₦airaland Forum

Yesterday the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, announced that the NAF is expected to take delivery of 55 fighter helicopters by December 2022. This includes

An unspecified number of AW109 Trekker multi-role light twin engine helicopter.

This is the most powerful air fleet ever assembled by an African nation South of the Sahara. More remarkable is the fact that Nigeria is technically broke. We barely just made it out of a recession. Meanwhile between 2010 and 2015 Nigeria made more money from the sale of crude

than at any time in our history, with oil prices hovering over $100 per barel, translating to almost $300 billion in annual revenue compared to barely $60 billion today. Can you imagine where we will be today if this level of investment was made on the military back then?

As Nigeria basked in a financial nirvana the best we could do was aquire a handful of second hand T-72 tanks via 3rd party from the Czech Republic without spare parts. Annual defence budget was then was close to $5 billion, with a supplementary $1 billion set aside for munition.

This is the correct UPDATE on 2nd Niger Bridge:

The Project is 3 main components:

- 1.6km Bridge - completed ✅

- ~7km Approach Road (6-lane) on Onitsha side; ~5km completed.

- ~4km Approach Road (6-L) on Asaba side - construction just about to start, delayed now by flooding.

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Friday at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja unveil the manifesto and policy document of All Progressives Congress (ACP) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The President will also at the event inaugurate the APC Presidential Campaign Council to formally kick start the party’s campaign.

President Buhari is the chairman of the APC campaign council and has said he will personally lead his party’s campaign and deliver the votes to ensure the victory of Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.

President Buhari is expected to mobilise the Northern votes for Tinubu because he is known to be still very popular among his supporters who trust him as a very honest and upright leader despite the economic headwinds in the country.

At the ongoing three-day ministerial retreat in Abuja, Buhari reeled out the achievements of his administration across all sectors, especially in infrastructural revolution and agriculture.

The APC presidential candidate has said he will continue with the programmes of the Buhari administration, especially where successes have been recorded and improve on areas there are still challenges, adding that he will sustain the legacy of Buhari if elected President.

The list of the leadership of the APC campaign council was released about three weeks ago and it generated some controversy among party chieftains and key stakeholders who alleged that some party interests were not carried along.

The controversy prompted the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu to write a leaked letter where he protested the alleged sidelining of the members of the National Working Committee.

WesternPost gathered that Tinubu directed the management of the campaign organisation especially the Secretary of the Council, Hon. James Faleke to liase with governors on the platform of the party, the National Chairman and other aggrieved interests to harmonise their positions.

A source in APC told our correspondent that with the final harmonisation of the list and directors, the campaign council is fully ready to hit the campaign grounds across the country with President Buhari leading the charge.

“APC and our candidates are ready to start our campaign now. We have a united front and full house keeping has been done. The President will inaugurate the campaign council on Friday and also launch our manifesto which we are taking to Nigerians. We are sure of victory because Nigerians still trust APC and believe in our Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deliver the goods. Our candidate is competent and he is the best among all contestants,” said the source.

#Twale for Wonderful LAGOS�

Wedding Party Cruise on the Waterways

The LAGFERRY's Barge - MV ADIMU ORISHA hosting the Wedding Engagement & Reception of a Wonderful Couple, on Lagos Inland Waterways!

#Twale for Wonderful LAGOS🙌

Wedding Party Cruise on the Waterways

The LAGFERRY's Barge - MV ADIMU ORISHA hosting the Wedding Engagement & Reception of a Wonderful Couple, on Lagos Inland Waterways!@jidesanwoolu @followlasg @Mr_JAGs @TalktoLaswa @positivebaqi @gbenga_omo pic.twitter.com/0uLghXlPTR

— Lagferry (@Lagferry) October 9, 2022

Operatives of Ketu Division of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested three members of a traffic robbery gang notorious for dispossessing motorists of their belongings at Ile-Iwe/Kosofe, Ikorodu Road, in Ketu area of the State.

The suspects namely Segun Olaiya ‘m’ aged 20, Ayinde Waris ‘m’ aged 19 and Bashiru Mohammed aged 28 were arrested on Monday, September 26, 2022 at about 1900hrs while attacking some motorists by policemen on covert operation in the area.

The suspects are currently assisting the police in an ongoing investigation to arrest other members of their gang. Suspects would be arraigned at the conclusion of investigation.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi, fdc, has directed that efforts be sustained across the state towards ensuring that all miscreants are apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the law.

SP BENJAMIN HUNDEYIN, anipr, mipra
Police Public Relations Officer,
Lagos State Command,
Ikeja.

September 28, 2022.

