Breaking: President Buhari signs #NotTooYoungToRun bill into law

President Buhari has signed the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill into law. The president signed the bill this afternoon inside Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.  President Buhari had, in his Democracy Day broadcast on Tuesday, pledged to sign the bill.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly last year to alter Sections 65, 106, 131, 177 of the Constitution to reduce the age qualification for president from 40 to 30; governor from 35 to 30; senator from 35 to 30; House of Representatives membership from 30 to 25 and State House of Assembly membership from 30 to 25.

Breaking: Senators call for President Buhari’s impeachment

Members of the Nigerian senate this morning moved a motion forthe impeachment of President Buhari. According to Premium Times, the senators moved the motion because the President did not seek the National Assembly's approval before the withdrawal of the $496 million used for the purchase of aircraft from the United States.

Section 143 of the Nigerian constitution provides for the removal of the president from office.

Senator Matthew Uroghide who moved the motion for the impeachment, said President Buhari’s move was a violation of the Constitution and thus, he should face the consequences. He prayed the Senate to invoke Section 143 to start the impeachment process of the President.

Seconding the motion, Senator Chukwuka Utazi spoke in supportof the move.“This is an impeachable offence,” an obviously angry Senator Utazi,said.

On Wednesday, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, read a letter from President Buhari informing the house that the money had been withdrawn and paid to the United States for the 12 Super Tucano aircraft, ahead of legislative approval. The planes will be delivered in 2020.

“Recently, approval was granted by the United States government but with a deadline, within which part payment must be made otherwise the contract relapses. In the expectation that the National Assembly will have no objection to the purchase of these highly specialised aircraft, which is critical to national security, I granted anticipatory approval for the release of $496,374,470.This was paid directly into the treasury of the United States government. I am therefore writing seeking approval of the Senate for the sum of $496,374,470 (equivalent to N151,394, 421,035) to be included in the 2018 Appropriation Bill which the National Assembly is currently finalising. The balance of the requirement for critical operational equipment is still being collated from the different security services and will be presented in the form of a supplementary appropriation bill in due cause.”

Most of the senators argue that this is a breach of the constitution and that President Buhari must face the consequence.

Miracle smiles home with N45m as winner of Big Brother Naija season 3!

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After 85 days in the third season ofBig Brother Naijareality show, Miracle has emerged the winner smiling home with 25million nairaand other prizes all to the tune of 45million naira.

Miracle edged out competition from 19 other housemates who all began the journey and made itto the finals alongsideTobi, Nina, AlexandCeecWith this, Miracle joins the roll call of past winners of the show likeKatung UduwakandEfe!

Congratulations!

Daddy duties! Comedian, Akpororo steps out with his newborn twins for the first time

Comedian,Akpororo took to his IG page to share this photo of himself taking a walk with his newborn twins. He captioned the adorable photo, 'First outing with my babies #roroprince & second#roroprincess#babaibeji.'

Bollywood actor, Salma Khan, sentenced to 5 years inprison for illegal poaching that happened 20 years ago

Superstar Bollywood actor, Salma Khan has been sentenced to five years in prison for illegal poaching.

Khan was found guilty of killing two blackbucks, a type of antelope found in the country, while working on a film in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan in 1998.

Prosecutors allege that Khan shotthe animals while out driving withsome of his co-stars. In addition to his prison sentence, he was also fined 10,000 Indian rupees.

The decades-old case came to a close today as the 52-year-old popular actor was sentenced. Foryears, Khan has maintained his innocence in the case and pleadednot guilty. His lawyers said he was carrying an air gun, which couldn't have been used for hunting.

After he was sentenced, Bhawani Singh, a public prosecutor working on the case, told reporters outside the court that Khan can appeal the decision to a higher court. If Khan's appeal is accepted, he could be granted bailor have his sentence suspended.

The other actors involved in the case, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre,Tabu and Neelam Kothari, were charged with abetting a crime but were acquitted Thursday, Singh said.

Khan has had several brushes with the law, including in 2015 when he was found guilty in a deadly hit and run accident and received a five-year prison sentence. A higher court later tossed the conviction, claiming the evidence presented was not sufficient.

#BBNaija: Self proclaimed 'Alpha Male', Teddy A gets evicted 24-hours after his lover, Bam Bam

Barely 24-hours after his lover Bam Bam was evicted from the 3rd season of the Big Brother Naija reality show, self proclaimed 'Alpha Male' Teddy A has also been evicted.

Teddy A was put for eviction alongside Bam Bam, Cee-C and Nina.

