₦airaland Forum

Telecoms operators said they have received instructions from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to effect suspension of services of micro blogging platform Twitter.

The carriers, acting under the aegis of Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said they have conducted assessment of the request according to international best practices.

Its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, in a statement, said: “We, the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) wish to confirm that our members have received formal instructions from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the industry regulator to suspend access to Twitter.

“ALTON has conducted a robust assessment of the request in accordance with internationally accepted principles.

“Based on national interest provisions in the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003, and within the licence terms under which the industry operates; our members have acted in compliance with the directives of the NCC the industry regulator.

“We will continue to engage all the relevant authorities and stakeholders and will act as may be further directed by the NCC.

“We remain committed to supporting the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and upholding the rights of citizens.

“As an industry, we endorse the position of the United Nations that the rights held by people offline must also be protected online.

“This includes respecting and protecting the rights of all people to communicate, to share information freely and responsibly, and to enjoy privacy and security regarding their data and their use of digital communications.”

BelloP:
Lagos is not suited for tech hub at all. Their real estate is super expensive, It is very crowded and hard to navigate. It is also isolated at the bottom of Nigeria. How are notherners supposed to participate ?

SmartPolician:
After praising this man, he suddenly withdrew that statement.

Aketi don fall our hands

June 2, 2021

By Osagie Otabor, Akure

Ondo Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has denied calling for the scrapping of the Senate in the review of the 1999 constitution being undertaken by the National Assembly.

Akeredolu was represented by his Deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, at the House of Representatives public hearing on the review of the 1999 constitution.

Akeredolu described the report quoting him as calling for the scrapping of the Senate as an “interpretative error."

The Ondo Governor, who spoke in statement by his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, said he had, like many other well-meaning Nigerians, identified Nigeria’s Bicameral Legislature and its full-time status as plausibly reducible weights to cut cost.

He said: “Succinctly, Governor Akeredolu’s view, which is the official position of the Ondo State Government is that, adoption of the Unicameral Legislature, and making it part-time would not only cut cost of governance but has the potentials of enhanced performance and altruistic services to Nigerians.

“Therefore, ascribing or misinterpreting this proposal to isolatedly, depict a call for the scraping of the Nigerian Senate is erroneous. The call for a part-time Unicameral Federal Parliament remains and shall be pursued with all vigour.”

emmancecute:
he plans taking the keke on hire purchase, Story could have been better if he already or afford one.

ayzTIGER:
You demobilised their vehicles so why didn't you go after them? Why would you recover more pump action than Ak when the gunshots heard in Awka yesterday were Aks. Liars

AFENIFERE leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, on Sunday said he does not want secession but cannot stay under the current constitution the country operates.

Adebanjo made this known during a zoom event as he described the 1999 Constitution as fraudulent, calling for a new one, while reiterating that restructuring will solve all insecurity issues in the country.

The Afenifere chieftain, while answering questions raised by some of the participants at the event, lamented that those who are supposed to be in position of arresting killer-herdsmen are the ones protecting them.

“I don’t want secession but I won’t stay in Nigeria under this constitution. The governors have no powers over the police. The moment you have a regional autonomy which we had done in the Western Region earlier, everything will fall in place.

“This constitution is a fraudulent constitution. The restructuring that I have been championing will attend to all the insecurity issues you are talking about,” Adebanjo stated.

Also speaking, Executive Director, Awolowo Foundation, Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, admonished the agitators of Yoruba nation to listen to the advice of the Afenifere leader.

She asked the agitators to articulate the challenges and draw spiritual strength from Pa Adebanjo, adding that the agitation of the Afenifere group for a better Nigeria would have been achieved all these years if the current zeal attached to self determination had been deployed.

“My advice is that those who are so determined to leave Nigeria, Baba Adebanjo has said what needs to be said.

“The self-determination agitators should articulate those challenges and draw spiritual strength from him. We hear what has been said and what has not been said.

“I wish that the zeal attached to self-determination had been deployed on the side of the Afenifere all these years. Maybe we would have forged ahead.

“On Yoruba nation, we seem to be more prone to division and that process has started several years ago,” Awolowo Dosumu said.

Amotolongbo:
Why the irk in PDP?

Must they present Atiku again?

BRITISH High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has said the United Kingdom, UK, would deny visas to Nigerians who disrupt 2023 elections.

Laing in a chat with Vanguard, yesterday, in Port Harcourt on her maiden visit to Rivers State, cautioned Governor Nyesom Wike and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to cement their legacies on a positive note by ensuring peaceful 2023 elections in Rivers State.

The envoy said: “I do have some sympathy for Nigeria because if we as UK have one of these problems your country is having today, we will be struggling. Here, you deal with everything, from insurgency to kidnapping, to piracy off the Gulf of Guinea and you don’t have such a large army and police force for a country of this size.

