Former Kaduna Senator, Shehu Sani, has said the peaceful protest embarked on by Niger residents in Minna on Monday was a message for President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

Vanguard recalls that women and youths flooded the roundabout in the Pkakungu area of Minna to express their grievances over the economic hardship they are grappling with.

Some of the protesting men blocked the road, disrupting vehicular movement, as efforts by the police to stop the demonstration were abortive.

It took the intervention of the Deputy Governor of the state, Yakubu Garba, who addressed them for normalcy to return to the city.

Reacting to the incident, Sani, on his X account said the protest was a call for immediate impactful measures to address the epidemic poverty in the country.

The ex-federal lawmaker also disclosed that peaceful demonstration is within the scope of the rights of the citizens. 

“The protest in Minna, Niger State against the high cost of living falls within the ambit of the right to peaceful dissent,” Sani wrote.

“Protest against the cost of living was also done in other European cities experiencing economic pains. “The protest is simply a message and a call for immediate and impactful measures to address the problems of the epidemic of poverty in the country,” he added.

[Vanguard]

“The sun and moon grew dark, and the stars no longer shine…Then the LORD will pity his people and be indignant for the honor of his land! He will reply, ‘Look! I am sending you grain and wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy your needs. You will no longer be an object of mockery among the surrounding nations.” Joel 2: 10, 18-19.

God’s mercy is locating you today! What you are going to read here is simply a declarative and prophetic message. And God’s word does not fail. Are you in darkness? Are you weeping, going through sleepless nights, in pain and regrets? You have been bruised, rejected and humiliated. Or you are currently unhappy and also lack the grace and refreshing that come with the presence of God. Now, this is your chance to be restored. Yes, I pray that as you go through this write-up, that the light of God will shine upon you again in Jesus’ name! Look at the above bible text again. The sun and the moon grew dark, and the stars no longer shine! These were elements that were once bright and favourable. They were put in place to bless us, but all of a sudden, they grew dark and stopped shining. My God! This is exactly what some of us are going through now. Our once bright lights have not only dimmed, but are totally put out.  And the worse is that we don’t even understand how we got into this situation, not to talk of how to come out of it. The situation seems hopeless! My God!

Now, the sun represents our day, the moon our night and the stars our destiny. How? In Genesis, God told us at creation that the sun will rule the day, and that the moon will rule the night. The Psalmist also told us that the sun shall not smite us by the day nor the moon by night. Then the stars, we saw how Jesus’ star appeared and led the wise men from the eastern lands to where he was born. We also saw the stars of the brothers of Joseph bow down to him. And Job even went further to call some of these elements by name – Orion, Pleiades. Sure, these are entities put in place by God to influence the affairs and destinies of men. So, when they spiritually go off for any person or people, the consequences in the physical are always terrible and even disastrous. We must always ask God that our sun, our moon and our stars should keep shining. We must always command them and whatever they represent to bless us in the name of Jesus. We must command the sun to bless us every day and the moon every night. We must command our stars to continue to shine and locate us. Please, note that I didn’t say worship them, no, but command them and whatever they represent to bless us. I said this because that is the mistake the occult and the false religion make; they worship these heavenly entities, leaving the creator. It is very wrong! We must only worship God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth through his son Jesus Christ.
    Now, before we go on, it will be good for us to note that there are several factors that can contribute to our sun, moon and stars going dark, and not shining. These include: attacks and arrows from the enemy, living in sin, disobedience and ignorance. Ignorance here is about not knowing what God has in stock for us and how to get them. That is why the word of God said that the entrance of his word will always bring light and understanding. And rightly applying that understanding will also always produce deliverance, breakthroughs, miracles, prosperity, godliness, etc. On sin, your light will never shine if you are living in sin. You already know that. And for the arrows of the enemy, we will today repel them. They will be neutralized or sent back to where they are coming from. Whatever that has made your sun, moon and star not to shine again must be removed today in the mighty name of Jesus!

