Barring any last-minute changes, President Bola Tinubu would on Monday, 21st August 2023, swear-in Ministers into his cabinet.

A former national director of publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lanre Issa-Onilu gave the hint on Wednesday during an interview appearance on Channels TV Sunrise Daily programme.

According to him, President Tinubu is taking his time before inaugurating the Ministers because he is carrying out some restructurings before they resume work.

He however added that the President is set to swear in his Ministers on Monday.

“…On Monday, they are going to be inaugurated. We have ministries, the president may have his ideas on how the ministries should work.

“…The bottom line is that there will be this exercise on Monday.”

Those screened, confirmed, and expected to be sworn in on Monday are:

1. ABUBAKAR KYARI BORNO STATE

2. ABUBAKAR MOMOH EDO STATE

3. NYESOM WIKE RIVERS STATE

4. PROF. JOSEPH UTSEV BENUE STATE

5. JOHN ENO CROSS RIVER STATE

6. BELLO MOHAMMED SOKOTO STATE

7. MOHAMMED BADARU ABUBAKAR JIGAWA STATE

8. YUSUF MAITAMA TUGGAR BAUCHI STATE

9. UJU KEN OHANEYE ANAMBRA STATE

10. OLUBUNMI TUNJI OJO ONDO STATE

11. NKEIRUKA ONYEJEOCHA ABIA STATE

12. BETTA EDU CROSS RIVER STATE

13. IMAAN SULEIMAN NASARAWA STATE

14. DAVID UMAHI EBONYI STATE

15. ADEBAYO OLAWALE EDUN OGUN STATE

16. AHMED MUSA DANGIWA KATSINA STATE

17. UCHE NNAJI ENUGU STATE

18. DELE ALAKE EKITI STATE

19. WAHEED ADEBAYO ADELABU OYO STATE

20. MUHAMMAD IDRIS NIGER STATE

21. PROF. ALI PATE BAUCHI STATE

22. DR DORIS UZOKA IMO STATE

23. LATEEF FAGBEMI (SAN) KWARA STATE

24. EKPERIKPE EKPO AKWA IBOM STATE

25. HANNATU MUSAWA KATSINA STATE

26. IBRAHIM GEIDAM YOBE STATE

27. ALIYU SABI ABDULLAHI NIGER STATE

28. HEINEKEN LOKPOBIRI BAYELSA STATE

29. ALKALI AHMED SA’EED GOMBE STATE

30. DR. YUSUF TANKO SUNUNU KEBBI STATE

31. ATIKU BAGUDU KEBBI STATE

32. BELLO MATAWALLE ZAMFARA STATE

33. ADEGBOYEGA OYETOLA OSUN STATE

34. SIMON BAKO LALONG PLATEAU STATE

35. ABDULLAHI TIJJANI GWARZO KANO STATE

36. BOSUN TIJJANI OGUN STATE

37. DR MARIYA MAHMOUD KANO STATE

38. DR ISIYAKA SALAKO OGUN STATE

39. DR TUNJI ALAUSA LAGOS STATE

40. LOLA ADE JOHN LAGOS STATE

41. PROF. TAHIR MAMMAN ADAMAWA STATE

42. ZEPHANIAH JISSALO F.C.T

43. UBA MAIGARI AHMADU TARABA STATE

44. SHUAIBU ABUBAKAR AUDU KOGI STATE

45. FESTUS KEYAMO (SAN) DELTA STATE

Ex-APC chair Adams Oshiomhole says there is nothing worse than the terrible economic situation President Bola Tinubu inherited from former President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The government inherited a terrible economic situation. Everyone knows it,” Mr Oshiomhole stated on Channels TV Tuesday.

Lamenting that Mr Buhari plunged Nigeria into huge debt, Mr Oshiomhole noted that “nothing can be worse” than what Mr Tinubu inherited from his predecessor.

Mr Tinubu’s “government inherited an economy in which our total national revenue was barely enough to serve our debt burden. Spending 96 per cent, which is to say every N100 Nigeria earns, 96 kobo (sic) is going to repay debt.”

“So you have only four kobo left to pay all the salaries. Nothing can be worse. But they came determined that they will do business unusual to arrest the drift and stabilise the economy,” the former Edo governor added.

Mr Buhari ruled the country for eight years, from 2015 to 2023, which critics described as some of the worst years under democratic rule in Nigeria.

Under his regime, Nigeria’s debt hit N46 trillion.

Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo condemned the borrowing spree of Mr Buhari, saying accumulating debt for future generations is “foolish” and “criminal.”

