Ireti Kingbe, the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has stated that she has never met the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

She stated this while responding to Wike’s claim that she wants to forcefully become friends with him.

Recall that Wike and the Senator have been in the news in recent times due to a rift between the duo.

Speaking during an interview with Reuben Abati on Arise TV on Monday, Kinigbe said she has no interest in being friends with him.

According to her, she has not sat in the same room with the governor except in the senate committee.

She said, “Please what constitutes friendship between two people who have never met each other? I have never sat in the same room with the minister except in the senate committee. So how does friendship arise? Why would I want to be the friend of somebody I do not know?

“The truth of the matter is that the minister refuses to speak or communicate in any way with the senator representing the Federal Capital Territory. So, how are the wishes and the needs of the people to be communicated to him? Please tell me if you know a way.”

A Federal High Court in Abuja has declared as invalid the Peoples Democratic Party’s primary election that produced Asue Ighodalo as its governorship candidate.

The primary election conducted on February 22, 2024, was voided on the ground that 378 delegates who were supposed to vote at the primary election were unlawfully excluded by PDP.

Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo invalidated the primary election while delivering judgment in a suit instituted by the aggrieved delegates.

The suit marked THC/ABJ/CS/165/2024 was instituted by one Hon Kelvin Mohammed in a representative capacity.

Justice Ekwo held that both the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the PDP Guidelines were grossly violated in the conduct of the primary election at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin.

Details later…

Controversial Nigerian singer, Portable has revealed how he was released after being arrested for defamation.

According to him, he got released after pleading and crying because the police chief was his fan.

He made the revelation during a recent chat on his social media page.

Speaking in Yoruba, Portable said: “I have a story to tell. You see, in this life, we will fight. But let’s try to always forgive ourselves.

“I pray I won’t fight someone who will not forgive me.

“They said they should go and drop me in Abuja. So I started crying, prostrating, and calling for help.

“Some of you look for trouble, talk about me, and insult me online first. But when I just mention your name, you will write a petition against me for defaming you but you know you started it.

“You almost set me up. I got help. I begged, prostrated, and cried there. They listened to my cry.

“We are not fighting each other. It is the business. For artistes, it is normal to write diss tracks.

“So if I insult you, it is nothing serious. I just did it because you wronged me.

“Thankfully, the Lagos IG is my fan if not… They said I should be dropped.”

A 31-year-old man, Babatunde Ishola alongside his father, Bayo, accused of stealing N75m belonging to a lotto company in Lagos State, have been remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.

The defendants were arraigned on two counts of stealing and diversion of funds at the Yaba Magistrates’ Court in the state.

The duo allegedly took money from the company’s account and diverted it to their accounts and those of their cohorts who are now at large.

In a document signed by the police prosecutor, Mike Enejere, the first defendant, Babatunde, served as the account officer of the lotto company as the funds were diverted between 2020 and 2023.

Father who loses daughter to suicide in UK points fingers at ex-wife, daughter’s ex-boyfriend

The charge read in part, “That you, Ishola Mubarak Babatunde, Ishola Rasheed Bayo, and others now at large, between 2020 and 2023, at Lotgrand Limited, a registered lotto company in Lagos, within the Magisterial District of this Honourable Court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit stealing. You thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

“That you, Ishola Mubarak Babatunde and others now at large, on the same date, place and within the Magisterial District of the aforementioned, did steal the sum of seventy-five million naira (N75,000,000), property of Lotgrand Limited, Lagos, while you served as the account officer, as you dishonestly and fraudulently diverted the said sum belonging to Lotgrand Limited, a registered lotto company, to your personal account and that of your cohorts.”

“You hereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 (8) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.”

The duo were remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending the meeting of their bail conditions of N10m with two sureties in like sum.

The Magistrate, Mojisola Salau, adjourned the case till September 3, 2024, for further hearing.

A former Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has said that the ex-goalkeeper Joseph Dosu ‘housed’ John Obi Mikel before he became famous.

Dosu was the only home based player to be included in Nigeria’s 1996 Olympic team, which won gold at the tournament.

However, his career was short-lived as a result of an automobile accident.

In a recent interview with Elegbete TV Sports, Oliseh said Dosu was one of the people who helped Mikel to attain glorious status.

He said: “Before Obi Mikel made it in football, Dosu Joseph housed Obi Mikel and fed him. I bet you all didn’t know this. He helped Obi Mikel become what he is today.