Grain, wine, oil

    As you are reading this message, know that total restoration is already taking place in your life. God’s face will shine upon you again! Like Jesus, your star will arise again and lead men to bless and lift you. Some will come from unexpected quarters, the ‘eastern lands’. The believers will come. The unbelievers will come. Because you have found favor with him even your enemies will bless you. Everything that God made will favor you from today, in Jesus’ name! The LORD will have mercy upon you once again. See how Joel puts it, “Look! I am sending you grain and wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy your need. You will no longer be an object of mockery among the surrounding nations.”  He said that the pastures will be green again. The trees will again be filled with luscious fruit – Amen!
      Look at that – grain, wine and oil. Each of these represents a section of the blessing that is coming your way. Grain is talking about plenty to eat. Food shall be surplus. You shall feed fat and be well-nourished again. Food is a primary need of man. You cannot exist without it and God knows that. Not just food, but you shall have good and enough food. You shall not have to do ungodly things to eat. Not eating to survive, but feeding well and giving to others. God will bless what you do. And wine talks about happiness, joy, celebration. You cannot have these without being in good health and things going well for you. God will make everything go well, so you can celebrate. Yes, it is sweet to celebrate.

Former Senate Minority Leader and senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has blamed the arrest and continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, by the Federal Government for the rising insecurity in the South East.

Speaking at an event in Enugu, he noted that while attempts were on to find solution to the crisis, it was also important to look into other issues affecting the zone, including the worsening economic activities and politics.

He described some security issues in the region as contrived; thereby making it seem as if they cannot be tackled by the security agents.

He called for a paradigm shift in the zone in all aspects to return to the past glory.

Abaribe said: “As much as we know that we cannot do anything without security, I posit that we must, while dealing with insecurity (some of which are contrived) also start to discuss some other pressing issues within our polity.

“I say contrived because it is obvious that it is the general malaise in our society today that makes it seem as if insecurity cannot be tackled by our various security agencies.

“We have reached the point where we, as Ndigbo must heed the clarion call for a total paradigm shift. When I say shift, I mean both in governance trajectory, cultural/traditional reappraisal, business/commercial practices (including our famed apprenticeship system or i gba boi), and most importantly our economic orientation and political alignments.

“Ndigbo are progressives. We are development conscious. More than that, we have always been a people who do not depend on others to drive growth. All we have always needed was to come together as a people, and drive growth. This is evident in the preponderance of town unions, village development associations etc. which we have leveraged on to provide development for our communities.

“These loose associations are today, pivotal to most development strides in our communities and of course, these efforts have expanded to the areas of community security associations to complement government efforts.

“While we acknowledge that we have been given the short end of the stick in the Nigerian project, we must pull ourselves up, stop moaning about how badly we have been treated by Nigeria and embrace the Igbo adage: ‘onye ajuru aju, anaghi aju onwe ya.’ We have done it before, and we can do it again, if we commit to it.”

The vocal senator urged the Igbo to stop complaining and confront the reality with all the tact and zeal, adding that they did not consolidate on their previous successes.

“Our progress going forward must now be dependent on how we use this self-rediscovery.

“Yes, Ndigbo today have insecurity issues, but it was not the case in the recent past. Today’s insecurity started from the Nnamdi Kanu/IPOB saga in 2021. Did the economic downturn in the South-East start from that date? The answer is a resounding no,” he declared.

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has adjourned the trial of Ali Bello and his co-defendant, Dauda Suleiman, until Tuesday to continue hearing a charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice James Omotosho adjourned the matter after Edward Bannada, EFCC’s second prosecution witness, was cross-examined and re-examined by counsel for the defence and prosecution.

While A.M. Aliyu, SAN, appeared for the first defendant, Mr Bello, Nureini Jimoh, SAN, represented Mr Suleiman, the second defendant in the suit, FHC/ABJ/CR/550/2022.

While being cross-examined by Mr Jimoh with respect to the evidence he tendered (statements of accounts), Mr Bannada, an official of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), said he could not remember seeing the names of the two defendants as beneficiaries who made withdrawals from the bank statements tendered.

He, however, confirmed that Abdulsalam Hudu made most of the withdrawals from the account statements.

The witness also stated that he played no role in the entries in the statements of account and only became a witness in the matter due to EFCC’s invitation.

