Cloned Nigerian Anchor

Author: Doris Israel Ijeoma

  • Popular Abuja Market On Fire

    Popular Abuja Market On Fire

    A fire has erupted at Wuse Market Abuja’s bustling commercial hub, on Tuesday evening. 

    The fire prompted immediate evacuations and a swift response from emergency services.

    The cause of the inferno has remained unknown, but the rapid mobilization of firefighters and security personnel to the site shows the gravity of the situation. 

    The market, known for its extensive array of goods and services, experienced an abrupt halt in activities as traders and shoppers alike were seen fleeing the vicinity.

    This incident follows a tragic event on February 29, 2024, where a fire claimed three lives in a residential building within EFAB estate, Karsana District, near Gwarinpa.

    The fire reportedly originated from an explosion linked to a diesel drum, leading to a fierce battle against the flames by both residents and the Federal Fire Service (FFS).

    The current fire at Wuse Market has caused significant concern among the populace, given the market’s prominence and the recent memory of the EFAB estate tragedy.

  • ‘Nigeria is so complex to govern’ says Buhari

    ‘Nigeria is so complex to govern’ says Buhari

    Given the prevailing circumstances in Nigeria, the immediate past President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, said there is nothing much anyone can do to salvage the situation as Nigeria is a complex country to govern. 

    The former president gave the remark when he received the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi and members of the management team of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Daura, Katsina State, at the weekend.

    Buhari maintained that his successor, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has performed very well since his assumption of office nine months ago.

    Addressing Adeniyi and his team, Buhari said Nigeria is a hard nut to crack, enjoining the citizens to endure the economic hardship in the country and support the policies and programmes of the current administration.

    “I thank you very much for coming. I very much appreciate it. I thought Tinubu has done very well,” Buhari said. “Nigeria is so complex. Really, there isn’t much anybody can do.”

    Tinubu has faced wide criticism over some of his economic policies, including the removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the exchange rate windows.

    Reacting, Adeniyi thanked the former president for his unprecedented role in supporting the NCS Act 2023.

    The CGC also paid a courtesy visit to the Emir of Daura, His Royal Highness, Dr Farouk Umar Farouk.

    “This legislative milestone grants the NCS expanded authority to implement policies aimed at bolstering revenue generation and facilitating trade, thus contributing significantly to Nigeria’s economic growth trajectory,” Adeniyi said.

    He also spoke about trucks carrying food items seized at the border, saying, “I will also use this occasion to brief you on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directives that all trucks of food carrying exports across borders that were seized by customs be returned to the traders with the hope that they would plow them back into the Nigerian markets.”

    It should be noted that this was not the first time Buhari made a remark about Nigeria being a tough job for leaders to govern.

    In November 2023, during an interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Buhari said the country was difficult to rule.

    “Nigerians are extremely difficult. People know their rights. They think they should be there, not you. So, they monitor virtually your every step. And you have to struggle day and night to ensure you are competent enough,” he said.

  • Biden’s Blunder Fuels Criticism from Russian Officials

    Biden’s Blunder Fuels Criticism from Russian Officials

    In a recent interview with MSNBC, US President Joe Biden stumbled over his words, mistakenly conflating Ukraine with the Middle East while discussing international affairs. 

    Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev seized on the blunder, claiming it reflects Biden’s deteriorating mental state.

    During the interview, Biden discussed the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, stating, “We shouldn’t have gone into Ukraine.” He quickly corrected himself, referring to the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

    This confusion is not isolated, as Biden has faced criticism for similar slips in the past.

    Medvedev, currently serving as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, posted a clip of the gaffe on social media, accompanied by a scathing remark, labeling Biden a “rare kind of idiot.”

    Some Russian officials suggest Biden’s mistake was Freudian, implying underlying sentiments about US involvement in Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine is viewed by Moscow as a US-led proxy war against Russia.

