The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, Sanusi Bature, has declared that Aminu Ado Bayero was never an Emir of Kano.

Bature said former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje appointed Bayero as Emir of the eight Metropolitan local governments of Kano city.

Featuring on Arise Television, Bature said Ganduje made Bayero emir of the metropolitan Kano city due to the bastardization of the emirate.

According to Bature, Ganduje introduced politics into the Kano Emirate that predates Nigeria.

He said: “The action of the governor was to protect the integrity of the emirate as an institution. The Emirate of Nigeria pre-dates Nigeria and the country’s constitution, it’s over a thousand years history of people living together under one Emir.

“The previous administration of Ganduje decided to bastardize that history and bring politics into it.

“The politicisation of the Emirate is what the Yusuf promised to restore the lost glory during the campaign.

“This is not the first time an Emir was deposed, Ganduje did it and Sanusi left Kano for peace to rain. Sanusi is now back to Kano after the repealing of the law.

“I want to put it clear that Aminu Ado Bayero was never an Emir of Kano, he was appointed an Emir of eight metropolitan local government of Kano city.

“So, with the revision of the law under one United Kano, the Emirate Aminu served no longer exist. He was an Emir of Kano city Emirate, he was at that status because the main Emirate was bastardized by Ganduje by the 2019 Emirate law.

“He was the 14 Emir of Kano but his jurisdiction was not for the 44 local government of Kano, he’s just only for the eight metropolitan areas which is now abolished.”

Governor Yusuf had deposed Ado Bayero while reinstating Muhammed Sanusi as Emir of Kano.

Despite the action of the governor, Ado Bayero has refused to vacate his Nassarawa palace.

Bayero had since contested the action of the state government in court.

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has confirmed that Nigerians will begin utilising the proposed three-in-one identity card services in August this year.

Recalls that on Friday, April 5, 2024, the NIMC announced that it had launched a new card layered with payment capabilities and social service features in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System.

It explained that the identity solution was equipped with payment capability for all types of social and financial services.

An official of NIMC, in an interview with Punch, said the commission had been working tirelessly to meet its goals, stressing that the plan remains on track and will be launched in the upcoming months.

The official, whose name was not disclosed, added that the commission had begun the testing and deployment stage.

The source said, “We actually plan for July although there have been a few delays but we are still hopeful that it would come in July. So we are hoping to get it done between July and August. We are still on plan and if there is any shift, the public will know.

“When you are deploying a new technology, there is a lot of work to be done, you need to configure the card, enable the outlet, and enable the wallet to work. We also have to do tests and that is what is ongoing.

“The deployment is ongoing, the portal that people need to access the service has to be deployed, and we have to make sure that it is scaleable and those are the ongoing works.

“There are integrations that all the banks need to do to enable the card and all of those little details are ongoing. We have that target and we are working extra hard to make sure that we achieve that.”

Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has attributed the success of his administration in the first year in office to President Bola Tinubu.

The clergyman-turn politician disclosed this on Friday during his thank-you tour to Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency.

Alia said every achievement recorded in the state was the handiwork of Tinubu, including the construction of roads, underpass, payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities, remodelling of the Assembly Complex, and State Secretariat.

According to him, Tinubu had given him unimaginable support and urged the people of the state to be patient with him as the President had “very good intentions for the citizenry.”

He also promised to renovate and upgrade the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) Square in Makurdi to international standard.

Gov. Alia further disclosed that from now on, payment of salaries and pensions would start from the 22nd of every month.

An unidentified young man was late Friday electrocuted while vandalising a transformer near the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) centre in Otukpo, the headquarters of Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.

Naija News learnt that the man was suddenly electrocuted when power was restored by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).

According to Daily Post, the lifeless body of the victim was discovered dangling from the high-tension pole on Saturday morning, with a large crowd of passersby gathered around the corpse.

A source who spoke to the publication above said the electricity distribution officials are retrieving the lifeless body of the suspect from the electric pole where he was suspended.

The source added, “We came this morning and found the body suspended from the electric pole at a transformer with tools in his hand.”

Armed Robbers Invade Delta Varsity
In other news, academic activities at Western Delta University in Oghara, Delta State, were briefly disrupted on Thursday due to an attempted armed robbery on the university’s campus.

The invasion by suspected armed robbers was halted by the prompt actions of students and law enforcement agents, preventing any injuries or significant disruption.

According to reports from PUNCH Metro, the robbers accessed the university through an unfenced section of the perimeter at the rear of the campus.

Their attempt to rob students was thwarted when students quickly detected the threat and raised an alarm, fleeing to safer areas nearby.

The Delta State Police were quick to respond to the distress calls from the university. The Police Public Relations Officer for the Delta State Command, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident, noting that the suspected robbers had entered through a broken fence but fled upon the arrival of police forces.

In the wake of the incident, a student leader, Simeon Okpoko, emphasized the ongoing security challenges facing educational institutions

A promising new HIV prevention drug called lenacapavir has shown 100 percent efficacy in a clinical trial among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa and Uganda.

