₦airaland Forum

Event planner and wife of Lagos-based clergyman, Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo is dead.

iBrandTV gathered that she died in Port Harcourt where she went to work.

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/breaking-ibidunni-ituah-ighodalo-is-dead/

As Nigeria marks 21 years of uninterrupted civil administration today, President Muhammadu Buhari addresses Nigerians of its administration achievement and strategy to make the nation continues to enjoy for its rich natural resources.

iBrandTV presents to you the full speech of President Buhari, delivered in commemoration of Nigeria’s 2020 Democracy Day celebration.

Fellow Nigerians,

1. The 2020 celebration of Democracy Day marks 21 years of uninterrupted civil administration in our dear country. This day provides us an opportunity to reflect on our journey as a nation, our achievements and struggles.

2. It is a day to honour our founding fathers who toiled to establish our republic and every Nigerian who has worked tirelessly to sustain it.


READ FULL SPEECH HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/breaking-june-12-national-broadcast-by-president-muhammadu-buhari-on-democracy-day/

Eleven days left to the Edo State governorship primary election, the All Progressives Congress APC, screened its six aspirants with the screening committee receiving six petitions against Governor Godwin Obaseki and one against Mr Mathew Iduoriyekemwe.

This development is similar to that of the former Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, where he had challenges with the National leader of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

Recall that, Ambode’s fate was sealed at a meeting held in Abuja where Tinubu, reportedly ruled him out of the election on the platform of the APC.

Tinubu was said to have told the governor pointedly at the meeting that he (Ambode) could get some other position in the APC but certainly not the ticket of the party for Lagos governorship in the 2019 polls.

READ ALSO: https://ibrandtv.com/edo-gubernatorial-like-ambode-why-gov-obaseki-may-not-contest-for-second-term/

Veteran Nigerian actor and film executive, Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, known professionally as Olu Jacobs, has been confirmed well and hearty.

This is coming against the backdrop of reports emanating from the social media that the internationally acclaimed actor is dead.

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/breaking-veteran-actor-olu-jacobs-is-not-dead/

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has on Monday stated that candidates who participated in the just concluded 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) can now print their result notification slips.

This was disclosed in the board weekly bulletin made available to iBrandTV on Monday in Abuja.

The results which had earlier been made available to candidates can now be printed free from the board’s website: www.jamb.gov.ng.

“All a candidate needs to do after visiting the site is to click on QUICK LINKS, then on `E-Facility’ where the candidate would be required to provide his or her registration details and the result notification slip would be displayed for printing.

READ FULL PROCEDURES: https://ibrandtv.com/just-utme-2020-candidates-can-print-result-notification-now-jamb/

No fewer than eight policemen have been confirmed dead in a robbery at First Bank, Isanlu, a community in Kogi State on Thursday.

It was gathered that the robbery gang about 18 in number, drove in a car and bus.

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/video-pandemonium-8-policemen-shot-dead-as-robbers-attack-first-bank-in-kogi/

18-year-old student of the Federal College of Animal and Production Technology Moore Plantation, Apata, Ibadan, Barakat Bello, has been raped and killed in Ibadan.

This is coming barely few days after a 100 student of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, was raped and killed in a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Edo State.

Ms Bello, was reportedly attacked on June 1, 2020, while undertaking the National Diploma programme in Science Laboratory Technology of the institution.

According to reports, the latest attack on 18-year-old Barakat took place at her home in Akinyele, Ibadan. Initial reports stated that the corpse was found near the house.

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/heartbreaking-another-student-barakat-bello-raped-killed-in-ibadan/

Tech4Justice also known as Citizen’s Gavel, a Civil Society Organisation has placed a N500, 000 bounty for any person or persons that will provide information leading to the arrest of the those involved in the rape and murder of the University of Benin female undergraduate, Uwaila Omozuwa.

The student, popularly known as Uwa, was reportedly beaten, raped and hit on the head with a fire extinguisher by unknown gunmen inside a church she had gone to read last Wednesday.

