Electronic Transfer: Those Senators Are Shameless – Jimi Agbaje

Former Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, on Friday described as shameless members of the National Assembly who voted against electronic transmission of election results.

Agbaje, in his first reaction to Thursday’s rejection by the Senate, said Thursday’s decision confirmed that the senators worked against the interests of the people.

He said, “It was most disheartening watching so-called democrats openly rejecting electronic transmission of election results in a country where banking, JAMB, lectures, teaching, FEC (Federal Executive Council) and other meetings have gone electronic.”

Agbaje said the development also confirmed that the lawmakers were not interested in deepening democratic practice adding that they are not interested in the will and wishes of the people.

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Breaking! Nigeria’s Inflation Goes Down 17.75%

The National Bureau of Statistics on Friday said the rate of inflation got some slowing down in June this year.

In its latest figures released on Friday, the NBS’ Consumer Price Index showed a slight deceleration from what it measured in May which was 19.93%.For June, it measured 17.75% .

According to the NBS, on month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.06 percent in June 2021. This is 0.05 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in May 2021 (1.01 percent).

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending June 2021, over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 15.93 percent, representing a 0.43 percentage point increase over 15.50 percent recorded in May 2021.

The urban inflation rate increased by 18.35 percent (year-on-year) in June 2021 from 18.51 percent recorded in May 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 17.16 percent in June 2021 from 17.36 percent in May 2021.

JUST IN: Aggrieved members of House of Representatives stage walk out

Aggrieved members of the House of Representatives led by the Minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu have staged a walk out at the plenary after the deputy speaker Ahmed Wase refused to revert to the controversial Clause 52.The Section 52(2) of the draft bill proposed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may adopt electronic voting.

After waiting to see the end of the Clause by Clause consideration spearheaded by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Elumelu stood up to ask the Deputy Speaker to revert to Clause 52 which he refused. This led to the members walk out.

Wase had earlier pleaded with members to calm down to allow other Clauses consider while the controversial Clause 52 will be considered separately after the end of the 158 Clauses are made.

Currently, the aggrieved members are addressing the correspondence of the House of Representatives. Members of the House, mainly of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party staged a walkout as the House adopted manually transmitted election results.

Again, Heavy Police Presence in Lagos to Prevent Yoruba Nation Rally

Men of the Lagos State Police Command have taken over the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, Lagos to prevent another round of protests by Yoruba Nation agitators.

A group Yoruba Appraisal Forum had hinted of another rally after the one that was foiled by the police two weeks ago.

Those arrested over that banned rally are still being held in custody.

Breaking: NBC Orders Media Outlets To Desist From Revealing Victims, Details Of Terrorist Attacks

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has given a new order to media outlets in the country. NBC has ordered television and radio stations in Nigeria to desist from revealing “details” of the activities of bandits, terrorists and kidnappers in their reports.

NBC made this known in a statement titled, ‘Newspaper Reviews And Current Affairs Programmes: A Need For Caution’, which was signed by the Director, Broadcast Monitoring, Francisca Aiyetan, on behalf of the new Director-General of the Commission, Balarabe Ilelah on Friday.

“Headlines of most Newspapers on a daily basis are replete with security topics. While bringing information on security to the doorsteps of Nigerians is a necessity, there is a need for caution as too many details may have an adverse implication on the efforts of our security officials who are duty-bound to deal with the insurgency.

WhatsApp To Let Users Send Messages Without Their Phones

In a blog post on Wednesday, Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has announced the launch of a trial aimed at freeing its users from smartphones. The engineers said the new feature would allow for the hugely popular service be used on multiple “non-phone” devices without needing to connect to the smartphone app.

WhatsApp can already be used on “companion devices,” such as computers, but exchanges are routed in such a way that if a person’s smartphone is offline or has zero battery, it won’t work.

“With this new capability, you can now use WhatsApp on your phone and up to four other non-phone devices simultaneously – even if your phone battery is dead,” the blog post said.

SENATE: Nigeria Set To Deploy Robots And Artificial Intelligence To Fight Insecurity

The senate has announced that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has established a centre where artificial intelligence and robots would be deployed to fight crime and criminality in Nigeria.

The disclosure was made during the consideration of a report titled: “The spate of growing insecurity in Nigeria,” presented by the Chairman of its Joint Committee on Legislative Compliance and Communications, Adelere Oriolowo at plenary on Wednesday July 14.

Oriowo said the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) registration exercise initiated by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy which makes the provision of the National Identity Number (NIN) compulsory has reduced tremendously the use of phones by kidnappers for negotiations.

Reps approve Pay-As-You-View, price reduction for DSTV, others

The House of Representatives on Thursday, adopted the pay-as-you-go model and a price reduction for DSTV and other cable TV operators in the country.

