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Catholic Communicators Raise Alarm Over Incessant Killing Of Priests

By
Ayodele Oni
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Catholic Church

By Ayodele Oni

Catholic Communicators in Nigeria under the auspices of SIGNIS have condemned  incessant killings of Priests and other innocent Nigerians by bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists.

They said the increased attacks on Catholic Churches in recent times, which have led to the loss of several lives, including that of priests could spiral into violence that may have consequences on the peace and unity of the country.

The Catholic Communicators expressed more concern over the seeming silence of the Buhari administration and the Federal Government in the face of these attacks now.

This seeming silence, they noted does not in any way reassure Nigerians that the government is on top of the situation.

In a release signed by the President of the Association, Very Rev. Fr. Patrick Alumuku, and the General Secretary, Mr. Tony Agbugba, the group noted that the time has come for all Nigerians irrespective of their religious inclination to be more security conscious.

They particularly implored  Churches and Mosques to put in place stringent security measures that would enable them to defend the clergy, the worshippers, and the facilities henceforth.

The group is apparently troubled by the recent killings of two Catholic priests, Rev Frs. Christopher Odia of Auchi Diocese yesterday by his abductors and Bitrus Borigo of Kaduna Archdiocese, including the mauling of over 40 worshippers at Owo, Ondo State.

The group wondered why the bandits have suddenly picked interest in harassing, and killing harmless clergy and innocent worshippers that pose no danger or obstacle to anyone, rather than their desire to draw nearer their creator.

They implored security agencies at the federal and state levels to intensify efforts to bring the killers to book, while also  step up efforts to safeguard the lives of the citizens.

SIGNIS Nigeria equally challenged the legislative arm of government to explore the possibility of enacting a law that would enable Nigerians to own arms to defend themselves and their families against arbitrary attacks by gunmen as is now being championed by the Zamfara State government.

Supreme Court: Judge Who Led ‘Coup’ Becomes CJN

By
Tosin Olatokunbo
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By Tosin Olatokunbo

Justice Kayode Ariwoola will be sworn in as the new Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN. The magazine learnt that the Ariwoola who is the most senior among the justices of the nation’s apex court, had a moment ago arrived Aso Rock, Abuja where he’s expected to be sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ariwoola, we recalled is among other Supreme Court justices, who last week wrote a protest letter against the outgone CJN Ibrahim Muhammad.

The angry justices had accused their former boss of shortchanging them in running the affairs of Nigeria’s top most court.

Few days after, he’s being moved to head the apex court to replace the CJN who retired on Monday, over what keen watchers of the supreme court said is related to problems about his health.

The Sources understand that baring any last-minute change in the presidency’s protocols, President Buhari will supervise the new CJN while he takes his oaths of office.

‘The honourable justice has arrived Aso Rock this morning, he’s awaiting President Buhari in the National Executive Council, NEC hall where he will take his oath of office. The event will be witnessed by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF Abubakar Malami and other federal government officials.,” a top Presidency Source told the magazine on Monday.

13 justices had in a recent protest letter to the CJN, accused him of mismanaging the finance of the court, and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC.

Amongst other allegations, the angry justices accused then former CJN of favouring his spouse and children when it comes to foreign training for justices.

The letter reads in part: “In the past, justices were nominated to attend two to three foreign workshops and trainings per annum with an accompanying person for reasons of age.

“Since Your Lordship’s assumption of office, justices only attended two workshops in Dubai and Zanzibar. They were not accorded the privilege of travelling with accompanying persons as was the practice.

“Your Lordship totally ignored this demand and yet travelled with  spouse, children and personal staff.

”We DEMAND to know what has become of our training funds, have they been diverted, or is it a plain denial?  Your Lordship may also remember that the National Assembly has increased the budgetary allocation of the Judiciary.

“We find it strange that in spite of the upward review of our budgetary allocation, the court cannot cater for our legitimate entitlements. This is unacceptable.

“There is general lack of concern for justices who require immediate or emergency medical intervention,” they added, even as they equally bemoaned the disconnection of internet services at their chambers and official residence.

“Your Lordship, with all due respect, this is the peak of the degeneration of the court; it is the height of decadence, and clear evidence of the absence of probity and moral rectitude.

