Ogoni persons of Rivers State residing in the United States of America have raised alarm saying fresh attempts are being made to resume oil activities in their land without meeting any of the major conditions the people set, especially creation of a state for the Ogoni people.

Speaking under the auspices of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), USA wing, the Ogonis condemned a meeting allegedly going in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, to prepare grounds for resumption of oil operations.

In a strongly worded petition to the presidency, Dine Augustine Kpuinen, MOSOP USA president, alerted the nation that: “There is confirmed information that some greedy, self-centered Ogoni indigents, government agents, and saboteurs, who have consistently undermined Ogoni efforts to be self-governed within the Nigerian state, have gone to Abuja to meet with President Bola Tinubu to negotiate oil resumption in Ogoni.”

MOSOP USA rejected this move and urged the President to heed the four conditions the Ogoni set for oil production to resume in Ogoni, the most prominent being creation of a state for the Ogoni as part of achieving what MOSOP called autonomy within the Nigerian State.

MOSOP USA also insisted on a clean up of the Ogoni areas of previous contaminants to ensure the environment is safe for oil production. “Gives its citizens the five essential government obligations to guarantee that Ogoni is part of Nigeria: good roads, clean water, electricity, equipped medical facilities, and security.

The group also demanded exoneration of the Ogoni 9 (Ken Saro Wiwa and the other eight) martyrs and their immortalization. “In honor of their memories, November 10 every year should be declared an Environmental or Civil Rights National Holiday in Nigeria.”

They also called for compensation of the Ogoni people in what they termed ‘rehabilitation’. “We call on the President to call back the citizens of the 16 Communities that the late Sanni Abacha administration sacked and flattened in both Oyigbo and Tai LGAs. Rehabilitate and pay Compensation to those who have been internally homeless and hopeless refugees. Also, pay compensation for the 4,000 Ogoni people who were massacred in cold blood by the Rivers State Internal Task Force created by Abacha.”

MOSOP USA advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stay true to democracy, reminding him that he worked with MOSOP USA in fighting for democracy and against injustice and genocidal actions.

They advised Tinubu to recall that granting autonomous status to all ethnic groups in Nigeria remained the best option to guarantee stability in Nigeria and fast track development.

MOSOP USA called on President Tinubu to curtail the alleged excesses of his minister of the FCT and former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.

They said this was to allow peace to reign in the oil state and give the new governor a breathing space to govern the state. “We want the president to investigate the $300 million belonging to the Ogoni people paid by NNPC as compensation.” They claimed the money was embezzled.

MOSOP USA also appeals to the president to control one of his own whose activities have stiffened and threatened your government: the Federal Minister of the Federal Territory, Mr. Nyiesom Wike, claiming ownership of Rivers State. We want the president to investigate the $300 million belonging to the Ogoni people paid by NNPC as compensation, embezzled by Governor Nyesom Wike.

The USA Ogoni group finally said Ogoni needs well-equipped Federal Colleges of Applied Technology (FCAT), where the children will acquire skills and trade to meet the employment demands of the 21st century. “We therefore inform the president that this FCAT will solve the problem of Ogoni underemployment as the

CATHOLIC Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, yesterday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to face the challenges of governance and stop agonizing over misdeeds of past administrations.

Nigerians, according to the clergyman, “didn’t vote a government to complain about yesterday. If we wanted yesterday, the new government would not be there.”

Kukah spoke with newsmen at a dinner organized by Ondo State Government after the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigerian, CBCN, in Akure, the Ondo State Capital.

The Executive Governor of Kogi State was at the Presidential Villa to brief the President about happenings in the State.

It was a fruitful meeting and the President expressed satisfaction with how the Governor handled the security situation in the state.
The Governor also confirmed that the meeting was quite "fruitful".

The meeting also touched areas such as education, welfare of the civil servants, primary healthcare delivery and sundry other issues of interest.

The Governor also discussed efforts at curbing crisis in Omala Local Government Area with Mr President @officialABAT

King Charles has given eldest son Prince William yet another new title, just one month after giving him and daughter-in-law Kate Middleton new titles.

