ExtMedia

T he leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky has said he is confident that if given a choice, most Nigerians will choose the Islamic system of government over the neocolonial system of government. The Islamic scholar, who is the leader of Shiites in Nigeria, accused the Nigerian Government of gross violation of his fundamental right by not allowing him to go abroad for treatment despite his deteriorating health condition. He disclosed this while responding to questions in an exclusive live programme with the Iranian Press TV monitored in Kano on Wednesday evening.  It is his first interview with the media since he regained freedom on July 28, 2021. He had been arrested and detained since December 2015. He said, “Even after the incarceration, we are still in another incarceration since they have refused to allow us to travel outside the country.” Zakzaky explained that the Movement is seeking an Islamic government system to replace what he describ...

The federal lawmakers of the House of Representatives have joined their counterparts in the Senate to ask President Muhammadu Buhari to designate bandits, who have ravaged the North-West and parts of the North-Central geopolitical zones, as terrorists. Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson, at the plenary on Thursday, moved a motion of urgent public importance to urge the Green Chamber to back the Senate. The Senate, on Wednesday, asked the President to declare bandits in the country as terrorists.   It also demanded that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces wage a complete war against the assailants, asking him to bomb all their locations to crush and eliminate them.   The Senate further asked Buhari to declare all known leaders of the bandits wanted and track them wherever they are, for arrest and trial.   These were parts of the resolutions of the Senate after considering a motion sponsored by the Senator from Sokoto East, Ibrahim Gobir, an...

The ban on open grazing has taken effect in Delta State as the governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has assented to the Bill on anti-Open grazing bill in the state on Thursday morning. Tagged, ‘Delta State Livestock, Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Act 2021’, the bill was signed into law by Governor Okowa, ten days after the bill scaled the third reading and was passed by the State House of Assembly during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Sherriff Oborevwori on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. The law prohibits the carrying of firearms, either licenced or otherwise, by residence or individuals in the state just as it seeks to address the arbitrary rearing and movements of livestock in the state. Governor Okowa also signed the Delta State Urban and Regional Planning Bill 2020 into law.

Uche Mefor, the estranged deputy leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has blamed the group for the killing of Dr. Chike Akunyili in Anambra State. Dr. Chike was the widower of the late Dora Akunyili, the former Minister of Information and Communications and Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). He was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Tuesday while returning to Enugu from Onitsha, where he had attended a memorial lecture organised in honour of his late wife.  Recently, there have been killings in the South-East region by unknown gunmen. The government and some people have accused IPOB and its militia arm, Eastern Security Network (ESN) of being behind the violence, an allegation the pro-Biafra group has repeatedly denied On Monday, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) were also attacked by armed hoodlums suspected to be IPOB members in the South-East.  Th...

A  chieftain of the All Professional Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe has urged the Federal Government to immediately declare a State of Emergency in the South East region. The development trails the brutal killing of Chike Akunyili, husband of late Prof. Dora Akunyili, the former director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Igbokwe, who is a Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage and Water Resources, criticised the South-East leaders for turning blind eye to the ugly situation going on in the region.  He wrote on Facebook, “Since governors and our leaders in the South-East are now deaf and dumb; let me say it with all the emphasis in my command that FG should declare a state of emergency in the SE.” Some people have linked Akunyili’s murder to the members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network.  Chike Akunyili, the widower of the late Prof. Dor...

P ope Francis has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to solve the problem of insecurity in Nigeria. He, therefore, prayed for those who have been killed and injured as a result of the insecurity, with special reference to the scores of people killed in Southern Kaduna last week.  He, however, noted that the problem was being felt across the country.  He said, "I learnt with pain the news of the armed attacks that took place last Sunday against the villages of Madamai Abun, in northern Nigeria."  “I pray for those who have died, for those who have been injured and for the entire Nigerian population. I hope that the safety of all citizens in the country will always be guaranteed,” he added.  He, therefore, urged the Nigerian government to secure the lives of people across the country.

Fighter jet operated by the Nigerian Air Force has mistakenly dropped a bomb on a Nigerian community in the Lake Chad region. Twenty people said to be fishermen reportedly lost their lives during the incident. According to People’s Gazette, the airstrike happened on Sunday in Kwatar Daban Masara but information about the incident had been slow to circulate due to obsolete communications infrastructure in the area. It was learnt that community was about 50 kilometres from the Borno State capital, Maiduguri. The attack came barely two weeks after the Nigerian military bombed a community in Yobe, also in Nigeria’s war-ravaged North-East, killing at least 12 people while many others were seriously injured. The Nigerian Air Force had initially denied dropping a bomb on Buwari village but later admitted and promised an investigation after Governor Mai Mala Buni publicly acknowledged the incident and commiserated with the victims. Meanwhile, the Nigerian military has been conducting air raids...

Nigerians on social media have taken to their handles to share photos of their relocation from the country. This is even as the 'Goodbye Nigeria' caption trends on the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Other associated words in line with the trend are ‘Welcome to a new dispensation’, ‘VPN deleted’, ‘japa’ among others. The Muhammadu Buhari-led government had on June 4 announced the suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. Telecommunication companies started blocking access to Twitter on June 5, after they received a directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission to block access to Twitter. The Nigerian government had cited the persistent use of the platform for activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence as the reason for the suspension. Since then, many had been forced to make use of Virtual Private Networks, VPN to access the platform. Also, the word 'Japa' which literally means to “flee from,” has now been coined to mean leaving Nigeria to another...