A legal practitioner, Maxwell Opara, has filed an alleged defamatory suit seeking N10 billion in damages against Twitter and the State Security Service.

In the writ of summons marked FCT/HC/CV/7186/23 and filed at the FCT High Court by Malachy Nwaekpe, Mr Opara listed Twitter Nigeria Limited and the SSS director-general as the first and second defendants, respectively.

The SSS, the attorney general of the federation, and the justice minister are listed as 3rd and 4th defendants in the suit dated August 11 and filed August 14.

The lawyer filed the suit against the allegation that Twitter, now known as X, “negligently allowed the defamatory, ethnic profiling, and racist comments against” him by the SSS under the leadership of its director-general on the security agency’s platform on July 18 for more than 96 hours.

Mr Opara, who alleged that the post was caused to be published and made viral to millions of readers, described the message as “false, defamatory, demeaning, disparaging and harmful.”

He, therefore, sought eight reliefs which include “an order of this honourable court directing the second and third defendants (the secret police’s director-general and SSS), jointly and severally, to issue a letter of apology on the first defendant’s platform Twitter and a daily newspaper widely read across the federation of Nigeria.

Mr Opara sought an order of the court directing the defendants to pay N10 billion as damages for the various defamatory, demeaning, disparaging, and harmful words of the third defendant under the leadership of the second defendant, which words were published and caused to go viral by the 1st defendant on its Twitter platform.

“An award of 10 per cent post-judgment interest per annum on the entire judgment sum from the date of judgment till the same is fully liquidated,” stated Mr Opara.

The matter was yet to be assigned to a judgment at the time of the report.

In the tweet, SSS said, “Charge and bail, overzealous uninformed IPOB/ESN lawyer Maxwell Okpara mobilises other like-minded lawyers against DGSS. Futile Efforts. Well, Nigerians, beware! This is in bad faith. Transferred aggression.”

It added, “A Biafran republic agitator and outlawed IPOB counsel defending the suspended CBN governor. Is IPOB defending one of theirs? What a contradiction. What’s the connection? May Maxwell be properly educated on points of law, please.”

(NAN)

Leaders of the Muslim Community in Lagos on Wednesday staged a protest to the State House of Assembly over the recent list of 39 commissioner-nominees released by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The Muslim community had earlier voiced out against the list which has eight Muslims and 31 Christians, saying the list is unfair to the Muslims in the state and demanded a review.

However, the state government had ignored the protest of the Muslims as the House of Assembly on Monday commenced the screening of the nominees.

On Wednesday, leaders of the Muslim Community led by the President and Elderstatesman, Prof. Tajudeen Gbadamosi, stormed the House of Assembly to protest against what they called official discrimination of the Muslims in the state.

Heads of various Islamic organisations and scholars were also in attendance at the protest where Prof. Gbadamosi presented a petition to the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa.

They were carrying banners and placards with inscriptions such as “Muslims say no to official discrimination,” “All we ask is fairness,” “Stop the Screening Now, we want Justice”, among others.

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In the petition read by the President, the Muslims expressed “grievance and dissatisfaction against the blatant disregard for justice, equity and fairness in the proposed Lagos State’ Executive cabinet as contained in the list of commissioner-nominees.

According to the group, the list “is a classic case of discrimination and religious bigotry, as it has 31 nominees who are of the Christian faith and only eight (8) nominees who are Muslims.”

“This is not a new development, especially since Governor Sanwo-Olu assumed leadership of this State, as a matter of fact, it is has been elevated to a level of official state policy to deny Muslims their deserved positions under the Sanwo-Olu administration.

“For instance, in 2019, when Mr. Sanwo-Olu became governor, he appointed 14 Special Advisers, and only one (1) among them was a Muslim. Again, his State Executive Council, which had 43 members, only 14 were Muslims, and the remaining 29 were Christians. Also, of the 23 commissioners, 10 were Muslims and 13 of them Christians. Only 15 Muslims, with 35 Christians, made up the body of 50 Permanent Secretaries in his first term. These are just a few among numerous ways in which the Sanwo-Olu administration deny Muslims in this state their rightful place and number in leadership.”

The Muslim Community observed that Sanwo-Olu’s violates the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria particularly Section 14(4) and section 192(2).

The sections say: “The composition of the Government of a State, a local government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the peoples of the Federation.”

“192(2) Any appointment to the office of Commissioner of the Government of a State shall, if the nomination of any person to such office is confirmed by the House of Assembly of the State, be made by the Governor of that State and in making any such appointment the Governor shall conform with the provisions of section 14(4) of this Constitution.”

