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The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, the Vice presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila attended Jumat prayer together on Friday.
Sharing photos on his Facebook page, the Speaker said:
Jumat prayers at Dantata Mosque, Abuja with APC Presidential Candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sen. Kashim Shettima and other worshippers.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared three days of national mourning over the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
In a statement on Friday, the outgoing president noted that the mourning period will commence on the eve of Friday, September 9, 2022, and end, at sunset, on Monday, September 12.
President Kenyatta also directed all Kenyan-led state agencies, both local and abroad, to ensure that all Kenyan flags within their premises are flown at half mast during the three-day period.
“The Flag of the Republic of Kenya shall be flown at half-mast at State House and all Kenyan Diplomatic Missions, Public Buildings and Public Grounds, all Military Bases, Posts and Stations, on all Naval Vessels of the Republic of Kenya, and however elsewhere throughout the Republic of Kenya; from dawn on today until sunset on Monday, 12th September 2022,” said President Kenyatta.
“Our national flag shall be flown at half-mast for the same length of time at all High Commissions, Embassies, Consulates, Diplomatic Offices and other facilities of the Republic of Kenya abroad.
While sending out his condolences to the Queen’s family and the people of Britain, President Kenyatta went on to hail the deceased matriarch as a gallant leader who will go down in history as one of the most dedicated members of the Royal Family.
“Our deepest sympathy and condolences go out to His Majesty King Charles III and the rest of the Royal Family.
Rarely has one person so epitomized the very best of humanity and leadership through selfless public service as the Late Queen Elizabeth II did in her 70 years at the helm of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and in her life of 96 years,” said President Kenyatta.
“In all that, as governments rose and fell, new nations were born, and the geopolitical sands shifted back and forth; Queen Elizabeth II remained our one constant and an unshakeable rock of dedication to duty, grace, sacrifice, public service, and the commitment to God, Country, and Family.
May God rest her soul in peace.” Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch, died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96, at Balmoral, Scotland.
Kenya is one of 36 Commonwealth countries for whom the Queen has served as a symbolic figurehead.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Thursday, urged Nigerians to trust the ability of the country’s armed forces to quell the violence and insecurity nationwide and restore lasting peace.
He also said, under his watch, the military would maintain its operational drive to degrade terrorists and their activities, especially in the troubled north.
According to a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President spoke in Lagos when he inaugurated the 12th Nigerian Navy Games, LAGOS 2022, as well as its new Sports Complex.
The President was said to have called on citizens to “believe in the capability of the armed forces to safeguard and bring long-lasting peace and stability to the country.”
He also assured Nigerians that “the armed forces would continue to sustain their operational tempo to contain the security challenges in the country.”
Buhari also re-emphasised the importance of synergy between the armed forces, other security agencies and the general population for peace and security.
While inaugurating the newly constructed Nigerian Navy Sports Complex, he commended the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo, for investing in sports development.
He said,
“Over the years, sports have remained a tool to strengthen the ties between troops, instilling discipline and readiness to serve a common cause in the military.
I am sure that these games will create a forum for the Nigerian Navy to achieve these objectives and more.
“The construction of this sports complex has provided a standard venue for the Nigerian Navy to host major games as well as an appropriate venue for naval personnel within Lagos to use for training and other recreational purposes.
“I am therefore confident that besides the conduct of the games, the Nigerian Navy and its personnel will continue to make good use of the facilities in this complex.”
The President who noted that LAGOS 2022 would provide the avenue to discover new talents to represent the Navy and Nigeria in international competitions urged the 1,800 participating athletes to inculcate fair play and exhibit a high level of decorum during the eight-day competition.
In his goodwill message, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, described the Nigerian Navy as a strategic partner to the “coastal state of Lagos” in the security of lives and property.
He, therefore, thanked Buhari for approving the establishment of a new Forward Operating Base in Lekki axis, one of the fastest growing industrial, commercial and residential development areas in West Africa.
In his remarks earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, pledged that the Navy would sustain the fight against crude oil theft and other maritime crimes, ensuring that the country maintains its delisting from nations of high piracy risks.
Gambo, who noted that Nigeria exited the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy List early this year, said no incidence of piracy has been recorded in the last one year.
A former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, has been named acting Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, following the resignation of Walid Jibrin at the ongoing Board of Trustees meeting in Abuja.
The 43 Muslim worshippers who were kidnapped at Zugu community in Bukkuyum Local Government Area of the state have been freed.
