings will now be held on Mondays instead of Wednesdays. Idris stated that meetings will only take place when there are pressing issues to be discussed, meaning they may not occur every week.

Popular Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Igboho, has called on the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the Nigerian Army to investigate the recent killings of farmers in Oyo and Ogun states.

Igboho is urging the security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators behind these killings are apprehended and held accountable for their actions.

In the Iwere-Ile community of Iwajowa Local Government Area and other towns in the Oke Ogun axis of Oyo, farmers have been killed by suspected herders. In response to these incidents, Igboho emphasizes the urgent need for security agencies to address the clashes between rogue herdsmen and farmers in parts of Ogun.

Part of a statement that Igboho personally signed reads: “We are calling on the Police, the Department of State Security (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the Nigerian Army to address the fragile security breaches now before the situation gets out of hand.”

“We are saddened that the killings of our farmers, who are innocently earning their living, have resurfaced. This alarming development demands reflection, considering the current hardships in the country.”

“The recent ambush and killing of operatives of the Amotekun Security Corps, along with other security agents who were attempting to restore peace in the Iwere-Ile community after the suspected herdsmen had murdered our fellow kinsmen, must be investigated, and the culprits must face justice.”

“While we commend Oyo State Governor, Engineer ‘Seyi Makinde, and his counterpart in Ogun, Prince Dapo Abiodun, for their efforts to ensure peace and development in their respective states, we challenge the heads of security agencies to take action now before the situation worsens.”

In Kwara Command, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has revealed that there are 3,000 international passports waiting to be collected by applicants.

Alhaji Baba Aliyu, the outgoing Comptroller of Passports in the Command, made this disclosure during a retirement party held in his honor in Ilorin, speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Aliyu called on the Federal Government to impose sanctions on these individuals, noting that many of the applicants could not be reached through the phone numbers provided in their applications.

“We usually send SMS messages to the contact addresses and phone numbers given by the applicants, but some of them failed to receive the messages because the numbers provided are fake,” Aliyu explained.

He further stated, “Some applicants may have passed away, while others may have chosen not to collect their passports because they did not meet their intended purposes for acquiring them. Regardless of the reasons, passports should not be abandoned as they serve many functions apart from being travel documents.”

The Comptroller of Passports clarified that the abandoned passports were not only from individuals in Kwara State but from applicants across different parts of Nigeria.

Aliyu urged applicants to visit the Immigration Office and collect their passports.

Additionally, he encouraged Nigerians who wish to obtain international passports to visit the immigration.gov.ng website for the application process, highlighting that it takes just two weeks to acquire a new passport or renew an expired one.

Anthony Joshua has said he is open to fighting Deontay Wilder on the same night of Tyson Fury’s undisputed boxing heavyweight battle against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia next year.

Nigerian-Briton Joshua will first have his next bout in London, at either the O2 or Wembley Arena, in December, he revealed.

World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Fury’s next fight is against mixed martial arts star and former UFC world heavyweight champion, Cameroonian Francis Ngannou on Saturday.

A deal for Fury to face Ukrainian Usyk — which will see the winner become the undisputed world heavyweight champion — in Saudi Arabia has already been sealed.

Usyk currently holds the World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organisation heavyweight titles after beating former holder Joshua twice.

Speaking to Sky Sports in Austin, Texas ahead of last night’s United States Grand Prix, 34-year-old Joshua said: “If they get this undisputed fight on [Usyk vs Fury], which has been looming for a while, word on the street is that it’s supposed to be the undisputed fighters and then the undercard is supposed to be a big, lively one with me and Wilder.

“But, in the meantime, we’re going to be active this year. I’ve set my goals three times this year, and I’m still potentially going to get a fight in [before the end of the year].

“End this year on a high, God willing, and then move onto the next year and go out there and kick some more behind.”

Following those two defeats to Usyk, Joshua returned to winning ways by knocking out Finnish Robert Helenius in London in August, clearing the path for a future meeting with former WBC champion Wilder.

When asked by Sky Sports as to whether he has plans to face Fury in the future, Joshua said: “I’ll be honest, for me personally I’m here for the fans, and I know what they want, and my job is to deliver.

“I will 100 per cent do my end of the bargain, it’s up to the other team [Tyson Fury’s] to play ball.

“One step at a time. December I want to get out, April [vs Wilder] I need to be victorious, and then we can talk about the big fight in the future.”

 [NaijaTimes]

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal lodged by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in opposition to Kashim Shettima’s selection as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last general election.

A panel of seven members, led by Justice John Okoro, announced the dismissal of the appeal when the appellant’s lawyer, Chukwuma Majukwu Umeh, requested to withdraw it.

At the mention of the appeal, members of the panel had noted that it was frivolous because the Supreme Court had, in an earlier case of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) v. INEC and others, resolved this issue that Shettima was properly nominated.

Justice Okoro directly questioned Umeh about what advantages he believed his client could derive from the case’s conclusion, aside from exacerbating the court’s burden.

Umeh had made efforts to distinguish his client’s case from that of the PDP v. INEC and others, but later had a change of mind when Justice Okoro insisted that the appeal lacked any utilitarian value.

More details later…

[NationalDaily]

The Supreme Court has adjourned the appeals challenging the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 election.

Naija News recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election, but Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alongside Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) rejected the result and headed for the court.

The duo challenged the election result alongside the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) candidate, but the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal struck out their appeals.

