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A group of Northern Civil Activists and renowned Non State actors under the auspices of Arewa Youth Leaders for Good Governance has condemned the suspension order on Sen. Abdul Ahmed Ningi of Bauchi Central Senatorial District, who was also the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum of the 10th Assembly, describing the suspension order as unfortunate and too harsh. In a Press Release on Thursday, the Speaker of the Group Comr. Abdul Danbature, explained that the action of Sen. Ningi to blow the whistle against Budget Padding, which all Nigerians are aware has been a recurring decimal in the country’s…

The Federal Government has budgeted N2.5billion for Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to procure deep freezers, generators and other items as empowerment projects for his constituents The Whisperer reports that Akapbio, a former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, represents the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District in the National Assembly. A screenshot of the budget shared by SaharaReporters revealed that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs inserted five different empowerment projects for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District at the sum of N500,000,000 each. “EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN WITH DEEP FREEZERS, GENERATORS AND OTHER EMPOWERMENT ITEMS TO BOOST THEIR DAILY…

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has said contrary to the misleading falsehood being peddled by former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s aides that the former Governor never left any debt in any Commercial Bank, that verifiable evidence showed the past administration in the state left a debt profile of over N109b. According to a statement by Otti’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, the debt were owed the commercial banks as follows, UBA, N8,012,830, 371.44; Zenith Bank, N21, 557, 168, 761.71; Union Bank, N597, 637, 399. The statement added that over N40b was owed to Central Bank of Nigeria “in…

Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, says as a principal officer in the 10th National Assembly, he got more than the N200m allocation his colleagues and floor members got for constituency projects in the 2024 Appropriation Act. “My colleagues know that I go more than them (floor members),” the Senator from Borno South Senatorial District said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday. “All the senators have N200m (each) as their constituency projects but I am a leader. That is the difference. 10 of us are leaders including those in the opposition. We get more than the floor members. It’s…

Barely 24 hours after a dramatic plenary culminating into the suspension of the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Abdul Ningi, Southern Senators have revived their forum, electing Senator Adetokunbo Abiru representing Lagos East, as Chairman. The inauguration of Abiru who replaces the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele as well as the Vice Chairman, Senator Victor Umeh representing Anambra, comes nine months after commencement of the 10th Senate. The 51 Senators from 17 southern states, who met on Wednesday to revive the forum, also elected six executives under Abiru’s chairmanship. Bamidele noted that like the northern forum, the southern…

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to screen and confirm Ruby Onwudiwe as a member of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The president’s request was contained in a letter read by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during the plenary on Wednesday. In the letter, Mr Tinubu noted that Mr Onwudiwe is a replacement for the former South-east nominee, Urum Eke, who declined his nomination due to his current engagement at the World Bank. Mr Eke, a consultant to the World Bank and native of Abia State, rejected his nomination as a member of…

Niger State government has renamed the State Polytechnic, Zungeru to Abubakar Imam Kagara Polytechnic after removing his name from Minna International Airport. The last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had named the airport after the late writer and journalist Abubakar Imam Kalgara. But last week Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago changed the name to Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport, which attracted mixed feelings. To calm frayed nerves, Governor Bago announced yesterday that the state polytechnic will be named after the late Hausa writer and first editor of Gaskiya Tafikobo (Hausa version of New Nigeria Newspaper). Bago said the renaming of the…

Senate leader Opeyemi Bamidele has alleged that northern senators always attempt to abruptly unseat a Senate president from southern Nigeria. “I’m speaking as a Southerner for the first time. The attempt to take the election of the leadership of this Senate beyond June 13, 2023, must stop,” Mr Bamidele, representing Ekiti Central, said during Tuesday’s plenary. Mr Bamidele reacted to Senator Abdul Ningi’s claim that the 2024 budget was padded from N25 trillion to N28.7 trillion and that the executive was implementing the inflated budget. The Ekiti lawmaker accused the Bauchi Central senator of trying to instigate an impeachment plot…

Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has expressed his readiness to engage with the terrorists responsible for kidnapping 287 school children from Kuriga Government Secondary and LEA Primary Schools in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State. In a press statement from his media team, Gumi stated that he is willing to facilitate negotiations between the federal government and the bandits to secure the release of all abducted Nigerian citizens. Gumi proposed that the government should adopt a similar approach used to recover passengers kidnapped from the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, 2022. He encouraged the administration of President Bola Tinubu…

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Dr. Dayo Mobereola to serve as the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for a renewable term of four years. The appointment follows the exit of Mr. Bashir Jamoh, whose tenure recently expired. Dr. Mobereola holds a Ph.D, and an M.Sc in Transport Economics from the University of Wales, United Kingdom. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport, England, and a fellow of the same institute in Nigeria. He was the Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) from 2003 to 2015 and…