Year: 2018

EXCLUSIVE: How Strange ‘Passport With White Powder’ Led To Shutdown Of US Embassy’s Abuja Consular Section

Emporium Reporters

The US Embassy shut down its consular operations in Abuja because it received a Nigerian passport that strangely contained an unusual amount of white powder, SaharaReporters can authoritatively report. The embassy announced the shutdown in a statement on its website on Tuesday — a day after one of its staff opened a passport for processing and discovered a sizeable portion of powder in it. The development sparked huge concerns about the potential damage to the staff member who opened the substance, and to others who may have been exposed to…

Lai Mohammed Lied — UN Report Reveals FG Made ‘Large Ransom Payment’ To Boko Haram For Dapchi Girls

Emporium Reporters

The Nigerian government made a “large ransom payment” to Boko Haram in exchange for more than 100 schoolgirls kidnapped from a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State in February, the 22nd report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the United Nations’ Security Council has revealed. Boko Haram abducted 110 Dapchi girls on February 18, 2018, but 104 were released on March 21, five having died in captivity, and one, Leah Sharibu, remaining in captivity for clinging on to her Christian faith. There were multiple reports at the…

NASS Invasion: Senators Demand for Judicial Probe

Emporium Reporters

Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isa Hamma Misau and his counterpart in the Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, have insisted that they would sponsor a motion on the floor urging the Federal Government to immediately set up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to probe the recent invasion of the National Assembly Complex by masked operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).   Misau and Ibrahim, in a joint statement in Abuja, stated that an open enquiry would enable Nigerians know what led…

Ogundipe: Police Should Respect Freedom of the Press, Says Olaniyonu

Emporium Reporters

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President of the Senate, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, has stated that the continued illegal detention of Samuel Ogundipe, a Premium Times journalist, was an affront on the fourth estate of the realm and an assault on freedom of the press, freedom of speech and due process.   In a statement released on Thursday, Olaniyonu, a former Editor and Editorial Board Chairman with THISDAY Newspaper, reiterated that freedom of speech and due process must be adhered to in Ogundipe’s case, stating that journalists…

Saraki Appoints Onaiwu as Liaison Officer on State Matters

Emporium Reporters

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki has appointed 59-year old Earl Osaro Onaiwu as Liaison Officer to the Senate President on State Matters, this was contained in a statement signed by the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to Senate President, Yusuph Olaniyonu,   Onaiwu, an experienced politician and public administrator will help to co-ordinate relationship between the Office of the Senate President and the various state governments across the country.    

Toyin Saraki Takes Youth Empowerment To Ogun Schools

Emporium Reporters

Wife of the President of of the Senate, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, has taken her pioneering Personal , Social , Health and Economic (PSHE) and Water , Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) education programme to school children in Ogun State through her Non-Governmental Organization – the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA).   The pilot programme which took place over two days, educated 237 children at the Ogun State Summer Camp, as part of activities to mark this year’s International Youth Day, before an anticipated roll-out across the state and throughout Nigeria.   Mrs.…

IPAYP Global Leadership Endorses Val De Mauris Academy Abuja

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An International partnership between Independent Pan African Youth Parliament and Val De Mauris Academy Abuja on Sustainable Development Goals has been brokered.   The partnership titled IPAYP SDG high school training center, an IPAYP’s initiative in Africa gave Val De Mauris Academy the opportunity to serve as West African high school SDG learning center.   Speaking after a youth education program in Mombasa Kenya, the Youth Parliament President Amb Obinna Sixtus Nwoke expressed his happiness and affirmed his confidence in Val De Mauris Academy.   The president said ” I…

The Endless Smear Campaign Of Bukola Saraki By Bala Ibrahim

Emporium Reporters

It is common among selfish people, when faced with the consequences of their inequities, to hold others responsible for their tribulations. Nigeria’s Senate President, Mr. Bukola Saraki, is one of those with acute disposition to hold people responsible for the crises they have caused for themselves. It is sad to know that whenever he sinks like sediment and is faced with nemesis, he likes to point accusing fingers at perceived enemies. To him, the Nigeria Police and, by implication, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim K. Idris, are his…

NUJ Condemns Arrest of Premium Times Reporter, Says Enough is Enough

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The Nigeria Union of Journalists has condemned in the strongest terms the arrest and detention of Premium Times Reporter, Samuel Ogundipe by the Police and his detention at the facility of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS in Abuja.   Samuel Ogundipe was arrested for reporting on the report sent to the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbanjo by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris on the sacked and detained Director General of DSS, Mallam Lawal Daura.   The NUJ in a statement signed by its National President, Abdulwaheed Odusile…

AGRIC VALUE-CHAIN: GOV SANI-BELLO REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO YOUTH EMPOWERMENT …Gives N100,000 Starter-pack TO 67 Graduands

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Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani-Bello has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to boosting agricultural activities that will enhance youth empowerment in the state. He stated this at the graduation ceremony of the Green House Project trainee on Tuesday at the Justice Idris Legbo International Conference Center, Minna. The governor said deliberate and conscious steps were been taken for the provision of conducive platform for youth empowerment through agricultural activities that the state has comparative advantage over other states of the federation. Elated by the commitment exhibited by the first set…