Folarin Kehinde

A 34-year-old man has died after drowning in the Elegushi Beach, in Lagos State, during a church hangout event.

The victim, identified as John, was a member of an unnamed Ikorodu-based church which had organised a picnic for its youths on Saturday.

Trouble, however, started when the members were about to leave the beach that Saturday afternoon but couldn’t locate him anywhere.

It was learned that as the church members began searching for him, someone informed them that they had seen him go into the water. Lifeguards and divers were alerted but efforts to locate him in the water that Saturday proved abortive.

It was gathered that his body was only recovered by lifeguards on Tuesday afternoon at the beach.

A source who witnessed the event but doesn’t want to be named said, “A church from Ikorodu had come to Elegushi beach for a hangout on Saturday. They were just young people who came around to have fun; about 35 of them came that Saturday.

“It happened that late in the afternoon when they were packing up to leave, they called everyone to make sure that they were all accounted for, 35 of them, before they left. That was how they realised that one of them, John, was missing.

The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has issued a public alert, warning consumers about the G Fuel brand Energy Drinks that have been recalled by T&E Imports and GPAE Trading Corporation.

Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of NAFDAC, in the notice issued on Thursday, said the energy drinks were found to contain high levels of caffeine, which can cause several health problems such as headaches, insomnia, irritability, and nervousness, especially for people sensitive to caffeine.

Adeyeye advised pregnant women not to consume the products as the effects of consuming too much caffeine can lead to a higher risk of miscarriage and low birth weight.

She also warned consumers and retailers not to use, sell, serve, or distribute the product as NAFDAC did not register it and lacks a cautionary statement to limit the number of daily servings.

The NAFDAC DG warned that the affected products are sold online.

NAFDAC urged members of the public to report any suspected distribution and sale of unwholesome packaged food products to the nearest NAFDAC office.

The agency also called on Healthcare professionals and patients to report any adverse events or side effects related to the use of any substandard NAFDAC-regulated product to the nearest NAFDAC office or through the E-reporting platforms available on the NAFDAC website or the Med-safety application available for download on Android and IOS stores.

Recall that the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also recalled the product.

Borno lawmaker and chief whip, Senator Ali Ndume, has made fresh revelation about the controversial N5 billion presidential yacht budgets by the Nigerian Navy.

Ndume said the presidential yacht had been signed and delivered but not paid for before the public outcry.

The ranking senator noted that the red chamber has since added the required payment fee to the student loan budget.

“We queried the amount budgeted for the yacht, but it was signed for a dollar rate, and the new rate isn’t favourable. The budget was predicated for about N435, and now it is over N800,” Ndume said.

“The Navy also clarified that it is not a new budget. And even the House of Representatives moved the budget to the Student loan. The deal for the yacht has been agreed, signed, and delivered but not paid for.”

Speaking on the N160 million for Land Cruiser SUV for each lawmaker in the National Assembly, the chief hip stressed that it is not a new thing for government workers to be buying vehicles for official duties.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike has said his rift with Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State was purely politics.

Wike said it is politics if he demands N20 billion monthly and is allowed to award all the contracts to himself.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the immediate past Governor of Rivers State wondered where Fubara was when he was fighting.

The minister vowed to remain politically relevant and maintain his structure.

According to Wike: “If I Demand N20 billion every month and even award all the contracts to myself, that’s politics. Where was he when I was fighting?

“I have to be politically relevant and I must maintain my political structure. I can’t allow anybody to cut me out immediately.

“If you like accuse me all you like, I won’t have a sleepless night because the right thing must be done.”

The rift between Wike and Fubara led to attempts by some members of the state assembly to impeach the governor.

The governor, however, resisted the attempts.

The House of Representatives has kicked out the N5 billion presidential yacht proposed by the Nigerian Navy from the 2023 supplementary budget.

Chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi, announced this on Thursday after the passage of the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget by the House.

While speaking to journalists, Bichi said the committee removed the item and moved the money to the student loan section to make it N10 billion.

More to follow…

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, is set to be flown abroad for medical treatment following injuries sustained after he was attacked in Imo by thugs suspected to have been spponsored by the state government.

Ajaero had traveled to Owerri on Wednesday, November 1, to rally Imo workers for a planned protest against alleged infringements on the rights and privileges of workers by the state government.

The initially peaceful protest escalated into violence as reports emerged of the emergence of alleged thugs who targeted the protesters and labour leaders.

According to Benson Upah, the NLC Publicity Secretary, speaking to The Nation on Thursday, Ajaero’s injuries, incurred during the scuffle, necessitated medical attention beyond the capacity of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owerri.

Meanwhile, labour leaders have called on security agencies to fish out the thugs who attacked Ajaero and his team in the southeast state.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has sacked the former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, from the Senate.

In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices on Wednesday, the court upheld the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Emmanuel Udende, challenging the Benue State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal’s judgment, which returned Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Senate.

The appellate court held that the tribunal wrongly evaluated the evidence presented before it and arrived at an erroneous conclusion.

In its verdict delivered by Justice Abimbola Osarugue Obaseki Adejumo, the court set aside the tribunal’s judgment and affirmed Udende’s victory in the February 25 senatorial election.

More to follow…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum is currently meeting with former Rivers State Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The politicians have now gone behind closed doors.

The meeting is coming on the heels of reports of a rift between Governor Simi Fubara and his predecessor, who is currently Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The two men reportedly fell out less than six months after Fubara’s inauguration.

Both politicians have been in the news since the Rivers State House of Assembly began impeachment proceedings against the governor on Monday.

On Monday, Fubara stormed the assembly complex with his loyalists to prevent the lawmakers from carrying out their plan.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja will Wednesday pass judgment in the application filed by former Senator Philip Aduda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the election victory of Senator Ireti Kingibe, the lawmaker representing the Federal Capital Territory on the Labour Party platform.

The judgement scheduled for 3 p.m. will be held via Zoom, according to the schedules made available to THE WHISTLER by an official of the court.

All parties, including counsels, are expected to log in 30 minutes before the virtual court session.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer for the FCT senatorial election, Prof. Sani Saka, had declared Kingibe the winner of the poll after garnering 202,175 votes.

She floored Senator Aduda who garnered 100,544 votes and came second.

But Aduda’s legal team approached the national assembly election petitions tribunal sitting in Abuja, seeking the nullification of Kingibe’s victory.

Aduda’s legal team had alleged that the collation of results across the FCT area councils was yet to be concluded when Kingibe was declared the winner.

The tribunal, however, dismissed Aduda’s petition for lacking in merit while upholding Kingibe’s victory at the February 25 polls.

Aduda’s legal team disagreed with the tribunal’s verdict and applied to the Court of Appeal for redress.