On Monday, May 13th, it was revealed that King Charles, 75, bestowed the title of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps upon the Prince of Wales, 41, in a military ceremony at the Army Aviation Centre in Hampshire. However, the title has caused a lot of controversy, as it means that Prince William will now be in charge of estranged younger brother Prince Harry‘s former regiment. Awkward!


King Charles Gives Prince William A New Military Role

King Charles reportedly held the military role for three decades before passing it on to his eldest son. But Prince William's new role is sparking controversy because of its close ties to Prince Harry, who will no doubt be feeling snubbed by the appointment.

Before he and Meghan Markle stepped down as senior royals in 2020, it was predicted that the role would have eventually gone to Prince Harry due to the time he served with the Army Air Corps in Afghanistan.

If you'll recall, Prince Harry, 39, served as a British Army officer for 10 years. His military service ended in 2015, and he rose to the rank of Apache helicopter commander. He was deployed to Afghanistan twice, from 2007 to 2008 and then again from 2012 to 2013.

Royal Author Thinks This Was A 'Calculated' And 'Cruel Snub' To Prince Harry

Christopher Andersen, author of The King: The Life of Charles III, was one of the many people who deemed the military appointment a "cruel snub" to the Duke of Sussex. "If there were any doubts that Harry is dead to his father and brother, then this one-two punch from King Charles should dispel them once and for all," Andersen told Fox News Digital, before referencing the fact that the King was also too busy to see his son during his brief trip to the U.K. earlier this month.

Andersen added: "By announcing that he was too busy to see Harry, even though the two men are just two miles apart, and then officially giving Harry's colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps title to William – one of the honorary military titles Harry cherished most – the King is slamming the door in Harry's face."

"This was a calculated, even cruel snub," Andersen continued. "Under other circumstances, I would have chalked it up to the fatal tone-deafness that the palace is so famous for. But the King could easily have carved out time to see Harry, and the announcement giving Harry's old title to William didn't have to happen just as Harry arrived in London. This was all very deliberate and very petty – and very personal."

ASUU, the association of university lecturers in Nigeria, said the move to go on strike is to protest against the failure of the Nigerian government to appoint Governing Councils for Federal Universities.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike.

ASUU, the association of university lecturers in Nigeria, said the move to go on strike is to protest against the failure of the Nigerian government to appoint Governing Councils for Federal Universities.

At an ongoing briefing at the ASUU national secretariat in Abuja, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, lamented the absence of governing councils in all federal universities in the country among other pending issues.


He also said President Bola Tinubu’s administration had been given enough time to meet the union’s demands.

Governing councils of the universities were dissolved by the government last May.

The union also lamented the 35 per cent salary increment for professors and the 25 per cent salary increment for other university academics, describing it as a wage award that could be suspended by the government at any time

1000Capacity:
I hope they are not Yahya Bello paid protesters

Sharpsharp00123:
y not let him become president first now

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero, has said that the labour union would disown the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, if he adopted the policies of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank if elected Nigeria’s President.

Ajaero made this statement on Tuesday while speaking in an interview with Channels Television and monitored by DAILY POST.

Ajaero, who described the position of the NLC on the removal of petrol subsidy and electricity subsidy as ‘fixated,’ also added that the labour union would have it tough with any Labour Party president who implements the policies of the IMF.

The NLC President said, “He (Obi) is the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, but does he own the NLC or the Labour Party? Why can’t you separate them?

“Whoever is the presidential candidate or official of the Labour Party must buy into our projects. If he says he was going to undertake those policies, let him be elected and try such policies.

“Whether a presidential candidate of a party that Labour forms would dictate for Labour? The answer is known to everybody. The policies of Labour, the ideologies of Labour are clear and we are going to pursue it.”

DAILY POST recalls that, on April 3, 2024, NERC raised electricity tariff for customers enjoying 20 hours power supply daily.

The increase saw customers paying N225 kilowatts per hour from the current N66, a development that has been met with criticism by many Nigerians.

DAILY POST had reported that the NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, subsequently picketed NERC offices and discos on Monday to press home their demands.