Claims and insinuations that @ndlea_nigeria has destroyed all drug exhibits recovered from the Ikorodu cocaine warehouse are false and misleading. Our statement on the public destruction clearly states that the order to destroy the seizure was issued by a Federal High Court Lagos

2. The statement further states that a portion of the drug seizure is secured for the purpose of prosecuting the suspects in court. As part of transparency and in line with legal procedures, the suspects were taken to the venue of public destruction to witness quantity destroyed

3. And sign certificate of destruction. In fact, 27.5kg of the cocaine has been secured for the purpose of prosecution. Those making unfounded claims obviously didn’t read our earlier statement or doing that out of mischief. Please disregard their falsehood

CLARIFICATION: The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (@ndlea_nigeria) didn’t incinerate the entire 1,855kg of cocaine seized from Ikorodu as 27.5kg of cocaine was secured for the purpose of prosecution. This was disclosed by the @ndlea_nigeria spokesperson @FemiBabafemi .

Final List of Senatorial Candidates in Ekiti.

Pls, where are the NAANU candidates��

Use this link to check for your state.

inecnigeria.org/2023-general-e…

Thee whole Nigeria go shake because of our jubilation. President Buhari you have done this. Echoke😂🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/k1FL9zHf3p

— Kareem olusegun (@masonsokun4real) September 18, 2022

This light rail thing is gradually becoming a reality....this is the marina train station @LSPWC_Official @Mr_JAGs @jidesanwoolu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ2STC9y4Rs

A woman has been caught on camera assaulting a policeman in the FESTAC area of Lagos.

The woman shouted in the face of the policeman and held his uniform, angry that he had threatened to shoot her.

Credit: Deji Lambo

VIDEO: Woman Assaults Policeman

A woman has been caught on camera assaulting a policeman in the FESTAC area of Lagos.

The woman shouted in the face of the policeman and held his uniform, angry that he had threatened to shoot her.

Credit: Deji Lambo pic.twitter.com/Fqb8Rs0ibh

— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) September 10, 2022

I see the defence people are putting up in the comment section. I do hope her lawyer remembers them during trial. She’ll get a fair hearing. The court will decide her fate, not the Police.

Now that IPOB has declared this Tuesday a sit at home day throughout the SE, it would be good for Peter Obi and his Obidients to stage a two million man match in every SE state, to demonstrate that they are not afraid of IPOB, and that they believe in one Nigeria!

Every day, Obidients organise one thing or the other. If Tuesday, September 13, 2022 passes and Peter Obi and Obidients refuse to hold any event in the Southeast in defiance of IPOB’s sit at home order, then the rest of Nigeria will know where their allegiances are

Prominent leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State have served the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a quit notice, even as they declared the party’s intention to win all elective positions.

They also unanimously endorsed the candidacy of APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, insisting that power must return to the South in 2023.

T[b]he leaders included the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; Minister of State for Labour and Employment and Campaign Spokesperson, Festus Keyamo SAN; APC chieftain and former General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori; Founding Leader and 2015 Governorship candidate of APC in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor; State Chairman, Delta APC, Elder Omene Sobotie; State Vice Chairman, APC Delta Central, Chief Paulinus
Akpeki; former Commissioner for Education, Dr. Veronica Ogbuagu among others.[/b]

They spoke on Sunday at the meeting of Delta Central APC Leaders and Stakeholders in Effurun, Delta State.

They lamented that the state has been under bondage of underdevelopment since 1999, declaring that 2023 is a year of liberation.

In his remarks, Senator Omo-Agege who doubles as the governorship candidate of APC in the state, harped on the need for unity.

Omo-Agege said he was motivated by a desire to arrest receding hope among Deltans and build a state where the people’s future is brighter than their past.

He said fairness demands that power returns to the South in 2023 since President Muhammadu Buhari, a Northerner, is about completing eight years in office.

“We need to be united to be able to confront this monster. These are people who keep repeating the same thing and expect a different outcome.

“Having served as President for eight years, it is only fair that power returns to the South. It is for that reason that Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has been labelled for who he is: a traitor.

“We are going to change the narrative in Delta. We are going to stand by Asiwaju Tinubu for President. Selling him won’t be a difficult task. We saw what he did in Lagos,” he said.

Also, convener of the meeting and Spokesperson, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo SAN, accused the PDP government of running a clueless and shortsighted administration.

Keyamo said the agenda of the PDP government in the state is to impoverish the people and make life difficult for them.

In his words: “The jacket of disunity is already in PDP. We will rescue the people from hunger, bondage and from Egypt. The battle will be door to door, unit to unit.

They are using primordial sentiments of Muslim–Muslim ticket to divert attention”.

Asiwaju Tinubu, he noted, will replicate his achievements as Lagos State Governor in the country if elected as president come February 2023.

“The example set by Asiwaju Tinubu in Lagos is enough to tell us that he will do more. So Ovie Omo-Agege has a huge task on his hand. He is going to first set a blueprint for development. Not chop-I-chop. Just like Asiwaju did, he set a blueprint and they are still enjoying till today,” he stated.

