The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 357 new cases of COVID-19 amid the wave of fresh infections resurging in parts of the country.
The NSCDC disclosed this on Tuesday in its official twitter handle.

In the tweet, NSCDC explained that the fresh infections were confirmed between July 9 and 11.
These cases, it stated, were reported in five states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Lagos State had the highest number of infections – 292 and was followed by Yobe – 25, Rivers – 20, FCT – 11, Kano – seven, and Delta – two.
According to the NCDC, four states comprising Abia, Kaduna, Plateau, and Sokoto recorded zero cases within the period.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 258,874 since the first COVID-19 case was reported in late February 2020.
Of the confirmed cases, 250,456 people have been discharged while the number of those who died from complications related cases stands at 3,144.

The tweet read "357 new confirmed cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

👏🏼

— Abubakar Usman (@abba4life) July 12, 2022
Lagos-292
Yobe-25
Rivers-20
FCT-11
Kano-7
Delta-2
258,874 confirmed
250,456 discharged
3,144 deaths.
"This report includes:
[▪️] Data for 9th - 11th July 2022
[▪️] 4 States with zero cases reported: Abia, Kaduna, Plateau and Sokoto"

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At least three people have been killed in a cultists’ clash on Tuesday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
SaharaReporters learnt that the cult members engaged in gun battles in Akerbiata, Gambari and Ojagboro communities of the Ilorin East local government area, causing panic among the residents.

According to a statement released by the Kwara State Police Command, a 23-year-old Computer Science student of the National Open University in Ilorin, Mohammed Isiaka, was among those who were murdered by suspected cultists on Tuesday.
The police report reads, “at about 1630hrs, some boys suspected to be cultists visited a house at Akerebiata area of Ilorin, attacked one Mohammed Isiaka ‘m’ aged 23yrs, a computer science student of the Open University Ilorin and shot him in the chest.”
SP Okasanmi Ajayi, Spokesman of the state police command,  added, “Policemen from ‘C’ Division who raced to the scene on receipt of the information, took the victim to UITH, where he was confirmed dead by a doctor on duty.”
He disclosed that the corpse of the victim had been deposited for autopsy.
He further stated that the Commissioner of Police, Kwara State, Tuesday Assayomo, had ordered a discreet and result- oriented investigation into the matter.
Assayomo urged the residents of the state, to go about their lawful businesses as adequate security arrangements have been emplaced to forestall any reprisal attack.
The Police Commissioner also assured that the perpetrators of the heinous act would be fished out and prosecuted.

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A political economist and chieftain of the Labour Party, Prof Pat Utomi, has said the LP is worried over the Nigerian situation where those in public offices steal money to rig elections.
Utomi spoke while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while insisting that Nigerians demand new confidence from fresh leadership.

He said that his party had a better structure to give Nigerians a desired leadership than the nation’s two dominant parties – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He expressed confidence that his party would coast to victory in the 2023 presidential election, which is barely seven months away.

“Labour Party has a super structure, much better than the structures APC and the PDP have. The Labour Party is built around the labour movement and a college of civil society organisations,” he said.

According to him, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have political commissions in every state of the federation.

He stated that the party would mobilise people during the forthcoming polls to ensure that every polling booth was covered.

Utomi however decried a situation whereby those in public office would steal money to rig elections, a system which people had mistaken to be political structures.

He explained that the scenario whereby politicians bribed their way during elections was changing as the people now wanted a different narrative.

“With the structure that we have, I am guaranteeing that on the election day, in every polling station in this country, there are at least 15 people who are standing up for the third force to support the Labour Party candidate,” he said.

On the possibility of a merger with other parties, the Labour party chieftain stated that talks are ongoing with several political parties, although he did not disclose any specific one.

When asked why he was confident of LP’s victory, he berated the performances of both the APC and PDP that had ruled Nigeria.

Noting that they have made Africa’s most populous nation bankrupt through excessive borrowings, Utomi insisted that Nigerians demand new confidence from fresh leadership.

While the Labour party has fielded ex-Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi as its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as PDP’s flagbearer with ex-Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu to fly the APC’s flag in the 2023 presidential election.

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The Delta State command of the Nigeria Police Force on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of an alleged fake nurse, Mrs Ebi Igho, for delivering a pregnant woman in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the State.
It was learnt that the pregnant woman simply identified as Mrs Vivian lost her baby, had serious bleeding and had her womb cut off in the process of delivery.

The alleged fake nurse who was arrested from her New Era Jakpa road residence was said to have singlehandedly attended to the pregnant woman.
The suspect is said not be a registered nurse and has not gone through any medical institution but was operating in isolation as a quack.
A human rights activist familiar with the matter, Kelvin Ejumudo, also on his social media handles, noted that the alleged fake nurse performed delivery procedures on the woman using a torch and gave the victim multiple cuts that left the victim in a pool of blood.
He claimed that the victim bled for several hours before she was rushed to the General Hospital where her womb was allegedly removed in order to save her life.
"One Mrs Ebi Igho who resides off New Era street, Jakpa Road, Effurun in the Uvwie local Government council area of Delta State, was arrested for delivering a pregnant woman and in the process she lost the baby and went into serious bleeding from 9am till 8pm.
“After the baby was breached in the womb, the nurse went ahead to give the mother multiple cuts that left her in the pool of her blood before she was rushed to Central Hospital Warri and in the process her womb was removed in order to save her life.
"When interrogated, the suspect confessed that she was not a registered Nurse and has not gone through any medical institution from any university.
"I am calling on the Delta State Government and the Commissioner of Health, Delta State, to rise to the occasion and ensure that such unprofessional outlets within the state are destroyed and the culprits arrested.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe, while confirming the incident, told SaharaReporters that the suspect had been arrested.
"Investigation into the incident has commenced," he added.