Gbadamosi said, “With due respect Governor Sanwo-Olu’s list clearly violates these provisions of the Constitution and we accordingly call upon this honorable House not to endorse any action that violates our national grundnorm, especially one which equally violates good conscience and natural justice.

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“The argument that Muslims have more elected officials in Lagos State in preposterous. This is even more so at a time when all the Six (6) Governors of the southwest are Christians and we the Muslims do not complain about this, because we recognise that they contested for offices and won.

“Why must Muslims in Lagos State always beg and fight for their constitutional rights especially since Mr Sanwo-olu became Governor? We recall with utmost sadness really, that until the Supreme Court ruled in favour of hijab for our school girls, successive Lagos Governments, never felt it should endeavor to align with the global best practice of accepting hijab in addition to abiding with the rule of law.

“The historic pro-hijab judgement was delivered in March 2022 and globally acknowledged. However, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s government in its peculiar idiosyncrasy chose to ignore this until a year later, after ceaseless pressure was mounted by well-meaning individuals.

“We the Muslims of, and in Lagos State wish to categorically state that the entire leadership of the Muslim Community of Lagos State representing various Muslim organizations, unequivocally and unanimously reject the list of commissioner-designates of Governor Sanwo-Olu and we demand a reversal and review to reflect 60% in favour of Muslims in a fresh list.

“We call on the Lagos State House of Assembly to reject the list as similarly done in the Niger State House of Assembly, where a noticeably minority Christian population demanded a reversal of the list of commissioners to reflect fairness and equity to them. We also call on you and the House of Assembly to impress on the government the need to respect the diversity of the state’s population and to appoint a more representative cabinet. We believe that this is essential for the future stability and prosperity of Lagos State.”

The Kano State Government has mandated the suspension of school fees increase for all private schools operating in the state.

The schools are also expected to renew their operating licenses in line with Governor Abba Yusuf’s policy on quality education in the state.

This is coming after the Special Adviser to the Kano State Government on Private Schools, Baba Umar, had a meeting with private schools stakeholders.

Umar noted that the suspension of increment of school fees for private schools is to ensure that there are no exploitations.

Kano schools are currently on holidays as school owners are looking forward to wards resumption for the first time in a new session after the price hike on commodities due to subsidy removal. However, some school owners and parents have mixed feelings on the government’s decision.

The federal capital territory (FCT) command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it intercepted about 3,091.032 kg of “illicit drugs” between January and August. 

Kabir Tsakuwa, NDLEA FCT commandant, disclosed this during an interview with NAN on Wednesday in Abuja.

Tsakuwa said the drugs were worth over N56.9 million.

The commandant said the seized drugs included cannabis sativa, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, tramadol, rohypnol, diazepam, ecstasy, and megadon, adding that cannabis sativa accounted for the largest seizure.

He also said 343 drug suspects —328 males and 15 females — were arrested within the period under review.

Tsakuwa also said 188 drug offenders were prosecuted, while 126 had been convicted and sentenced to various jail terms in the period under review.

“Drugs seized were cannabis sativa 3,022.529 kilograms, cocaine 0.114 kilograms, Methamphetamine 1.25 kilograms, Heroin 0.0021 kilograms,” he said.

“We also seized suspected Tramadol 18.578 kilograms, Rohypnol 1.195 kilograms, Diazepam 4.471 kilograms, Ecstasy 0.113 kilograms and Megadon 0.263 kilograms.

“The monetary value of these drugs stands at approximately N56, 903, 600) only.”

He added that 33 persons with drug use disorder were rehabilitated, while 102 drug users had been counselled and released within the period.

Tsakuwa added that the agency would collaborate with other security agencies within the FCT to dislodge shanties and hot spots.

[TheCable] 

The Kebbi State Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has seized 4,200 litres of petrol, 46 bags of foreign rice, 88 bales of second clothes, and other smuggled items.

The Command also handed over 81 tablets of Cannabis sativa, 138 packs of tramadol to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the state.

Addressing newsmen at the Command’s headquarters, the state Comptroller of Customs, Ben Oramalugo, said the items were seized during routine operations at various borders along the state.

He noted that though the closure of Kamba border and other borders close to Niger Republic has affected the revenue drive of the Customs.

The official added that the duty paid value of the seized items was estimated at N51.4m.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said the ‘Emilokan’ slogan will not win elections in the state.

He spoke while receiving the leaders of Edo South Senatorial District at the Government House.

President Bola Tinubu used ‘Emilokan’ during his presidential election campaign.

However, Obaseki said: “Edo people will not accept ‘Emilokan’ as a strategy in government as they are not known for that. For us, it is the people that will decide.

