These are the Nigerian stories that drove conversation today.
A former Senator under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Basheer Lado, has decamped to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), alongside 5,000 other supporters in Kano.
Lado was received by the Deputy National Chairman of the APC, Segun Oni on behalf of the party’s national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.
The Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole Saturday, blamed the increasing number of health workers infected with Lassa Fever on their refusal to take necessary precaution while treating patients.
According to the Minister, most doctors treat the deadly disease like it is “any other ordinary disease” and thus fail to wear protective gear while treating patients.
The Presidency has downplayed media reports that the new Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Abubakar, failed promotion examinations twice.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said Abubakar has never been a Chadian and his wife is not Moroccan.
He said Abubakar’s parents hail from Katsina and had settled in Chad at a point in their life.
The new DG, he said, had his primary school education in Ndjamena (then Fort-Lamy) but returned to Nigeria for his secondary and university education and never at any time held Chadian nationality.
The presidential aide further maintained that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed the new DG because he had worked closely with him in the past two years, and “sincerely believes that he would add value to the NIA”.
President Buhari Sunday, said that the war against corruption has come to stay in Nigeria.
He spoke in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while unveiling the African Union’s anti-graft campaign at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU.
A Presidential aide, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, has vowed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will leave no stone unturned for the re-election of President Buhari in 2019.
Ibekaku-Nwagwu, who is the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Justice Reform, made the vow in Awgu Local Government, Enugu, on Sunday, during a voter education organised by the Women and Youths Wings of the party.
Flagging off the exercise tagged “Operation Show Your Voters Card”, Ibekaku-Nwagwu said that the South-East would deliver bloc votes to APC candidates come 2019 General Elections.
And stories from around the world…
Roger Federer won his sixth Australian Open and 20th Grand Slam title with a five-set victory over Marin Cilic.
The Swiss lost five games in a row as he dropped the fourth set but recovered to win 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 3-6 6-1.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said “You don’t need $25 billion for a wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“You need wall systems; you need roads; you need … to fix old fencing,” Graham said of the other measures beyond a border wall that would be paid for with the $25 billion.
A powerful suicide car bomb rocked Afghanistan‘s capital Saturday morning, killing 103 and injuring another 235, according to the country’s Minister of Interior, Wais Barmak.
The death toll was revised from 95 to 103 on Sunday morning, while the number of injured rose from more than 150 to 235.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the insurgent attack in Kabul, which is the deadliest in the country so far this year.
Hip-hop legend Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter described President Donald Trump‘s “shithole countries” comment as disappointing and hurtful.
“Everyone feels anger, but after the anger it’s really hurtful because he’s looking down on a whole population of people and he’s so misinformed because these places have beautiful people,” he told Van Jones of CNN.
Trump, in response, mused about Jay Z, asking if someone could inform him about the black unemployment rate.
“Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!,” the president wrote on Twitter.
The US President also lashed out at the EU, saying it’s “not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be” – and even suggested he predicted Brexit.
In an interview to be broadcast on ITV on Sunday, Piers Morgan asked Trump if May was in a “good position” in Brexit talks.
The president replied: “Would it be the way I negotiate? No, I wouldn’t negotiate it the way it’s (being) negotiated… I would have had a different attitude.”
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
Leave a reply