The Northern States’ Governors’ Forum and Northern States’ Traditional Rulers’ Councils have called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the enactment of the legal framework for the take-off of state police.
This is just as the governors and traditional rulers declared that they have found a way to resolve the concerns raised over the tax reform bills which they initially.
This was contained in a communiqué read by the chairman of the governors’ forum and Gombe State governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, after their meeting held at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House Kaduna on Saturday.
The meeting, which was attended by state governors and chairmen of the traditional rulers’ councils in the 19 northern states, lasted for over five hours.
At the end of the meeting, the chairman acknowledged the critical role of nonpartisan cooperation, collaboration, and peer review in effectively addressing the numerous developmental challenges confronting the northern region and the nation at large.
“The forum reiterated its support for the creation of the state police and called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the enactment of the legal framework for its take-off,” Governor Yahaya said.
He added: “After exhaustive deliberations on matters of regional interest, they commended President Bola Tinubu for his sustained commitment to addressing the security challenges and infrastructural deficits in Northern Nigeria.”
The forum resolved to liaise with the Nigerian Governors Forum to work out modalities of how to increase support to the federal security forces.
According to him, the forum also resolved to strengthen peculiar local initiatives in combating all forms of security challenges.
He also stated that the forum resolved to urgently set up inter-state platforms to coordinate surveillance on our joint borders.
“During our last meeting, the position we took on the tax reform bills engendered the reactions of a broad spectrum of Nigerians. I am pleased to report that through the platform of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the National Economic Council, and in consultation with leadership of the National Assembly, we found a way forward that will lead to a mutually beneficial resolution of the matter.
“This demonstrates the power of constructive engagement and I commend Mr President for his listening ear and commitment to inclusive governance.
“We recommend that, going forward, such collaborative approach should guide all matters of intergovernmental relations in the interest of the people,” he further said.
He, however, lamented that the state of infrastructure in Northern Nigeria remains a cause for major concern.
He said, “While we acknowledge President Tinubu’s commitment to completing the ongoing Kaduna-Kano-Katsina-Maradi rail line, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway, and the AKK gas pipeline among many others, other projects like the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line, Kano-Maiduguri expressway, and Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe-Biu expressway, which were awarded in the past, remain in a serious state of neglect.”
Earlier, the host governor, Senator Uba Sani, said the forum and council of traditional rulers are unique in many respects.
He said, “Despite our diversity, the two bodies have found a way of arriving at a consensus on critical issues and marching forward as united platforms. This approach has solidified Northern unity and garnered national respect for the forum and council. We must continue in this spirit.
“We have made progress on many fronts. But challenges remain. I urge us to hasten the development of a roadmap for addressing issues of security, peace, governance and development in Northern Nigeria.
“Additionally, we must follow up the roadmap with an implementation and funding strategy. We don’t have luxury of time. Our people want results.
“I must not conclude this welcome address without commending President Bola Tinubu for his unwavering commitment to addressing the infrastructural deficits in Northern Nigeria.
“One of Mr President’s key interventions in our region is the long-abandoned Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway. The road connects the Federal Capital Territory to about 12 states in the North Central, North West and North East Zones.”
In a related development, governors from the North-Western part of the country, who also met in Kaduna State on Friday night, also disclosed that they have charted ways to address issues of insecurity, unemployment and excessive use of drugs that are bedeviling the zone.
Chairman of the North-West Governors’ Forum and Governor of Katsina State, Umar Dikko Radda, while speaking with newsmen early on Saturday morning, disclosed that the seven North-West states have agreed to work together to bring about the necessary development needed in the region.
“We just concluded our meeting and the deliberation was very fruitful. We had a long discussion on issues bothering challenges affecting our region and we have had presentations from Northwest Development Commission, as well as the Federal Medical University, Funtua for the region.
“We also discussed on issues of drug abuse and how to prevent excessive use of drugs in the region and other collaborations.
“We have all agreed to work together on these issues raised in order to bring the necessary development that is needed in the region,” Radda said.
Pakute: As you can see, the royalty came all the way to Oyo affirming their ancestry. It's not the other way round whereby a so-called majority tribe is crying and begging for validation, even to the point of drawing the minorities into a map in their pipedream.
Hotfreezing: In your place, your own blood sisters can't inherit their own father's property. One your dad passes on, barbers become active. Trainee barbers use your mother's head to learn skin cut.
