Category: Uncategorized

Tinubu nominates Blueprint Publisher, Mohammed Idris Malagi, as Minister

Emporium Reporters

Hours after PRNIGERIA released a list of top northern PR icons including the publisher of Blueprint Newspapers, Mohammed Idris Malagi, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has named him in the first batch of ministerial nominees released on Thursday.   The names were submitted to the Senate by the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.   Malagi has achieved extraordinary success as a publisher, skilled PR expert and brand builder.   He was born in Malagi, a community in Gbako Local Government Area of Niger State on May 2, 1966. He is…

Open Letter To Fellow Nigerians, By Kazeem Akintunde

Emporium Reporters

As for man, whenever his Lord tests him, gives him honour and gifts, He says ‘My Lord has honoured me.’ But whenever He tests him, restricting his livelihood for him, he says ‘My Lord has humiliated me’. Not at all. But you do not honour the orphans and you do not urge the feeding of the poor. And you devour inheritance with all greed and you love wealth with immense love’- Quran 89 Verse 15-20.       My dear fellow Nigerians, I have decided to write you this open…

Breakfast with Yebo Gogo, Kole Omotoso By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

In 2018 when news sieved in that that constellation of emeriti, Prof Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso, had crept into Akure, Ondo State, our association, Ooye Development Initiative, (ODI) bated him like mousetrap does mice. Was Akure big enough to contain that hippopotamus-statured literary giant? I wondered. I, perhaps, was the most excited of the lot. I had read Omotoso’s works with doting wonder and imagined if he wasn’t a gnome or some genie. So, this day in September, as we drove towards the then pot-holes ridden Oda road to honour an…

Group flays Ibori’s critics ….. says his traducers can’t survive a day’s scrutiny in British Court

Emporium Reporters

The Niger Delta Patriots, NDP, yesterday took a strong stand against persons they described as “wicked and frightened men,” who are scared shirtless by the political ascendancy of former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori. The NDP, a group of Niger Delta intellectuals, said Ibori’s traducers are the very same people who wined and dined with him , but turned around to stick a knife in his back. In a statement, the group’s President, Dr. Erimeruke Okome, stated that Ibori was more of a victim of high-power- political-play…

Appeal Court debunks resignation of Presidential Election Tribunal member, Justice Ugo

Emporium Reporters

Appeal Court debunks resignation of Presidential Election Tribunal member, Justice Ugo The Court of Appeal has debunked the news making its rounds that a member of the five-member panel, Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo that is handling petitions seeking to nullify the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, resigned. A report emanated on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, saying Justice resigned from the bench, citing demands from the executive branch that he believes would destroy the country’s democracy. In the report, Justice Ugo said that siding with the government on this matter…

GandDollar Gate: Beyond Ja’afar’s video, by Hassan Gimba

Emporium Reporters

This was first published on October 29, 2018. Considering the resuscitation of the issue by the new Kano State Government, I see the need to republish it. While we knew and respected each other from a distance, I first met Ja’afar Ja’afar in 2015 when I was serving my second stint as the editor of Friday Leadership. Journalists have a way of knowing themselves through various networks even if they had never met. Journalism is a profession like any other that builds one’s reputation in the eyes of the world.…

Circumstantial evidence says it’s murder, sir! (A factionalized – fact and fiction – account of murder in a hotel) By Festus Adedayo

Emporium Reporters

Media frenzy over the death of Tim Goke, a 37-year old man whose remains were found in a hotel, had been very huge and unsettling. As Police Detective and Head of its Legal Division, Muhammadu Kura sat on the swivel chair in his office at Kam Salem Police Headquarters this Wednesday afternoon, he reflected on his encounter with the Inspector General of Police about 40 hours back. The media had literally dragged the IG off his fanny to begin to take drastic actions. The social media had already given its…

Nigeria’s borrowing: ‘Trouble’ imminent, says Budget Office

Emporium Reporters

The Budget Office of the Federation has said Nigeria now has a “limited borrowing space” due to its poor debt-to-revenue ratio, stressing that “trouble” looms for the country if it exceeds its limits.   The office issued the warning as the outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari wrote to the National Assembly seeking approval for a fresh $800m loan from the World Bank.   Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, while addressing members-elect of the 10th National Assembly at their week-long induction ceremony in Abuja on Wednesday, pointed out that while…

My phone conversation with Dangiwa Umar over Tukur Mamu, by Hassan Gimba

Emporium Reporters

My column of last week with the title “Like Mamu, like Abdulsalami and the billion naira firefighter” drew the attention of Colonel Dangiwa Umar (retd). The respected senior citizen was more particular about the first part because I mentioned him.       In the piece, I pointed out that Tukur Mamu, publisher of Kaduna-based Desert Herald and an aide to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a popular Islamic cleric, was arrested in September last year and taken to court on a 10-count charge bordering on terrorism financing.       He…

Senate President salutes Senator David Mark @75

Emporium Reporters

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has congratulated former Senate President, David Mark, as he marked his 75th birthday. Lawan thanked God that the former Senate President is marking the day in good health. He said David Mark as Senate President fully understood his roles and discharged them excellently. “I congratulate former Senate President David Mark on this joyous occasion of his 75th birthday. “I join his family, friends and political associates to celebrate the former Senate President who discharged his responsibilities in his numerous leadership positions with distinction.…