“Your Lordship, this act alone portends imminent danger to the survival of this court and the judiciary as an institution, which is gradually drifting to extinction,” the angry justices wrote in the letter titled: “The State of Affairs in the Supreme Court of Nigeria by Justices of the Court”.

Apart from Ariwoola those who signed the letter include: Musa Dattijo Mohammed, Kudirat Motonmori O. Kekere-Ekun, and John Inyang Okoro.

The rest are Chima Centus Nweze, Amina Adamu Augie, Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, Mohammed Lawal, Helen Moronkeji Ogunwumiju, Abdu Aboki, Ibrahim Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Tijjani Abubakar, and Emmanuel Agim.

Meanwhile, the magazine cannot confirm whether the former CJN was forced to resign as a result of the last week’s saga, which many keen watchers of Nigeria’s presidency said rattled Aso Rock, or on health grounds.

Fayose Protests Exclusion From PDP Osun State Campaign Council

By
Ayodele Oni
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By Ayodele Oni

Former Governor of Ekiti state, Mr Ayodele Fayose has protested against his exclusion as a member of the newly released list of Osun State campaign Council.

He said in a statement that those in the campaign list are pack of ‘political charlatans’, that cannot deliver Osun State to the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP).

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, had on Sunday, approved the appointment of 128 members to serve on the Osun State Gubernatorial National Campaign  Council, with Senator Duoye Diri as Chairman for the upcoming Governorship Election in Osun State on Saturday July 16, 2022.

This was contained in a statement by Umar Bature, National Organizing Secretary of the Party who also announced that they will be sworn-in on Wednesday in Abuja.

The two-term Ekiti Governor said his non-inclusion in the Campaign Council is a joke taken too far by the National Working Committee, (NWC) of the party and promised to reveal his option B soonest.

“Among the listed charlatans,  none of them has achieved political status like myself, since I was the only one standing in Nigeria who has won an incumbent two times, so my non inclusions can only spell doom for the party in  Osun.

“The NWC conspired to embarras me by excluding my name on the list of the Osun State campaign Council, forgetting that I remain a leader to virtually all those appointed into the committee, when I was a Governor in 2003, nearly all of them are still boys.

“Myself and Governor Wike have options, should in case Ayu led NWC continues to be in bed with Atiku Abubakar, who  hates me with passion.”

He maintained that it will be impossible for Atiku to win the Presidency without the combined forces of Fayose and Wike.

Mr Fayose claimed that Ayu and his NWC should be blamed for the defeat of the PDP during Ekiti Governorship election and that he should not be tagged and excluded because of that, saying that he would soon reveal his next move.

Fayose has, consistently, lost all elections in Ekiti, including his inability to install his successor in office. Not a few PDP members in the State regard him as a destabilizing person.

In the aftermath of PDP’s recent Governorship loss in the State, Chief Tom Ikimi, a PDP stalwart, held him responsible for the Party’s abysmal performance.

Catholic Bishop Says Buhari Lied After President Claimed Nigeria Safer Under Him

By
Tosin Olatokunbo
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By Tosin Olatokunbo

The nation’s security has collapsed, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said.

Onaiyekan spoke barely a week after President Muhmmadu Buhari told a British tabloid, Bloomberg that the country is now safer than he met it when he came to power in 2015.

SBM Intelligence, a leading research company, had few days ago claimed that an average of 13 persons were abducted daily in Nigeria bringing, while 2,371 persons had been kidnapped within the last six months.

The firm is a leading research consultancy group, versatile in the area of primary data gathering, and analyses of data that provides clarity relating to political, economic and social issues in Nigeria and West Africa.

Buhari had, in the face of the insecurity pervading the country told the tabloid that:

“We are leaving Nigeria in a far better place than we found it. Corruption is less hidden for Nigerians feel empowered to report it without fear, while money is returned; terrorists no longer hold any territory in Nigeria, and their leaders are deceased; and vast infrastructure development sets the country on course for sustainable and equitable growth.

“In 2015, Boko Haram held territory the size of Belgium within the borders of Nigeria. Today they are close to extinct as a military force. The leader of ISWAP was eliminated by a Nigerian Air Force airstrike in March.”

