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Yahaya Sharif Aminu The Upper Sharia Court in Kano State that sentenced a musician, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, will on Thursday handover copies of its judgment to the musician’s lawyers and Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, SaharaRepoters has learnt. Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death on August 10, 2020, for alleged blasphemy against Prophet Mohammed, was given 30 days by the court to appeal the judgment, meaning that the time would lapse on Wednesday, September 9. Yahaya Sharif Aminu Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), had accused officials of the court of refusing to make available certified true copies of the judgment. Falana said there was a need for things to move quickly since Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, had said last week that he would sign the convict’s death warrant once the time for the appeal lapsed. “They have not released the judgment and time is running out. And if we cannot obtain copies of the judgment, we cannot ...

A former Minister of Information in Nigeria, Frank Nweke Jnr, has emerged President of Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association of Nigeria.  Nweke served as Minister of Inter-governmental Affairs; Special Duties and Youth Development; and later Information and Communications under former President, Olusegun Obasanjo’s government. Nweke was elected alongside Aminu Mukhtar Dan’amu (Vice President).  Dan’amu is a former Kano State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development and served as Economic Adviser to two governors in Kano State.  In his acceptance speech, Nweke Jnr said, “As beneficiaries of a Harvard education and its accompanying networks and pedigree, the burden of responsibility is upon us to do all that we can to lead in navigating this new world by contributing our knowledge, skills, experience, network, and resources, towards transforming our country, society and communities for the better.” HKSAAN leverages on resources at the Kennedy S...

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, and Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, as the two airports allowed to resume international flight operations as from September 5, 2020. NCAA made this known in a letter with ref NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/255 to all aviation stakeholders and foreign airlines operating in Nigeria. The letter signed by Director-General of the NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu, stated that other airports would be gradually reopened, stressing, however, that the two would have to adhere to existing COVID-19 protocols for approvals. The letter reads, “Other international airports namely Mallam Aminu International Airport, Kano (DNKN), Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa (DNPO), and Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu (DNEN), will remain closed to international flights until a new date is determined and announced.” Nigeria had on March 23, 2020 shut its airspace to international travel to con...

Farmers in Nigeria’s South-West region have expressed concern over the unusual frequency and length of rainfall and dry spells, saying it could portend a national food crisis if government’s intervention does not occur. The Nigeria Meteorological Organisation had predicted that in the year 2020, the severe effect of the little dry season is expected over the coast of Lagos, Ijebu-Ode, Ibadan, Akure, Shaki, Iseyin, Ilorin, Ado Ekiti, Enugu, Benin and Lokoja lasting about 10-25 days.  This predication, however, failed in most of the areas with rainfall ceasing in some parts since June 21. Kolawole Olufemi, who grows Cassava and Maize in Ibadan-Ibarapa area of Oyo State, says his crops wilted, prompting him to take out a loan to buy water to irrigate his farmland. He said, “The rains did not start early this year but we were able to plant, hoping that it will become more frequent around May-June.  “When the rain stopped around last week of June, non of us in our assoc...

Isa Sanusi Sixteen years ago, many assumed that building a road from Gashua to Yusufari in northern Yobe state was an impossibility. There are 31-kilometres in between the two towns. The idea of impossibility was born out experiences of traveling on that desert and dusty path, with vehicles and people, often moving, as if on a wild guess or a game of chance, trudging through sand dunes, acarcia trees and tonnes of thorn. It was short journey full of suspense. The wheels of the vehicles can be stuck in sand dunes that can terminate the journey or make it look like an adventure. Isa Sanusi The dust will keep rising and obscuring the view of both the driver and the commuter. The types of vehicles that undertake such journey were largely open four-by-four trucks and outdated USSR made military vehicles. Whenever such vehicles were auctioned they are moved to start a new life on the route from Gashua to Yusufari and Bulatura and beyond. These are places quite close to Nigeria’s bor...

Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council has granted the Ministry of Works and Housing, Power, Justice, and Aviation a memoranda for contracts worth N26.06bn for the execution of projects. The approval was announced to journalists after the 14th virtual FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday. Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said his office obtained an approval for a memorandum seeking to purchase an accommodation for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Malami said the property was located at Plot No. 1123-1129 Cadastral Zone 0607 at Aviation Village, Airport Road, Abuja, and costs of N1.20bn to be purchased from Messrs. Chachangi Airlines Nigeria Ltd. He said, “The council eventually considered the memo and gave approval for the agency to acquire the property for a consideration of one billion, one hundred and ninety six million naira (N1, 196,000,000), inclusive of 7.5 % VAT with a delivery period of four weeks.” Ha...