“In spite of all the help he gave Obi Mikel, please let’s ask ourselves: has Obi Mikel ever once gone to say hello to Dosu? And with all the millions you’ve made, help the guy (Dosu).”

Responding to the ex-Chelsea midfielder’s recent criticism of his coaching ability, Oliseh said “I think the kid needs help”.

Mikel had criticized Oliseh’s coaching ability on his podcast, calling him “the worst manager I played under.”

“He was bitter, jealous, and disrespectful to everyone, including the physio”, he added.

Speaking during the interview, Oliseh, who spent eight months as Super Eagles coach, after being appointed in 2015, said: “I think the kid needs help. You cannot achieve what you were not able to achieve on the pitch outside the pitch by talking on a podcast”.

While defending his coaching abilities, he mentioned his award for best coach in the Jupiler Pro League, voted by players and coaches.

He said: “I think the kid(Mikel) needs help, to be honest. There’s something I’ve not really shown much, I won the best coach for the first period of the Jupiler league, which is in the Dutch league.

“That was not voted by the press, that was voted by the players and the coaches of the league.

“I’m the only, and the first coloured man from Sub-Saharan Africa to ever win this title with a club like Fortuna Sittard, who had very average players who were able to qualify from the second division from last position to the first division, where they still are now.”

The Lagos State Government has reacted to outcry by residents of the state after flood took over roads and some residential areas.

The government apologised to residents and commuters over the flood that left millions stranded and many areas submerged. 

“I will start by saying to Lagosians, ‘We are sorry for the inconvenience caused due to nature’s cause yesterday morning’,” the Lagos State

Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

Motorists were in gridlock and commuters stranded as the torrential rains which lasted for hours halted economic activities in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

Many had called out the government for its lack of plan to curtail the floods especially after similar ones have happened in past years.

But the commissioner said the floods were not due to the government’s lack of planning.

“It’s not for failure to plan that we had what happened yesterday,” Tokunbo said. “No, it was nature taking its full course. And we are sorry for those whose lives were disrupted: they could not go to work, they could not go to their marketplaces, they couldn’t go to school.”

According to him, the Lagos State Government had prepared for the situation and had early in the day deployed a team to manage the floods.

“Emergency teams were on the ground since around 4 a.m. I’ve been up since around 4 a.m. yesterday,” the commissioner said.

He noted that the impacts of the floods were managed a few hours after and insisted that, “Nature will take its course. What we have to do is to mitigate the impact of nature on the environment. And that was what we did yesterday.”

Wednesday’s rainfall began early even before residents of the state woke up for the day’s work.

Many who had defied the downpour had left their homes hoping to get to work. But most of them were stuck at bus stops while trying to move around the city.

The Iyana-Oworo-Olopomeji area heading to the Third Mainland Bridge was among the areas heavily flooded, causing a gridlock that extended to Alapere in the coastal city.

In response, the Lagos State Government said it had deployed teams across the city to manage the floods and mitigate its impacts.

The NDLEA in Kano has suggested making drug testing mandatory for prospective couples as a step towards curbing drug abuse in the state.

The NDLEA Commander in Kano, Mr Abubakar Idris-Ahmad, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

“The agency has introduced the Drug Intergrity Test Initiative, which is anticipated to metamorphose into an anti-drug culture for every Nigerian,” he said.

Idris-Ahmad said the drug test will serve as a tool for the prevention of drug abuse and early detection of individuals and couples status of drug use for appropriate treatment and rehabilitation.

He said the proposed law for the test became necessary to address the high rate of marriage breakdowns and reduce drug abuse among married couples in the state.

“Investigations have shown that one spouse often introduces the other to drugs after marriage and their children, hindering efforts to combat drug abuse.”

He called on the Kano State House of Assembly to enact a law requiring drug tests before marriage.

The commander appealed to women, youths, and the general public to shun drug abuse and work together to move the state and nation forward.

“The test initiative approach seeks to tackle drug abuse at its roots, promoting a healthier and more sustainable society,” Idris-Ahmad said.

The White House has debunked reports that President Joe Biden is planning to quit the US presidential election to hold in November.

White House spokeswoman denied the report on Wednesday, according to AFP.

Panic had gripped Democrats in the wake of last week’s TV debate, and internal rumblings about finding a replacement candidate before November’s election have been amplified by polls showing Trump extending his lead.