Enugu is fighting Anambra, Abia is fighting Imo, all of them are insulting Ebonyi.
Yet, you think you are qualified to open your mouth when others are talking about unity.
Ebonyi and Enugu are not real ibos now. They are abakeliki and Wawa respectively.
This how they have been forcing Yoruba on other tribes in south west.
Many times Aworis tribe, the real owners of Lagos have said they are not Yorubas,yet Yorubas Keep claiming Lagos to the level that none of them identify with their five Yoruba states again.
Everyone from five Yoruba states is now a lagosian
Gbenu sohun.
Olofin Ogunfunminire, the founder of Awori in Ogun and Lagos state was an Ife Prince.
Hotfreezing: You should have said this when Biafrans overran the Midwest during the war.
Go and ask about those who drove the Biafrans out of your land.
Na Ile Ibinu boy. He is jealous and frustrated. If he is not careful, Biafria would take over Benin city as it is idu (Igodomigodo) land just as they have talen over Igbanke and even took Rema from Igbanke as added bonus.
Three serving senators from Kebbi State, elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have formally declared their intention to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) following a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
The lawmakers, Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Senator Yahaya Abubakar Abdullahi (Kebbi North), and Senator Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South) were led to the meeting on Friday by the National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.
The high-profile defection is seen as a major political development in Kebbi State and comes amid ongoing realignments within the national political landscape.
Also present at the meeting were the Kebbi State Governor, Dr. Nasir Idris; Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu; and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu.
The defection of the three senators is expected to bolster the APC’s influence in Kebbi State and the National Assembly ahead of future legislative and executive initiatives.
loffyloffy: You can see how sectarian this Statisense is from this publication..and it is now clear they have an agenda.
PO became a governor under APGA even swore he will never leave the party, he moved to PDP, where he was a VP candidate and later LP.
All the three parties are still in existence, so clearly he has defected twice and I am pretty sure he will still defect for the next election.
BAT's movement is not a defection , as the parties merged in a coalition and the old parties no longer exists, at least not in the form it was before the merger.
Same thing Buhari, it was merger, not defection.
Statisense is rubbish being published as statistics
You are right. That was why Bianca and Victor Oye (APGA) chairman cursed him that he would never attain anything politically.
To be honest, I'm confused. Who is actually organising a coalition? Because Nasir el-Rufai and co. say they are putting together a coalition, but nobody is joining them. Instead, they are losing people.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu is quietly achieving and accomplishing and not talking, yet people are joining the APC left, right, and centre.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has pledged to donate 99 per cent of his remaining wealth — estimated at over $100 billion — to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which he announced will cease operations by December 31, 2045. The decision accelerates the foundation’s original wind-down timeline, which was previously set for two decades after Gates’s death.
The pledge marks one of the largest philanthropic commitments in modern history, likely second only to Warren Buffett’s plan to donate his $160 billion fortune, depending on market conditions.
“It’s kind of thrilling to have that much to be able to put into these causes,” Gates said in an interview with the Associated Press.
In a recent blog post, Gates wrote, “There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned.”
According to Gates, the foundation has already spent more than $100 billion and is now poised to spend an additional $200 billion over the next 20 years. The goal is to frontload funding into critical issues such as global health, disease eradication, child and maternal mortality, and poverty alleviation.
In his blog, Gates outlined three major priorities for the foundation’s final phase: eliminating preventable deaths among mothers and children, eradicating infectious diseases like malaria and measles, and ending poverty for hundreds of millions.
“The Gates Foundation’s mission remains rooted in the idea that where you are born should not determine your opportunities,” he wrote. “…With the input from our board, I now believe we can achieve the foundation’s goals on a shorter timeline, especially if we double down on key investments and provide more certainty to our partners,” he wrote.
Legacy and accountability Founded in 2000 by Bill and Melinda French Gates, the foundation has grown into one of the most influential philanthropic entities globally, shaping healthcare policy and access to medicines in low- and middle-income countries. Following the couple’s divorce in 2021, French Gates left to start her own philanthropic initiative.
Warren Buffett, the foundation’s other major benefactor, recently stated he would direct his remaining wealth to a charitable trust managed by his children.
