Folarin Kehinde

President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, for Dakar, Senegal, to attend the inauguration of Senegal’s President-elect, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The President’s trip is on the invitation of the Republic of Senegal.

President Tinubu, who is the Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, will join other regional leaders to witness the inauguration at Diamniadio Exhibition Centre on Tuesday.

The President will be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and other senior government officials.

The President is expected to return to Nigeria after the conclusion of the inauguration.

Some armed men, on Saturday, attacked and looted a luxury bus at Oke Ado Junction, Ijebu-mushin, along the Ijebu-Ode-Benin Expressway.

The passengers were said to be on their way to the southeast for Easter celebrations when the incident happened.

The hoodlums, after successfully robbing the passengers, decided to set the bus ablaze.

The spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, SP Omolola Odutola, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on Sunday.

Odutola said, “It happened in Oke Ado junction at Ijebu Mushin. A luxury Mercedes Benz bus was burnt down. The vehicle was coming from Maza Maza before it encountered the hoodlums. No reference to gun was made.They (the hoodlums) wielded cutlasses.”

The 59-seater bus was said to be operated by Ifesinachi Transport Limited.

In a video uploaded on social media by Chude Nnamdi, some of the affected passengers narrated how they were accosted by the bandits who stole their belongings and set the bus on fire.

One of the passengers said, “Ifesinachi Motors, we were travelling in the night to come back to the East for Easter celebration, and criminals attacked us in Ijebu Ode along Ore-Benin Expressway.

“They robbed us of everything we had, some they stripped half-naked. They locked us inside the 59-seater luxury bus and set it ablaze. We thank God that we later escaped; nobody died, but everything we had was collected.

“We thank God that we didn’t lose anyone but we lost everything we were travelling with and some sustained injuries.

“This is Ifesinachi Motors that we are travelling with on Friday night and this attack happened around 2am.

“They stripped us half-naked. You can see it; the people in the vehicle are completely stranded. There are some people who were macheted and some who broke their legs. We have children among us.”

The Tinubu Administration has decided to sell three aircraft from the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) in a move aimed at cost-saving measures.

The decision comes amidst concerns over the rising maintenance costs associated with the fleet.

The PAF comprises ten aircraft, including six jets and four helicopters.

However, if the proposed action is implemented, the fleet will be reduced to seven aircraft.

According to sources, President Tinubu is concerned about the escalating expenses involved in maintaining the planes, prompting the decision to dispose of the three aircraft identified as the most burdensome in terms of maintenance costs.

According to sources, President Tinubu is concerned about the escalating expenses involved in maintaining the planes, prompting the decision to dispose of the three aircraft identified as the most burdensome in terms of maintenance costs.

“The President is uncomfortable with the rising cost of maintaining the planes. Three planes have been pencilled down for disposal. The main reason is cutting down high maintenance costs.

“I think officers in PAF were particularly concerned about the frequency of maintenance and how much it costs the nation.

“The President decided to let off the aircraft that constitute the most burdensome,” a source told a national newspaper.

The detained Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, has sued the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged violation of his fundamental rights.

Gambaryan, in the originating motion dated and filed March 18 by his lawyer, Olujoke Aliyu, from Aluko and Oyebode Law Firm, sought five reliefs before Justice Inyang Ekwo.

Also, Nadeem Anjarwalla, the Binance’s Africa regional manager who escaped from lawful custody March 22, filed a separate right enforcement suit before Justice Ekwo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, in the suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 and FHC/ABJ/CS/355/24, had sued the Office of NSA (ONSA) and EFCC as 1st and 2nd respondents.

They sought same reliefs. Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, in his application, sought a declaration that his detention and seizure of his international travel passport, contravened Section 35 (1) and (4) of 1999 Constitution (As Amended).

He said the act amounted to a violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty as guaranteed by the constitution.

He also sought an order directing the respondents to release him from their custody and! return his international travel passport with immediate effect.

Gambaryan equally sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents and agents from further detaining him in relation to any investigation into or demands from Binance.

The official, who sought an order for the respondents to issue a public apology to him, also prayed for the cost of this action on a full indemnity basis.

In a statement in support of the suit, he said he is an American citizen who visited Nigeria on Feb. 26 February, along with fleeing Nadeem Anjarwalla, as a representative of Binance, to honour the invitation of the ONSA and EFCC to discuss issues relating to Binance in Nigeria.

Giving 11-ground argument why his application should be granted, he said that he and his colleague, Anjarwalla, dutifully attended the meeting.

He said after the meeting the two of them were detained by the respondents and had remained in detention since then.