Mr Bannada also confirmed that the cash transactions of the Kogi State Government and the Kogi State Government House Administration, as seen in the statements of account, were majorly inflow of security funds and the cash withdrawal of the inflow, which did not contradict the cash withdrawal policy of the CBN, the bank or any law.

He also confirmed that the withdrawal by Mr Hudu did not exceed the limit of the security fund lodgement.

When the anti-corruption agency’s lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, attempted to re-examine the witness on the issue of the absence of the name of Messrs Bello and Suleiman on the statements of account and the operation of a computer, the court overruled him.

The matter was consequently adjourned until February 6 for trial continuation.

The EFCC had, on December 15, 2022, arraigned Mr Bello, a nephew of former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello and Mr Suleiman, on a 10-count charge of alleged misappropriation and money laundering.

The anti-graft body claimed the duo, alongside Mr Hudu, a cashier at the Kogi State House who is at large, withdrew N10.2 billion from the state’s treasury for personal use.

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has said that President Bola Tinubu is behind every development he is bringing to the nation’s capital

Wike said this during the flag-off of the construction of a 5km dual carriageway in Kuje Area Council of the FCT.

The former Rivers helmsman said the road project was part of efforts to rekindle the hope of the people and reassure them that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu means well for the FCT.

He said the FCT Administration has been lucky to have the support of the President, who is sparing nothing to ensure that all residents reaped the dividends of democracy, adding that the FCTA has no excuse not to perform.

According to the Minister, “I want to say that Mr. President is fully in support of us and his mandate is very clear to the Hon. Minister of State and my humble self.

“When you people are saying that the Minister of State and my humble self are working, it’s because we have a President who gives us anything we want.

“He has given us the support and so we have no excuses to give but to let the people know that Mr. President is behind everything we are doing.

“Every request we have made, Mr. President has always given to us. So, for us, we don’t have any excuse not to do what we are supposed to do.”

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has identified poverty and unemployment as responsible for the security challenges bedeviling the North-West region of the country.

He said that the best way to tackle the challenges was through good governance.

The governor made the observation in Kaduna on Monday while receiving members of the Kaduna State Elders Forum who paid him a congratulatory visit over his victory at the Supreme Court.

He stated that as the Kaduna State government intensified military actions against banditry and kidnapping with the support of the Defence Headquarters, his government was also adopting good governance as the best non-kinetic solution to the security challenges.

Sani lamented the alarming rate of out of school children, stressing that it must be addressed to ensure a secured state and region.

According to the Governor, “the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army and the Chief of Air Staff have assured us of their support to our security efforts.

“They have decided to set up two Forward Operation Bases (FOB) in Kaduna, one in Southern Kaduna, Zangon Kataf to be precise and the other one in Birnin Gwari to serve Birnin Gwari down to Giwa. The FOBs will be set up in the next three weeks.”

He explained that it was one of the most important interventions by the Defence Headquarters.

He said he would be signing the bill for the establishment of the Security Trust Fund, 2024.

The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Jigawa State have collectively rejected the N10,000 wage award proposed by the state government as a palliative in response to the removal of fuel subsidy.

The rejection was communicated in a press statement issued after a meeting of the Organized Labour in the state held in Dutse, the state capital.

The joint statement, signed by the state chairmen and secretaries of NLC and TUC, described the state government’s announcement of the wage award as premature, asserting that no agreement had been reached on the matter.

The statement mentioned that the NLC Salary Negotiation Committee had engaged in prolonged negotiations with the state government committee, presenting various submissions without receiving any response.

The Organized Labour expressed surprise at the state Commissioner for Information, Youth, and Culture, Hon Sagiru Musa’s announcement of the N10,000 wage award for three months.

“It is important for the general public to note that the Organized Labour has not signed any Memorandum of Understanding with the Jigawa State Government on the N10,000 wage award; the Negotiation Committee is yet to conclude its assignment,” the statement clarified.

However, when contacted for comments, the state’s Head of Service, Muhammad K. Dagacire, stated that the NLC Negotiation Committee was fully aware of the decision taken by the state government regarding the palliative measures for the workers.

