Headlines

In a startling turn of events, a ministerial nominee from Kaduna State, Abbas Balarabe, slumped while undergoing the screening process in the Nigerian Senate today.

The incident occurred during a session to assess the nominee’s qualifications and suitability for a ministerial position within the government.

The nominee was reportedly answering questions posed by senators when they suddenly collapsed.

Senators and medical personnel present in the chamber rushed to provide immediate assistance.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who was presiding over the screening, immediately suspended and asked the cameras of video journalists to be put off.

Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ari­woola, has sworn in his son Olukayode Jnr and 22 others as new judges of the Federal High Court.

Daily Independent reports that the other judges sworn in on Wednesday at the Supreme Court Abuja are Dipeolu Deinde Isaac from Ogun; Ogundare Ke­hinde Olayiwola from Ekiti; Agbaje Olufunmilola Adetutu from Lagos; Musa Kakaki from Kaduna; Abdullahi Muhammad Dan-Ige from Sokoto; and Sharon Tanko Ishaya from Kebbi.

Others are Salim Olasupo Ibrahim from Ogun; Yilwa Hauwa Joseph from Gombe; Wigwe-Oreh Chituru Joy from Rivers; Owoeye Alexander Oluseyi from Kogi; Any­alewa Onoja-Alapa from Benue; Amina Aliyu Mohammad from Katsina; Abiodun Jor­dan Adeyemi from Kwara; Hauwa Buhari from Federal Cap­ital Territory; and Aishatu Auta Ibrahim from Borno.

The rest are Hussaini Dadan-Garba from Bauchi; Ibrahim Ahmad Kala from Gombe; Mashkur Salisu from Zamfara; Onah Chi­gozie Sergius from Enugu; Egbe Raphael Joshua from Bayel­sa; Ekerete Udofot Akpan from Akwa Ibom; and Ogazi Friday Nkemakonam from Ebo­nyi.

The Kano State Agro-pastoral Development Project (KSADP) has said that it will spend about N160 million to vaccinate 1.8 million goats and sheep in its livestock vaccination campaign in different parts of the state.

The Kano government announced this in a statement by KSADP spokesman, Ameen Yassar, on Wednesday.

The project, funded by the Islamic Development Bank and the Lives and Livelihood Funds, aims to enhance livestock health and improve the livelihoods of herders and livestock breeders.

The statement added that KSADP project coordinator Ibrahim Muhammad disclosed these during the kick-off of community sensitisation to the exercise in Kura, near Kano.

“The project is determined to upscale the vaccination because livestock health is tied to your livelihoods and by extension our economy.

“The objective of this interaction is to enhance vaccination and to seek cooperation of all stakeholders so that the exercise succeeds,” Muhammad explained.

Muhammad said the organization had embarked upon several projects, including the upgrade and equipping of Kadawa Artificial Insemination Centre, construction of milk collection centres, upgrade of cattle markets and crop residue utilisation Programme, to improve the livelihood of the herders.

“We shall soon award contract for demarcation of stock routes in Kano, which is major step towards ending conflict between farmers and herders in Kano,” he said.

The district head of Kura, represented by Balarabe Muhammad, disclosed that no outbreak of livestock diseases had been reported in the area in the past three years due to consistent vaccination carried out by the KSADP.

He, therefore, directed village heads and herders’ community leaders in his domain to fully mobilise for the forthcoming vaccination because of its importance.

In his comments on behalf of herders’ communities in Kura LGA, Zubairu Muhammad said they were familiar with livestock vaccination, having benefitted in the past three years, assuring there would be no resistance to the exercise.

“We have seen the impact of the vaccination conducted in the past, so we appreciate the Islamic Development Bank and the LLF for their untiring support,” he said.

Also, the zonal veterinary director for the Rano zone, Idris Ibrahim, who underscored the vaccination’s importance, suggested that the livestock vaccination campaign should include rabies vaccination since the herders also possessed livestock guard dogs.

The State Criminal Investigation Department of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command is currently probing the alleged poisoning of the Minister of Tourism, Lola Ade-John, who has been hospitalised for over a week.

The FCT Police Command Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, revealed the development on Tuesday during an interview with our correspondent.

“The General Investigation Department of the State CID is investigating the matter, and the details of the investigation will be communicated by the FCT Command to the public soon,” Adeh said.

LEADING REPORTERS had earlier reported that Ade-John, 60, who was appointed as a minister by President Bola Tinubu in August and touted as one of the few cabinet members appointed from outside the political beltway, has been hospitalised in Abuja after allegedly suffering acute poisoning from an unknown origin.

According to family sources familiar with the matter, she was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, shortly after she started manifesting symptoms of poisoning.

Though the specifics as to what substance she ingested and how could not be immediately established, the career banker and tech investor, however, was on a machine to aid her breathing.

Officials at the FMC could not be reached as they did not respond to phone calls and text messages from our correspondents.

Pope Francis has hinted he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same-sex unions.

In 2021, the Vatican decreed that the Catholic Church would not bless gay marriages as God “cannot bless sin”.