He now joins other housemates like Leo,IfuEnada,Angel, Ahneeka, Bitto, Princess, Dee-One,Bam Bam andVandora who have all been evicted from the show.

Nigerian rapper, Sauce Kid released from US prison twoyears after he was jailed for credit card fraud

Nigerian rapper, Babalola Falemi, popularly known as Sauce Kid orSinzu has been released from a federal prison in the US.Back in 2017, it was revealed that he had been serving a two year jail term for stealing $15,388 using stolen credit card number sin  US

.Sauce Kid had reportedly obtained stolen bank card numbers and information from their owners. He then allegedly encoded the account numbers onto blank plastic cards.

After using an automated system to change account PINs, he was able to withdraw cash from bank ATMS and buy merchandise fromstores between July 23 - 26, 2016.

Police arrested the rapper with a card encoding device and over $6,000 in cash at the Boise Airport as he was about to board a flight. Part of the charges against him were conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Amber Rose deletes all photos and unfollows everyone on Instagram two days after her son was called 'Gay' for liking Taylor Swift

Amber Rose who has 16.8m followers on Instagram has deleted all photos and unfollowed everyone on her page.

The move comes after the 34-year-old glamour model's son,Sebastian, 5, was shamed and called 'gay' for liking Taylor Swift's music.

It all started after Amber Rose uploaded a video on Tuesday, which showed her son Sebastian opening a surprise box of gift from pop superstar Taylor Swift,which included two tickets to her upcomingRevenge World Tour.

But Internet trolls flooded her page and shamed her son. The next day Amber furiously lashed out at online trolls as she defended her son for being called'gay' for appreciating the pop star.On Friday, the mother of one deleted all photos and unfollowedeveryone on her page.

African migrants are worse than terrorists, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the flood of illegal migrants fromAfrica are worse than terrorists in the Sinai peninsula.Netanyahu said this while speaking at an event celebrating the Negev region held in Dimona.

The PM said that Israel has recently completed a fence along"more than 200 kilometers of the border with Sinai." He said the border fence constructed along Israel’s border with Egypt is holding back a potential "flood" of illegal migrants from Africa.

Without the fence, "we would be faced with … severe attacks by Sinai terrorists, and something much worse, a flood of illegal migrants from Africa," Netanyahusaid.Netanyahu's comments come on the heels of Israel's campaign to deport thousands of African migrants in the country.

The interior ministry says there are currently some 42,000 African migrants in Israel, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, and the government has ordered that thousands of them must leave or face indefinite imprisonment.

Nigeria is sick and empty- Prof. Wole Soyinka

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Nobel Laureate,Professor Wole Soyinka has described Nigeria as a sick and empty country, deserving of the term “shithole” as described by United States President,Donald Trump.

Soyinka said this while speaking at the Ripples Nigerian Dialogue titled “Rebuilding trust in a Divided Nigeria,”held at The Wheatbaker Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.

“We have become laughing stocksin the eyes of the public. We have earned the term of shithole. Nigeria is sick and empty. Some retrogressive forces won’t just stop. Everything Nigeria touches rusts”he said.

He condemned the humiliation of Nigerians by  military personnel, stating that the humiliation of Nigerians led him to relocating abroad.“The treatment of Nigerians by the military led me to relocating to a saner clime. I remember invading Obasanjo’s residence in Lagos and challenging him concerning the way Nigerians were being treated.It is a disgrace to us, as a nation. We have been left behind in nearly every field. There are lessons to be learnt from the diaspora. We need to peep acrossthe Atlantic to see how other countries have been faring,” Soyinka said.  Drawing illustrations from his lecture titled “From Miyetti to Haiti: Notes from a Solidarity Visit,”Soyinka emphasized the need to end slavery in our  society.  

Soyinka emphasized the need of looking in the mirror to solve Nigerian problems and encouraged  youths to resist the passage of the Hate Speech bill.

Nigeria should declare emergency over youths and children’s abuse of hard drugs – NAFDAC

NAFDAC,the agency for safe consumption of foods and drugs in Nigeria, has urged the Federal government to declare an emergency over the increasing abuse of hard drugs by youths and chilldren in the country.

 The agency’s Director-General,Prof Christiana Adeyeye,said the situation calls for urgent address,just as the agency intercepted and seized three trucks filled withTramadol at the Apapa ports in Lagos State. Adeyeye said the abuse of drugs, particularly in thenorth, was responsible for the high rate of crimes in the country.