“The only way you turn this thing around is that government has to build the trust of its people, to have the people working with the government to deal with criminality. That’s how successful anti-criminal operations work.

“People willingly report those committing crime, working with police to identify criminals, same with the military on the insurgency situation. It’s only when the community is on the side of the police and security services that they can turn around the situation.”

On the expectations for Nigeria’s 2023 elections, Laing said: “2023 is not alright. What happens in the elections is very crucial, not just for Nigeria, but Africa to the world. You (Nigeria) are a large democracy.

“It doesn’t have to be a perfect election. There would be problems, but we want it to be better than the last one. We want it to be secure, peaceful, the process should be run well, and you need to get people to register.”

On her choice of candidates, she said: “My ideal candidates would be two younger presidential candidates, both with female vice presidential candidates,” apparently referring to the two leading political parties.

To Wike and Amaechi on the next Rivers State governorship election, she said: “It is essential that there’s a peaceful election in Rivers State. It’s going to be a crucial part of his (Wike) legacy, how the election goes in this state. We’ve been saying the same thing to Amaechi.

“Another thing we will be doing is to remind people that if people do incite violence or act violently, we will be prepared to deny them visas to the UK. We will make that statement clear and say it over again.”

May 19, 2021

By Nsa Gill, Calabar

Three persons have been feared killed in a fresh communal clash in Odukpani local government area of Cross River.

Vice-Chairman of the council, Mr. Aniofiok Inyang, who visited the area, told The Nation: “Two died from among Okoyong community and one among the Ikot Offiong people.”

He said the clash was among the Ikot Offiong people who settled in Ubambat, one of the villages within the Okoyong community.

He said security agencies have been mobilised to the area.

An indigene of the Okoyong community, Comrade Ekpeyong Akiba, also confirmed the incidence, stating the” tension is still high in the Okoyong Communities as people have started parking and relocating from the community.”

He alleged Ikot Offiong indigenes sparked the fresh crisis in the early hours of Wednesday when they suddenly mobilised from Ubambat village, a place he alleged they forcefully occupied in the Okoyong community.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said that some of the gunmen responsible for the ambushes and murders of security personnel in the state have been arrested and will face the full wrath of the law.

Wike in a state broadcast on Saturday evening said the state government had undertaken measures to check the recent attacks on security checkpoints and the killing of some security personnel and it’s yielding positive result.

He said: “Thank heavens, those responsible for the premeditated ambushes and murders of security personnel in the State have been apprehended and are now facing the bitter venom of our laws as none that is proven to be criminally liable will escape the fury and crushing impact of justice.

“We wish to reassure every citizen and resident that we are able, willing and ready to act directly and decisively, and at any time, with the full weight of our government to forestall every security threat to our State from any person, group or quarters.”

….As Onitiri tasks Southern govs to act on resolutions

Southern, Northern govs should meet on grey areas — Mimiko

By Dayo Johnson, Onozure Dania & Adeola Badru

A former governor of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, yesterday, told agitators of Yoruba self-determination to exercise caution, as the agitation might degenerate into war if not well managed.

Addressing newsmen at his Bodija, Ibadan residence, after observing the Eid prayers to commemorate the end of the Ramadan fast, the former governor called for more religious tolerance and fairness, justice, especially in making political appointments.

Ladoja said: “Some parts of the country feel cheated in the appointment into some offices in the country. The country will collapse when we have incompetent people in power.

“We are a federation and not a mono-language or mono-ethnic country. We deserve the policies that make us strong, even with our diversities, but that seems to be our weakness. That is why people are looking for other options in terms of restructuring and dissolution.

“And when that is the practice, it means the best of men are not in position and when you have people that are not competent running a system, the system will at the end of the day collapse. Let’s only hope that Nigeria will survive.”

Appealing to those beating the drums of war, the former governor said: “People only know the beginning of wars, but many don’t know how it ends. Some of the agitators for the Yoruba Nation don’t even know what it means.

“Nobody knows how the war in Syria started and it took years they have to take it easy. There will be a time when God will give us good leaders, and there will also be the time God will give us leaders that are not as good. If we want to go because of our challenges, we may need to sit down and talk things out on the way to go.

“When people are agitating, who says those in the North are not planning to go too? But let’s assume that people in the South are talking too much, while people in the North are acting too much.”

Southern, Northern govs should meet on grey areas — Mimiko

Meanwhile, former Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, yesterday, urged the Southern governors to meet with their counterparts in the North to harmonise grey areas on the resolutions reached at their meeting in Asaba, Delta state.