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The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari in the wake of his confession that Nigeria is tough and he is eager to go, to resign and hand over to his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo.
The spokesman of NEF, NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who stated this, advised the president to resign at the moment because things would get tougher in the country.

The former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Secretary gave the advice in reaction to the President’s revelation that he is eager to leave power.
Buhari spoke when he hosted some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, legislators and chieftains at his Daura home in Katsina.
He noted that he had less than a year in office, and he would do his best in the remaining months.
“I wish the person who is coming after me the very best. I am eager to go. I can tell you it has been tough”, he had said.
Reacting, Baba-Ahmed told Buhari that it was not too late to throw in the towel.
“President Buhari told APC Govs that he is looking forward to the end of his tenure, saying it has been tough.
“Who would remind him that he does not need to wait until May 29th, 2023? Who will tell him it looks like things will only get tougher?” he tweeted.
In response to a Twitter user who said Buhari “doesn’t listen to mad men”, the former permanent secretary said, “Please tell him yourself. You will be doing us all a great favour. Remind him he is elected to perform governance functions like protecting citizens.
“If he will not, or cannot, he can yield the office to his Vice until 2023.Then he can start resting now. That’s how it works.”
 

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Aloy Ejimakor, Special Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has tackled President Muhammadu Buhari over his recent comment that he (Buhari) is eager to leave the office as the Nigerian President.
Ejimakor said “cut and run” was not the solution to the challenges Buhari may be experiencing in office.

SaharaReporters on Tuesday had reported that Buhari said he was “eager” to leave the government and hand it over to his successor because “it’s been tough.”
The president had said this while receiving some governours of the All Progressives Congress (APC), legislators and political leaders at his residence in Daura, Katsina State, on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ejimakor lamented that Nigeria is divided along ethnic and religious lines under the Buhari government.
He said this via a tweet, insisting that running away would not fix the problems confronting Nigeria.
“Buhari cries out: ‘I am eager to go, Nigeria has been tough’. No sir. Nigeria is beyond tough; it’s irredeemably divided along ethnic & religious lines. And the fix is not to ‘cut & run’ but to summon the will to put Nigeria to a vote,” he tweeted.
The President had travelled to Daura on Friday ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.
Buhari told his guests that he would retire to his hometown and not Kaduna State where he was before he came to power.
“By this time next year, I would have made the most out of the two terms, and in the remaining months I will do my best,” he had said.
The President had also told the governors and political leaders that he had not been to his house in Daura for close to a year due to the demands of the office.
“I wish the person who is coming after me the very best,” he said.

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Osun is a state whose election and its violence-prone hotspots can be easily predictable with marginal reading error. I have done pre-election voter education and scoping on occasions there before in addition to election observation for organisations and had alerted the police in some instances so I have a fair knowledge of its electoral characteristic and hotspots. Hotspots are also rigging spots.
1. Unlike its neighbouring Oyo State which has potential for spontaneous volatility in unpredictable places because of its wideness and its unenviable tradition of violence ripples, Osun hotspots can be mapped out easier by INEC and police if they properly want to do their work.
INEC is always striving better to conduct fair elections but the logistic problem is always a major issue aside from conscience buying (unlike vote buying) of its few unscrupulous Adhoc and permanent staff. And the conscience buying is mostly done by the two large parties, APC and PDP rogue stalwarts and their equally unscrupulous field officers aided by unscrupulous security personnel, especially the police.
With the appreciable improvement in the electoral law and electronic-driven process, a higher level of performance is expected from INEC if they walk their talk and hold firm to obey its own rules of engagement without fear or favour. If INEC says its card reader only, so be it no changing of rules to manual on the field of play like it happened in Oyo and some other states. Let your no be no and yes be yes in all circumstances. Changing rules breaches public confidence. 
2 Police...
Depending on the credibility and integrity of its high command and the state command which manifests largely on its rank and file, police are not always predictable on the election field. Their performance on the field can be almost projected by their conduct and real-time responses to violence and tension before an election.

