APC denies Tinubu travelled to London for medical treatment
The ruling All Progressives Congress has debunked speculation that President Bola Tinubu’s private visit to the United Kingdom from the Paris summit on Saturday was to attend to his ailing health.
The development comes in the wake of the president’s return to the country on Tuesday ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir festival.
Tinubu, who was initially scheduled to return to Abuja, proceeded to London for a short private visit, according to a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Dele Alake.
Aside from his participation at the event, the President held high-profile sideline meetings with fellow heads of state and government, global business leaders, and chief executives of leading multilateral and development finance institutions from around the world.
His last-minute private visit, however, set tongues wagging all over social media, with trolls and critics insinuating that the former Lagos governor probably used the trip as a smokescreen to visit his doctors.
Reacting in an exclusive phone chat with our correspondent, Director of Publicity for the APC, Bala Ibrahim, refuted the claim.
While stating that such unfounded fear was uncalled for, Ibrahim disclosed that Tinubu has proven throughout his rigorous electioneering campaign and post-inauguration activities that he was fully prepared for the task.
Fresh protests hit France as police kill teenager
Protests erupted in Paris, the French capital city overnight after police shot dead a 17-year-old who failed to stop when ordered to by traffic police.
Video circulating on social media has shown a police officer pointing a gun at the driver of a car before a gunshot is heard, and the car then crashed to a stop.
The teenager, identified as Nahel, died of bullet wounds in the chest despite help from emergency services, BBC reported.
The officer accused of shooting him has been detained on homicide charges and the shooting triggered a series of protests on Tuesday night in Nanterre, the area just west of Paris where the teenager was killed.Â
Also, some 31 people have been arrested in connection with the unrest that ensued after the killing of Nahel.
BBC said Nahel was the second person this year in France to have been killed in a police shooting during a traffic stop. Last year, a record 13 people died in this way.
According to French media, police initially suggested the teen drove his car towards them with the intention of hurting them.
Several incidents of unrest were also recorded in the towns of Asnières, Colombes, Suresnes, Aubervilliers, Clichy-sous-Bois and Mantes-la-Jolie.
Nigerian Army Celebrates 160 Years Anniversary
The Nigerian Army has lined up activities for the commemoration of 160th anniversary of its establishment.
At a media briefing in Abuja, on Tuesday, the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Abiodun Lagbaja, said this year’s celebration better known as Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) will be hosted in the ancient city of Ibadan.
Represented by Chief of Special Services and Programme, (Army), Major General Emeka Onumajuru, the army chief noted that NADCEL offers the Nigerian Army an opportunity to take stock, assess its performances, interface with the public and set goals for continued professional growth.
This, he said, will enable the Nigerian Army to better perform its constitutional roles and also compete favourably with other armies around the globe
“It will also showcase the army’s operational activities as well as its transformational strides in innovation, research and development, civil-military relations, and technological advancement,” he said.
Going down memory lane, he said: “The Nigerian Army, as an enviable national institution saddled with the constitutional mandate of defending Nigeria’s territorial integrity, has evolved over 160 years. This rich history of the service dates back to 1863 when Lieutenant Glover of the Royal Navy formed a local force known as the Glover Hausas.Â
“This local force eventually became part of a larger body established by Lord Fredrick Lugard in 1889 as the West African Frontier Force (WAFF).
Elections postponement led to shift of census — NPC
The National Population Commission, Federal Commissioner representing Edo State, Dr Tony Aiyejina, on Wednesday, said the shift in the 2023 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, was the major reason why the NPC had to postpone the 2023 population census.
Dr Aiyejina, who disclosed this at an interactive media chat organised by the Commission in Benin, noted that while NPC shifted the date for the census to May, the coming of the rains put paid to the exercise in order to uphold the principle of simultaneity which guides census exercises world over.
He however, assured that whenever the exercise came up, it would not only be accurate, but it would be reliable and auditable, and mark a clear departure from the controversies that trailed the censuses of the past; maintaining that the introduction of the Personal Digital Assistant machines would eliminate all human errors of the past exercises.
While dispelling the insinuation in the public domain that the Commission had expended the sum of N800 billion before the exercise was postponed, he said contrary to that claim, “NPC had expended N200 billion out of the N800 billion budgeted for the exercise before it was postponed.”
He said, “The postponement of the election by INEC led to the shift of the census. However, with the rainy season, the census is no longer possible at this time.
“The censuses of the past were riddled with controversies. One thing about the 2023 census is that the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari did not attempt to teleguide the commission.
“We opted for digital census and we introduced the Personal Digital Assistant which is deliberately configured and can be tracked to monitor fieldwork.
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