Presidency Steps Up Moves To End NLC Strike

The Presidency yesterday stepped up efforts to convince labour unions in the country to call off their strike following the earlier meeting at which the government accepted their demand to reconvene the tripartite meeting on the proposed new national minimum wage.

A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, noted that the meeting between the labour leadership and the representatives of the employers of labour is now scheduled to reconvene on Thursday, October 4.

He said: “By its tripartite nature, the committee is made up of persons from the public sector (federal and state governments) and the private sector made up of the largest private employer group and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).


“Other members include the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES).

“Invitation letters have since been dispatched to all the participants.

“At the moment, the Presidency understands that the combined leadership of the unions, having met and deliberated on the position of the government, have now set in motion a process of consultations with their constituent members to determine their next line of action.” he said

He said that the Presidency wished to assure that the federal government is taking every step necessary to get the unions to call off the strike.

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APC's Victory In Osun Shows Democracy Is Working - Tinubu

All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader,  Asiwaju Bola Tinubu says the party’s victory in the Osun governorship election shows that democracy is at work in the country.

Tinubu said this after he received Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun and the newly elected state Governor,  Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola at his Resident in Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday.

Tinubu said that the people of Osun exercised their rights and chose the best candidate to drive development in the state.

”The people of Osun, the state of ‘Omoluabi’ demonstrated their strong determination, they have good judgment, they exercised their rights to choose the best candidate necessary for developmental programmes in the state.


”When you look at those who were running, you have the best, the most brilliant, the most qualified, competent, calm and great candidate.

”That is what they have done to show that democracy is at work.

“Democracy is about the people, and the people have equally exercised their right to be tolerant, patient, persevere and do what is necessary to develop the economy of the state.

”And you need the most competent person that will perform.

”In leadership, you need a thinker and a doer that must be present in the mind, body and soul; that person who will carry the responsibility of the state and I feel that Mr. Oyetola fits perfectly,” he said.

Tinubu urged the people of Osun to encourage and give maximum support to Oyetola.

”The rest is for the people of Osun state to rally round and give him the necessary support and encourage him to do well following the legacy already built.

”He already has a blueprint for development agenda,” he said.

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More Troubles For Ambode As 36 Lawmakers Adopt Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat Also Steps Down For Him

Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have adopted Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the candidate they will support in the coming governorship primaries of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to a statement by the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, Honourable (Princess) Adefunmilayo Tejuoso, the decision was taken at a Parliamentary meeting of the lawmakers which took place at Lateef Jakande auditorium on Saturday, a day before the governorship primaries of the party.

The meeting was presided over by the Speaker of the House, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa. 36 members were present out of the 40 members of the House and all of them endorsed the decision and duly signed the statement announcing the decision.


Hons. Segun Olulade and Abiodun Tobun both from Epe constituencies 1&2, thesame place as Governor Akinwunmi Ambode were absent including Hon. Sikiru Osinowo who is said to be outside the country.

The lawmakers stated that they were in agreement with the leadership of the party and the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) which had earlier endorsed Sanwo-olu for the governorship ticket.

“At the Parliamentary meeting held on 29th September, 2018 at the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, members do hereby unanimously resolve to support the position of the Leadership of All Progressive Congress(APC) and the Governor’s Advisory Council(GAC) in Lagos State on the endorsement of Mr. Babajide Sanwoolu as the APC Gubernatorial candidate in the 2019 election.

The meeting was attended by 36 out of the 40 Honourable members in the House of Assembly.”

In a similar development on Saturday, at a meeting held at the Ikoyi residence of Sanwo-Olu, Obafemi Hamzat the third aspirant in the tripartite governorship race, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat stepped down for Sanwo-Olu calling on his supporters to vote massively for Sanwo-Olu at tomorrow’s direct primaries which will take place all over the state.

Hamzat described Sanwo-Olu as a man of integrity who is competent to handle serious business of governance.

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We Only Defraud Greedy People- Suspect

The Kwara State Police Command has arrested five members of a fraud syndicate that specialises in producing fake foreign currencies.

It was learnt that the operational vehicle of the suspects, a Mazda 323 with the number plate, FUF 646 XA, painted in Kwara taxi colour, was also recovered by the police.

Punch correspondent gathered that the suspects usually operated in threes. While one would act as a driver, two others would pretend as the passengers.


Saturday Punch learnt that they would target good-looking persons waiting by the roadside for a cab.

After their victims had boarded the cab, they would initiate a discussion on mass production of foreign currencies.

It was said that the passengers, having got enamoured with the gimmick, would show interest in the “business.”