All feedback and alarms should be looked into before, during and after the election. I have heard cause to write them officially and communicated through our organization, Democracy Vanguard, DV, and other election monitoring organisations I consulted for codedly where unscrupulous officers compromised to favour the two biggest political parties at different times.
They acted swiftly in some reported cases after telephone calls to me and their independent investigation. So their hotlines should be functional with a real-time response from their situation room which I once suggested to be decentralized for quick action.
Police know or should know from their past field experience that "foreign thugs" (now tagged as political enforcers) are always imported as mercenaries from Oyo, Lagos, Ondo and Kwara states mainly by the big parties with a huge war chest to assist the local breeds to consolidate and extend the frontiers of violence and election rigging.
If the no movement of people including top politicians and thugs aside from vital officers is strictly adhered to, and pre-election scoping is properly done, critically analyzed and evaluated, the act of thuggery, and rigging will be drastically curtailed. But this is where police always compromise and become powerless by design or pressure to lawless "powerful" rogue politicians who would move about with thugs despite restrictions of movements. 
3. Hotspots axis of rigging and violence. 
 Osogbo township is always tensed more on pre-election days than on election days. This is major because many voters in the town which is the seat of power are determined voters. They always troop out en masse to vote with little or no disturbance. With their countenance and hush-hush discussions at polling units, an experienced discerning mind can make the probability of which party will win in the township and may win the outcome.
Police and INEC always fair well and better in Osogbo because all eyes of election observers, monitors, and media, are on them. And unscrupulous politicians and potential election riggers are in the rigging parties are mutually watchful. But security personnel allowed some lawless politicians to move around after voting. All my calls to report such lawlessness were not acted upon on days of previous elections. I hope they will have the liver to stop such movement this time around. 
The major axis of rigging and violence traditional hotspots predictable include Ede - Iwo axis, a top contender for the post comes from there so it has to be spotted very well. Ile Ife -Garage Olode - Osu - Ilesa axis. Ikire town is always violence /rigging prone but surprisingly or interestingly neighbouring village towns like Apomu, Ago Owu, and Ode Omu, are always better in conduct. Another axis to watch is Ikirun - Ofa road axis, Iragbiji the home of the sitting governor is not a traditional hotspot in that axis but police should map it for eventualities now that a sitting governor is from there. It naturally  becomes a potential hotspot
4 Hotels—
All major hotels should be under surveillance and crosschecked regularly. By now, some trusted undercover police intelligence officers should have lodged, at least one officer per selected scoped hotel. Hotel t is a major source of free & loose information to read the temperature of the political /election environment.
From my scoping of twenty hotels in the past election period, it's easy to know who lodged where even if it's under a fake name for an electoral crime. Just be friendly but cautious and if need be, be selectively amorous with some sensitive staff of hotels. Information flows to you easily without asking.
For instance, in a particular hotel in Osogbo during one of my election duties, two house staff who I tipped and joked with always voluntarily informed me: "Daddy, se e ku ku bo si yara kan loke nitori ati ni awon alejjo n'la ni sale o nigbati e jade lana.."  "Awon wo ni alejo n'la o? I asked. " E o mo pe asiko election la wa yi, orishirishi alejo la ma n'gba" was their response.
I agreed to move to the upper floor vacant room. You can't believe it, those alejo n'la smoked Igbo and drank throughout the night making noise singing and dancing disturbing upper floor lodgers unchecked. I intentionally didn't report to the hotel staff because it's a good lead for me. I didn't understand their communication well because they were non-Yoruba. By the second day, I made a covert report to necessary quarters for attention. On the third day, the "Alejo n'la started behaving well pretentiously. On the fourth day, I checked out of the hotel to another one for safety reasons in case of leakage of source, but I maintained my contact with the receptionists and the house cleaners throughout the election period. 
In Ado Ekiti it was in one of the hotels I lodged in the Adebayo area during the election period that I got to know through a beautiful hotel assistant manager some vital info and I got in touch with a journalist to investigate properly and independently.
It was in the same Ado Ekiti in one hotel with a big beautiful garden along Ikere road that I got information that motor park thugs loyal to Fayemi were warming up to take over some motor parks from thugs loyal to Fayose on the eve of the election. It happened and I almost got trapped in the violence that started around the post office area.
Hotels, pepper soup joints and motor parks are sensitive information areas. I don't think the police have excuses at all not to nip election violence in the bud before it escalates to burning and killings.
We all need to be vigilant and assist security agencies in vital and credible information sharing during the electioneering period. Rogue politicians desperate for power will always rig elections, buy votes and cause violence. It's not limited to a bourgeois party alone but all of them, their criminal merchant leaders and unscrupulous followers. Power is their religion don't be deceived with their kurukere kurukere to prayer centres. Be vigilant, and vote wisely for your choice without inducement or intimidation.
Wishing INEC, the good and conscientious people whose votes can't be bought (only) of Osun, the second-best Amala & Abula centre after Ibadan in Yoruba land a successful election.
Adeola Soetan
Citizenship Civic Awareness Centre
aka Democracy Vanguard 

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A building in the Onipanu area of Lagos State reportedly collapsed on Wednesday at about 1.07am at Oke Arin street, off Shyllon Ilupeju.
It was gathered that this incident happened barely two weeks after a church building under construction collapsed opposite Number 17, Cardoso Street, off Martins Street in Mushin.

The Onipanu incident was confirmed by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu.
“The Alpha Cobra team of Lagos State Emergency at Onipanu En route Oke Arin street off shyllon Ilupeju.” He said.
It is not clear the number of casualties recorded in the latest incident.
In May, SaharaReporters reported one person confirmed dead in a building collapse on the Lagos Island area of Lagos State.
The incident occurred at a two-storey building located on Freeman Street on Saturday afternoon.
Also, a building collapsed in the Ebute Metta area of the state, leading to at least 10 deaths and many injuries.
The building which was under construction came down during heavy rainfall in the area.
While one person was confirmed dead, another person was rescued alive.

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On Thursday, July 14, 2022, the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) in collaboration with Yar’Adua Foundation will launch the Corruption Anonymous (CORA) whistleblowing platform at Yar'Adua Centre, Abuja. The CORA platform is a secure civil society-driven public whistleblowing tool through which citizens can submit tips on corruption and other forms of wrongdoing anonymously. Jointly developed by AFRICMIL and the Yar’Adua Foundation, the platform aims at strengthening the whistleblowing policy of the Nigerian government. We shall return to this.