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/cso-places-n-5m-bounty-killers-female-uniben-student/

Following the query issued to a former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammed Bello on the purchase of a N7 billion building for the ministry, emerging evidence has shown that the transaction was actually sanctioned by the Federal Executive Council FEC having passed through all relevant procurement processes.

In an April 9, 2019 letter seen by our Correspondent and signed by Deacon T.O Onaeko, the Director, Lands and Housing Development in the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the then Minister, Raji Fashola had written to his counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, disclosing that the said building had been inspected and valued.


“Further to your letter Ref. No. AGR.1201/Vol.1/13 of 13th March, 2019, on the above subject, I am to inform you that the property has been inspected and valued. I am to convey the Honourable Minister’s approval of a Capital Value of (Seven Billion, two hundred million Naira) only, for the property. The approval is purely for valuation purposes only. However, this is to further inform you that you should seek and secure the approval of Mr. President before any planned acquisition.

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/revealed-fec-approved-controversial-n7bn-agric-building/

Of course, the death of George Floyd and several stories that follows suit, actually took the whole of this week, as many black Americans were seen condemning and protesting against the ill-treatment that led to his death.

Media are not left out, as the likes of Cable Television, CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, Washington post and other international cum local newspapers, radios and televisions, schedule programmes and newsbeats around George Floyd.

Yes, he is dead, but many cannot give an account of how he died.

Below is the story of how Floyd was allegedly murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/how-george-floyd-black-african-american-victim-of-racism-died-in-the-hands-of-a-white-police-officer/

The answer to the above question is yes! The super star Nollywood actress is pregnant for her husband, Honorable Prince Ned Nwoko.

Of course the rumor was heavy and has diffused across the internet, rising the willingness and eagerness of individuals to bifurcate the canard and get to the root of the matter.

The whole thing was put to rest when Ned Nwoko, on Saturday, visited his instagram handle to announce the expectation of a baby from his wife, Regina Daniels.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/rumor-of-regina-daniels-pregnancy-could-it-be-true/

The Police Command in Plateau has arrested 16 suspects over kidnapping, armed robbery, culpable homicide and unlawful possession of firearms.

CP Edward Egbuka, the Commissioner in charge of the command, disclosed this while parading the suspects before newsmen on Saturday in Jos.

According to the Commissioner, the command achieved the feat with the support and cooperation of other security agencies in the state.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/police-arrest-killers-of-unijos-lecturer-14-other-suspects-in-plateau/

President Muhammadu Buhari has Saturday approved the reconstitution of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), after the expiration of the term of the board members appointed in 2016.

The Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this. Members of the new Board are: Mohammed Lawal (North West), Tajudeen Umar (North East), Adamu Mahmood Attah (North Central), Senator Magnus Abe (South South), Dr Stephen Dike (South East), and Chief Pius Akinyelure (South West).

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/breaking-hours-after-the-death-of-baru-president-muhammadu-buhari-reconstitutes-nnpc-board/

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, said it will conclude its assessment on the impact of measures put in place for the easing of lockdown to stop the spread of the pandemic in the country within the next 70 hours.

Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the PTF who made this disclosure during the PTF daily briefing on Thursday in Abuja stated that when concluded the recommendations would be submitted to the President for a decision.

Mustapha who doubles as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), decried the continued refusal by medical institutions including federal tertiary institutions to receive and treat patients for fear of COVID-19.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/lockdown-extension-president-buhari-decide-devt-70-hours-ptf/

A fresh indication has emerged that over 8.5 million Nigerians are currently suffering from hearing impairments.

This was disclosed by the President of Speech Pathologists and Audiologists Association in Nigeria (SPAAN), Prof. Julius Ademokoya during a news conference to commemorate the International Month of Hearing and Speech for 2020, held at the NUJ Press Centre in Ibadan on Thursday.

The conference, with the theme: “Promoting Better Hearing and Speech in Nigeria”, was organised by SPAAN, in collaboration with Smile Train Incorporation.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/8-5m-nigerians-still-suffers-from-hearing-impairment-expert/

he Federal Government said claims by some local researchers that they have developed a cure for Covid-19 have fallen flat in the face of scientific investigations, saying out of the 19 claims subjected to validation protocols by the Federal Ministry of Health, only three passed preliminary stages and worthy of further investigations.

