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The House of Representatives, in a resolution on Wednesday, urged the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to formulate policies to regulate house rents and activities of landlords in Abuja. The resolution followed the adoption of a motion by Rep. Emmanuel Udo (PDP-Akwa-Ibom) on the floor of the House in Abuja. In the resolution, the lawmaker called for the implementation of monthly rent to encourage an inclusive rental system and curb the arbitrary increase in house rent in the FCT. He said Nigeria was ripe for an inclusive rental system that would reduce the housing burden on working-class families. He also…

The Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Professor Chinedu Mmon, who is a loyalist of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, has resigned from the cabinet of Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Mmon is the third reappointed Commissioner to tender his resignation after the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Zacchaeus Adangor and former Commissioner for Finance, Hon. Isaac Kamalu, resigned their appointments few weeks ago. Both Adangor and Kamalu resigned after Fubara directed that they should be redeployed to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governor’s Office) and Ministry for Employment Generation and Empowerment, respectively. In a…

The suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted another N300 million bail in the Nigerian government’s charge bordering on unlawful printing of naira notes. He also pleaded not guilty to the charge before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama, Abuja, on Wednesday, according to Nairametrics. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Emefiele before Justice Maryanne Anenih of the court in a suit marked CR/264/2024. In the charge sheet filed by the EFCC before Justice Anenih, the former apex bank chief was accused of knowingly violating the provisions of Section…

The immediate past governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, has reacted to an allegation that his administration diverted N10 billion earmarked for an airport project in the state. Mr Ikpeazu served as a two-term governor of the state under the PDP platform between 29 May 2015 and 29 May 2023, when he handed over to the incumbent governor of the state, Alex Otti. Mr Otti was elected as governor of the state on 22 March 2023 under the Labour Party ticket. Mr Otti, in April, accused the former governor of allocating N10 billion to a non-existent airport project in the…

The Speaker of the Niger House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji, says the decision to marry off 100 orphaned girls in his constituency is to prevent fornication. Mr Sarkin-daji denied forcing 100 orphaned girls into marriage as part of his constituency project. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, had petitioned the Inspector General of Police on the matter. NAN also reports that the minister had sought a court order to restrain the speaker from engaging 100 orphaned girls in forceful marriage. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in Minna, Mr Sarkin-daji…

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has decried the substantial debt burden inherited from the previous administration of Nyesom Wike, saying most of the projects commissioned in the state were not fully funded. Governor Fubara stated this during the commissioning of the Aleto-Ogale-Ebubu-Eteo Road, also known as Old Bori Road in Eleme Local Government Area of the state. The project was commissioned by the Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti. He said the contractors who handled the affected projects are returning for outstanding payments. Governor Fubara did not, however, give an estimate of the debt. He said he is now compelled…

The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Adewale Martins, has charged civil society and other Nigerians with demanding that lower tiers of government (state and local) account for the allocations they receive.   Mr Martins gave the charge in an interview in Lagos. He said searchlights should be beamed on the local and state governments as they collected the larger budgetary allocations. He said the subsisting approach of always focusing on the federal government for virtually everything was misleading and mostly ended in open-ended probes. According to the cleric, the local and state governments receive votes from the centre for varying…

Abia State Government has released the forensic audit report of Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration. According to Vanguard, the 60-page dossier was released by the Commissioner of Information, Prince Okey Kanu, after the State Executive Council meeting press briefing Monday night. A perusal of the document compiled by a renowned global audit firm, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler, KPMG, shows various financial transactions and alleged infractions by the immediate-past administration in the state. It also contains details of how the administration authorized the release of N10 billion from the state coffers for the purpose of building Abia Airport, and later instructed the contractor…

Mr Paul Ibe, spokesperson of the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, of pursuing personal interests at the expense of the party’s collective goals. “Well, Wike has charted different paths to serve his interest because I don’t understand what interest, is it the PDP interest? It cannot be. It is his interest all well and good for him,” Ibe stated in Seun Okinbaloye’s Mic On podcast released on Saturday. Ibe’s comments come in the wake of the political tension between Wike and Atiku which was said to…