 

It was an unprecedented dramatic exploit, an unforced disclosure least expected from the unlikeliest of quarters. Inside the court at the apex of courts, the presumed fortress of judicial rectitude and the last bastion of cryptic conservatism, the Pandora’s box that has been well preserved for decades was prised open. And the stench was overpowering with allegations of missing funds and gross incompetence. 

 

In the almost 59-year history of Nigeria’s supreme court, this is the first time justices would go public with a letter chronicling the iniquities of the institution’s leadership. Not that this is regrettable in any way. On the contrary, it is a pleasant experience observing persons who often bask in the virtuous mantra of “only to be seen and not to be heard” now letting it out in a somewhat no-holds-barred fashion. 

Some enthusiastic media colleagues have termed the justices' latest rendition “explosive.” They are right. At least, for once, rather than merely showing up in wig and gown and reveling in the mystic of their legendary tight lip, our Lordships bucked the tide by speaking out. And the message was loud and clear. 

 

But for a more contextual understanding, what the respected justices have done is nothing but whistleblowing – a disclosure of prolonged wrongdoing in the supreme court that could harm society’s well-being if not checked. To that extent, the disclosure, much as it largely concerns the welfare of individual justices, is in the interest of the public ultimately. The revelation is in order. What makes it seem otherwise or sort of strange is that it came from a place and from persons the public never expected.  

 

This whistle was blown not from the base of the court; that is, by gardeners, messengers, clerks, or from middle-level officers and the like whom people ordinarily would associate with discontentment with the system. It came from the very top; that is, by no less a group than the justices themselves – the real minders of the institution whom people would generally see as beneficiaries of a rotten system – against their chief who was only fortunate to be the first among equals.

 

The justices were alarmed that despite the increase in the budgetary allocation of the judiciary, their legitimate entitlements were not paid. In other words, our Lordships are asking, what happened to the money. Short of saying their boss was part irresponsible and part derelict, they charged that instead of acceding to their request for human and other material accessories that would improve their work, he would rather go junketing across the globe with family members and personal staff.

 

Then the clincher: “We DEMAND to know what happened to our training funds, have they been diverted, or is it a plain denial?” the justices asked. 

 

It is important to mention that the letter itself is strongly suggestive of a lack of confidence in Justice Tanko Muhammad even if his colleagues had not unreservedly painted him as an out-and-out corrupt and blundering administrator.       

 

Coming from the powerhouse of the judiciary, a durable redoubt of democratic sustainability, this rare act of whistleblowing is a most welcome development which needs the applause of strenuous protagonists of good governance whether in the civil society, public or private sector. The justices, obviously, had begun to choke and had no choice but to vent to save themselves and, by extension, an important arm of government whose public perception has become increasingly cheerless from the way it is routinely accused of pandering only to the interests of the rich and influential. 

 

This idea, right or wrong, is the source of its derisive description as “cash-and-carry” judiciary. But as is well known, without a strong, independent judiciary democracy will continue to flounder about on the whims of arbitrariness; yes arbitrariness, which was what Justice Muhammad served all through his stewardship as Nigeria’s chief justice and his colleagues finally moved to stop. Top officials in the other arms of government who are also living with fraud and other conduct that potentially threaten the public good should also take a cue from the justices and pronounce the complaints in public. This is the right step in correcting the ills of society.      

 

Amid rampant corrupt practices that have made mincemeat of credible indices of human growth and consequently practically brought Nigeria to its knees, the Buhari government realized that it would not make any meaningful headway in its promise to fight corruption if the people were not brought into the fight as partners. And so just a little over a year after its inauguration, it considered a memo by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), an anti-corruption think-tank it established as part of the plan to rein in corruption, and that led to the introduction of the whistleblowing policy through an executive order.

 

Buhari named the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), a unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, which will also count as a legacy of his administration, as administrators of the new policy instrument. Although the policy has been hailed as about the most impactful of this administration’s strategies in the fight against corruption, it has remained just that: a policy. Undoubtedly, failure to graduate the policy to an effective law has understandably hindered interest in whistleblowing because people fear that there is no protection in the event of punishment for blowing the whistle, which keeps manifesting in varying degrees in many ministries, departments and agencies.

 

While officers in public service who have dared to take advantage of the whistleblowing policy to report wrongdoing continually face retaliation, not a single person who was reported and indicted following an investigation by law enforcement or anti-corruption agencies has been brought to account. All the known perpetrators of wrongdoing keep getting away with their actions and are even rewarded in some cases. 

 

And that could happen in the case of Justice Muhammad whose investigation some people have demanded but which is not likely to happen. And as he walked out of the supreme court amid hints of coerced retirement, a hefty severance package that can only be justified in this environment already awaits him. That’s an example of the reward referenced above – reward in the face of irrefutable evidence of people compromising the system for selfish end.

 

As a postscript to this piece, all those who described the action of the protesting justices as “dancing naked in public” are referred to Section 39 of the Nigerian constitution, which notes that, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.” Therein lies the import of the protest. 

 

Back to whistleblowing and the launch of the CORA platform. The facilitators of the platform hope that it will complement the government’s whistleblowing platform managed by PICA and provide Nigerians with an opportunity to participate, using whistleblowing, in consolidating the fight against corruption in the country.

 

The CORA reporting tool, which seeks to strengthen the culture of whistleblowing is hosted on the Partners United platform, a knowledge exchange site developed by Yar’Adua Foundation, with the support of MacArthur Foundation, to bring together persons and groups dedicated to ensuring accountability in Nigeria.  