He said he did not commit any offence during the meeting, and neither was he informed in writing of any offence he personally committed in Nigeria at any other time.

“The only reason for his detention is because the government is requesting information from Binance and making demands on the company,” he said, adding that he was not a member of the Board of Directors of Binance.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) management has closed the KFC facility at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on March 28, 2024.

The decision was made after a social media report by a passenger with Reduced Mobility (PRM) alleging discriminatory treatment he received at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The passenger in question was Adebola Daniel, the son of Senator Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Ogun state.

Daniel, who took to X to share his experience, said that, because of his disability, he was made to feel “less than human, like a guard dog not allowed into the house”.

“Being disabled often rolls over my spirit, leaving behind a trail of shattered dignity and forgotten humanity. Nowhere more so than in Nigeria,” he wrote on X.

He explained that after all the necessary documentation had been concluded at the airport ahead of his Virgin Atlantic flight to London, he decided to pass the time, alongside his wife and siblings, at the KFC restaurant while waiting for the flight.

However, he was in for a shock, as the female manager at the restaurant humiliated him, saying wheelchairs and users were not permitted on the KFC premises. She also demanded that they leave immediately, according to Daniel.

Meanwhile, a statement from FAAN today read: ”The MD/CE of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi, Kuku, intervened swiftly by deploying a management team comprising the Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mrs Obiageli Orah, the Regional Manager South West, Mr Sunday Ayodele, Ag. General Manager Public Affairs, Mrs Ijeoma Nwosu-Igbo and the International Terminal Manager, Mr Kerri, to investigate the allegation.

”It is based on the findings of the team that FAAN has shut down the KFC facility at the MMA, where the incident occurred.

”The Authority has instructed that KFC Management should write an unreserved apology to the affected PRM and paste a policy statement of non-discrimination conspicuously at the door post of their facility at MMIA before it resumes operation.

”FAAN uses this medium to express our unreserved apology to the affected Passenger with Reduced Mobility and assures all airport users that we shall continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the rights of every passenger are not infringed upon.”

The military high command on Thursday morning declared eight persons wanted in connection with the killing of 17 soldiers and officers in Okuama Community of Delta State.

Among those declared wanted include a professor, Prof. Ekpekpo Arthur; a woman, Mrs Igoli Ebi; Reuben Baru; Akata Malawa David and four other persons.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, a Major-General, who disclosed this at an ongoing press briefing at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, said no bounty was placed on the wanted persons.

Buba called on the stakeholders and traditional rulers across the country particularly in the Niger Delta to help the military in fishing out those who had been declared wanted.

Leading reporters had reported how the troops of 181 Amphibious Batallion, Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State were surrounded by some youths and killed on Thursday, 14 March, 2024 while on peace mission to Okuoma Community.

The incident, which occurred when the troops responded to a distress call after the communal crisis between Okuoma and Okoloba communities both in Delta State had generated outrage nationwide.

The murdered officers were buried at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja on Wednesday. The burial was attended by President Bola Tinubu and other top government functionaries.

The Federal Government has announced the provision of scholarships to children of soldiers killed during a peacekeeping mission in Delta on March 14, 2024.

President Bola Tinubu made the announcement during the burial ceremony of the soldiers in Abuja on Wednesday.

The president also conferred national honours on 17 members of the Nigerian Army who were killed in Delta.

This was as he announced the provision of housing facilities for the surviving family members and scholarships for all their children to the university level.

He also directed the payment of death benefits to the family members within 90 days.

He announced these during the burial ceremony of the slain servicemen at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja.

Tinubu posthumously conferred the national honour of Member of the Order of the Niger on the Commanding Officer 181 Amphibious Battalion, Lt. Col. A.H Ali; Maj S.D Shafa (N/13976); Maj D.E Obi (N/14395) and Capt U Zakari (N/16348).

He also conferred the honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger on SSgt Yahaya Saidu (#3NA/36/2974); Cpl Yahaya Danbaba (1ONA/65/7274); Cpl Kabiru Bashir (11NA/66/9853); LCpl Bulus Haruna (16NA/TS/5844); LCpl Sola Opeyemi (17NA/760719); LCpl Bello Anas (17NA/76/290); LCpl Hamman Peter (NA/T82653); LCpl Ibrahim Abdullahi (18NA/77/1191); Pte Alhaji Isah (17NA/76/6079); Pte Clement Francis (19NA/78/0911); Pte Abubakar Ali (19NA/78/2162); Pte Ibrahim Adamu (19NA/78/6079) and Pte Adamu Ibrahim (21NA/80/4795).