President Bola Tinubu on Friday met with prominent traditional rulers across the country under the auspices of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN) at the State House Conference Centre, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Naija News reports the meeting, which is the first by the President with traditional rulers after his inauguration is part of ongoing consultations with various stakeholders across the country.

The traditional rulers were led into the meeting by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar who is the chairman of the council.

In his opening remarks, the Sultan of Sokoto said the traditional rulers were at the Villa to congratulate the President and pledge their commitment to supporting him in the huge task of running the nation.

He pointed out that the traditional rulers have various professional backgrounds and this would be a ready pool for the President to draw from.

The Sultan on behalf of his colleagues also expressed the confidence of the traditional rulers in the ability of President Tinubu to steer the affairs of the nation aright.

He said: “We thank God for the smooth way the elections took place. Many negative people thought this country will collapse but we are still here.

“We are here for you, for our people and our country. If you don’t reach out to us, we will reach out to you.

“We wish you the most successful tenure in good health.”

On his part, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Adewusi, who is the co-chair of the council, assured President Tinubu of their readiness to work with him in the area of insecurity. He urged the President not to underestimate what they can do.

“There are areas we will like to work with you, one of which is security. It is time to use us the more, we are not saying we are idle…but to make your work easier use us.

“The foundation of this country today are the traditional rulers. We are here to pledge our loyalty and support. We want to work with you to ensure you leave a legacy.

“Don’t underestimate what traditional rulers can do,” he said.

The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele has warned President Bola Tinubu to be wary of former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai following his recent statement against Christians and support for Muslims in the State.

The former governor in his statement was quoted to have justified his choice of Muslims to occupy relevant positions in Kaduna following their roles towards APC’s victory in the State.

Reacting, Primate Ayodele said El-rufai’s “careless statement” may start a religious war in Nigeria if the latter is not cautioned.

The cleric accused the former governor of being the brain behind APC’s Muslim-Muslim presidency and the religious crisis in Southern Kaduna.

He, however, warned Tinubu against giving him any position in government to avoid the sudden collapse of the country.

‘’El-Rufai should not be trusted. The election in Kaduna was rigged in his candidate’s favour and God will take it back from him. How can he make such an insensitive statement, why is he mocking Christians? He is a religious hypocrite.

‘’The statement of El Rufai is unacceptable, we want a peaceful nation but El-Rufai is a threat to national peace. He should be warned or he will destroy Tinubu’s government. God will destroy his plans and if Tinubu brings him in, he will destroy the government completely.’’

‘’Tinubu should stop El-Rufai before he creates a religious war in this country. Christians are peaceful people, God will deal with him because he wants to create a fight in the country.’’

‘’If he becomes anything in Tinubu’s government, he will burn the country, he will start a religious crisis and he has a devilish agenda that will soon be exposed,’’ he warned.

A House of Representatives member-elect on the platform of the Labour Party, Godwin Amobi Ogar has expressed his surprise at the intelligence and preparedness of President Bola Tinubu, after his encounter with him.

Amobi who was elected to represent the Isiuakwato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State at the House of Representatives said he did not know Tinubu was intelligent and prepared to serve Nigeria.

The LP politician made this known after a meeting Tinubu had with the opposing federal lawmakers-elect to resolve the National Assembly leadership tussle on Thursday.

Vanguard reported that a meeting was attended by opposition senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), among other opposition parties at the State House in Abuja.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Amobi said, “Well, I can tell you that today is my best day, today I’m so happy that I’m an elected member seeing my President talking. In fact, I never knew that this man is so intelligent. I never knew that this man is so prepared to serve this country.

“I saw the love, I saw the character, I saw the charisma, the belief that Nigeria can be a better nation. So I’m so glad that the meeting we have today is going to take us a little bit to a more stabilised house. Now, even without talking to us again, we’ve agreed that we are going towards the government’s decision. Not minding, I’m of Labour Party.

“As at now, the party is not the issue; we’re talking about building the Nation, we’re talking about the unity of the nation.”

18 abducted passengers travelling along Isua Akoko – Abuja highway, in Ondo state, have been rescued by the joint security agencies in the state.

The Ondo state commander of the security outfit, codenamed Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye,, said in Akure, that the victims have rejoined their families.

