The Senate, on Wednesday, appointed the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator representing Kwara South, Oyelola Yisa Ashiru, as the new Deputy Leader of the Red Chamber.

 Naija News reports that the Upper Legislature also appointed the Senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Nwebonyi Peter Onyeka, as the new Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate. Senator Onyeka is a member of the ruling APC.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the new appointments during Wednesday’s plenary on the floor of the Senate.

Ashiru, who was the former Deputy Chief Whip, was elevated to the position of Deputy Senate Leader, which became vacant following the appointment of Senator Dave Umahi as the Minister of Works by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

More to come…

[Naijanews]

Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, is already one-year-old in office. How time flies! It looks just like yesterday when dust was raised by the godfather, the outgoing Ekiti State Gov. John Kayode Fayemi, anointing Oyebanji as the godson to take from him the mantle of leadership of the state tagged “Land of Honour and Fountain of Knowledge” It is doubtful if Ekiti or any state for that matter in Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s south-west can still be said to be the pacesetter in education in today’s Nigeria. Other states, especially in the south-east and south-south, appear to have overtaken the region that birthed free education and set the pace for others to follow.

Decades of lousy leadership has done the southwest in. Today, in all competitive examinations, students from the south-west play second or even third fiddle to their counterparts from elsewhere. This is unacceptable. The south-west must reclaim its pride of place and claw its way back to the pinnacle of the country’s education ladder. It appears to me that Oyebanji is working hard to achieve this with the pride of place accorded the education sector by his administration; but what of the other states in the region?

As I was saying, dust was raised when Fayemi anointed Oyebanji as his successor, ditching other aspirants that many had thought were frontrunners. Having been Secretary to State Government and Chief of Staff in the same Fayemi administration, Oyebanji was no push over. So, by the time the dust settled, Oyebanji was firmly clutching the APC gubernatorial flag! That, however, was not the end of the matter as he had other mountains to climb in the main opposition PDP and Engr. Segun Oni, who had defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The rift in the PDP, split down the middle by the power tussle between former Gov. Peter Ayodele Fayose and Senator Biodun Olujimi, and the lack of capacity (read, financial muscle) by Oni helped Oyebanji to make the battle with the combined opposition a walk-over. When Fayose reportedly agreed terms with the APC/Oyebanji and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s rumoured support for Oni dried up, everyone who could read the signs started singing “Hail the king” for Oyebanji. Within and outside Ekiti, the elements worked in Oyebanji’s favour in such a way that it became clear to the discerning that he was destined to be king; but the intricacies of that need not detain us here today.

The last time I was on ground in Ekiti was during the tenure of Fayose, which ended in October 2018. Since then, I have passed through Ekiti twice; once when we took a family friend to the Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital and I spent three days in that state-of-the-art facility. The other time was when I passed through the state to Ogbagi-Akoko for a funeral ceremony. I have, however, been kept abreast of happenings in Ekiti. I mourned with Ekiti when my comrade, Funminiyi Afuye, the then speaker of the state House of Assembly, passed on exactly two years ago (19 October, 2022). Again, how time flies! Apart from what I read on a daily basis about Ekiti, the Chief Press Secretary to Oyebanji, Yinka Oyebode, has regularly inundated me with information on the state. Yinka’s civility and humility can only be equaled; I don’t think it can easily be surpassed. He is a professional par excellence.

Oyebanji appears to me a combination of his two immediate predecessors in some respects. He is urbane and temperate; in that he resembles Fayemi. He goes out of his way to interact with the people rather than be rooted in his office; in that he resembles Fayose. To succeed, a governor must combine both in equal measures. One year is but a short span in a four-year tenure; all the same, morning shows the day, as they say. In those days when we got newly admitted into secondary school, our Nemesis were the Form Two students or seniors, as they loved to be addressed, who were usually exuberant about the fact that, too, had become seniors and could only show that by “punishing” junior students. They were a pain in the neck and you would wonder why the real seniors – Forms Five and Four and even Form Three students – were not as oppressive. The bragging words of the bullies were: “Three sixty-five days is not a joke!” That’s true! Even a day’s seniority is not a joke! So, what has Oyebanji been able to achieve in 365 days?

There is a compendium of achievements of the Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji’s administration in its first one year in office encompassing the six pillars of his administration’s programmes and policies. The pillars are: Youth and job creation; human capital development; governance, arts, culture and tourism; agriculture and rural development; infrastructural development; and industrialization. A list of the plethora of projects, policies and programmes initiated, accomplished and on-going are contained in the compendium. They are too numerous to be listed here but I am particularly impressed that the security situation of Ekiti has greatly improved under Oyebanji.

