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Olusegun Obasanjo On Tuesday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo cautioned Nigerian leaders to stop blaming God for insecurity, bad economy, poverty, and other challenges confronting the country. Obasanjo said the nation’s woes remain the ‘choice’ of the leaders and followers, stressing a change of narrative as the country approaches 2021. The former president said this at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State, in his 2021 message to Nigerians. According to him, with enormous resources available in the country, Nigeria does not have to be poor and no Nigerian must go to bed hungry. He described 2020 as a year of many challenges but urged Nigerians to work and pray hard to achieve “a glorious 2021”. Obasanjo said, “I like the motto of a school which says ‘work and pray.’ Some people say it should be ‘pray and work’, but it doesn’t matter to me what order I put it, but prayer must go with work and work must go with prayer. “And I believe we need t...

ACHIKE CHUDE Once again the truth has been spoken, and once again the truth has been refuted. Yet again the purveyor and proponent of the truth is being pummeled and castigated by the deniers of that same truth – the peddlers of falsehood. They would have us believe that Nigeria is a walking, working paradise free from the socio-economic contradictions of our times. It is not falsehood to say that Nigeria has almost always been badly run, right from independence by a group of ill-bred, ill-motivated elites hell bent on lining their pockets from our commonwealth and national patrimony. This is why the fruits of their misgovernance has been devastating to us all; a prostrate economy, a frustrated citizenry, unbridled corruption and a populace that is fleeing daily from a country that is on the brink of collapse. Achike Chude In the course of governance in Nigeria, the leaderships of many of the past ruling governments, populated by these groups of elites have always had the ten...

The International Criminal Police Organisation, popularly called Interpol, has traced a €500,000 COVID-19 fraud to Nigeria. The organisation made this known in a statement on its website titled, ‘Unmasked: International COVID-19 fraud exposed’. According to the statement, the scheme was coordinated using compromised emails, advance-payment fraud, and money laundering. It stated that the fraud was uncovered by financial institutions and authorities across Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, as part of a case coordinated by INTERPOL. The statement read in part, “In mid-March, as several countries were going into lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, German health authorities contracted two sales companies in Zurich and Hamburg to procure EUR 15 million worth of face masks. With a global shortage of medical supplies complicating usual business channels, the buyers followed new leads in the hopes of securing the masks. “It all started with an email address and website whi...

Some workers at the Lagos State University have petitioned Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to protest against the recommendation by the institution’s vice-chancellor selection committee, pointing out that “a man without a PhD cannot confer PhD degrees on students.” In the petition, the workers under the banner of Concerned Staff of LASU urged Governor Sanwo-Olu, who is the visitor to the university, to reject the recommendation. They alleged that the joint council and senate selection committee acted in flagrant violation of the advertisement for the vice-chancellor position by shortlisting Olumuyiwa Odusanya, Kabir Akinyemi and Senapon Bakre. The petition, signed by Olalekan Akinloye and Olatunji Alonge, partly read, “We are constrained to react to the recommendation which listed Professor Olumuyiwa Odusanya as number one and deliberately excluded Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello from first to third. We believe a grand, elaborate plan hatched by the Chairman of Council and the o...

Governor Gboyega Oyetola Osun State Government has rescinded its earlier decision banning churches from holding crossover services. This was contained in a statement on Tuesday signed by the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs Funke Egbemode. Governor Gboyega Oyetola In the statement titled, ‘Covid-19: Osun gives fresh directives on Crossover Service’, the commissioner said the government’s sensitivity to the season’s mood had necessitated a review of its earlier position. Egbemode said, “The Government of the State of Osun has decided to allow cross over religious gatherings. But any organisation holding cross over service must note that they are expected to close the service early and everyone must be off the streets by 1:00 am. “Security operatives have been given the directive to enforce this guideline. Therefore, religious bodies and citizens are advised to comply because we do not want anyone to spend the first day of the year in police custody. “...