Adeleye said, “On the June 6, we got a distress call that an 18-seater passengers bus with number plate EKP263 LG coming from Kogi State towards Ondo State was waylaid by men suspected to be kidnappers along Eti-Osa near Isua.

“Our men, both the tactical team from the headquarters and the Isua local government coordinator moved immediately to the scene and started a manhunt for the victim.

” Two female victims and the conductor were left behind when they were pursued

“Men of the Nigeria Army and the Police in a joint effort with the local hunters pursued them over the night.

“By 6am the following morning, 13 others were rescued in the thick forest between Kogi and Ondo states boundary through the combined efforts of the men of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun, the Nigeria Police and officers and men of 32 Artillery brigade who joined in the operation.

“The 18 rescued have since been profiled and joined their families.”

Meanwhile, speaking on the rescue mission the state police command spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami, said that one of the suspected kidnappers was killed in a gun duel.

Odunlami said that the traveller’s bus was waylaid by the gunmen and dragged out of the bus and marched into the forest.

“It was like a movie when 13 passengers, Abuja bound bus was waylaid by some unknown gunmen at Isua, the headquarters of Akoko South East Local Government and they marched them to the forest leaving only three of the passengers.”

The victims, the source said were rescued at Ikakumo, which is a distance of almost 20 kilometres from where they were kidnapped

” The joint security agents immediately embarked on combing the forest and their efforts yielded fruitful results.

Odunlami said one of the suspected kidnappers was shot dead during a gun battle.

President Bola Tinubu has signed the 2023 Electricity Bill that will guide the post-privatization phase of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) as well as encourage States, and private companies to generate electricity.

Recall that in July 2022, lawmakers passed the electricity act which will replace the Electricity and Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, according to the president on Friday in Abuja.

The president revealed that the aim of the act is to create a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to guide the NESI and consolidates all legislations dealing with the electricity supply industry to provide an ideal Institutional framework.

Also, to ensure the de-monopolization of Nigeria’s electricity generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity at the National level thereby empowering states, companies and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

The Act mandates the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) with the power to regulate the electricity sector within Nigeria without bias to the powers of the states to make laws and create electricity markets within the state.

NERC is embedded with the authority to change regulatory responsibilities from itself to state regulators when they are established, which implies that until a state has passed its electricity market laws, NERC will continue to regulate electricity business exclusively carried out in those states.

Currently, Lagos, Edo, and Kaduna states already have electricity market laws and can start regulating their market, while states without such laws will be regulated by NERC.

Issuance of licenses by states to private investors who can operate mini-grids and power plants within the state is permitted by the act, however, the act prevents interstate and transnational electricity distribution.

Electricity generation licensees are obligated to meet renewable generation obligations as may be prescribed by NERC. Under the Act.

Three ad-hoc presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, testified against the electoral umpire and President Bola Tinubu on Friday, saying despite being trained before the 2023 polls, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine failed to transmit the scanned result sheet of the presidential election.

They were presented by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate Atiku Abubakar.

At the resumed sitting on Friday, PDP counsel, Chris Uche SAN, told the court that he would continue his case by calling his next subpoenaed witness (PW14) to give evidence.

Grace Ajagbonna, a resident of Egbe, Yagba West LGA, Kogi State, and an ex-National Youth Service Corps member, appeared as the subpoenaed witness.

Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi SAN, rose up to restate his objection with regards to the subpoenaed witnesses being presented by the PDP.

APC counsel, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, as well as INEC lawyer, A.B Mahmoud SAN, equally raised objections, asking the court not to take the witnesses’ testimonies.

But Uche urged the court to dismiss the objections in its entirety.

“Ruling on the objection will be delivered along with the judgment,” chairman of the five-man panel of the PEPC, Justice Haruna Tsammani, said.

After that, Grace adopted her witness statement on oath, saying she was engaged by INEC to work as an ad-hoc presiding officer during the 2023 election.

She also presented the letter of acknowledgement from INEC wherein she was deployed to serve as an ad-hoc staff.

Mahmoud asked her if she played her role well and if the electoral process was successful.

She responded in the affirmative but said when she tried sending the National Assembly and Presidential election scanned results, the latter failed to transmit.

“I tried it Continuously. I was repeating it one after the other and it was not going,” the witness said.

She was asked if she was trained on the offline operations of the BVAS.