Chido Onumah, Ph.D. is Coordinator, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL). Godwin Onyeacholem coordinates the whistleblowing project, Corruption Anonymous (CORA), at AFRICMIL.       

 

 

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Chido Onumah & Godwin Onyeacholem Disable advertisements : 

Veteran entertainer and activist, Charles Chukwuemeka Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy says the task of saving Nigeria is in the hands of the youths.
Charly Boy, also known as “Area Fada” spoke Sunday when he appeared as guest on 90MinutesAfrica, the online interview programme hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah. He said he was happy to be alive to witness the conscious political movements that have been championed by Nigerian youths in recent times.

“I am glad that in my lifetime I am witnessing what is about to turn into a full-blown revolution,” the septuagenarian told listeners. “From what I can see right now I know a lot of Nigerian youths are frustrated in their hopelessness and joblessness that the only way forward for them is to reinvent their mindset.”
“I have always maintained that the salvation for this contraption called Nigeria lies in the hands of its exceptional people, the youths,” the singer/songwriter noted. “I am happy because it seems something has activated them, like they are yearning for a new narrative and are sick of what has been going on so far and they now want to change their lives. I am happy that I am witnessing this in my lifetime.”
Speaking on the major contenders for the 2023 presidential election, Charly Boy said he did not care about political parties but will only move in the direction of the Nigeria youths.
“I won’t endorse any political party. I have already sung about it that the APC and PDP are not what we should be talking about in this era. I am simply for the Nigerian youths. Whichever direction they are pointing is where I am going,” he said.
According to the television presenter and producer, Nigeria was wracked with intractable division because of the lack of a common ideal that binds the constituent parts together.
“Everybody comes and does what they want because we have allowed them for so long. Now it has become so difficult to fight, but fight we will. The exceptional youths of this country are ready to fight because they feel that they deserve better,” the musician noted.
He charged the youths to come together to present a formidable front to prevent the enemies of the country from continuing to sow division in their ranks along ethnic and religious lines.
 

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A Nigeria-born woman, Kemi Badenoch, and seven other candidates have passed the first stage in the race to succeed the resigned British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Also, other candidates who received at least 20 nominations to become the UK Prime Minister include Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss and Nadhim Zahawi

The committee in charge of organising the leadership contest on Tuesday said that the eight candidates would compete to take over Johnson's job as the UK Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.
Meanwhile, lawmakers including Sajid Javid and Rehman Chishti earlier expressed their intention to run for the position but withdrew before the final list of candidates was announced.
Javid said in a statement that "There is an abundance of both ideas and talent in our party. One of the candidates will be given the honour of becoming prime minister.
“I look forward to seeing the debate unfold and to see colleagues working together as a united Conservative Party once the leadership election is concluded.”
The first round of voting will hold on Wednesday.

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Twitter has made good on its warning to sue the richest person in the world, Elon Musk for trying to back out of his $44 billion offer to purchase the social media platform.
The company filed its lawsuit against the billionaire CEO of Tesla Tuesday in Chancery Court in Delaware, New York Daily News reports.

Twitter vowed to take action Friday after Musk soured on the offer he proposed in April.
“Now, less than three months later, Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” Twitter said in the suit, obtained by the Daily News. 
“Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”
Musk filed notice that he intended to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share three months ago, offering above what it was believed to be worth. 
But he cooled on the deal in recent weeks, claiming the company doesn’t have as many users as it claimed once bots and fake accounts are figured into the equation.
The world’s richest man responded to Twitter’s board of directors’ warnings with a tweet showing him laughing at the notion that the company, where some opposed his acquisition, is now willing to go to court to make him buy it.

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A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 general election.
Lawal said the party flagbearer, Bola Tinubu made a disastrous error for selecting another Muslim, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate. 

