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The President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, has forbidden all his ministers from marrying extra wives as a measure to tackle poverty and birth control in the country.

According to the World Bank, the country is one of the poorest countries in West Africa with a GDP per capita of $567.7 and a population of 25 million.

In an interview with VOA Hausa, Mr Bazoum, who is in Washington for the US-Africa summit, blamed the high rate of illiteracy in the country for the population explosion.

He said even the Arab nations, which the people see as role models for practicing Islam, don’t give birth to many children.

“The Arabs are role models in the practice of this religion (Islam). But you hardly find more than three children in a house, each family has two or a maximum of three children, and that’s the case in all Arab and Muslim nations.

“In our own case, you will find 10, 20 and even 30 children in one house, that is the first step to poverty,” Mr Bazoum said.

“The major cause of this is because our people are not educated. A lot of us didn’t go to school, and it’s only when you seek knowledge that you would understand that giving birth to plenty will led you to poverty.

“Take the elites for example: ministers, security chiefs, and top government officials. You will never find 30 children in their houses, and these are the rich people in our society.

When asked if that was the reason for his decision to ban his ministers from marrying more wives, Mr Bazoum answered in the affirmative.

He noted that any cabinet member, who intends to marry an extra wife must drop his appointment.

“Yes, I gave that order, you can’t be a minister in my administration and marry two wives, and none of them have flouted that order.

“However, those who have two wives before taking office are allowed to retain their wives,” he added.

Former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has disassociated his administration from the state debt profile crisis.

Aregbesola on Saturday reacted to the statement credited to Bola Oyebamiji, a former Commissioner for Finance under the administration of the immediate past governor Gboyega Oyetola.

According to the statement issued by Sola Fasure, his media spokesperson, Aregbesola said the two major loans he took while in office have been liquidated.

He said, “They were the Sukkuk loans and the other was a long-term concessionary facility by the Federal Government which has a long span repayment term.

“The deductions are minimal and they are not deductions that will infringe on the finances of the state.”

While reacting to the controversial N18 billion loan collected by the Oyetola-led administration, the minister said, “I will suggest that they look at all the loans and get to the accountant-general of the state at Abere.

I think the accountant-general or the permanent secretary (finance) would have better information because it is the accountant-general that raised a memo based on the query of Governor Ademola Adeleke.

“He is the most knowledgeable about the loans by the state as the custodian of the account of the state. They should count Aregbesola out of it.”

Speaking further, Aregbesola said the matter is between the Adeleke and Oyetola administrations because his debts have been liquidated.

“I was not the one that took the N18 billion loan that was taken after the election. Oyetola took some other loans, including salary support from the Federal Government,” he added.

The minister maintained that they caused the problem for themselves, adding that “If Oyetola had set up a transition committee and had cooperated well with the incoming governor after he lost the election, there would have been a smooth change of government.

“They would have compared notes and there would be no rancour. But he (Oyetola) was busy sowing mines on the path of the incoming governor, creating problems for him, and spending money with reckless abandon.

What did he do with N18 billion? Now the new government is fighting back. If the new government takes the matter up to the EFCC, there would be problems for the Oyetola administration.”

Aregbesola, however, urged both Adeleke and Oyetola to leave him out of their problems because out of the three loans he took, two have been liquidated.

Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected as the President of South Africa under the African National Congress.

This was reported by AriseTV on Monday.

Ramaphosa won his re-election bid with 2,476 votes to defeat his rival, a former health minister, Zweli Mkhize.

His re-election comes after his opponents asked him to step down over a scandal known as ‘Farmscandal’ involving the discovery of a stash of cash at his farm.

An Argentina supporter who was seen stripping off in a raucous celebration of her country’s triumph over France in the World Cup final is now facing jail time.

Cameras turned to celebrating Argentina supporters after Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty strike earned them the victory. Among them was a blonde supporter who provided the cameras a little more than they had anticipated.

Fans were informed in advance that they would have to obey Qatar’s strict, traditional norms.

‘Visitors both men and women are encouraged to demonstrate respect for local culture by avoiding extremely revealing clothes in public,’ the Qatar Tourism Authority stated.