About 41 per cent of the foundation’s total funds have come from Buffett, with the remainder drawn from Gates’s Microsoft fortune. “Warren, it’s hard to overstate the impact he’s had on me,” Gates said.
The foundation will maintain an annual budget of around $9 billion until its closure, with a shift toward prioritising high-impact investments. CEO Mark Suzman noted that narrowing the focus would be key in the final decades of the foundation’s operations. “Are you actually putting your resources, your thumb down, on what are going to be the biggest, most successful bets rather than scattering it too thinly?” Suzman asked.
Philanthropy amid global aid cuts Gates’s announcement comes amid growing skepticism toward foreign aid, especially in the United States. He warned that global progress in health and development could be jeopardised by donor countries scaling back their contributions. He cited recent reductions by the US, Britain, and France as alarming, adding, “It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people.”
In a pointed critique, Gates condemned Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, for supporting deep cuts to US foreign aid. “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” he told the Financial Times.
Despite these challenges, Gates remains optimistic about the foundation's ability to catalyse long-term change. “Somebody should try and save more lives than I did, and give more money than I did,” he said.
He said, “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them.”
Emir Sanusi has told global investors at the Tunisia summit that Nigeria offers vast returns in manufacturing, ICT, agriculture and finance.
Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has urged foreign investors to take advantage of the booming business environment in Nigeria to invest their resources for maximum profit margin.
The Emir solicited investment opportunities in Nigeria while addressing global investors and captains of industries at the International Financial Investment and Trade Conference holding in Tunisia.
In a statement issued by Munir Sanusi Bayero, Galadiman Kano and Chief of Staff to emir said Sanusi made a strong case for investment opportunities in Nigeria.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, explained that Nigeria reserves one of the fastest growing economies in Africa with highly competitive markets and business opportunities readily available for capital investors.
“Sanusi essentially appealed to business and investment giants to tap from the robust economy with enabling environment in the areas of Manufacturing, Agriculture, ICT, Innovation and financial sector to grow their investment.”
“He used the occasion to showcase the growing fortune and global investment of Aliko Dangote, who started his empire taking the Nigerian business environment, believed foreign investors should capitalise on similar advantage”
The Emir also, made a strong case for investment opportunities in his country home, assured socio-economic and natural endowments as major advantages investors should consider to build viral growth in Kano.
He said that Kano is a destination for trade, commerce and industries with 22 million population, natural resources, strategic location and well established international markets that serve many countries in West and Central Africa and beyond.
Human Rights Activist Omoyele Sowore has chastised the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi for questioning the necessity of the 2012 subsidy protest against Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
In his response to critics, who accused him of demarketing Nigeria abroad, Obi wondered why those who protested against Jonathan’s government are not raising their voices against fuel and food price hikes under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“Where are those who, in 2012/13, protested vigorously when increases in fuel, exchange rate, food and transport prices were moderate and manageable under President Jonathan?
“Where are those who called President Jonathan all sorts of names, ‘Clueless, corrupt, ineffective and lifeless government”? Where are they now that the Prices of everything have increased tenfold?” Obi asked.
Reacting to Obi’s questions, Sowore, who participated in the 2012 subsidy protest, fired back at the ex-governor of Anambra, saying his stance on national issues is questionably dishonest.
The Publisher of Sahara Reporters argued that Obi’s questions implied that protests against Jonathan’s economic policies were unnecessary because he was an economic adviser in the administration.
Sowore alleged that Obi’s bank, Fidelity Bank, was used to assist former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke, in laundering money.
He said, “I have repeatedly stated that @PeterObi’s stance is questionably and patently dishonest if not outrightly DUMB. He seems to imply that protests against @GEJonathan’s economic policies were unnecessary, given his role as an Economic Adviser in that administration, they were all supporting themselves by looting Nigeria dry including the role of his Fidelity Bank assisting Diezani to move hard cold cash.”
The activist argued that if Obi believes protests are unwarranted under @GEJonathan, why should President Bola Tinubu’s administration not hold the same view, despite Nigerians’ complaints against his government?
“This raises concerns about his perspective on the current wicked Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT regime. If he believes protests are unwarranted under @GEJonathan why should Tinubu’s handlers not hold the same view, after all, they claim that their economic policies are for the good of Nigerians even though our people are dying in droves and they too have looted Nigeria dry in less than two years,” he stated.
