The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s government of ignoring transparency issues.

Naija News reports that the former Vice President made the assertion while reacting to the controversial unresolved $3.3 billion NNPCL loan repayment scandal.

In a post via X, Atiku noted that the silence on the NNPCL loan attests to the corrupt issues with Tinubu’s administration.

According to him, Tinubu’s government ignores due process issues in public administration.

Atiku wrote, “The current federal government has a disgraceful track record of ignoring issues of transparency and due process in public administration.

“The unresolved $3.3 billion NNPCL loan repayment scandal, with Nigeria now expected to repay $12 billion, remains a glaring example.

“The Tinubu administration must address these high-profile corruption cases transparently.

“The National Assembly, as the elected representatives of the people, are constitutionally obligated to legislate for the peace, order, and good governance of our nation, without colluding with corrupt elements.

“Failure to do so and persisting in denial will only confirm the government’s complicity in official malpractice.”

An elder statesman, Ayo Adebanjo, had said President Bola Tinubu and his colleagues who were South-West Governors in 1999 failed Nigerians.

The chieftain of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, said the former governors were scared to insist on a new constitution when they were in power and had the opportunity to do so.

He said Tinubu and his colleagues failed to demand a Sovereign National Conference after the then-military Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, decided to return the country to democracy after the death of ex-military dictator Sani Abacha.

Naija News reports that Adebanjo stated these during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, which was aired on Channels Television on Friday.

The elder statesman said Tinubu now has the opportunity to rewrite the 1999 Constitution as President, having failed to insist on federalism as Lagos governor in 1999.

He said a brand-new people’s constitution will end some of the existential problems in the country, especially the menace of insecurity, as a people’s constitution will make room for state police.

Adebanjo said, “There was a clamour for a Sovereign National Conference at that time (in the buildup to the 1999 election). The military said they were going back to the barracks, and we said, ‘Well, go back to the barracks with your constitution; it’s your baggage and return us to where you met us. If you are not going to do that, schedule another conference, and we will agree on how to live together.

“He said the Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere refused to participate in any deliberations with the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime but later agreed to participate in the 1999 election after getting assurances that there would be a Sovereign National Conference thereafter. So, we contested that election on protest.

“This is why I disagreed with ex-Governors (Bisi) Akande and (Segun) Osoba. When we were campaigning for them to be governors, it was on the heels of federalism and the Sovereign National Conference.

“We insisted that the constitution must be changed. So, when we (Alliance for Democracy) came in, we got the people’s mandate; we won the election in the whole of the Western Region. We told all our governors, including Bola Tinubu, not to go to Abuja until the Federal Government changed the constitution, but they chickened out; they were involved in the paraphernalia of office. That is the beginning of Nigeria’s struggle.”

Grammy award-winning Nigerian singer, Ayodeji Balogun, better known as Wizkid, has clarified that he is not an Afrobeats singer.

The ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner made this known via his Instastories on his Instagram page on Friday night, ahead of his next album’s release.

Wizkid warned fans not to expect an Afrobeats version of him on the project, and those who do not want to download the song should delete him from their playlist.

He wrote, “Album done! See you soon b*tches!

“And abeg if you like Pakurumo Wizkid, don’t download this new album. In fact, delete me from your playlist and your life!

“If you like Afrobeats, don’t download my album. I’m not a f*cking Afrobeats artiste. I am not Afro anything.”

The overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, can’t end corruption in Nigeria.

Bakare spoke at the men’s symposium in honour of Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili’s 70th birthday in Abuja on Friday.

He disclosed that the antidote to corruption in Nigeria is when the sons of God start manifesting righteousness.

According to Bakare: “There are many theories about how to end corruption in Nigeria, EFCC can’t do it; ICPC can’t fix it.

“The antidote to corruption is only one thing, the manifestation of the sons of God under righteous authority.

“Setting up committees to investigate corruption by corrupt individuals, who cannot execute it, is a waste of time.”

Bakare called for a return to God’s original purpose across various spheres of influence, including family, businesses, and national governance.

Afro-pop singer Ikuforiji Olaitan, popularly known as Oxlade, has revealed that he lost endorsement deals worth over N400 million after his sex tape got leaked.

DAILY POST recalls that Oxlade’s sex tape with an unidentified lady was leaked from Snapchat in February 2022.

Speaking in the latest episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence Podcast, Oxlade disclosed that he was been blackmailed with the video before it got leaked.

He explained that he felt relieved when the sex tape got leaked because he was tired of the blackmailer using it to extort money from him.

He, however, admitted that the scandal affected his family and his mental health as well as his brand.

Ahead of the April 2024 deadline by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the registration for Bank Verification Number, BVN, increased to 61.16 million on March 15, 2024.

The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed this in its latest BVN database.

The figure represents an increase from the 59.9 million recorded on January 26, 2024.

Accordingly, this shows that 674,280 new registrations for BVN were recorded between late January and mid-March this year.

Recall that in December last year, the apex bank also directed commercial, merchant, non-interest, payment service banks, other financial institutions, and mobile money operators through a circular that the BVN or National Identification Number, NIN, attached to all accounts/wallets must be electronically revalidated by January 31, 2024.

The apex had ordered banks to freeze Tier-1 accounts without a BVN or National Identification Number, NIN, from April 2024.

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

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Topic: "Home, Diaspora and the Challenges of Activism"

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The senator representing Delta North senatorial district at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Ned Nwoko, has said he can’t marry a woman who is not a virgin.

Naija News reports that the Senator made this known in a snippet of the Mic On podcast, hosted by Nigerian journalist, Seun Okinbaloye.

According to the Nigerian billionaire, some people always assumed they had an idea of the woman he liked to marry and had brought some girls to him, but the ladies did not meet his standards.

