Author: Vardiafrica

The Lagos state government has secured a court order restricting protesters to the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota and Peace Park, Ketu. Emmanuel Ogundare, the judge at the Lagos high court, granted the restriction order on Tuesday while ruling on an ex parte application filed by Lawal Pedro, the state’s attorney-general. While moving his application, Pedro argued that as the chief law officer of Lagos and has been privy to notices by different interests who are for and against the nationwide protest, there is a need to protect the infrastructure of the state and prevent irreparable loss of lives…

Organisers of the planned August 1 nationwide protests have rejected the proposal by Kayode Egbetokun, the inspector-general of police (IGP), that the demonstration should be conducted in confined spaces. The organisers insisted that the protest would be a public march across the country. On Tuesday, there was a meeting between the IGP, Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, the lawyer representing the Take-It-Back Movement. The meeting was convened following a letter from Adegboruwa on behalf of the Take-It-Back Movement to the IGP seeking police protection during the protest. During the meeting, which was conducted via Zoom, Egbetokun asked the…

The Nigeria Customs Service has suspended import duties and taxes on essential food items. This was revealed in a video posted on X, by the Customs Comptroller General, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, where he said the suspension is to make food items affordable for Nigerians. He acknowledged that the global inflation is affecting nations including Nigeria, saying the NCS is committed to implementing the Federal Government’s directive on the suspension of tariffs on essential items. “Global inflation is impacting nations worldwide, including Nigeria. To address this, the federal government through the Nigeria Customs Service is suspending import duties and taxes on essential food…

Ahead of the planned nationwide protest billed to start August 1, the Federal Government has declared all its 256 custodial centres across the country as “red zones” whose sanctity must not be violated under any guise. The Controller General of Corrections (CGC) Hailey Nababa gave the warning in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja. “In view of the purported national protest scheduled to be held on the first day of August 2024, the Nigerian Correctional Service wishes to inform the public that the Custodial Centres have been designated as red zones; therefore, any person or group of persons who…

Aviation authorities in Nigeria have grounded aircraft belonging to Arik Air over a controversial $2.5m debt. The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) on Tuesday said the move was a sequel to an order by the enforcement department of the FCT High Court, regarding a debt of $2.5m owed by Arik to Atlas Petroleum International Ltd. It said, “On the 19th day of July, 2024, the enforcement department of the FCT High Court enforced an Order made by the Court regarding a debt of $2.5 million owed by Arik Airline to one Atlas Petroleum International Ltd. by attaching their aircrafts. Arik…

Telecoms firm MTN has closed its offices nationwide. While it did not indicate the reason for the closure, the move came barely 24 hours after aggrieved customers vandalised MTN’s office in the Festac area of Lagos. The aggrieved customers whose lines were disconnected for defaulting in the NIN-SIM linkage policy had stormed the office to complain over the move. But in viral videos spotted by Channels Television, some of them were seen pulling the office’s fence. It took the intervention of police authorities in Lagos State to restore normalcy to the area “This should not be the way to go!…

The International Police Organisation’s investigation has shown that every hour, hundreds of thousands of dollars are being laundered out of Nigeria across the world. This disclosure was made in Abuja on Monday by the Interpol Vice President for Africa, Garba Umar, while declaring open a four-day training workshop for Nigerian law enforcement agencies at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Academy, Abuja. According to Umar, money laundering across Africa and the entire world has assumed a monstrous dimension and Interpol has designed Silver Notices to combat the menace. “Evidence has shown that every hour, hundreds of thousands of dollars…

The Federal Government has called for calm on the proposed nationwide protest, saying it had created centres across the country where Nigerians can purchase a 50kg bag of rice for ₦40,000. This was revealed by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris while briefing correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja on Monday. According to Idris, the initiative by the Tinubu administration to ease living conditions for citizens. He argued that there was no longer a need for the nationwide protests since the president…

Authorities were aware of the presence of the would-be Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks more than 90 minutes before he opened fire at the former president’s Pennsylvania campaign rally, roughly a half-hour more than what officials previously claimed, according to newly released text messages. Text messages between members of the Beaver County Emergency Service Unit obtained by the New York Times revealed a more concrete and earlier timeline leading up to the shooting that grazed the former president’s ear, injured two rallygoers and killed one. The messages also revealed that Crooks, 20, was aware of the law enforcement presence as he prepared his assassination attempt on…

Former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation into his attempted assassination in Pennsylvania earlier this month, a special agent said on Monday in disclosing how the gunman prior to the shooting had researched mass attacks and explosive devices. The expected interview with the 2024 Republican presidential nominee is part of the FBI’s standard protocol to speak with victims during the course of their criminal investigations. The FBI said on Friday that Trump was struck by a bullet or a fragment of one during the July 13 assassination attempt at a…