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2019: Ex-military generals can stop Buhari’s second term bid – Yakassai

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The Chairman of Northern Elders’ Council (NEC), Tanko Yakassai, has reacted to the speculation that some retired Generals are plotting to prevent President Muhammadu Buhari from a second term in office.

According to him, though ex-military generals, especially former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not take the country to the promise land, they nevertheless control the destiny of most Nigerians, and were played key roles in determining who governed the nation.

While acknowledging that Obasanjo spoke the mind of many Nigerians in his special statement urging Buhari not to seek re-election, Yakassai vowed to stand by it.

He told Newtelegraph Newspaper: “When elections are around the corner, all sorts of things would be happening. This is democracy, people have the rights to get together and offer their views one way or the other. You cannot quarrel with people doing that, this is the freedom that democracy offers. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, all these sorts of things are inherent in a democracy.

“For Obasanjo’s letter, I said before that he spoke the mind of many Nigerians and I still stand by it.

“I am a lone voice in Nigeria against the insistence of the military to continue to rule Nigeria either in uniform or in mufti, because they have done their own and the people have seen how far the military has taken the country.

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“The military did not take this country to the Promise Land throughout the time they ruled the country with uniform or in civilian cloth. So let them know that.

“But the issue is that the political parties are tools in the hands of the military and it started with Obasanjo who took over the control of the party and appointed himself as the leader and the governors as leaders in their states, since then 37 of them have been deciding the fate of Nigeria.

“Somebody recently said that all the people that were elected by Nigerians in all the political parties were imposed on the people, they were not the choice of the people.

“Immediately after Obasanjo, he nominated the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua, he later joined others to nominate Goodluck Jonathan, he left Jonathan and later joined others to bring Buhari to power. So they are now in control of the destiny of Nigerians.

“Actually, the military got the opportunity to lord it over the people when Obasanjo appointed himself the leader of the party, and remove the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and in the process appointed governors as leaders of the party in their respective states, eventually nobody becomes a member of the State Working Committee of the party without the consent of the governor, even if he was already elected, he would be removed and somebody else will replace him. That is why the entire NWC of the PDP were removed not only once, twice but three times by Obasanjo and replaced with people who will do his bidding.”

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Dangote Slashes Diesel Price Amidst Economic Optimism

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Dangote Petroleum Refinery has made headlines by announcing a further reduction in the price of diesel, dropping it from ₦1200 to ₦1000 naira per litre.

The refinery’s decision comes on the heels of its recent supply at a significantly reduced price of ₦1200 per litre, which was introduced three weeks ago, signifying a remarkable 30 per cent decrease from the previous market price of approximately ₦1600 per litre.

This substantial reduction in diesel prices at Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to reiterate positively throughout various sectors of the economy, potentially serving as a catalyst in alleviating the persistently high inflation rate in the country.

In a statement last week, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest individual and the owner of the refinery, expressed his optimism regarding the potential impact of the price reduction on inflation in Nigeria.

“I believe that we are on the right track. I believe Nigerians have been patient, and I also believe that a lot of goodies will now come through. There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the naira devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about ₦1900,” he remarked.

As anticipation builds around the implications of this move by Dangote Petroleum Refinery, stakeholders and consumers alike remain hopeful for the positive effects it could bring to the Nigerian economy in the coming months.

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Ukrainian Conflict Claims 50,000 Russian Troops

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Officers of the special police force “White Angel” Hennadiy Yudin 47(L) and Dmytro Solovyi 23 (R) walk past destroyed buildings and debris during the evacuation of local residents from the village of Ocheretyne not far from Avdiivka town in the Donetsk region, on April 15, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii STEPANOV / AFP)

More than 50,000 Russian military personnel have died during the Ukraine conflict, the BBC reported Wednesday, citing its own reporters, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers.

They found that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers died during the second year of the war, a 25-percent increase on the first year.

BBC Russian, Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022, using open-source information from official reports and the media, as well as using satellite images of Russian cemeteries to estimate the number of new graves.

The figure of more than 50,000 is eight times higher than the official toll acknowledged by Moscow in September 2022. It does not include deaths of militia in Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine said in February that it had lost 31,000 soldiers, but that figure is also likely to be significantly lower than the true toll.

Russian losses spiked in January 2023 as it launched a large-scale offensive in Donetsk and again months later last year during the battle for the city of Bakhmut.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, which has since turned into a bloody and attritional war, isolating Russia from the Western world.

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Responding to the report, the Kremlin said it did not disclose any information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the remit of the defence ministry.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added official secrets laws and those covering what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine meant it was “absolutely understandable” that the ministry did not release the figures.

 

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95 Million Nigerians Yet to Enroll for National ID Numbers – NIMC Reveals

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The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has disclosed that 95 million Nigerians need to enroll for the National Identification Number (NIN) to meet its target of 200 million enrollments by 2025.

Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, emphasised the importance of this enrollment during an interview on X over the weekend.

He stated, “For NIMC to meet the 200 million target by 2025, 95 million Nigerians need to register for the NIN.”

Adegoke revealed that over 105 million NINs have been issued to Nigerians and legal residents so far.

He assured Nigerians of the commission’s commitment, saying, “We want to assure Nigerians that within the next one or two years, we will reach our target of enrolling all Nigerians.”

“The NIN serves as a unique identifier for each citizen and has become increasingly important for various government initiatives aimed at improving security, governance, and service delivery.”

Adegoke highlighted the efforts to streamline the modification and enrollment processes under the leadership of Abisoye Coker, the director-general of NIMC. He announced the development of a self-service platform, allowing Nigerians to make necessary modifications such as changing names, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers from anywhere, using different devices.

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Emphasising the convenience of the self-service modification portal, Adegoke encouraged Nigerians to utilize this innovative solution.

He noted the evolution of the process, citing the past requirement for applicants to visit NIMC offices for data corrections.

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