Ned noted that he has a taste and sight for women, stressing he cannot marry a woman who is not a virgin.

When asked why she married Nollywood actress Regina Daniels, Ned noted that the movie star hails from his hometown.

As Nigeria continues to seek solutions to the rising crisis of insecurity, Daniel Bwala, former spokesperson of the Atiku presidential campaign, has said the real perpetrators of the kidnappings and insecurity crisis in Nigeria are individuals in white collars, government agencies and other financial and business interests.

Bwala in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, said the kidnappers are mercenaries working for these perpetrators.

“The notion or narrative that this insecurity is a ploy to offset the Tinubu’s administration in my view is a decoy narrative peddled by either some security narratives or politicians in a bid to give president Tinubu the impression that it is a case of us against them.

“We have seen it seriously, he didn’t commission the law enforcement agency to be brutal about it. This is the same movie as before. In president Buhari’s time, it was the same thing.

“You remember when he started the war against corruption, the minute information started coming out about public officers under his employ and appointment are involved in corruption, they immediately built a narrative to him that it is corruption fighting back and the minute he accepted that notion, everything you said about public affairs under his administration, he didn’t take serious.

“That is why I like what president Tinubu said. he refused to buy that idea, when he said I don’t have that luxury of time; you have to go and deal with this or I take a decision. This problem that is confronting us is local and the solution is local.

“This emerging issue of kidnapping is a crisis economy and the kidnappers in the bush are mere mercenaries. The real perpetrators are in towns, in white collars, in government agencies, some in financial and other business interests.”

The legal practitioner also advised the federal government to be cautious in accepting the offer of foreign partners who are offering to help as that could be a ‘ploy to negotiate their interest’.

“Even the notion that some international partners are opting to help us, I advised the federal government a few days ago on twitter that we should accept that help with a long spoon. These foreign governments oftentimes use that as a ploy to negotiate their interest. They never mean and will never mean well for our problem.

“To juxtapose my point, when a missionary was abducted; an American citizen, you see the swiftness with which the American forces came and rescued the person. If they really wanted to help us, from when Boko Haram started till today, we would have been able to deal decisively with Boko haram. So, let us treat their offer with caution.”

He also supported the president’s statement that no ransom will be paid to the kidnappers, adding that the bandits opted for school children because they understand that it will gain the attention of the United Nations.

“I agree with President Bola Tinubu that no ransom be paid because he must have been briefed based on intelligence that the individuals involved in this ransom thing are white collar people and so, continuing to discuss and paying ransom is feeding off of the crisis economy, thereby financing them and in turn they procure more arms and build that economy to be much more stronger than the oil and gas industry and these bandits know that once you abduct school children, it takes an international dimension because it falls under the convention of the united nations.

“If the President wants these guys back in 15 days, Mr. President can call all the security chiefs and say in 15 days and I don’t see these children back, I am relieving you all and I am getting a new set of securities and I guarantee you that in 15 days, these kids are going to be back. We all know the states in Nigeria where you have large expanse of land and where this possible carnage is going on. What happened to our law enforcement securities.

“Also, we put so much pressure on the Nigerian Army to deal with internal security matters and so they are so overwhelmed and fatigued. These guys are trained to fight conventional war. When you bring them into the internal mechanism of security checks, you are to expect collateral damage

“The president has to be decisive because from Buhari to this president, I have not heard where a demand is made for money and they refuse to release it.”

Meanwhile, the former aide to the PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate also stated that President Tinubu made him realize that it was time to focus on nation building rather than politicking, adding that “there must be a Nigeria before there is politics.”

“I have no regrets that I went to PDP nor supported Atiku. At every given time, I do what I do based on my convictions and if at the end of the day, I execute what I want to execute and it doesn’t work out, I accept the realities of fact. The reality I have accepted now is that this politicking is gone and because of the crisis in Nigeria, the only way we can have an election in 2027 is if Nigeria is safe and secure.

“When I saw this president whom I had supported when I was in APC and saw the good intention he has to right the wrong that he past administration has committed, and when he said he wants all other people from other opposition to come together for a nation building, I felt it was the right time for me to look at nation building rather than politicking because after all is said and done, there must be a Nigeria before there is politics.”

The Citadel Global Community Church’s Serving Overseer, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said some Nigerians are being forced to rob warehouses in order to avoid going to bed hungry due to the country’s economic hardships.

In his keynote speech on Friday at the 70th birthday celebration of Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili, the husband of the former minister of education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, Bakare blamed corruption and poor governance for the current state of the economy.

In the past two weeks, there have been numerous complaints of some Nigerians breaking into warehouses and taking food and other valuables.

Naija News reports that the preacher cautioned that no single institution can eradicate corruption from a nation, adding that Nigerians should not expect the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft institutions to act in isolation.

Bakare said, “Somewhere in the equation, something has to be done, whether in the homes that produce the fabrics or even in the institution of states that have failed to liquidate this criminal enterprise and facilitate alternative pathways for young people; somewhere in the societal equation where corruption and bad governance are crippling the economy, leaving no fewer than 133 million Nigerians in multidimensional poverty and 26.5 million in acute hunger across the country.

“With families going to bed hungry, a citizen is forced to take to the streets and to loot warehouses in their quest for survival. It means somebody has failed in his duty. In other words, somewhere in the governance equation is where we have the real issue. The good news however is that man has the capacity to reverse the situations. With the help of his Creator, man is himself a creator with the ability to recreate his world.

“This is a mission and purpose of every man. No citizen deserves to sleep under the bridge in a nation that has government. Until the righteous people are appointed into office, we are wasting time. There is only one antidote to fight corruption. EFCC and ICPC cannot fight it alone. Anybody that sits on the committee to investigate corruption who is corrupt himself can’t fight corruption in Nigeria.”