The twice-yearly injection was found to be superior to daily Truvada, the current standard for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This is according to Gilead Sciences, the developer of lenacapavir.

In a release signed by Kay Marshall, Senior Communications Advisor for AVAC, the organization welcomes the groundbreaking results of the PURPOSE 1 study which enrolled over 5,300 cisgender adolescent girls and young women ages between the age of 16 and 26 in South Africa and Uganda.

The study evaluated injectable lenacapavir for PrEP and daily oral emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (F/TAF) for PrEP.

An independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB), at a scheduled review of the trial data, found the regimen to be safe and highly effective, with no infections seen among trial participants who received injectable lenacapavir. 

Regulation

HIV prevention advocate and AVAC’s executive director, Mitchell Warren hails the lenacapavir trial results as a significant advancement. He emphasized the potential of long-acting injectables to increase adherence, improve access, and reduce strain on healthcare systems.

“We expect to see a timeline that takes into account a full analysis of PURPOSE 1 data and the coming data from PURPOSE 2 from Gilead as soon as possible, and we urge regulatory agencies to prepare to fast track regulatory review.

“We look forward to working with civil society partners, Gilead, international donors, normative agencies and national governments to ensure that this groundbreaking HIV prevention option is made available as quickly as possible and that we don’t squander this opportunity to drive down new HIV infections,” Warren said. 

The Regional Stakeholder Engagement Manager for AVAC, and a member of the PURPOSE 1 Global Community Advisory Group, Nandisile Sikwana said, “We are incredibly excited about this result, especially about what it can mean for women in Africa. We applaud Gilead’s commitment to Good Participatory Practice in this and the other PURPOSE studies. 

“While we wait for full data from the study, including adherence data of oral F/TAF, it is imperative that planning for rollout of lenacapavir be accelerated. We know that even with the most ambitious timeline, it will take time for lenacapavir to be rolled out”. 

A companion trial, PURPOSE 2, is underway in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand and the US, testing twice-yearly lenacapavir for PrEP among cisgender men who have sex with men, transgender women, transgender men, and gender non-binary people. Results from PURPOSE 2 are expected by early 2025. 

… additional studies

Additional studies in critical populations, including PURPOSE 3 among cisgender women in the US and PURPOSE 4 among people who use injection drugs, are also underway, and it will be imperative to understand how today’s results influence these trials. 

Gilead’s plans for submission to regulatory agencies and future access, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are not yet clear. But the results reported today make this urgent. 

“We also call on WHO to be prepared to quickly include lenacapavir, if approved by regulatory agencies, in HIV prevention guidelines. There is no time to waste if we are to translate these exciting clinical trial results into actual public health impact and expand the toolbox of HIV prevention choices,” he continued. 

“We now know that lenacapivir for PrEP is safe and highly effective among women. Even as we await the results of the trial among other essential populations and for regulatory submission and review, there is urgent work to be done now by communities, policymakers, funders and program implementers to design and build HIV prevention programmes and prepare health systems to deliver the growing array of biomedical PrEP options, including the addition of twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir.

“The full range of PrEP products – including oral PrEP – must be made feasible choices for all people who need and want HIV prevention options,” Sikwana added.

Says, ‘The comic actor was crying like a baby and gnashing his teeth’

Stella Maris, wife of late comic actor John Okafor popularly known as Mr Ibu was visibly overwhelmed with emotion Monday, when she attended a joint night of tribute in honour of her late husband alongside two other legendary actors, Amaechi Muonagor and Zulu Adigwe. The actors died between March and April this year.

While Mr Ibu passed away on March 2, after battling with a protracted illness, Amaechi Muonagor died two weeks later, on March 24, after suffering from kidney disease, diabetes, and stroke. Similarly, Zulu Adigwe died on the 23rd of April.

The joint night of tribute was organized by the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, and held in four cities across the country, including Abuja, Lagos, Asaba, and Enugu.

Mr Ibu’s widow, Stella Maris who attended the night of tribute alongside his three kids reminisced on how she lost her beloved husband to the pangs of death.

“I am feeling so sad that I am not with my husband here. I am not happy at all after all the efforts and sufferings we went through to save his life,” Mr Ibu’s widow echoed emotionally in a chat with our reporter.

She added: “I don’t know what to say! Where do I start from? It’s so painful seeing my husband cry like a baby with me, saying “Oh first class is this me?” I was watching my husband crying and gnashing his teeth. I was in the hospital with him.

According to her, their effort to fly the late actor abroad for further treatment was aborted as the four hospitals they approached abroad rejected him.

“There was a time we wanted to fly him abroad for further treatment. We sent letters to two Indian hospitals, America and Germany, but they all rejected him.

“They said he might not make it. So, we tried our best to save him from dying. I tried as a wife. And if it were to be something that money could save him, my husband wouldn’t have died.

“It’s so sad that he was not here with us. Last Sunday was Father’s Day and my children were feeling alone because their father was not there with them. We used to celebrate Father’s Day together,” the mother of three kids bemoaned.