Dagacire explained that the agreement included a three-month wage award, distribution of food palliatives, and provision of farm inputs, including lands, for every civil servant.

“So it is surprising to hear this story from you on the said NLC’s rejection of N10,000.

“Our interventions to workers to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal are of three stages and Governor Malam Umar Namadi is committed to fulfilling all,” he stated.

The Super Eagles have earned a prize money of $2.5m (N3bn), after qualifying for the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria defeated Angola 1-0 last Friday to reach the last four and will now play South Africa for a place in Sunday’s final.

Jose Peseiro’s men along with South Africa, DR Congo and hosts Ivory Coast, have already secured $2.5m.

Before the tournament kicked off, the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF, president, Dr Patrice Motsepe, announced a 40% increase in prize monies.

If Nigeria advanced to the final, they would have secured a minimum of $4m (N5bn) in prize money.

Also, if they win the tournament, they will receive $7m (N8.8bn).

Nigerians in South Africa have been warned against wide celebration should Super Eagles defeat Bafana Bafana.

Nigeria will on Wednesday clash with South Africa for a place in the final of the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) ongoing in Cote d’Ivoire.

In an advisory, the high commission said: “The attention of the Nigeria High Commission Pretoria has been drawn to potentially inflammatory online comments made by a section of South African citizens against Nigerians living in host country, largely influenced by the upcoming 2024 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) semi-final match between the Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana on Wednesday 7th February 2024.

“Most of the comments consist of veiled threats against ‘Nigerians cooking jollof rice’ before the match, and ‘showing pepper to Nigerians if the Bafana Bafana lose to Super Eagles’, among others.

“In this regard, the High Commission hereby advises the Nigerian community to be watchful of their utterances, be mindful of where they choose to watch the match especially in public places, and refrain from engaging in loud, riotous or provocative celebrations should the Super Eagles win the match.

“Additionally, Nigerians should maintain the good conduct they are known for, and be law abiding before, during and after the match. Should any provocations arise, they should not be reciprocated but reported to the appropriate authorities.”

Amid the recent surge in security threats in the Southwest, the Oodua Youth Coalition has urged the Generalissimo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, to fulfil the responsibilities of his office and safeguard the region.

Describing the recent attacks in the region as alarming, the coalition emphasized the urgency of addressing the killings of Yoruba monarchs and the abduction of schoolchildren by gunmen.

In an open letter addressed to Gani Adams, the President of the coalition, Tayo Oluyi, highlighted that Yorubaland has historically been defended by its people.

Consequently, the Aare Ona Kakanfo must exemplify the wisdom of their ancestors by taking a proactive stance and leading from the forefront in the face of current challenges.

The letter urged Gani to emulate the legacy of past Yoruba warriors and leaders and lead efforts to coordinate security-interest groups in safeguarding the region.

“I am writing with deep concern regarding the escalating insecurity in Yoruba land. Recent events in the Southwestern states indicate a disturbing trend of invasion by individuals whose sole purpose is to disrupt the peace of our people.

“The untimely demise of two Yoruba monarchs, Oba Olatunde Olusola of Imojo and Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, at the hands of gunmen within Ekiti borders, as well as the abduction of pupils from Apostolic Faith Nursery and Primary School in Emure-Ekiti, and the alarming explosion in Ibadan linked to foreign miners, are distressing occurrences that demand urgent attention and decisive action.

“Throughout history, the Yoruba people have upheld the tradition of securing their territory, with warriors rising to confront transgressors threatening the peace.

“Recognising that security is a collective responsibility, I implore you, as the Generalissimo of Yoruba land, to rise to the occasion and find ways to complement the government’s efforts in securing our homeland.

“Aare, the time has come to emulate the legacy of Kurumi, Ojo Iberu, Aare Latoosa, and MKO Abiola, who made significant contributions to fortifying the unity and security of our people.

“It is crucial to lead from the front, coordinating security-interest groups across the zones to quell the activities of marauders endangering our peace.

“I sincerely hope you heed this call and fulfil the responsibilities of your esteemed office as the Generalissimo of the Yoruba race,” the letter stated.