But, Ajaero kicked against the “politics of reduction” embarked upon by NERC in recent times.

He said reduction after tariff increase won’t stand, insisting that NERC and discos must first reverse the tariff to the old rates and come to the negotiation table with labour unions and other stakeholders on an agreeable way forward.

The campaign team of Labour Party Presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, has explained why his principal met with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, erstwhile Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido and former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in Abuja.

Online platforms and social media were awash with viral photographs of Obi’s closed-door meeting with the three chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party on Monday.

This is the first meeting of the former Anambra governor with his former political allies after he defected from the PDP to LP in May 2022.

The development comes on the heel of claims by Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, that Obi was frustrated out of the opposition party by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, because of the latter’s political ambition.


Ibe made this claim when he featured on the popular online political platform, Mic On Podcast, on Saturday.

Addressing the circumstances surrounding Obi’s departure, Ibe denied that the former VP orchestrated the split.

Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH following Monday’s meeting with Atiku, Saraki and Lamido, the Chief Spokesman of Obi’s Presidential Campaign Organisation, Yunusa Tanko, explained that the closed-door meeting with the PDP big wigs bothered on discussions on how to rescue the ‘soul of Nigeria’ from the clutch of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

He said, “I am not privy to their meetings. But what you are seeing are some of the long discussions we have had a long time ago. It is part of the discussions and efforts to battle for the soul of Nigeria.

On the chances of Obi returning to the PDP or the possibility of a merger between the Labour Party and the PDP, Tanko said such talks would only remain in the realm of speculations.

“Well, not really. Those are the permutations of individuals. I don’t want to dwell on that. But this is still an ongoing discussion. His destination will reveal itself later. Some of these discussions (Obi returning to PDP) are offshoots of what has been happening since the last election.

“We need to wait and see how these discussions pan out. Let’s hope they bring a positive outcome in the long run,” he said.

An official statement released by Obi’s media team titled ‘State of the Nation and Plight of the Poor: Obi visits Atiku, Saraki and Lamido’ corroborated Tanko’s earlier sentiment that Obi is determined to engage virtually all his political allies on the need to wrest power from the ruling APC.

The statement read, “The 2023 Presidential flag bearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has continued to live up to his expressed commitment to the peace and progress of the nation. His abiding devotion is to the emergence of a Nigeria that works for all its people and where the people are quickly pulled out of poverty.

“Worried about the state of the nation and the increasing uncertainty in the living conditions of the poor and underprivileged, Obi in Abuja on Monday visited some top Nigerians, among whom are Former Vice President, and PDP Presidential Candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, the Former Senate President Senator Bukola Saraki and the Former Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

“At the centre of discussion during each of these visits was the state of the nation and how to reduce the suffering of all Nigerians irrespective of class and location. In particular, the desperate condition of the downtrodden in our midst was highlighted.

Curious345:
The Atiku-Obi Merger: A Game-Changer in Nigerian Politics

President Bola Tinubu on Monday launched the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) in Nigeria with the theme “We Are Equal”.

Speaking during the event at State House Conference Hall, Abuja, he expressed his commitment to continue working towards ending gender-based violence and increasing learning opportunities for girls in safe and conducive environments.

President Tinubu stressed the imperative of education in empowering girls and promoting gender equality.

He commended the OAFLAD initiative for launching the campaign, noting that it has been successfully launched in 15 other African countries.

President added that the launch’s focus on Nigeria with the title “Education as a Powerful Tool for Change,” is critical for Africa’s development.

The president stated: “We must continue to create opportunities for all our children to access quality education without leaving anyone behind, particularly the girl child.

“We must engender a society where everyone has the same opportunities, regardless of who they are, because doing that leads to a stronger and more peaceful society for all.”

The president also praised the African First Ladies for their commitment to advancing gender equality and narrowing the gender gap in opportunities and appointments across Africa.

“I salute the commitment and dedication of the African First Ladies, as members of OAFLAD, to advance gender equality and narrow the gender gap in opportunities and appointments across the African continent,” he said.

