Headline

Tinubu Urged To Relocate NNPCL, NIMASA To Niger Delta

Published

1 year ago

January 24, 2024

Editor

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Yekini Nabena, has urged President Bola Tinubu to consider relocating the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and Nigerian Ports Authority to the Niger Delta region for efficiency.

The APC chieftain also appealed that the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment be moved to either Kano or Anambra States where people trade in high proportion to justify the planned relocation of some departments of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria out of the Federal Capital Territory.

Nabena’s request comes a few days after the Federal Government indicated an interest in moving some parts of CBN and FAAN to Lagos State for the efficiency of its activities.

The development has however generated a lot of contentious debates with some Northern senators and elite kicking against the decision.

While making reference to an interview published on April 11, 1997, titled ‘I don’t believe in one Nigeria — Tinubu’, the former APC spokesman said the presidency must come out clean on the real intention for relocation of the two affected agencies.

Nabena said federal agencies are symbols of Nigerian unity and should not be played with.

He said, “If the efficiency of these agencies is the main reason for the plan to relocate them to Lagos State, we from the Niger Delta are also asking that the NNPCL, NIMASA, NPA, and others will be more effective in either Bayelsa, Rivers or Delta states.

“In the same way, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steal Development should be moved to Kogi state where we have the Ajaokuta Steal for efficiency. I also believe that the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment should either be relocated to Kano or Anambra states where trade is done in high proportion. In the same way, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture should be taken to Benue State, the food basket of the Nation.”

Continuing, the APC chieftain said the issue of oil companies relocating to the oil-producing Niger Delta region had been debated severally in the Nigerian Senate with the companies not heeding the calls.

“The Senate had asked International Oil Companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta region to fast-track the host communities economic development but some powerful interests in Lagos are preventing this for their selfish interests,” he stated.

Nabena also expressed shock that the National Assembly is keeping quiet over some developments ongoing in the country.

Headline

92-year-old Convicted For 1967 Killing In UK’s Oldest Cases

Published

58 minutes ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A 92-year-old British man was convicted on Monday for a rape and murder committed nearly 60 years ago, in one of the UK’s longest-running cold cases.

Ryland Headley was found guilty by a UK court for raping and killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne after breaking into her house in Bristol, southwest England in June 1967, when he was 34 years old.

It is “one of the oldest cold cases to ever be solved in the UK”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which brings criminal prosecutions, said.

Local police reopened the case in 2023 and matched DNA from the victim’s skirt and other items from the original probe to Headley, who had also served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

He is due to be sentenced by a judge at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

During the initial investigation, police had found a left-hand palm print from Dunne’s home, where she was found dead from strangulation.

The palm print was compared to 19,000 men to no avail.

At the time, Headley was a railway worker who lived just outside the area in which men and boys were asked to give prints.

Reaching a dead-end, police sealed away forensic evidence for half a century. Both DNA testing and later Headley’s palm print resulted in matches.

When Headley was arrested at his home last November, he told detectives: “I don’t know what you are talking about. Very strange, very strange.”

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice,” said Charlotte Ream of the CPS.

Following the conviction, Dunne’s granddaughter Mary Dainton said her death had a “far-reaching impact throughout my family”.

“I was just 20-years-old when my grandmother died and I’m now almost the same age as she was when she was killed,” Dainton said outside court.

Police said they were now looking into other possible cold cases Headley could be linked to.

“Ryland Headley has now been convicted of three rapes of elderly women within their own addresses, and in the case of Louisa Dunne, her murder as well,” Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police told the PA news agency.

“I think there’s every possibility that there are other offences out there – over the 60s, 70s, however long a time period – which Mr Headley could be culpable for.”

Headline

Hope Dashed As Norwegian Company Apologizes For ‘Mistakenly Telling’ Thousands They Won Big On Lottery

Published

2 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A Norwegian lottery company on Monday apologised to 47,000 crestfallen gamblers who were mistakenly told they had won huge sums in a lottery, the firm blaming a currency conversion error.

State-owned gambling group Norsk Tipping said they had published incorrect prize amounts after a Eurojackpot draw on Friday because of an error converting from euro cents to Norwegian kroner.

The winnings had been multiplied by 100 instead of being divided by 100, the company said.

Among the disappointed was Ole Fredrik Sveen, who was on holiday in Greece when he received a message from Norsk Tipping that he had won 1.2 million kroner ($119,000).

“I thought: ‘Wow, is it finally my turn? Could it be true?’ I go onto the Norsk Tipping website, and there it says in black and white: ‘Congratulations, you have won!’,” Sveen told public broadcaster NRK on Monday.

In reality, he had won 125 kroner ($12).

On Monday, Sveen and the 47,000 others received apologies by text message from Norsk Tipping for the snafu.

“The apology was a poor consolation. They should have sent it out after the mistake, not today,” he said.

The Lottery Authority said Monday it had launched a review to determine if gambling laws had been broken, and Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery called the error “totally unacceptable”.

The firm’s chief executive Tonje Sagstuen resigned on Saturday after the scandal, leaving acting chief executive Vegar Strand to apologise on Monday.

Strand said his company’s state ownership made the mistake particularly problematic, noting that the firm was “entirely dependent on the trust of the population”.

“We have deeply disappointed our customers and take full responsibility for rectifying the situation. Such errors are serious for a company that is supposed to manage the trust of Norwegians,” Strand said.

“The work to rebuild trust again has the highest priority going forward.”

AFP

Headline

Musk Renews Attack On Trump, Says ‘Big, Beautiful Bill Utterly Insane’

Published

2 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has renewed his public criticism of United States President Donald Trump, taking aim at the administration’s controversial “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which recently cleared a critical hurdle in the Senate, TIMES reported.

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk denounced the 940-page legislative package as economically harmful, claiming it would severely damage emerging industries while supporting outdated sectors.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,” he wrote to his more than 220 million followers.

He further described the legislation as “utterly insane and destructive.”

The senate narrowly voted 51–49 to advance the bill on Saturday night, following extended negotiations among Republicans. Vice President J.D Vance was present to cast a tie-breaking vote, though it was ultimately not required.

Musk, who once served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump, left the administration after a high-profile fallout and has since emerged as one of the bill’s fiercest opponents.

He described the measure as “political suicide” for Republicans and warned that it would raise the national debt ceiling by $5 trillion — the largest such increase in US history. “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery,” he added.

Responding in an interview aired Sunday on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, Trump attempted to defuse the tension. “I haven’t spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy,” he said. Trump also suggested Musk’s frustration stemmed from disagreements over recent changes to electric vehicle mandates.

Musk’s opposition to the bill is not new. Earlier in June, he urged Americans to contact their representatives, calling the legislation a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.”

Despite the bill’s advancement in the Senate, it faces continued resistance. Senate Democrats have slowed proceedings by demanding the entire bill be read aloud in protest.

“If Senate Republicans won’t tell the American people what’s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer