Osun State Government has re-imposed an indefinite 24 hours curfew in the state. This was due to the abuse of the curfew earlier suspended by miscreants who embarked on looting of government and private property across the state. Governor Gboyega Oyetola, the state Governor, made the announcement in a statewide broadcast on Saturday. “It is with a high sense of responsibility that I address you this afternoon in respect of the unfortunate situation in our Dear State. “Government notes with huge disappointment, the abuse of the suspension, a day ago, of the 24-hour curfew earlier declared in the State to…
Author: meridianspy
A yet-to-be-identified teenage boy has died after falling off a moving truck during the #EndSARS protest in Sapele, Delta State. The 13-year-old boy, according to an eyewitness, jumped on the back of the moving truck that was headed out of Sapele, fell off and died of injuries sustained. “He jumped on a moving truck that was heading outside town and the next thing was that he fell from the back of the moving truck and before we could rush him to the clinic, he died,” a witness said. The corpse of the young boy was wrapped in a Nigerian flag…
Sabo Nanono, Minister of Agriculture, has said Nigeria is now the largest producer of rice in Africa. Nanono stated this at an event to mark the 2020 World Food Day, in Abuja on Tuesday. “Significant progress has been made to improve agricultural productivity since the inception of the present administration. “To boost food security, Nigeria has curbed imports and has established a robust rice production programme to encourage more rice production at home,” he said. “Efforts in this direction are starting to show results as Nigeria is now Africa’s largest producer of rice. The country is also the largest producer…
The trial of Instagram socialite, Ramon Olorunwa Abass, popularly known as Hushpuppi, who is facing cybercrime charges in the United State, has been postponed to May, 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic. According to the chambers orders of Judge Otis Wright released September 23, the jury trial will continue by 9:00 a.m. on May 4, 2021,” Premium Times reports. Across the globe, the respiratory disease has been contracted by over 35 million people and has killed more than 1 million persons. Apart from the economic challenges the pandemic has posed as a result of lockdown and some restrictions, it has affected…
Week to the Ondo State governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has identified 270 flashpoints across polling units in the state. Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education committee, told The Punch in an interview, that the identified flashpoints are situated in 62 creeks in the riverine areas of Ese-Odo and Ilaje local government areas of the state. Okoye said the commission will, however, deploy security agents to help prevent the menace of rigging and electoral violence in those areas. “The police, navy and other security agencies have been mandated…
Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue State, has queried the Federal Government’s planned construction of a rail line to link Nigeria and its neighbour, Niger Republic. The government had approved $1.9 billion for the construction of the rail line from Kano to Niger. It, however, created public disquiet as many questioned the economic viability of such project. While clarifying that the rail line will not go beyond Nigeria’s borders, Garba Shehu, Media Aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, explained that it will facilitate the movement of raw materials, mineral resources and agricultural produce from the areas to be linked. “The objective of…
I was very skeptical when the current leadership of Organized Labour in Nigeria objected to the decision of the Federal Government to withdraw fuel subsidy and hand over the pump price of petrol to the forces of demand and supply, also known as market forces. Labour, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and their affiliates and privies in civil society, further threatened that they were opposed to the hike in electricity tariffs. They issued a statement in which they railed against neo-liberal policies, bad timing, and the insensitivity of government. They made heavy…
Audu Ogbeh, former minister of agriculture, says the pressure of financial demands from Nigerians lead most political office holders to seek money through illegal means. Ogbeh stated this in an interview with The Punch, explaining that his salary and allowances then as a minister was N900,000 whereas he got financial request from his constituent well over N2 million. He added that it was such financial pressure that distracts political office holders from paying close attention to government policies. “When they bring out a policy, analyse it quickly and if you don’t know, get experts to tell you the consequences and…
The United States government has hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies in the country for their conduct at the recently concluded governorship election in Edo State. It also commended the Edo people as well as the two main party candidates in the polls, Governor Godwin Obaseki and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu for encouraging peace during the election. This was made known in a Twitter post by US Mission In Nigeria on Wednesday. “Congratulations@inecnigeria and Nigerian security services on the Edo governorship election,” it wrote. “We commend the people of Edo State for exercising their franchise and recognize @GovernorObaseki & @PastorIzeIyamu for…
The pundits who had predicted the outcome and the nature of the Gubernatorial election in Edo State got it all wrong. The Edo 2020 election may well prove to be a turning point in the management of elections in Nigeria, and if not, there are certainly lessons to be learnt from it. It was in every sense a rude awakening for both the actors in the drama and the community of observers who witnessed and monitored the election. Pundits predicted that the election would end up as war, a do –or die affair and that there would be blood-letting in…
Godwin Obaseki, Edo State Governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship election in the state is currently leading Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, his rival in the All Progressive Congress (APC) after collation of results of 14 Local Government Areas. Results from 14 local government areas announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission so far show that Obaseki polled a total of 254,169 while Ize-Iyamu had a total of 163,429 votes. With INEC’s announcement, the incumbent Governor is therefore leading his main opponent in the polls by 90,740 votes. More results from eight LGAs are expected to…
As at 7: am on Saturday, major streets in Benin, the capital city of Edo State, were calm and relatively peaceful as the governorship election is set to commence in the state. Visit by MERIDIAN SPY correspondent, revealed emerging situations in the city. As at the time of filling this report, INEC officials were yet to leave their Registration Area Centre (RAC) centres to polling units. A coupled of polling units visited in Oredo Local Government by MERIDIAN SPY correspondent, were seen scanty with no presence of INEC officials. Heavily armed military personnel were seen mounting roadblocks at strategic points…