But late Monday, the Vatican published a letter by Pope Francis addressed to a group of cardinals who asked him for clarity on the issue.

The pope said “pastoral charity” required patience and understanding, adding that priests should not become judges “who only deny, reject and exclude”.

He said a blessing requested was a plea for God’s help to live a better life, even in situations that were “not morally acceptable”.

The religious leader said priests should not only treat people as sinners because they might not fully be at fault for their situations.

Pope Francis suggested that blessing gay unions should not become an official rule but should be decided case by case “because the life of the church runs on channels beyond norms”.

He wrote: “The Church has a very clear understanding of marriage: an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation.

“Only this union can be called marriage. Other forms of union realise it only in a partial and analogous way so they cannot be strictly called marriage.

“For this reason, the Church avoids any type of rite or sacramental that might contradict this conviction and suggest that something that is not marriage is recognised as marriage.

“However, in our relationships with people, we must not lose the pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes.

“For this reason, the Church avoids any type of rite or sacramental that might contradict this conviction and suggest that something that is not marriage is recognised as marriage.

“However, in our relationships with people, we must not lose the pastoral charity, which should permeate all our decisions and attitudes.

“The defence of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness, and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject, and exclude.

“Pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage.

“For when a blessing is requested, it is expressing a plea to God for help, a supplication to live better. Although there are situations that are not morally acceptable from an objective point of view, the same pastoral charity requires us not to simply treat as sinners other people whose guilt or responsibility may be mitigated by various factors affecting subjective accountability.

“Decisions that may be part of pastoral prudence in certain circumstances should not necessarily become a norm. Not everything that is part of practical discernment in particular circumstances can be elevated to the level of a rule.

“Canon law should not and cannot cover everything, as the life of the Church flows through many channels other than normative ones.”

In 2020, Pope Francis called gay Catholics “children of God” and gave his endorsement to same-sex civil unions.

A handful of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday ousted Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as party infighting plunged Congress into further chaos just days after it narrowly averted a government shutdown.

The 216-to-210 vote marked the first time in history that the House removed its leader, with eight Republicans voting with 208 Democrats to remove McCarthy. McCarthy told reporters he would not make another run for speaker.

I fought for what I believe in,” McCarthy said. “I believe I can continue to fight, but maybe in a different manner.”

The House looked set to go leaderless for at least a week, as multiple Republicans said they planned to meet on Oct. 10 to discuss possible McCarthy successors, with a vote on a new speaker planned for Oct. 11.

Tuesday’s rebellion was led by Representative Matt Gaetz, a far-right Republican from Florida and McCarthy antagonist who finally turned on the speaker after he on Saturday relied on Democratic votes to help pass a bill to avoid a partial government shutdown.

“Kevin McCarthy is a creature of the swamp. He has risen to power by collecting special interest money and redistributing that money in exchange for favors. We are breaking the fever now,” Gaetz told reporters after the vote.

It was the latest moment of high drama in a year when the Republican-controlled House brought Washington to the brink of a catastrophic default on U.S. debt of $31.4 trillion and a partial government shutdown.

Republicans control the chamber by a narrow 221-212 majority, meaning they can afford to lose no more than five votes if Democrats unite in opposition.

McCarthy’s ouster as speaker brings legislative activity in the House to a halt, with another government shutdown deadline looming Nov. 17 if Congress does not extend funding.

The White House said it hoped the House would move swiftly to choose a replacement speaker, a position second in line to the presidency after the vice president.

No fewer than 30 persons reportedly drowned as the boat carrying over 50 passengers capsized in Yauri Local Government Area of Kebbi State, on Monday.

Confirming the ugly development to the Voice of America through telephone, the Chairman of Yauri LGA, Bala Yauri, said the incident has left the people of the local government in deep sorrow.

He said efforts are in top gear by local divers to locate the corpses of the passengers who drowned in the river.

“From the information I gathered, more than fifty persons were involved in the accident while some of them escaped but as of now that I am talking to you, over thirty of them as still trapped in the river.

“We have mobilised the local divers to try and locate bodies of the victims for proper evacuation and possibly befitting burials in accordance with Islamic rights. 

“The boat as I heard carried passengers who are mostly traders from either Niger State or Kebbi State alongside foodstuffs for sell before the unfortunate incident”

Also speaking, a witness of the incident, Alhaji Sani Yauri, confirmed that the accident was caused by a heavy wind which resulted in the driver losing control of the boat.

“I was there when the incident happened, it was as a result of heavy wind which resulted in the driver of the boat losing control and it capsized immediately “

Meanwhile, efforts to speak with the spokesman of the Nigerian Police Force in the state, DSP Nafiu Abubakar, was not successful as he neither responded to calls nor responded to text messages sent to him at the time of filling this report

Police authorities in Lagos State have arrested Afrobeats star Naira Marley.

“Azeez Fashola aka Naira Marley has been taken into custody for interrogation and other investigation activities,” Lagos police command spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin said late Tuesday.

More to follow…