But Onaiyekan who spoke in Owerri, the Imo state capital said the nation’s security has collapsed, urging the administration to tell Nigerians the truth that it’s no longer in control of the situation.

“The Buhari administration should stop deceiving Nigerians on the state of the nation, the fiery cleric said.

“It is obvious that there is a lot of deceit in the land. Things that should not happen, are happening and must be that truth is not being told, especially by our leaders,” Onaiyekan said.

He said it’s unacceptable that terrorists are now attacking religious worship centres to kill Nigerians.

On June 10, dare devil terrorists attacked a Church in Owo, Ondo state killing over 50 worshippers in the latest bloody terror attack in the country.  Buhari should wake up to his duties and stop playing games with Nigerians, Onaiyekan said.

According to him: “It is a collateral damage to our country’s image that people were worshipping in the church and certain people came with guns and explosives and mindlessly massacred them in cold blood. It shouldn’t happen but, in any case, since it happened, it means that there is something seriously wrong with the system.

“We have never seen this type of things before. Is this the country we grew up in? Is this the country of our collective dream?

Something has definitely entered that has not been with us before. We expect the leaders to exposed and remove that thing.”

Onaiyekon said further that: “Our politicians should stop playing games. Let them tell the truth at all times. In the instant cases of insecurity and mindless killing, banditry and kidnapping, facing us daily, Nigerians should ask our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari and heads of our security agencies, to tell the nation what is happening.

“We hear that the President sent messages of condolence to people in Owo. What do we need these condolence messages for?

The President should stop sending these messages.

“The President should be active and on top of these ugly incidents in the land. He should have fished out the perpetrators of the damnable acts, within one week. That is the only condolence that will give us consolation.

“Eye witnesses to what happened in Owo, Ogun State, claimed that the perpetrators were Fulani herdsmen, but our authorities don’t want to say it and don’t want to tell the truth.

“We have been hearing this. We have refused to believe it but, unfolding events have started making us begin to think that may be, there is some iota of truth in the stories making the rounds. We must tell ourselves the truth. Our politicians, both in the North and South, should tell the truth to ourselves, so that we can stop sacrificing innocent lives,” the Cleric said.

MTN Vs Banks: GSM Firm Drags 18 Banks To Court Over N22bn

By
Tosin Olatokunbo
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By Tosin Olatokunbo

Mobile telephone company, Mobile Telecommunications Network, MTN has dragged 18 commercial banks in the country to court in its quest to recover over N22 billion from them.

The sum the South African firm, said in a court document seen by the magazine was erroneously transferred from its financial tech subsidiary, Momo Payment Service Bank Limited, Momo PSB, into the banks.

The banks listed as defendants in the suit include Ecobank, Fidelity Bank Access Bank, First Bank, First City Monument Bank, FCMB and Guaranty Trust Bank.

Others are Zenith Bank, Heritage Bank, Polaris Bank and Providus Bank, StanbicIBTC, Standard Chartered, Sterling Bank, Suntrust Bank, Union Bank, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Unity Bank and Wema Bank.

The transfer error occurred barely few days after the CBN licensed the telephone mobile operator to operate as a payment service bank, PSB.

Many financial analysts insist that the recently licensed PSB operators still have a lot to learnt from the existing commercial bank in other to be able to operate seamlessly.

According to a suit marked FHC/L/CS/960/2022 and filed on May 30, 2022, the PSB asked the court to order the banks to return N22. 3 billion transferred to the banks’ customers.

Among other reliefs, the PSB is asking for: “A declaration that the deposits of an aggregate sum of N22,300,000,000.00 erroneously transferred by the plaintiff to the accounts of the customers of the defendant banks, having been done in error, belongs to the plaintiff and not the customers of the defendant banks,” the court filing reads.

“An order directing the defendant banks to each, individually, account for the sums available in their customers’ accounts and the sums which have been removed by the customers and are no longer available.

“An order directing the defendants’ banks to immediately return the aggregate sum of N22,300,000,000.00, less those funds that are no longer available, to the plaintiffs’ settlement account in the name MOMO PSB settlement account number: 2041379385 at First Bank Plc Samuel Asabia House 35 Marina, Lagos, from where the funds originated.

