Today's Headlines: Ministers: Some Portfolios Are Mismatched–Bwala;Nobody Can Forge WAEC Result–Areghan

Some Portfolios Are Mismatched–Bwala

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Daniel Bwala, an aide to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the last general election, Atiku Abubakar, has said that some of the positions President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assigned to his ministers are mismatched.

Tinubu had on Wednesday assigned 45 portfolios to ministers-designate who will be sworn in Monday.

But Bwala, in an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, said he had reservations over the portfolios, noting that some square pegs were put in round holes.

He said, “I have reservations about so many of Tinubu’s ministers. I will caption my reservation as square pegs in round holes and the challenge of Renewed Hope. There are people who are not competent enough, in my view, to be on the list.

“There are people who are competent but their portfolios are mismatched. Hannatu for example is made the minister of culture while her counterpart, Betta Edu is made minister of humanitarian.

“You have a president who believes he needs to invade Niger, probably to extend that to Mali and Burkina Faso. The president as the chairman of ECOWAS is committed to fighting. There may be humanitarian crises around the borders. That is exactly where she is from. She is very familiar with humanitarian issues. Hannatu would have fit into humanitarian.

“Secondly, the minister of state defence was a former governor who all through the four years his rating in fighting insecurity is 5 over 100. And now you made him minister of state to administer what?”

Nobody Can Forge WAEC Result–Areghan

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The Head of National Office, WAEC Nigeria, Mr. Patrick Areghan, has asserted that West African Examinations Council (WAEC) results and certificates can never be faked, saying the body had put measures in place that won’t allow persons to fake such results.

Areghan who spoke in an interview with selected journalists yesterday said that the council has deployed technological innovation with the ‘WAEC Verify’ platform where corporate organisations, tertiary institutions, government agencies and others can check WAEC results online in order to verify results of prospective applicants.

He stated that despite the desperation of students and applicants to produce fake results online, WAEC results cannot be faked and its database cannot be breached.

“Nobody can fake WAEC results and certificates anywhere in the world. The ‘WAEC Verify’ platform provides online access to tertiary institutions and other establishments to the database for the verification of prospective applicants or students’ results. Institutions can use the platform to verify results presented by candidates,” says Areghan.

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PFN Tasks Tinubu, New Ministers On Solutions To Challenges

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The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has charged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the newly appointed ministers to come up with measures to ameliorate the hardships caused by the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government.

PFN’s national president, Bishop Francis Wale Oke who stated this yesterday when he addressed newsmen on the state of the nation after a three-day retreat of the organization in Ibadan, Oyo State said what Nigerians want to see are solutions to their challenges.

He lamented that Nigerians had been in pain in the last eight years, saying it has been traumatic from kidnapping, banditry and terrible corruption with the economic crisis, saying that Nigerians were battling with so much pains.

He called on the President and the ministers to relieve Nigerians from their pains and not add to it.

The clergyman said, “Be conscious of the fact that they have been traumatised in the past. Let us apply olive oil, let us look at the issues of insecurity, corruption and relieve Nigerians of their pains do not add to it.

“The President and the new cabinet members should fight insecurity, economic wars for survival. Fight the wars, don’t wage war against Nigeria. Whether they voted for you or they did not vote for you, now politics is over, governance should begin.

“Let’s bring everybody together to fight the wars for survival. We should not add to their pains, you should fight their wars.

“Don’t make any set of people as your target whether as a people, tribe or religion or based on ideology. This is over, bring everybody together to fight the wars as you are now the father of everybody.

“We are praying that you succeed. And to all Nigerians, the God who has been with us in the past and knows we are still having challenges, He is still on the throne. He is still with us.

“In fact, there is hope. Since we still live means there is hope. Nigeria is still one nation. Let’s join hands together to build virile nation and move forward.”

Army To Deploy 2,300 Personnel For Imo Guber–REC

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Ahead of the Imo gubernatorial election, the resident electoral commissioner (REC), Prof Syl Agu has said 2,300 army operatives will be deployed for the November 11, 2023 election.

This is even as she admitted that the National Assembly election was riddled with irregularities.

Prof Agu made the disclosure while addressing newsmen at a 2-day media roundtable/engagement on the forthcoming Imo governorship election which was organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) and supported by the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria- phase 2 (EU – SDGN II) in Owerri the Imo State capital, yesterday.

Agu said the General Officer Commanding of 34 Artillery Brigade Obinze, Brigadier General Usman Lawal gave INEC the assurance during a parley.

According to her, the army had assured the commission of adequate security saying the 2,300 personnel will be drawn from three battalions.

On the National Assembly election in Imo State, the Imo REC admitted that there were flaws but maintained that it was caused by adhoc staff who suddenly declined participation on the eve of election over alleged security concerns.

Agu said, “I can tell you that we had the problem we had during the presidential and national assembly election because of sabotage, some of our adhoc staff declined to work on the eve of the election, but that was corrected during state assembly election.

“I’m the REC ,I did not go to the field to conduct the election, my workers did ,we have no report except from Ideato South and Isu ,I have my people on the field, they’re my eyes, so there was no magic, result was declared in all the LGAs except two and it was brought to my table”, she said.

Reacting to criticisms over the state assembly election, the Imo REC said the commission operated without bias saying “INEC has responsibilities, I believe I did my duties, we distributed materials in front of party agents from the CBN office, I never designated the duty to anybody, that morning I even went to two council areas”.

Journalists had openly picked holes with her over the election wherein the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) was declared winner in 25 out of 27 state constituencies.

Agu assured that INEC will conduct a free and fair gubernatorial election come November 11 saying all modalities are almost being taken care of.

Earlier, the executive director Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), Akin Akingbolu called on journalists in Imo to maintain fairness, balance and impartiality in their reportage.

Angela Agoawike, former secretary of Nigerian Guild of Editors was a resource person at the two-day workshop.

Dunyanari (
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