He said:“we have to declare an emergency because of our youths and children who are abusing hard drugs. As I speak, we have about 33 containers of Tramadol that we intercepted. Those are the ones we could see. Some have exited the ports. We have a big problem in the countryand we have to declare an emergency because of our youths and children who are abusing drugs and families being disintegrated".

 He added that“about five weeks ago, NAFDAC intercepted a 40-feet container of Tramadol and two trucks exiting the Apapa ports. We were told that these vehicles were heading for Yola and the eventual destination may be the Sambisa Forest. How can ayoung girl agree to have bombs tie around her, if not that her mind has been stolen through drugs? So, we have a problem to tackle. With the 33 containers, it means that some other containers are yet to be identified. We also have a problem with our porous borders.”

''Unlike Jonathan, I acted fast when the Dapchi abduction happened'' President Buhari says

President Buhari today said that unlike the previous administration of President Goodluck Jonathan that was insensitive to the plight of parents of the Chibok girls when they were abducted in April 2014, his administration acted fast when 110 female students were abducted in Dapchi, Yobe state.

Speaking in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital on Wednesday during his sympathy visit to the state, President Buhari  vowed to ensure that the girls are reunited with their families.

The Federal Government’sresponse to the unfortunate abduction of the school girls is a clear departure from the insensitivity of the past administration which looked the other way whilethe Chibok girls were taken away in 2014 and held in captivity for over 3 years. Due to our commitment, over 100 Chibok girls have been rescued and reunited with their families, sent back to school and empowered with requisite skills. You may recall that recently, our negotiation efforts led to the release of abducted University of Maiduguri lecturers, some women Police personnel, students and even an NYSC member. We, therefore, have no doubt that the Dapchi girls will be rescued or released. I can reassure parents, Nigerians and the International Community that we will do all that is within our power to make sure that the girls are brought back safely to their families. 

There will be no rest till the last girl, whether from Chibok and Dapchi, is released. The girls, like all our citizens, must enjoy unhindered freedom and pursue their legitimate aspirations. The Dapchi and Chibok students are our girls and must enjoy our protection. They must live to achieve their individual ambitions, to be great women of tomorrow.It is our duty to protect them. We are determined to restore peace to all partof the country – from the West to the East; North to the South. While calling for calm, I implore affected parents and families to restrain from making statements that may jeopardize the success of the rescue mission''. 

21 African Presidents and their ages as of 2016

Meanwhile, Theodore Roosevelt was only 42 years when he became the president of the mostpowerful country in the world

. America! John F. Kennedy was only 43. Bill Clinton was only 46 years old when he became president of the most powerful  country in the world.

 America! Barack Obama was only 47 when he ruled the world's most powerful country France elected a 39 year old man...

Why is Africa obsessed with electing old people upandan?

Again, Governor Fayose calls for President Buhari's resignation

The governor of Ekiti State Ayo Fayose has once again called on President Buhari to resign from office.

 Fayose who is a strong critic of the Buhari-led government, made the call while responding to questions from journalists in Ado Ekiti yesterdayMarch 7th.Fayose condemned the recent killings in Benue State, saying the citizens of this country who are to be protected are no longer secured and are daily killed cheaply.

He balmed the Buhari-ledgovernment for the incessant killings recorded in various partsof the country.He called on the international communities to Nigeria's aid as the killings, particularly from herdsmen/farmers clashes is becoming one too many.

Fayose who is the chairman of the PDP governor's forum, said the recent visit of president Muhammadu Buhari to Taraba state over the Mambilla plateau ethnic clashes, was politically motivated and an after thought. He called on president Buhari to resign if he fails to find solution to the insecurity and killings that is the order of the day in present Nigeria.

"President Buhari and the APC ledfederal government has failed us and the citizens are daily hungry and angry with them and so he should step aside", he said.

Governor Fayose advised the Federal government to engage the Boko Haram and desist from their cheap lip service and stand up to their responsibilities to secure the lives of Nigerians.

'Most Nigerians Who Pay Tax Are Low Income Earners'' Kemi Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has said those who pay tax in Nigeria are mainly  low-income earners and salary earners whose taxes are being deducted at source. Speaking on the issue of tax payment during her appearance on Channels Television recently, Adeosun said

Most of the taxpayers we have in Nigeria today are salary earners. They are about 94% of our taxpayers. I think we have about 14million taxpayers and 13.5million are pay as you earn. So, those are people whose income tax is being deducted at source. These are largely low-income earner. So would it be fair for those who made the most and have the most to be forgiven? Because if we do that, then we should also refund those who have actually paid their taxes. In the spirit of fairness, we think it is right the way we designed it,” she said.

