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The House of Representatives has passed for second reading a bill seeking to allow independent candidacy in Nigerian elections .

The Chief Whip , Mr Mohammed Monguno , had sponsored the ‘ Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 . ’

If the Senate and two – third ( 24 ) of the 36 state Houses of Assembly approve the proposal , it will make it legal for independent candidates to vie for any elective office in the country without using any political party platform .

Leading the debate on the bill , Monguno said a country’ s constitution should not be static and should be a document that took care of needs that might arise from time to time .

This , he said , inspired the bill .

He said independent candidacy would deepen Nigerian democracy and create a level playing field for all Nigerians who wanted to contribute their quota to national and local development.

The Chief Whip cited the example of a few people who hijacked political parties and hindered those that had contrary views from expressing themselves politically on the platform of the party .

In his contribution , Mr Sergius Ogun said as Nigeria practises a presidential system , it would be democratically expedient to allow well – meaning Nigerians to have an independent platform to contribute their patriotic quota .

Also , Mr Aminu Suleiman said the proposal would expand the political and personal rights of people to function , devoid of imposition and interference of political godfathers .

He said it would also ensure emergence of the popular choice made by the people without imposition by party structures.

Suleiman also expressed the hope that the bill would enjoy speedy passage and assent of the president .

However , Mr James Faleke doubted the capacity of Nigeria ’ s political system to accommodate everyone who wished to contest as it would be too enormous for the Independent National Electoral Commission to handle .

He added that independent candidacy would result in more electoral litigation .

Professor Ibrahim Gambari has been appointed as the Chief of Staff to the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ).

Gambari ’ s appointment was announced by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation , Boss Mustapha , at the Federal Executive Council virtual meeting .

Gambari was screened on arrival for COVID- 19 , including having his temperature checked and using a hand sanitiser before he was ushered into the main building .

Gambari , an indigene of Kwara State , replaced Abba Kyari who died on April 17 from coronavirus – related complications .

“ President @ MBuhari has appointed Professor Ibrahim Gambari , as his Chief of Staff , Boss Mustapha , Secretary to the Government of the Federation , announced the appointment today at the virtual Federal Executive Council ( FEC ) Meeting , ” Bashir Ahmad , Personal Assistant on New Media to Buhari , tweeted.

Professor Agboola Ibrahim Gambari has been appointed as the new chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.

He will be presented during the virtual meeting of the federal executive council (FEC) on Wednesday.

He is currently the founder/chairman of Savannah Center External link in Abuja, a think-tank for research, training and public policy debate on the nexus between diplomacy (conflict resolution), democracy and development in Africa.

Prof. Gambari, a Nigerian scholar, diplomat and an indigene of Kwara State was appointed to replace the late Abba Kyari on Tuesday, May 12.

Mallam Abba Kyari was the Chief of Staff to President Buhari before his demise which was announced on April 17 shortly after testing positive to CoronaVirus.

Vanguard

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has published the list of 2019 fully admitted candidates in all the tertiary institutions in the country.

The Board’s Director of Public Relations, Dr. Fabian Benjamin in a statement, said the list is on display on the board’s website: http://www.jamb.gov.ng.

According to him, “for ease of checking, candidates can search for their names by providing their JAMB registration numbers on the search tool located on the displayed list to ascertain their admission.

“The displayed list can be accessed by a visit to
http://www.jamb.gov.ng, to check the matriculation list.”

He said candidates that have been offered provisional admission, but are yet to accept it are to immediately accept these admissions at no cost by using the CAPS Mobile App downloaded from Google Playstore.

“Candidates do not need to visit any CBT centre or cyber cafe, as doing so would be a violation of the presidential directive on work from home/stay-at-home order.

“Candidates should note that failure to accept such offers of admission on the CAPS platform would result in the forfeiture of such admissions.

In the event of any challenge, candidates are to lodge their complaints using the online ticketing platform at support.jamb.gov.ng under ‘2019 admission list issue’.

Benjamin said acceptance of admissions on any website other than CAPS is not valid as any admission not processed and accepted through CAPS is not known to the board.

“Alternatively, candidates who are not sure of their admission status can check for such from their phones by sending “STATUS 2019″ to 55019.

Only candidates who had accepted their offers of admission on CAPS and whose names appear on the provisional matriculation list are recognised as bonafide students of the various institutions in Nigeria.”

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, has been appointed the new Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. With his appointment, he replaces Mallam Abba Kyari, who died last month of COVID-19.

The new Chief of Staff will resume work at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday.

Gambari, as foreign minister, played a key role in quelling the diplomatic uproar generated by the failed attempt to kidnap Mallam Umaru Dikko from UK by the Buhari military government.

A scholar and seasoned diplomat, Gambari served as minister of External Affairs between 1984 and 1985. He was appointed by former United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon and the chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur in 2010.

He also served as Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the UN Secretary General. Prior to that, he served as Under-Secretary Generay of the United Nation for the Department of Political Affairs (DPA).

The new chief of Staff, an Ilorin prince, was born on November 24, 1944.

