Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River has said that aligning with the All Progressives Congress (APC) party would bring federal assistance to the state.
While addressing the youths who held a rally to welcome him to the party at the governor’s office in Calabar on Thursday, Governor Ayade said he joined APC for the benefit of the state.
According to him, a party is an appropriate vehicle that will bring full economic benefits to the state, which he said is the APC.
“We have to re-sucket into the centre to drive the value of governance into the state where our interest will be better served,” he said.
He said that Cross River has a lot of mineral resources but the resources required to exploit the hydrocarbons were beyond the capacity of the state.
The governor lamented that Cross River was economically disadvantaged, noting that the state is the 35th in terms of revenue allocation received from the federal government.
“The state does not have reasonable allocation. We are not part of the 18 per cent derivation. We are not part of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). We do not have oil,” he said.
Mr Ayade also said he expanded the government to accommodate 38,000 young people and urged the youths to go and register as APC members in their respective wards.
Real Madrid look at Antonio Conte as Zinedine Zidane replacement; first-choice Massimiliano Allegri set for return to Juventus; Conte left Inter Milan due to need to make significant financial cuts after leading them to Serie A title
Antonio Conte is being considered as Zinedine Zidane’s successor at Real Madrid after they missed out on first-choice Max Allegri, according to Sky in Italy.
After Zinedine Zidane stepped down from the Bernabeu for a second time this week, the Spanish giants had been hoping to appoint long-term target Allegri – but he is set for a sensational return to Juventus to replace Andrea Pirlo.
They have now turned to Conte, who is a free agent after parting company Inter Milan on Wednesday despite leading them to the Serie A title, due to a need to make significant financial cuts.
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Conte is a prolific title-winner with Juventus himself, as well as Chelsea and this season Inter.
Allegri’s agent was in Madrid on Tuesday but, for the second time in his career, he has turned Real down in favour of a second spell with his former club.
Spanish football journalist Alvaro Montero says Zinedine Zidane is ‘unpredictable’ after he stepped down as Real Madrid head coach for the second time
Ex-Juventus star Zidane called time on his second spell in charge of the La Liga club after failing to win a trophy this season, following two league titles and three Champions League victories since he began his first spell at the helm in 2015.
Zidane told club directors and the first-team squad of his decision on Wednesday and finalised his exit at Real’s Valdebebas training complex on Thursday.
Major General Faruk Yahaya who was appointed the 26th Nigerian Army Chief of Staff on Wednesday, May 26 and announcement made Thursday, May 27 by President Muhammadu Buhari has been described as a round peg in a round hole.
Findings by the National Association of Online Security Reporters, NAOSRE, revealed that the dedicated soldier least expected the elevation by President Buhari.
“He is such a dedicated officer who is primarily concerned about the professional execution of his assigned duties,” said a source that can be trusted with facts.
Continuing, the credible source told NAOSRE President, Femi Oyewale, that “Major General Faruk Yahaya is calm, cool and highly intelligent. When the idea for late general Attahiru’s replacement came up, he did not lobby anyone to interface for him.
“He never lobbied to be appointed. He did not even come near the Villa. He was just dedicated and committed to his duties as Theatre Commander Operation HADIN KAI, responsible for Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency operations in North East Nigeria.
“He is also well experienced as he has been a General Officer Commanding, GOC, Division 1, Kaduna. He is also a charismatic soldier who is well loved by officers and men of the Nigerian Army.
“General Faruk Yahaya is very firm, tactical and a team player. Soldiers will co operate with him to end insurgency. So, the President has made the right choice,” disclosed the source.
Born on January 5, 1966, in Sifawa, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto state, the new Chief of Army Staff is a thorough bred professional who has distinguished himself over the years including as a two time Brigade Commander in Benin and North East, military Secretary and his recent assignment.
A member of the 37 Regular Course of the prestigious Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, he started his cadet training on 27 September 1985 and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on 22 September 1990.
He has held several appointments including Staff, Instructional and Command.
Notable among the appointments held by the new COAS are Garrison Commander Headquarters Guards Brigade, Directing Staff at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Deputy Director Army Headquarters Department of Military Secretary, Deputy Director Army Research and Development and the Chief of Staff, Headquarters Joint Task Force Operation Pulo Shield.
