Author: straightnewsng.com

Despite the huge budgetary allocations for security infractions, Mansur Dan-Ali, Minister of Defence told President Muhammadu Buhari that the military needs more equipment to tackle security challenges in the country. This is even as Abdulrahman Dambazzau, the Minister of Interior, Thursday, tasked security agencies on intelligence gathering, listing poor welfare, inadequate logistics and indiscipline as factors responsible for the inability of security men to contain the killings across the country. Dan-Ali also assured the President that the military, through Operation Delta Safe, would continue to sustain its operations against illegal activities in the Niger Delta with resultant reduction in illegal…

Nigeria’s Joy Udo-Gabriel, Thursday, qualified for the finals of the Women 100m at the ongoing Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba. Udo-GabrIel told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday at the event that she was delighted to be in the finals of the event scheduled for later in the day. The Abia-born athlete, who was part of Nigeria’s Women 4x100m bronze winning team at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, said she was excited to represent her country in the ongoing event. “I am happy to be in the finals of the 100m here in Asaba, I am not under any…

Apple became the first private-sector company in history to be worth $1 trillion, after its share price reached an all-time high above $207 on Thursday. The share price jumped by more than 8 percent this week after Apple reported impressive quarterly earnings on Tuesday, driven largely by strong sales for high-priced iPhones. In a call with investors, CEO Tim Cook also touted growth in other areas such as smart home products, wearable and services like the App Store and Apple Pay. The $1 trillion milestone is largely symbolic, though impressive. Apple’s market capitalization — a common financial measure of worth…

The Roman Catholic Church, Thursday, formally changed its teaching to declare death penalty inadmissible in all circumstances. The Vatican said it had changed its universal catechism to reflect Pope Francis’ total opposition to death penalty. Previously, the catechism, a summary of Church teaching, had allowed the death penalty in rare cases. The 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church had allowed death penalty in extreme cases for centuries, but the position began to change under the late Pope John Paul II who died in 2005. The Vatican said it had changed its universal catechism, a summary of Church teaching, to reflect Pope Francis’…

The Kwara State High Court in Ilorin, Thursday, granted an interim bail of N20 million to Olalekan Alabi, the Personal Assistant on Political Matters to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed. Alabi had been in police custody in Abuja since May 30, 2018, following his arrest over alleged link with Offa bank robbery suspects. Justice I.A. Yusuf granted the bail after carefully considering the oral application for bail made by Alabi’s counsel, Mr Adebayo Adelodun, SAN, and the response of Adekunle Iwalaye, who is the counsel to the respondent, the Inspector General of Police,. Adelodun had on July 27, 2018 moved an ex-parte…

Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha, has boasted that the party controls 22 states and 53 Senators, vowing that no governor will defect from the party again. This came as Senator Aliyu Wamakko, former governor of Sokoto State, said that in a few days, it would be clear who was in control of the state, in apparent response to the defection of his successor, Aminu Tambuwal, to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Wednesday. Okorocha, who gave the assurance at the end of a closed-door meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and APC governors at the Presidential Villa,…

The suspension of Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly has ripped All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state apart due to some irreconciliable differences between the state chapter chairman and the ward chairman of the party. The APC Tudun-Wada North chapter, in a statement signed by its chairman, Ibrahim Salisu Togo, had suspended Senator Sani, insisting that their decision was based on the constitution of the party. However, in a telephone interview with journalists, Emmanuel Jakada, the state chairman of the APC said the purported suspension of Senator Sani did not follow constitutional provision. His statement…

DAAR Communications Plc, owners of AIT and RayPower, said it paid N1.5 million fine imposed on it by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). The company’s Group Managing Director, Tony Akiotu, stated this while addressing journalists Wednesday in Abuja. The NBC had on July 9, fined the media organisation N1 million for “exceeding the allowed band occupancy limit” originally granted to RayPower. In the letter, the NBC said after carrying out a random spectrum scan on the FM band, the station transmitting on 100.5MHz, occupied 100.3MHz – 100.6MHz indicating a 300KHz band occupancy which exceeded the 150KHz band occupancy limit allowed…

The Federal Government and its Chinese counterpart have entered into an agreement for prisoners’ swap, especially the repatriation of Nigerian prisoners in China to serve out their jail terms back home. The swap deal was ratified by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, Wednesday. Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who stated this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC, meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, explained that the Nigerian prisoners to be affected for now were specifically those jailed in Macau, an autonomous region…

The Presidency, Wednesday, distanced itself from the Nigerian Press Council Bill pending at the National Assembly for amendment and passage into law. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, advised Nigerian groups or individuals that have objections to the Nigerian Press Council Amendment Bill to follow due process rather than throw mud at the government, using the media. Speaking to State House correspondents on the controversy surrounding the proposed amendment of the law sponsored as a private member’s bill, Shehu said all the attacks against the government as a result of the bill were…