Nigeria will face food crisis in next three months – Attahiru Bafarawa
A former Governor of Sokoto State and member of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, raised concern on Sunday over the banditry in the North-West and North-East, saying it has constituted a serious threat to food security in Nigeria.
Source: Punch papers
According to him, instead of talking about cabinet ministerial appointments, subsidies, and the economy, the government of President Bola Tinubu should consider food security as his priority. The elder statesman also warned that if stringent measures were not taken to curb insecurity, the North would face severe educational backwardness in the next 50 years.
Bafarawa, who stated these in an interview with The PUNCH, said that many primary and secondary schools in Northern Nigeria have been shut down because of the activities of bandits, saying, “This is a serious disaster.” Our correspondent reported that while the announcement by the government of the removal of subsidy on petrol culminated in a hike in the price of food and consumables, discussions about the ministerial appointment by the President have dominated discussion in recent times.
Tinubu departs Lagos for Abuja
President Bola Tinubu on Sunday left Lagos where he has been on Sallah holidays for Abuja. Before departing the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Tinubu in the company of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu took the salute Nigeria Army parade.
Source: Punch papers
During his five days stay in Lagos, the president paid a courtesy visit to the paramount rulers of Ijebu, Egba, and Eko. He also played host to the President of Guinea Bissau and Chairman, Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, Umaro Sissoco Embalo in his Lagos residence on Saturday. As Tinubu returns head to the seat of power, Nigerians are patiently waiting for his list of ministerial nominees amidst speculations of intense lobbying by interested individuals.
A source told The PUNCH that the list is ready and undergoing final security checks by the Department of State Services and members of the Presidential Strategic Team. The source also hinted that the president kept the core of the ministers to himself, heavily influenced by the kitchen cabinet of his special advisers.
Pakistan Taliban kill four police in Balochistan attack
Four security officers were killed in a shootout in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Pakistan Taliban.
Source: Guardian Nigeria
About a dozen gunmen attacked policemen and paramilitary Frontier Constabulary officers at a highway checkpoint in Zhob district, prompting a two-hour gunbattle. “Four of the security officials, including three policemen and one Frontier Corps officer, were killed in the attack. One of the suspected attackers has also been killed but not yet identified,” Zhob’s commissioner, Saeed Umrani, told AFP.
Attacks, mostly targeting security forces, have been on the rise again since the Afghan Taliban seized control in Kabul in 2021 and a shaky months-long ceasefire between the TTP and Islamabad ended in November last year. The assaults have been regular in regions abutting Afghanistan and Islamabad alleges some are being planned on Afghan soil.
My BP would have risen if I lost my Senatorial bid—Oshiomhole
Sen. Adams Oshiomhole (APC-Edo) has said that if he lost his senatorial ambition, his blood pressure would have risen to 360 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).
Source: Guardian Nigeria
Oshiomhole said this during the post-inauguration/thank you party hosted in his honor by friends and well-wishers at his country home, Iyamho, Etsako, Edo, on Saturday. “If you have voted against me, I don’t know if my blood pressure will now be 240/0360 that is if I’m still alive.
“Because the jubilations by the opponent would have been such that they will come and lock my small door and break my small bones, but you said no”, Oshiomhole told his audience. Oshiomhole said that many governors lost in their bids to become senators, adding that it would have been a shame to him if he also lost.
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