    In the interview, Biden also criticized former President Donald Trump’s skepticism towards NATO, highlighting the organization’s importance for national defense. However, Moscow perceives NATO’s expansion in Europe as a contributing factor to tensions with Ukraine.

    The incident adds fuel to the ongoing debate surrounding Biden’s mental acuity and his ability to effectively navigate international relations.

  • Breaking! UK Bans Nigerian Health Workers, Others From Bringing Family Members

    Breaking! UK Bans Nigerian Health Workers, Others From Bringing Family Members

    In a move aimed at reducing net migration and addressing visa abuse, the UK Home Office has announced a ban on health workers bringing dependants to the country. 

    The decision, part of a broader plan to control legal migration, seeks to cut down on unsustainable levels of immigration.

    Last year, 120,000 dependants accompanied 100,000 workers to the UK, prompting the government to take action. 

    Care providers sponsoring migrants will now need to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to curb exploitation and abuse in the sector.

    Home Secretary James Cleverly MP stated, “Our plan is robust but fair – protecting British workers while ensuring the very best international talent can work and study here.” The government aims to prevent the undercutting of British workers by raising the salary threshold for skilled workers and removing the 20% ‘going-rate’ discount for migrant workers in shortage occupations.

    Minister for Social Care Helen Whately MP emphasized the need for an ethical and sustainable approach, stating, “International recruitment and more immigration are not long-term solutions to our social care needs.” 

    The government is simultaneously investing in the domestic workforce through social care career reforms and qualifications.

    In addition to these measures, the Home Secretary announced a review of the graduate route for international students to prevent abuse and maintain the integrity of UK higher education. 

    The upcoming rules, set to be laid in Parliament on March 14, signify a determined effort to fulfill the government’s commitment to substantially reduce migration numbers.

  • How Emefiele stole billions from Nigeria’s foreign reserve without approval – Presidency 

    How Emefiele stole billions from Nigeria’s foreign reserve without approval – Presidency 

    The Presidency has accused the immediate past Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, of stealing billions from the country’s foreign reserve without seeking the approval of former President, Muhammadu Buhari.

    Presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in an interview with TVC, saying Emefiele was unchecked because he was in charge of most of CBN’s operations.

    According to him, Emefiele succeeded in depleting Nigeria’s foreign reserve because he was the then CBN governor and the chairman of the apex bank’s board of trustees.

    Ngelale said: “What was done concerning the expenditure of billions of dollars from the foreign reserves was done largely without the approval or knowledge of President Muhammad Buhari and President Bola Tinubu.

    “Yes, that might seem hard for some people to believe, but I want to explain how that could have happened.

    “We have one of the few Central Banks in the world where the day-to-day CEO was the governor of the Central Bank and was also the chairman of the board of directors. He was essentially overseeing himself.”

  • Protest Rocks Edo Over Deputy Governor’s Impeachment

    Protest Rocks Edo Over Deputy Governor’s Impeachment

    Indigenes and residents of Edo North Senatorial District have voiced their discontent with the impending impeachment of Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu. 

    Tensions escalated after Shaibu’s fallout with Governor Godwin in 2023 due to his gubernatorial aspirations.

    During the February People Democratic Party (PDP) primary, Shaibu held a parallel poll at his residence, declaring himself the winner, while Asue Ighodalo secured victory in the official primary.

    Last week, the Edo State House of Assembly issued an impeachment notice to Shaibu.

    Protesters, chanting solidarity songs, called on Governor Obaseki to prioritize peace. Placards with inscriptions like “No to impeachment of Edo deputy governor” and “Give peace a chance” conveyed their rejection of the move, labeling it a political vendetta.

    Led by Festus Owu, the Edo North PDP Rescue Movement (ENREM) protesters marched through major streets, urging lawmakers to focus on meaningful legislation instead of pursuing a futile impeachment that leaves citizens hungry. 

    They appealed to Governor Obaseki to intervene and halt any impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor.