He also served as the Principal General Staff Officer (PGSO) to the Honourable Minister of Defence, the Commander, Headquarters 4 Brigade and 29 Task Force Brigade (Operation Zaman Lafiya).
He was also Director Manpower at the Army Headquarters, Military Secretary, Army Headquarters and General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division of the Nigerian Army.
The new COAS is a proud holder of several honours and awards, some of which include, Forces Service Star, Meritorious Service Star, Distinguished Service Star, Grand Service Star, Passed staff course (Dagger), National Defence Course (Chile), Economic Community of West Africa State Monitoring Group Medal, Command Medal, Field Command Medal, General Operations Medal, Silver Jubilee Medal and Golden Jubilee Medal. He is happily married and blessed with children.
He holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree in History and Masters Degree in International Affairs and Diplomacy and speaks Arabic, English language, Hausa and Spanish fluently.
He was promoted first as a Lieutenant 27th September 1990, Captain 27th September 1994,Major 27th September 1998 and Lieutenant Colonel 27th September 2003.
Other preceding promotions were Colonel 27th September 2008, Brigadier General 27th September 2013 and Major General 27th September 2017.
Among the appointments he has held are Platoon Commander 181 Mechanised Battalion; Platoon Commander 82 Mechanised Battalion; Company Second in Command 81 Battalion and Aide de Camp to Kano State Administrator.
He went on to later become Company Second in Command 20 Battalion; Commanding Officer 7 Battalion; General Staff Officer Grade 2 Army Headquarters Department of Training and Operations (Field Exercises).
General Yahaya was also a Staff Officer Grade 2 (Administration) Headquarters Guards Brigade; Staff Officer Grade 1 Headquarters Guards Brigade; Garrison Commander, Guards Brigade and Directing Staff, Armed Forces Command and Staff College.
He later became Deputy Director Military Secretary 3, Department of Military Secretary (Army); Deputy Director Military Secretary 2, Department of Military Secretary (Army); Deputy Director Research and Development, Army Headquarters Department of Policy and Plans and Chief of Staff, Headquarters, Operation Pulo Shield.
The military high Command subsequently entrusted him as Deputy Military Secretary 1, Department of Military Secretary (Army); Principal General Staff Officer to the Honourable Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence; Commander 4 Brigade Nigerian Army and Commander 29 Task Force Brigade, Operation LAFIYA DOLE.
He also held the positions of Director Manpower, Army Headquarters Department of Administration; Military Secretary (Army), Department of Military Secretary (Army); General Officer Commanding 1 Division Nigerian Army, Theatre Commander, Operation LAFIYA DOLE and Theatre Commander Operation HADIN KAI respectively.
The Nigeria Police says it has arrested the people that are allegedly involved in the failed attack on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
Acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, disclosed this on Thursday at the weekly special briefing of State House Correspondents, organised by the Presidential Media Team.
Baba said; “We have been able to uncover the assailants and we have uncovered what actually happened, contrary to what he said.
“We have been able get these people and know where they came from and how they came but the case is still under investigation. But as for those who organized and those who pulled the trigger have all been arrested.”
Governor Ortom had in March this year, alleged that gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders attacked him on his farm near Tyo-mu, along Makurdi-Gboko Highway of Benue State.
The Governor, who appeared ruffled while speaking to Journalists after the foiled attack at the Benue People’s House, Makurdi, said armed militiamen, numbering about 15, advanced quickly towards his convoy with sophisticated weapons but were repelled by his security details.
He said the men, dressed in black, had trailed his convoy from his farm.
All is now set for the 2nd edition of the Ecobank Agribusiness and Food Security Summit organized in association with Vanguard Economic Forum Series. The primary content objective of summit is to discuss the role of technology and digitisation across the agricultural value chain. The virtual summit with the theme: Digitizing the agricultural value chain for unlocking productivity, economic growth and food security, is scheduled for June 3rd 2021 by 11am prompt and will be broadcast and streamed live via zoom and across vanguard newspapers and Ecobank social media channel platforms.
Strategic Partners to Ecobank on the summit are Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Nigerian Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (NASME). Others include the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG). The speakers and panelists are carefully drawn from government, development finance institutions, banking, trade associations, civil society, non governmental organisations and subject matter experts in technology and agriculture.