The federal government also added that it has been deliberating on the need to reopen schools, promising that safety measures would be put in place before such a decision is taken.

This was disclosed Wednesday in Abuja during the daily briefing of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on Covid-19.

The PTF also restated its earlier decision to redefine the country’s case management system in the light of new research outcomes indicating that the virus is no longer infectious after 10 days of administering treatments to patients.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/covid-19-16-local-drug-claims-fail-tests-fg-forwards-3-checks/

THE Presidency on Tuesday night said that there was no iota of truth on the allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari has upturned about 150 memos and reversed some appointments made by the late Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari.

There were media reports recently that President Buhari has cancelled some of the appointments made by his former Chief of Staff, late Mallam Kyari because he (Buhari) was not consulted before such appointments and memos were issued out.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/buhari-never-reversed-appointments-150-memo-by-late-abba-kyari-garba-shehu/

The 2019 Batch “B” Stream 1 Corps members whose passing out parade have been slated for Thursday, May 28th, will not be marked without ceremonial parades due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC has said.

NYSC made the announcement in a statement made available to IbrandTV.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/corps-members-to-get-certificates-may-28-without-ceremonies-at-lga-nysc/

Margaret Adiya Ikumu, a 19-year old girl, from Oni community, Oju Local Government Area, Benue State who is currently being investigated by the Lagos State Police command, for faking her death on Social media has revealed that she took the action because of her mother.

According to the suspect, Margaret who was arrested after her family wrote a petition to the police said: “I created the Facebook account and posted my obituary with intent to keep my family away from me. Because my mother was putting financial pressure on me. She is constantly demanding that I send money to her.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/faked-death-avoid-financial-pressure-mother-19-year-old/

*Refineries 1,898 staff, Headquarters 1,801

In a bid to end speculations over its staff strength, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has disclosed that it has 6,621 Nigerians as its staff currently, both in its headquarters and across all its subsidiaries, division and offices nationwide.

The Corporation also revealed that the 6,621 individuals comprise its total staff strength as at April 20, 2020. This meant that the recently employed 1,050 fresh graduates where captured, as their employment was concluded, February 2020.

This was contained in a document cited by iBrandTV, on Thursday, in Abuja.

READ FULL DETAILS HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/revealed-nnpc-have-6621-staff-strength-nationwide/

A young man identified as Kelvin Rhima has committed suicide at Modinatu Street in Ogba area of Lagos.

The lifeless body of Kevin who works with a new generation Bank was found dangling from a ceiling fan, in his mini apartment by neighbours at about 8pm, on Tuesday, May 19th, 2020.

It was gathered that neighbours became worried on Tuesday evening when they noticed that Kevin hasn't been outside since morning. Unfortunately, when they look through the window, they found his body hanging on the ceiling fan.

READ FULL DETAILS HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/young-banker-committed-suicide-lagos/

The Federal Government, on Monday, announced an extension of the current gradual easing of lockdown in the country, stressing that it is not yet time to relax its containment protocols against the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, disclosed this during the daily briefing of the task force in Abuja.

READ FULL DETAILS HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/updated-buhari-okays-extension-of-eased-lockdown-till-june-1/

President Muhammadu Buhari will not address the Nigerians on the state of the nation today, his media aide Femi Adesina said in a tweet.

According to Adesina, “No presidential broadcast on COVID-19 updates today.

The clarifications came after Sani Aliyu, the national coordinator of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, said the president will make his decision on Monday following the end of the first phase of the gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown.

READ FULL DETAILS HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/just-president-buhari-will-not-address-nigerians-today-femi-adesina/

The Federal Government on Thursday said it is not aware of the whereabouts of the Chinese doctors and technicians who came into the country to offer assistance to Nigeria in the fight against the Coronavirus.

iBrandtv had reported that the 15-member Chinese medical team made up of doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians, arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on April 8, 2020, on the invitation of the government.

