The drama in River State has just started to unfold, with more to follow in the coming days. Just a few hours after 27 members of the River State House of Assembly cross-carpeted to the All Progressive Congress, APC from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, some members of the River State APC and Social Democratic Party, SDP have staged a counter move. In the countermove, some prominent members of the APC and SDP in the state have also crossed over to the PDP to pledge their support for the Governor Seminalaye Fubara. Speaking at the ceremony, Hon Princewill Ogbobula echoed…
Author: Editor-in-chief
It was 25 years ago; Saturday, October 10, 1998 to be precise. We were all inside the living room of the Yaba, Lagos modest home of Frank Ovie-Kokori. We were waiting for our heroes. In the heat of the June 12, 1993 presidential election validation saga, Kokori was Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) workers and a major weapon deployed by pro-democracy activists to frustrate the vile government of Head of State, General Sani Abacha. The journey from Ibadan, Oyo State to Lagos this morning had been devoid of its usual serpentine traffic snarl. My…
The poor state of electricity in Nigeria adds 40 per cent to the cost of manufactured products, a new report by Nanyang Technology University’s Centre for African Studies has stated. The 150-page report titled “Back to Growth: Priority Agenda for the Economic Revival of Nigeria” was presented by the author and Director of the Centre, Amit Jain, recently in Lagos. According to the report, the manufacturing sector has much higher productivity than agriculture and can absorb a larger proportion of the workforce. It said a top-line analysis of the business environment in Nigeria showed that the country lacked many of…
Northern Democratic Alliance (NDA) has alleged discovery of a plan by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to destabilise the North. According to the group, the plan is to weaken the North socially, politically and economically, to make it unable to challenge him in 2027. This is contained in a statement by the Convener of NDA, Hamisu Gombe; and Secretary, Josiah Pam, in Kaduna, yesterday. In the statement, the group warned leaders of the region against complacency, urging them to wake up to the new reality confronting the region. “We are using this medium to call on well meaning leaders in the…
Isuulud-Deen Institute Collaborates With IAWPA The USUULUD-DEEN Institute of Arabic and Islamic studies in collaboration with the International Association Of World Peace Advocates held a Walimatul-Quran on Sunday, December 3, 2023. The program held at the premises of the Institute located at Omi Adio of Ido local Government. The founder and Director of the Institution, who also double as the Oyo state Director of IAWPA, Amb. Dr. Muhammed-Lawal Musa Alongbija, while delivering a goodwill message used the opportunity to to emphasize the importance of quality Education to the sustainance of peace. He said the Institute combines the teachings of both…
Federal lawmakers are raising alarm that President Bola Tinubu did not submit any documents backing the 2024 appropriation bill he proposed before a joint parliamentary session on Wednesday. Two different lawmakers informed Peoples Gazette that the president’s action was detrimental to the social contract between the parliament, the presidency and the people of Nigeria. “No lawmakers can say they have seen what the president presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday,” a lawmaker told The Gazette by telephone Friday evening. “They made us debate the matter yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) without showing us the facts and figures of the…
Last week, in the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State, two bedfellows, journalism and history, became objects of attraction. The duo have always existed in Siamese matrimony. As a way of emphasizing this liaison, some scholars have defined journalism as history in a hurry. So, this day, Thursday, November 30 to be exact, inside one of the halls of the University of Ibadan, everyone gathered waited for the arrival of Chief Olusegun Osoba, former governor of Ogun State. It was akin to waiting for history and journalism entrapped in the personage of a single individual. Osoba worked with the Daily…
The National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress, APC recently released the names of some prominent Party Chieftains across some states of the Federation to serve in various committees, including a committee tagged ” conflict and reconciliation committee”. I have carefully perused the names from top to bottom and, perhaps, not surprisingly, Oyo state is missing in action as usual. I think the Oyo state chapter of the APC must have been used to such snubs and spurns by now though. That is not the crux of this piece but I shall return to deal with the issue later. There…
Oyo state Director of the International Association Of World Peace Advocates, IAWPA, Amb. Dr. Mohammed Musa Alongbeja has presented certificate of membership to Governor Makinde’s SA on Inter-Faith Affairs, Rev. Olufemi Z Ibikunle. The presentation ceremony was performed on the sidelines of this year’s International Day of peace organized at the House of Chiefs secretariat, Ibadan on Thursday, 30th of November, 2023. Amb. Dr. Alongbeja who was invited as a special guest of honor used the occasion to acknowledge the efforts by the state Governor towards the sustainability of peace. He equally commended the Special Assistant to the Governor on…
A member of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Galambi, has accused President Bola Tinubu of presenting ’empty’ boxes supposedly containing the 2024 budget to the joint session of the National Assembly. Mr Galambi, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) representing Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa State, made the allegation during an interview with BBC Hausa Service on Friday. The lawmaker, in the interview, monitored by PREMIUM TIMES, said Mr Tinubu read out his budget speech including proposals for sectors but did not give the lawmakers the documents as was the tradition by previous presidents. The president, on…