‘It is generally recommended for men and women to ensure their shoulders and knees are covered.’

Women are not allowed to display any cleavage or wear any exposing apparel in the conservative country of Qatar.

Non-Qatari women are free from wearing the abaya, a long, black garment that nearly covers the entire body. However, visitors must make sure their tops cover their shoulders and midriff, and their skirts, dresses, and pants must cover their knees.

At Adaka community, on the outskirts of Makurdi, the capital of Benue state, three people were brutally murdered over the weekend on farmland by suspected armed Fulani herders.

The armed men allegedly spent the night grazing their cattle on local residents’ rice farms, according to information obtained from a source in the neighborhood who spoke on the declined to be identified.

He stated, “For some time now, Fulani herdsmen have been bring their cattle into the rice farms in the community.

“One farmer was compelled to kill some of the cattle while they were destroying his rice plantation as a result of the event, having undoubtedly lost millions of Naira to the cattle invasion.

”This must have triggered the action of the armed herdsmen who staged a reprisal, killing three persons as if they were animals.”

“They are destroying our farms that are our sources of livelihood and if you complain they kill you. Most of us borrowed huge funds to cultivate the farms and they allow their cows to destroy everything. The people are just on a mission to displace our people and maybe take over our land before the 2023 elections.”

“It is unfortunate that some politicians in our state are collaborating with these monstrous terrorists to unleash mayhem on our people. We will reject such persons at the polls,” he added.

The victims were two rice farmers and a landowner who had out to examine a farmland on Friday but never returned, according to Lt. Col. Paul Hemba, Special Adviser to the Governor of Benue State on Security Matters.

He said “The community raised the alarm, they alerted me. I got in touch with security personnel patrolling the area.But they said they did not have information on any missing persons.

”Since it was night already, we waited still Saturday morning, when we sent out patrols including members of the community and in the course of the patrol we discovered the corpses of the missing three persons who were brutally killed obviously with machete.“

”And the community is suspecting that Fulani herdsmen murdered the victims as a reprisal.”

“This is because the herdsmen have been operating in their vicinity. Additionally just last week, the Fulani herdsmen alleged that some of their cows which invaded the peoples rice farms were killed in that community.”

The Police Commissioner is investigating the incident.“The people said they killed the cattle because they invaded their rice farm. And most times these farms are cultivated with huge loans which must be paid back after harvest”

”From the pictures we have you can see that the animals that were killed were grazing freely on a large rice farm.

“These are some of the terrible things farmers have been noticing, herders will push their cows into people’s yam, cassava and rice farms and watch them destroy and graze on them after which they walk away.“

“It’s so painful that you will tend to your farm today and when you get there the next day it is all eaten up by cows.

So it is suspected that out of frustration and pain somebody who saw this happening to his rice farm did that to the animals.”

A young guy allegedly hacked his friend to death with a machete over the weekend in the Olum community of Boki, Local Government Area, LGA, of Cross River State.

According to local reports, the attacker was named Emmanuel, while the victim was named Akwande.

The eyewitness, Patrick Osang, said that three of them went to the farm and that after their work, Emmanuel got out his pawpaw and began eating it while Akwande was sucking oranges. As soon as I sliced some palm fruits, I left the two of them.

“I did not hear any quarrel or exchange of words but when I went back I saw Akwande lying in a pool of blood with a deep cut on his neck. I asked Emmanuel what happened but he did not say anything but went ahead to attack me with his matchet”.

“We fought with our knives but his knife could not penetrate my body neither did mine enter his because of the charms both of us have. But I overpowered him and dragged him to the village”

“We are friends from Obudu and came to Boki to work for daily pay. We have been living peacefully until Saturday afternoon when Emmanuel killed Akwande”

A weekend attack by hoodlums on the convoy of Abdulsalam  Zaura, the All Progressive Congress, APC, senatorial candidate for Kano Central, resulted in no fewer than 17 injuries.

It was reported that the incident happened on Saturday night while the senatorial candidate was coming from a condolence visit to Gayawa village in the Ungogo Local Government Area when they were attacked near Gadar Katako of Rimin Kebe, which borders the Ungogo and Nassarawa Local Governments.