The team came in with medical equipment worth about $1.5 million, and went in for two week quarantine period according to Covid-19 protocols.

READ FULL DETAILS HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/not-aware-15-chinese-medical-team-whereabouts-fg/

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has mistakenly revealed the identity of a Saudi official suspected of involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre in 2001.

This is based on a report by Yahoo News on Wednesday. Back in September, the Wall Street Journal, citing a federal court, said that the FBI had disclosed the Saudi official’s name to the lawyers for the 9/11 families in a partially declassified 2012 report.

READ FULL DETAILS HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/breaking-fbi-mistakenly-discloses-name-saudi-official-linked-9-11-attacks/

Pre-colonial Africa had different cultural, social, political and administrative systems, organized into kingdoms, chiefdoms and fiefdoms, headed by black men who were “big”. These big black men wielded enormous and unfettered powers.

In some cases, their proclamations were not just law, they were the law. After the scramble for and partitioning of Africa by the Europeans, their subsequent invasion brought to an end the reign of these big black men.

Power changed hands from the big black men to the big white men. As the wave of independence from colonialism swept the continent from the 1950s, power was once again relinquished to emerging and fledgeling big black men polished and educated in the ways and language of the big white men.

The rise of these big black men offered some gleaner of hope to their people but many of them ended up as despots, plunging their countries into civil conflicts and economic catastrophes of unimaginable proportions, largely due to this big man mentality.

A shared notorious reputation among most of these big black men that held sway in post-colonial Africa was their unbridled tenacity to power and their insatiable penchant for putting on airs and graces with their people.

These big black men ran big governments, and in many instances, their knowledge and delivery of good governance could be written at the back of a postage stamp.

The Nigeria of today is suffering from this “big” syndrome in its political life. The myriad of problems bedevilling the country is due to its big but defective political arrangement. Prior to the “unification” of the country by military fiat at the end of the first republic, the numerous potentials and areas of comparative advantage of the various regions of the country came to limelight due to the political arrangement of genuine federalism practised at the time.

After the needless and arbitrary incursion of our civic space by the military, coupled with the oil windfall of the 1970s, a new political arrangement that concentrated power and the wealth of the people in the hands of the government at the centre gradually evolved. The government controls the resources of the people, is more powerful than the people, is not accountable to the people, and is also the politician.

The federal government under this strange brand of federalism became ubiquitous and is involved in the ineffectual issuance of things as simple as National identity card and drivers licence. The big nature of government is responsible for the corrupt, lax, and inefficient nature of its activities and administration.

Under this strange brand of federalism, state governments and by extension, their citizens go cap in hand, to the federal government for sustenance, with little or no room for creativity, innovation or invention. This has reduced the masses to passive beneficiaries of a “benefactor” called government. There is a plethora of adverse effects in operating with this defective political arrangement.

First of all, the security of lives and property is determined by one man heading a central policing agency. In a not too distant past, the country was overwhelmed with the barbaric and murderous activities of Fulani herdsmen pillaging farmlands and properties of some residents in the southern stretch of the country.

In Benue – one of the states terribly affected by the herdsmen menace – the governor and “chief security officer” of the state was helpless in handling the crisis because the Nigerian police is under the control of one big man (the Inspector General) who reports directly to only one big man – the president of the country.

This makes nonsense of the claim to the federal nature of our government. In a federal system of government, the federating units are directly responsible for their own security. In the united states of America for instance, there are state police departments, and a military formation called the National Guard, under the direct control of the state governor.

In Nigeria, there have been mixed reactions to the clamour for state police. While some members of the public welcome the idea in order to enhance the efficiency of the police and policing, sceptics are concerned of what it might become in the hands of state governors, whose resume indicates a common penchant for lawlessness.

The current political arrangement also encourages and promotes laziness – physical and intellectual – and ineptitude among public officeholders. As long as the federating units look up to the centre to run their affairs, ingenuity and creativity needed to actualize the development of their constituencies will be a mirage.