They would subsequently pay the driver millions of naira in exchange for the purported mass foreign currency production only for them to later realise that the currencies were fake.

The suspects, Sesan Oguga, Owoyemi Gbenga, Sebile Oluwafemi, Adebayo Akeem and Ayoola Issac, were paraded on Wednesday by the state Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Fafowora, at the state police command headquarters in Ilorin.

Fafowora raised the alarm that fraudsters had devised new means of swindling money out of unsuspecting members of the public, advising people to be wary of the vehicles they boarded.

The CP stated that the syndicate specialised in defrauding innocent commuters of their money in exchange for fake foreign currencies.

He stated that the suspects had defrauded two victims, Mrs. Adekeye Feyisayo of N1.055m and Bilikis Abdulkareem and five others victims of N3.5m.

He said, “The suspects pretend to be taxi operators and defraud their unsuspecting passengers.  Their operational vehicle, a Mazda 323 with registration number, FUF 646 XA, Kwara taxi colour, has been recovered.”

The CP also said the command had arrested some suspects for illegal possession and repair of firearms.

He explained that some suspects were equally arrested for armed robbery, cultism, vandalism of transformers, as well as armoured cables and drug peddling.

Fafowora said, “Nineteen suspected armed robbers and thieves were arrested. Eleven suspected cult members were equally arrested within the last two weeks. Members of the public are advised to continually make information available to the police and be vigilant of happenings around them.”

One of the suspected fraudsters, Adebayo Akeem, said the gang usually went after greedy people by luring their victims with foreign currencies.

He said, “Those people that have ojukokoro (greedy people) are the ones we collect money from. We have dealt with two people. At times, we connive with the aides of rich people to defraud them.”

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Like Harrysong, I Fought With Suicidal Thoughts During Depression -Nikky Laoye

In recent times, a number of Nigerian entertainers have openly confessed that at a point in their lives they suffered depression.

In a chat, delectable gospel music artiste, Oyenike Laoye, popularly known as Nikky Laoye, told Showtime that she has also had her fair share of the bitter emotional trauma.

I have certainly had my moments of depression. Losing my father in my arms in 2011 was one of the biggest blows I ever had to deal with. It knocked me completely off my feet because we were a very close knit family.


After his demise, I fell into deep depression, I locked myself away from the world for a long while musically and even from friends. It certainly took prayers, God and personal decisions to fight for my mind to get myself out of that dark hole of excruciating despair”, she said.

Speaking on how best to deal with depression, she said;“Depression is real and it creeps up once in a while, especially during moments of loss but you have to fight, talk to people about it and keep your head above that murky water of hopelessness.

 May God continue to strengthen and rescue everyone dealing with depression.” She added that just like Harrysong, who recently overcame suicidal thoughts while battling depression; she also nursed the idea of calling it quits with life but was able to overcome it through prayers and personal decision.

“In a state of deep despair and pain, suicidal thoughts would definitely run through your mind and oh yes, it certainly came knocking at my mind’s door but I refused to listen to it. I prayed about it, talked through it and fought for my life.”

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Mama Taraba Resigns As Minister, Quits APC

Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan, also known as Mama Taraba, has resigned from President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet and from the ruling All Progressives Congress. Alhassan hinged her resignation on her disqualification in the screening for the 2019 Taraba state governorship contest by the APC National Working Committee.

She said she was axed without any viable or genuine reason. “If I am not good enough to contest elections in the APC, then I feel I am not also qualified to remain a minister in the APC government,” she stated. She thanked the president, her ward executives and other members of the party for the opportunity given her to serve.

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My Manager Stole $20,000 Prize Money I Got For Kora Awards -King Wadada

Around 2010, King Wadada, also known as Austin Peter, was seen as the upcoming king of reggae in Nigeria and Africa. The reggae singer was so big that he won the Kora Awards as Africa’s best reggae artist of the year.

Despite the high hopes his fans had for him, after a short while, nothing was heard from the artiste. In a chat with Saturday Beat, he revealed that he became a cobbler and that he was not ashamed of it.

He said, “When I was nominated for the Kora Awards in 2010, I did not have a sponsor so I reached out to a man, Uzo, who helped me canvass for votes and also assisted with the money for the trip to travel to receive the award.


“He said he believed I would win and decided to be my sponsor. When we got there, I won the award and he stood in as my manager. The money was later paid into his account and after a while, when I did not hear anything from the organisers of the award, I called them to find out what was happening and they told me that they had given the money – $20,000 -to my manager.