The witness said she does not remember but was only taught by INEC to use the BVAS to scan results, transmit and then proceed to the collation centre.

She went on to tell the court that she was unhappy when the BVAS machine could not send the presidential results sheets at the polling unit.

“My lord to be sincere, I am not happy that I was unable to transmit the (presidential) election results,” the witness said.

Tinubu’s lawyer, Yusuf Ali SAN, asked her whether she mentioned the name of her training officer.

The witness responded in the negative.

She was told by Ali that the acknowledgement letter she got from INEC did not automatically make her an ad-hoc staff member.

But the witness replied, saying she also has an appointment letter from INEC.

Under cross examination by APC counsel, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, the witness said after the conclusion of her assignment on election day, she wrote a report.

After her, another INEC ad-hoc presiding officer, Abidemi Joseph, announced her appearance saying she served in Niger State.

The same questions asked to the first witness were repeated, of which she insisted the election results could not be transmitted by the BVAS.

Edosa Obosa, an ex-NYSC corps member and presiding officer in Edo State came up to say she tried to upload the scanned result using a BVAS machine but it failed.

But the witnesses all admitted that they submitted the original result sheet, signed by party agents to the Ward collation centre.

The witness was subsequently discharged from the testimony dock and the PDP petition was adjourned to Saturday.

Recall that on Thursday, the PDP fielded two ad-hoc staff who stated the BVAS could not transmit the Presidential election result sheet.

Atiku is contesting the 2023 presidential election results declared in favor of Tinubu.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Femi Fani-Kayode, has raised the alarm over an alleged invasion of the home of the immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle by police officers.

Fani-Kayode claimed that policemen invaded Matawalle’s residence in search of cars without an arrest warrant.

Speaking against such act, the former Aviation Minister said it was vindictive for Matawalle’s successor to allegedly send the officers on such an assignment.

He said this while sharing photographs of the invasion on his Twitter account.

According to Fani-Kayode, “This morning a detachment of policemen raided the home of my brother, the former Gov. of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle in Maradun. They claimed to be looking for cars.

“They did not have a search or arrest warrant and they claimed to be acting on the orders of the new Governor. This is unacceptable. It is not only vindictive but also lawless and it stands condemned.”

This morning a detachment of policemen raided the home of my brother, the former Gov. of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle in Maradun. They claimed to be looking for cars. They did not have a search or arrest warrant or court order and they claimed to be acting on the orders of the… pic.twitter.com/TqskbmKkKH

— Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) June 9, 2023

The remains of High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the Founder of DAAR Communications, would be buried on 22nd June, 2023 at his residence in Agenebode, Edo State.

This was disclosed by the Dokpesi family of Agenebode, according to the burial arrangements released by the Dokpesi family of Agenebode.

Dokpesi, the owner of AIT and Ray Power FM radio, died on May 29, 2023.

The family released that the funeral activities will commence on 19th June, 2023 with a day of tributes, to take place at the prestigious International Conference Centre in Abuja at 4:00 pm.

In the statement, dignitaries, friends, and well-wishers are invited to pay their respects and honour the memory of the late DAAR Communication founder, Raymond Dokpesi.

On the following day, the 20th June, a requiem mass will be held at the Church of the Assumption in Abuja at 12 noon.

The religious service will be a solemn occasion to celebrate the life and legacy of the esteemed entrepreneur.

After the requiem mass, a reception will be held at the DAAR Villa, located at 1 Ladi Lawal Drive, Asokoro, Abuja, providing an opportunity for attendees to offer condolences and support to the Dokpesi family.

The funeral procession will then proceed to Agenebode, the ancestral home of the Dokpesi family, on the 21st of June. At 5: 00 pm, a Liturgy of Songs will be conducted at Ezomo’s Residence in Agenebode, allowing the local community to pay their final respects to the late Chief Dokpesi.

The main funeral events will take place on the 22nd of June. A funeral mass and interment will be held at Ezomo’s Residence in Agenebode, starting at 11:00 am. Family members, friends, and dignitaries will gather to bid farewell to the visionary founder of Daar Communication.

Entertainment for guests will hold after the interment at the Ezomo’s residence in Agenebode and St. Peter’s Secondary School, at 2:00 pm.

And on 24th June, a thanksgiving mass will be held at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Agenebode at 9:00 am.