“An order directing the defendant banks to release all information, including account name information in respect of the accounts from which the plaintiff’s funds have been transferred to third parties, including the destination accounts and the banks in which they are held to assist in the tracing and recovery of those funds.”

The managing director of Momo PSB, Usoro Usoro disclosed in the summons that his firm had last month discovered that 700,000 transactions were processed, with credits made into about 8,000 various customers’ accounts in the affected 18 banks.

The Momo PSB, he said, had since shut down operations to manage the situation.

FG After Our Lives; We Are Not Interested In Tinubu’s Presidency – Yoruba Nation Leader

By
Tosin Olatokunbo
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Professor Banji Akintoye

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Professor Banji Akintoye, the leader of the struggle for a Yoruba nation,  has disclosed that the group is not interested in who becomes Nigeria’s President next year, in the light of the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate.

Tinubu’s emergence as the torch bearer of the ruling Party  in the 2023 Presidential lection, many had predicted, will douse the tension in the South west for a Yoruba nation.

Akintoye spoke barely a week after exiled Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, said he was planning to return to the country to continue his agitation more than a year after his arrest and trial in the Republic of Benin.

Nigeria’s Secret Police, the Department of State Service, DSS, had on July 1, 2021,  invaded the Soka, Ibadan, Oyo state home of the Igboho, the arrow head of the agitation, with the aim of arresting him.

Some of his aides were injured during the bloody night raid.

Tinubu will contest the 2023 Presidential election against frontline Presidential candidates such as Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, amongst others.

The Yoruba leader had, last week, shocked not a few after he disclosed that the north will soon turn against Tinubu, a former Lagos State Governor and APC National Leader, who received massive support from the region during the APC presidential primary.

Many Northern politicians in APC are currently rooting for Tinubu’s Presidency on the popular quest for power to move to the South.

Speaking, the Elder Statesman said the Yoruba Nation has decided to leave the Country, as a sovereign Nation, and there’s no going back.

He said a Tinubu Presidency will not make any difference and will not deter agitations for the independence of a Sovereign Yoruba Nation.

“We know that one Yoruba person becoming the President of Nigeria for four or eight years will add nothing. No Tinubu or Olusegun Obasanjo can change the system because the system has been entrenched,” he said.

He said some leaders of the group moved to exile because the Government is after their life, noting that operatives of the DSS once raided his house and his Deputy, Professor Adeniran.

He claimed that the aim is to assassinate them so as to kill the agitation to achieve a Yoruba nation. No going back on the group’s quest to fight for a sovereign nation for Yoruba, the professor said.

According to him, “What we were told is that officials and non-official elements were ready to come to my house, kill me, and my wife in my bed, cut us to pieces and do the same to Professor Adeniran, my deputy.

“The persons who brought the categorical and specific information told us that we were okay on that night but that if we tried to sleep in our house the following day we will not wake up in it the day after.

“My wife is 86, while I am 87. So, we decided that the best thing is to leave. It took us a few hours to pack and leave; the next morning, we were on our way to the Benin Republic.

“It is part of Yoruba land but it is protected from the fact that it is ruled by another government. That is all.

“We have moved beyond that point. We have moved to the point of getting the world interested in what we are doing. In the modern world, you cannot take your country out of another country on your own. It is not going to happen.

“There are international conventions and relationships set up in modern times, which make it necessary for you to have the support of a wider world.

“That is what we have been spending most of our time on in recent times and it is succeeding. Thank God for whom we are. The Yoruba Nation is famous and so, fighting for the Yoruba Nation is considerably easy.”

Breaking: Buhari To Swear-in Ariwoola As Ag. CJN Monday

By
Uche Mbah
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Justice Olukayode Ariwoola

By Uche Mbah

President Muhammadu Buhari will, Monday afternoon, swear-in the Honourable Justice Olukayode as the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria.

The event will take place at the Executive Chambers of the State House, Abuja.

His brother- Justices are expected to be present at the ceremony.

Ariwoola, the most senior of the Supreme Court Justices, succeeds Justice Muhammad Tanko who suddenly resigned Monday morning, allegedly on health grounds. However, speculations are that he resigned over the  vote of no confidence passed on him, almost, in a letter addressed to him, by 14 Justices of the Supreme Court who accused him, indirectly of alleged corruption, incompetence and maladministration.