To confirm this, Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) listed Ekiti as the safest state in the country in 2022. To note the horrendous state of security in Ekiti in previous years is to understand that this is no mean achievement. My native Ondo state is one place right now that is hell on earth security-wise, especially the axis that shares boundary with Edo state. Yet, the governor is nowhere in sight and the state House of Assembly is preoccupied with the impeachment of the deputy governor. Not that I give a damn, though! Birds of a feather! Six and half-a-dozen! Gambari pa Fulani…!

Not one to be content with the report of a PR person, I went to town, as they say, seeking independent opinions and views on Gov. Oyebanji and his administration. One person said: “Interestingly, I have, in the past couple of days, been weighing what the people are saying about the governor and the performance of his administration. He has been described as hardworking, focused and imbued with foresight. He is, no doubt, doing so much to receive the support of the electorate.

“On a personal note, I praise him for the restoration of public electricity supply in my community, among others, after a decade in darkness. That fact alone has placed him above his immediate predecessors who used the same electricity issue to canvas for votes, even setting a deadline (but failing) to bring light to the communities.

“Gov. Oyebanji is being hailed as having successfully engaged with the citizens in his governance style, attending party meetings at ward level, visiting notable political figures sidelined by his predecessors under the guise of political differences, and soliciting support for his administration in the interest of the State, irrespective of partisan politics.

“The ever-cynical civil servants in the State are also being carried along as their salaries and wages are promptly paid and conditions of service catered to. So far, the governor is credited with giving due attention to the substance and symbolism of governance in this first year of his four-year tenure”

Another said: “Though I hail from Ekiti, I live in the neighbouring Ondo state. News snippets reaching me indicate that Oyebanji is humble, courteous and gentle, a departure from the garrulous, proud and arrogant regimes of past governors. He is also a home-grown governor (which is) a clear advantage from the past two governors who came from nowhere and knew very little of the people. They only came for business and people have made bold to say that they helped themselves so much to the meagre resources of the state. Oyebanji is likely going to be different”

Space constraint will not allow me print more but they were all generally positive. In Gov. Oyebanji’s “State of the State” address to Ekiti people on the occasion of his first anniversary in office on Monday, 16th October, 2023, he announced that, henceforth, no one will pay for child delivery and the treatment of malaria in all primary health centres across the 177 wards in the state.

Projects, policies and programmes are the “dividends of democracy”. Making the state more prosperous, improving on the people’s quality of life and leaving the situation better than one met it is the true essence of good governance. Yinka Oyebode listed the qualities of his boss to include regular engagement with stakeholders; making deliberate effort to cut the cost of governance; delegating but not abdicating authority; not playing to the gallery by commissioning uncompleted projects; getting communities and their leaders involved in the appointment of commissioners and special advisers so that such political office holders may be aware that, in the final analysis, they are answerable to the people; and operating within and beyond party lines to carry everyone along – friends and foes alike. What Yinka said was confirmed by those I independently interviewed.

This governor, then, is a man to watch. My anniversary gift to him, however, is to be found in the time-honoured saying of our elders, to wit: Ibere o ki n se oni’se…! It is not of him that starts a good job but of him that consistently does the good job to the very end! Happy anniversary!

Jose Peseiro, the Super Eagles head coach, has revealed that his players pushed him to accept a pay cut from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The Portuguese agreed a reduction to his salary this summer so that he could remain in charge of the Super Eagles.

The 63-year-old will lead the West Africans to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire in January.

The former Saudi Arabia and Venezuela gaffer claimed his players begged him to stay so they can win the tournament.

“The players pushed me to stay because they believe we can win (the AFCON),” he told Sky Sports.

“We can win it. The players know it. They come with the same energy, the same belief, to fight for the Super Eagles.”

The Super Eagles are drawn in Group A with hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during plenary on Wednesday announced that the 10th Senate has chosen Senator Lola Ashiru, from Kwara State as the new Deputy Senate Leader.

Senator Ashiru representing Kwara North Senatorial District was chosen to replace Senator Dave Umahi, who represented Ebonyi South Senatorial District before he was appointed as the Minister of Works by President Bola Tinubu.

Senator Ashiru who was the Deputy Whip of the Senate has been replaced with Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District.

SaharaReporters earlier reported that at the ongoing plenary, the senators are also screening Ola Olukoyede and Muhammad Hammajoda appointed by President Bola Tinubu on October 12 to serve as chairman and secretary of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), respectively.

The duo are in the Senate to be screened and confirmed.

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has asked President Bola Tinubu's administration not to sell Nigeria's future through debt.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, earlier stated that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved an application to secure a budget support loan worth $1.5 billion and an additional $80 million from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) respectively.

The minister said the funds would be utilised for various projects in crucial sectors of the nation’s economy, adding that Nigeria qualified for the “relatively cheap” loans given its “macro-economic moves” in the past couple of months since President Bola Tinubu assumed office.