The House of Representatives has approved the request by the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ), to borrow N850 bn to fund the 2020 budget .

The Senate had earlier okayed the borrowing plan amidst controversy.

The approval was however given by the House at the plenary within about seven minutes .

Vanguard

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has sent forty-two ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for screening and subsequent confirmation.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan who read the list, said they are Career Foreign Service officers.

According to President Buhari, the curricular vitae of the nominees would be forwarded to the Senate.

Some of the names are Nwachukwu C. A.; A. Kefas ; Y S. Suleiman; G.M. Okolo; G.E. Edopa, among others.

US President Donald Trump has ruled out renegotiating the trade agreement signed with China .

“ I ’ m not interested in that , ” Trump told reporters when asked about reports that China was looking to reopen talks about the trade deal signed in January .

“ Not even a little bit, ” Trump said . “ Let ’ s see if they live up to the deal that they signed. ”
Washington and Beijing reached a partial trade deal in January .

As recently as Friday Vice Premier Liu He , who had led China ’ s negotiations , spoke by phone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and confirmed that both sides agreed to implementing the first phase of the deal.

Under the agreement the Trump administration agreed to postpone any further tariff increases , while China promised to increase by $ 200 billion over two years their purchases of US products compared to the level of 2017 .

The US president has hit out at China ’ s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic and threatened fresh tariffs .

The Trump administration accuses China of taking too long to warn the world about the epidemic , and therefore to blame for the virus spreading around the world and triggering the global economic crisis .

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has even said claimed that the coronavirus pandemic likely originated in a Chinese laboratory , but acknowledged there was no certainty .

AFP

The Inspector – General of Police , Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the probe of the Chairman , Five Star Group , Emeka Okonkwo aka E – Money , over his flamboyant lifestyle and flagrant abuse of police escorts .

Okonkwo , who is the brother to musician, Kingsley Okonkwo aka K-Cee , was said to have drawn the ire of the police boss for using policemen like domestic servants .

An order, it was learnt , was immediately issued to the Lagos State Police Command to withdraw the six policemen attached to E – Money .

A top police officer said , “ We received a signal from the Force headquarters on Monday that the police detail of music executive, E – Money , be immediately withdrawn and an investigation into the man be launched.

“ The IG was surprised that policemen were attached to him in the first place and were being used like domestic servants , carrying umbrellas , opening doors , and doing menial jobs for him .

“ The policemen were discovered to be attached to B Operations at the command headquarters and not MOPOL which is the usual practice . So , we have withdrawn his policemen and we are inviting him for questioning. The policemen will also be interrogated . ”

E – Money, who also claims to be a clearing and forwarding agent , is known for his flamboyant lifestyle.

He boasts of two Rolls Royce , two Mercedes Benz G Wagons and other Sports Utility Vehicles worth billions of naira.

The socialite is often seen on social media shaking hands with Very Important Persons including governors , senators , monarchs , ministers , and other top government officials.

When contacted on the telephone , an associate of E – Money , Chidozie Dike , said he was not aware of the development and he believed it was not true .

“ I am not aware and I don ’ t think this is true, ” Dike said .

The probe into E – Money comes less than a year after that of an Instagram celebrity , Ismaila Mustapha aka Mompha, who was also known to show off his ostentatious lifestyle on social media .

Sources told newsmen that more social media celebs are also on the radar of the police and other law enforcement agencies .

Punch

If lockdowns and stay – at – home orders are succeeding in slowing the spread of the coronavirus , health experts warn that the measures could unintentionally undermine efforts to contain another potentially deadly disease : HIV.

At the start of April, Travis Sanchez , an epidemiologist at Emory University , carried out an online survey of around 1 , 000 men and half of them reported a drop in the number of sexual partners , as well as reduced use of hook – up apps .

In theory, this should reduce transmission .

But he quickly added a disturbing warning : a quarter of the men said they had experienced problems getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases , because thousands of centers that used to provide them have closed down .

That means that those people still having sex have no idea about their status , which Sanchez warned is a potential ticking bomb .

“ It’ s very likely that people ’ s risk behaviours will resume before they will have full access to prevention services, ” he said .

“ And I think that combination could lead to increases in HIV transmission . ”

The full impact of the pandemic on HIV transmission will not be known before next year , when the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention publishes its statistics on 2020 infections .

But numerous experts and healthcare professionals fear a step backward , a year after the United States announced the goal of cutting the number of new infections by 75 percent by the year 2025 .

In Washington, a city that has been hit hard by HIV, the Whitman – Walker clinic has had to stop its daily walk – in tests for the virus and other sexually transmitted infections like syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia .

“ All those folks are going without testing , ” said nurse practitioner Amanda Cary , who now only sees symptomatic patients by appointment . “ I do think there’ s going to be a rise in STIs , ” she said .

The CDC told AFP it was expecting a drop in the number of STIs being diagnosed in the short term , “ but an increase in the long – term once restrictions lift and more people are screened and tested again . ”

It said that for HIV, “the decrease in the availability of testing and limited access to treatment and prevention services may result in more infections and poor health outcomes in the long run . ”