Sources told Channels Television that the kidnap victims were freed on Tuesday night September 6, at about 10:30 pm after the payment of five million Naira ransom.
It was disclosed that the bandits also requested and got supplies of several jerry cans of petrol.
Members of the Zugu community disclosed that 44 persons were kidnapped from the village but one person died in the bandits’ camp as a result of torture.
The other 43, however, returned to the village unhurt and have since been reunited with their families. While the police is yet to give full details of the release, however, after the abductions, the Zamfara command deployed additional tactical operatives to the area to ensure that normalcy returns.
Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Kolo Yusuf who reiterated that the command is committed to rid the state of criminal activities, appealed for continuous support and collaboration to all the security operatives in an effort to achieve this mandate.
A Niger state House of Assembly committee which was set-up to investigate contract financing loans of twenty-five local government councils, has recommended the suspension of fifteen local government councils chairmen.
Chairman of the committee, Abdulmalik Madaki Bosso said the decision to suspend the LGA chairmen will pave way for smooth and unhindered access by members of the committee to enable them to discharge their duties diligently.
The affected local government councils chairmen are those of Mokwa, Gbako, Suleja, Gurara, Tafa Paikoro, Bosso, Agwara, Borgu, Kontagora, Wushishi, Magama, Mariga, Mashegu, and Rijau.
He noted that this is in line with the provision of sections 128 and 129 of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended as well as the provision of section 90 Subsection one A B and C of local government 2001 as amended.
He alleged that most of the suspended local government chairmen collected the loan without following due process, an act he said is unacceptable by the Niger State House of Assembly.
According to him, the problem had added an extra burden to the smooth running of local government administration in the state. Channels Television reported that Abdulmalik Madaki Bosso added that the deduction of N8m each from local government councils for loan repayment be suspended for the failure of the ministry to obtain house resolution as provided in Section 97 Subsection One of the Local Government Councils 2001 as amended.
The chairman of Kanke LGA in Plateau state, Henry Jan Gotip, who was kidnapped on September 6 by unknown gunmen has regained his freedom.
A statement released by DSP Alfred Alabo, spokesperson of the state police command, says Gotip was released by his abductors unhurt yesterday September 7 at about 11pm.
The gunmen stormed Gotip’s residence at Kwang, shot sporadically and later abducted him to an unknown destination.
”The Kanke Local Government Council Chairman has been reunited with his family and will soon be debriefed by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Command to build up to available intelligence that will lead to the arrest of his abductors.” Alabo said
Gunmen, on Wednesday, kidnapped the Executive Chairman, Kanke Local Government Area, Plateau State, Henry Gotip, from his residence around Kwang, in the Jos South area of Plateau State.
The kidnap of the council boss was coming barely two days after gunmen kidnapped a traditional ruler, Dauda Suleiman, in Pinau community, in the Wase LGA of the state.
Although the traditional ruler was said to have been rescued by troops of the military taskforce, Gotip’s abduction, according to multiple sources, occurred around 1am.
A family source said the council chairman’s whereabouts had been unknown, adding that the victim’s wife had been contacted.
“He was in his house in Kwang when some armed men came and abducted him on Wednesday around 1am.
I learnt that those who abducted the LG chairman allowed him to speak with the wife on the phone some moments ago.
I’m yet to get details of what the kidnappers discussed with her,” the source said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Alabo Alfred, could not be reached on his phone. However, the Military Information Officer, Operation Safe Haven, Major Ishaku Takwa, said that the taskforce had commenced a rescue operation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Wednesday, announced the commencement of recruitment of election staff for the 2023 general elections.
To this effect, the electoral umpire said it had opened its portal for recruitment, adding that eligible applicants should begin applying for the role.
INEC made the announcement in a post on its Facebook page on Wednesday. It said the portal which opened on Wednesday (today) would be closed on November 30, 2022.
The statement read,
“The Commission has approved the re-activation of INECPRES both the Mobile App for Android phones only and the web portal (laptops only).
“To this end the portal will be open to eligible applicants for registration of all categories of ad-hoc staff (SPO/PO/APO/RATECHS/RAC Managers) except the Collation officers.
“The portal opens on Wednesday the 14th of September and ends on the 30th November, 2022.”
The PUNCH reports that electioneering for the 2023 election will kick off later this month, signaling the commencement of activities that would culminate in next year’s general elections.
Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted the Chairman of Kanke Local Government Council in Plateau state, Hon Henry Gotip.