Edun, while speaking with State House correspondents, noted that the government would receive $1.5 billion as a whole before the end of the year, provided it fulfilled its end of the deal.

According to the minister, the funding will be provided through the International Development Association, known for its virtually interest-free loans.

On the $80 million financing from the African Development Bank, the minister said the financing was designated for the Ekiti Knowledge Zone Project (EKZ) in Ekiti State. He said EKZ aims to empower young individuals by facilitating their engagement in the knowledge economy and the technology sector.

Edun said the project would enable training, employment opportunities, and participation in the ever-growing technological landscape in Nigeria.

The report further stated that so far, Nigeria had secured a total of $1.95 billion in loans from the World Bank in the first four months of President Tinubu’s administration. The first was the $750 million approved on June 9, 2023, to boost Nigeria’s power sector.

The second was $500 million to help the country’s drive for women’s empowerment and was approved on June 22, 2023. The third was a $700 million loan to enhance adolescent girls’ learning and empowerment, which was approved on September 21, 2023.

However, in a release issued and signed by CACOL’s Director of Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo on behalf of the organisation’s Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, the organisation cautioned the federal government on the huge debt burden being imposed on the country.

It said, “The decision of the federal government to continue borrowing amidst the rising debt burden already imposed on the country by the past administrations and the seemingly unsustainable nature of the loans has made us to break the silence of the day on this serious issue.

"We want to emphatically say that we expect this administration to dare to be different from past administrations; we expect the president and his cabinet members to think out of the box in finding solutions to the myriads of problems confronting the nation.

“If a country that can afford Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), allegedly worth N130 million to its lawmakers but still goes cap in hand begging Bretton Woods organisations for funds needed to finance its budget, then something is wrong somewhere.

"If the government must borrow at all, it should not be for servicing recurrent expenditures but must be targeted on capital projects that would later generate income or grow our gross domestic product (GDP) sporadically.

“We hope the President and his advisers know the implications of these incessant borrowings on our economy, the value of the naira, the enormity of the debt service burden, the current size of our debt, and our very limited capacity to service both domestic and external debts.

"Those giving us loans also have their stringent conditions attached to it which must be met by the government and most often, some of these conditions are not made public, hence imposing the burden on even unborn generations.

“We would like to call on the President and his cabinet members to try as much as possible to cut down on our excessive borrowings as a country, they must also strive to reduce the cost of governance and the amount of forex that we send out to other nations through the imports of petroleum products, brand new cars or SUVs, etc.

"The challenges being faced in the oil and gas sector which had impacted negatively on the country’s earnings should be permanently tackled so that government revenue from that sector can be fully maximized.”

"Other sources of revenue should also be explored like the blue economy, bringing more rich people into the tax net, exploration and exportation of more mineral resources which nature has richly blessed us with, empowering more people to practice mechanized farming which has the potential of not only ensuring food security within the country but also earning foreign currencies through exportation, etc.,” it added.

he House of Representatives has directed the Committee on Public Account to look into claims of improper handling of COVID-19 intervention funding.

The order came from a motion moved on Tuesday, during plenary by Nyampa Zakari, a PDP member from Adamawa State.

Zakari claimed in his motion that numerous ministries and organisations misused the COVID-19 intervention monies during the pandemic.

According to PUNCH, the parliamentarian said that the federal budget had earmarked more than N183.9 billion for the intervention money, adding that money was donated to the coffers by other international donors.

“The disruption of economic activity made it necessary to implement several programmes, laws, and interventions to help families, small enterprises, and public corporations and to strengthen their economies.

“To battle the COVID-19 pandemic on the populace, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched several initiatives, including financial provisions and money from international donor organisations.

“A sum of N83.9 billion was appropriated for the COVID-19 response in the 2020 Appropriation Act, as well as another sum of over N100 billion as intervention funds through the supplementary budget and international donor agencies,” the lawmaker added.

The alleged mishandling, according to Mr. Zakari, was detailed in one of the Auditor General’s reports.
He said that the poor handling would discourage future donations to Nigeria from donor organisations.

“Auditor-General’s report and other sources reveal that significant funds for COVID-19 palliatives and international donations were diverted and unaccounted for by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.

“Lack of proper accountability of funds allocated for COVID-19 intervention by the federal government and global donor agencies could potentially lead to negative economic ratings and loss of opportunities for Nigeria,” he said.

Speaking on the motion, Borno APC member Ahmed Jaha stated that the probe was essential because the House has already been charged with receiving benefits from the COVID-19 intervention money.
Imagine how many schools would have been built if each constituency received N500 million, Mr. Jaha said.

As a result, the House instructed the committee to look into the COVID-19 intervention funds distributed to federal ministries, departments, and agencies between 2020 and 2022 and provide a report within four weeks for additional legislative action.

