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We Won’t Gag Media With NBC, NPC Amendments – Senate

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BREAKING: Senate Ignores Protests, Court Injunction, Confirms Onochie, Other NDDC Board Nominees

From the Senate has come an assurance that it will never gag the media in its current amendments to the acts which established the National Broadcasting Commission  and the Nigerian Press Council.

The Spokesperson for the Senate, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, who gave the assurance on Monday, said the amendments to the acts and other relevant laws should not be misinterpreted as an attempt to gag the freedom of speech and free press in the country.

Basiru spoke in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of a two-day capacity building training for media aides to principal officers of the National Assembly, organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja on Monday.

Basiru said: “The freedom of speech is an inalienable right of the people and effectively captured in the 1999 Constitution.

READ ALSO: Fear Of Media Repression As Buhari Sacks NBC DG

“There is the need to ensure that some regulations are put in place to prevent reckless and irresponsible use of such rights as have been exhibited by a few media establishments and individuals in recent times in the country.

“The current attempt to amend the NBC Act and the NPC acts is to improve and sanitise and not to stiffen the civic space.”

The Director General, NILDS, Abubakar Sulaiman also said there was an urgent need to provide some levels of check on “a culture of misinformation” under the guise of freedom of speech.

 

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BREAKING: PDP Suspends Anyim, Fayose

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Anyim and Fayose

Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose; former president of the Senate, Pius Anyim; Prof Dennis Ityavyar and Aslam Aliyu were on Thursday suspended from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

The PDP made the suspension on Thursday after an extensive review of the affairs of the party, pursuant to the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).

The PDP also referred the Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, to the National Disciplinary Committee over his reported involvement in anti-party activities.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba.

“The PDP urges all leaders, critical stakeholders and teeming members of our party across the country to remain united and focused at this critical time,” the statement added.

 

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BREAKING: Ekweremadu, Wife Found Guilty Of Organ-trafficking In UK

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Ekweremadu and his wife

A United Kingdom court has found former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 50,  guilty of an organ-trafficking plot, which saw them bring a 21-year-old man to the UK

They were convicted of conspiring to exploit the man from Lagos for his kidney, reports the BBC.

Prosecutors told the Old Bailey the organ was to be removed and given to the couple’s daughter, Sonia, aged 25.

She was cleared of the same charge.

The victim, a street trader from Lagos, was brought to the UK last year to provide a kidney in an £80,000 private transplant at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

They were later arrested at the airport while trying to leave the UK.

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NLC Orders Workers To Shut CBN Offices Nationwide Over Naira Scarcity

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NLC Suspends Plan To Protest Against Fuel Subsidy Removal

Worried about the continued scarcity of naira, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has officially declared a nationwide . The national president of the union, Joe Ajaero, gave the directive during a media briefing in Abuja.

Ajaero also directed that affiliate unions constituting the NLC should be on standby for picketing exercises across all branches of the Central Bank of Nigeria nationwide.

The NLC earlier issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to end the petrol and cash scarcity being experienced in the country.

Ajaero told journalists on Wednesday that the industrial action became the last resort of the NLC following the expiration of the ultimatum.

He said the decision to picket the CBN branches became necessary as the federal government and the CBN had failed to show any commitment to addressing the situation.

Ajaero lamented that despite the Supreme Court order that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023, the situation kept getting worse.

He said workers could not access cash to pay fares to work.

He also criticised the pricing irregularities in the petroleum sector.

“Last week, we gave an ultimatum for the review of the cash crunch bedevilling the country, but we have discovered to our dismay that as at this moment not much effort has been made to ameliorate the situation. Government is still foot-dragging on these issues we raised,” Ajaero said.

“Based on this, we met again this morning to review our position and resolved that by Wednesday next week all CBN branches will be picketed. Workers are directed to stay at home too because people cannot eat, workers can no longer go to the office, we have been pushed to the wall.

“We have decided to take our destiny in our hands, we have mobilised our workers on this exercise.”

The NLC has no fewer than 43 affiliate unions which include, but not limited to, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, and the National Union of Road Transport Workers.

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