The New York Times and CNN reported that Biden, 81, had acknowledged to a key ally that his reelection bid was on the line if he failed to quickly reassure the public that he was still up to the job.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre rejected those reports outright, insisting Biden has no intention of withdrawing.

“The president is clear-eyed and he is staying in the race,” she told reporters.

In a call with campaign and party staffers, Biden insisted he was going nowhere.

“I’m in this race to the end and we’re going to win because when Democrats unite, we will always win. Just as we beat Donald Trump in 2020, we’re going to beat him again in 2024,” he said, according to a source close to the campaign.

He repeated that message in an emergency meeting at the White House with Democratic governors, who pledged their continued support, attendees said afterward.

“As the president continued to tell us, and show us, that he was all in… we said that we would stand with him,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore, seen as a rising star and potential future presidential candidate, told reporters alongside Minnesota’s Tim Walz and Kathy Hochul of New York.

Walz said Biden was “fit to serve.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who also attended the meeting and is seen as one of the top picks to replace Biden if he should drop out, said on X that he “is our nominee.”

“He is in it to win it and I support him,” she added.

Biden has repeatedly admitted he performed poorly in the debate, and was blunt in a radio interview recorded Wednesday with Wisconsin’s Civic Media.

“I screwed up. I made a mistake. That’s 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years,” he said

Yesterday, the Naira’s value in the parallel market dropped to N1,520 per dollar, down from N1,515 per dollar on Tuesday.

Similarly, the Naira depreciated to N1,512.61 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM.

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM fell to N1,512.61 per dollar from N1,509.45 per dollar on Tuesday, indicating N3.16 depreciation for the naira.

The volume of dollars traded (turnover) in the market fell by 98.4 percent to $114.91 million from $213.31 million traded on Tuesday.

Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NAFEM rates widened to N7.39 per dollar from N5.55 per dollar on Tuesday.

Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has reacted after Aliko Dangote slammed the federal government over its decision to hike interest rate to 30 per cent.

Dangote had said such a move will chase away investors planning to invest in the country.

Obi had argued against the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee to increase the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) and the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to 22.5% and 45%, respectively.

He insisted it would further worsen the economic situation, as the increases would push interest rates on loans to above 30%, which, according to him, would make it very difficult for manufacturers and MSMEs to borrow and repay.

In a statement on Thursday via his X handle, Obi said that Africa’s foremost entrepreneur and respected Nigerian businessman, Aliko Dangote, stating that no jobs will be created with such a high interest rate is consistent with his own position over time.

The former Anambra State governor maintained that the country must urgently reverse the ugly trend.

According to him, it is seriously resulting in further job losses, discouraging production in the nation, and has continued to hinder Nigeria’s movement from consumption to production.

Obi’s words: “Africa’s foremost entrepreneur and respected Nigerian businessman, Aliko Dangote’s recent outcry against the current interest rate of 30% underscores my earlier cry in February on the negative effects of the monetary policy of the present Federal Government.

“According to Dangote, no jobs will be created with such a high interest rate because there will be no growth in the economy. This has been my consistent position over time.

“In February this year, I argued against the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee to increase the MPR to 22.5% and the CRR to 45%, which, in my opinion, would further worsen the economic situation, as the increases would push interest rates on loans to above 30%, making it very difficult for manufacturers and MSMEs to borrow and repay.

“If Dangote, the richest person in Africa and foremost industrialist, can complain, then imagine the negative impacts of these policies on MSMEs, who are the engine of economic growth.

“To further understand the harsh economic environment that this monetary policy has exacerbated, the recent report from the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) stated: ‘In 2023, 767 companies were shut down and 335 became distressed.

“The capacity utilization in the sector has declined to 56%; the interest rate is effectively above 30%; foreign exchange to import raw materials and production machines is scarce; inventory of unsold finished products has increased to N350 billion; and the real growth rate has dropped to 2.4%.

“These harsh economic policies, both on the monetary and fiscal sides, have continued to slow down our economic growth, drive multinationals out of the country, stifle our small businesses, and discourage the inflow of foreign direct investment.

“Again, I maintain that we must urgently reverse this ugly trend which is seriously resulting in further job losses, discouraging production in our nation, and has continued to hinder our movement from consumption to production.

“We need to reverse course and only initiate policies that can lead to growth and the birth of a new Nigeria.

“A New Nigeria is Possible.”