News & Announcements

This is coming following an emergency plenary session summoned by the House of Assembly on Wednesday in Akure amidst the heavy presence of security men at the Assembly gate.

The Assembly subsequently directed the Clerk of the House, Benjamin Jaiyeola, to write the Deputy Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, over allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him.

The petition, which has been signed by nine out of 26 Members of the House, was read during the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Olamide Oladiji.

Earlier, the Majority Leader, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, who moved the motion, quoted Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (As amended) to back it up on the need to write the deputy governor over the allegations before the House will take any action and the motion was seconded by a PDP lawmaker from Akoko Southwest 2, Tope Agbulu.

According to sources within the Assembly, 23 out of the 26 lawmakers have already signed the impeachment notice against Aiyedatiwa.

The Deputy Governor is under investigation for alleged gross abuse of office.

According to the source, trouble started when Aiyedatiwa allegedly approved millions of naira for the purchase of a bulletproof SUV for his personal use to be sourced from the Palliative Fund.

This approval was allegedly given while Governor Rotimi Akeredolu was recuperating in Germany.

Following the August 30 military coup in Gabon, the Commonwealth has issued a partial suspension of Gabon.

The partial suspension was imposed during the 63rd Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meeting in New York on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss events in member countries.

According to a statement released on Tuesday, the meeting was headed by Fiam Naomi Mata’afa, Samoa’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Tourism.

Ministers from Barbados, Canada, Ghana, Mauritius, and Rwanda, as well as delegates from Belize, Malaysia, and Malta, were present.

According to the statement, the ministers expressed the collective concern of the Commonwealth on the political situation in Gabon, strongly condemned the unconstitutional removal of the elected government from office and called for the restoration of democracy.

“In accordance with the steps set out in the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme on the Harare Declaration, the Ministers decided to partially suspend Gabon from the Commonwealth pending the restoration of democracy,” it said.

“This partial suspension entails suspension from the Councils of the Commonwealth, and the exclusion of Gabon from all Commonwealth intergovernmental meetings and events, including ministerial meetings and CHOGM.”

The ministers determined that if acceptable progress had not been made within two years, consideration would be given to fully suspending Gabon, the statement continued.

They also urged the Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, to continue her Good Offices engagement with Gabon, including providing technical assistance, with a view to redressing the situation and facilitating Gabon’s return to democracy.

“The Group called upon Gabon as a Commonwealth member, to uphold the values and principles of the Commonwealth and to hold credible elections as soon as possible and within a maximum of two years from 30 August 2023,” the statement said.

“The Group called upon Gabon to guarantee the personal integrity, safety, health and human rights of former President Ali Bongo Ondimba, his family members and members of his Government.”

Tunisia suffered a sudden power cut lasting around three hours across the country on Wednesday due to a technical problem, the state-owned monopoly electricity and gas company Steg announced.

The power cut occurred at around 01:00 local time (00:00 GMT) “due to a sudden breakdown” at the Radès power station in the southern suburbs of Tunis, Steg said in a statement, without giving any details.

Electricity began to be restored at 4:00 a.m. in several districts of Tunis.

According to reports on social networks, the power cut lasted more than four hours in some areas.

This type of nationwide power cut is rare in Tunisia.

This summer, due to a heat wave that exceeded 45 degrees Celsius, the authorities had to carry out scheduled load shedding, targeting a different region each time.

According to data from June 2023, the state-owned company Steg supplies 99% of Tunisia’s electricity, produced mainly from natural gas, with renewable energies (mainly photovoltaic) accounting for just 2.5% of the total.

As the country has few hydrocarbons, most of its natural gas comes from Algeria, thanks to preferential tariffs on the gas pipeline linking that country to Italy.

Tunisia also imports natural gas from neighbouring Algeria and neighbouring Libya.

Several regions of Tunisia have also experienced cuts in drinking water supplies in recent months, due to the drought that is threatening water reserves.

Dams are currently only 27% full, and the government has introduced rationing until the end of September.

The military leaders of three West African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – signed a mutual defence pact deal over the weekend.

The junta leaders signed the Liptako-Gourma Charter, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States.

The pact is named after the region where the three country’s borders meet.

Col. Assimi Goita, Mali’s junta leader, said in a statement, “I signed today with the heads of state of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako-Gourma Charter, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States with the objective of establishing an architecture of collective defence and assistance mutual for the benefit of our populations.”

The new pact calls for the three neighbouring countries to come to the defence of each other.

All three are facing threats from jihadists.

Each of the countries has undergone coups since 2020.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Kenyan President William Ruto on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Ukraine has said it will set up “grain hubs” in Kenya and other parts of Africa to tackle food insecurity.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office announced the plan, without giving many details, after he met his Kenyan and South African counterparts in New York.

Ukraine is a major supplier of grain to Africa.
In July, Russia’s withdrawal from a scheme that allowed the export of food from Ukraine raised concerns about shortages on the continent.

Global grain prices have risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

When President Zelensky spoke at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, he accused Russia of weaponising everything from food to energy.

While in New York, he met Kenya’s President William Ruto and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.

In his statement about the meeting, Mr Ruto said that the Ukrainian president had committed to establishing a “grain hub” in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa to help address food shortages in East Africa.

But he did not give any more details about what this would entail, or how the grain would get there.

Kenya has been one of Africa’s most prominent supporters of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

South Africa, on the other hand, has maintained a more neutral stance. In June, President Ramaphosa led an African peace mission to both Ukraine and Russia.

Mr Ramaphosa said that he and the Ukrainian president had discussed “the way forward on the peace initiative”.

They also talked about the revival of the grain deal, which had seen the export of Ukrainian food through the Black Sea.

Mr Zelensky told Mr Ramaphosa that Ukraine was trying to find alternative routes to supply grain to Africa.

