Bandits on Tuesday evening blocked the Ajebo axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and kidnapped three persons.
The Chief Medical Director of the Lafia Hospital, Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr. Oladipupo Sule, in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday said his son, Kayode and two members of staff of the hospital were kidnapped during the attack.
According to him, the kidnapped members of staff are Opeyemi Abifarin and Dele Adigun.
Our correspondent gathered that the kidnappers blocked the road around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday and abducted their victims.
The hospital’s vehicle, a Toyota Sienna car, in which the victims were travelling as of the time of the incident, was abandoned by the kidnappers.
The CMD said the vehicle had been recovered by the policemen at the Ogunmakin Police Station in Ogun State.
The family is still waiting for the kidnappers, who were said to be 15 in number, to contact the families of the victims.
Sule said, “I’m presently in Ogunmakin police station as I talk to you. I am distressed and seriously devastated. My son and two others went to Lagos to buy drugs for the hospital and were on the way back from the trip when they were ambushed and kidnapped.
“The driver said one of the kidnappers communicated in English and others were speaking in Hausa or the Fulani language. They have yet to talk to me for us to know what their real identities and intentions (are),” Sule added.
Boris Johnson took over as Britain’s prime minister Wednesday, promising to pull his country out of the European Union on October 31 by any means necessary.
A day after winning the leadership of his Conservative party, the former London mayor and figurehead of the 2016 Brexit campaign formally replaced Theresa May.
His ascent is the culmination of a lifelong ambition for the blond-haired politician, who delights in playing the clown but now faces an immense challenge ahead.
Johnson has promised to deliver Brexit in three months’ time but faces opposition in Brussels and has only a wafer-thin majority in the British parliament.
Beloved by many for his refusal to take life too seriously, he is accused by others of divisive rhetoric, a flexible approach to the truth and incompetence.
Before he even took office, several pro-European ministers quit in protest at his threat to leave the EU without a divorce agreement to ease the split.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn challenged Johnson to call a snap general election, saying he has no mandate from the public to govern.
Although he won a landslide of Conservative party members, a YouGov survey Wednesday found Johnson’s approval rating was just 31 per cent among the public.
Even his appointment was disrupted by climate protesters, who briefly stopped his convoy heading to Buckingham Palace to be nominated by Queen Elizabeth II.
– Brexit challenge –
Johnson is expected to swiftly announce his new cabinet, and his first appointment proved predictably contentious.
He named as a top adviser Dominic Cummings, a combative character who helped lead the victorious “Vote Leave” campaign during the 2016 EU referendum.
May resigned after failing to get her plan for leaving the EU through parliament, forcing her to twice delay Britain’s departure date.
Johnson has vowed to renegotiate her deal or take Britain out of the bloc at the next deadline, October 31, without any agreement with Brussels.
But the EU refuses to reopen the text, while some of his own MPs have said they might even bring down the government rather than accept a damaging “no-deal” exit.
May took over three years ago promising to deal with the “burning injustices” in society but leaves behind a divided party, country and Brexit in doubt.
In a short speech in Downing Street, before tendering her resignation to the queen at the palace, she wished Johnson “every good fortune”.
A heckler shouted “Stop Brexit” as she stood with her husband Philip by her side, to which she retorted: “I think not.”
But she emphasised that Brexit should be done “in a way that works for the whole United Kingdom”, amid fears a disorderly divorce could cause irreparable damage to ties between England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
During his victory speech on Tuesday, Johnson urged Britain to “ping off the guy-ropes of self-doubt and negativity” and vowed to unite the country.
A source in his campaign team said he would build a diverse cabinet with more women and a record number of ethnic minority politicians.
Sajid Javid, the son of Pakistani immigrants and currently May’s interior minister, has been widely tipped to take over as finance minister.
– ‘Britain Trump’ –
Brexit aside, the most immediate problem facing Johnson is a stand-off with Iran after Tehran seized a UK-flagged tanker in the Gulf last week.
The current foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was Johnson’s rival for the leadership and is not expected to keep his job, although he may stay in the cabinet.
May’s government also provoked the ire of US President Donald Trump this month with the leak of diplomatic cables criticising the White House.
Johnson has emphasised the importance of Britain’s relations with the United States.
And Trump was one of the first to congratulate Johnson on his victory saying he would be “great” and describing him as “Britain Trump”.
Trump suggested Johnson would work together well with anti-EU figurehead Nigel Farage, whose Brexit Party has taken a big chunk of eurosceptic votes from the Conservatives.
President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, swore in Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad as the new Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The swearing-in took place at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, according to the verified Twitter handle of the Presidency.
Tanko Muhammad’s appointment as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria was confirmed by the Senate during last Wednesday session.
Muhammad has been acting CJN since January 25 when the then CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, was suspended from office over alleged corrupt practices.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 11th, forwarded to the Senate a letter requesting the confirmation of Muhammad as substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The President, in the letter of request, said the nomination was sequel to the recommendation made to that effect by the National Judicial Council.