    Protest Rocks Edo Over Deputy Governor’s Impeachment

    By Doris Israel Ijeoma

    Indigenes and residents of Edo North Senatorial District have voiced their discontent with the impending impeachment of Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu. 

    Tensions escalated after Shaibu’s fallout with Governor Godwin in 2023 due to his gubernatorial aspirations.

    During the February People Democratic Party (PDP) primary, Shaibu held a parallel poll at his residence, declaring himself the winner, while Asue Ighodalo secured victory in the official primary.

    Last week, the Edo State House of Assembly issued an impeachment notice to Shaibu.

    Protesters, chanting solidarity songs, called on Governor Obaseki to prioritize peace. Placards with inscriptions like “No to impeachment of Edo deputy governor” and “Give peace a chance” conveyed their rejection of the move, labeling it a political vendetta.

    Led by Festus Owu, the Edo North PDP Rescue Movement (ENREM) protesters marched through major streets, urging lawmakers to focus on meaningful legislation instead of pursuing a futile impeachment that leaves citizens hungry. 

    They appealed to Governor Obaseki to intervene and halt any impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor.

  • BREAKING: SSANU, NASU Declare 7 Days Warning Strike

    BREAKING: SSANU, NASU Declare 7 Days Warning Strike

    The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) have declared a 7-day warning strike to demand the payment of four months of withheld salaries of their members, after the 2022 nationwide strike.

    The decision was part of the resolution of the joint action committee of the two unions, after a meeting which held in Akure at the weekend.

    Recall that President Bola Tinubu had directed that workers in the public universities that embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022 but were not paid salaries within the period of the strike by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari should be paid for four months.

    While the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has paid the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the four months as directed by the President, the three unions of non teaching staff are yet to be paid.
     

  • Presidency Speaks On Cabal Hijacking Tinubu’s Administration

    Presidency Speaks On Cabal Hijacking Tinubu’s Administration

    The Nigerian Presidency has denied reports of a powerful ‘cabal’ forming in Aso-rock with the sole aim of hijacking President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

    Appearing on TVC Politics on Sunday, Presidential media aide, Ajuri Ngelale disclosed that no one or any group of people could establish control over the President’s actions.

    He disclosed that the President has structured his government in a way that prevents any single official or group from exerting the kind of influence that could lead to governance hijack.

    He said, “The good fortune we have is that we elected, not just a professional accountant, a professional auditor, but we elected a man who fully understands the governance mechanisms, not just at the federal level, but at sub-national level. I think this is a man who anyone working in the office of the President would tell you, there is not one individual in the Presidency that has a monopoly over what the President sees, hears and reads. Nobody has that kind of power in the office of this President and that’s intentional.”

    “He is someone who everyone has access to, everyone who needs to have access to him, has access to him. He has direct communications on a frequent basis with the heads of intelligence agencies, anti-graft agencies, and the like.”

    “So there is not going to be the potential there for anyone to form a cabal around this President because he’s aware of the dynamics of what has happened in the past and he is determined to ensure that that is not replicated under his watch.”

    “I will also add the fact that in the person of the current CBN Governor Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, this is a man who is reputed around the world as being a prudent manager of men and resources. This is someone who has a reputation, even within the government, of being tight fisted and that is by the intention of President Bola Tinubu to have someone like that in place.

    “I would also add that when you look at organizational structures that lead to Governor Emefiele, … put him in the position that he currently is in, the President has taken a comprehensive review of that structure and he has said, even by legislation, that we are going to ensure that not only guardrails are put in place, but that legislative changes be enacted in such a way that this can never happen again.”

    “He’s determined to do it, Nigerians will watch him do it and that will mean that moving forward, the kind of elite conspiracy we saw between CBN officials, high ranking government officials and high ranking members of the private sector, they’re not going to be able to conspire amongst themselves to find loopholes within the system because we have a President who’s an auditor and accountant, who will close those loopholes, just the way he did in Lagos State many years ago.”, he said.

