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Ramadan Begins On Thursday – Sultan Of Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has announced that the new crescent has been sighted, which marks the beginning of Ramadan 1444AH.

The President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), disclosed this in a live broadcast held on Wednesday evening, March 22, calling on Muslims to pray for Nigeria during the holy month.

“Today Wednesday, the 29th day of Shaaban 1444 AH, which is equivalent to 22nd of March 2023 marks the end of the month of Shaaban.

After receiving reports of moon sighting from Muslim leaders and organizations across the length and breadth of our great country, which were duly authenticated and verified by the state and National Moon Sighting Committees, consequently tomorrow Thursday 23rd day of March 2023 becomes the first day of Ramadan 1444 AH. We therefore called on all Muslims to commence fasting accordingly.

As we just concluded the 2023 general elections, and leaders emerged at national and state levels by Allah’s will. We therefore called on all Muslims to use this Holy Month for extra prayers for their successes in steering the affairs of our great country.” the Sultan said.

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Billionaire, Tony Elumelu Shares Throwback Video On 60th Birthday

Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, is a year older.

The billionaire businessman is marking his 60th birthday today (Wednesday).

He shared a video that featured his throwback and recent pictures via his Instagram account to commemorate the day.

Expressing gratitude to God he wrote, “Thanking God for the gift of life.

“#Birthday #TOEat60 #Grateful #TOEWay.”

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I Can’t Wait To Hand Over And Focus On My Farms – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has again stated that he can’t wait to hand over power to the next president.
Buhari spoke on Tuesday at a farewell meeting with the outgoing United States Ambassador, Mary Beth Leonard, held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
President Buhari said he cannot wait to retire to his hometown in Daura, Katsina State, to look after his farms and take care of his cattle, adding that he plans to be a big landlord back at home.
 
“I plan to be a big landlord back at home, working on my farms and tending to more than 300 animals. I am eager to go,” he said.
Buhari lauded the outgoing ambassador for the enormous achievements recorded in Nigeria-US relations in the three-and-half years she had been here.
In her remarks, the American ambassador said she was impressed with the progress made in Nigeria-US relations in those three–and–a half years.
She cited the recent institution of a five-year visa regime between the two countries; active collaboration in security and the supply of military hardware including warplanes and the soon-to-come fighter helicopters; and also cooperation in the health sector to fight HIV and COVID response as some of her achievements in office.
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Prophet Odumeje Didn’t Say He Will Die Soon – Aide

Controversial Anambra State-based Prophet, Chukwuemeka Cyril Odumeje has said he never made a statement that he will die soon.
His aide made the clarification, according to Leadership Newspaper.
Reports earlier quoted the General Overseer of The Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry saying that he has completed his tasks here on earth and will leave soon.
Odumeje in a said viral video spoke on how he told his little son (KingDavid) that he would leave soon.
According to the cleric, he advised his son to take care of his brothers and mother when he leaves.
The controversial cleric stressed that he came to this world for a purpose and the purpose has been fulfilled.
However, speaking with Leadership newspaper on Tuesday, Odumeje’s aide stated that the prophet did not make such a statement.
The lady who gave her name as Amaka Okoye described such news as false.
“It is not true (that prophet Odumeje said during Church service last Sunday that he will die soon).
 
“You know that some people when they want to destroy someone’s image, they will write something with your name and put it in a YouTube and say that you said it,” the news platform quoted Okoye saying on behalf of Odumeje.
She said that the prophet never instructed his son to take care of his house and that he would die soon as reported on news platforms.
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Boss Mustapha Disowns Fake Twitter Account

Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has disowned a fake Twitter account credited to his name.

A yet-to-be-identified operator of  the account used his name to utter appalling statements against the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, and the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Adamawa state, Senator Aishatu Dahiru (Binani).

The SFG disclosed this in a statement signed by Director of Information, office of the SGF, Willie Bassey.

“The attention of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, CFR, has been drawn to a fake Twitter handle with a fake user name bearing his name, in which the fake user name dragged his name into making unsavoury comments on the governorship candidates of APC in Adamawa and Zamfara States.

