NIGERIAN NOTCH

President Muhammadu Buhari has advised security chiefs in the country to accept  wrong doings and apologise, rather than try to cover up minor social transgressions, especially if the public is hurt. The president who noted that an apology made voluntarily for causing serious harm or for a mistake made is a moral or ethical act as well as an act of good conscience, stressed that the overall goal of an apology is to restore dignity, social harmony and regaining the confidence of the offended. He gave the advice when state commandants and public relations officers  of all formations of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) converged at the corp’s national headquarters in Abuja for a three-day conference to brainstorm on the theme: “Managing Security Sensitive Information and Developing Effective Strategies for a Successful 2023 Election”. Declaring the conference open, President Buhari, who was represented by his senior special adviser on media and publicity, Mr ...

~ Decries alleged pattern of persecution, assets stripping of southerners ~ Insists it’s South’s turn to head EFCC Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has accused the Federal Government of masterminding the ordeal of former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu in the UK.   Ohanaeze was reacting to the Friday ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja ordering interim forfeiture of 40 properties allegedly linked to Ekweremadu. In a statement on Sunday, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, said it was immoral to attack a man whose hands were tied to his back and unable to defend himself.   Ohanaeze Youth Council lamented what it described as a pattern of persecution and humiliation of people from one part of the country by the EFCC, insisting it was time the monopoly of the agency by one part of country is ended through the immediate appointment of a new EFCC Chairman from the south.   "The ex-par...

Students of Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in Nigeria constitute over 40% of Education Stakeholders that have so far signed the online petition launched by the *Joint Education Stakeholders Action Coalition (JESAC)*  on 14th October 2022 calling on Candidates to provide details of their proposed education reform initiatives. The petition was necessitated by the fact that the Education Manifestos so far released by Candidates for Presidential, Gubernatorial, Senatorial, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly provide no specific policies and programmes for addressing specific aspects of the challenges in education which require clear, bold, courageous, visionary, strategic, and out-of-the-box actions plans. Instead they hide behind scant generalizations. The ten most cited problems for which Students are asking Candidates to provide their detailed plans for addressing them include: 1. STRIKES What are the specific proposals for ending or facilitat...

 Hurray! Hurray!! Hurray!!! The eagle has landed, and it calls for celebration. 70 successful years on earth is a journey that calls for celebration.  Omekannaya, you have made your name a brand, not just in Nigeria but Africa and beyond. Despite the political challenges, your name and everything you touch, is synonymous with success.  On this your birthday, I wish you better health, longevity and more success in all you do.  Amb. Charles Nwonye (Omekannaya Junior)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is determined not to postpone the 2023 general election at the eleventh hour on account of logistics. INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this at the inauguration of the Electoral Logistics Committee (ELOC) in Abuja at the weekend said the commission was mobilising every national asset including the armed forces and the police and starting the engagement early. The nation’s electoral body also noted that some of the critical materials for the election had started arriving. Yakubu said the establishment of the committee was borne out of the commission’s effort to ensure the speedy and safe delivery of huge quantities of sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the 2023 general elections. He said the logistics for the clearance, handling, custody, delivery, and distribution of enormous quantities of election materials is the biggest operation Nigeria undertakes every four years. For effective coordination, h...

The member representing Aniocha/Oshimili federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Ndudi Elumelu, has called on the federal government to dredge rivers Niger and Benue and its tributaries as long-term solution to perennial flooding in the country. He stated this at the weekend when he visited flood victims in the six internally displaced persons (IDP) camps located within the federal constituency, urging the victims to see their present situation as a temporary setback Elumelu, who is also the minority leader of the House, prayed and glorified God with the victims and made a donation of N21 million for their upkeep, revealing that arrangements had been concluded for the provision of relief materials for the flood victims to enable them go back to their various communities when the flood would have receded. “I felt that as a servant of the people, I should come and feel the pains inflicted on them by the ravaging flood, which not only displaced them from their ancestral ...

Apparently wary of the growing popularity of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ahead of the 2023 general election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the former Anambra State governor of splitting the opposition in the country. It alleged that all those campaigning for Obi are working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu Tinubu. Spokesman of the PDP presidential campaign council, Dino Melaye, called on Obi to “come back home” to support Atiku in order to stop the continuation of APC in government. In a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja, Melaye noted that Obi does not have the capacity to unite the country. He also called on the chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Mohammed Buba Marwa to subject all the presidential candidates to a drug test. Melaye, who admitted that Obi is depleting Atiku’s votes, claimed that Obi would not win the presidential election because the Labour Party does not ...

The United Kingdom yesterday issued a warning to its citizens that terrorists were planning to attack the United States. The UK in a travel advisory said the terrorists are “very likely to try to carry out attacks in the USA. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners, crowded areas, and transportation networks. You should monitor media reports and be vigilant at all times.” The US and the UK had warned of possible terrorist attacks in Nigeria. The UK government in an updated advisory said on its website that “The main threat comes from individuals who may have been inspired by terrorist ideology to carry out so-called ‘lone actor’ attacks targeting public events or places. Attacks could take place with little or no notice.” Sequel to this alert, the UK government said the US might deploy security agents in public places forestall possible attack. “The US Department of Homeland Security provides public information about credible threats. Expect an increa...

Barely one week after United States Billionaire Elon Musk formally took over Twitter after an acquisition worth $44 billion, the former CEO of microblogging website, Jack Dorsey, has launched a new social media platform, “Bluesky”. Dorsey’s Bluesky has garnered over 30,000 users in just two days after the announcement of the new app. Reports say that Bluesky gives creators independence from platforms and developers and the freedom to design, allowing users to choose their experience as it gives users control of their algorithms. Elon acquired Twitter in April and completed the process of ownership on October 27 after which he reportedly fired some top executives of the company to herald a new dimension in the company.

~ As NASS standing committees shun appropriation c’ttee The December deadline given by the National Assembly to pass the 2023 Budget is under threat as all standing committees that are supposed to submit their reports to the Appropriation Committee failed to appear before it yesterday. The appropriation committee has only two weeks remaining to revert to the Senate for further action but all the committees which were supposed to submit their reports on Friday failed to show up. The committees that failed to appear before the appropriation committee headed by Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North) are: Upstream, Downstream, Gas, Cooperation and Integration and Capital Markets. Even though the Senate is working hard to maintain the January – December budget cycle, the Senate Committee on appropriations had no option than to adjourn its maiden meeting from yesterday to Monday due to non-appearance of subcommittees to hand in their reports. Chairman of the committee, Senator Barau Jibrin, said the...