Gowon dismisses allegation of looting CBN, asks UK Lawmaker to check his record

Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has dismissed the allegations of money laundering levelled against him by a member of the United Kingdom parliament.

Three days after the UK lawmaker, Tom Tugendhat, accused him of looting half of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the elder statesman condemned the claims in an interview with Channels Television on Thursday.

“It is certainly surprising, and I am disappointed that a British parliamentarian could make such a statement without checking the facts of what he was saying. I honestly was disappointed that such a remark is made,” the former Nigerian leader said.

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Ondo monarch shot dead

Isreal Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon in Ose local government area of Ondo state, has been shot dead by gunmen.

Reports indicate that Adeusi was on his way from a meeting in Akure in his official car around 4 pm when he was accosted by gunmen and shot. No one else was attacked in the car and no item was stolen.

He was said to have been shot at Elegbeka, a few kilometers from Owo town, and later rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owo, where he died.

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Slain Abuja vendor’s wife dissociates self from N500m lawsuit, demand justice

Mrs Josephine Okereke, wife of Abuja newspaper vendor killed by a security detail to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, Femi Gbajabiamila, has disassociated herself from the N500 million compensation lawsuit.

Okereke told newsmen on Thursday in Abuja that she was not privy to the N500 million compensation requested by the family. She, however, said that the Speaker had since reached out to the family with a promise to take care of the children; adding that what was paramount was how to get justice for her late husband.

“All I want now is that the person that killed my husband to face justice, he was the bread winner of the family and he just secured a job with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment,” she said.

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Senate passes bill to make health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe, has declared that the Senate has passed a bill making health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians.

Oloriegbe revealed this at the inauguration of Group Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme (GIFSHIP) on Thursday in Abuja.

“We have passed it in the Senate. Two Committees on health from Senate and the House of Representatives worked on the bill, so the bill is before the House of Representatives just for concurrence. Also, the National Assembly has passed the National Health Insurance Authority Act. It will not be National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) again, it will be National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) . A scheme in NHI(S) means only one scheme. That is what has been happening,” he said.

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Nigeria receives over 600 years old Ife Terracotta Head, others from Netherlands

The Nigerian government has received the repatriated Ife terracotta head and other artifacts from the Kingdom of Netherlands.

Mr Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, took delivery of the artifacts on Thursday at an event in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Harry Van Dijk, presented the valuable pieces of art to the minister on behalf of the government of the European country.

The terracotta head from Ile-Ife in Osun State, a unique and rare artifact said to be at least 600 years old, was intercepted by Dutch Customs at the Schiphol Airport in 2018.