Author: Chief Editor

•Inspector General of Police: Those planning to come up with another violent protest should re-think; we are prepared to face them The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, yesterday met with command commissioners from the 36 states and Abuja, to review the security situation in the country and to strategise on how to respond to the threat of fresh EndSARS protests allegedly being planned by some of the conveners of the demonstrations that turned bloody last October. Sources at the meeting told THISDAY last night that the threat of a new EndSARS protests dominated discussion, and that a number of proactive…

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has enjoined the leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Presidency to seek ways of solving the problems they created for Nigerians instead of focusing on him. The former Vice President noted that the governing APC “has validated the assumption that the major reason the condition of living has been deplorable under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is on account of the fact that the party focuses more on playing petty politics than in actual governance.” The APC had speculated that the plethora of goodwill messages sent to the former Vice President on the…

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, released Sen. Ali Ndume on bail after spending five days in Kuje Correctional Centre. Justice Okon Abang, who gave the ruling, said the court decided to exercise its discretionary powers based on Ndume’s good conduct in the course of the trial of Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman, defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), for whom he stood surety. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ndume (APC-Borno South) was remanded in prison custody after Maina was said to have jumped bail. [GuardianNG]

Niran Adedokun niranadedokun@gmail.com Once again, agitations for the propriety for the election of a politician of Igbo extraction as President of Nigeria in 2023 are on the rise. Last week, Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, finally made good his rumoured exit from the Peoples Democratic Party from which he had sowed and reaped bountifully over the last two decades. And it happened that his decision to join the ruling All Progressives Congress has everything to do with 2023. Speaking on why he had to embark on the bitter divorce, Umahi said: “… I offered this movement as a…

Abimbola Adelakun aadelakun@punchng.com On Monday, British lawmakers debated sanctioning Nigerian government officials involved in the attack on peaceful protesters at Lekki on October 20. The petition against the Nigerian government more than doubled the threshold of 100,000 signatures necessary for the lawmakers to attend to it, and they did speak to the issues. In their presentations, they explored how to punish those that played a direct role in committing the atrocities without hurting longsuffering Nigerians in the process. Several of them invoked the Magnitsky Act. None contested the possibility of applying it, which could mean Nigerian officials are about…

It was much like a multi-coloured fluorescent bulb and the light it threw on Kwara State politics was soul-lifting. It was his first official homecoming to the state he governed and represented at eighth Nigeria’s Senate. So when the immediate past President of Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, touched base, the visit not only resuscitated his age-long political relevance in the 53-year old North Central State of Kwara, it brought about gaiety and razzmatazz. Saraki’s entry into his country home and Ilorin, the state capital, coincided with the official engagement of the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who…

For Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, whatever successes his administration seems to have recorded would be dwarfed by public expectations and challenges of the next two years, which would mark the final half of his tenure. It was actually on October 16, 2020, that Fayemi marked his two years and as was to be expected, the governor received knocks from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which lamented that ‘they Fountain of Knowledge’ has been on autopilot. PDP alluded to the ‘constant’ absence of Fayemi from the state while concluding that development had been on reverse gear for the…

• NMA hails Nigerian doctor who helped develop a vaccine The Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA) has charged the Federal Government to prioritise indigenous production of vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases. President of NAPPSA, Dr. Anthony Ikeme, gave the charge during the 93rd annual conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), which held in Osogbo, Osun State. The theme is “Technological Revolution: Adaptation in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Pharmacy Practice, and Regulation.” Ikeme stressed that for Nigeria to be reckoned with globally, its pharmaceutical sector must be amenable to the latest technologies. He pledged continued…

• PDP hails resolution, urges others to follow suit The Federal Government, yesterday, said it was in touch with officials of the British government to present its side of the #EndSARS story. This comes after the resolution of the United Kingdom Parliament to impose sanctions on some Nigerian officials over their role in the “violent suppression” of the protests. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, told State House correspondents at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja that it was not within the purview of the legislators to impose restrictions but added that it was necessary…

By olusegun Adeniyi During the COVID-19 lockdown earlier in the year, entertaining WhatsApp videos played a critical role in helping many of us to maintain our sanity. I remember a particular clip by comedian Frank Donga on what it takes to be a successful public official in Nigeria today. Donga (whose real name is Kunle Idowu) taught a class of politicians nine statements to deploy whenever they want to play the masses. After the nine lessons, Donga then added what he said was the real joker that Nigerians would always swallow if all previous ones failed: “Let’s continue to pray!”…