


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.


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.


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.

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.

There was a fire outbreak at Gamboru Market, in Borno State on Saturday, March 18.
This is coming three weeks after a fire completely razed the largest market in the state, Monday Market, also located in the metropolis.
Punch reported hat the fire flared up at the cooking oil section of the market by 2:30 pm.
Security agents, most of them soldiers, have been deployed to the scene, chasing away a massive influx of people and depriving everyone of entry.
An eye witness disclosed that it broke out from timber and orange sellers sections.

Several persons sustained injuries in the early hours of Saturday, as supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, clashed in ward 7 of Ibarapa East East Local Government Area of Oyo State as the gubernatorial poll is about to begin.
According to reports, trouble started when some suspected supporters of PDP allegedly attacked a bus carrying some people to the election ground.
In a reprisal attack, some supporters of APC were said to have traced the leaders of the attackers to their hideout where a free-for-all ensued, leaving many people wounded.
At least, one of the wounded was said to be on danger list at an undisclosed hospital in the town.
As of the time of filing this report, efforts to contact the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, to comment on the matter, proved abortive, as calls placed across to him were not answered.

The World Health Organisation has predicted that the ravaging COVID-19 virus may likely end as a public health emergency in 2023.
The Director General of the Organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus disclosed this at a virtual media briefing on Friday, March 17.
Recall that COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, when there were fewer than 100 reported cases of COVID-19 outside China, and also no reported deaths outside the Communist country.
A public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm that the WHO can sound under international law.
During the briefing, the WHO chief said there were now almost seven million reported deaths from COVID-19, although the actual number of deaths was much higher.
“We are certainly in a much better position now than we have been at any time during the pandemic. It’s very pleasing to see that for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths in the past four weeks has been lower than when we first used the word ‘pandemic’ three years ago.
“I am confident that this year we will be able to say that COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency of international concern.
“We are not there yet. Last week, there were still more than five thousand reported deaths. That’s five thousand too many for a disease that can be prevented and treated. Even as we become increasingly hopeful about the end of the pandemic, the question of how it began remains unanswered,” he said.
Ghebreyesus urged China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data in efforts to determine the disease’s origins.