Narrating what led to Mr Ibu returning to hospital after he was discharged initially, the deceased’s wife said he was discharged following the advice of his doctors to save cost.

“He was discharged from the hospital then, not because he was that strong. His doctors said that instead of the hospital spending money, it would be better for him to go home as they would get him a pain and caregivers at home. That was why he was discharged in the first place,” she added.

The remains of Mr Ibu will be buried on June 28, 2024, in his hometown of Amuri, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The founder of Stanbic-IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside has announced his exit from the banking business.

Peterside made this announcement in a post via his verified social media page.

The banking icon wrote, “This has been an incredible 35-year journey that ends today, June 10, 2024. 

“Every single day since Feb 2, 1989, I have been either the CEO, Chairman or Bank Director. All good things must come to an end. I give God the glory at age 68,” he added.

His exit comes after over three decades and a half of dedicating his wealth of experience to the Nigerian banking sector.

According to Sources, Peterside is investing his time more in advocacy, charity, philanthropy and human capital development through his foundation.

Recall that Peteside founded Investment Bank and Trust Company (IBTC), which later metamorphosed into Stanbic-IBTC Bank after a series of mergers over the years.

The Rivers State-born founded the bank in 1989, at 33, when most of his peers were busy lavishing their parent’s wealth.

After running the affairs of the bank for years leading it to the path of profitability and also ensuring the bank lived up to his expectations, he resigned in 2017.

He later channelled his strength to Anap Jets Ltd he founded in 2015. He also sits on the boards of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Standard Bank Group Limited.

Those close to the former member of the National Economic Management Team and member of the National Council on Privatisation disclosed that when it comes to finance, economics and business success, he is a walking encyclopaedia.

His family background as the son of Pa. Clement Atowari Peterside, an ophthalmologist and a retired controller of Medical Services in the Old Rivers State ensured he had a sound education. 

He graduated from The City University, London with a B.Sc. in Economics and an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Serious tension recently took over Ojurowo, Folumo in the Isale Eko area of Lagos Island, Lagos State, on Friday.

The tension spread after members of the public caught an unidentified woman for kidnapping and selling children.

City Round reports that the woman had kidnapped the children from the Ijora area of the state and brought them to Isale Eko to sell them.

In a video clip that trending on X on Friday, people gathered around a building suspected to be where the woman was caught while conducting her illegal business.

According to the person heard speaking in the video, the woman confessed that she was going to sell the children for the sum of N250,000.

“They caught five children with her. She said she sells each of them for N50,000, making N250,000. They said she brought the five children from Ijora. If you know anyone looking for their child in Ijora, please come to Isale Eko in Ojurowo,” the man was heard saying.

However, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, during a chat with our correspondent on Friday, said a 20-year-old man, Maxwell Nweke, was arrested for abducting five boys in the Adeniji Adele area of Lagos Island.

It was gathered that Nweke lured the victims into following him to an unknown location after he purchased N500 worth of puff puff from them.

However, the victims raised the alarm after discovering the suspect had tricked them. This led to the arrest of Nweke by police operatives in Adenji Adele on Thursday afternoon.

Hundeyin said, “Officers of Adeniji Adele arrested one Maxwell Nweke, aged 20. In his possession were five boys within the ages of eight and 12 years.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect bought puff puff worth N200 from one of them and immediately paid for it.

“He thereafter collected puff-puff worth N500 and asked the boys to follow him to Lagos Island to collect the money.

“While on the way, the boys suspected that he was luring them to an unknown place. The boys immediately raised an alarm that warranted the suspect’s arrest. The boys have been reunited with their parents and the investigation is ongoing.”

Peter Obi, an ex-Anambra State Governor and Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, has described Nigeria as poverty capital of the world, with the hungriest and most insecure people on earth.

Obi has, in recent time, been consistently speaking out against the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, faulting its policies and focus especially amid economic crisis hitting the country.

In a post on his X handle (formerly known as Twitter), Peter Obi described it as disheartening how those in authority dismiss the country’s challenges by saying “we are not the only ones struggling with poverty and hunger.”

He said, “It is disheartening to hear those in charge, who were hired to address our problems, make statements like ‘we are not the only ones struggling with poverty and hunger’.

“We are the poverty capital of the world, among the most insecure people on earth, among the hungriest, have poor education quality and the highest number of out-of-school children, high infant mortality, corruption, unemployment, the highest income gap between the poor and the rich, high corruption perception index, infrastructure and healthcare challenges, and more.”

Obi, however, urged leaders to come up with concrete solutions and clear vision to address the country’s challenges, maintaining that mere comparisons of challenges with other countries would not solve the problems.

“Instead of merely acknowledging that other countries face similar challenges, we need to hear a thorough plan of action to tackle our unique struggles. We require concrete solutions and a clear vision to address these issues, not comparisons that downplay our circumstances.

“I urge those in leadership positions to offer tangible solutions, not mere reminders that others face similar challenges. We need a comprehensive approach to tackle our specific challenges, not marginalizations that dismiss our experiences.”