Author: Samuel Akpenpuun

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has explained why he did not attend the national caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. El-Rufai in an interview he granted Arise TV earlier this week,  faulted the lack of adequate notice for the meeting, noting that he had made other plans. The national caucus meeting of the APC is a high-level strategic gathering of the party’s top leadership, including the president, vice president, national chairman, members of the National Working Committee, state governors under the party, and key stakeholders such as former governors, ministers,…

The Osun State Government, on Wednesday, refuted claims that it was forcing career officers in local governments to change signatories to council accounts amid the ongoing tussle between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress over local government control. The Chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement  in Osun, Mr. Adewale Adebayo, had alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration was coercing Finance Directors and Heads of Local Administration to alter council account signatories. “We reliably gathered that Adeleke’s government has started taking 30 Local Government Area Finance Directors and Heads of Local Administration to an undisclosed location…

The United States will remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, the Pentagon said in a Wednesday memo. The memo became public as part of a court filing in a case challenging President Donald Trump’s late January executive order that was aimed at barring military service by transgender personnel. “Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service,” the memo said. These troops may be “considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is…

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said the nation was not getting accurate vote counts during elections due to the involvement of those he described as ‘ghost voters.’ He also said it is better and more honourable for the chairman and other officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission to resign rather than yield to pressure to manipulate elections. Jonathan made the assertion at the YIAGA Africa Reflection Conference on Democratic Elections in West Africa held in Abuja. According to the ex-leader, the nation’s electoral system will continue to grapple with a credibility crisis, until there are men of integrity…

US President Donald Trump unveiled plans Tuesday to sell new “gold card” residency permits for a price of $5 million each — and said Russian oligarchs may be eligible. Trump said sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit. “We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card, this is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The Republican…

The management of Arc-View Investments Limited has petitioned the Speaker, Ogun State House of Assembly and the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, accusing Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo of harassment, intimidation and fraudulent business practices. The petition, signed by the Company MD, Okegbenro Idowu, indicated that Arc-View Investment Limited had bought and developed several acres of land from Pastor Ashimolowo at the Bluestone Gardens City in Ofada town. The petition dated February 19, 25, reads, “We humbly want to use this medium to bring to the notice of your good office, the case of harassment, intimidation and fraudulent business practices…

The Senate has unanimously voted to refer Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions for disciplinary review, following her a recent seating arrangement dispute. The committee, chaired by Senator Neda Imaseun, has been given two weeks to report back on its findings. The decision was reached following a voice vote after lawmakers revisited the controversy surrounding the recent altercation between Akpoti-Uduaghan and the Senate leadership over seat allocation, with lawmakers underpinning the need to uphold parliamentary rules and decorum. In a motion raised under Order 1(b) and 10, condemning what he described as Akpoti-Uduaghan’s “extreme…

Eastern and southern African regional blocs have appointed former leaders from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria to oversee their peace process for the Democratic Republic of Congo where fighting has intensified in the east of the country. The East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) have come together in recent weeks in an attempt to bring peace to eastern DRC, where the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has seized large swathes of territory, triggering a humanitarian crisis. The two blocs agreed in a summit on February 8 to merge two separate peace processes — based in Luanda and Nairobi…

The Magistrate Court sitting in Sabo, Yaba area of Lagos on Tuesday freed Abdulazeez Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, in relation to the case of the demise of Aloba Oladimeji lleriOluwa also known as Mohbad. Magistrate Ejiro Kubenje, who read and implemented the legal advise of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) Lagos, said that he had no case to answer. The court also freed music promoter, Samson Balogun Eletu, also known as Sam Larry, Owodunni Ibrahim also known as Primeboy and Mohbad’s former Manager, Opere Babatunde. The DPP, however, said it shall be prosecuting the auxiliary nurse who…

The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, has directed all electricity distribution companies to publish the refunds they have made to customers who purchased meters under the Meter Asset Providers scheme. The NERC announced this on its social media handles on Monday. On Monday, the commission held the first Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Stakeholders meeting in 2025. The MAP framework provides for the provision and maintenance of end-use meters as a service by third-party investors based on which customers benefitting from such meters pay metering service charges. NERC regulation states that “where a customer elects to make upfront…