Mimiko, in a statement, said that the resolution of the southern governors forum was commendable and the next step is for them to meet with their Northern counterparts “to iron out what may just be minor areas of difference in substance and timelines.”

The statement reads: “The resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum, at the end of its meeting in Asaba, Delta State, on May 11 2021, is commendable.

“It is also salutary that members of the Southern caucus of the National Assembly have weighed in.

“It is all a reflection of the realization of the fact that the nation may be perching at the precipice, and of the urgent need to pull her back.

“The next step is for the Southern Governors to meet with their Northern counterparts to iron out what may just be minor areas of difference in substance and timelines.

“There cannot be any reasonable arguments against decentralization of policing to ensure emergence of compact and efficient sub-national forces under State (sub-national government control).

“There surely cannot be any disagreement amongst the Governors on the issue of devolution of resources from the centre.”


Act fast on your resolutions, Onitiri urges Southern govs

Similarly, an activist and critic, Adesunbo Onitiri, yesterday, urged the 17 Southern governors to take action on their 10-point resolution adopted in Asaba, Delta State, on Tuesday, to save their people from the present insecurity ravaging the entire area.

Applauding the governors, Onitiri, in a statement in Lagos, said they have waited for long, while their states were being deliberately ravaged by armed Fulani herdsmen and other hardened criminals, who have been making life difficult for everybody in the entire area.

He said: “The southern governors should realise that they are not an appendage or inferior to their Northern colleagues. We are in a very perilous state; we are looking for heroes to salvage our country from imminent collapse and calamity.

“The governors should immediately make laws to ban open grazing in their various states, address the people of your states on the deplorable state of insecurity in the country and appeal to their patriotic sense to cooperate with you to stem down the insecurity.

“The most insulting aspect of the matter is that farmers were being attacked, maimed, killed or kidnapped for ransom. As if that was not enough, the farmers were being sent out of their farms, their farm produce destroyed, and their wives and daughters raped as if Nigerians were in a banana republic.”

bolaayenimo:
Pipu accomodated you when homeless and now you want to chase them out of their house

May 11, 2021

Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2019 election, Mr. Peter Obi, has raised the alarm over a leaked plot to blackmail him.

Obi raised the alarm in a statement issued on Friday by his Media Office, signed by his Special Adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem.

“The present effort to blackmail Mr. Obi is by some prominent Nigerians, including a present Governor in the South-East. Our informant, whom we have no reason to doubt, revealed how five of them were invited to a meeting on how to nail Mr. Peter Obi so that, according to him, his ‘rising profile will be dimmed for good’,” Obienyem said in the statement.

He quoted the informant as saying: “Watch out; soon you will see a group call a world press conference, speak of the insecurity in the land, appeal to anybody with information on the causes to help the Government solve it and finally drop the bomb by linking Mr. Peter Obi to the sponsorship of the Biafran movement through offer of money to sustain the agitation and use of Biafran boys for selfish end, including winning of elections.”

“Though our informant refused to disclose the name of the Governor behind this and the main person he is using, he assured: “In the fullness of time, the plot will unfold and the characters will become apparent on its own.” He however added that some of them are not comfortable on the way the tide is moving and may finally opt out,” Obienyem further said.

He noted that “most of the previous efforts to blackmail Mr. Obi by some prominent people through hired hands backfired, because the truth eventually prevailed”, adding that “the present plot to make trouble for an innocent man will similarly come to nought as far as Almighty God remains on the throne.”

By Bola Badmus - Lagos

On May 10, 2021

Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, has consoled the General Overseers (GO) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye and that of Gospel Faith Mission International, Pastor Elijah Abina, over the death of their sons, describing the incidences as one death too many, adding that God is surely unquestionable in all respects.

Adams had earlier sent a letter of condolences to Adeboye, expressing shock that the shining light of the young Adeboye went dim at such a younger age when his spiritual strength was needed most.

Pastor Oluwadare Adeboye, 42, died on Tuesday, May 4, in his sleep and burial arrangements as announced by the family holds this week, while Emmanuel, 53, son of Pastor Elijah Abina of the Gospel Faith Mission International, died on April 28.

The Yoruba Generalissimo, in a statement made available on Monday by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Kehinde Aderemi, said he was pained and short of words over the passing of Pastor Oluwadare Adeboye at a time when he was still active in the service of the Lord, describing his death as one too many.

Adams, while consoling Pastor Adeboye, said he shared in his grief and that of the Christian community all over the world, adding that he was sure the RCCG General Overseer definitely would take solace in the words of the Lord who giveth and taketh.

“I was short of words when the news broke out that we lost Pastor Oluwadare Adeboye. It was one loss too many and I feel pained that we lost the younger Adeboye at such a time when he was still active in the service of the lord.