The church service will be an occasion for gratitude, as the community offers prayers and thanks for the impactful life of the late Daar Communication founder.

National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has warned corps producing institutions against manipulation of data to allow unqualified graduates enrol for service and other unwholesome practices.

The NYSC director-general, Brigadier General Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed gave the warning yesterday during the meeting of NYSC Management with the Registrars of Corps Producing Institutions in Nigeria, held in Abuja.

He re-echoed the corps strong determination to prevent unqualified graduates from enlistment into national service, while decrying the continuous decline of quality graduates from unaccredited institutions.

Ahmed added that management would deal decisively with any institution or individual found culpable in such acts.

“I have been informed that, since the end of the first meeting with the Registrars in 2022, there has been an appreciable level of implementation of resolutions of Pre-mobilisation Workshops usually attended by Student Affairs Officers (SAOs) and Data Entry Officers (DEOs).

“While I am glad about the positive feedback, more still needs to be done to make the mobilisation process more seamless.

“For instance, the continuous decline of quality of graduates which has largely been attributed to factors such as harvest of graduates from unaccredited institutions, manipulation of data to allow part-time graduates enrol for service and other unwholesome practices leaves much to be desired from the citadels of learning. Management is determined not to take it lightly with institutions or individuals perpetrating these acts intermittently.

“In recent times, the NYSC has consistently harped on appointment of credible Students Affairs Officers (SAOs) and Data Entry Officers (DEOs). In this regard, let me re-echo our call taking cognizance of the fact that no one can guarantee excellent output when the quality of input is not guaranteed,” he said.

The chairman, NYSC National Governing Board, Ambassador Fatima Balla Abubakar, who was represented by a member of the board, Major General BS Adetoro, in her goodwill message enjoined participants at the meeting to critically assess all the steps in the mobilisation process and fashion out a formidable template that will guarantee unassailable mobilisation process.

The director, Corps Mobilisation Department, Hajiya Isa Walida Siddique, enjoined the Registrars to step up their game in the admission of qualified students and their progression till graduation.

The permanent secretary, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mr Olusade Adesola, who opened the meeting, said the giant strides in the FCT is attributable to the selfless services of corps members deployed to serve within the capital territory.

Concerned Northern Forum, CNF, has called for the arrest and investigation of former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, over the Nigerian Air scandal.

Chairman of the Forum, Ali Mohammed, who made the call in a statement issued yesterday, said: “The call for the arrest of Hadi Sirika followed the recent revelation by the interim MD of the so called Nigeria Air, Captain Dapo Olumide, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation and said the aircraft used for unveiling of Nigeria Air was rented from Ethiopian Airline.

”No wonder the unveiling was quick, no details were made available, no one has the eyes to say he saw any features of the plane or anything.

“He also said the airline was yet to secure an operating licence for full flight operations, disagreeing with earlier declarations of the former Minister, Hadi Sirika.

“This explains why the minister was so adamant and insisted on going ahead with the unveiling of Nigeria Air, even when there was a court order against that same matter because it’s a half baked project, driven by lies, deception, corruption and personal money benefits to the minister amounting to billions of naira.

“This is deception and breach of trust that should not go un-punished, Hadi Sirika must be brought to face the law.

”It is also a disregard for the rule of law and entire justice system to proceed on matter against the order of a competent court of law.

“The minister has acted with so much impunity on several occasions, as if the law cannot get to him. He has continuously operated as a tyrant, refusing to listen to no one, aviation experts, Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, who advised against this project.

“This national embarrassment and waste of resources incurred on the country could have been averted if he had listened to advice, yet Sirika went ahead knowing it was a charade, to deceive Nigerians.

“The EFCC and other anti graft agencies should as a matter of national urgency, immediately arrest and investigate Sirika as he has been deceiving Nigerians for eight years and now he is lobbying for ministerial appointment.

“We, therefore, caution and kindly call on President Tinubu not to consider him for ministerial position or any appointment in his administration, rather he should be behind bars.”

“The EFCC must not waste any more time in arresting Hadi Sirika along side all his co-perpetrators that took part in deceiving Nigeria, and shaming it before the international community.

”They should be investigated thoroughly, and asked to provide reasonable and acceptable answers with respect to the Nigeria Air project or be made to lay on their bed as they made it.”