Author: straightnewsng.com

The Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign teams were, Monday, locked in a fierce exchange of words over alleged attempts to derail perceived plans for somebody from the South to emerge as president in 2023. The Women and Youth Presidential Campaign Organization of the All Progressives Congress, APC fired the first shot when it accused Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, candidate of attempting to short-change the Southern part of the country by contesting next month’s presidential election. The directorate said that Atiku’s bid would alter permutations on power shift envisaged after a second term for President Muhammadu Buhari.…

With 32 days to the presidential election in the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has banned collation officers from making or receiving telephone calls in the line of duty. This was contained in a 33-page regulations and guidelines released by the commission for the conduct of future elections in the country. INEC said: “In order to remain focused on their assignment, collation officers are not allowed to make or receive telephone calls during collation.” One of the contentious issues in the aftermath of the September 22, 2018, governorship election in Osun State was the decision of the Chief…

President Muhammadu Buhari may have appointed Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Adamu Mohammed, as acting Inspector General of Police, investigation has shown. Vanguard gathered last night that the appointment followed a meeting the President had with the outgoing IGP, Ibrahim Idris, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Efforts to confirm this from spokesman of the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, however, proved fruitless as he said he was not in a position to confirm the information. Similarly, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity also said there was no official confirmation of the appointment. But it was…

More than 40 million people in the Lake Chad region will pose adverse migration and security challenges to the world, if there was no commitment from the international community on redirecting water to the lake, President Muhammadu Buhari Monday raised the alarm. Buhari raised the alarm when he received Letters of Credence from the High Commissioner of Canada to Nigeria, Philip Baker, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He stated that the tragedy of the shrinking Lake Chad would continue to fuel more illegal migrations, banditry and provide willing hands for terrorism since majority of the people have lost their means…

The planned constitution of a task force to reactivate Akwa Palm Industries Limited, Etebi in Esit Eket local government area by Akwa Ibom government is seen by All Progressives Congress, APC in the state as vote-seeking ploy. Located in Etebi, Esit Eket Local government areas with head office in Uyo, the plantation, which was established in 1988 with World Bank-assisted loan, covers 4.5 hectares. The task force contradicts the position of Governor Udom Emmanuel who in September 2018, had called on local investors to partner his administration to reactivate the services of the Akwa Palm Industries, noting that it was part…

Given the tight monetary policy which has affected banks’ investment in the debt instruments, the Debt Management Office, DMO has commenced intensive diversification of investors’ base in Federal Government bonds. Director-General of the DMO, Ms Patience Oniha, who said this on Sunday in Abuja, explained that private investors’ interests in the bonds had been growing steadily in the last few months. Oniha said: “Monetary policy has been tight. I think in some way, because of the monetary policy stance, their (banks’) ability has somewhat been reduced but having said that, our goal is to diversify the investment base. “It’s more…

Marsai Martin is moving towards claimimg the title of the youngest executive producer in Hollywood history. This is so as her film, ‘Little’ will debut the theatres in April 2019. The 14-year-old ‘Black-ish’ actress stars alongside Issa Rae and Regina Hall in the body-switching comedy. The film, according to her, was inspired by the movie, “Big,” which she watched at the age of 10. “It was one of my most favourite films growing up,” Marsai said. “After the Season 1 finale of Black-ish, we told Kenya Barris about it, and he called Will Packer and said: ‘Yo, you know the…

The Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered Federal Government not to arraign Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). The Federal Government through the Code of Conduct Bureau filed six counts of non-declaration of assets against the CJN on Friday. Ruling on two separate ex parte applications on Monday, Justice N.E Maha, ordered parties to maintain status quo till January 17. Maha ruled in the two different suits that the defendants to be served with all the papers filed and they should appear in court at the next hearing. One of the two…

Nigerian singer and rapper Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz, has released another thought provoking single entitled “Talk”. ‘Talk’ is a song that addresses the state of affairs in the country as well as advises the youths to be wary of ‘greedy politicians.’ He also got everyone ‘talking’ including sparking comparisons with Fela, the Afrobeat Legend. As with his song ‘This is Nigeria’ and with the 2019 elections approaching, the artiste once again uses music to address political and social issues in the country. The rapper also did not spare politicians, about whom he said, “Four year tenure, three year…

Sixty-one political parties have threatened to sue the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over the latter’s guidelines for the 2019 general elections. The development came few days after the political parties, operating under the aegis of Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP and Inter-party Advisory Council, IPAC, unanimously rejected the draft guidelines presented to them by the electoral umpire. In a signed Sunday by CUPP’s 1st national spokesman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, the 61 aggrieved parties said they will file a legal suit today to stop INEC from releasing the guideline and also quash some sections of the draft guideline which were…