Confirmed speakers include Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director General, Partnership for Delivery, IITA; Aliyu Abdulhameed, MD/CEO, NIRSAL; Dr. Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice President, NABG; Ndidi Nwuneli, Co-founder/Managing Partner, Sahel Partner; Akin Alabi, Co-founder, Corporate Farmers International; Ayodeji Balogun, Country CEO, AFEX Commodities Exchange and Patrick Akinwuntan, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, among others.
Announcing the conference in Lagos, Head of Agribusiness at Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs Mojisola Oguntoyinbo said the Summit is part of the bank’s determination to further showcase the potentials in the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy in partnership with Vanguard newspapers, the Economic Forum Series and Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG). According to her, the summit is also part of the bank’s continuous contribution to the growth and development of the agriculture sector, stating that a pool of notable thought leaders and industry experts have been assembled to address how technology can aid the entire agriculture value chain to bring about economic development and food sufficiency in the country.
Mrs Mojisola Oguntoyinbo explained “This virtual conference is part of Ecobank Digital Series which is in line with our vision to consolidate a modern pan-African market, contribute to the economic development and financial integration of the continent. The summit would amongst other things examine the potential impact of agriculture technology investment in fixing low productivity in Nigeria’s food production; evaluate existing traditional agriculture finance models in Nigeria and the role and impact of technology enabled commodity exchange trading across the agriculture value chain, and the role of developmental partners and international agencies in driving funding and investments across the agriculture value chain.”
She noted that the Agribusiness Summit would help Ecobank communicate and connect with Nigeria’s entrepreneurs in the agric value chain, farmers and other investors, adding that the bank will also showcase its strength in the digital banking space such as its innovative digital payment channels like the OmniPlus, Omnilite and digital sales collections channels like Ecobankpay NQR amongst other financial service offerings to close the large financial Inclusion gap and a direct response to mitigating the economic challenge post-COVID-19.
Also speaking, Jude Ndu, Director, Vanguard Conferences and The Economic Forum Series said: “we are indeed pleased and delighted with the ongoing high-level strategic partnership with Ecobank Nigeria in the area of concept development, synthesis, design and execution of high profile thematic bespoke events. The upcoming conference speaks to the strong sense of confidence the bank has in us to help curate thought leadership content and context for the brand in line with its marketing objectives. “As a media organisation, this is our own way of contributing to the growth prospect of the sector through audience engagement by bringing together critical stakeholders to discuss solutions to the issues of low productivity and food insecurity in the country.
The Ecobank Digital Series is a virtual programme organised by Ecobank to educate and enlighten the public on crucial issues of public interest, especially as it relates to their financial empowerment.
She is versatile, extremely creative and can simply be described as an embodiment of good music. With her live band performance, she will effortlessly wow your audience with a repertoire of monster hit cuts from genres of music like gospel, jazz, juju, highlife, folk and contemporaries to mention a few. Welcome to the world of Remilekun Rhythms, Nigeria’s next export and music goddess.
No doubt, music is an integral part of human existence; little wonder no human gathering or event is complete without music. However, the act of satisfying a heterogeneous audience depends on the prowess of the musician, but this is an area where Remilekun Rhythms has constantly proved her mettle.
Remilekun Rhythms is a native of Ilesha, Osun State. She had Bsc. in Business Administration from the Lagos State University (LASU) before her quest to further horn her skills in music led her to Tenstrings Music Institute where she had training on Voice, Piano and general rudiments of music.
Meanwhile, the upwardly mobile songwriter and vocal coach started her romance with music from childhood as a soloist in church. Today, she has metamorphosed into a brand that is celebrated all over the world, performing for crème-de-la-crème of the society. “I have worked with some notable bands both (gospel and secular) before moving on to start my own band 16 years ago. I have released two albums, performed in different parts of Nigeria and had gone for music tours in countries like United Kingdom, South Africa and some West Africa countries,” Remilekun Rhythms hinted.
Aspiring elective office holders come with different quests. Some want to be known for power, others see it at opportunity to make money, and of course there are some who want to be known for a long lasting legacy of achievements that will better lives of the people.
In this last category is Hon. Taiwo Oraka, one of the aspirants vying to become the Chairman of Ifako-Ijaye Local Government in the forthcoming local government elections in Lagos State.
