Governor Peter Mbah has vowed to end water scarcity in the Enugu metropolis and other towns in 154 days.

During a courtesy call by members of the civil society organisation, Network of Water Rights Initiative (NEWARI) at the Government House in Enugu, Mr Mbah expressed his determination to fulfil his campaign promise of delivering safe and clean water to every household in Enugu within 180 days of assuming office.

According to the governor, in the 21st century, it is unacceptable for Enugu residents to be deprived of access to running water.

Mr Mbah stated,

“Enugu should not be one of the states facing water challenges, considering the abundance of available water sources. We have 154 days remaining to ensure water flows into every home. We are fully aware of the problems and have conducted a thorough assessment to address them.”

The governor further revealed that apart from focusing on the water supply in the Enugu metropolis, his administration is actively collaborating with local government chairpersons to implement water schemes in Nsukka, other towns, and rural areas using different water sources, stressing that the aim is to provide residents with easy access to water within a five-minute distance and establish a reliable system capable of supplying water every day of the year, without interruptions.

Mr Mbah emphasised that his administration is not solely concentrating on the Ninth Mile Water Scheme but is also working on improving the Orji River Water Scheme.

Governor Dikko Radda has gifted N278 million to Katsina pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

This was disclosed in a press statement on Monday in Katsina by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Malam Ibrahim Kaula.

According to him, Katsina’s Amirul Hajj and former state assembly speaker, Tasiu Musa-Maigari, disclosed this in Makkah on Sunday when he visited the pilgrims.

Mr Musa-Maigari further revealed that Mr Radda also urged the pilgrims to pray for the end of insecurity in Katsina.

The former speaker later announced the donation of 300 riyals (the equivalent of N60,000) by the governor to each pilgrim as a feeding allowance.

The executive secretary of the Katsina State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Suleiman Kuki, expressed satisfaction with the responsible and decent conduct of the State pilgrims during the annual exercise.

In the entourage of the Amirul Hajj were former Deputy Governors Abdullahi Garba-Faskari, Abdullahi Garba Aminci, and the chairman of the board, Magajin Garin Katsina.

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State says his government will create out of the present Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism a separate ministry for Culture and Tourism.

The governor’s chief press secretary, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Ibadan, the state capital.

Mr Makinde said the new ministry would help his government focus on tourism as a key sector driving the state’s economy.

“The Ministry of Information will be headed by one commissioner, while another commissioner will head the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

“This will bring the number of ministries in the state to 18, as against the 17 that existed during my first tenure,” Mr Makinde said.

He explained that the decision was likely to set tongues wagging as to why the government was adding more to its financial obligations.

“But, after due consideration, we believe that the benefits of these adjustments far outweigh the costs, and Oyo State will be better for it.

“With this, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism will be better able to oversee the Tourism Board and extract the value trapped in the agency.

“On the other hand, the Commissioner for Information will focus on communicating the activities of government to the people through the various channels we have made available,” the governor said.

Mr Makinde further disclosed that he would put his cabinet in place in the next two weeks.

“Names of the other commissioner-nominees will soon be sent to the State House of Assembly for screening and confirmation.”

He charged all residents of Oyo state to keep praying for the state and the entire country, saying he believed that Nigerians would overcome the trying times.

The federal government has resumed the payment of N5,000 monthly stipend to 12,337 poor and vulnerable households through digital means in Ondo.

Tosin Olupona, head of the CCT office in Ondo, disclosed this in an interview on Monday in Akure.

The CCT programme is part of the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP).

According to Ms Olupona, the backlog has been lodged on each of the beneficiaries’ new debit card accounts that will be accessed through payment agents in their communities.

She revealed that the benefiting families were from 15 local government areas out of the 18 local governments in the state.

Ms Olopona attributed the delay in payment to operational issues, adding that the backlog payment was from six to 20 months, depending on when the beneficiary joined the scheme.

“We are here because we have just commenced payment of backlogs of stipends of our beneficiaries; this is victory at last because you can see that everyone is happy, collecting their money,” the CCT official stated.

“We have a backlog of between six months and 20 months, and they have been agitating to collect their money and we have been moving from one local government to another to pay them.”

She stressed that the delay resulted from an operational issue which “is not our fault.”

“I think it affected four states that are having this operational issue, but it has been resolved now, so, that’s why we are paying them,” she said.

Dozens of Zamfara residents, on Monday, staged a protest at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja, accusing the agency of being complicit in the handling of the alleged N70 billion corruption case of former state governor, Bello Matawalle.