“When I called him, he told me that Kora Awards only gave him part of the money and that he wanted to use it to ‘package’ me. During the Kora concert, I played with Akon and Rihanna (international superstars) and from there; I was given another contract to perform in Germany. After we performed in Germany, he ran away with the money I was paid. He said that he wanted us to be like D’banj and Don Jazzy at the time. I really believed in him.

“When we were in Germany, Rihanna’s manager at the time, offered me a deal but I noticed that my manager was not enthusiastic about it, so I stuck with him because I saw him as somebody who really believed in me. I did not want a situation whereby I would be the one to disappoint him. I did not want to be the one to destroy the plan that we had, unknown to me that he had other ulterior motives. Immediately we arrived in Nigeria, he ran away with my money and passport. I was not able to collect my passport till after two years and by that time, it had already expired.”

The singer also hinted that at the peak of his career, he was able to record a song with Rihanna. He, however, explained the reason why the song had not been released.

“I did a track with Rihanna, which we recorded in 2010 but I have not released the song because I have not been able to see her for the visual (effects). It really affected my career and that was why I was not vibrant for a long while, I am glad that I am back now,” Wadada said.

However, Uzo, in a telephone interview, denied all the allegations levelled against him by Wadada, saying the singer was only seeking cheap publicity. He added that since the beginning of the year, Wadada had been begging him to come back and be his manager.

“Do you know Wadada? Don’t you know Wadada? He would do a poster for his show and put the likes of Tuface and everybody that he knows that would not attend the show. Wadada is sick. If I speak, he will get the attention he wants. He is irrelevant. I helped his career and you can check it out on YouTube.

“You would see what I did for him on stage at the Kora Concert. I shot videos for him free of charge. I was the one that paid for his first flight out of Nigeria. Before then, no one had ever taken him anywhere, not even to Cotonou in Benin Republic. I managed him and put him on the same stage with Akon in Benin Republic. I took him to different countries. Every good thing that happened to his career after he sang, Holy Holy, was through me.

“Wadada has been begging me since the beginning of this year to drop Majek Fashek as my artiste and resume managing him. He said I should drop Majek Fashek because he was sick and he promised that this time would be better. I never did anything like that for Wadada and he is saying all this because he is seeking attention; cheap promotion,” Uzo said.

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Olusegun Mimiko Dumps Labour Party

The former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, has dumped the Labour Party for the Zenith Labour Party.

The spokesman for the former governor, Eni Akinsola, who confirmed this during an interview with TheCable, said Mimko has joined the ZLP

According to Akinsola, Mimiko said he is bothered by the “subtle hijack” of LP by the All Progressives Congress’ national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, using the Nigeria Labour Congress leadership.

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Bimbo Thomas Celebrates Birthday With Beautiful Photos & Words To Self

The mother of one who has succeeded in keeping the father of her child very private is plus one today and grateful she is alive. Celebrating her self on social media, Bimbo Thomas popularly refereed to as Mummy J wrote;

Oh happy day !! Oh happy day!!......... 29th September **** A Queen was born 👸.A strong woman,strong willed and she has determinations that exceeds all expectations. She's faced many challenges and has overcome them all with God's Grace. 🙏🙏🙏🙏Kindness and a power so immense that it shakes the world to its core. Her honesty is her beauty. She's intelligent and very courageous. Confident in herself and compassionate in her thoughts. Independent and able, strong and graceful, Her strength is in her Openness😘😘😘😘😘 HBD 2 self . To all team that pulled ds stuff in a short while I say thank you 😘

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Oh Dear! Ghanaian Kills Wife, Self In Ibadan

A Ghanaian, Bonga Augustus, on Thursday in Baba Ijebu Village, Akanran, Ona Ara council area of Ibadan, Oyo State, killed his wife and himself with an axe.

It was gathered that Augustus, said to be in his 60s, also used the axe to inflict serious injuries on his stepdaughter.

He was until his death a farmer.

The sexagenarian was said to have killed his wife, Margaret, a native of Benue State, on Thursday after a misunderstanding.


A man, who lives within the community and pleaded anonymity, said the couple seemed to enjoy cordial relationship with no sign of friction between them.

He said, “They were hard working couple who looked good living together. From what we knew, they did not always quarrel. People knew them as a happy couple in the community. But in the middle of the night, we were awoken by a scream from the couple’s room. By the time we were able to intervene, he had used an axe to injure his wife.

“We could not safe her because he threatened to attack us with the axe. The woman’s intestine protruded. When the stepdaughter moved close to the man, he also stabbed her with the axe. She was injured in the face and spinal cord.

