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A man and a woman have been charged with conspiring to arrange to bring a child to the UK to harvest organs, the Metropolitan Police said. Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, and Ike Ekweremadu, 60, both from Nigeria, have been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court later today. They are both charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting. The Met said a child has been safeguarded. Scotland Yard has not given the gender or the age of the child - or the location of the…

What fate awaits the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in the northern states in the 2023 election? The question is of interest to political observers because the region is the stronghold of the ruling party, as it governs 14 of its 19 states, but this is the first time the party is presenting a southerner as its flag bearer. Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, polled 1,271 votes at the APC primary on June 8, defeating 13 aspirants after seven others stepped down for him at the convention ground. He will slug it…

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State has nominated Okey Igwe as the party’s deputy governorship candidate for the 2023 election. Igwe is a veteran of US Military having served four years in the United States Air Force during the Iraq combat years and in the years immediately after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York. He was called to the New York State Bar in 2010 and is a member of the American Bar Association; New York Bar Association, and American Immigration Lawyers Association. In 2016, Igwe contested and was elected the Executive Chairman of Umunneochi…

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Mohammed Bello as chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). He wrote the Senate seeking confirmation of Mr Bello’s appointment. The president’s request was read out by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the start of plenary on Wednesday. The letter, he said, is in accordance with the provisions of Section 112(1) of the 1999 Constitution. Mr Bello is expected to take over from Elias Mbam who was re-appointed in 2016 but not confirmed and sworn-in until 2019. He will be screened by the appropriate Senate committee for possible confirmation. The RMAFC…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has agreed to extend the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise initially slated to end at the end of June, 2022. Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon. Aishatu Jibril Dukku, disclosed this while briefing fellow lawmakers on the committee’s efforts to ensure implementation of a House resolution reached last week. “The Committee held a meeting with INEC yesterday (Tuesday) and they agreed to extend the CVR, all our resolutions were approved,” she told members of the House at plenary on Wednesday. The House of Representatives had last Wednesday urged…

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party Peter Obi is meeting with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State behind closed-doors, THE WHISPERER has learnt. Although details of the meeting have yet to be made known, the meeting may be part of reconciliatory moves to strengthen Obi's presidential ambition. See photos below:

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Abdullahi Bala as the new Executive Secretary for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, NPTF. A statement by Osaigbovo Ehisienmen, the Press Secretary to the Minister of Police Affairs, on Tuesday in Abuja said Mr Bala took over from Ahmed Aliyu. Mr Ehisienmen said Mr Aliyu had resigned his appointment to run for gubernatorial primaries in compliance with the directives of the president. He said that the new Executive Secretary, born on August 18, 1967 in Sokoto North Local Government Area, holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University,…

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed new ministers into his cabinet. Their appointment, which is subject to the confirmation of the senate, was announced on Tuesday. The new ministers would replace former cabinet members who resigned to pursue their 2023 ambitions. The electoral act as amended stipulates the resignation of those eyeing elective offices while in government. A total of 10 ministers had indicated interest in the 2023 elections, but while four dropped their ambitions in order not to resign, six stepped down and contested the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries. They included the then Ministers of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Niger…