The letter, titled, ‘Appointment of Chief Justice of Nigeria,’ reads: “In accordance with Section 231 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), which gives the President the power to appoint a Chief Justice of Nigeria on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council and subject to the confirmation of the appointment by the Senate, I have the honour to forward the nomination of Honorable Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed for confirmation as Chief Justice of Nigeria.
“It is my hope that this request will receive the usual expeditious consideration of the distinguished Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Following the arrest of Singer R. kelly, his crisis manager, Darrell Johnson has resigned from his duty.
In an interview with CBS on Wednesday, Johnson said his resignation was due to personal reasons.
247NNU had reported that R. kelly was re-arrested over sex trafficking charges in Chicago.
R. Kelly was arrested by New York police detectives and investigators with the Department of Homeland Security while walking with his dog and has been charged with sex trafficking in New York.
The singer, over the years, has faced accusations of abuse, manipulations and inappropriate encounters with girls and young women.
When asked if he would leave his daughter with R. Kelly, Johnson said he would not leave his daughter alone with anyone accused of being a pedophile.
The Federal Government has set aside July 25 of every year as national diaspora day in recognition of the contributions of Nigerians in diaspora towards national development.
This was disclosed in Abuja on Tuesday by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission.
Silhouettes of People Holding Flag of Nigeria
The NIDCOM Media Coordinator, Abdul-rahman Balogun, in a statement, explained that the commission planned to host the 2019 National Diaspora Day celebrations in collaboration with the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa and the Nigerians in Diaspora Alumni Network.
According to the statement, the theme of the event is, ‘The Power of the Nigerian Diaspora for National Development.’
The co-chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Dr Sule Bassi, said that the event which would hold on July 25, would be graced by the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Mustapha Suleiman.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, according to the statement, is expected to declare the conference open.
Boris Johnson has been named the new British prime minister and his tenure, set to begin on Wednesday will have a huge impact across global markets and the geopolitical landscape.
The former foreign secretary and mayor of London has swept to victory in the Conservative Party leadership contest and will now seek the approval of the queen on Wednesday to form a government.
While markets have seemingly priced in a Johnson win and a heightened risk of Britain leaving the EU without a deal, all eyes will be on his Brexit strategy and the composition of his cabinet.
The next general elections are set for May 2022 but could be called sooner.
Nigeria and electricity giant, Siemens, have signed a power deal that will lead to the production of 25,000 megawatts of electricity by 2025.
President Muhammadu Buhari gave the indication at the Presidential Villa on Monday during a meeting with the Siemens’s Global Chief Executive Officer, Mr Joe Kaeser.
He asked Siemens, the Transmission Company of Nigeria and the regulator to work hard to achieve 7,000mw and 11,000MW of reliable power supply by 2021 and 2023 in the first and second phases of the deal, respectively.
By 2025 when the contract will lapse, a total of 25,000MW is expected to have been met.
The deal came out of the August 31, 2018 meeting between the Nigerian President and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Abuja.
Buhari said on Monday, “We all know how critical electricity is to the development of any community or indeed any nation. “And in Nigeria, while we are blessed to have significant natural gas, hydro and solar resources for power generation, we are still on the journey to achieving reliable, affordable and quality electricity supply necessary for economic growth, industrialisation and poverty alleviation.
“There have been many attempts at solving the electricity problem in our country. Previous governments have explored state-funded solutions through the ill-prepared National Independent Power Projects. They also explored the installation of large emergency power projects. There was also the partial privatisation of the power generation and distribution sectors.
“These various interventions to solving the electricity problem have yielded an imbalance between the amount of power generated and the amount available for consumers. Despite over 13,000MW of power generation capacity, only an average of 4,000MW reliably reaches consumers. Now, we have an excellent opportunity to address this challenge.”
The President recalled that his administration’s priority was to stabilise the power generation and gas supply sectors through the Payment Assurance Facility, which led to a peak power supply of 5,222MW.
He, however, lamented that the transmission and distribution systems had remained major constraints.
He said, “This is why I directed my team to ask Siemens and our Nigerian stakeholders to first focus on fixing the transmission and distribution infrastructure, especially around economic centres where jobs are created.
While it was evident that more (work) needed to be done to upgrade the sub-transmission and distribution system, our government was initially reluctant to intervene as the distribution sector is already privatised.
“I am therefore very pleased with the positive feedback from private sector owners of the distribution companies, who have all endorsed government’s intervention to engage Siemens on this end-to-end plan to modernise the electricity grid.”
The President also said, “Our goal is simply to deliver electricity to Nigerian businesses and homes. My challenge to Siemens, our partner investors in the distribution companies, the TCN and the electricity regulator is to work hard to achieve 7,000MW of reliable power supply by 2021 and 11,000mw by 2023 – in phases one and two, respectively.