“What has happened in the last few months is strange, and even if you have ambition, this is not the time to express it. The timetable for the election is not out. You can’t be part of a government and also be the one to destabilise the same government.

“I thought we came together and will leave together and let the people say you have done a great job, and they will now make the decision themselves. They are the ones to say that come rain or sunshine, we must continue.

“You are telling the world one thing and yet doing another. You are loyal to your principal and yet you are in Court with your principal. Everybody has the right to be ambitious but do it the right way.”

Obaseki was apparently speaking about Philip Shaibu, his deputy. Shaibu recently dragged his principal to court to stop him from removing him from office.

The Governor had accused his deputy of manipulating youth council elections to favour his ambition of succeeding him.

Two leading opposition figures in the country, former Vice president Atiku Abubakar and a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, recently held a meeting in Abuja.

The meeting took place at the residence of the former Governor and leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) late Tuesday.

Kwankwaso confirmed the meeting on his Facebook page, saying that “I was pleased to receive my brother, the former Vice President, His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at my residence this evening. I thank Waziri for this fraternal visit. – RMK.”

Though details of the meeting are yet to be known as those close to the two leaders have kept sealed lips, Daily Trust gathered that the meeting might not be unconnected with the political situation in the country and recent developments.

Before taking oath of office, President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met with Kwankwaso, his NNPP rival in the election.

According to sources, the president considering a Government of National Unity and had planned to include Kwankwaso and some of his allies in his administration.

However, neither Kwankwaso nor any of his known associates made the ministerial list, while the immediate past governor of Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, a known political foe of Kwankwaso, had some impute in the cabinet.

After Tinubu met with Kwankwaso, Ganduje had expressed worries, saying he felt abandoned.

In a leaked conversation, Ganduje was heard telling Alhaji Ibrahim Masari, one of Tinubu’s aides that there was noise all over Kano over the meeting between Tinubu and Kwankwaso.

The governor was then heard saying, “What could I have told him? Now he (Tinubu) is seeing Kwankwaso as an alternative to us? No problem. Because we don’t have a government? And it is even because of him (Tinubu) that we lost the government. Even if he would see him (Kwankwaso), he ought to have called us too. Or don’t you understand, even if symbolically.”

But Ganduje’s body language changed in the following weeks as he warmed his way into Tinubu’s camp, emerging National Chairman of the ruling party and also nominating a replacement for Maryam Shetty, the nominee who was dropped for the inclusion of Gnduje’s former commissioner in Tinubu’s cabinet.

Before the election Atiku and his allies tried to form a political alliance with Kwankwaso against the APC and its presidential candidate, but that was not to materialize.

Even though a source close to the former Vice President told Daily Trust that the meeting was just for fraternal greetings, the days ahead will show weather a new political alliance is already in the offing.

A notorious terrorist, Dogo Gide, and his members have claimed responsibility for shooting down a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter near Chukuba Ward in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

Naija News earlier reported that a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft, on Monday, took off from Kaduna en route to Minna, the Niger state capital when the incident occurred at about 1:00 pm.

In a statement on Monday, the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Edward Gabkwet, said the aircraft was on a casualty evacuation mission when the crash happened.

He said that the aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Niger state.

But in a viral video allegedly recorded at the site of Monday’s Air Force jet crash, Gide, and his group claimed responsibility for the accident.

In the less-than-three minutes clip, the terrorists claimed they killed dozens of soldiers on the plane.

The video showed terrorists wielding AK-47s. The aircraft had the inscription NAF 582.

The narrator said: “These are bodies belonging to soldiers of the Nigerian Army who attacked us with the intention of causing us harm.

“They did this to see the downfall of Dogo Gide and by God’s grace, he is still alive and won’t die.

“These are dozens of soldiers as you can see them. This is their airplane. Repent, we have no business with anyone except those who try to come for us. This is God’s work. We used an AK-47 to bring down this plane.

“Take a look at them. Let this be a lesson. You all should repent. It is not our intention to kill but for everyone to be enlightened and have the fear of God. Leaders who sent these soldiers our way to be killed by us should repent.

“We won’t surrender from pressure or even an aeroplane. Dogo Gide, who is their target, won’t die now. He is still alive. These are the AK-47s we used to bring down this plane.

“We opened fire when we sighted them and they did the same. Repent and fear God. We pray for God’s mercy at all times. This is God’s work and not ours as you can see.”

A resident, Simon Bulus, told The Nation: “The Dogo Gide terrorist group operates in the forest.”

“When we heard continuous gunshots, we took to our heels. But we saw shots being fired at the helicopter,” a resident, Haruna Ibrahim, said.