ONE WORD

  Trained in UK, China, how Tinubu's ADC rose through the ranks  As part of his preparation for the May 29 inauguration, the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has appointed Lieut. Col. Nurudeen Alowonle Yusuf as his Aide-de-Camp designate. Barring any last-minute twist, this writer can authoritatively confirm the appointment of Yusuf by Tinubu and he’s expected to resume official duties on Monday, May 1, 2023. Yusuf is not a stranger to the Aso Rock vicinity, having previously served in sensitive roles in the Presidential Villa during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. This indicates that the ADC-designate is bringing to the job his experience in intelligence and VIP protocol and protection. So, it’s less surprising that the president-elect sought the permission of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, to have the senior military officer work with him as he prepares to take over the mantle from President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29. How Yusuf rose through Ni...

The Lagos State Government has launched a probe into the collapse of a seven-storey building under construction on Banana Island, Ikoyi, following a directive by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, made the position known in a statement on Thursday. Omotoso said nobody died in the incident, which occurred on Wednesday as at the time of the report, adding that 25 people were rescued from the site, which the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency scanned with a high-precision 3-D Laser Imagery System for life, and found no evidence of anyone trapped in the rubble. A roll call has also been done by the site supervisors, with everyone accounted for. Omotoso said LASEMA has continued with the excavation of the site, using the architectural designs. He said the site has been divided into quadrants for a painstaking search and rescue operation, adding that quadrants 2 and 3 have been levelled to ground zero, with the search operation co...

  The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has told the presidential election petitions tribunal that President-elect Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress won the February 25 election and was validly returned as the winner without needing to get 25 per cent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). INEC stated this in its reply by its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, to the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, before the tribunal. Nigeria’s electoral umpire said the APC candidate met all the legal requirements to be so announced as the winner of the election, arguing that a candidate must not secure 25 per cent votes in the FCT to be declared winner because the FCT was not accorded any special status in the constitution as being “erroneously” portrayed by some political parties and candidates who lost the election. On why it returned Tinubu as the winner, INEC said the APC candidate scored 25 per...

  The United Kingdom (UK) government has tendered an apology to the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Labour Party in the just-concluded 2023 elections, Peter Obi, over his illegal detention and poor treatment at Heathrow Airport in London last week. The apology was tendered after it a British immigration official admitted he wrongly handed Mr. Obi a detention note in a search of man who impersonated him to commit perjury, forgery and identity theft in the country. British authorities said the uncomplimentary treatment meted out to the former Governor of Anambra State was “completely unacceptable”. “Frankly, the Immigration Official’s action – has been appalling – and we are sorry,” Immigration authorities apologised. The British High Commission in Abuja, through the head of the media unit, Dean Hurlock, said the mission does not make comment on matters of that nature. Obi was reportedly detained and interrogated for hours by immigration officials at Heathrow Airport in London...

  Anybody can protest in front of Whitehouse, we are unperturbed”- APC-USA knocks planned protest at White House The United States chapter of the All Progressives Congress on Thursday condemned the proposed political demonstration that would be held by some Nigerians in front of the White House on Monday. The condemnation is coming a day after authorities in the United States granted permission to supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to use its park on April 3 to protest the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Chairman of the United States chapter of the APC, Prof. Tai Balofin, disclosed that many Nigerians in Diaspora were unperturbed by the proposed protest because they knew the presidential poll was free and fair. He said, “We wish to inform the public that a group of the Nigerian 2023 Presidential election losers are currently protesting at the park in front of the White House. It is important to ...

Some key political players are plotting to foist an Interim Government in Nigeria, according to The Department of State Services (DSS). President-Elect Bola Tinubu is due for inauguration on May 29, but in a statement on Wednesday, Dr. Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesman, stated that some persons have weighed various options, which include, among others, to sponsor endless violent mass protests in major cities to warrant a declaration of State of Emergency. The Service said that another plot to foist interim government is to obtain frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of new executive administrations and legislative houses at the Federal and State levels. “The Service considers the plot, being pursued by these entrenched interests, as not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis.” “The illegality is totally unacceptable in a democracy and to the peace loving Nige...

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has assured the threat of protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over naira scarcity has been arrested. The NLC gave the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to cause the CBN and the commercial banks to end the cash scarcity, failure of which it warned of a nationwide protest and the picketing of the apex bank’s branches. But appearing on the weekly Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the State House, Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Ngige said dialogues, coordinated by his ministry, took place making the CBN take steps to remedy the situation. The Minister, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, and other senior officials of the Ministry, said as at the moment, the issue to be discussed by NLC in its National Executive Council meeting would no longer be issues of...