Author: Safiu Kehinde

Safiu Kehinde Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, has on Thursday in Birnin Gwari received the first set of repentant bandits and opened the cattle market which had been closed for about 10 years due to insecurity. The Governor pledged that his administration would be fair and just to all the citizens of the state. ”I will be fair to everyone, be they farmers, herders and traders, in order to achieve lasting peace and development.” he said. Sani disclosed that state government, in collaboration with some federal agencies,had established. ‘ The Peace Dialogue Group’, which has been tirelessly engaging all the…

Safiu Kehinde The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Adm. Emmanuel Ogalla, has expressed optimism that the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) nations are ready to work together to tackle insecurity in the region’s maritime. Ogalla stated this at the end of the 8th edition of the Symposium of Heads of Navies and Coastguards in the GoG, on maritime environment in Abuja. Themed “Maritime Security and Sustainable Development in the Gulf of Guinea” the symposium is hosted by the Nigerian Navy in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the French Navy. In his address, Ogalla said the meeting had recorded…

Agency Report The Minister of State for Education, Dr Suwaiba Ahmad, has said education remains the foundation of every thriving society. The Minister said this on Thursday at the 2nd National Education Awards Programme (NEAP), organised to honour the overall best students at the 2023 West Africa Certificate Examination (WACE) and National Examination Certificate (NECO) in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NEAP awards, which was co-organised by the Federal. Ministry of Education, has “Incentivising Learning and Reading Processes for Optimal Performance” as its theme. Ahmad said that education is a subject which empowers individuals to…

Safiu Kehinde Equatorial Guinea Supreme Court has acquitted and discharged Baltasar Egonga of charges filed against him, claiming the case lacks evidence. The apex court had, in the ruling held yesterday, acquitted the former Head of the country’s National Financial Investigation Agency, dismissing his case which brooded over his leaked 400 sex tapes. The case gained international attention after videos of Engonga surfaced online. While the court emphasized that medical tests proved he had not transmitted any sexually transmitted diseases to those involved, it also held that the women involved in the videos were all consenting adults. Meanwhile, Engonga has…

Prince Yormie Johnson, Liberian warlord-turned-politician, who became infamous for the 1990 footage of him sipping beer while the-then president was tortured nearby, has died at the age of 72. As one of the key figures in the two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said he should be prosecuted for war crimes, though he was never brought to trial. But as a senator since 2005, he was highly influential in Liberian politics, backing the last three successful presidential candidates. While some have celebrated his political role, others viewed him as a symbol of the country’s…

A power cut plunged Zimbabwe’s parliament into darkness as Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube was finishing his budget speech. The lights flickered and died, leaving top officials like President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga and members of parliament sitting in the dark. The outage is a symptom of Zimbabwe’s ongoing crisis, with daily 12-hour blackouts driven by a prolonged drought that is crippling energy generation at the Kariba Dam, the country’s main power source. As the lights went out, opposition MPs shouted that the outage was an apt metaphor for the country’s state of affairs. George Manyaya, a spokesperson from Zimbabwe…

Safiu Kehinde The Nigerian Police Force has transferred the case of Priscilla Ocheme, who was found dead after leaving her boyfriend’s house, to the Special Intelligence Unit for further investigation. This was disclosed in a statement issued on Thursday by the Force spokeperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi. While confirming the detention of the deceased boyfriend, Ekhousuehi Elvis, and three others, the Police recounted how Priscilla had went missing after leaving Elvis house on the 22nd of September, 2024. Her lifeless body would later be found with fingers pointing at Elvis for knowing about her death. Preliminary investigation would, however, revealed that Priscilla…

Safiu Kehinde Senator Ali Ndume has explained reason behind his disagreement with the controversial tax reform bill. The lawmaker representing Borno South explained that his objection of the bill is based on its timing. Ndume disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV Politics Today program on Thursday. Few hours after creating scene at the Red Chamber with his agitation against the invitation of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chairman to explain the content of the bill, Ndume faulted its timing. When asked of his grouse over the bill, Ndume said it is poorly timed, considering the current economic…

Safiu Kehinde President Bola Tinubu has pledged to return out-of-school kids to classroom as he reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to prioritizing education for Nigerian children. Tinubu made the pledge during a dialogue with French President, Emmanuel Macron at the Palais des Élysée on Thursday. The President, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, outlined plans to significantly reduce the number of out-of-school children through innovative return-to-class initiatives and skills development programs. He highlighted the government’s ongoing efforts to create a supportive framework that ensures school-age children re-enter classrooms, emphasizing the role of…

By Funsho Aina Graeco-Roman mythology holds a certain fascination for every student of history like myself, which is why I have always wanted to visit Rome and Athens in Greece. So having exhaustively explored the former, I headed to the land of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Herodotus, who is widely regarded as the ‘Father of History.’ I can still remember the timbre of Dr. Saka Balogun’s voice, carrying on about this in our ‘History 101’ class as freshmen at the University of Ilorin in 1988. Anyway, there are other ‘Fathers’ too like ‘Thales of Miletus’ (the Father of Science) and…