The Big 5: Buhari declares June 12 as Democracy day, Former CJN describes Abiola’s honour as illegal and other stories

These are the stories that you should be monitoring today:

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday declared June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day and also awarded Nigeria’s highest honour, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) to late business mogul Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, presumed winner of the election held on same date in 1993.

Buhari said Abiola’s running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe  alongside Chief Gani Fawehinmi, the indefatigable rights activist and Senior Advocate who campaigned for the actualisation of June 12 up till Abiola’s death in 1998 will be honoured with the nation’s second highest honour, Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) at an investiture ceremony scheduled to hold on June 12.

According to the statement signed personally by the President, June 12 (a date previously celebrated by some South West states ) will now replace 29 May as Nigeria’s Democracy day.


A former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Alfa Belgore, has described as illegal, the conferment of Nigeria’s highest national honour on MKO Abiola, presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 election.

Belgore, Chairman of the 2016 National Honours Committee, said under the 1963 National Honours Act, only soldiers or other servicemen could be awarded posthumous medals for their bravery, “much less the GCFR”, which is the highest honour in the land.

He was quoted as saying: “It is not done… it is for people living.” “The only thing they could do is to name a place after him, but national honours award, no.”

The retired justice who was earlier appointed by the Buhari-led administration as Chairman of the National Honours Committee in April 2016 clarified that he was not consulted by the administration before the decision was taken.


The Senate on Wednesday moved to set up an adhoc committee to probe Amnesty International’s reports of rape, torture and starvation of women by military personnel in Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) camp in the North-East.

The move followed a motion under matters of urgent public importance raised by Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central), who called the attention of the legislators to the need to critically take a position on the revelations contained in the report as compiled by Amnesty International, a copy of which he presented on Wednesday.

Sani who described the report as “damning and indicting, said the document as has been presented globally, has the capacity to ridicule and present the Nigerian nation in a very bad light,” adding that the Senate had an obligation to safeguard the nation’s integrity and image before the international community.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, called for a careful analysis and investigation of the report and set up an ad-hoc committee would be best suited to carry out the task of investigating the issues at stake.


The House of Representatives has urged the National Security Council to rescind its decision calling on states to suspend anti-open grazing law.

As part of resolutions adopted at Wednesday’s plenary, the House also called on the Federal Government to submit a supplementary budget to the National Assembly to develop colonies immediately in “those states that have agreed to donate land.”

The resolutions followed a motion of urgent public importance to that effect by John Dyegh (APC, Benue), seconded by Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (PDP, Abia), where they cited Section 4(7) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) that empowers the State Assemblies to make laws for the good governance of their states.


The Federal Government said it has commenced plans to reduce the tax burden on Nigerians based on a report by the national tax policy implementation committee on tax laws reform.

Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun who disclosed this after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, said two executive orders and five amendment bills agreed to by the Council, will reduce the tax burden on Nigeria and boost ease of doing business.

The two approved executive orders are: Value Added Tax Act (Modification) Order and Review of Goods Liable to Excise Duties and Applicable Rate Order while the five Amendment Bills include the Companies Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill and Value Added Tax Act (Amendment) Bill.

Others are Customs, Excise, Tariff ETC (Consolidation) Act (Amendment) Bill; Personal Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill and Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act (Amendment) Bill.


And stories from around the world:

The United States State Department has brought a group of diplomats home from Guangzhou, China, over concerns they were suffering from a mysterious malady that resembles a brain injury and has already affected U.S. personnel in Cuba, its spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The Spokeswoman Heather Nauert in a statement said “after confirming one government employee had “suffered a medical incident” in the southern Chinese city, the department deployed a team to screen employees and family members at its consulate there.”

As a result of the screening process so far, the department has sent a number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States,” Nauert said. (Reuters)


Opposition politicians in Guatemala are calling for the dismissal of the Head of the Emergency Response Agency (Conred).

They said Conred failed to heed advance warnings from volcanology experts to evacuate the area around the Fuego volcano early on Sunday – due to increased seismic activity and fast-moving flows of volcanic matter, saying the expert warnings were not precise enough to trigger a mass evacuation.

A senior opposition figure, Mario Taracena, said the Guatemalan government should investigate whether there was criminal negligence.


Reports based on satellite images appear to show that North Korea has dismantled one of its missile testing sites, according to an analysis published by 38 North, a prominent North Korea monitoring group.

The images, shot on May 19, show that many of the structures — including impact pads and a support structure that can hold up a missile at Iha-ri, in the northwest of the country, have been razed.

Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., who authored the report,said however that it was too early to say whether the site’s dismantlement is part of a bigger commitment to scaling back its missile testing program. (CNN)


The European Union (EU) will impose tariffs on United States imports ranging from Harley-Davidson motorbikes to jeans from next month in retaliation over Donald Trump’s decision to put duties on European aluminium and steel.

After a meeting of senior EU officials, the European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič told reporters in Brussels that the EU regretted the White House’s “illegal” act, adding that“the new duties start applying in July is a measured and proportionate response to the unilateral and illegal decision taken by the United States.”

The European commission said it’s proposed “tit for tat” measures, had the full support of all 28 member states.


Tunisia’s Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has sacked Minister of the Interior Lotfi Brahem, a statement by the government said on Wednesday.

Brahem will be replaced by Justice Minister Ghazi Jeribi who will act on an interim basis until a replacement is found, according to the statement.

While no reason was given for the dismissal, Prime Minister Chahed had earlier criticised security forces’ inability to prevent a boat packed with some 180 migrants from sinking off the country’s coast. (Aljazeera)

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