Speaking to his wife, the First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi, the president commended her efforts in championing education as a primary tool to advance gender equality, saying: “I particularly congratulate my dear wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady of Nigeria, who has chosen education as a primary tool to champion this campaign nationwide.”

Tinubu noted that the launch of the #WeAreEqual Campaign in Nigeria, with a focus on education as a tool for change is critical for Africa’s development.

“The focus of the launch of this campaign in Nigeria, ‘Education as a Powerful Tool for Change‘ is critical for Africa’s development, if we are to attain gender equity and ensure equal opportunities for all,” he noted.

President Tinubu stressed the importance of laws and policies that protect and promote women’s rights, invest in girls’ education and skills development, and create economic opportunities accessible to all.

“We must work together to promote laws and policies that protect and promote women’s rights, invest in girls’ education and skills development, and create economic opportunities that are accessible to all,” he added.

President Tinubu further reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that no Nigerian child is excluded from quality education that prepares women and girls to lead and bring positive changes to their communities.

“I reaffirm my commitment to ensuring that no Nigerian child is excluded from quality education that prepares women and girls to lead and bring positive changes to our communities,” he stated.

He called on all relevant stakeholders to carry the campaign forward to empower girls and promote gender equality.

“Let us carry forward this campaign, which promises to gift an educated girl-child the potential to bring the necessary change and transform African communities for the better,” he added.

HeatSeeker:


How is it treason biko?

BreconHills:


He is an ex soldier who founded an innovative post war trauma and injury centre for war vets and created a games for them to recover their self worth and meaning. The building of the forthcoming Invictus centre is great for wounded and traumatised ex soldiers.

The army respects him as an officer involved with this objective and there is nothing wrong with that. He did not wear his military uniform nor does he need to wear it to attend an honour guard.

I do not understand why you are up in arms about a matter that clearly does not concern you as a non UK royal. Nigeria is not an outpost of Great Britain and it's internal non state decisions are not binding on Nigeria. Nigeria is a sovereign state and it's army is an Insituation of a sovereign state.

BadMaster:

I have since advised you to seek psychological help, but you have refused. Now, your situation is critical.

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has suggested that interest rates will remain elevated until the inflation rate decreases.
According to him, the CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is taking all necessary measures to combat inflation.

Cardoso also mentioned that conventional policies will be put in place to control inflation.

Naija News understands that Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 33.20 per cent in March, up from 31.70 per cent in February. As a result, the CBN’s monetary policy committee (MPC) increased the interest rate by 200 basis points in March to 24.75 per cent.

Speaking, however, on the events, Cardoso said: “They will continue to do what has to be done to ensure that inflation comes down.

“Let’s face it: for a long period of time, the CBN did not embrace orthodox monetary policies.

“We want to go back to using an orthodox method, and it will take us to where we want to go.”

The CBN governor said the apex bank had been “reoriented” to focus on “price and monetary stability”.

The governor stated that the official window of the foreign exchange (FX) market has been brought to a stable state.

As per his remarks, investors used to have an inclination to approach the window when faced with currency fluctuations, but there has been a significant change in this pattern.

Cardoso mentioned that investors are now becoming more at ease with the market.

Naija News understands that the naira dropped to a record low of ₦1,627.40/$ in the official FX window on March 8 before bouncing back to ₦1,154.08/$ on April 18. However, following this recovery, the local currency started to decline once again.

By May 10, the official FX rate was recorded at ₦1,466.31/$.

Cardoso emphasized the importance of increasing interest rates, stating that it has been essential. He expressed concerns that prolonged high interest rates could discourage investment and hinder production.

“Hiking interest rates obviously has had a dampening effect on the foreign exchange market, so that has begun to moderate. It’s not a zero-sum game. You lose on one side, you get on the other,” he said.

Cardoso attributed the higher inflation to “distortions,” primarily caused by the soaring food prices, stating that it exceeded his expectations. He further emphasized that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not have direct control over this issue.

In March, food inflation surged to 40.01 per cent, a significant increase from the 24.45 per cent rate observed in the corresponding month of the previous year.