News & Announcements

Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has stated that the next administration must endeavor to promote national moral rearmament and reconciliation in the wake of the division brought on by the recently ended general elections.

According to him, this has the power to promote healing and calm Nigerian youth who were enraged by the flaws of the elections.

This was said by Obasanjo during his lecture at the conference “From Elections to Governance and Performance,” which was held in Abuja and was organized by Nextier and the Ibadan School of Governance and Public Affairs.

In order to save the country from its collapsing economy and massive national debt load, he continued, governance in Nigeria now required creative problem-solving. He also said that there needed to be political will and action, as well as administrative efforts, to reform the public service and transform it into a capability-ready unit.

Obasanjo stated that he would continue to express his concerns for the sake of the country since he was now “too old to be quiet” in view of the difficulties the country was facing.

According to a minister from his party, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, known as “the immortal” for his long career in politics, was “stable” on Thursday after spending the previous night in an intensive care unit.

The 86-year-old media magnate and senator, who has recently been admitted and discharged from hospitals, was on Wednesday reportedly brought to Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital’s cardiac unit due to breathing issues.

Forza Italian party member and foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Rai Uno radio that he had spoken to the magnate’s physician.

“He told me Silvio Berlusconi had a quiet night, his condition is stable,” he said.

Berlusconi was in critical care, according to Tajani, “because to a problem involving an unsolved infection.”

The magnate has leukemia, according toItalian bestselling newspaper Corriere della Sera.

According to Italian media, Berlusconi complained of breathing problems and was sent to the hospital because of low blood oxygen levels, which stressed his cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.

The billionaire head of the right-wing Forza Italia party was admitted to the same hospital last month for four days for what Italian media outlets described as heart problems. He was later released on Thursday.

“I’ve already resumed working… He stated in a message shared on social media platforms on Friday that he was “ready and determined to give myself, as I have always done, to the country I love.”

Then on Sunday, he shared a picture of himself beaming in front of a sizable tulip lawn at his property in the northern Italian town of Arcore.

The “Cavaliere,” as he is popularly known in Italy, has dominated Italian politics for decades, but on the rare occasions he is visible in public, he now appears physically weakened.

He has always maintained that his famed “bunga bunga” parties with young starlets, which he has always claimed were nothing more than beautiful meals, are long gone.

Despite receiving only about 10% of the vote, Forza Italia is a component of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition administration.

Meloni tweeted her “sincere and affectionate wish for a speedy recovery” Wednesday, while Matteo Salvini, whose League party is also a coalition member, tweeted “Forza Silvio, Italy is waiting for you!”

When Berlusconi entered politics in 1994, he stood for the self-made man and a booming Italian economy to millions of Italians.

Since then, he has retained a soft spot in the hearts of many Italians despite a slew of sex scandals and legal disputes that threatened to ruin his reputation.

Mason, a British actor, and former professional Rugby player have launched a non-profit sportswear brand to help raise funds for a £25 million brain injury hospital for children in the United Kingdom who are not provided NHS treatment.

Funds to be generated through the sales of the MasonMerch sportswear line will be donated to the Tafida Raqeeda Foundation towards the construction of the hospital.

The MasonMerch non-profit clothing is available for sale via: https://shop.gutentogltd.com/collections/keith-mason

Every single purchase of the MasonMerch sportswear stands to help save the life of a little one who is counting on the benevolent support of everyone to survive.

Aside from purchasing the charity clothing, Keith Mason is also encouraging everyone to donate directly to the Tafida Raqeeda Foundation towards the construction of the hospital, a facility needed to save the lives of thousands of children.

In 2019, a little Muslim girl aged five, Tafida Raqeeda, suffered a traumatic brain injury. Tafida was a perfectly healthy child before sustaining the unexpected brain injury, leaving her fighting for her life.

Not captured under the NHS treatment scheme, there were attempts in the UK to withdraw Tafida from medical care, which led to legal proceedings.

The legal proceedings which took place in a UK High Court resulted in a landmark victory for little Tafida and her family and she was later sent to Genoa’s Gaslini Hospital in Italy for treatment.

She had been receiving treatment at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

Her mother, solicitor Shelina Begum, and father, construction consultant, Mohammed Raqeeda, then established the Tafida Raqeeda Foundation, and in 2022, launched a campaign to construct the second medical centre in Britain for treating brain-damaged children.

There are estimated 6,000 children in the United Kingdom who are battling various degrees of brain injuries.

