There is an ongoing crisis rocking the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), MERIDIAN has learnt. On Tuesday, the NANS Senate President, Gambo Mohammed, impeached the National President, Comr. Danielson Bamidele Akpan, in a clandestine virtual meeting with 45 members of the association. The Mohammed faction predicated its action on alleged financial misappropriation on the part of the Akpan. The faction also announced the NANS Vice President, National Affairs, Comr. Chidi Ilogebe, as the Acting National President of the organization. Meanwhile, Akpan, on Tuesday, also convened an emergency NANS Congress of senators and stakeholders where they announced the expulsion of…
Author: meridianspy
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its 2020 gross domestic growth projections for the Nigerian economy, The Cable reports. In its October World Economic Outlook report released in Washington on Tuesday, the IMF projected that Nigeria’s economy will contract by 4.3 percent in 2020. This is a 1.1 percent improvement from the 5.4 percent that was projected in June and deeper than the 3.4 percent projected in April. Gita Gopinath, IMF chief economist and director of the research department, said oil-exporting countries are battling the health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of low oil…
Juventus footballer, Christiano Ronaldo has tested positive for the dreaded coronavirus disease. The 35-year-old Juventus forward is “well, without symptoms, and in isolation”, a statement by the Portuguese Football Federation (PFF) confirmed on Tuesday. The Portuguese forward who played for his national team against France in the Nations League on Sunday and against Spain in a friendly last week will now miss his country’s next Nations League fixture against Sweden on Wednesday, as well as Juventus’ upcoming matches which include a Serie A clash with Crotone and a Champions League group game against Dynamo Kyiv.
The increase in the pump price of fuel, in 2020, a fall-out of the deregulation of the downstream sector, did not compel the youths of Nigeria to troop out onto the streets. The additional hike in electricity tariffs was not enough to ignite their anger either. The government of the day explained to the people that the additional burden of higher prices was part of the sacrifice they had to make as citizens. The impact of COVID-19 was hobbling the country: loss of revenue, inflation, a weak national currency, foreign exchange crisis. The people showed understanding. The strongest point about…
Ahmad Lawan, Senate President, has reacted to the recent ban on the operations of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a subunit of the Nigeria Police Force. In a statement through Ola Awoniyi, his Special Adviser (Media), in Abuja, on Sunday, Lawan commended President Muhammadu Buhari for disbanding SARS, noting that he has demonstrated good leadership by yielding to the popular will of the people. The Senate President also commended Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), but noted that the security authorities must go beyond dissolution of the SARS operatives and come up with measures for the reformation of the…
Women like Aisha Yesufu are like comets; they come once in a generation bearing the torch of truth, courage and resilience. They are lodestars, shining light on the path to a new world where humankind can thrive without chains and shackles. They are definers of the age; excellent species of their kind. Aisha bestrides the civic landscape like a rodeo rider, bringing to submission revilement from traducers and hangers-on of the corrupt and oppressive political class – only with her clenched fist and dauntless voice. The Chibok girls’ abduction of April 14, 2014 coerced Aisha out of comfort. She was…
Protesters who are demanding the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) were at the police headquarters in Abuja, demanding to meet Mohammed Adamu, inspector general of police (IGP), The Cable reports. Chanting “End SARS Now, End SARS Now”, the protesters vowed not to leave the place until they meet with the IGP. A senior police officer, who came out of the building to address the crowd, was interrupted as shouts of “We want to see the IG” rented the air. Abdul Mahmud, a human rights lawyer who led the protesters to the police headquarters, failed in his bid to…
Report coming from Akure, the Ondo State capital said there was sporadic shootings at Pollíng Unit 11 located at Edo Lodge in Oke Ijebu, Akure, Ripples Nigeria reports. Though there are fears that hoodlums were behind the shooting, it was not yet known if they disrupted the exercise at the polling unit. However, the Ondo police spokesman, Tee-Lee Ikoro, who confirmed the incident to newsmen said that Mobile Police operatives had been deployed to the scene.
Some elder statesmen and prominent activists say Nigeria is on autopilot, Sahara Reporters reports. John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd.), Prof. Attahiru Jega, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, Dr Nguyan Shaku Feese, Dr Usman Bugaje, Adagbo Onoja, Amb. Fatima Balla, Ambassador Zango Abdu, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Chris Kwaja, Dr Hussaini Abdu, Kemi Okenyodo, Jim Gala, Aisha Muhammed Oyebode and Tsema Yvonne said this in a joint statement on Thursday. They spoke under the auspices of the Nigeria Working Group on Peacebuilding and Governance (NWGPG). They called themselves a group of Nigerian civic and thought leaders. According…
An Ondo state high court has sentenced Babatunde Alfa, general overseer of Sotitobire Miracle Center, Akure, and five others to life imprisonment over the kidnapping of Gold Kolawole, a one-year-old child, from the church, The Cable reports Other convicts jailed include Omodara Olayinka, Margaret Oyebola , Grace Ogunjobi, Egunjobi Motunrayo and Esther Kayode. The convicts were found guilty on two-count charges of kidnapping, aiding and abetting to kidnap preferred against them. Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Olusegun Odusola, the judge, said the prosecution “proved circumstantial evidence” against the accused persons. The one-year-old boy had gone missing in November 2019 after his…
The Federal Government has said it cannot afford to conduct free test for travellers coming into the country. Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, made this known during a virtual town hall meeting on Saturday. The event was organised by Abike Dabiri-Erewa, CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), for Nigerians coming into the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is not something that the government can afford. We will run out of test kits,” Aliyu said. “We appreciate the difficulties that people are going through. It will be sorted.” Recall the government, while…
The governors elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has scored President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressive Congress (APC) administration low, stating that the nation under the ruling party has continued on a downward slide into extreme decay. The PDP governors said they, however, must strive harder as leaders in their various states to make sure poverty is minimised in all parts of the country. This was contained in a statement on Thursday titled, ‘Reflection on Nigeria @ 60: The past, present and way forward…We need a national dialogue,’ issued by Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State. “In…