Author: Chief Editor

The House of Representatives at plenary Wednesday, stepped down a motion to obtain the report of the 2014 National Conference with the purpose of including it in the ongoing constitutional amendment process of the National Assembly. The House Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, who sponsored the motion, made reference to the reports of the 2014 National Conference and the report of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on True Federalism chaired by Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, saying that it will address the mileage and challenges being faced in the union. Moving the motion, Okechukwu said the House…

The federal government has fixed another round of talks with members of the non-teaching staff of universities on Thursday. The meeting is to try and resolve the raging dispute between unions in the country’s university system — the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) — over the sharing formula for the N40 billion earned allowances recently approved by the federal government. A notice of the meeting signed by the Deputy Director (Press), Mr. Charles Akpan, said the Minister of Labour and…

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed his mother died last month and he is unable to travel from Britain to attend the funeral in Germany because of Covid-19 travel restrictions. According to reports, Elisabeth Klopp died on January 19 at the age of 81. She was from Glatten in the Black Forest region, “She meant everything to me. She was a real mum in the best sense of the word,” Klopp told local newspaper the Schwarzwaelder Bote. “As a devout Christian, I know she is in a better place now,” he added. Germany has introduced strict travel restrictions from countries…

Thomas Tuchel dismissed on Wednesday fears that N’Golo Kante’s spate of hamstring injuries could diminish the France World Cup winner’s midfield dynamism, declaring himself a “huge fan”. Kante will start Thursday’s FA Cup fifth-round clash at Barnsley in a much-changed Blues line-up, with new boss Tuchel delighted by the 29-year-old’s return to fitness. Chelsea boss Tuchel has tipped the “humble” midfielder to rediscover his aggressive, ball-winning best form. “I’m absolutely not concerned about his quality,” Tuchel said. “From what I see on the pitch in games and what I see on the pitch at Cobham, it’s everything I expected —…

INEC declared in Abuja on Wednesday that management of large crowds at many polling units remained a challenge at elections. Its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the declaration at INEC’s first quarter meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) for this year. Yakubu said that with only 119,973 Polling Units serving a voter population of more than 84 million, Nigeria faced an acute problem of voter access to polling units. He noted that it was more worrisome as the number of eligible voters would increase when fresh registration resumed, “The management of large crowds at many polling…

Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello on Wednesday said the former Nigeria aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). “I have the mandate to sanitize, mobilize and educate and woo Nigerians into the party, irrespective of their background,” Bello told journalists after revalidating his APC membership. “Our Brother Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has joined our party in good faith. He is joining our party to add his own positive energy and make a contribution to ensure that APC is a party to beat.” Bello’s disclosure comes less than a day after it was rumoured that Fani-Kayode has dumped…

One of the youth representatives in the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses, Rinu Oduala, has threatened legal action against the Central Bank of Nigeria after a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the apex bank to unfreeze the accounts of 20 #EndSARS promoters. The accounts were targeted by the apex bank in 2020 in the wake of the #EndSARS protests which demanded an end to police brutality and bad governance in the country. The order was issued on Wednesday by the judge, Ahmed Mohammed, following an agreement by the legal teams of…

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said bandits cannot be proscribed in Nigeria because they don’t go by any name. Mohammed who made this known in an interview on AIT’s Kaakaki programme monitored by The PUNCH on Wednesday said proscribing the bandits is not what really matters but how they are treated. “You proscribe known groups with names. You can’t just proscribe an unknown group legally,” he said. “Secondly, it’s not whether they are proscribed or not, it is the way they are treated. Does the government actually treat them with kid gloves? The answer is no.” Mohammed also pointed out…

A federal high court in Abuja has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to unfreeze the bank accounts of 20 #EndSARS protesters. Ahmed Mohammed, the judge, gave the order on Wednesday after counsel to the CBN and the legal representative of the protesters agreed to end the case. “All processes filed deemed to have been withdrawn in the spirit of reconciliation, the suit is hereby struck out,” the judge said. “The order of November 4, 2020, freezing the accounts of the respondents is hereby set aside.” “An order is made de-freezing the accounts of the respondents immediately.” The CBN…

Jose Mourinho said Tuesday that he is confident he can deliver the trophies required to convince England captain Harry Kane to stay at Tottenham. Kane, 27, has made it clear he wants to see signs of progress with Tottenham before he will commit his long-term future to the club. The clearest way to prove Tottenham are heading in the right direction would be to give Kane the first major silverware of his career. Kane scored his 20th goal of the season against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, making him Tottenham’s all-time joint second-highest scorer. While Tottenham hasn’t won a leading…