October 20, 2021

Members of the UN Security Council will travel to the Sahel this weekend to push Mali to return to civilian power after two military coups in nine months in a region plagued by jihadist violence.

‘The Sahel region is exposed to all kinds of challenges,’ Niger’s ambassador to the United Nations Abdou Abarry told Newsmen.

‘This is where the stakes are in the fight against terrorism, humanitarian issues, the impact of climate change and good governance,’ said Abarry.

Read Also; ECOWAS Warns Mali Junta On Election Dates

‘The situation in the Sahel remains very fragile’, said French ambassador to the …

The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has asked the Federal Government to declare bandits in the North-West geo-political zone of the country as ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’.

The declaration, the governor said, would able the Nigerian military to attack and kill ‘these bandits without any major consequences in the international law.’

The governor who spoke shortly after receiving the third quarter security report from the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna on Wednesday, also said the recruitment of 1,000 youths each across the 774 local government areas of the …

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has claimed that there is no evidence to show that any protester was killed at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

He made this assertion during a press conference held in Abuja as young people took to the streets nationwide to mark the first anniversary of the #EndSARS protests.

Mohammed also faulted the claim by Amnesty International that no fewer than 12 protesters were killed in Lagos State by security operatives during the EndSARS protest.

He described the claim as a ‘phantom’.

Read Also: Lekki Tollgate: Peaceful Protest Is Our Right

As the people of the South-East anxiously await the expected trial of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has told the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to ensure that it doused the rising tension in the zone.

Kanu is expected to appear in court tomorrow, Thursday, October, 21, as the Court begins hearing in a case of treason filed against him by the Federal Government.

Africa Daily News, New York had reported that the Court already served a hearing notice on both parties, with the Federal Government also …

The Nigerian and Turkish governments on Wednesday signed eight major Agreements/MoUs on a number of key sectors including Energy, Defense Industry, Mining and HydroCarbons among others.

This development was made known in a statement issued by Mr Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, and made available to journalists.

President Muhammadu Buhari heaped praises on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for opening his country’s borders to accommodate millions of refugees in dire need of humanitarian support.

Read Also: Turkey Denies Supplying Drones To Ethiopia

At a joint press conference on the visit, Buhari said his Turkish …

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, chair of the West African bloc ECOWAS, has told Mali’s ruling junta that elections announced for February must ahead on schedule, his delegation said Sunday.

Akufo-Addo delivered the message to the country’s strongman, Colonel Assimi Goita, during talks in Bamako.

Goita is behind both Mali’s recent coups, having installed a civilian-led interim government under international pressure after the first one only to remove it in May, later declaring himself interim president.

But a senior member of the ECOWAS delegation told AFP: “Our message was unambiguous and we said it clearly: the elections have to be held …

Ahead of the national congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), female members of the party have insisted on having the Deputy Chairman (North) position.

The women made the call during a meeting at the party’s secretariat in Abuja on Sunday.

Their demand comes days after the National Executive Committee of the party approved the recommendation of its committee to zone the position of national chairman to the North.

Read Also: Mass Defection From APC To PDP Imminent- Sen Anyanwu

Based on the decision, all positions in the party currently occupied by people from the South will go to the …

Igbo monarchs have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to de-proscribe the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation, as well as release Nnamdi Kanu from detention.

The call comes a day before the resumed trial of Kanu in Abuja for an amended seven-count charge of treasonable felony.

The monarchs made their stand known under the auspices of the South East Traditional Rulers council.

Read Also: I Facilitated Nnamdi Kanu’s Release In 2017 – Soludo

The body issued a statement Tuesday night, signed by five state chairmen of traditional rulers.

Eze Joseph Nwabeke, signed for Abia; Obi Nnaemeka Achebe, …