IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday said the Anambra State Governorship election would hold on November 18 as scheduled. The commission said it would not allow any shift of date, adding that to do so would adversely affect the cost of running the election.

The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, who stated this in a meeting with the executive members of Inter-party Advisory Council in the state, said the commission would resist any attempt to truncate the electoral process.

He said, “We want the election to hold as scheduled. We have 58 days to the election and we are on top of the preparations. There would not be any need for postponement.

Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has signed a four-year contract extension that ties him to the club until 2021. The 29-year-old has scored 181 goals in 371 appearances since joining from French side Lyon in 2009. He becomes the fourth Real player, after right-back Dani Carvajal, left-back Marcelo and midfielder Isco, to agree a new deal this week.

Manager Zinedine Zidane has also signed a new contract with last season's Champions League and La Liga winners. Benzema has won 14 trophies at Real, including three Champions League titles and La Liga twice.

The France forward has won 81 caps but has not played for his country since he was placed under formal investigation in 2015 over an alleged bid to blackmail one-time international team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.

The Federal Government says the planned concession of major airports across the country will go on as planned. This is just as the government announced that a N45bn severance package would be given to ex-workers of the defunct Nigerian Airways. 

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, stated this while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

He was reacting to the protests by members of the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association and the National Union of Air Transport Employees who kicked against the planned concession. Sirika said the government could no longer sustain the funding of the 22 airports across the country and thus had to enter into concessions.

The minister said the Murtala Muhammed International Airport for instance was originally built to handle 200,000 travellers per annum but today it is serving eight million per annum, stressing that the government did not have the resources to upgrade the facilities to handle the increasing number of travellers.

While acknowledging the rights of the workers to protest, Sirika said the government would try its best to ensure that jobs were not lost.

Nigeria has signed the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty, joining dozens of other countries that signed the treaty to ban nuclear weapons amid tensions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, signed the treaty on behalf of Nigeria on Wednesday at the UN headquarters on the sidelines of the High-level UN General Assembly. After the signing ceremony, Onyeama told journalists that Nigeria was in support of a weapons-free world.

He said “right from the early 60s, Nigeria has been a strong advocate of nuclear weapons prohibition and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. “You may recall in the early 60s when France tested an atom bomb-related device in the Sahara and Nigeria cut diplomatic relations with France at the time. “Nigeria had always been a strong advocate of de-nuclearisation of the world. We are one of the main movers of this treaty.”

The minister said it was unfortunate that countries with nuclear weapons saw them as deterrence and safeguarded their security. According to him, it will take great effort to really push and get larger number of countries to accede to the treaty, especially nuclear weapons states.

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday explained why the Federal Government declared the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) a terrorist group. Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, Mohammed said the group led by Nnamdi Kanu had been using cutlasses and other weapons to terrorize Nigerians.

According to him, the group has also been getting financial support from some quarters to destabilize the country. He said: “I think anybody who has watched Nnamdi Kanu’s videos anywhere he goes, he openly solicits for arms and funds. I have a lot of quotations from him as to the violence intention of IPOB. In one of his videos, he said if he is arrested his boys should burn down the country.

The same Kanu went on television a few days ago saying he was sleeping at about 4:30 p.m. in his house in Umuahia and then some soldiers were making noises and disturbing his sleep. Therefore, his boys stopped them.

Popular Nigerian Comedian, Klint da Drunk and his beautiful wife, Lilien are today celebrating their wedding anniversary. The comedian took to Instagram to share this wonderful photo and see what he captioned on the photo;

This is what God blessed me with. The most wonderful wife, a lady of good virtue, a rare flower in a world filled with thorns, a hard working, loving not to forget extremely sexy wonder of a lady. Mother to my 3 blessed, sharp, witty, smart, respectful, intelligent and lovable kids. Honestly, I cannot ask for more. I am blessed with the best family. @prettylilien, If there is anything like a next life, I will find you and marry you over and over again. This life is not enough to enjoy living with you. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SWEETY.