SaharaReporters had reported Tinubu on Sunday announced former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, as his running mate in the 2023 presidential election.
Lawal, who supported Tinubu during the APC presidential primaries, said the choice of Shettima was a sign that the APC presidential candidate had “been cornered by self-serving, hero-worshiping, lapdogs.”
“The northern governors and some northern moslem elites must have persuaded him that they will never vote for a ticket that has a northern Christian on it. And he has agreed with them,” Lawal said.
“But if he thinks a Moslem-Moslem ticket will win him the northern Muslim votes, he should have a rethink. They will massively vote for one of their sons because it is in their nature to do so. Buhari, their first son will not be on the ballot in 2023. Atiku their second son will be.”
The former SGF said, “I thought I will be able to avoid commenting on the disastrous error by my very good friend, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his choice of a running mate.
”It will not be true if I say that I did not see it coming. I have often read his body language, picked up snippets from several discussions with his lapdogs (some of whom, sadly are Christians but most of whom are moslems) and I have conveyed my reservations to them against the pitfalls of a moslem-moslem ticket towards which I sensed they were drifting.
“As part of my obligation to him, a close friend, I had on many occasions argued the merits and demerits of both ticket permutations to him. I have done so in both verbal and written form and I have likewise, done so with some of his close respectable associates and friends. In all instances I had left him with the sole responsibility for his final decision arguing that in the end the consequences of the outcome of any bad decision will be his to bear. There might be some collateral damages though. I have also on several occasions passed on to him counsels and messages from some well meaning Nigerians intended to alert him on the possible outcomes of the Presidential ticket permutations.
“Welcome the Abuja equivalent. But the Abuja equivalent are people inflicted with the modern Nigerian diseases – religious bigotry, sycophancy and morbid tribalism. They are mostly political jobbers who are most times not averse to the application of diabolical means. Gone are the days of think-tanks, and strategic planning. Gone are the days of principles and ideologies. Try and call a meeting; they will not attend. Try and make a plan; they will sabotage it. Everything is ad-hoc, everything is chaotic because they excel in such environments. The result is that they have played on his longterm ambition to be President and have built it into a sort of desperation and a crescendo that easily justifies this satanic resort to a Muslim-Muslim ticket. This is the calamity that has befallen my friend.
“And why Kashim Shetima? He is an overambitious man who has a Machiavellian bent and has lots of money with which to procure a preferred-candidate status among Tinubu’s lapdogs. And as we are beginning to see, to also procure bogus supporters especially from among the Christian community to help launder his no-so-good image.
“But as a popular proverb goes: “Those whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad”. It appears that the gods want to destroy the APC and its Presidential Candidate and have chosen the instrumentality of the northern Moslem governors and their super ambitious tool and Kashim Ibrahim for this purpose. Alhaji Kashim Shetima is a Greek gift from the Northern governors to Tinubu. I advise Bola to make sure Kashima’s two hands are always in his plain sight and empty.
“Now tell me which Christian will vote for APC with the following contraption: Moslem Presidential Candidate (Lagos), Moslem Vice Presidential Candidate (Borno), Moslem National Chairman (Nasarawa), Moslem Deputy National Chairman (Borno), Moslem President (Katsina); Moslem Senate President (Yobe); Moslem Speaker (Lagos); Moslem Deputy Speaker (Plateau) e.t.c. APC the great! Wu na de try woh!
“So if my very good friend Tinubu in a desperate bid to become President allows himself to made into a religious bigot or even a mujahideen, he is welcome. But it is a risk that will not play out positively for his presidential bid. But, were he to win and become President of Nigeria, it will be as a sectional President; an Islamic President. And he will surely face massive discontent and opposition even before taking off.
“Expecting Nigerians to ignore this crass insensitivity to the country’s diversity amounts to acceding to the perpetration of very grave injustice and discrimination against a huge segment of the society. No one who seeks to be president of Nigeria should ever deploy the tool of religious extremism and exclusivism as a tool to win elections. This is very very dangerous. And this is very sad.
“But baring any last minute change of mind, Bola has made his choice. He should be bluntly told that in this choice Nigerian Christians clearly see a pending Islamic Republic of Nigeria in its infancy and are right to be severely anxious. There is gloom among the Christian community all over the country since Tinubu announced Kashim Shetima as his running mate. Are the generality of the moslem ummah happy with this? The answer is a resounding NO.”

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The Nigerian Air Force authorities have paid officers studying at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Kaduna State their Ration Cost Allowance (RCA).
 
According to the Manual of Financial Administration of Armed Forces of Nigerian (2017), military students under Nigerian Air Force sponsorship are entitled to RCA daily.

SaharaReporters on June 29 reported that the officers had not received their allowances in the last seven months.
 
SaharaReporters had also published the grievances of the soldiers who claimed that the development demonstrated their superiors’ insensitivity to their enormous sacrifices for the country.
 
Some of the personnel also said that the situation was causing them hunger and depleting their morale.
  See Also Sahara Reporters We’re Hungry, Our Morale Down – Nigerian Air Force Officers Grumble Over Seven Months’ Unpaid Allowance 0 Comments 2 Weeks Ago
One of the affected officers on Tuesday told SaharaReporters that they were paid last Friday, July 8, 2022, after the Air Force authorities described the publication as ‘embarrassing’.
 
“The Air Force authorities swiftly swung into action after the story which they claimed embarrassed them and we were paid last Friday,” the source said.

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The Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma was on Monday spotted with a designer wristwatch worth millions of Naira.
 
The value of the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Sky White Diamond 18-piece Limited worn by the governor is valued at $785,496 (455,587,680 at $580 per dollar)
An architect and building engineer who has been in the building industry for over 25 years, Mr Adeola Olutayo, told SaharaReporters that N5 to N6 million can build a block of six classrooms in Nigeria, excluding the price of land, which he said varies from place to place.

“With N5 – N6m, you will build a block of six classrooms each but that excludes the land on which it is to be built because the prices of land vary from place to place. The price you will get in Lagos for a piece of land will not be the same for Owerri or Abuja and even in each city, prices also vary depending on the area,” he said.

With that estimate, SaharaReporters realised that the N455 million wristwatch worn by Governor Uzodinma can build about 75 blocks of six classrooms each for pupils, some of whom lack adequate classrooms.

SaharaReporters also learnt that it could also build well-equipped 30 primary health centres at the rate of N15m each.

Uzodinma was one of the governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC (APC) received by President Muhammadu Buhari at his country home in Daura, Katsina State on Monday.

 
The governors who paid a Sallah homage visit were led by the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State.
 
Others who made the trip included Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari; Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong; Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai; Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule; Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello.
 
Speaking after the meeting, Bagudu said a Tinubu-Shettima presidency will complement all the achievements of the last seven years under President Buhari.
 
Bagudu said the APC governors were working hard to win the upcoming Osun Governorship election.
 
