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AFCON 2023: Nigeria to face Ivory Coast The Super Eagles of Nigeria will at 6pm today take on hosts the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire, in their second Group A match, of the Africa Cup of Nations The Super Eagles drew 1-1 with the National Thunder of Equatorial Guinea on Sunday; while Côte d’Ivoire defeated Guinea Bissau 2-Nil in the tournament opening match, on Thursday. The Nigeria versus Côte d’Ivoire cracker will be preceded by the other Group A encounter between African Wild Dogs of Guinea Bissau and Equatorial Guinea, at the Alhassan Quatarra Stadium, in Ebimpe. Meanwhile, the Sports Minister, John Enoh is expected to be at the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe to cheer up the Eagles against Elephants of CIV. Later today, seven time winners, the Pharaohs of Egypt will take on four-time champions, the Black Stars of Ghana; in a must win tie for both sides.

FEC Directs Council to Stem Rising Cost of Goods President Bola Tinubu has directed the Presidential Council on Industrial Revitalization to fast track their reports and reviews and come up with their recommendations. These recommendations was aimed at moving the real sector to enviable heights in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda. The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, made this known to State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting. She said the review would stem the rising cost of goods and services, as well as the rising cost of doing business in the country. The Minister explained that FEC deliberated on how the government could improve the business environment for manufacturers and industrialists to promote and protect local industries and manufacturers. According to the Minister, this would remove hurdles and bottlenecks impeding businesses, and jumpstart the economy again to bring about a double-digit growth rate in ...

Court Grants Ex-CBN Governor Emefiele Permission To Travel The Federal Capital Territory High Court has granted the request of a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, to travel outside of Abuja. The court gave this permission on Thursday after listening to the application for variation of the terms of Emefiele’s bail filed through his lawyer, Mathew Bukka. However, the court also insisted that the new permission did not allow the embattled former CBN governor to travel out of Nigeria. The court ordered that Emefiele should be immediately released to his lawyers. He, however, charged Emefiele’s lawyers with the responsibility of producing him in court for his arraignment next week or any other day and ordered Emefiele to deposit his passport and other travel documents before the registrar of the court, pending his arraignment. Emefiele, facing trial on six counts related to procurement fraud amounting to N1.2 billion, made the plea through his legal representat...

EFCC, ICPC should be quizzing some APC politicians — Soyinka Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka said yesterday that some politicians in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, should be answering questions from anti-graft agencies over corrupt practices during their time in elected offices. Soyinka, who stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, also said there was conspiracy to annul the 2023 presidential election, describing as disgraceful comments by the vice presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP, Datti Baba-Ahmed, that Bola Tinubu shouldn’t be sworn-in, having failed to score 25 per cent in the FCT. The Nobel laureate said when it was time, he would beam his searchlight on such politicians and ask the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to go after them. He acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu was a “doughty fighter” during the National Democratic Coa...

Wike: We Must Stop Paying Ransom to Kidnappers, Bandits •FG declares crowdfunding for ransom in kidnap cases against extant laws •Rise in criminal activities demands immediate, resolute action from all, says IG •Inaugurates special intervention squad for battle •FCTA to compile list of illegal settlements, shanties The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, yesterday, cautioned the public against the practice of paying ransom to bandits and kidnappers, because on the contrary, it encourages the scourge. This was as the federal government, has warned against crowdfunding in support of ransom payment to kidnappers by relatives of victims, saying there was an extant law against it. Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, gave the warning while fielding questions from reporters after the maiden 2024 Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided by President Bola Tinubu at State House, Abuja. But Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, declared yesterda...

Politicians behind election violence not INEC – Ganduje The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, has said politicians are responsible for the violence militating against the peaceful conduct of elections in Nigeria and not the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Ganduje disclosed this while receiving INEC’s election and party monitoring team at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday. INEC was in APC’s National Secretariat for the mandatory annual verification of political parties. The APC National Chairman assured INEC that his leadership has developed mechanisms to make APC active throughout the year not only during elections. Ganduje said he had instructed that all APC offices across the country must be functional. He assured INEC that APC was ready to provide the needed information because the party was strong. According to Ganduje: “There is no doubt today is a historic day, the day of reckoning, accomplishment, in ter...

Ibadan explosion: I’ve been rendered homeless, says ex-Oyo deputy gov A former deputy governor of Oyo State, Iyiola Oladokun, has cried out that he and his family have been rendered homeless after the explosion that rocked Ibadan on Tuesday night. Oladokun, whose residence was among the houses affected by the explosion, said he and his family members could not sleep in his house again due to the damage from the explosion. According to him, a friend had to provide accommodation for him and his wife after the explosion on Tuesday night. Speaking with newsmen, the former deputy governor noted that property worth millions of naira was destroyed in his house as a result of the incident. He said: “I am one of the residents of Dejo Oyelese Close. My house was affected. “We were just watching the football match when the explosion occurred. All the doors that were closed were forced open. “It was very devastating. All the doors, burglaries, windows and even the roof have gone. We give glory to ...