“At this grieving moment, I share in your grief and that of the Christian community all over the world, but I am sure you will definitely take solace in the words of the Lord who giveth and taketh,” he said.

Iba Adams described the late Oluwadare as an exemplary young man that was filled with the holy spirit and talent, adding that he was a true embodiment of a young, vibrant servant of God.

While drawing inspirations from Pa Adeboye’s sermon and response a few days after the incident that he cannot query God, but rather continue thanking Him for whatever happens to him, the Aare Ona Kakanfo noted that such response was a true reflection of the cleric’s dept of spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the words of the Lord who, according to him, never shares His glory and had the only power to give and take.

“With Baba’s sermon and response, it shows his deep knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of the words of God. I am not surprised at the way Daddy GO responded to the sad incident.

“He is truly in the spirit and had learned a lot through the scriptures. So on behalf of my family, I want to urge Baba to be strong and continually take solace in the Most High God even as I pray God to give him and the rest of the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss because of sad happenings like this tend to distract and challenge the faith of every man of God,” Adams said.

In the same vein, Iba Adams also commiserated with the General Overseer of The Gospel Faith Mission International, Pastor Abina, urging the cleric to be strong at this trying time.

Sen. Bola Tinubu has commiserated with Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, over the death of his son, Pastor Oluwadamilare Adeboye, known as Dare.

Tinubu in a condolence message on Friday in Lagos prayed for repose of the soul of the late pastor.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on Thursday announced the death of Dare, the third child of Pastor Adeboye.

He was born on June 9, 1978 and died on May 4, 2021.

Tinubu urged everyone to honor late Dare by committing themselves to a life of compassion and togetherness that the deceased believed in.

“Pastor Dare’s ministry helped bring the word of God to many Nigerians across the country.

“He lived a life of exemplary service to God and to his church,” he said.

The APC leader and former governor of Lagos State said that the deceased would be remembered with the deepest affection and love, not only by his family but also by the multitude of people whose lives he touched with his ministry.

Tinubu also extended his condolences to the deceased mother, Pastor Folu Adeboye, the Adeboye family and the RCCG community.

“May Almighty God give abiding peace and comfort to Pastor Dare’s parents, wife, children and the whole RCCG family so that they may have the strength to bear this loss.

“May he rest in perfect peace in the Garden of Almighty God,” he said.

May 6, 2021

By Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia

Gunmen have abducted unspecified students of Abia State University (ABSU) Uturu.

But The Nation learnt two of them escaped from the abductors.

It was gathered the victims were seized from a mini bus heading to Uturu from Okigwe in Imo State.

The incident, which has thrown the ABSU community into anguish, occurred between 7-8pm on Wednesday.

Commissioner of Information, John Okiyi-Kalu, confirmed the incident to our correspondent.

He said the students were attacked by gunmen in Imo State and not Abia State as being speculated on social and by mainstream media houses.

Okiyi-Kalu, who said the Abia Government is monitoring development on the incident, said the two students were able to escape from their captors when they were marched into a nearby forest alongside other travelers.

“When they ran into the armed gang who marched them into the nearby forest along with other yet to be identified travelers.

“Two of the students managed to escape from the hoodlums while others are still being held at a yet to be identified location.

“We are working with the government of Imo State and relevant security agencies in both states to ensure the rescue of the abducted students and others.

“Members of the public and ABSU community are advised to remain calm as we will spare no resource in ensuring the safety of the victims.

“No criminal operating within our environment will be allowed to escape justice as we take the job of protecting lives and property of Abians and visitors to the State very seriously,” he said.

AllenSpencer:
Farm workers in the USA and Britain, leave a more quality life than you do in that shithole

Take that to the bank.

Suffering and smiling.

AllenSpencer:
Sigh..

No one is to be trusted. Power intoxicates

Even a Weah disappointed the electorates.

Can African leaders plead with the British and Americans to resume slave trade.

Seems its a viable option as at where Africa stands today.

They should just issue them licenses to be kidnapping us, so all we have to pray for is to be kidnapped

Romanoff:
You that don't have generation.

That's why you're ready to trade the lives of Nigerians for peanuts.

Carry your foolishness away.

You're right, I have an uncouth mouth and I'm ready to drag you with it from Adamawa to the Atlantic.

Evil swine.

Just no mention me again cause the next one that will come will make you lose it.

Weyrey oshi.

Romanoff:
I know my papa. But you don't know yours, the man your mum told you is your dad isn't your dad.

You're a child from the gutter and it shows with how you think.

Omo ale.

Romanoff:
Your stupidity just oozes all over.

Is it until the killings reaches your family that you'll understand that on one's interest is above that of the Nigerian people?

TroubleMaker47:
Another goat spotted