This is why many states in Nigeria are insolvent and incapable of self-sustenance. The COVID-19 pandemic currently bayoneting the world provides a compelling case for restructuring.

In Lagos state where the country’s index case was discovered, the state government was able to swing into action and put necessary structures in place to combat the pandemic before the federal government’s intervention.

In Kano state, the government’s handling of the issue was beyond the pale. The state Governor, behaving like a beggar of alms, begged for 15 billion naira before anything could be done to combat the disease, leading to a hundred and fifty “mysterious deaths” in just two days, probably due to the outbreak of the virus in the state.

As long as the country’s leadership is averse to, and continues to be tone-deaf to the calls for restructuring, the embarrassing handling of the COVID-19 issue in Kano, will be a recurring decimal, as federating units will always be at the mercy of the federal government in times of emergencies like this.

As long as restructuring is not an option in whatever political reform embarked upon, development of the regions will remain elusive. For instance, if any state decides to find solutions to its electric power needs by generating power, it will be connected to the national power grid, because it is the exclusive prerogative of the government at the centre to do so.

As a result, it shouldn’t be surprising that the power ministry superintends over the steady supply of darkness instead, leading to the stunting of the growth of burgeoning small and medium scale enterprises.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the deportation of almajiris (street beggars of Northern extraction) scattered all over the country, to their state of Origin. Inasmuch as I am of the opinion that a holistic approach is needed to address the issue of the almajiris, restructuring is one of the steps in the right direction to achieve that.

If Nigeria is restructured and reverts back to regionalism, the northern elite will take the gauntlet in advocating for family planning. The current structure makes unavailing, whatever family planning effort or practices adopted by other regions of the country.

For instance, if I decide to have just two kids, and my compatriot in the North decides to display his prolificacy in breeding, siring dozens of homosapiens, from his harem of Eve’s descendants, this reduces the number of our collective resources accruable to me, and the quality of life accessible or affordable to me and my kids.

If the country is restructured, the North will have to provide the resources to cater for its teeming population, which will ultimately lead to the advocacy for the adoption of family planning and child care by the elites of the region.

The current political arrangement in which a unitary system of government is masquerading as federalism is unsustainable. Although the President talked out of the back of his head, by insisting that he doesn’t understand what restructuring is all about, the recession of 2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic are pointers to the urgent need for it.

The earlier the country is restructured, the better for everyone. If the agitation for restructuring is not heeded or is given the axe, by the political elite who have filched the country due to this structure, then the country will restructure itself by forces beyond the control of those who are currently in control of it.

Prof. Akin Abayomi, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, has disclosed that the state may record between 90,000 to120,000 confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) by July 2020.

Abayomi, disclosed this during a media briefing on COVID-19 update on Friday in Lagos.

READ FULL STORY HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/only-lagos-to-confirm-120000-covid-19-cases-by-july-govt/

The Chairman, Hadejia Local Government Council in Jigawa, Alhaji Abdullahi Maikanti, has said that only three deaths were recorded in the region in 10 days

This is coming against the backdrop of media reports alleging that 100 persons recently died of a mysterious illness in the area.

READ FULL REPORT HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/only-3-not-100-person-died-from-mysterious-disease-in-jigawa-council/

The management of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka has directed that principal staff on CONTISS 13 and above should resume alongside their personal assistants on Wednesday 6th of May, 2020.

This according to the Registrar of the institution, Oladejo Azeez, Esq was based on the announcement of the President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR to ease the lockdown measures earlier taken to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States.

READ FULL REPORT HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/just-in-unilag-staff-to-resume-work-wednesday-6/

Today makes it eight years after late former Super Eagles striker Rashidi Yekini, passed on in his home town in Ibadan, Oyo state South-West Nigeria.

Yekini was an important member of the golden generation super Eagles that conquered Africa in 1994 remains Super Eagles all-time highest goal scorer with 37 goals.

The versatile striker made history at the World Cup on June 21, 1994. He became

READ MORE HERE: https://ibrandtv.com/8-years-after-rashidi-yekini-king-of-goals-lives-on/