Oraka is a seasoned technocrat with political awareness whose unwavering loyalty to the the progressive ideas of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is dated way back to his involvement in the MKO Abiola’s campaign under defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the early 90s.
His belief is that everyone deserves access to good and affordable health care as evident with his yearly medical outreach programme for the people of Ifako-Ijaye which he plans to develop into fully functional and funded health center in the 7 wards of the local government.
Apart from health, Oraka also has some other plans lined up for the betterment of the people of Ifako-Ijaye. He has laudable plans with verifiable blueprint on different sectors of human endeavors as his plans in education, transportation, portable water, youths and women empowerment as well as welfare of old people, are top notch that will make the local government a standard for others across the country.
Oraka’s ideology has been endorsed to a laudable way to bring dividends of democracy to the good people of Ifako-Ijaye Local Government. He’s full of hope he will be granted the opportunity by his people to serve through the forthcoming primaries of the APC.
Alkali Baba, acting inspector-general of police, says the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) created a vacuum in policing the country.
Baba said this at a media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the morale of police officers in the country has been low since the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
The acting inspector-general of police said the special weapons and tactics squad (SWAT) established to replace SARS has not yet commenced operations.
He said the vacuum created by SARS has made it difficult to tackle most of the violent crimes in the country.
“The security situation of the country has been significantly stabilise from time to time but we think if it is stabilising then are isolated insurgency coming from these zones in terms of attacks on police facilities and police personnel, even all law enforcement agencies including the military,” he said.
“Therefore, we decided to, one, rejig the morale of our personnel, which has been a little bit dampened since the #EndSARS thing went.
“With the proscription of SARS and establishment of SWAT, which has not been able to take off fully. We had a vacuum in tackling most of the violent crimes from our position of strength.”
On the planned recruitment of 10,000 new police personnel, he said the process has reached 70 percent and that the exercise is in compliance with the federal character principle.
Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti has said that division of Nigeria can be achieved without going to war or killing one another.
The activist and leader of Movement of The People (MOP) noted instead of choosing destruction to achieve Yoruba Nation or Biafra, the people should negotiate to achieve a common goal.
He said this during a live video on Instagram while fielding questions on when ESN and Ebubeagu, a security outfit, would start a war among themselves.
Kuti reminded his viewers that England recently left the European Union without fighting.
“England just left the EU recently; did they fight anyone before leaving? The Scottish are agitating to leave England. Why are they not saying they want to fight war before they can leave England? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these people don’t fight but understand the narrative.
“Must it be a fight if we no wan do again, wey our elites? Why are they not agitating for a referendum?
“Referendums now put the decision in the hands of the people. They want a constitutional conference, they should pick among themselves to help us divide.
“If Nigeria truly wants to divide we must pose it in a referendum program, yes or no vote to all the people in this country so that we can make our argument for and against and the people would be carried along every step of the way because we will need them to make the final decision.
“Even before we do constitutional conferences, democratically in any country, before you do a constitutional review, you must put it to the people, the people will now decide a yes or no vote for the review before you carry your review forward.
“But when only a handful of people want to make decisions for hundreds of millions of people, this is what you now get. Everybody is only discussing one angle, one way of separating Nigeria which will kill millions of us in the name of separating Nigeria.
“If the Yoruba people want to leave Nigeria, it is not overnight. Anybody wey tell you say Yoruba people can leave Nigeria over ten year period, that person is trying to put you in another long jump. Our problem needs like Fifty years of dedication to see front before everything balance,” he said.
Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, has said people of the Yoruba extraction are ready to die in the push to actualise Oduduwa Republic.
Adams said some people of the Southwest are determined to pursue Oduduwa Republic.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday, the former Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, leader said the Southwest reserves the legitimate right to struggle for Oodua Republic.
Adams also lamented that the struggle has been hijacked by top politicians in the region.
He said: “It is unfortunate that some people are determined to weaken the spirit of the agitators. Unfolding events in the last few weeks have shown that some prominent politicians have hijacked the struggle for the actualisation of the O’odua Republic.
“It is an attempt to distract us from the true and original intention of the struggle.
“But I want to say it here that the struggle to seek a new nation is the legitimate rights that we are determined to live and die for and we wouldn’t waiver in our beliefs and determination to liberate our race.”