Rep Unyime Idem, the Chairman of the Committee, on Wednesday laid the report before the House and it was considered during plenary.

The House called on the Federal Government to urgently act on implementing the content of the National Broadcasting Code (NBC) and the Nigeria information Policy of 2014.According to the House, this would trigger healthy competition in the industry.

Lagos Assembly Backs SouthernGovernors On Rotational Presidency

Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday declared their support for the resolutions reached by the southern governors at a recent meeting held in Lagos.

The governors had demanded that the south produces the next president of the country while also declaring that they should be informed of any operation likely to be carried out in their states by security and law enforcement agencies.

While supporting the unity of the country, the governors condemned what they called selective administration of the criminal justice. Among other demands, they called for the establishment of state police.

The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, said that it was important that the resolutions of the governors on rotational presidency, state police, ban on open grazing, sharing of resources to the states and others should be accepted by the Federal Government.

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How gunmen killed Army General, Hassan Ahmed, in Abuja

The Nigerian Army has confirmed the murder of Major General Hassan Ahmed, a former Provost Marshal. Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu announced the death in a statement early Friday morning.

A source close to the family said the ambush occurred close to the Abaji area of Abuja.The aggressors kidnapped General Ahmed’s sister, Safina Ahmed.

The siblings and the deceased’s driver, Sergeant Bukar were returning to the nation’s capital from Okene when they were attacked. We further gathered that General Ahmed didn’t travel heavy as he made the trip without guards.

The spokesman said the incident happened when the top officer’s vehicle was “attacked by gunmen while transiting along Lokoja – Abuja road”.

JUST IN: FG declares two-day Eid-El-Kabir public holidays

The Federal Government has declared Tuesday, July 20, and Wednesday, July 21, 2021, as public holidays to mark this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulates all Muslim faithful and Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora on this occasion.

Aregbesola, while wishing Muslim faithful a happy Eid-el Kabir celebration, advised all Nigerians to take responsibility by reporting any suspicious individuals and criminal activities to law enforcement agencies and also enjoined on all Nigerians the observance of all Covid-19 protocols, particularly the non-pharmaceutical measures – wearing facemasks, hand washing, and social distancing – during the festive period.

COVID-19: AWUJALE CANCELS 2021 OJUDE OBA FESTIVAL

THE Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland, Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona, has approved the cancellation of the 2021 edition of the Annual Ojude Oba Festival of Ijebu Ode,which is normally held two days after the Eid-el Kabir (Ileya).

In a Press statement issued by the Coordinator of the Festival and Baagbimo of Ijebu, Chief (Dr.) Fassy Yusuf, the cancellation was attributed to the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, its likely upsurge with the Delta variant and the negligible number of people that had taken the anti-COVID 19 vaccine.

Rather than expose peoples who will converge on Ijebu Ode from all over the world to participate in the ancient and unique socio-cultural and religious festival of the Ijebu nation, with its parade of traditional age groups and the spectacular durbar with unsurpassable equestrian display, to avoidable and preventable health hazards, the monarch directed that the 2021 edition be cancelled.

Bloodshed in Ondo as armed robbers invade commercial bank in broad daylight, kill three, cart away cash

It was a bloody Thursday (today) in Ondo State after daredevil robbers invaded a commercial bank in daylight carting away unconfirmed amount of money and killing three people in the process.

The Ondo State Police Command confirmed the incident. According to the police, the robbery took place at a bank in Ilara Mokin, Ifedore Local Government Area of the state.

Among the dead were a policeman, a commercial motorcyclist and a staff of the Elizade University identified as Bunmi Afuye who were passing by when they rammed into the robbery operation.
Three other persons who were hit by strayed bullets were rushed to a hospital.

Senate rejects electronic transmission of election results by 52 to 28 Votes

The Senate, on Thursday, rejected clause 52(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which provided for electronic transmission of election results with so much contention, the clause led to the division of the chamber.

The election proper in the chamber saw 52 Senators vote against the clause, while 28 other Senators voted in support.

Other Senators were in the chamber when it mattered most to vote. President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, abstained from voting.

EFCC is not a debt recovery agency – Bawa

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, has cautioned members of the public not to drag the commission into business transactions gone awry.

He said that there was a general misconception by members of the public that the EFCC was a debt recovery agency and urged the public to stop asking the anti-graft agency to recover debts.

Bawa, represented by Mr Anselm Ozioko, the Head of the Legal Department of the EFCC, spoke on the topic; “Our Role in the Effective Implementation of Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Law”, as one of the panelists at the Alao Aka- Bashorun Memorial Lecture on Thursday in Lagos.