While elder statesman, Kokori expressed delight that the state is having a ‘real Urhoboman’ vying for the position, Olorogun Emerhor said: “This election is going to be at the unit and ward level. Only leaders can’t do it alone, the followers must help us. This unity meeting is a big step”.

The event was also graced by APC Senatorial candidate for Delta Central, Chief Edeh Dafinone, House of Representatives and State Assembly candidates for the party across the eight local government area of Delta Central and other stakeholders.

Two Super Tucano fighter jets of the Air Component, Operation Hadin Kai in precision air raids on three Boko Haram enclaves in Sambisa forest have eliminated about 49 BHT also known as as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād in Sambisa forest, Borno State.

Sources said the multiple airstrikes was conducted by the Air Task Force on Tuesday August 30 and Wednesday August 31, 2022, at the terrorists camps of Gargash, Minna and Gazuwa, in Bama Local Government Area.

The source disclosed that the air strikes targeted a moving truck of the terrorist’s in Gargash killing all its occupants on Aug 30 2022.

The source added that the combat aircraft took another turn attacking targets at another location given as Minna, scoring crucial hits on the hideouts leading to the neutralization of several Boko Haram fighters while others escaped with bullets wounds.

“On August 31, another air strike was conducted in Gazuwa after intelligence surveillance revealed large presence of the fighters who were engaging in some sort of transactions”.

“The ATF, therefore, detailed its fighter jets to attack the two location, killing scores of the terrorist and destroying their equipment, some of which were seen engulfed in flames” he said.

Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad Zagazola Makama who confirmed the onslaught noted that about 29 terrorists were neutrialised in Gazuwa, one truck with four fighters killed in Gargash while 16 others fighters met their Waterloo in Minna.

The source vowed that the Nigerian Air Force, operating in concert with surface forces, will sustain their offensives against the terrorists in the North-East.

Recall that aftermath the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Military High Command to go all out and stop the madness of terrorists and bandits, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, charged Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Operational Commanders to ‘show no mercy’ and ensure they employ maximum firepower against terrorists causing insecurity in the country

Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.54 percent year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2022.

The development is an improvement from the 3.11 percent growth recorded in the previous quarter.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this on Friday in the latest GDP report.

On a year-on-year basis, NBS said the second quarter of 2022 growth rate decreased by 1.47 percent points from the 5.01 percent growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter in 2021.

According to the report, the non-oil sector GDP grew by 4.77 percent in real terms but was lower by 1.97 percent points compared to the rate recorded same quarter of 2021 and 1.31 percent points lower than the first quarter of 2022.

The oil sector economy declined with a 11.77 percent dip year-on-year in Q2 2022, compared to a contraction of 26.04% recorded in Q1 2022.

Despite global uncertainties, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) for July 2022, retained a projected economic growth of 3.4 percent for Nigeria in 2022.

It explained that the outlook for sub-Saharan Africa, such as Nigeria, remains unchanged or positive due to elevated fossil fuel and metal prices for some commodity-exporting countries.

The World Bank also projected that Nigeria’s economy would expand at a moderate rate of 1.8 percent this year.

The suspect, Billy King Tokunbo, who drove against traffic, was immediately arrested. His Toyota Corolla car with registration number LSR 430 FT was equally impounded immediately. He is to be arraigned for his traffic offence and assault on a police officer. Updates to follow.

UPDATE: Governor @jidesanwoolu has started the construction and development of BRAND NEW Projects in the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), Ikorodu. He inspected the ongoing Senate building yesterday.

Six Boko Haram insurgents have been reportedly killed by troops of the 21 Armored Brigade in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State during a raid on an illegal market established by the terrorists.

The troops, in collaboration with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), stormed the illegal market, known as Daula Market, at Bararam village in Bama on Wednesday at 11 am and carried out the operation.

At the time of the operation, commercial activities were going on when the troops busted the illegal market, according to a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in Lake Chad, Zagazola Makama.

Makama explained that the terrorists opened fire upon sighting the troops but were swiftly engaged, adding that six of them were neutralised by the troops.

According to him, the traders were reportedly selling items such as maize, beans, salt, seasoning, used cloths, drugs, and petrol to the insurgents in exchange for scrap metals.

He explained, “They arrested dozens of Boko Haram including logistics suppliers, collaborators and some weapons were recovered.”

The suspects, according to him, have been transferred to the Brigade headquarters in Bama for a thorough investigation.

Now, since they think the issues of Nigeria are three buttons, a pair of sneakers and a long tie, let’s help make them the real issues!

The United States Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk (WMEC 913) has arrived at the Nigerian Naval Dockyard in Lagos. The ship will conduct two days of at-sea engagements with the Nigerian Navy to promote maritime security cooperation.