Zaura’s media assistant, Ibrahim Mua’azzam, confirmed the event in a statement yesterday and stated that at least 17 of the supporters were hurt in the attack and were being treated at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in the state.

 “An interim assessment of the damage caused by this act has so far revealed 17 minor and major casualties. The major casualties are undergoing treatment at the Murtala Muhammad Specialists Hospital. We also have 17 Cars damaged. The statement said.

“Zaura want to assure victims of the attack that they would be taken care of absolutely. We can also assure you that all legal means will be taken against the culprit and I can tell you they would be brought to book,” Mua’azzam stated.

A car accident that happened on the Agaie-Lapai Road in Niger State claimed the lives of twelve people.

Due to the Agaie-Lapai road’s poor condition, the accident happened on Saturday when a truck lost control and struck some tanker drivers who were parked on the side of the road.

This information was disclosed in a statement signed by Ibrahim Sayuti, the chairman of the Agaie Local Government Area, and provided to our correspondent on Sunday.

Sayuti claimed that the Agaie-Lapai road’s poor condition was to blame for the accident, noting that mishaps had started to happen frequently there.

“This is not the first time this is happening this year. We have had a scenario of tanker carrying petroleum product also loosing control and getting burnt where many lives were lost.

“The situation of the road also is affecting the economic activities of the local government and its sisters communities as that same road is the easiest route that links western Nigeria to northern states.

The tragedy was brought on by improper overtaking, according to Commander of the Niger State Federal Road Safety Corps Kumar Tsukwam. He continued by saying that 12 people died in the disaster.

The new Central Bank of Nigeria cash withdrawal restriction would have a greater impact on politicians, according to Most Reverend Daniel Okoh, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Okoh, who was represented by the immediate president of the OAIC, Napo Emuchay, said the policy was directed at politicians who have amassed wealth for electoral purposes while speaking at the thanksgiving service for the new president of the Organization of African Instituted Churches, Nigeria Region.

He said, “It will affect politicians more because in order to evade taxation or avoid recovery, they keep loads of millions of naira in their accounts. They want to catch up with them.

“One thing that is likely to happen now, the price of dollar will shoot up because politicians are gearing up. All the money they have packed, they cannot take to the bank. They are planning to buy dollars so that they can change them when the new currency is out.”

He claimed that due to political currency manipulation, a dollar could be sold for N1,000 in January.

He claimed that the church would be in favor of the cash withdrawal cap if it were for the sake of the nation.

Israel Akinadewo, the president of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches’ Nigeria Region, meanwhile urged Nigerians to elect leaders with a track record of achievement.

He asserted that the nation required detribalized godly leaders who could protect it and bring the people together.

“ATM does not request for our tribe and faith before dispensing; rain has no preference for either of these too, and in as much as there is no special financial technology on the premise of tribes and region, then, our selfish needs should never undermine our collective growth,” he stated.

Akinadewo emphasized that Nigerians must have confidence in themselves and to focus on what they can do for the nation rather than what it can do for them.

“Furthermore, our dependence on foreign nations for everything should be reduced to the barest minimum but encourage local participation,” he added.

On Sunday, suspected thugs destroyed a portion of the Imo State courthouse in Owerri.

This happened only a day after hoodlums fled after burning down the Orlu High Court.

The Owerri High Court is housed in the Magistrate’s Court, which is situated in the center of the state capital.

The suspects came with explosives and targeted a portion of the facility’s roof, a source told our correspondent.

While our correspondent was unable to determine the full amount of the arson damage, he did hear that critical court documents and files, including files, had been burned.

According to the report, “Hoodlums have partially destroyed the Owerri Magistrate’s Court on Owerri-Orlu Road. It occurred today ( Sunday). It’s really unfortunate.

On Sunday afternoon, one of our reporters went to the area and noticed smoke coming from the burned-out portion of the courthouse.

When called, Michael Abattam, a police spokesperson for the state command, confirmed the occurrence and said the fire had been extinguished.

Additionally, he disclosed that the command had launched an inquiry in order to apprehend the offenders.