Unsatisfied with the PEPT judgement, the three political parties filed appeals at the Supreme Court, which heard the matter on Monday.

However, APM on Monday announced the withdrawal of its appeal during the proceedings at the apex court while PDP and LP continued with their cases.

The appellant’s lawyer, Chukwuma Majukwu Umeh, applied to withdraw it.

Following the withdrawal, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.

In dismissing the appeal, members of the Supreme Court panel noted that it was a frivolous case because the apex court, in an earlier case of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) v. INEC and others, resolved the issue that Shettima was properly nominated.

The 7-member panel led by Justice John Okoro however adjourned the matter of the PDP and LP after the arguments of lawyers of the respective parties.

Okoro held, “This appeal is reserved for judgement until a date to be communicated to parties.”

Former governor of Ekiti State and chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Ayodele Fayose, on Sunday, commended the performance of incumbent Governor Biodun Oyebanji of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Fayose, who spoke at a special thanksgiving service at Cathedral Church of Emmanuel Okesa, Ado Ekiti to mark Oyebanji administration’s first year in office, said not only will Oyebanji successfully complete his first term, but he would also get reelection for a second term.

Fayose spoke on behalf of ex-governors of the state, Niyi Adebayo and Kayode Fayemi.

He said, “We are all together for Biodun Oyebanji. I am not a member of your party (APC) and I will not be. I am with you (Oyebanji) hundred per cent.

“Where is Bisi K (Chief Bisi Kolawole, PDP 2022 governorship candidate)? We are going to support you (Oyebanji). You have come to visit me at my house seven times. You are doing it differently and you will get a different result. This church will pray for you and you will do it (governorship) a second time.”

In his remarks, Adebayo said Fayose’s assertion “is the position of we, the former governors. Thank you very much.”

The Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, who spoke earlier, said, “I am looking forward to being the chairman of your (Oyebanji’s) re-election campaign,” adding that “the governor has earned the confidence and trust of the people for a second term.”

Bamidele, who represented the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said, “Governor Oyebanji is entrenching the culture of respect and the culture of performance. He is lucky to have Governors Adebayo, Fayose and Fayemi as mentors and advisers. What he is doing differently is that he is giving the state a new political order, uniting various groups where youths, women, and civil societies consider themselves as stakeholders.

Making his remarks, Oyebanji said he counted himself lucky to be standing on the shoulders of the former governors, whom he described as “giants”.

“Today is about God in our life as people of Ekiti State. It is not because I am the best person in the state or because I know how to do it; it’s not because I am the most brilliant, all is by the grace of God. For the little we have achieved, I give God the glory,” he said.

In his sermon, the Bishop of the Diocese of Ekiti, the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, the Rt. Revd Olusola Ajayi, hailed Oyebanji for making a positive impact in the lives of the people of the state in the last year.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced that the Student Loan Scheme payment will commence in January 2024.

Naija News reports that Tinubu gave the assurance on Monday while speaking at the 29th edition of the annual Nigerian Economic Summit, anchored by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

He also reiterated that his administration will end industrial actions in the nation’s academic environment.

Speaking on plans to stabilise the economy, with the collaboration of all stakeholders, especially the private sector, Tinubu stressed the need to immediately initiate a sustainable credit scheme, which he said would aid an effective anti-corruption campaign.

He said: “By January 2024, the new Students Loan Programme must commence. To the future of our children and students we’re saying no more strikes.

“There must be consumer credit, scheme will have to come to effect as soon as possible. I thank my team and my colleagues to build this programme, develop it now. We cannot talk about anti-corruption when you have to look for cash to buy a car, when there’s no mortgage for homeownership.”

On the occasion of his 60th posthumous birthday, former Super Eagles forward Rashidi Yekini has been honored by Google.

Google paid tribute to the late legendary striker with a special doodle.

Yekini passed away in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, on May 4, 2012, at the young age of 48.

The doodle started with a biographical snippet about the iconic striker: “Today’s Doodle celebrates iconic Nigerian footballer Rashidi Yekini, an accomplished forward known as the ‘Goalsfather’ for his ability to sneak shots past the keeper. On this day in 1963, he was born in Kaduna, Nigeria.

“Yekini faced difficulties at the beginning of his life, including homelessness and poverty. He worked as a welder and mechanic to earn money, but his true aspiration was to pursue football. Soon, he started playing in front of scouts, and in 1981, he joined his first football club, UNTL FC, in Kaduna.

“The talented striker subsequently played for the Shooting Stars, scoring an impressive 45 goals in 53 games. His remarkable scoring abilities earned him the title of African Footballer of the Year in 1983, making him the first Nigerian player to receive this prestigious honor. The following year, he helped lead the Shooting Stars to the finals of the African Champions Cup.

“In addition to Nigeria, he also played for football clubs in Spain, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Tunisia, Switzerland, and Greece. While playing for a Portuguese team called Vitória Setúbal, he won the Bola de Prata (Silver Ball) as the league’s top-scoring player in the 1993-94 season.

“Happy birthday, Rashidi Yekini!”

Yekini is considered one of Nigeria’s finest strikers.

The former player of Vitoria Setubal in Portugal played a crucial role in Nigeria’s qualification for their first World Cup in 1994.

He was the top scorer at the Senegal 1992 and Tunisia 1994 nations cups.

Yekini was also the first Nigerian to score a goal at the World Cup.