News Roundup

The Federal Government on Tuesday berated the organised labour over the ongoing nationwide strike declared by union leaders following the assault on the Nigeria Labour Congress President, Joe Ajaero. Kamarudeen Ogundele, the Special Assistant to the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation, said in an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday that the strike was not in the interest of the country.

. The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced its intention to extend the validity of the old N200, N500, and N1,000 notes indefinitely. This is as the apex bank declared its desire to extend the validity of old naira notes beyond any expiration date. According to the bank, it is working with the relevant authorities to vacate the subsisting court ruling on the same subject.

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 The Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has said that despite imperfections resulting from human error, the recently held governorship election in the state was free, fair, and transparent. The governor, who won the Saturday election, disclosed this while featuring on Channels Television’s political programme, ‘Politics Today’ on Tuesday.

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 The acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Amb Umar Damagum, has raised the alarm that Nigeria might soon slide into anarchy if justice continues to elude the people at the polls and in the courts. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters Tuesday evening following the conclusion of the off-season elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states, Damagum said the election was characterized by violence, intimidation and highhandedness.

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. Activities were crippled at the National Assembly and headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja on Tuesday following the ongoing strike action by the organized labour. Although the National Industrial Court, Abuja, had restrained the unions from embarking on the strike, the movement, however, ignored the order, insisting that the government at all levels must wake up to its responsibilities.

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. The ongoing nationwide strike declared by organised labour is a misplaced priority, Senator Adams Oshiomhole declared yesterday. According to him, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) should take up issues on workers’ welfare rather than what will portray them as partisan.

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 Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar warned yesterday that Nigeria may become a one-party state. The former vice president raised the alarm when he hosted the National Executive Committee of the Inter-Party Advisory Council Nigeria (IPAC) in Abuja. He urged opposition parties to rise to the challenges of democratic survival.

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 The victory of Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the November 11, election in Bayelsa State, has been kicked against by the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Udengs Eradiri, who noted that he and his team were studying the results and brainstorming on the next line of action. In a press conference held on Tuesday, Eradiri said the election was not free and fair.

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. Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has asked Nigerians to disregard allegations of manipulation of voters data on the several Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, used in last Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State. Mohammed Kudu Haruna, National Commissioner and member of the Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

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. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it will cost N35m to fly back to Nigeria the corpse of the Nigerian medical student, Chibuikem Emmanuel, who was murdered in the Philippines. Emmanuel was reportedly murdered in the Philippines, allegedly by some Chinese nationals, on October 23, 2023, according to a post made to the social networking platform X, by one Michael Ojuola, who described Emmanuel as his friend

from dailypost