“For the avoidance of doubt, SGF wishes to state categorically that he does not own or operate any Twitter handle by such a user name and therefore calls on Nigerians to disregard any negative comments made with such a username on Twitter against the persons of the Governor of Zamfara State and the Governorship candidate of APC in Adamawa State. He finds it mischievous for any person to attach his name to a fake user account.”

Mustapha urged Nigerians to always ensure they verify posts before reacting to it.

“He, therefore, cautions Twitter users and those who respond to certain posts to always endeavour to verify Twitter handles before responding to posts of any sort,” it added.

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BREAKING: It’s My Turn To Be Senate President – Orji Kalu Declares

Orji Uzor Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Senate has said it is his turn to become Senate President.
Punch reported that Kalu, who won re-election to represent Abia North in the Red Chamber, disclosed this Tuesday while briefing newsmen at the National Assembly.
The ruling All Progressives Congress maintained a majority in the Senate, having secured 57 seats.
APC senators eyeing the Senate presidency have been lobbying their colleagues to seek their support.
Aside from Kalu, who has publicly declared interest in the position, Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom); Sani Musa (Niger); Barau Jibrin (Kano); and Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) are also said to be interested in running for the coveted office.
The final candidates for the position will largely be determined by zoning.
However, the APC leadership said it has not zoned the Senate presidency.
Some pundits believe that it is likely that APC might zone the post to the South for power balance, especially after its Muslim-Muslim ticket triggered outrage from some quarters, especially the Christian community.
Kalu told reporters that it was his turn to become Senate President, being a ranking lawmaker and from the South East.
He said, “It is my turn to become the Senate President. If I’m elected Senate President, I will be team Nigeria. I’m going to work in every corner of Nigeria.
 
“I schooled in Maiduguri, Borno State. I started my business in Lagos and spread it across all state capitals. My first name will be team Nigeria, my last name will be team Nigeria.
 
“Remember, I’m the only former governor who has never changed phone lines for more than 20 years. I’m still willing to maintain that telephone number to answer all my calls. I’m not going to switch off my phones because I’m Senate President.
 
“I’m hoping that Nigerians will pray for me to become Senate President because it’s my turn.”
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JAMB Resumes Direct Entry Registration, Sets New Guidelines

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has made a new announcement.

JAMB, on Monday announced that it had resumed the 2023 Direct Entry registration nationwide.

The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, who made this known at a press briefing on Monday in Abuja, said that the DE registration would come to a close on April 28, 2023.

While lamenting the high level of forgery of A Level certificates used for the registration, Oloyede said the board had introduced new guidelines to check such acts.

He said, “You will recall that the board commenced the 2023 Direct Entry registration on Monday, 20th February, 2023, but had to immediately suspend it following the discovery of the plethora of devices and machinations to circumvent and compromise the standard of A’ Level qualifications required from DE candidates.

“Recall that recent joint operations of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on DE qualifications brought to light some of these unsavoury and nefarious activities.

“Bayero University, Kano  has also consistently brought to the fore the high rate of forgery of A’ Level qualifications for DE.

For instance, it was discovered that in previous years, some candidates used unacceptable and forged A’ level certificates/qualifications to register for Direct Entry and eventually got admitted. For example, out of 148 candidates verified by BUK, only six were found to be genuine. By implication, 142 of the results were forged.

“The Board, concerned stakeholders and institutions are working assiduously to detect such and the ones already found are being dealt with according to the provisions of the law.”

Speaking further, Oloyede said the Board would only  accept 13 qualifications/certificates for the 2023 Direct Entry registration, which include; first degree, university diploma, Higher National Diploma, Ordinary National Diploma /National Diploma and Nigeria Certificate in Education.

Others are Interim Joint Matriculation Board A’ Level, Joint Universities Preliminary Examination Board A’ Level,

NABTEB Advanced National Business Certificate, NABTEB Advanced National Technical Certificate,  NABTEB GCE-A’ Level (2015 – 2021), Higher Islamic Studies Certificate by NBAIS, International Baccalaureate  and the  National Registered Nurse /National Registered Midwife.

