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…councillor escapes, ran through the bush By Ibrahim HassanWuyo A councillor from Southern Kaduna and few others have escaped and ran through the bush when gunmen abducted about 21 people along the Kaduna – Kachia road late Friday. Journalists were told that not fewer than 21 persons were kidnapped when the gunmen in Army uniform blocked the road at Idom on the  Kaduna –  Kschia road. Also read: We saw many dead bodies However, details are yet to be released by the authorities. “It was in the late hour of Friday, the armed men who came in large number dressed in military uniform and abducted 21 persons along Kaduna- Kachia road at Idon village of kajuru local government area of Kaduna State,” a local said. “The councillor who was  among the two persons that escaped from the kidnappers in the bush ran through the bush and they later found themselves at Mararraban Kajuru, where they were assisted by the locals.” The councillor who narrated his ordeal to a TV stati...

By Tonnie Iredia Loud calls in the last year for a change of military service chiefs in Nigeria appear to have ended with the announcement, a few days ago, of a new team. An aggregation of the numerous reactions to the new team to be led by war veteran, Lucky Irabor shows that the idea of bringing the team on board at this point in time is propitious and well received. However, a few people including this writer are still apprehensive of the efficacy of Nigeria’s security architecture.  To start with, our leaders erroneously imagine that national security begins and ends with defence and military might. While not doubting the reality of civil strife as a daily feature of Nigeria’s heterogeneous and disparate communities, national security must be better understood to include other crucial areas such as job security and indeed food security; otherwise, a national security policy would be of no use to the unemployed, hungry and poor citizens that constitute the majority of our peop...

By Bunmi Sofola “Years ago”, recalled Lizzy, a fifty-something IT expert, “when our house was always full of small children, I staggered downstairs with a few of fellow mothers after a chaotic session with some of the children in the bathroom, all wanting to be refreshed at my toddlers birthdays. We found the visiting Dads were pouring well-earned drinks. We mothers reported that just before we finished cleaning the children, all the three and four-year-old boys had been snapping at their pants’ elastic and comparing the size of their willies. The mothers all laughed. So did the fathers, for a brief moment, but then almost in chorus, they asked: `Um … and whose was the …?’ “Civilised, cultured, happily married men, not porn-hound among them, but they couldn’t help it. Willie – worship, willy-pride is hard-wired deep in the male brain. However, much they denied it, men do seem to care”. Re-acting to an early report in the column about King’s College London’s measuring of 15,000 p...

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday revalidated his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his constituency in Daura, Katsina State. President Buhari, who was accompanied by APC Caretaker Committee members; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Governors and other party members at the exercise declared that the era of endorsing people from Abuja was over. Elites not interested in rating but harassing my govt ― Buhari He said that his objective was to ensure that the party was returned to the people at the grassroots by starting from the bottom up from polling unit to ward to the local government to the state and then to the federal. According to him, “No more crowning from Abuja downward. Let the people know this and appreciate it that they are in charge of their constituencies and they are in charge of the party. “Without any incentive, they must come out and defend the party at any level so that we, you and the party will feel secure and comfo...

Former Information Minister Tony Momoh …Says money spent on elected officers enough to develop Nigeria …Speaks on Buhari, OBJ, Jonathan By Omeiza Ajayi Prince Tony Momoh, a Journalist and Lawyer, was Nigeria’s Minister of  Information and Culture (1986-1990). In January 2011, he became the National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change CPC, one of the “legacy parties” which merged to form the now ruling All Progressives Congress APC. In this interview, he said his party has done well and that if it organizes itself well, it would retain power in 2023. He also threw his weight behind restructuring and Unicameral Legislature. Excerpts: So far, your party, the APC, has been in power since 2015. Would you say the party has been able to live up to expectations? Yes. The party assumed power in 2015, promising three main things on which to hinge its operations viz: ensuring security, fighting corruption and reworking the economy. As of the time they came,...

President Muhammadu Buhari addressing the abducted students in Katsina, December 18th, 2020. PHOTO Bayo Omoboriowo President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians of full implementation of the 2021 budget, with all transparency and openness in meeting the targets, while appreciating the National Assembly for the effective and detailed attention before the passage. Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja, said the president gave the assurance in Daura, Katsina State, after participating in the registration and revalidation exercise of the All Progressives Congress (APC). READ ALSO Tuition fee hike: LASU students reject Sanwo-Olu’s gesture, want reversal to N25,000 He said the budget aptly captured some of the visions of the administration, and all efforts would be poured in to ensure effective implementation. “We have directed all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies to follow what is in the budget so t...

By Douglas Anele It must be admitted that throughout history individuals in positions of power and influence, especially political and military leaders suffering from undiagnosed and untreated emotional disturbance or motivated by excessive greed and megalomania have done unspeakable evil. So, it would be too hasty and unwise to dismiss every conspiracy theory around covid-19 without thoroughly looking at available evidence in each case. In this connection, perhaps the “Wuhan virus” might be the result of an experiment in biological warfare that went awry or was deliberately released for ulterior motives by some unscrupulous politicians, scientists and businessmen. Nevertheless, the emerging consensus amongst medical experts in different countries is that covid-19 virus originated from bats or pangolins at a wildlife market in China and was inadvertently spread to other parts of the world through human-to-human contact. Accordingly, although one cannot completely rule out the possi...