It was gathered that gunmen stormed the residence of the council boss in Jos South local government council of the state in the early hours of Wednesday, September 7, shooting sporadically to scare off residents before whisking the victim to unknown destination.
Spokesperson of the police in the state, Alfred Alabo, who confirmed the incident said the command has dispatched a tactical team to rescue the victim.
He explained that the signal came in the early hours of Wednesday that there was a robbery gang operating along the area which took the intervention of the security but it was later discovered that a Council Chairman was kidnapped.
“The Police Commissioner is on top of the situation as he has sent a team of police officers to the area who are working in collaboration with the vigilante to rescue the Council Chairman,” he stated.
He urged the public to go about their lawful businesses and report any suspicious movement around their communities for swift response from the security agencies.
Gotip is the Secretary of ALGON, Plateau State.
Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss convenes her senior ministers for an inaugural cabinet meeting on Wednesday on her first full day in office before she faces a barrage of questions in parliament.
Truss, who officially became leader Tuesday at an audience with head of state Queen Elizabeth II in Scotland after the resignation of Boris Johnson, is set to meet her top team at a morning meeting.
They include the most diverse top team in British history ever: Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Cleverly as foreign secretary and Suella Braverman as interior minister.
They face a daunting in-tray of issues, most notably decades-high inflation and how to deal with energy bills set to rise by 80 percent next month and then again in January.Meanwhile, the Bank of England has tipped the country to fall into recession later this year.
She must also navigate the combustible issue of post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, and in one of her first calls with a foreign leader late Tuesday, she agreed with US President Joe Biden “on the importance of protecting” peace in the province.
In its readout of the call, the White House also said Truss and Biden addressed “the challenges posed by China (and) preventing Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
But Truss was bullish as she entered Downing Street for the first time as premier, narrowly avoiding a heavy downpour.
“I am confident that together we can ride out the storm,” she said.Her new ministers may be asked to sign off immediately on a plan to freeze energy bills for the coming winter, possibly longer, a measure that would cost tens of billions of pounds, according to reports.
Tax cuts and diverting some health funding to social care could also reportedly be on the agenda.“I will cut taxes to reward hard work and boost business-led growth and investment,” Truss promised, while also vowing “action this week” on gas and electricity bills and broader energy policy.–
‘Almost ungovernable’ –After Cabinet, Truss will travel to the House of Commons to spar with opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer, in the rival pair’s first Prime Minister’s Questions session.
The often rowdy weekly session, which sees the prime minister quizzed by MPs, will test Truss’s political mettle and rhetorical skills as well as her level of Conservative support.
The 47-year-old won an internal ballot of Tory members on Monday, securing 57 percent of the vote, after a gruelling contest against former finance minister Rishi Sunak that began in July.But the initial stage of the contest saw her net the support of less than a third of the parliamentary party.
She now faces a tough challenge reuniting the ruling Tories following a bitter leadership battle.Conservative MPs are “almost ungovernable” and have “no appetite to cope with difficult decisions,” according to a government insider quoted by the Financial Times on Monday.
“They did for Boris and they may do for Liz, too,” the source told the paper.Truss will likely face a volley of hostile questions from Starmer and the Labour ranks, as they look to capitalise on months of Tory disarray.
Labour has opened up a double-digit lead in the polls but may have to wait two years for the next general election.Truss vowed Monday to lead the Conservatives to victory “in 2024”, with an election due by January 2025 at the latest.
– ‘Dreadful policy’ –Truss, who pitched herself to the Tory grassroots as a tax-cutting free-trade champion ready to slash taxes immediately to turbo-charge growth, faces warnings that these moves could make inflation worse.
The UK has already seen prices rise this year at their steepest rate for four decades, driven by spiralling energy costs.Under her mooted plans to tackle the situation, gas and electricity bills for both households and businesses would be capped near current levels for the coming winter at least.
The government would lend or guarantee private sector loans to energy providers to make up the difference they pay with soaring global wholesale prices.
It remains unclear whether the government will pay for the plan through extra borrowing or ask consumers to pick up the tab over the next two decades through levies on their energy bills.
Paul Johnson, of the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think-tank, said it was “a dreadful policy” but likely necessary.“Hugely expensive, untargeted, increases risk of shortages,” he noted on Twitter.
But he warned the scale of the problem “means there may just be no practical alternative.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it is yet to publish a comprehensive voters’ list for 2023 polls.
