News
COVID-19: Ekiti Flags-off Cash Transfer to 5,000 Indigent Households
Ekiti State government has flagged off cash transfer to 5,000 households in the state as part of efforts to ameliorate the pains of movement restriction due to Coronavirus pandemic in the state.
According to the state Governor, Kayode Fayemi, the provramme is in collaboration with the National Cash Transfer Office and Ekiti State Cash Transfer unit.
The flag-off ceremony which took place at Fajuyi Pavilion, Ado-Ekiti, signaled the commencement of the cash transfer at designated pay points across the 16 local government in the state.
It came barely 24 hours after the state government commenced the distribution of food items to indigent people in the state to cushion the effect of the lockdown.
Performing the disbursement of the cash transfer in Ado-Ekiti, Dr Fayemi said each beneficiary would receive between N20,000 and N60,000 which is a four months arrears from January to April, 2020.
The governor, who was represented by the Director-General. Office of Transformation and Service Delivery, Prof. Bolaji Aluko. said the programme which had been on since 2016 was just being flagged-off as part of government’s efforts to assist poor households during this period of global pandemic where people were being forced to stay at home as a way of checking the spread of the deadly virus.
According to him, “This is not the first cash transfer we are doing in the state, this has been a programme that has been going on for a little while, since 2016 but this is the first major public show of the things we have been doing quietly as a state which is part of the larger National Social Investment Programme that the President Mohamadu Buhari administration started and this state has been part of it.
“We feel that this particular time when this Covid-19 disease is rearing its ugly head in the country is the right time to disburse the cash to serve as palliative to benefitting households. What we are doing right now is equally being done in some other states of the federation. You would recollect that we flagged-off distribution of food packs to some indigent citizens yesterday, and we still have other incentives to give to our people as a form of succour which would be unveiled in the course of time.
“All these efforts of the government are geared toward making life easy for Ekiti citizens to live happily and well during this difficult time. I want to assure you that this administration is a caring government that put the people at the centre of all their plans”.
In his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Social Investment Programme (SIP), Barr. Victor Kolade, said the intention of the programme was to take care of the downtrodden in the society, adding that the components of SIP include social security programme for the elderly (Owo Arugbo); conditional cash transfer, Government Enterprises Employment Project (GEEP) and others which this administration is nurturing to ensure good living condition for average Ekiti indigenes.
One of the beneficiaries madam Yeside Adebayo, thanked the state government for coming to the aid of her family with the cash transfer.
Politics
Rivers crisis: Why I won’t make peace with Fubara – Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has revealed one of the reasons he can’t make peace with Governor Similayi Fubara of Rivers State.
Wike accused Fubara of removing a chief in his family and went ahead to make another person a chief.
The FCT Minister stated this on Wednesday while fielding questions from journalists at a media parley in Abuja.
According to reports, the statement comes amid the ongoing political crisis in the State, with Wike and Governor Similayi Fubara at the center of the feud.
“Sometimes when you people talk about this peace, you don’t take everything. You don’t just sit outside to talk.
“Look at me, a former governor, Minister of of the FCT, Governor (Fubara) had the temerity, the audacity, because he has money from federation account, because he has more Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), will enter my own family to remove a chief and make another person a chief,” Wike said.
News
Police intercept vehicle, recover firearms in Akwa Ibom

Akwa Ibom state Police Command has said that some locally made firearms have been recovered during stop and search operations along Ikot road in the state .
A statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state DSP Timfon John and made available to Journalists in Uyo on Thursday stated that the recovered firearms was in a determined effort to rid the state of illegal firearms and criminal elements .
The statement reads in parts:” Operatives of the Command intercepted a Mercedes Benz C300 with customized plate number FORBES JR, leading to the recovery of a locally fabricated firearm and two live cartridges.
“The operation, which took place at the Control Post in Ikot Ekpene, was part of the Command’s intensified stop-and-search strategy aimed at curbing crime and enhancing public safety.”
He said the vehicle had three male occupants who were identified themselves as: Nsisong Paul Okon, 27, native of Itak Village in Ikono local government area ,Francis Forbes, 62 from Ikot Akpa Edok Ndiya Village and Prince Forbes, 27, of Ikot Akpa Edok Ndiya Village from Ikono local government area respectively.
However, John disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, CP Baba M. Azare has ordered a full-scale investigation into the matter.
“The Akwa Ibom State Police Command reaffirms its zero tolerance for unlawful possession of firearms and remains resolute in ensuring the safety of lives and property across the state”.
News
Lagos HoA Crisis: Let Obasa Stay, Tinubu Tells Lawmakers

President Bola Tinubu has instructed lawmakers of the Lagos State House of Assembly to allow the impeached and reinstated Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, to continue leading the house.
The President made this position known when he met with the lawmakers at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday.
As reported earlier, this is the first time President Tinubu is meeting the lawmakers since the crisis began in the house January 13, 2025.
One of the lawmakers told newsmen that ” Obasa is staying. We will obey the president. What we had was a family meeting. The President condenmed Obasa’s actions but blamed us for not carring him (Tinubu) along during the impeachement execrise”.
However, the lawmaker said President Tinubu warned Obasa to carry everyone along.
” He also warned him (Obasa) that if there were any future complaints from any quarters, he would be gone. “The President said he should let peace reign; and so based on that, we have accepted.”
On the pending matter in court, the source said: “The President has instructed him to withdraw it.”
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