Tanko, strongly, denied the allegations.

Born on August 22, 1958, Ariwoola was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2011.

He would act for three months, during which time Buhari is expected to forward his name to the Senate for screening and confirmation.

Media Aide to Tanko, Ahuraka Yusuf Isah, confirmed his resignation and said Ariwoola would be sworn into office Monday afternoon.

Don’t Cause Trouble Between Peter Obi And I – Soludo Warns

By
The Source
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Peter Obi and Charles Soludo

By Charles Igbo

Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, has warned mischief makers not to cause trouble between him and Peter Obi.

Obi, a former two-time Governor of Anambra State is the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

Governor Soludo was reacting to a news item carried on Sunday, June 26, by a couple of Social Media platforms to the effect that he was mocking Obi.

Soludo was quoted as saying that he was in sympathy with those who defected from the ruling Party in the State, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to the LP, because LP has no structure, not even one Councillor, and will never win any election even in Anambra State as the State is APGA-compliant. He allegedly dismissed Obi as wasting time.

But Soludo has denied making any such statement and dismissed it as mischief.  He also warned mischief makers to keep off his relationship with Obi, and not cause any problems between them.

In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, Soludo said that the Repoter who first wrote the story was not there when he spoke extempore during an interactive session to mark his 100 days in office.

He said the report was an attempt by some misguided elements to cause disaffection between him and Obi.

Following is the press statement release by Aburime.

RE: SOLUDO MOCKS PETER OBI, SAYS LP WILL LABOUR IN VAIN

“The above statement allegedly credited to Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR is totally false and unfounded

“Our checks reveal the statement was a total misrepresentation by an overzealous reporter who was not among the journalists present when Governor Soludo spoke extempore during his interaction with some audience after his 100 days in office media broadcast

“The above statement could best be described as an attempt by some misguided elements to cause disaffection between the Labour Party Presidential candidate, His Excellency, Peter Obi and his party leadership

“We, therefore, wish to caution those wishing to cause mischief by publishing false and misleading stories to desist from doing so

“The public should please disregard the entire statement as it never emanated from Governor Soludo”

A few days ago, Obi’s very loyal aide, Valentine Obienyem, confirmed Obi has a good relationship with Governor Soludo. He revealed that Obi is strongly in support of Soludo as all he wanted is Soludo’s success. Anybody claiming to be in Obi’s camp, Obienyem said, and attacks Soludo “is on his own.”

Obi had attended Soludo’s inauguration as Governor. On the day Obi briefed Traditional Rulers Council, Anambra of his Presidential ambition, Soludo allowed him the use of the Government House for the purpose.

Tinubu Jets Out To Paris

By
Uche Mbah
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Bola Ahmed Tinubu Jets Out

By Uche Mbah

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 elections  jetted out to Paris   France, Monday Morning.

Sources close to his campaign organisation indicate that he went to a meeting in furtherance of his 2023 Presidential ambition. That has, however, not stopped the rumours that he travelled for a medical check-up.

His state of his health has been a subject of speculations.

According to his media aides, he is expected to hold series of meetings.

Tinubu had met over the weekend with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

Tinubu has lately been in the news in connection with his qualification to contest the 2023 Presidential elections.

The forms he filled and submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were without providing his primary and secondary school documents, among others.

Breaking: Justice Olukayode Ariwoola Appointed Acting CJN

By
Uche Mbah
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Justice Olukayode Ariwoola

By Uche Mbah

The Honourable Justice Olukayode Ariwoola has been appointed  the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ariwoola succeeds Justice Muhammad Tanko who, suddenly, resigned Monday morning, allegedly on health grounds.

Ariwoola was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2011.

He was born on August 22, 1958.

Ariwoola is a Yoruba from South Western Nigeria.

Also Read: Breaking: Buhari To Swear-in Ariwoola As Ag. CJN Monday

 

His confirmation is subject to the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari who is expected to forward his name for screening to the Senate.

Many insist that Tanko did the Honourable thing by resigning, especially, after the scandalous spat, a few days ago with 14 Justices of  the Supreme Court who indirectly passed a vote of no confidence in him.

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