Keith Manson, the ‘Imperative’ movie lead actor and Ambassador of the Tafida Raqeeda Foundation, says the plan is to build the hospital in London.

According to him, a number of fundraising events will take place in London, in June, and in Leeds, in the later stages of 2023.

There was unrest along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway Wednesday, April 5th afternoon following the alleged killing of a policeman by some commercial motorcyclists popularly known as Okada riders around Cele Bus Stop in Lagos.

At least three guns belonging to the officers of the Nigerian Police Force were allegedly hijacked and the bikers in their hundreds flooded the area up towards Mile 2.

Road users were seen trekking from Cele Bus Stop to Second Rainbow as the roads were blocked when the okada riders and police dispute rages.

Reports from eyewitnesses said the bikers were abokis (Hausas from the Northern part of Nigeria) who were seen carrying planks and daring the men of the police force.

The reason for the drama was that the officers ceased their bikes after they have paid their dues for the day.

This now raged the riders who demanded to get their ceased rides from the police custody which led to the death of police and unrest within the areas.

Many commuters panicked as well at the sight of the motorcyclists who went to reinforce themselves in retaliation to the police.

Recall that the Lagos State Government had restricted the operations of motorcycles in the expressways in major parts of the State but enforcement has been low in recent times.

Between January 25 and March 25, the Nigeria Customs Service’s Federal Operations Unit in Zone “C,” Owerri, seized contraband items worth N2.8 billion.

13 suspected smugglers were also detained by the squad during that time.

The announcement was made on Wednesday in Owerri when Mr. Kayode Kolade, Deputy Comptroller of Customs and Acting Comptroller of the NCS in the zone, spoke to reporters.

He clarified that the commodities seized were worth N2.7 billion, and the remaining N61.4 million was used to pay demand notices the company issued as a result of various breaches.

Five pangolin scales, 398 sacks of Indian hemp weighing 8,756 kg apiece, and 2,308 compressed packets of Indian hemp weighing 1 kg each were among the things he reported as having been confiscated.

According to NAN, pangolin scales are used to make finger and toe nails.

Additional seizures included 931 jumbo bales of used clothing, 484 bags of smuggled rice, 3, exotic bulletproof automobiles, 2,600 bottles of cough medicine with codeine packed in 26 cartons, and 2,600 bottles of such cough syrup.

31 cartons of various medications, including tramadol, 32 jerry cans of gasoline, and 540 pieces of used tires were also seized.

“After reviewing and re-jigging our operational modalities, the unit intercepted contrabands with a duty paid value of N2.8 billion between January 25 and March 25.

“Remarkably, the five sacks of pangolin scales weighing 413.1kg and the 11,064kg of Indian hemp are the highest, if not arguably the first seizure of such endangered species and hard drugs in the history of the zone.

“Effort towards combating illicit trade in endangered species is to ensure that such animals don’t go into extinction.

“Nigeria, a signatory to the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species categorises the scales under absolute prohibition making its importation or trade illegal,’’ Kolade said.

He continued by saying that Indian hemp and pangolin scales were seized on the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway and the Benin-Lagos Expressway, respectively.

“The container conveying the 518 bales of used clothes was intercepted on the Benin-Okada Road.

“The second container conveying the 392 jumbo bales of used clothing was intercepted on Umuikaa-Aba Road.

“The consignments were mostly concealed in heavy-duty trucks, and buses.

“The cartons of cough syrup with codeine, and cartons of unregistered medicaments including tramadol were all intercepted on the Asaba-Onitsha Expressway.

“The bags of rice were intercepted on Benin-Okada Expressway, while the used tyres were intercepted on the Ihiala-Onitsha Road and Cross River Waterside, respectively,’’ he said.

Kolade noted that the three exotic armored vehicles were stopped on the Patani-Bayelsa-Port Harcourt Expressway because they lacked end user certificates and customs documentation.

On Wednesday in Abuja, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control closed two stores for allegedly selling prohibited goods to Nigerians.

The stores are situated in the main market of Utako as well as the Zuba Central parking lot.

According to The News Agency of Nigeria, among the illegal goods allegedly used as aphrodisiacs include “Hajiya Ayesha Snuff, AK47, Bulletproof, and Hajiya Aysha Maisanda.”

The operation was carried out as a result of intelligence information concerning the stores, according to Mr. Tamanuwa Baba, Deputy Director, Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, NAFDAC.

“The products are meant to boost sexual performance and some were said to have been manufactured in Ghana.

“NAFDAC laboratory analysis indicates that these products contain a chemical substance called Pyridine which is a potentially harmful to the human body.

