Headline

Buhari Postpones Signing of Reworked Electoral Bill to Friday

Published

4 years ago

February 23, 2022

Eric

President Muhammadu Buhari will now sign the re-worked Electoral Act Amendment Bill on Friday, February 25.

A source close to the Presidency, who had earlier indicated that the President would assent to the bill on Wednesday, confirmed the new date to Channels Television.

According to the source, the new date will be honoured by the President.

This comes at a time when President Buhari presides over the Federal Executive Council meeting held at the State House in Abuja.

On January 25, lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers of the National Assembly passed the harmonised version of the bill.

The harmonised version was received by President Buhari a week later, as confirmed by his Senior Special Assistant on NASS Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare.

He withheld his assent to the bill in November 2021, citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political players as part of the reasons for his decision.

But the President gave some conditions to give his assent – an action that prompted the lawmakers to re-work the bill, leading to the emergence of two versions in the green and red chambers.

The House had re-amended the bill to include the direct and indirect primary options while the Senate re-adjusted it to include the direct, indirect, and consensus modes of selecting political parties’ candidates.

Both chambers later passed the harmonised version – the final agreed version of the amendment to Clause 84 which included the direct, indirect, and consensus primary modes.

Amid an outcry from critics who raised concerns about the delayed signing over fears that the President might reject the bill again, a presidential aide, Femi Adesina, said his principal’s action was within the requirements of the law.

He stated that it would only be appropriate to say President Buhari has acted against the law if he exceeds the 30-day window provided by the Constitution to take a decision on the bill.

“It could be signed today; it could be signed tomorrow. In a matter of hours, not days. Hours could be 24 hours, it could be 48 hours; not days, not weeks,” Adesina had said on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

Channels TV

Headline

Defence Gulps Lion Share As Tinubu Presents N58.47trn 2026 Budget to NASS

Published

5 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has presented a budget of N58.47 trillion for the 2026 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly, with capital recurrent (non‑debt) expenditure standing at N15.25 trillion.

Tinubu presented the budget on Friday, pegging the capital expenditure at N26.08 trillion and putting the crude oil benchmark at US$64.85 per barrel.

He said the expected total revenue is N34.33 trillion, projected total expenditure: N58.18 trillion, including N15.52 trillion for debt servicing. The budget is N23.85 trillion, representing 4.28% of GDP.

The budget was anchored on a crude oil production of 1.84 million barrels per day, and an exchange rate of N1,400 to the US Dollar for the 2026 fiscal year.

In terms of sectoral allocation, defence and security took the lion’s share with N 5.41 trillion, followed by infrastructure at N3.56 trillion.

Headline

Mike Adenuga, Emmanuel Macron Hold High-Powered Meeting in Paris

Published

2 days ago

December 18, 2025

Eric

Accomplished billionaire businessman and Commander of the French Légion d’Honneur, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., GCON, CdrLH, has held a private meeting with the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The two powerful citizens of the world held the meeting on Wednesday at the historic Élysée Palace in Paris.

The high-level engagement underscores the longstanding relationship between Dr. Adenuga and the French Republic, as well as his continued relevance in global business and diplomatic circles.

A respected industrialist and philanthropist, Adenuga has been widely acknowledged for his contributions to economic development, telecommunications, energy, and humanitarian causes across Africa and beyond.

The meeting adds to Dr. Adenuga’s growing profile as a bridge between African enterprise and international leadership.

Headline

Free at Last: Burkina Faso Releases 11 Nigerian Soldiers, Aircraft

Published

2 days ago

December 18, 2025

Eric

Burkina Faso has released Nigerian soldiers who were detained after their aircraft made a forced landing in the Sahelian country earlier this month, Nigerian officials said.

The release followed a diplomatic intervention by President Bola Tinubu, who dispatched a high-level delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, to meet Burkina Faso’s Military Leader, Ibrahim Traoré, on Wednesday.

In a statement, Alkasim Abdulkadir, Tuggar’s spokesperson, said both sides resolved the matter amicably and secured the release of the Nigerian Air Force pilots and crew.

The soldiers had been held for nearly two weeks after the Confederation of Sahel States (AES) described the aircraft’s landing as an “unfriendly act” carried out in defiance of international law.

The Nigerian Air Force, however, said the crew encountered a technical issue that required a precautionary landing in Bobo-Dioulasso, the nearest available airfield. It said the landing complied with standard safety procedures and international aviation protocols.