  • Presidency Denies Allegation of Budget Padding 

    Presidency Denies Allegation of Budget Padding 

    Following accusations by Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central (PDP) that the executive is implementing an additional budget  of N3tn other than the one approved on January 1, 2024, the Presidency has denied the allegation describing it as untrue and unfounded.

    This came as the Senate said it would meet over the matter on Tuesday, using its internal mechanisms and control process

    The Northern Senators’ Forum, led by Ningi, had contended in a BBC Hausa Service interview that the Federal Government, led by President Bola Tinubu, was executing a budget significantly higher than what was passed by the NASS.

    The lawmaker stated that a N25tn budget was debated and passed, not the N28.7tn that is currently being implemented.

    “Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.

    “The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.

    “For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28tn but what was passed was N25 trillion. So there is N3tn on top. Where are they, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things,” said Ningi.

    Ningi, also revealed plans to meet President Bola Tinubu later this week saying, “We are coming up with a report and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.”

    He revealed that the forum had commissioned consultants to evaluate the 2024 budget to unearth how N3tn was surreptitiously included in the amount passed by lawmakers.

    Debunking the allegation in a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency described Ningi’s claims as “false” asserting that Tinubu had initially presented a N27.5tn budget to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023.

    It said the budget included N9.92tn for recurrent expenditure, N8.25tn for debt service, and N8.7tn for capital expenditure, contrasting Ningi’s claims.

    The Presidency emphasised that it was implausible for the Senate to have debated and passed a N25tn budget that was never presented.

    “Contrary to the strange view expressed by Senator Ningi, there was no way the Senate could have debated and passed a N25tn budget that was not presented to the National Assembly.

    We don’t expect a ranking Senator not to pay due attention to details before making wild claims.

    “It is also important to let Nigerians know that the budget that President Tinubu signed into law on January 1, 2024, as passed by the National Assembly was N28.7tn,” Onanuga insisted.

    It argued that the National Assembly only exercised its appropriation powers, and increased the executive’s proposed budget by N1.2tn to N28.7tn, which President Tinubu subsequently signed into law on New Year’s Day.

    Onanuga stated, “We want to state categorically that the only 2024 budget that is being implemented is the N28.7tn budget passed by the National Assembly and signed by the President.

    “Included in the budget are statutory transfers to the Judiciary, National Assembly, Tetfund and others. He did not present a budget of N25tn.”

    Addressing Senator Ningi’s assertion that the 2024 budget was anti-North, the Presidency dismissed it as “far-fetched” and “unbecoming” of a leader of his stature.”

  • Terrorists Abduct Unspecified Number of Students In Sokoto

    Terrorists Abduct Unspecified Number of Students In Sokoto

    Bandits have reportedly kidnapped an unspecified number of Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso in Gada local government area of Sokoto state.

    According to Daily Trust, the students were abducted from their school around 1am on Saturday.

    The proprietor of the school, Liman Abubakar, said 15 students were unaccounted for so far but “we are still counting.” 

    This incident came barely a day after the terrorists stormed a government school in Kaduna State and abducted over 270 pupils. 

    According to Abubakar, the bandits invaded the town around 1am, shot one person and abducted a woman.

    “As they were leaving the town, they sighted our students rushing into their rooms and they kidnapped many of them.

    “We have so far counted 15 who are missing and we are still searching for more,” he said. 

    Abubakar added that this was not the first time the village was attacked by bandits.

    The member, representing Gada-East Constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda while confirming the attack, said he received a call from the village around 2am that it was invaded by bandits.

    “I reached out to the local government authorities and security agencies and I am sure they are doing something about it,” he said.

    It was also gathered that bandits attacked and killed three persons at Turba village in Isa Local Government Area of the state, including the village head.

    A member representing, Isa Constituency, Habibu Modachi who confirmed the incident, believed it was a reprisal after security operatives raided bandits’ hideouts two days ago.

    The spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, said he was not aware of the development but he would contact the Divisional Police Officer of the local government areas.