Since Obi criticises Tinubu’s economic policies, Sowore challenged him and his Obidient movement to lead Nigerians in protest against Tinubu’s government.
Therefore, he asked Obi to stop gaslighting other Nigerians who didn’t support his political agenda, adding that the ex-governor and his followers have never led any protests in the country. Nlfpmod
Speaking at the inauguration of projects in Awka, the elder statesman hailed Tinubu’s contributions to the return of democracy in Nigeria since 1999.
“Your Excellency’s personal records as a NADECO champion of the return of democracy to our country in 1999 inspires my confidence that you will successfully steer the ship of our country through his present serious challenges including the underperforming economy, which breeds massive poverty and widespread insecurity to the destination that we all the citizens of this country desire,” Anyaoku stated.
Anyaoku prayed for God’s wisdom for the President, stressing that governing a pluralistic country like Nigeria is a complex task.
“Every discerning observer knows, governing our pluralistic country is a very complex task, and so I’m sure many others like me will continue to pray that God will give you the wisdom and the courage to face and address the pluralism of our country,” he stated.
Meanwhile, traditional rulers in Anambra State have conferred a chieftaincy title of ‘Dike Si Mba’ of Anambra on President Tinubu.
The traditional rulers, led by the Chairman of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council, Igwe Chidubem Iweka of Obosi, gave the President the title in Awka during his official visit to the state.
‘Dike Si Mba’ loosely translates to ‘Hero from another land’, and was given to President Tinubu by the traditional rulers representing all the communities in Anambra State.
Tinubu, who is in Anambra State on an official visit, arrived at the Chinua Achebe International Airport in Umueri around 12:15 pm and was received by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, his deputy, Onyeka Ibezim, and other government officials.
He inaugurated the Anambra Government House, marking a historic milestone in the state.
The president also inaugurated several other projects by the administration of Governor Soludo.
It is the President’s second visit to the South-East this year after visiting Enugu State in January.
Have you seen the video of Akpabio slamming Peter Obi and advising him to fix the issues of his small Labour party first before aspiring to be President where he would be required to fix bigger issues. Lol.
ABUJA: The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has re-enlisted the name of Julius Abure on its website as the National Chairman of Labour Party, Vanguard checks have revealed.
It also re-enlisted Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim as National Secretary of the party.
According to the commission, the reenlistment was based on an order of court.
The commission equally has Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP. It did not however indicate whether the decision was based on a court order.
The Supreme Court had last month set aside earlier decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal which recognized Mr Abure as Labour Party’s National Chairman.
Since then, Abure had continued to lay claim to the seat, relying on the apex court’s decision that the issue of his chairmanship remained an internal affair of the Labour Party and was therefore not justiceable.
However, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti and the 2023 presidential candidate of the party, Mr Peter Obi had insisted on the validity of a Caretaker Committee, chaired by Senator Nenadi Usman, saying the ruling effectively sacked Abure.
Governor Otti had on April 9 formally presented to INEC, a Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment concerning the party’s leadership.
According to him, the meeting was aimed at fostering clarity, mutual understanding, and institutional alignment regarding the LP’s current.
An INEC source said Abure’s name was re-enlisted after studying the Certified True Copy CTC of the judgment.
According to him, the Supreme Court judgment did not deal with the “Res” or substance of the matter as it only ruled on the lack of jurisdiction by the lower courts, a development which implied that the “status quo ante bellum” remained.
The Supreme Court had also in March overturned the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court which sacked Senator Anyanwu as the National Secretary of PDP.
Before then, there had been a protracted leadership tussle between Mr Anyanwu and Mr Sunday Ude-Okoye, who was reportedly chosen by some governors of the party.
Like in the case of the LP, the apex court had ruled that the lower courts had no jurisdiction to have entertained the matter ab initio, which it said remained an internal affair of the PDP.
2027 is settled. Make una go prepare for 2031. Tinubu would even get more votes in 2027 than he got in 2023.
He won the presidential election when he was not even in government. It's foolish to think he would lose now 2027 now that he has all the power in his control.
Make everybody just go prepare for 2031. Tinubu won the election when he wasn't President. It's foolish to think he would lose in 2027 when he now has power.
Politics › Northern Governors, Traditional Rulers Back Tax Reform Bills, State Police by Slytiger(op): 9:57pm On May 11, 2025
