Daily News

The Commissioner of Police in Kano State, Salman Dogo Garba, says the police arrested a suspect and made significant recoveries, including explosives, following an alert about a potential terrorist attack in the state. Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, the CP outlined steps taken by the police to ensure the safety of residents and prevent any attacks.

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 Former President Muhammadu Buhari says after serving two terms as Nigeria’s number one citizen, he relies on one of his houses in Kaduna State to raise money for feeding. Speaking at the All Progressives Congress, APC, caucus meeting held in Katsina State, Buhari said he did not enrich himself through corruption while in power.

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Unknown Gunmen attacked an ambulance along Egbe-Ogbe-Ponyan road in Yagba East local government of Kogi state at the weekend, killing its director, Segun Adekoya. It was gathered that the incident occurred around 5pm on Saturday.

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 Activists and supporters of former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, clashed with police in Abuja, yesterday, during his interrogation at the Force Intelligence Department, FID. Sowore was summoned over allegations of resisting public officers, cyber-stalking and disobedience to lawful orders, which he claims were politically motivated due to his criticisms of IGP Kayode Egbetokun’s tenure extension.

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 President Bola Tinubu said on Monday that unity is the only formula that works for national progress, urging Nigerian leaders to draw lessons from the natural confluence of River Niger and River Benue in Lokoja, Kogi State. He said the confluence of the two rivers in Kogi is a metaphor for the collective strength required to navigate Nigeria’s challenges and foster unity and collaboration for the nation’s prosperity.

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 A yet-to-be-identified officer of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission attached to the Lagos Division of the anti-graft agency has slumped and died. It was learnt on Monday from a video being circulated online that the officer who was not in uniform slumped and died in an undisclosed part of Lagos State on Sunday.
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 The Nigerian Communications Commission and telecommunications companies have ruled out any extension to the deadline for banks to settle their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data debts. This decision left defaulting lenders scrambling to meet the deadline by the close of business on Monday.

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 Labour Party, LP, 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has dissociated himself from any political coalition that would have single mission of grabbing power during the 2027 general election. He said the country at the moment needs more than mere grabbing of power.

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A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has tendered evidence before a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court in Abuja against a former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika.

The witness said Sirika awarded contracts to a company linked to Jalal Sule Hamma, his son-in-law.

The anti-graft agency is prosecuting Sirika alongside his daughter, Fatima, and son-in-law, Hamma, on a six-count amended charge bordering on contract fraud to the tune of N2,825,032,220.97.

According to the prosecution, Sirika used his position to confer an undue advantage upon Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, whose alter ego, Fatima Hadi Sirika and Jalal Sule Hamma, are his daughter and son-in-law, respectively, by using his position to influence the award to them, the contract for the Apron Extension at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,498,300,750.

While tendering the evidence under cross-examination at the court session on Monday, a retired director in the procurement department of the ministry of aviation, Musa Odiniyan, said the company could not have qualified for the bidding process or the contract award if open and competitive bidding had been done.

“We use some criteria for determining the award of contracts for companies. I still maintain that if it was an open competitive bidding, the company, Al Buraq, may not have qualified,” he stated.

The witness also informed the court that Sirika’s son-in-law’s firm was paid a 100 percent fee for the project with the belief that it would be commissioned before the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, finished his term in 2023.

“The time of issuing the contract letter to the company (Al Buraq) was at the twilight of the Buhari administration. That was why the contract has a period of six months.

“The reason for the prompt payment (for the contract) was for it to be completed and inaugurated before the exit of the Buhari administration and not for the purpose of variation,” he said.

The judge, thereafter, adjourned the matter till March 10, 2025, for continuation of the cross-examination.

from dailypost