These are the stories that drove the conversation today:
President Muhammadu Buhari has on Saturday urged his supporters across the country to halt their current campaigns for his re-election.
As contained in a statement made available to journalists by Presidential Media Adviser, Femi Adesina; it read that as an administration committed to due process and scrupulous respect for rules, law and order, it urged his committed supporters round the country (and beyond) to be mindful of the timetable for political campaigns by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The president appreciated the enthusiasm of his massive supporters’ which he said was” borne out of their desire to garner support for an administration that is actuated by nothing else other than service for motherland and urged them to exercise restraint till the race commences officially as stipulated by law.”
There are indications that Senator Ademola Adeleke, gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming elections in Osun state does not have the West African School Certificate and that he did not graduate from Jacksonville State University (JSU) in the United States, as he claimed.
According to a report by icirnigeria.org, contrary to what is listed on his profile on the National Assembly website; a Diploma in Criminology from JSU in 1986 and an Ordinary Level Certificate obtained from Ede Muslim Grammar School in Osun, the authorities of Jacksonville University in Alabama, United States have confirmed that although Adeleke enrolled for a programme in the school, he did not graduate.
A further check by the ICIR on the West African Examination Council’s online result verification portal, which claims to contain data from 1980 to 2018, with the details of examination number 19645/149 as circulated, the result was brief: “candidate does not exist.”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has launched a verbal attack against Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue, claiming that the governor is partly responsible for the security challenge in the state and aggravating the level of poverty among his people.
Oshiomhole who said the APC received the decision by Governor Samuel Ortom to defect to the opposition peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a huge relief, accused the governor of non-performance including the non-payment of salaries to civil servants, particularly teachers for up to twelve months, and his inability to execute any meaningful projects for the past three years with over N22 billion collected as proceeds from Paris club fund return and bailouts fund from the federal government. .
“From the point of view of our leaders in Benue State, their position was clear that fielding Ortom on APC platform in 2019 can only lead to electoral defeat for a number of reasons,” he added.
Thirteen of the 23 local government council chairmen in Benue have defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The chairmen announced their defected to PDP on Friday, following Governor Samuel Ortom’s defection to the PDP on Wednesday and the impeachment of the Speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, Hon. Terkimbi Ikyange, who reportedly did not want to defect from the APC.
The Lagos Government on Saturday commenced the release of the remains of victims killed in the June 28 tanker explosion along the Otedola Bridge to their families.
Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr. Jide Idris, had on Friday explained at a news conference in Alausa, that the decision to release the bodies followed the conclusion of DNA forensic examination conducted by the government to ascertain their identities.
“Nine bodies have been successfully matched to nine families out of the 11 families that showed up at the LSD&FC. They are now ready to be handed over to the rightful families for necessary burial arrangement,” Dr. Idris said.
And stories from around the world:
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday discussed American pastor Andrew Brunson, whose detention in Turkey has become a pressing issue for President Donald Trump, the State Department said. (Reuters)
An Israeli Arab lawmaker resigned on Saturday and branded the parliament “racist” after it passed a controversial new law which declares Israel the nation state of the Jewish people. (AFP)
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a prominent US cardinal accused of sexually assaulting a teenager nearly 50 years ago.
Theodore McCarrick, 88, a former Archbishop of Washington, must also carry out “penance and prayer” pending a canonical trial, the Vatican said. (BBC)
Tens of thousands of people have joined demonstrations in several Russian cities to protest against government plans to raise the retirement age.
More than 10,000 people attended a rally in the capital, Moscow, on Saturday. (Aljazeera)
Somalia’s president paid a rare visit to Eritrea on Saturday in a sign that Asmara is trying to use the opportunity created by a rapprochement with Ethiopia to improve its regional ties. (Reuters)
Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.
Governor Ortoms’ defection to PDP, Oshomole has shown clearly he’s double faced. He knew Ortom’s non performance all these while and did not complain until he decamped back to PDP. since Comrade became partisan he has really shown his nature and color. Those things he opposed as a labour leader before, he now accepts.
Oshomole knew what it takes to refine a litre of crude to make pump price cheaper but today, his party is ruling and pump price is as high as #143/#145 without him complaining.
Wonder shall never end.