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman who spoke at a stakeholders’ validation meeting on the 2022 revised framework and regulations for voting by internally displaced persons (IDPs), held in Abuja on Tuesday September 6, said claim of them not being willing to display the comprehensive voters’ register as provided by section 19(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, is false.
He disclosed that the list would be released soon and will integrate fresh voters registered under the last CVR.
Yakubu said;
“This claim is incorrect. What the commission displayed for claims and objections in our local government area offices nationwide for a period of one week — from August 15 to August 21 — was not the entire register of voters.
“It was the list of fresh registrants at the end of the fourth and last quarter of the continuous voter registration exercise, covering the period from April 11 to July 31.“This has been the practice for several years.
“We wish to assure Nigerians that the commission will display the comprehensive register in all the 8,809 wards and 774 local government areas/area councils nationwide as envisaged in section 19(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The date will be announced as soon as the commission completes the ongoing automated biometric identification system (ABIS) to weed out all double/multiple as well as ineligible registrants.
“We appeal to some of our friends in civil society organisations to be guided accordingly.”
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, on Monday, hosted the United Kingdom High Commissioner, Ms. Catorina Liang, other diplomats and dignitaries, at his office.
He said photos from the visit on his Facebook page, saying,
“Today I welcomed to my office a delegation of diplomats, foreign and Nigerian dignitaries led by the amiable UK High Commissioner, Ms. Catorina Liang.”
Liz Truss is officially Britain’s 56th Prime Minister after Boris Johnson tendered his resignation before the Queen asked her to form a government.
The newly-installed PM emerged from the monarch’s Balmoral residence in Scotland after completing the handover of power, a process known as ‘kissing hands’. In a statement, Buckingham Palace said:
‘The Queen received in audience The Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP today and requested her to form a new administration. Ms Truss accepted Her Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon her appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.’
The grand moment came shortly after Mr. Boris Johnson – accompanied by wife Carrie – left Balmoral following his final 40-minute audience with the Queen.
A statement from Buckingham Palace said the monarch had been ‘graciously pleased’ to accept. Ms. Truss will have little time to celebrate as she must head back to London to thrash out plans for curbing soaring energy bills.
She is expected to cap the typical household bill at £2,500 a year with costs further offset by keeping the £400 handout that had already been committed. That would leave the level only slightly higher than the £1,900 existing cap, and a thousand pounds below the figure it was due to hit next month, according to Mail Online.
Ms Truss will deliver her own speech on the steps of Downing Street around 4pm. The foreign secretary becomes the nation’s third female after she secured just over 81,000 to Mr. Sunak’s just over 60,000.
A Nigerian soldier has come out to appeal to Nigerians to vote wisely in the 2023 general elections.
In the video, the soldier stated that if Nigerians fail to vote for the right leaders, a war that is supposed to last for just 24 hours, will go on for years.
He added that voting right determines the peace of a nation.
According to him, soldiers take orders from their commanders while citizens have the power to vote in their leaders.
The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has said the government will begin the arrest and prosecution of parents and guardians of out-of-school children from the next academic session which begins on September 12, 2022.
Obaseki told journalists in Benin on Monday that arrangements had been concluded for the enforcement.He said,
“If we find any child under the age of 18 years being used for manual labour, such parents will be prosecuted.
We thank the Chief Judge for providing special courts which will be used to prosecute any offender who perpetrates violence against any child or involves in sexual defilement or physical abuse in our school system.
“From September 12, when school resumes, any child found loitering or hawking during school hours will be arrested and the parents or guardians will be prosecuted and seriously dealt with.
We have specially trained people to observe and watch over our children to ensure no child is abused in Edo State.
“School resumes on Monday, September 12, 2022, and teaching must commence the same day. I will send out a special squad to monitor schools across the State; I will also monitor the schools myself, alongside with the Commissioner of Education.”
Harping on the infrastructure development in schools across the state, Obaseki said,
“I have instructed the Ministry of Education to demolish all dilapidated buildings in our schools.“For those schools that are dilapidated, we will move the students to other schools and rebuild the schools.
“We will be spending a lot of resources to ensure no child sits on the ground to learn. By the time the Commissioner of Education will be completing her term, no Edo child should sit on the ground to learn.
“Commencing from September 12 when the new school calendar will start, I have also directed the Ministry of Education to set up a cleanup system to clean all Edo Schools.”