VAIDS is a Federal Government initiative for assets declaration and in exchange for fully and honestly declaring previously undisclosed assets and income, taxpayers benefit from forgiveness of overdue interest and penalties.The Minister said VAIDS is user-friendly as those coming to declare assets enjoy agreement to make payment in installment.

Senate probes alleged plot to sack Saraki, Ekweremadu,others

The Senatehas mandated its committe onEthics, Priviledges and Publicpetitions to investigate the alleged plot by some of its members to sack the President,Bukola Sarakiand Deputy Senate President,Ike Ekweremadu, and other leaders of the chamber.

Senator Obinna Ogba today told his colleagues during plenary that he has priviledged information that some aggrieved members of the house were working with some civil society and trade organizations to remove Saraki from office.

Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, referred the matter to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.

Bad leadership has turned Nigerians into beggars - Legal Icon, Afe Babalola

Legal Icon and Senior Advocate,Chief Afe Babalola, has attributed the pervasive poverty and hungerin Nigeria to bad leadership.

Babalola, who said the culture of begging was alien to the Yoruba race in the past, lamented that bad leadership has turned virtually all Nigerians into beggars, particularly in southwest Nigeria.

In a chat with Vanguard, the founder of  Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, ABUAD, saidthe Yoruba people had deep resentment for begging in the 40sand 50s, adding that”today, they have seen begging as a way of life, contrary to what they believed in , because of poverty caused by bad governance.”

Babalola said this in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, when the leadership ofthe Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN, paid a visit to ABUAD on assessment tour of the Pharmacy Department of the newly commissioned 400-bed Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital, ABUTH.

He said:“today, Nigeria is at a crossroad. The Yoruba were not used to begging in the 40s and 50s, they used to stone beggars because they viewed it as a shameful act.  But today, go to occasions and see how well dressed people beg for money. That was why we want to join thechange agents using our university as a model even ABUAD is synonymous with change.

PDP describes Olusegun Obasanjo as an ‘Outstanding Nationalist’ on his 81st birthday

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Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has congratulated formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo as he celebrates his 81st birthday.

 The political party in a statement released on Sunday described Obasanjo as anoutstanding nationalist;a courageous and dedicated leader, who has made immeasurable, sacrifices towardsthe development, stability and growth of the nation.

The former president will clock 81 on Monday, March 5.  The party in the statement which was signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it remains proud of Obasanjo.

Obasanjo according to the PDP has excelled as an international figure and made outstanding contributions toward global peace and development, particularly, in the African sub-region.

“Indeed, the PDP intensely celebrates former President Obasanjo who stands tall as one of the best performed Nigerian Presidents chiefly because his administration founded and anchored its policies and programmes on PDP’s people-based manifesto and ideology,” the statement read in part.

 The PDP also commends Obasanjo for his continued engagement on national issues, particularly his disposition against poor governance, corruption, and bloodletting.  Theparty also claimed that it is more than prepared to salvage Nigeria in the task of returning back to governance come 2019.

#HateSpeech: I stand with Nigerians and anything they say to make the country better - Governor Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has reacted to the proposed law that classifies 'hate speech' as an act of terror.

According to the governor, 'I stand with Nigerians and anythingthey say to make the country better. Tell those of us in power what we are doing wrong, it is notHate Speech. Rather, it is patriotism'...

''Dapchi school girls are safewith my son Habib and his friends'' Mama Boko Haram

Aisha Wakil aka Mama Boko Haram, who was a member of theDialogue and Peaceful Resolutionof Security Challenges Committee in the northern region, says the Boko Haram secthave reached out to her and confirmed that the 110 Dapchi female students abducted on February 19th are with them.

In an interview with NAN, Mama Boko Haram said that the leader of the Boko Haram faction,  Habib Barwani, who has the girls, have pledged to keep the girls safe andeven return them

They are even the ones that called me, and said Mama we heard what you have said and told me that they are with the girls and they are going to release them. I begged of them andsaid please let this not be another 1,000-plus days of Chibok girls, and they laughed and said no. I asked them where I can come and stay with them (girls) for two days, but they did not say anything. I can assure Nigerians that so far they are with my son Habib and his friends; Habib is a nice guy, he is very nice boy. He will not harm them, he will not touch them, and he will notkill them. He is going to listen to us, and so far he indicated interest that he loves peace. And I love them for that and believe what they said on this. They will definitely give us the girls. All I am begging Nigerians is to calm down, be prayerful, everything will be over in God grace”.