The Israeli army said that it has credible evidence to prove that Hamas terrorists were responsible for the hospital blast that killed hundreds.

This was disclosed by the army military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, who addressed a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

“The evidence — which we are sharing with you all — confirms that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired,” Hagari was as quoted saying.

The remarks come after an explosion at a Gaza hospital facility on Tuesday evening killed at least 200 people, according to health officials in the war-torn territory, igniting demonstrations and widespread outrage across the Middle East.

“There was no IDF (Israeli army) fire by land, sea or air that hit the hospital,” Hagari said.

“Our radar system tracked missiles fired by terrorists in Gaza at the time of the explosion and the trajectory analysis of the rockets shows the rockets were fired in close proximity to the hospital.”
Following the blast, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the territory, pinned the blame on Israel.

The war of words continued on Wednesday with Hamas firing back at Israel’s latest comments about the strike, saying “Its outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”.

Israel “is directly responsible for this horrific massacre which was carried out… with American weapons only the occupation possesses”, Hamas said in a statement.

For more than a week, Israel has carried out a withering bombardment of Gaza – retaliation for the killing of 1,400 people who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death in shock cross-border attacks launched by Hamas on October 7.

The Bakoura Faction of the Boko Haram have reportedly blocked the waterways in the LCB in an efforts to annihilate its rival faction.

Zagazola had reported how the Boko Haram faction successfully uprooted the Boko Haram in dozens of their hideouts within the Lake Chad tumbuns of Marte and Abadam.

A 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Sanni Hameedat, reportedly committed suicide after lending a boy she met on the social media platform, Snapchat, the sum of N500,000.

According to Rubiks, the private hostel management she resided in before her demise, in a statement made available to PUNCH Online on Wednesday, Hameedat was undergoing her SIWES programme before the incident happened.

The management asserted that the cause of her death was not unrelated to the pressure from the app agents, who were demanding fast repayment, coupled with her brother’s inability to assist her financially, which led to depression.

“The cause of Suicide was traced to financial misappropriation. She was entrusted with a significant sum of money by her mother. She crossed paths with a guy on Snapchat and developed a friendship.

“When the boy claimed that his mother was battling breast cancer and urgently needed N500,000, the compassionate and emotional lady decided to help him by lending him half of the N1 million she held for her mother. And the boy promised to repay the borrowed money.

“However, when her mother needed the money back, the boy abruptly cut off all up all contact, blocking her. This left her deeply troubled and in order for her to make up the missing N500,000, she resorted to borrowing money from various apps.”

Hameedat, therefore, managed to gather N450,000 from the loan apps, adding her savings of N50,000 to make up the borrowed N500,000.

The management further maintained that she was reported to have ingested a bottle of pesticide popularly known as Sniper the previous night, and her roommate (name withheld), who had retired to bed early, woke up in the middle of the night to discover her in distress while she was foaming from her mouth and also vomiting.

“Alarmed, the roommate sought help, and she was rushed to UITH before being declared dead,” the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, both the Dean, Student Affairs Unit, Prof M.T. Yakubu, and the Head, Corporate Affairs, Kunle Akogun of the institution, could not comment on the issue in terse messages sent to them as they both claimed to be partaking in the 37th and 38th combined convocation ceremony which kickstarted on Monday, October 16, 2023.

But when our correspondent contacted the Student Union President, Ologundudu Adesunkanmi, popularly called Royal Prince, he confirmed the incident, corroborating the narration of the hostel management.

He said, “The Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Student Affairs are very much aware of the issue, and they have reported to the appropriate authority to begin a full-length investigation into the matter. It is sad that the university community lost her in such a devastating manner.”

Details later…

[Punch]

The Israeli army said Wednesday it had “evidence” that militants were responsible for the blast that killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital, saying a review proved others were at fault.

“The evidence — which we are sharing with you all — confirms that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press conference in Tel Aviv.

The comments came after an explosion at a Gaza hospital compound on Tuesday evening killed at least 200 people, according to health officials in the war-torn enclave, sparking protests across the Middle East and wide-ranging condemnation.

“There was no IDF (Israeli army) fire by land, sea or air that hit the hospital,” Hagari said.

“Our radar system tracked missiles fired by terrorists in Gaza at the time of the explosion and the trajectory analysis of the rockets shows the rockets were fired in close proximity to the hospital.”

Following the blast, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the territory, pinned the blame on Israel.

The war of words continued on Wednesday with Hamas firing back at Israel’s latest comments about the strike, saying “Its outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”.

Israel “is directly responsible for this horrific massacre which was carried out… with American weapons only the occupation possesses”, Hamas said in a statement.

For more than a week, Israel has carried out a withering bombardment of Gaza – retaliation for the killing of 1,400 people who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death in shock cross-border attacks launched by Hamas on October 7.

[DailyTrust]