On his part, Uzodinma described the choice of Shettima as a collective decision, saying the 22 governors of the APC will deliver 22 states in the upcoming 2023 general elections.

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1. They are usurpers with no legitimate party or structure, leveraging on their financial prowess to corner a ticket meant for genuine representatives of the working class.

 

2. They revel in parading dubious statistics, gathering a mob support without ideology or principle other than raw anger against the status quo, which their idols were part and parcel of.

 

3. The supposed anger of bourgeois renegades against their fellow capitalists can never result into any benefit for the masses that they have all wickedly trampled upon with glee.

 

4. What does Peter Obi offer or represent in present-day Nigeria other than ethnic and religious sentiments? Were those not the same factors that produced the error of the Buhari regime?

 

5. Are we not to rate aspirants in line with their track records? Or what exactly can we find for inspiration in Obi’s 8-year adventure in Anambra State?

 

6. Hajia Harira Jibril was gruesomely murdered in cold blood in Anambra State, yet the “peoples’ President” neither visited the family nor issue a single statement in condemnation.

 

7. Do we now hand over Nigeria to opportunists or inventors of commercial degrees?

 

8. Had the stained and leaking umbrella of the PDP shaded Obi, would he have ever emerged as the disgruntled representative of the disorganized “new movement”?

 

9. The Nigeria Labour Congress, promoters of Obi’s new-found Labour Party, has become a toothless entity, incapable of prosecuting any meaningful struggle since the advent of the APC administration, which has perfected the egregious style of persecuting or compromising all opposition strongholds.

 

10. The price for crass opportunism is a principled rejection of all its apostles and beneficiaries.

 

11. I cannot see the benefit for Nigeria in the Obi/Baba-Ahmed stillborn ticket, neither do I discern any marked difference between Atiku, Obi and Tinubu. In fact, a decamped or frustrated member of the oligarchy is worse than his masters.

 

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN

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The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has knocked the opposition parties challenging his party in the July 16 governorship election in Osun, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), saying they will labour in vain till they die.
 
The APC National leader and former governor of Lagos State who stated this during the APC’s mega rally in Osun on Tuesday ahead of the governorship election which is in the next four days called on the people of Osun State to come out en masse and vote for the APC.

“I ask you to please do the same thing you did in Ekiti. Come out with your PVCs and vote massively for APC.
 
“The voting is now in your hand. Be very vigilant. Be watchful. You will not do it in vain.
 
“Think about your children and vote accordingly so you can see the future. Come out en masse. Don’t mind PDP and other mushroom parties — parties like Labour; they will labour till they die. God will not make you labourers.
 
“You’re next. We will be here till tomorrow. We will come back here for victory dance. Look at the trajectory of our lives. We make promises and fulfill them. We are the ones upholding the party, the Buhari party. Don’t answer the naysayers,” PM News quoted Tinubu as saying.
 
The contestants in the governorship election include the incumbent governor and the APC candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lasun Yusuff of the Labour Party (LP), Akin Ogunbiyi of Accord Party and Goke Omigbodun of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has relocated the polling units from inappropriate facilities ahead of the governorship election in Osun State.
 
Osun INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Professor Abdulganiy Raji, disclosed this on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the electoral umpire in Osogbo.

“Polling units were moved away from controversial areas such as the front of houses of politicians, front of palaces, religious centres, either to open spaces or public buildings,” he said.
 
“This action is to ensure adequate security and peaceful elections. Flashpoints have been identified and strategies (have been) mapped out to resolve issues that can truncate the election process.”
 
According to Channels Television, the REC also hinted at the conversion of voting points to polling units in a bid to ensure the expansion of voter access to polling units.
 
He confirmed that all non-sensitive materials to be used in Saturday’s election have been batched to the polling unit level and ready to be conveyed to the various Registration Area Centres (RACs).
 
Noting that the sensitive materials were expected sometime on Tuesday, Professor Raji stated that the commission has concluded the production of maps of all polling units in the state – both electronically and hardcopy – for ease of movement and location of polling units by electoral officials.
 
He stressed that poll officials have been prepared for the exercise and ready for deployment, adding that the security personnel in the state have been trained.
 
The INEC boss in the state recalled that the commission had met with stakeholders in their categories, saying Tuesday’s meeting would be the last before the July 16 poll.
 
He also spoke about the conduct of mock accreditation in selected local government areas to ensure the functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and readiness assessment of the election process.
 
According to Professor Raji, the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at the registration area and ward levels is ongoing to ensure no eligible voter is disenfranchised.
 

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The Northern Christian political leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have rejected a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket adopted by the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.

 

This was revealed in a communique of the meeting of all Christian leaders of the party across the 19 northern states of Nigeria.

They expressed their displeasure over the manner by which President Muhammadu Buhari and other APC stakeholders handled the issue of Bola Tinubu's running mate and further asserted that it would certainly result in a massive revolt against the party, among Christian faithful nationwide.

 

The presidential candidate of the party, Tinubu on Sunday announced a former Borno governor, who is a fellow Muslim, Kashim Shettima as his running mate. This has sparked public outcry, with many critics saying the party was insensitive to have chosen Muslims as its presidential and vice-presidential candidates in a country with divisive tendencies like Nigeria.