Gunshots from security agents rented the air in Gwarinpa Estate along the Kubwa Expressway in Abuja on Tuesday, as members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as Shi’ites and security agents clashed.   Six persons were reportedly killed in the incident while many sustained injuries. Joint security operatives were said to have opened fire on members of the sect when they were about to round off their Arbaeen Symbolic Trek. The incident, which occurred at the Gwarinpa gate near Galadimawa when the gun-wielding security agents arrived at the scene, threw the trek into confusion as people scampered for safety. Two people were also said to be shot at a new generation bank inside the estate. The Secretary of Academic Forum of IMN, Abdullahi Musa, also confirmed the incident on interview “They are just shooting people. As I am talking to you now, six people have been killed. They even carried some dead bodies away,” he said. Members of the sect had on Tuesday morning ...

  President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to commence prosecution of former Acting Director, Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO), Oshodi, Lagos State, Mr. Chima Igwe, for manipulating his educational status to exploit the system for personal gains. The President in a letter to the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu said Igwe is not qualified for the position of Director General and should not be considered as the substantive head of the agency. The letter, signed by Ibrahim Dikko Adamu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Operation, also urged Onu to stop interfering in the running of FIIRO and allow the board to do its job. Igwe was caught in a web of dirty scams after submitting a Doctor of Philosophy certificate that was later discovered to be fake. The doctorate which he claimed he completed at the Universite D’Abomey Calavi, Beni...

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe has blamed Sunday’s twin attack on All Progressives Congress (APC) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship campaigners in Anambra State on the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Recall that gunmen went on rampage in two locations in Anambra State, killing four persons and injuring several people at an APC rally. The hoodlums also set ablaze a car belonging to a leader of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo Campaign team, Dr Nelson Omenugha. While the attack on the APC took place during the party’s rally at Uruagu, Nnewi, the attack on Omenugha occurred at Nnobi in the Idemili South Local Government Area of the state. Dr. Nelson Omenugha, son of a serving commissioner in the state, escaped unhurt during the attack. The gunmen, however, set his Hilux vehicle ablaze. APGA was also targeted. According to an eyewitness, the APGA Chairman in Uruagu-Nnewi Ward 1, Chukwuemeka Benjamin Nwokebuagu; a schoolteacher...

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that if the country breaks up in any way or becomes the subject of what some people will like it to be, “all of us will lose out.” This is as he urged journalists to do everything to ensure that the country remains safe, secure, and united. Osinbajo stated this on Monday when he received at the Presidential Villa, the national executive of the Nigeria Union of Journalists led by its President, Chris Isiguzo. Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘Osinbajo to journalists: your civic vigilance, steadfast belief in rule of law, commendable’. According to the Vice President, “this country is ours, whether we are press, politicians or religious people, the country is ours, and we must do everything to ensure that the country remains safe, secure, and united, and this so important. “I thank you for your civic vigilance, for the very kind words you have spoken about Nigeri...

A mob Muslim youth has allegedly killed a pastor identified as Reverend Yohanna Shuaibu in Massu, a village in the Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano State. According to the Hausa Christian Foundation (HACFO) in a statement on Sunday, the mob also burnt down the slain pastor’s house, church, and mission school. The incident reportedly happened when a young Muslim man who converted to Christianity allegedly killed his brother’s wife during a fight and the mob suspected that the pastor had a hand in his alleged conversion. The statement read, “Rev. Shuaibu has been the Northeastern Evangelist of New Life Church and the CAN chairman of Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano state in Nigeria. He lived in a village called Massu. “Recently, the growth of the Missionary base in Massu had been envied by the Moslems and the wish for its uproot from the environment for no justifiable reasons. “A few days ago, one young man who converted from Islam but has neither been going to church nor mosqu...

  T he Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial district, Danjuma La’ah, has revealed reasons he shed tears on different occasions on the floor of Upper Chambers while presenting motions on banditry attacks in his constituency. The Federal lawmaker stated that some of his senatorial colleagues thought that banditry activities in Southern Kaduna seemed like a Southern Kaduna issue alone. Speaking on the development in his senatorial district, the La'ah recalled how he told senators that one day, all the 109 Senators would encounter insecurity, in form of bandits, kidnapping insurgency and other forms of criminality, stressing that his words had become realities. He said, “I have wept times without number, but I knew time shall come and time has come because while I was weeping in the chamber when presenting motions on banditry in Southern Kaduna, I said that one day somehow, that these things will affect every one of us. “Because we were thinking that it was just meant for South...

Poverty rate in Nigeria has  moved from 15 per cent at independence in 1960 to 50 per cent in 2021, Nigerian Tribune findings have revealed.  This is even as Governor of  Central Bank  of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, at the weekend insinuated that Nigeria may never be able to solve its infrastructure challenges.  According to the World Bank. infrastructure services in energy, transport, water and telecommunications services underpin the wealth of modern nations. Also, while delivering the convocation lecture of Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said excruciating poverty in Nigeria was responsible for widespread insecurity. Emefiele who addressed a group of journalists in Lagos on Saturday, quoted a Moody’s report, which concluded that Nigeria needed to spend about $3.3 trillion in capital expenditure over the next 30 years or $1.1 trillion a decade to close its infrastructure deficit.  ...