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Vice-President Kashim Shettima has implored Nigerians to uphold truth and integrity in the face of misinformation and falsehood that threaten the fabric of society. Shettima made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the presentation of a book titled "Beating All Odds: Diaries and Essays on How Bola Tinubu Became President". Sharpedgenews reports that the book is written by a veteran journalist and literary artist, Sam Omatseye. According to Shettima, Nigerians need more men (and women) of courage. "I hope that this marks the beginning of our commitment to truth, our dedication to integrity and our resolve to push for a nation that comes together to choose the truth over a lie." Shedding light on the challenges faced in the lead-up to the 2023 presidential elections, Shettima ext...

By Bridget Ikyado The wife of Benue State Deputy Governor, MrsChristy Sam Ode, has established a foundation with the aim of making at least one woman in every household in the state, an active farmer. Christy made this known in an interview on Tuesday that the 'Evergreen Women Farmers Foundation, has been registered and will commence full activities soon. The deputy governor's wife said she decided to focus on agriculture because it holds the biggest capacity to create chains of opportunities for women and the youth. "I want women to go into farming. God has blessed our land. I am telling the women that in whatever way they can, they should help each other and encourage each other. "We want to support women with seedlings, fertilizer and whatever we can, but the truth is th...

By Bridget Ikyado The Leadership Newspaper Governor of the Year Award conferred on Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State is a testament of the great strides by the administration within the few months of taking up the responsibility of providing purposeful leadership to a state that was practically grounded to its knees by the previous administration. This unprecedented honour is coming soon after the Benue State House of Assembly passed a vote of confidence on Alia for his effective management of state resources and purposeful leadership. In the words of the organisation, the governor was recognised for his “exceptional leadership” and tremendous transformative achievements. Indeed, when Alia was traversing the nooks and crannies of the state canvassing for votes, his message...

Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf has urged President Bola Tinubu to open land borders to enhance food security. He stated this during a courtsey visit by the comptroller-general of customs, Adewale Adeniyi, on Monday in Kano. Mr Kabir-Yusuf, who lamented the harsh economic condition being experienced by Nigerians, said that reopening of the borders would check inflation and cut prices of food items. We wish to appreciate the president’s intervention in the ongoing national food initiative. He considers Kano as the host for the initiative ahead of its planned launch believing that the programme will cushion the effects of food scarcity if implemented. “Another immediate intervention that can make food available and affordable to our population is for the federal government to consider...

The comptroller-general of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, on Saturday, said that only President Bola Tinubu has the prerogative to reopen borders in the country. He stated this at an interaction session with members of the Kongolam border community in Mai’adua Local Government Area of Katsina State, who agitated for the reopening of borders. “Once consultations are concluded, a decision will be taken on the matter,” said the customs boss. According to Mr Adeniyi, the service will focus on removing obstacles against free trade in line with the present administration’s agenda of fostering economic prosperity. He said proactive measures had been employed to reduce the number of checkpoints along the border post and promote synergy between the service personnel and traders. “We are ...

Federal government on Saturday condemned Monday’s abduction of Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Wurge Community in Borno and Thursday’s kidnap of school children at Kuriga community in Kaduna State and vowed to free the victims. Government also vowed to bring the assailants to justice. Terrorists abducted not less than 40 girls and women on Monday when they struck three IDP camps in Ngala in Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area of Borno. security source said the victims went to fetch firewood from the bush when the insurgents whisked them away from the Babban Sansani camp, Zulum Camp and Arabic camp. On Thursday, assailants attacked Kuriga community located on Kaduna Birnin-Gwari Road in Kaduna State, abducted 100 pupils including the head teacher in a primary school and ...

Members of the Association of Resident Doctors at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Saturday suspended the strike they began on Wednesday. The association embarked on a three-day warning strike following an assault on a colleague by a patient’s relation on Sunday. But, their President, Dr John Oladapo, and General Secretary, Dr Gboyega Ajibola, and other executive members, disclosed in a communiqué to call off the strike. The strike, having run its full course of a maximum of 72 hours, has ended on Saturday morning. All members are to commence work and be at their duty posts Saturday morning,” the association stated in the communiqué. It added that the two men who assaulted one of their members at the hospital’s Emergency Department had been remanded at th...

The Nigeria Customs Service says it is deploying new strategies to tackle hunger and food insecurity in the country. The comptroller-general of the service, Wale Adeniyi, disclosed this while addressing journalists as part of his visit to Kano State on Friday. Mr Adeniyi said that, as part of the strategies, the service was also engaging big grain markets across the country to ensure that they shun illegal exportation and hoarding of foodstuffs. He said President Bola Tinubu had given a matching order to the service to ensure that excessive hoarding and illegal exportation of grains were curtailed. “Apart from policing the borders, our mandate is to also ensure the protection of agricultural inputs as very essential elements to ensure food security,” said Mr Adeniyi. He sai...

The Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court, Ibadan, on Friday, ordered the remand of a hospital owner, Dupe Ademuyiwa, 48, for allegedly causing the death of a pregnant woman through surgery. Ms Ademuyiwa, whose residential address was not provided, is charged with murder. The magistrate, Oluwabusayo Osho, did not take her plea for want of jurisdiction. Ms Osho said she needed advice from the Oyo State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). She said the defendant should be kept in the Agodi correctional facility, Ibadan, pending the DPP’s advice. The magistrate adjourned the case until April 23 for mention. The prosecutor, Insp Olalekan Adegbite, had told the court that Ms Ademuyiwa committed the offence on February 23 and 24. Mr Adegbite alleged that the defendant, who owns a h...

By Diana Omueza The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) says there has been significant improvement in security of lives and property in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. Dr Chris Kwaja, USIP Country Director, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a National Dialogue on Election Security Management in Nigeria.Kwaja said that destructions of electoral materials, injuries and casualties of citizens had declined which was commendable. “We have seen some improvements in the elections from the perspective of elections security, the number of causality, injuries, death, destruction of election materials and in the issues around hatred of ethnic, religions and politics lines. “We see a decline in this areas which is a significant improvement because you can never have 100 per cent...

Ms Diana Omueza, NAN correspondent, with the MD of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Kaduna. By Diana Omueza Dr Aishatu Yusha’u-Armiya’u, the Medical Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, has called for the mainstreaming of mental health and psycho-social support into the Nigeria’s electoral process. Yusha’u-Armiya’u said this at a National Dialogue on Election Security Management in Nigeria, organised by Cleen Foundation in Abuja on Thursday. She said that attention must be given to the manifestation and consequence imposed on the mental health of citizens from the backlash of hate speech and psychic injury caused before, during and after elections. “Voters’ behaviour in the context of the resort to hate speech and violence, constitutes a major secur...

More than 40 people, including a family of seven, were feared killed in clashes between militia gangs in the Gbagir community in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue on Tuesday. On Wednesday, a reliable military source said in Makurdi that security operatives had been deployed to restore normalcy. However, he said locals in the area would need to furnish the operatives with credible information to succeed in the operation. It was militiamen that were killing themselves. One or two people might have been caught in the crossfire, but the majority of the people that were killed were members of militia gangs in the area. “The villagers know those carrying out this dastardly act but are shielding them. We saw several corpses. The attack was not carried out by suspected armed herdsme...

Members of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, on Wednesday began a three-day warning strike after a patient’s relative assaulted a physician. In a statement, the president and vice-president of ARD-UCH Ibadan, John Oladapo and Sunday Adegbite, respectively, said they were demanding a public apology in two widely read national dailies. They also said there must be, in addition, an admission of wrongdoing by the assailants. The association’s members also demanded that the security architecture of the hospital be improved. On Sunday, one of our members was the target of a deliberate, premeditated, planned rage and furious assault by a patient’s relation. The doctor was seeing a known sickle cell patient in a painful crisis at the em...

By Collins Yakubu-Hammer The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) Malam Jibrin Baba Ndace has solicited for partnership with Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) to project positive narrative of Nigeria, Africa and the good works of the Commission. Ndace during a courtesy visit with his management team to the new Executive Secretary of NCPC, Bishop Stephen Adegbite said President Bola Tinubu has a mindset of appointing the best hands to run affairs of his government. He commended Adegbite for all his prayers for the country and expressed confidence in his capacity to bring positive changes to NCPC. "I am here to, first, let you know about VON. It is the only public broadcast established by the Federal Government to tell the stories about Nigeria, Nigerians, Afric...

Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers (LACO-FS) on Monday took a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Mr. Olugbenga Edema, to the cleaners, describing him "a clueless roadside critic, who is always not having facts to back up his claims". Edema had in a statement over the weekend queried the authenticity of the secondary school-leaving certificate of Governor Aiyedatiwa, who is also vying for the governorship ticket of the party. Responding, the LACO-FS in a statement by its State Director of Information, Mr. Kayode Fasua, said photocopies of the school-leaving and other certificates obtained by the governor were duly submitted to theIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC). "Not even a drunk of the Ogogoro-dringing pe...

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 40-year-old businessman, Ejike Chibuke, with 1.45 kilogrammes of cocaine at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja. This is contained in a statement by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja. Mr Babafemi said the drugs were concealed in the suspect’s luggage while he attempted to board an Ethiopia Airlines flight number 950 to Vietnam via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from the NAIA. He said the suspect was arrested at the Abuja airport on Saturday, March 2, after NDLEA officers subjected him to a thorough search. Mr Babafemi also said that it was in the process the illicit substance was discovered concealed, factory-fitted, in his bag. “In his statement, the suspect cla...

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) says it will ensure justice for the 10 year-old victim of assault by an Anambra based lawyer, Mrs Adachukwu Okafor. Okafor, presented herself at the Police station after she was declared wanted and a N2 million bounty was placed on her for allegedly using knife, electric pressing iron and other weapons to brutalise the underage househelp. ACP Olumiyiwa Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), while addressing the media at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), on Friday in Abuja, said it was a case of attempted murder and child abuse. Adejobi, represented by CSP Olabisi Okuwobi, National Coordinator, Police Campaign against Cultism and other Vices, explained that the househelp worked for two weeks in the house of the suspect befo...