“Several ships with grain have already successfully passed through these routes despite the difficult situation,” Mr Zelensky said.

Russia’s withdrawal from the grain scheme prevents Ukraine from using the Black Sea channel to transport food and other exports to Africa and other regions.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin declined to renew the scheme after its expiry in July this year.

He said that Russia would only renew the deal if Western countries agreed to certain conditions, which include lifting the economic sanctions placed on his country.

In July, Russia offered free grain to six African countries: Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea.

Senator Bala Mohammed has been recognized as the legitimately elected governor of the state by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which is now in session in Bauchi State.

The three-person panel, led by P.T. Kwahar, gave the verdict.

The appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress and its nominee, Sadique Abubakar, a former chief of the air staff, to void Mohammed’s second term was rejected by the tribunal.

The held that it had no grounds to nullify the election.

Wednesday marked the start of King Charles III’s first state visit to France in his capacity as king. The journey had been postponed in order to demonstrate that the foundations of the trans-Channel relationship are sound despite a host of political problems following Brexit.

Charles’ first state travel overseas after becoming king following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II was originally scheduled for March. But because of significant rioting and strikes over pension reforms across France, it was abandoned.

The original schedule, which was jam-packed with ceremony and grandeur in a nation that overthrew its monarchy in the 1789 revolution and later executed the king, is still fully in place in the capital city of Paris and the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne greeted the king and his wife Queen Camilla at the Paris Orly airport, and the visit was graced with crisp autumnal skies, according to an AFP correspondent.

After that, they were to be greeted by Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, and his wife Brigitte at the Arc de Triomphe memorial in the heart of Paris, where they would lay wreaths for the respective nations’ war dead.

After that, they will board a Citroen DS7 convertible that will be pulled by 136 Republican Guard horses as they travel up the Champs-Elysees to the Elysee Palace to meet President Macron.

The royal couple will then be hosted by the Macrons in the evening at a lavish state luncheon at Versailles, the château west of the capital that is synonymous with French aristocracy.

The Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy, Philip Shaibu, have been urged by the Peoples Democratic Party to put down their weapons and attempt to bring about peace.

The party expressed surprise that official state government letters, which ought to be private, were now taking over social media.

Do not de-market PDP in Edo State, a statement that was released in Abuja on Tuesday night by Chief Dan Orbih, the former chairman of the party in Edo State and PDP National Vice Chairman (South), said.

He was responding to the altercation between Obaseki and Shuaibu that seemed to defy resolution.

It was reported that Shaibu had gone to a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop his planned impeachment by Obaseki, although he latter withdrew the case following intervention of stakeholders.

The case came up again when the governor relocated the office of his Deputy.

Shaibu was also barred from entering his office in the Government House on Monday.

On social media, a formal letter informing them of his transfer surfaced. A Permanent Secretary in the deputy governor’s office received the letter, dated September 15, 2023, and acknowledged it on September 18, 2023, a Monday.

For the benefit of the upcoming governorship, Orbih counseled Obaseki and his deputy to put the past behind them and let peace rule.

He said, “I have observed with trepidation, the frosty relations between the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu and I am constrained to call on both parties to exercise restraint in what to say or do in the course of this ongoing needless and endless crisis.

“To my surprise, official letters, which should be confidential, are now dominating the social media space. I urge both parties to stop further hostilities and resolve their differences quietly in the interest of good governance and progress of the state. Anything less may affect the image and fortunes of the Party in the coming Guber election.

“Yes, we have had issues in the past between party and government, but we haven’t allowed them to be subject to newspaper editorials.

“The PDP is a strong brand in Edo State – a brand that has been nurtured over the years by the commitment of leaders and dedicated members of the party. This brand is now under serious threat by the current raging battle between the Governor and Deputy-Governor.

“I therefore seize this opportunity to call on both parties to ‘cease fire’ and resolve their differences amicably. God bless PDP. God bless Edo State.”

Ilerioluwa Aloba, better known by his stage name Mohbad, died on September 12 at the age of 27. The musician’s father, Joseph Aloba, has given insight into the quick burial of the late artist. The burial took place the next day.

In a recent interview that Temilola Sobola (@TemilolaSobola) posted on Instagram on Tuesday, Aloba explained that Yoruba culture dictates that a deceased person’s burial should not be delayed while both of their parents are still living.

He said that it might have been thought about preserving Mohbad’s remains in a mortuary until a later date if he had died at an older age.

Aloba went on to say that Mohbad owned the land where his son was buried and that he had donated it to him so that he could construct a church. He added that it was in keeping with Yoruba norms to bury him quickly.

“In Yoruba land, his corpse is not the kind to be kept when both of his parents are still alive,” he said.

“That land where Mohbad was buried is his only land, that is the only land I know him to have owned.

“Truly he gave me the land to build my church because we had both agreed to build the church there and since that’s the only land I knew him to have.”

The crash of a military helicopter in Kenya, near the border with Somalia, killed at least eight people, officials said Tuesday.

The cause of the accident in Lamu County, on the Kenyan coast, was not immediately clear. Kenyan defence forces operate in the region to help deter al-Qaeda- linked extremists from the Al-Shahab group, based across the border in Somalia.

The Defense Ministry said the Air Force helicopter crashed during a night patrol. A commission of inquiry was sent to the scene. A defence official and a police official said all military personnel and crew members aboard the helicopter had died.

Kenyan troops are also present in Somalia as part of the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia to help fight Al-Shabab.

Kenyan forces deployed to Somalia in 2011, but there are now plans to withdraw multinational forces as Somali troops take over their country’s security.

Al-Shabab has increased attacks in Kenya in recent months, killing dozens of people in the border region, as the extremists feel pressure from a Somali military offensive launched last year.