Search and rescue operatives combing the rubble of the seven-storey building that collapsed at Oba Idowu Oniru Street, Lekki, Lagos State, have recovered four more corpses.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, in a statement on Monday, confirmed the development 24 hours after emergency responders had recovered two corpses at the scene of the incident on Sunday.
Oke-Osanyintolu said,
“The agency alongside other first responders has been working for over 24 hours at the seven-storey building which collapsed yesterday.
Another four bodies have been extricated from the rubble bringing the fatalities to six. The process is ongoing.”
Similarly, the Lagos Territorial Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, in a chat with our correspondent, also confirmed that four corpses including that of an adult male were recovered.He said,
“Six corpses including that of an elderly man have been recovered from the rubble as recovery efforts continue.”
NPG had reported that some persons were sleeping in the seven-storey building under construction when the building collapsed around 3am on Sunday.
While some of the occupants escaped death, it was learnt that some other persons, who were unlucky, were trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building.
Emergency responders including officials of the LASEMA, the NEMA, and the police, among others, had been engaging in a search and rescue operation to rescue the trapped victims.
Reacting, the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, had in a statement, ordered the arrest of the developer and other professionals involved in the collapsed building.
However, a series of building collapses that claimed the lives of residents had been recorded in the state.
Angered by these tragic developments, residents alongside experts in the building industry had slammed developers, among others, for using substandard materials and not conforming to standard building regulations in Lagos State.
Also, the Lagos State Government, particularly the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, had also been under heavy criticism for the reoccurring building collapse killing people in the state.
Amid the criticisms, a statement by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, confirmed Salako’s resignation, noting that the commissioner’s resignation was part of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s efforts to restructure the ministry and its agencies.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu thanked the Commissioner for his services to the state and wishes him success in his future endeavours.
“The Governor warns all players in the sector to respect the law or face the consequences of any indiscretion, no matter who the perpetrators are,” the statement said.
The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, on Monday, said he would not leave his political opponents for God, but he would deal with them himself.
Wike said he would flog “the small boys.” Governor Wike spoke on Monday when he inaugurated the Okezuo Abia Flyover along the Aba -Enugu Expressway in Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area, and the rehabilitated Aba- Owerri Road in Aba South Local Government Area of Abia State.
“God has given me what it takes to crush these people, for me to crush my enemies,”
Wike, who appeared to be throwing bants at the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, said, describing his enemies as “small boys” who he would not hesitate to deal with.
“No relationship can be bought with money. When I read some newspapers, they say some people are making attempts to break ranks. I said do you understand the modus operandi of what we are doing? If they understand the modus operandi, they will not waste their time.
“If you like, go and meet Ikpeazu, if you like go and meet Seyi, if you like go and meet Ortom, if you like go and meet Ugwuanyi. You don’t even understand what we are doing…you are making mistakes,” Wike said.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has congratulated Liz Truss on her election as the leader of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom.
We reported earlier that Truss, who was elected Monday, will formally take office on Tuesday, and become the new UK Prime Minister after Johnson tenders his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II.
“The UK has proven, yet again, the resilient power of democracy. The election of MP Liz Truss as leader of the Conservative Party was a hard-fought process, but the ultimate winners are the people of the United Kingdom,” Atiku.
The PDP standard bearer also said he looked forward to working with Truss in the areas of human capital development, trade, and democracy.
“I join all other friends of the UK to celebrate this moment. I equally look forward to an enhanced partnership of the new leadership of the Conservative Party with Nigeria and African countries in the areas of human capital development, trade and strengthening democracy and the integrity of elections. -AA,” Atiku posted on his Facebook page, Monday afternoon.
Lagos Planning Commissioner resigns after Oniru building collapseLagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Idris Salako, has resigned.
Gbenga Omotoso, the Commissioner for Information made the announcement in a statement on Monday, September 5.
Omotoso said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has accepted the resignation. The official noted that Salako’s exit “is a prelude to the restructuring of the Ministry and its agencies”.
Sanwo-Olu thanked him for his services and wished him success in his future endeavours.
The governor warned all players in the sector to respect the law or face the consequences of any indiscretion.
Salako leaves the position after multiple building collapses in Nigeria’s commercial hub in the last few years. The most recent occurred in Oniru on Sunday, September 4.
A seven-storey building under construction collapsed. Two died and some are still trapped in the building.
Salako suggested the developer was a powerful man. While addressing the media, Salako recalled how the developer chased state officials away during enforcement.
He also disclosed that the developer broke the seal of the site on three separate occasions.