Author: Vardiafrica

The House of Representatives has called for an urgent and comprehensive audit of all airport personnel. The decision was raised as a matter of urgent national importance, by Honourable Jesse Onuakalusi at a sitting on Tuesday. The Reps members also raised an alarm over safety at airports across the country, due to alleged employment of incompetent personnel. Raised as a matter of urgent national importance, it is asking the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, to carry out a comprehensive audit of all airport personnel. The house also wants an audit of all contractors engaged in the last year. Part of…

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), caused commotion at the federal high court in Abuja on Monday after his bail request was denied. Kanu, who has been in detention over an allegation of treasonable felony, asked the court to grant him bail or transfer him from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) to prison. In the alternative, he asked to be placed under house arrest. However, Binta Nyako, the presiding judge, refused the bail plea. The judge held that the only option available to him was to take the matter before the appellate court.…

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja, has dismissed the request by the detained leader of the Biafra nation agitators, Nnamdi Kanu, for the restoration of his revoked bail and the removal from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), to a house arrest or prison custody. The Judge said that the same request had been brought before her by Kanu, dismissing it for want of merit. In a ruling on Kanu’s request, Justice Nyako said that she found as a fact, that Kanu jumped the bail earlier granted him, and escaped out of the…

Former president Goodluck Jonathan has called for a truce in the Rivers State political crisis, asking Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor Nyesom Wike to work together.  Jonathan made the call on Monday during the flag-off of the Trans-Kalabari Road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, describing the political tension in Rivers State as worrisome. “Outgoing governors and incoming governors must know that they work together for the collective interest of the citizens of the state and that is critical,” he said. “In the case of Rivers, Honourable Minister Nyesom Wike and Governor Sim Fubara must work together to develop the…

South Africa’s top court ruled Monday that graft-tainted former president turned firebrand opposition challenger Jacob Zuma is ineligible to stand for parliament in next week’s general election. The decision will outrage Zuma’s supporters and stoke fears of violent unrest in the run-up to the May 29 poll, already the most competitive since the advent of post-apartheid democracy in 1994. The top court threw out Zuma’s complaint against an electoral commission decision that a previous conviction for contempt prevents him from becoming an MP, ruling that the constitution bars anyone sentenced to more than 12 months in jail. ‘Not eligible’ Zuma,…

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the request by alleged terrorist negotiator, Mohammed Tukur Mamu, seeking his transfer from the custody of the Department of the State Service (DSS) to the Kuje Correctional Centre. Delivering the ruling on Monday, Justice Ekwo held that the Federal Government had raised the issue of incessant jailbreaks in prisons as a major ground to oppose the request for transfer to Kuje. The judge added that Mamu did not contradict or dispute the averments as required by law. According to the judge, since the averments were not challenged by…

Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, is expected to assume the presidency after Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash as the country gears up for early elections The Iranian constitution stipulates that the first vice president take over “in the event of the president’s death, dismissal, resignation, absence or illness for more than two months”. Raisi, who died on Sunday along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials, was nearing the end of his first four-year term as president. Mokhber’s interim appointment requires the approval of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word in…

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has withdrawn its earlier circular directing banks to implement a controversial 0.5% cybersecurity levy on electronic transactions. The decision of the apex bank to withdraw the circular followed the public outrage that trailed the announcement of the policy two weeks ago and the suspension of the levy by the Federal Government last week. The CBN in its latest circular dated May 17, 2024, referred to the earlier May 6, 2024 circular and advised financial institutions that the initial circular on implementing the cybersecurity levy “is hereby withdrawn”. The CBN’s latest circular was co-signed by…

Iranian state media said President Ebrahim Raisi died on Monday after his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country Raisi was travelling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who also died in the accident. Rescue teams had been scouring the area since Sunday afternoon after a helicopter carrying Raisi, the foreign minister and other officials had gone missing. Early Monday, relief workers located the missing helicopter, with state TV saying the president had died. “The servant of Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people,” state television said Monday, with Mehr…

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr Samuel Ogbuku-led Executive management committee is chatting a new course in delivering the dividends of the Commission’s mandate. With a forward-looking, innovative and result-oriented roadmap, the commission is well equipped towards ensuring a holistic and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful That is why, in pursuing the mandate of development, the Managing Director pointed out in his address during the last Board and Management Retreat from February 9th – 10th, 2024 held at Four Points…