News
Breaking: Senate confirms Service Chiefs
Nigeria Senate on Tuesday confirmed the newly appointed Service Chiefs to replace the former ones.
President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded their names to the Senate for confirmatiion in line with the Military Act.
The confirmation followed the report by the Senate Committee on Defence which was submitted to the Senate plenary and which was satisfactorily debated.
Chairman of Senate Committee on Defence and former governor of Sokoto State, Senator Magatakarda Wamakko in the report explained that the nominees who were appointed to replace the former ones made themselves available for screening following the upper chamber’s resolution on 3rd February, 2021.
According to him, the Committee was detailed in the screening in line with the relevant sections of the law, particularly with regards to the tendering of their documents, viz: “Educational certificates, NYSC, Code of Conduct and others.”
Senator Wamakko reminded the plenary that the nominees were already in acting capacity in line with the Act that established the Nigerian military.
“That the Senate do receive and consider the report of the Committee on Defence on the confirmation of the nomination of the following persons for appointment as Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs for Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Senate James Manager representing Delta South Senatorial district supported the report, saying that they should be confirmed without delay.
According to him, he knew some of the nominees for quite sometime, stressing that they have been working hard to protect the nation.
They are:
1. Maj. General Lucky Eluonye Onyenucheya Irabor – Chief of Defence Staff
2. Maj. General Ibrahim Attahiru – Chief of Army Staff
3. Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo – Chief Naval Staff
4. Air Vice Marshal Isiaka O. Amao
After the confirmation Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan enjoined them to take the battle against insurgents to the forest.
Lawan said Nigerians would no longer accept the incessant abduction of schools students, while he urged the military to end the menace.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Thursday said, requirements for recalling Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan representing Kogi Central Senatorial District were lacking in the petition.
In a statement to update circumstances surrounding a purported petition against Natasha, the INEC said, it has rejected the petition.
The Commission said, Natasha is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there are requirements to recall her or any other Senator, but it cannot consider the petitions that lack merits.
Earlier the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, acknowledged receipt of petition against the embattled lawmaker from her constituents after submitting it to the INEC headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan representing Kogi Central Senatorial District was the former Chairman of Senate Committee on Local Contents, but was suspended from the Senate over alleged breach of Senate Standing Rules.
Natasha disclosed that she has approached the Court to quash her suspension which she claimed was illegal.
According to the petitioners, over 250,000 constituents’ signed the petition, out of about 480,000 registered voters in the senatorial district.
The petition was titled Constituents’ Petition for the Recall of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on Grounds of Loss of Confidence’.
In a brief statement on Thursday, the Commission said, “The petition for the recall of the Senator representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District has not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”
The female lawmaker also on Tuesday defied ban by Kogi State Government and visited her Senatorial District in what she said, was a Sallah visit to felicitate with those who gave her their mandate.
Operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), have arrested two principal suspects involved in the killing of 16 Nigerians of Northern extraction in Uromi, Esan North East Local Government last week.
The suspects were arrested by operatives of the DSS in Uromi, following credible intelligence. Operatives of various security agencies are hunting for other key suspects involved in the unfortunate incidents
Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, had on Monday in Kano State, during a condolence visit, revealed that 14 suspects had already been arrested in connection with the killing.
Governor Okpebholo who visited the State to condole with the Government and families of the victims, had vowed that justice will be served and those involved in the killing will be brought to justice.
Governor Okpebholo had also assured families of the victims that adequate compensations will be paid.
In the latest development, the two principal suspects arrested by officials of the DSS, have been transferred to Abuja, the nation’s capital, for further interrogation and prosecution by the relevant authorities.
A Nigerian televangelist, Timothy Omotoso has been acquitted of rape after spending eight years in prison in South Africa.
Trouble started when the televangelist was accused of raping young women from his South African church, an accusation he denied when he was arrested eight years ago.
His trial was aired live I South Africa and gained interest across the country, but insisted that he was not guiltynof 32-count charges against him.
In 2018, one witness told the court she had been raped by the pastor – who ran a church in the city of Port Elizabeth – when she was 14 years old.
The presiding judge on Wednesday 1st April, 2025 delivered judgement, saying Pastor Timothy Omotoso has not bèn found guilty over this case because prosecutors had mishandled the case.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) shared a similar assessment, saying that “former prosecutors in the case acted improperly and the accused were not sufficiently cross-examined by the state”.
The NPA said it will now “consider its legal options”.
For his part, Mr Omotoso told the media he thanked God for the verdict.
His co-accused, Lusanda Sulani and Zikiswa Sitho, were also found not guilty.
Mr Omotoso was dramatically arrested at an airport in 2017 as he sought to leave the country.
His trial was the first prominent rape case to be broadcast live in a country where sexual violence is rampant.
The hearings attracted huge interest, and raised difficult questions about victims’ rights, impartiality and whether justice is best served by having television cameras in courtrooms.
Following Wednesday’s verdict, Mr Omotoso will be deported to Nigeria, South African media outlet News24 reported.
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