“We found a lot of unregistered products in the two shops. We will begin immediate investigations,” he said.

When asked when the shop’s owner would return from his journey, Baba claimed that the agency had detained the salesperson in the Zuba shop.

“We will get in touch with the owner of the shop on where he is sourcing these products from, but from the label on the products, some of them were allegedly manufactured in Ghana.

“What the sellers are saying is that these products usually make them high and some said that the product is used as an aphrodisiac.

“After the investigation, these products are going to be destroyed because they have not been registered by us.

He claimed that a comparable assortment of goods had also been found in the Kabo Investment Limited store in Utako.

Considering that the agency had carried out a similar operation in Sokoto where some of the products had been confiscated from a shop, he described it as alarming that some of the products had flooded the Nigerian market and are quickly spreading.

“I can tell you that Pyridine which is the chemical that is contained in some of these products can cause cancer, skin irritation and even lead to death.

Three people have been detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps’ Zamfara State Command in connection with N2 million worth of counterfeit money.

Ikor Uche, the Command’s public relations officer, reported the suspects as saying that the corps had detained them for their involvement in creating, minting, and disseminating fake naira and dollar notes to the general public.

Uche claimed that on April 3, in Gusau, Kamallu Sani, 28, Sulieman Yusuf, 29, and Uzaifa Muazu, all residents of the Tsafe Local Government Area, were detained when they attempted to pay a Keke Napep rider’s transportation fare with a bogus N1,000 note.

The Napep operator was able to recognize the phony currency and triggered an alarm, which resulted in the capture of the offenders.

Investigations, according to the command, showed that Kamallu Sani has been engaging in the industry for a year.

He admitted that one Ado Gurgu of the Tsafe Local Government Area introduced him to the unlawful acts by taking him to one Muazu Abdulkarim of the hamlet of Kwartarkwarshi.

According to Uche, Kamallu acknowledged that Muazu Abdulkarim provided the fake money notes, and that each N1000 fake note was swapped for just N400.

The Corps’ agents located the supplier in the village of Kwartarkwarshi, where the main suspect, Muazu Abdulkarim, who is still at large, told his son, Uzaifa Muazu, who had participated in the illegal trade with his father, to open a box containing phony Naira and Dollar bills for supplies to the suspects.

Together with $2,600 worth of counterfeit notes, there were N60,000 worth of phony money in the package, for a total of N1.92 million.

However, he said that after Kamallu Sani’s detention, bogus N17,000 bills were found on him.

He stated that Muazu Abdulkarim’s son Uzaifa Muazu, who was the main suspect, had admitted that his father had been engaging in the illegal activity for more than three years.

He continued by saying that he traveled with One Ado Gurgu from Kano to obtain the bogus funds.

But, according to Uche, the Commandant Muhammad Muazu warned the public to be cautious of the sneaky group of individuals.

The Corps, he claimed, had focused its searchlight on the troublemakers and would crack down hard on them.

He continued by saying that the Corps will turn over the suspects to the proper authorities so they might face charges.

Peter Obi, a candidate for the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential election, has said that leaked tape of a supposed discussion between him and Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, is fake.

According to the audio, Obi told Oyedepo that the presidential race was a theological battle and suggested that the cleric assist him in pleading with South Westerners and Kwara State residents, particularly Christians, to support his campaign.

In response, Obi claimed in a statement he personally signed on Wednesday that he never referred to the election as a holy war during his “issue-based campaign.”

Also, he bemoaned claimed efforts by the APC to “distract attention from our plainly stolen mandate.”

He stated, “These have come and continued to manifest in different ways, such as the malicious accusation of the Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, the circulation of a fake doctored audio call, and pressure on me to leave the country.

“Let me reiterate that the audio call being circulated is fake, and at no time throughout the campaign and now did I ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war.”

The former governor of Anambra State claimed that the online media outlet that publicized the audio leak had been ordered to take necessary legal action by his legal team.

“While we call on all concerned Nigerians and the international community to implore the APC and the APC-led government to stop their nasty attacks, my focus and commitment to lawfully and peacefully retrieve our mandate to secure and unite our nation, take Nigeria from consumption to production, pull millions of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty, especially in the north, and jump-start prosperity through agricultural, industrial, and technological revolution remain unchanged,” Obi added.

On Wednesday, the Eze Igbo of Ajao Estate, Frederick Nwajagu, was ordered to be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Center by the Lagos State Magistrates’ Court in Yaba.