“A little while after, the woman died. We prevented the husband from running away. Knowing that he had been overpowered, he ripped his stomach open with the axe. He was taken to the Akanran Police Station where he died. The stepdaughter was later taken to a hospital for treatment.”

It was learnt that the injured stepdaughter, a 16-year-old girl, is preparing for her final secondary school examination.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the incident, saying investigation had already begun to unravel what led to the tragedy.

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My Wife & I Didn’t Date, We Just Got Married - Akpororo

While many people believe in having a long courtship with their partner in order to know them well before marriage, it seems popular comedian, Akpororo, is an exception to the rule.

In a recent chat Saturday Beats, the comedian and singer hinted that he had known his wife since she was part of a dance group and shortly after they began to exchange pleasantries, they got married.

“I did not date my wife. We are in the same industry and she was with Explicit Dance Group. We had met on some occasions and greeted each other.


We never had any period to date; I would say we started dating after we got married. Although I am a comedian, when I approached her, she took my words seriously because whenever I am serious you would easily know.

“I was already popular as of the time I got married to my wife. Some people say that once you get married, your tempo or output in the industry would drop but I do not believe that because whatever you believe would happen to your career is what would happen to it. I changed the belief that you need to date someone for a long period before you get married,” he said.

The humour merchant, who affirmed that Nigerian comedians seemed to always go for beautiful women, however, said it was just a coincidence.

He said, “We work hard and we see beautiful ladies every day so it is only natural to marry a beautiful woman. It is just a coincidence that comedians have beautiful wives, but the truth is that we all love pretty women. When we talk about beauty, it does not have to do with the face alone but character, being hard-working, and a prayer warrior. We just love beautiful women.”

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Woman Storms Onto Football Pitch & Repeatedly Slaps Boyfriend After Discovering He's MARRIED

A woman stormed onto a football pitch and started slapping his boyfriend after discovering he was married.

The bemused referee blew the whistle to stop the match and other players could be heard asking the two to leave the pitch, but the furious woman marched straight towards her boyfriend.

And the embarrassed man appeared to know she was coming, trying in vain to avoid her by walking away.


In footage of the attack, she immediately begins slapping him and pulling at his top, shouting: "You're married and still fooling around?!"

The guilty man does not respond as she follows him around the pitch, slapping him on the face and repeatedly hitting his head.

She continues to shout at the man, who apparently hid the fact that he was married, turning his unwitting girlfriend into a mistress and secret lover.

She says: "I'm asking you a question! Are you married?"

She adds: "Your wife may not care, but I care! Are you married or not? Why are you doing this to me? Do I look like I'm easy to bully?"

Towards the end of the clip, the man turns his back on his apparent girlfriend and ducks in the corner of the fence.

Some of his teammates appear to try convince the woman to stop the punishment, but she drives them away with stares.

It is still unclear how the woman found out her boyfriend was married and how exactly the incident ended.

The footage is believed to have been filmed in Chongqing, in south west China.

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Police Arrest 34-Year-Old While Stealing MTN Solar Batteries

Operatives of Imo State Police Command have arrested a 34-year-old man, Chibuike Okorougo, while allegedly stealing solar batteries belonging to mobile telecommunications company, MTN, in the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, told Southern City News that the suspect, who is a native of Umuenyem Nkwerre, was caught in the act by the operatives of the command.

 The commissioner, who described the development as an economic sabotage, said Okorougo was arrested at a MTN base station at Area R, Umugweze Estate Road in Owerri, the state capital.

Galadanchi said, “While on a township patrol along Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, our operatives received a distress call from one Linus Umezuluike and we quickly swung into action.


“The complainant disclosed that hoodlums had invaded the MTN facility at Area R,  Umugweze Estate Road in Owerri.

 “The operatives of the Scorpion Unit of the Command arrested Chibuike Okorougo, 34, of Umuenyem Nkwerre in the act while three others escaped.

 “One white Mitsubishi bus with number plate – XF137GWA – loaded with solar batteries were recovered. We will charge him to court accordingly.”

 The police commissioner, who said that efforts were ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects, added that the community policing strategies of the Inspector General of Police, which his command was implementing, were yielding fruitful results.

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NAF Pilot Who Died Yesterday Already Buried… See Burial Photos

Two aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Air Force yesterday suffered a mishap in the Katampe area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The pilots were rushed to the hospital shortly after the crash, but unfortunately one died. He was however buried the same day (yesterday). Senior Military officers and Government officials, were at his grave side to pay their last respect. More photos...

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Wait! President Buhari Knows They Call Him ‘Baba Go Slow’?

Check out what he said in New York!

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