The Peoples Democratic Party has described the new hike in the pump price of petrol from N145 to N151 per litre as anti-people with the ability to plunge the nation into chaos. The opposition party in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbodiyan, on Wednesday said it wondered why the government was deliberately trying to make life unbearable for citizens dealing with economic loses from the COVID-19 pandemic. The PDP said, “It is distressing that the APC administration increased the cost of essential commodities at the time the leadership of other countries are offering palliatives to their citizens to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is instructive to add that our nation is doomed under the APC watch. “We know that the APC is an unfeeling party but it is indeed shocking that it could go to the extent of approving such a hike at this trying time, when many Nigerians are struggling to afford staple foods and other necessities of life. “Moreover, th...

Rights group, Amnesty International, has expressed concern over the Nigerian Government’s refusal to grant Yahaya Aminu-Sharif access to legal representation to appeal a death sentence passed on him by the Upper Shariah Court in Kano on August 10, 2020 over alleged blaspemy of Prophet Mohammed. AI said the Abdullahi Umar Ganduje-led government in Kano apart from denying the young musician the right to legal representation is also denying him access to the certified true copy of the judgment. Recall that Ganduje, who was once caught on tape taking bribe in dollars, promised to sign the death warrant for the musician once it lands on his desk, sparking national and international outrage and condemnation. The rights group in a series of tweets on Wednesday said, “Amnesty International is deeply concerned about reports that Yahaya Aminu-Sharif has not been granted access to lawyers for the purpose of appealing the death sentence passed on him by the Upper Shariah Court ...

Most dignitaries invited to the wedding of Hanan, one of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari, and her husband-to-be, Mohammed Turad, son of an ex-lawmaker from Kaduna State, may not attend the event over fear of COVID-19, Presidency sources have told SaharaReporters. The marriage is billed to take place on September 4, 2020 and being the first-ever wedding to take place inside Aso Rock Villa, expectations are high. In preparation for the grand ceremony, First Lady, Aisha Buhari, had sneaked out of Nigeria in August to the United Arab Emirates under the guise of a medical emergency to shop for Hanan’s nuptials, which has been dubbed ‘The First wedding’. SaharaReporters gathered that the declination of invitation to the event by top guests might not be unconnected with the online newspaper’s story revealing the COVID-19 status of President Buhari’s closest aide and Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs, Sarki Abba, on Tuesday. “Abba tested positive for COVID-...

Bayo Oluwasanmi Major General Muhammadu Buhari has again resurrected the National Water Resources Bill that was overwhelmingly rejected by Nigerians in 2018. Renamed National Water Bill 2020, the National Assembly in collusion with Buhari has referred the bill to a “committee of the whole” for third reading and passage. As expected, the bill was vehemently attacked by prominent Nigerians including Nobel Laureate in literature Wole Soyinka. Soyinka says “A roundly condemned project blasted out of sight by public outrage one or two years ago is being exhumed and sneaked back into service by none other than a failed government and with the consent of a body of people, supposedly elected to serve as custodians of the rights, freedoms and existential exigencies of millions.”  Bayo Oluwasanmi “This bill on National Water Resources 2020 is designed to hand Aso Rock absolute control over the nation’s entire water resources, both over and underground,” says Soyinka. With Buhari a...

Abductors of the Chief Medical Director of General Hospital, Idoani, Ondo State, Olufemi Adeogun, have demanded a ransom of N6m. Dr Adeogun was kidnapped on Monday evening while travelling on the failed portion of Owani-Idoani Road en route Owo own. He was abducted together with two other health workers, who were waylaid and seized on the road by the gunmen.  One of the victims, Mrs Foluke Ajibola, is a record officer in the government-owned hospital. The kidnappers had shot the driver of the vehicle in the arm before marching the abducted health workers into the forest.  It was gathered that motorists plying the route, who witnessed the attack from a distance, reported the kidnap to the police.  A family source, who ask not to be named, revealed that the hoodlums contacted the family with a private telephone line.  See Also Sahara Reporters Gunmen Kidnap Ondo General Hospital CMD, Two Other Medical Workers 0 Comments 1 Day Ago She explained tha...