The actions and policies of Islamist Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, do not represent the Palestinian people, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Abbas said this in a phone call with Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. He called for the release of hostages and prisoners from both sides. He also advocated peaceful resistance to end Israel’s occupation, according to the report. The Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people must be stopped, Abbas said. Hundreds of militants crossed the border into Israel on Oct. 7 on behalf of Hamas, which controls the…
Author: Chima Onyido
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The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted dust haze and thunderstorms from Monday to Wednesday across the country. NiMet’s weather outlook released on Sunday in Abuja envisaged dust haze on Monday with visibility range of 2km to 5km over Kano, Jigawa and Yobe with prospects of morning thunderstorms over parts of Taraba. According to it, dust haze with visibility range of 2km to 5km continues over Kano, Jigawa and Yobe with chances of isolated cloudiness over Taraba, Adamawa, Gombe and southern Borno later in the day. “Cloudy skies with sunshine intervals are expected over the North Central region during the…
The Lagos State Government has shut a private hospital at Ago-Okota in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area, for collecting and transfusing unscreened and unlabelled blood to unsuspecting patients. Dr Bodunrin Osikomaiya, the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS), said this in a statement signed by Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, Director, Public Affairs, state Ministry of Health, on Sunday in Lagos. Osikomaiya said the LSBTS in collaboration with the state Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) sealed the facility following a tip-off from a concerned citizen. “Following the tip off, and after thorough investigations, the enforcement teams of LSBTS and HEFAMAA,…
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives have arrested, two wanted heads of transnational criminal organisations with multi-billion-naira worth of illicit drugs and assets seized from them, after weeks of intelligence-led operations across the country and outside Nigeria. The agency said the arrest of the wanted drug lords came on the heels of the interception of consignments of cocaine and heroin buried in the bellies of two traffickers heading to Paris, France and Doha, Qatar by NDLEA officers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja. It added that, “Operatives at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA,…
The Nigerian federal government is on the brink of securing a substantial budget support loan of $1.5 billion from the World Bank. This development was confirmed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, during a Nigerian Delegation briefing at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Annual Meeting held in Marrakech, Morocco. Mr Edun said, “On the talks with the World Bank on $1.5billion budget support; that is correct. The World Bank is the number one multilateral development bank helping developing countries or funding developing countries projects and programmes and sectors. READ ALSO: Kano…
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Components of Operations Hadin Kai and Hadarin Daji, have eliminated scores of terrorists in stream of air strikes in their enclaves across the theatres. This is contained in a statement by the Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, on Sunday in Abuja. Gabkwet said the Air component in the early hours of Saturday, carried out air interdiction missions at a newly identified terrorists’ hideout at Bukar Meram, near the Lake Chad region in Borno. He said the strikes became necessary after it was established that recent relocation…
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) on Sunday said three persons died instantly in an auto crash involving a commercial bus and a truck. A statement by the agency’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, on Saturday, said the incident happened at Gbagada, by Charlie Boy bus stop. “Following a distress call received at 22:01hrs through the agency’s toll-free lines, LASEMA activated the Lagos State Emergency Response Plans with an arrival time of 22:17hrs. “Upon arrival of the agency’s LRT at the scene, it was observed that a white commercial bus lost control and crashed into a moving truck. “The…
The Lagos State Government has arrested about 30 environmental offenders for improper disposal of wastes and disregard for the state’s environmental laws. They will be arraigned before a Magistrate’s Court on Monday. The environmental laws enforcement team comprises officers from the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), and Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC), also known as KAI. The offenders, who were apprehended in different locations, were said to be engaged in acts capable of defacing the environment and derailing efforts to entrench cleanliness in the metropolis. READ ALSO: Reps vow to ensure equitable FG employment According to Mr Tokunbo Wahab,…
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has dismissed reports suggesting that the results of the November 11 off-cycle elections will be transmitted manually. He made this statement in response to reports quoting the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Bayelsa State. Prof Mahmood Yakubu affirmed that the results of the elections will be transmitted in compliance with the provisions of the law. He outlined that accreditation for the election would be carried out using the BVAS (Biometric Voter Accreditation System) machine both before and after voting. The BVAS system will also be used to capture and…
The “sit-at-home’’ order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra is killing the Southeast geopolitical zone and its businesses. The observation was made by Deputy Speaker, House of Representative, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, on Friday in Abuja when executives of the Nigerian Association of Small And Medium Enterprises (NASMEs) paid him a courtesy visit. The NASME executives were led by Mr Abdulrashid Yerima, president of the association. Kalu observed that the Southeast geopolitical zone loses between N10 billion and N13 billion in the transportation sector alone on every sit-at-home day weekly. “When they sit at home in the Southeast, the Southwest,…