 

 

 

The statement, dated July 11, 2022, and jointly signed by Prof Dukman D.D. Sheni, Dr Ishaya G. Bauka, and Prof Saidu Ibrahim reads: "The Christian political leaders within the APC in the nineteen (19) Northern States met in Abuja on the 11th of July 2022 to deliberate on the issue of the Party's Muslim-Muslim ticket and its implications to the nation. The meeting noted with concern the resignation of some high-profile Christians from the APC across the States of the Federation, as a consequence with more to follow unless concerted efforts are made to redeem our Party from hate mongers and those who seek to exploit religion to perpetuate their self-interests as opposed to national interest.

 

 

"After extensive deliberations, the meeting came to the following conclusions: 1. That as Christians within the APC, we cannot in all fairness to our consciences and faith go to our various constituencies to campaign for a Muslim-Muslim ticket.

 

 

 

 

 

“2. That Nigeria is a multi-religious and a constitutional democracy and NOT a theocracy with religion as a major national fault line which cannot be whimsically manipulated without dire political consequences on our peaceful co-existence as a people.

 

 

 

“3. That the current Nigerian environment and political atmosphere of the nation is different from what occurred in 1993 and therefore a Muslim-Muslim ticket is unacceptable. It doesn't take the smart to know that the Abiola/Kingibe victory in 1993 turned out to be a pyrrhic victory as there was never a President Abiola nor vice President Kingibe. Is that what we want a repeat of in 2023?

 

 

 

“4. The selection of a Muslim running mate is a display of crass insensitivity to the complexity of modern Nigeria and the entire Church. It is also a betrayal of the advocates of unity and peaceful co-existence with our Muslim brothers including notable Imams who had forewarned the Party and the candidate from traveling that treacherous route.

 

 

 

 

 

“5. That the APC has always come under the suspicion of the Church as pursuing an islamization agenda. Hence the various labels of the APC as: Islamic Movement, Islamic brotherhood, janjaweed party, Boko Haram party, etc. Now with all the positions in the hands of our Muslim brothers, it would take ingenious mendacity to prove otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

“6. That if the APC said a Muslim-Muslim ticket would be injurious to the health of our nation in 2015, what has therefore radically changed to make Muslim-Muslim ticket good for the health of our nation in 2023, if we may ask?

 

“7. That the rejection of a Muslim-Muslim ticket by Christians would undermine the electoral fortunes of the APC and its candidates across all States and constituencies where Christians enjoy numerical advantage. By so doing APC has recklessly thrown its Christian candidates under the bus across the nation.

 

 

 

“8. That considering the fact that PMB, the chairman of the party, deputy chairman north, the president of the senate, the speaker and deputy speaker, and now both the presidential candidate and his running, etc, are all Muslims, and assuming that such lopsidedness does not violate S.14 (3) of the Constitution: if this was to be reversed so that all these were Christians, can any contentious Muslim in Nigeria attempt to sell such patently unjust and unfair arrangements to the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria?

 

 

 

 

 

“9. The APC party constitution preamble states "will guarantee equal opportunity for all mutual and peaceful co-existence respect and understanding, eliminating all forms of discrimination and social injustice among Nigerian". The Muslim-Muslim ticket appears to have violated this provision.

 

 

 

“10. That Mr. President being also the Leader of APC is urged to intervene in this matter in order to ensure justice, equity and fair play in the interest of the peace and stability of this great nation and save our party from disintegration. We believe that PMB who fought to keep Nigeria one, will not allow fanatics on both sides to wreak havoc on what remains of the tapestry that binds us as a people. We can avoid the dire political consequences of the contraption called "same faith ticket".

 

 

 

“11. We are disheartened that someone who wants to be a leader for all sections of the country is resorting to religious exclusivism as a tool for winning an election. This will certainly result in a massive revolt against the party. Leadership is all about inclusiveness, justice and equity.”

 

 

 

"At this moment of National peril, we believe that what should be paramount in Nigeria is UNITY. For without unity we cannot build. Any political party or candidate that elevates the greed of a few people above the needs of the generality of the people has no business running the affairs of Nigeria," the statement added.

 

SaharaReporters earlier reported that Tinubu on Sunday officially announced Shettima, a fellow Muslim, as his running mate.

 

This followed a closed-door meeting involving Tinubu, Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari and President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission has extended the collection of Permanent Voter Cards to Thursday for those interested in exercising their franchise in the Osun governorship election.
The governorship election will hold on Saturday, July 16 with the contestants including incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, All Progressives Congress; Ademola Adeleke, Peoples Democratic Party; Goke Omigbodu, Social Democratic Party; Akin Ogunbiyi (Accord); and Yusuff Lasun, Labour Party.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said on Tuesday in a statement on the commission’s Twitter page, “Extending the last date for the collection of PVCs to Thursday14th July 2022 i.e. 24 hours to the election.
“I appeal to all registered voters that are yet to collect their PVCs to seize the opportunity of the additional measures to do so.
“Many of the PVCs have already been collected by citizens. Of the 1,955,657 registered voters in Osun State, 1,479,595 (or 76%) have collected their cards as at Sunday 10th July 2022.
“Our focus is on the processes and procedures as provided by law. So far, we have successfully implemented 12 out of 14 activities contained in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the election.
“The Commission has taken every step and made every arrangement for the successful conduct of the Governorship election this weekend. We have recruited, trained and carefully screened all categories of ad-hoc staff to be deployed to the field.
“For us in INEC, let me reassure political parties, candidates and the electorate that the choice of who becomes the next Governor of Osun State is entirely in the hands of voters. As I have repeatedly said in previous engagements with stakeholders.”

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