The protesters, who held placards with inscriptions such as “Is Matawale above the law?” asked that the EFCC re-open its corruption probe against the former governor.

Nasiru Doka, the protesters’ leader stated that the citizens of the state are currently being hurt by Mr Matawalle’s past corruption.

“We the voice of the voiceless call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the former governor of Zamfara State, Bello Mohammed Matawale, for the alleged misappropriation of public funds,” Mr Doka said while reading out the protest letter they submitted to the EFCC.

“This call comes amid growing concerns about corruption in Nigeria and the need for accountability in public offices.

“Bello Mohammed Matawale was the governor of Zamfara State from 2019 to 2023.

During his tenure, there were allegations of mismanagement of public funds and resources.

“We urge The EFCC to investigate the matter and bring those responsible for the mismanagement of public funds to justice,” he added.

The Gazette reported in May how the EFCC revealed it was investigating Mr Matawalle over the theft of more than N70 billion.

The EFCC explained that Mr Matawale was yet to be arrested and prosecuted for his alleged criminal acts because he enjoys immunity from prosecution as a state chief executive.

President Bola Tinubu has left France for London on a private visit.

State owned broadcasting station, Nigerian Television Authority, reported on Saturday.

Dele Alake, the president’s official spokesman, was yet to issue a statement on the details of the fresh trip as of the time of filing this report.

“President Tinubu, who was initially scheduled to be back in Abuja on Saturday, will now proceed to London, United Kingdom, for a short private visit,” NTA reported.

LMr Tinubu had attended a two-day economic summit hosted by the French government.

Peter Obi and his Labour Party (LP) on Friday closed their petition before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu.

Mr Obi and LP are complainants in the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, challenging the election which brought Mr Tinubu to power on May 29.

Respondents in the petition are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and All Progressives Congress (APC).

The petitioners were given 21 days to prove their case against the respondents before the court.

They told the court that they would call 50 witnesses to prove their case, but as they were closing on Friday, they called only 13 witnesses.

Earlier, Counsel to the petitioners, Livy Uzoukwu SAN, informed the court that their 12th witness, Yunusa Tanko, was in court to be cross examined by the respondents.

Counsel to the respondents are Kemi Pinhero SAN for INEC, Wole Olanipakun SAN for Messrs Tinubu and Shettima, while Lateef Fagbemi SAN represented APC.

The 12th witness (PW12) was Yunusa Tanko, member of LP Situation Room, who testified and some documents were tendered through him.

Being cross examined by INEC, the witness told the court that the results given to them were mutilated and not readable.

When asked by Mr Olanipekun how many party agents his party had during the election, he said over 130,000 while there were 176,974 polling units through the federation.

Mr Tanko was also asked what he wanted the court to do with the 12 states where LP won and what would happen to Atiku Abubakar, who was declared 2nd.

He said that he was challenging the entire results of the election because after four months of the election, the results are still being downloaded from the IreV.

When asked by Mr Fagbemi on why he did not provide the number of unlawful votes, he claimed that their expert had already given evidence on the number of disputed votes.

The respondents tendered through the witness judgments of the Federal High Court, with FHC/ABJ/1454/2022, delivered on January 23, 2023, concerning LP vs INEC.

Tendered also was a SC/CV/501/2023, Supreme Court judgement delivered on May 26, 2023, between PDP and INEC with three others.

The petitioners objected to the admissibility of the documents and reserved their reason in their final written addresses.

The court however admitted and marked the documents as exhibits.

Peter Yari, PW 13 , an adhoc staff of INEC, also gave his evidence.

Counsel for the petitioners, Mr Uzoukwu after the testimony of PW13, informed the court that they are closing their case.

The respondents prayed the court to give them till next week to go home and celebrate the Sallah with their families and come back by July 3 to open their case.

The five-member panel presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned until July 3, for the respondents to open their case.

The Ebonyi government has ordered former Governor David Umahi’s commissioners two weeks to quit their state-owned residential quarters in Abakaliki.

The notice is contained in a statement signed by the secretary to the state government (SSG), Grace Umezurike, on Thursday night. Ms Umezurike, in the statement, said the measure is in line with Governor Francis Nwifuru’s directives.

“All residents of the commissioners’ quarters are hereby requested to vacate their premises. This is to facilitate the entry of the new commissioners into the quarters. We apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the statement said.

The statement urged the affected persons to comply accordingly.

In apparent anticipation of the measure, Mr Umahi had approved specified amounts of money for the commissioners to build or get new apartments.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commended President Bola Tinubu for signing the student loan bill into law.