The National Universities Commission (NUC) has disowned the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) top-up programme claiming to bridge the gap between polytechnic and university degrees. This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Saturday by the Acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Chris Maiyaki. Recalls that for years, there have been calls from stakeholders to end the disparity between Higher National Diplomas (HND) offered by polytechnics and Bachelor degrees offered by universities. This brought about a bill passed at the ninth National Assembly in 2021 to end the dichotomy but it was not signed…
President Bola Tinubu has appointed a new governing board and management team of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA). Chief Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesman, in a statement released on Friday, said the appointment follows the dissolution of the former board of the agency. He said the newly appointed team will retain office for a renewable term of four (4) years, in accordance with Section 2(3) of the FERMA Amendment Act, 2007: “President Tinubu expects the new appointees to achieve integrous and competent service delivery, given the central role that the institution will play in the sustainable health of growth-enabling infrastructure…
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has set up two joint security task forces to ensure the safety and security of residents of the FCT. The Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, Haruna Garba, made this known while briefing journalists on the outcome of the FCT Security Council meeting in Abuja on Friday. Garba said that one of them was a Joint Task Force, consisting of all security agencies in the FCT, on “one chance” activities. READ ALSO: Tinubu appoints Onanuga, Yakubu as aides The other, he said, is a Joint Task Force to curtail the…
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has postponed the flag-off of its Bayelsa Governorship Campaign earlier scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 14, in Yenagoa. Mr Felix Morka, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, announced this in a statement on Friday in Abuja. He said that a new date would be communicated to the public in due course. GOOD EVENING NIGERIA had reported that an Abuja High Court recently disqualified Timipre Sylva, the APC candidate, from contesting the Nov. 11 governorship race. READ ALSO: Kogi 2023: ADC Chair, 3 zonal chairmen dump party for APC Justice Donatus Okorowo, while delivering the judgement, held that…
The ICPC says it is set to begin Phase 6 tracking of the constituency and executive projects valued at N500 billion, which started in 2019 in 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) spokesperson, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, said in a statement in Abuja on Friday that the exercise would have teams tracking 1,932 projects. She explained that the focal states for the exercise included Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi, Niger, Kwara, Plateau, Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe. Others, according to her, are Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo,…
The Lagos coroner court, based in Ikorodu, has called upon music artists Abdulazeez Fashola, known as Naira Marley, Owodunni Eletu, also called Sam Larry, and Owodunni Ibrahim, Primeboy, to provide their statements regarding the death of Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad. The Coroner Magistrate, Adedayo Shotobi, issued the summons on Friday, October 13, as part of the ongoing inquest to uncover the circumstances surrounding Mohbad’s demise and those who may be involved. The police have also informed the coroner that the autopsy to determine the precise cause of Mohbad’s death is still pending. READ ALSO: Ondo Assembly Suspends Deputy…
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of 14 new Chief Executive Officers of several agencies and parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. This is contained in a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Friday in Abuja. He said that the appointments were in line with Tinubu’s resolve to base Nigeria’s economic revival on the foundation of trade expansion through small, medium and large scale industry facilitation in the country. READ ALSO: Military Rescues Abducted Nasarawa Varsity Students The new chiefs executives are: 1. Corporate Affairs Commission…
A consolidated amendment bill, aimed at allowing the appointments of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) from within the three services of the Nigerian Armed Forces, has successfully passed its second reading at the House of Representatives. The bill also proposes an increase in the service duration to 40 years and the retirement age to 65 for members of the armed forces. The bill, titled “A Bill for an Act to amend the Armed Forces Act Cap. A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to provide for the Appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff and for Other Related…
Nigerian sprinter Divine Oduduru has been given a six-year ban for breaching two doping violations. The Athletics Integrity Union (AIU) on Thursday in statement said the Nigerian was handed a four-year ban for the possession of prohibited substances/attempted use of a prohibited substance and an additional two years for “aggravating circumstances”. The former world junior silver medalist was also ordered to pay $ 3,000 to the World Athletics for its legal fees and other expenses regarding the case. Oduduru’s case was linked to that of team-mate, Blessing Okagbare who was banned for 11 years for doping in 2022. “We are…
Afrobeats sensation, Ayo Balogun, widely known as Wizkid, has opened up about the deep pain he’s experiencing following the loss of his mother, Mrs. Jane Dolapo Balogun. During his mother’s wake-keep ceremony held on Thursday, Wizkid expressed that the pain he is feeling is profound and the most intense he has ever experienced. He shared his grief, saying, “The pain is profound. It hurts deeply. The deepest pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I’m lost, but I pray God will comfort every one of us.” READ ALSO: Naira Declines to N1,050/$1 in Black Market Mrs. Jane Dolapo Balogun passed…