“After these transmission and distribution system bottlenecks have been fixed, we will seek in the third and final phase to drive generation capacity and overall grid capacity to 25,000MW.”
On his part, Kaeser recalled that a Letter of Agreement on the Nigerian Electrification Road map was submitted to the Nigerian President in November, 2018.
He explained that the road map would deliver 7,000MW in the first phase, and in the second phase, up to 11,000MW.
He said, “That will significantly enhance the country’s power supply and gets the country to the next industrial phase. We believe we will all very much benefit together, the people of Nigeria and of course Siemens as a company.
“I am very honoured that we were able to sign this road map today in the presence of the President and our partners. I will personally make sure that this will be a big success for Nigeria, Siemens and our partners in the country.”
A Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, in charge of Operations at the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, was reportedly shot dead after a protest by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, known as Shi’ites, in Abuja on Monday turned violent.
One of our correspondents learnt that two of the protesters were killed, while a member of the National Youth Service Corps reporting for Channels TV was hit by a stray bullet as many more were injured during alleged exchange of fire between the sect and security forces.
The reporter, Precious Owolabi, was rushed to the National Hospital, Garki, where he later died on Monday evening.
The protest, which started from NITEL Junction at Wuse 2, was aimed at forcing the Federal Government to free their leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who has been in detention since December 2015.
Umar was reportedly shot as he tried to pacify the protesters who went on the rampage.
The protesters also destroyed vehicles.
One of our correspondents, who was at Force Headquarters, saw officers mourning Umar, who they described as a very kind man.
A police Inspector said, “The DCP was a very good man. We were at the mosque on Friday when he saw one Inspector looking haggard. The man told him how he had not been paid for over 14 months because he was unable to complete his IPPIS (Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information).
“On hearing that, DCP Umar hugged him and immediately made calls to the officer in charge of the platform and budget office. Today, the Inspector has been directed to come to the IPPIS office for enrollment on the platform. His death is so shocking.”
The Force said they had arrested 54 suspects in connection with the incidents.
Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, confirmed Umar’s killing, claiming he was killed by the Shi’ite protesters.
In a statement, Mba, who said over 3,000 Shi’ites took part in the protest, added that two Assistant Superintendents of Police were injured. He also confirmed that the Channels TV reporter initially sustained serious injuries.
The sect, a few weeks ago, invaded the National Assembly where they reportedly attacked the security officials on duty. Two of the sect members were said to have been shot in their legs.
They also burnt three cars and vandalised other property during the incident.
Mba said, “Another violent protest by members of the El-Zazakky group involving over 3000 of its followers took place today (Monday) at about 12.30pm within the Central Business District, Abuja.
“The heavily armed protesters, defying all sense of decency, violently attacked innocent citizens and police (carrying out their duties). During the process, the DCP, FCT Command, Usman Umar, was shot and fatally injured by the protesters.
“The officer, who was immediately rushed to hospital died moments later while receiving treatment. Also, two ASPs and a Channels TV reporter sustained serious injuries and are currently receiving treatment.”
The police added that the protesters burnt a National Emergency Management Agency Response Post close to the Federal Secretariat and two vehicles.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it recorded a trade surplus of N6.33 billion for the month of May, 13 percent higher than the N5.60 billion surplus made in April.
The corporation disclosed this in its Monthly and Operations report (MFOR) released on Sunday in Abuja
It attributed the rise to the increase in gas and power output and surplus recorded by the corporation’s downstream entities like NNPC Retail, Petroleum Products Marketing Company(PPMC), Nigerian Pipelines Security Company(NPSC) and Duke Oil.
The report further indicated that within the period, the NNPC recorded a total of 580.32 million dollars in the export sale of crude oil and gas which is 23.39 percent higher than the previous month’s figure.
“Out of this number, crude oil export sales contributed 458.59 million dollars which translates to 79.02 percent of the entire dollar transactions compared with 342.11 million dollars contributed in the month of May,” it said
It also showed that between May 2018 and May 2019, crude oil and gas worth 5.97 billion dollars were exported.
On the downstream, the report noted that for the corporation to ensure uninterrupted supply and effective distribution of petrol across the country, a total of 2.06 billion litres of petrol translating to 66.49mn liters/day were supplied for the month of May.
It noted that beyond supply, the corporation continued to monitor the daily stock of petrol to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the nation.
“Within the period, a total of 60 pipeline points were vandalized which represents a 52 percent decrease from the 125 points vandalized in April.
“The Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Ibadan-Ilorin pipelines accounted for 38 percent and 23 percent respectively and other locations accounted for the remaining 39 percent of the total breaks,” the report said.
The report attributed the improvement to the spirited efforts by NNPC in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to continuously strive to reduce and eventually eliminate this menace.
The May 2019 NNPC MFOR is the 46th in the series, designed to provide greater transparency and remove the perception of opacity associated with the operations of the national oil company, News Agency of Nigeria reports.