Following a viral video in which he threatened to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra to Lagos to protect the properties of Igbo people living in the state, Nwajagu was detained last Saturday.

The 67-year-old was charged on Wednesday in front of the P. E. Nwaka-presiding magistrate court.

He was accused by the police on two charges, including misbehavior and intending to disturb the peace in Lagos State.

Nwajagu committed the offense on March 26, 2023, at No. 2 Akeem Shittu Street, Ajao Estate, Lagos, according to the four-person police prosecution team, led by the OC Legal, Yetunde Cardoso.

“The defendant conducted himself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by making inciting statements, saying that he would bring IPOB terrorist group to shut down Lagos for one month, three weeks, or three days,” the prosecution said.

The team determined that the offenses violated Sections 168(d) and 411 of the Lagos State Criminal Code, 2015.

They requested that the defendant be held in custody for 30 days while they awaited legal counsel from the Lagos State Department of Public Prosecutions.

Yet, the defendant’s attorney pleaded with the court to grant bail in the most lenient terms while presenting their client’s application.

In lieu of the DPP’s legal counsel, the magistrate, who rejected the defense attorney’s plea, ordered the defendant’s immediate remand to the Ikoyi Correctional Center.

For DPP advice, Nwaka postponed the case to May 3, 2023.

Nwajagu allegedly threatened to call IPOB members to Lagos in a 49-second video that went viral on Twitter in order to defend the Igbo people and their assets in the state.

In the viral video, he said, “IPOB, we will invite them. They have no job. All of the IPOB will protect all of our shops. And we have to pay them. We have to mobilise for that. We have to do that. We must have our security so that they will stop attacking us at midnight, in the morning, and in the afternoon.

“When they discover that we have our security before they will come, they will know that we have our men there. I am not saying a single word to be hidden. I am not hiding my words, let my words go viral. Igbo must get their right and get a stand in Lagos State.”

In response to his comments, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the public relations officer for the Lagos Police, stated the command will oppose IPOB’s presence in the state.

The defendant was detained by the Directorate of State Services on April 1, 2023, in an Ejigbo hotel after making the statement.

In order to bolster security nationwide ahead of Easter, Ahmed Audi, Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp, has directed the deployment of 30,000 people from its offices across the nation.

While addressing staff in Abuja about the need for efficient policing of the country against any horrifying acts of dangerous elements planning to cause a breakdown of law and order, Audi offered this instruction.

This was said in a statement released on Wednesday and signed by Odumosu Olusola, the Corps Spokesperson.

All of the Corps’ Special Forces, including the Armed Squad, CG’s Special Intelligence Squad, CG’s Special Anti-Vandalism Monitoring Squad, CG’s Marine Monitoring Unit, Special Female Squad, Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation, RRS, Agro Rangers, SWAT, K9, Counter Terrorism unit, and CBRNE, were ordered by the CG to work together with the regular officers to ensure a trouble-free holiday across the nation.

Audi noted “As the Easter celebration approaches, I want to see massive deployment of personnel everywhere in the country.

“All special forces and regular officers must go all out to protect lives and properties of citizens.

“You must look out for criminals, hoodlums and mischief makers seeking to compromise the integrity of the country and deal decisively with them.”

He clarified that the extensive deployment will include all public utilities, potential flashpoints, places of worship, marketplaces, recreational facilities, shopping malls, parks, and other congested areas.

Given reports of numerous political agitations and planned protests in various parts of the country, he emphasized that the strict security measures being put in place are meant to protect lives, infrastructures, and prevent the occurrence of any national emergencies.

The CG said “Reports have it that some people want to take advantage of the Easter celebration to cause breakdown of law and order, chaos and destruction of critical national assets in the name of election protests and other political agitations but we will not allow that to happen.

“You must prevent any unlawful gathering, assembly or protests which failed to obtain necessary permission from the police which is the lead agency in internal security.

“You must also ensure proper synergy with other security agencies to forestall any threat to the peace of the nation.

“Note that I will not tolerate any excuse for failure, so, ensure you quell any form of insecurity in sights to sustain the relative peace the nation is currently enjoying.”

The Corps will engage with other security agencies, he continued, and nothing will be overlooked to guarantee that the nation has appropriate protection, both now and in the future.

The Corps helmsman congratulates the nation’s Christians on the celebration of Christ’s resurrection and asks them to pray for world peace, national advancement, and a smooth handover of power to the new administration.

He urged Christmas revelers to observe the law and rejoice in moderation, and he urged people to help security agents by providing timely and reliable information to stop criminality in its tracks.