Mr Sanwo-Olu gave the commendation on Thursday at the 26th convocation and 40th anniversary of the Lagos State University (LASU).

Mr Tinubu, on Monday, June 12, signed the bill into law, establishing a Nigerian Education Loan Fund, from which interest-free loans would be given to poor students.

The president said the bill would provide opportunities for children of people experiencing poverty to realise their dreams of acquiring tertiary education.

The governor, therefore, urged all Nigerians, especially the intended beneficiaries, to embrace the opportunity in good faith.

According to him, the Lagos government is focused on assisting students in government tertiary institutions within the state to discover their talents, harness their potential and refocus toward excellence, entrepreneurship and self-sustenance.

“As a government, we are not unaware that university operations are service-oriented, and as such, the need to continually improve on quality benchmarks is a continuum,” explained Mr Sanwo-Olu.

“Very importantly, we are also not unaware that sustaining an effective university that can compete favourably on a global stage requires huge financial investments.”

The Lagos governor added that while “we are committed to the aspirations of the founding fathers of the institution, we are resolved to surpass the gains of yesterday by setting a new narrative” for the institution.

He stated,

“In line with this commitment, our administration has ensured that most of the legacy projects it initiated on the institution’s campus have either been completed or are near completion.”

Mr Sanwo-Olu said the projects included the university’s main library, the faculty of education annexe, the faculty of management sciences building, the Lagos State University technology hub and the “ultra-modern” hostel facilities.

The Zamfara House of Assembly has established six special and 23 standing committees.

A statement issued by its spokesman Nasiru Biyabiki said the formation of the committees was announced by the speaker, Bilyaminu Moriki, at Wednesday’s plenary, following a motion moved for the adoption of the committees by the majority leader, Bello Mazawaje.

Mr Mazawaje called on the lawmakers to consider the adoption of the composition of the committees.

According to him, the formation of the committees is in accordance with sections 103 (1), (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Order VIII, Rule 4 (a), (b) and (c) of the Zamfara State House of Assembly Standing Orders, 2012.

After unanimous approval of the motion, the lawmakers pledged to work towards achieving the aims and objectives of the committees.

While adopting the committees, the speaker said the parliament would ensure a successful people-oriented legislature.

“We will continue to observe our fundamental responsibilities in the lawmaking process, representation and oversight assignments. I am calling on the committee chairmen and members to justify the confidence reposed on them,” Mr Moriki stated.

“You have to work hand-in-hand with your secretaries and relevant MDAs for you to succeed in your respective assignments.”

Governor Abba Yusuf has approved the reinstatement of Muhyi Magaji as the chairman of Kano’s Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) to complete his tenure.

This is contained in a statement issued by the governor’s press secretary, Bature Tofa, in Kano on Wednesday.

The statement recalled that Mr Magaji was suspended from office by former governor Abdullahi Ganduje-led administration.

Mr Magaji had sued the Kano government in court, which ordered the reinstatement to complete his tenure.

The court also ordered the government to pay his outstanding salaries since the period of his suspension.

“The reinstatement is with immediate effect and in compliance with the court order,” Mr Tofa added.

Days after visiting President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Asari Dokubo, former Niger Delta militant, brandished an Ak47, issuing threats against Igbos.

In a viral video on social media, Mr Dokubo, wearing a T-shirt with ‘American Eagle’, said,

“The Igbo people do not know their roots. They don’t have respect for who bought their father. You think every Kalabari man is a Kalabari man. Igbos I don’t know them. If not for British intervention I will still be selling them the way my father sold them.”

He added, “See how the Igbo people are dying. They keep saying that I have run away. Look at me; I’m here. E be like say una dey look for who go look for una finish una. Look for una everywhere finish una.”

Mr Dokubo’s threat came after the Indigenous People of Biafra berated him for saying Mr Tinubu should not release IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.

Alex Ogbonnia, spokesperson for Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, said Mr Dokubo’s rant would not be dignified with a response.

“Asari Dokubo does not deserve a response from the National Executive Committee of Ohaneze Ndigbo,” Mr Ogbonnia told Peoples Gazette on Wednesday.

He added, “Rather, we have a youth wing that will respond to him. I’ll be lowering the office of the NEC of Ohaneze to respond to Dokubo. It doesn’t fit it.”

The police did not immediately reply to The Gazette’s request for comments.

Olumuyiwa Adejobi, spokesperson for the police, did not pick his calls neither he did respond to messages sent to him regarding Mr Dokubo’s inciting comments.