He, however, said that the 127 candidates who had earlier registered for the 2023 DE before the exercise was suspended would be requested to return to the registration centres and update their application.

The JAMB boss also revealed that the data bank put in place to address challenges associated with the A’ Level qualifications had now been renamed as ‘Nigeria Post-secondary Education Data System’.

On the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, Oloyede said JAMB had introduced new measures in the conduct of the exam and called for understanding.

“The Board has instituted some measures which are to be deployed during the 2023 UTME exercise. Despite the fact that the innovations have been tested and certified, yet it is not unlikely that some hiccups might spring up when the new technology is deployed live and nationwide. We therefore solicit your support and understanding as we promptly address any unforeseen circumstances.

“One major feature of the new dispensation is that no examination would be allowed to take place after one hour of its scheduled start time because the Board has discovered that some of the problems reported at the centres are contrived to delay the commencement of a session in some centres with a view to securing undue advantage for the delayed candidates.

“Consequently, any session that, for whatever reason(s), could not take off within one hour of its schedule is automatically rescheduled. When such occurs, affected candidates are expected to file out of the examination hall into the waiting hall and await the new scheduled time and place which most likely would be the same or following day,” he said.

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I Will Work With President-Elect, Tinubu – Makinde

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state said he will work with President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when his government is finally inaugurated in May 29th.
This comes after he secured a re-election by defeating his opponents in last Saturday’s election.
Makinde made this promise in an interview with TVC on Sunday.
He said, “I will work with the President-elect. We will continue to work towards ensuring that Nigeria is united. We will make sure Nigeria is on the path of inclusivity. We will work with the passion to create value in our country Nigeria.”
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had earlier officially declared Makinde winner of the governorship election in the state.
Makinde polled a total of 563,617 votes while his closest rival, Sen. Teslim Folarin scored 251,230. Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord came a distant third polling 38,757.
Makinde is the last of the PDP G5 or Integrity Group with an election. Already, Governors Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Samuel Ortom (Benue), who have been in office for eight years each, all lost their senatorial bid while Nyesom Wike (Rivers) who is also completing his second term as Governor didn’t run for any elective post.
With the defeat of three of his comrades, all eyes were on Makinde in the March 18 poll. With his declaration as the winner by INEC, Makinde survived the defeat suffered by other G5 members.
Governorship elections were held in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states on Saturday. The governorship and state assembly elections were held a week later than initially scheduled after a court case forced INEC to move them forward.
Eight of the 36 states — Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo — have governorship elections “off-season” due to litigations and court judgements.
In alphabetical order, the 28 states where governorship elections were on March 18 are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara.
Of the 28 states, 11 serving governors including Makinde sought reelection while 17 outgoing governors are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015.
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Governorship Election: I Have No Confidence In INEC — Atiku

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said that he has zero confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, following the conduct of the governorship election.

Atiku said INEC has not proven it can perform better than its previous conduct of elections.

The former Vice President spoke in Jimeta, Yola area of Adamawa State.

“I still don’t believe in INEC. I have seen nothing up to now to believe that their performance will be better in how they handle this election than the last one,” he said.

Atiku lost the 2023 presidential election to Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Following his defeat, he headed to court to contest the outcome of the presidential election, which he claimed was flawed.

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Former Kano Councillor Killed Over Alleged Ballot Box Snatching

Ibrahim Nakuzama, a former councillor of Getso ward, has been reportedly gunned down over alleged ballot box snatching.

According to Daily Trust report, Nakuzama was shot dead by security operatives in Gwarzo local government area of Kano, during the governorship and state assembly candidates elections on Saturday, March 18, 2023.

An associate of the deceased, who craved anonymity, said he could not give details about the incident as he was yet to recover from the shock.

It was gathered that earlier in the day, the deceased brought refreshment for agents of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) at his polling unit.

Those close to him said it was impossible that he was attempting to snatch ballot boxes.

Nakuzama is survived by two wives and six children.