Today's Headlines: “I am sorry,” Keyamo begs Senate; No Result Declared In My Unit, This Must Be Fake Result, Witness Counters INEC Before Tribunal

“I am sorry,” Keyamo begs Senate

Former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has begged the Senate over perceived grievance with him.

The Senate had exploded into a rowdy session earlier today when Keyamo came for screening. A Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Darlington Nwokocha, moved a motion for the suspension of Keyamo’s ministerial screening.

Nwokocha’s motion was seconded by his colleague from Abia-South Senatorial District, Enyinnaya Abaribe.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio thereafter subjected the motion to a voice vote but the lawmakers were divided on the matter.

The red chamber immediately erupted into a rowdy session.

Amid heated argument between the lawmakers, Akpabio rose to his feet, announcing that the Senate will enter a closed session.

Nwokocha said during the Buhari administration, Keyamo was invited to explain the Special Public Works programme but he didn’t honour the invitation.

The programme was coordinated by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) which was under the ministry Keyamo supervised.

No Result Declared In My Unit, This Must Be Fake Result, Witness Counters INEC Before Tribunal

ABEOKUTA – A witness at the ongoing Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Olalekan Odesanya, has revealed how the election was canceled in his polling unit after the process was disrupted on March 18.

Odesanya, one of the witnesses called by the second defendant, Governor Dapo Abiodun, wondered where the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, got the result announced for his polling unit.

Odesanya, who said he voted at Polling Unit 002, Wesley Primary School, Oke Eri, in Ijebu-North East Local Government Area of Ogun State, testified that no result was recorded by INEC officials.

According to him, the election was disrupted by individuals who were allegedly sharing credit cards with voters.

However, Odesanya expressed surprise when his attention was drawn to the certified true copy of the Form EC8A of his polling unit by the counsel to the petitioner, Gordy Uche.

Uche asked Odesanya to take a look at the result belonging to his unit, in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 139 and the All Progressives Congress (APC), 66 votes.

Subsidy removal: Tinubu’ll create at least 56 CNG stations in the first phase – Ajuri Ngelale

The Presidential Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale said President Bola Tinubu plans to create at least 56 CNG (compress natural gas) stations in the first phase of his administration.

Ngelale disclosed in a chat with journalists on the TVC show, Journalists Hangout, monitored by our correspondent.

The Presidential Spokesperson informed that the Federal Government has partnered with an indigenous company NIPCO on the project.

He said, “How this is going to work is that already we have partnered with an indigenous company NIPCO, which may be familiar to many Nigerians. They have 14 CNG filling stations across the country, they are the only company that has CNG filling stations at that scale., There’s a need to massively scale that up to get stations established across the country.

“They already have 14 CNG filling stations across the country, there is a plan to create at least 56 CNG stations in phase 1 because this is time-based and the President understands the urgency.”

“We are going to see an unprecedented scale in investment not just in electric vehicle production and distribution but also CNG fueled vehicles both in production and ensuring you have dealt with the supply side and demand side. 

“Mr. President understands the pains Nigerians are facing and feeling in all parts of the country due to the removal of fuel subsidy with fuel prices on an average of N617 per liter and knowing that CNG runs between N139 and N179 per liter. It’s a no-brainer to move aggressively to ensure that we adopt CNG-fueled vehicles, particularly our commercial transportation companies who are enlisted in the first phase,” he said. 

Weeping Super Falcons’ striker Oparanozie apologizes to Nigerians

In a sad mood, Super Falcons’ veteran striker, Desire Oparanozie has apologized to Nigerians after failing to beat the ten-woman Lionesses of England in the round of 16 of the 2023 Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

In a post she shared on her Twitter handle, she said “Sad day! Very disappointing to have lost through penalties, and even more disappointing not to have converted mine. And for this, I deeply apologize”.

Oparanozie who came into the field during extra time, took Nigeria’s first penalty and missed her kick.

The match which had lasted for over 120 minutes after 90 minutes of regular football and 30 minutes of extra-time ended at 0-0 for both teams and had to be settled penalties.

England, however, went on to score all their subsequent spot kicks, but Super Falcons’ second spot-kick taker, Michelle Alozie also failed to score her kick.

This led to the Super Falcons ending their promising run at the 2023 Women’s World Cup with 4-2 on penalties.

BREAKING: Senate fails to confirm El-Rufai, two others, cites security concerns

The Nigerian Senate on Monday failed to confirm the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir EL-Rufai.

Forty-five ministerial nominees out of 48 nominees forwarded to the Senate by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have been confirmed.

Speaking after the confirmation of the 45 nominees, Senate President, Godswill Obot Akpabio, revealed that Nasir El-Rufai and two others have not been cleared by security checks.

Akpabio said: “El-Rufai and two others have not been cleared by security checks.”

Those not confirmed are Malam Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Stella Okotete (Delta), and Danladi Umar (Taraba).

Akabest (
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