Author: Akintayo Adams

Croatia’s populist President Zoran Milanović has announced his plans to seek re-election. The post is largely ceremonial. This announcement comes weeks after losing a bid for the premiership against his conservative rival, Andrej Plenković. Milanovic appeared to make the announcement off the cuff, after being asked by reporters in the capital Zagreb when he would declare his candidacy. Milanovic replied: “Right now.” The 57-year-old, who will be seeking his second term as president, said support from the main opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) would be vital to his campaign. “I will need it for a number of reasons, including organisational…

Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto has announced that the bill containing contentious tax hikes would “be withdrawn.” This decision came after more than 20 people died and parliament was ransacked by protesters opposing the legislation. However, Ruto cautioned that withdrawing the finance bill would create a significant funding shortfall for development programs aimed at assisting farmers, schoolteachers, and others, as Kenya grapples with reducing its foreign debt burden. “I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 finance bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn,” Ruto told a press briefing. “The people have spoken.” Ruto’s administration was surprised by…

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Gwagwalada has sentenced Tom Makwe, a fake senator, to two years imprisonment for swindling a Spanish national out of 47,082 Euros. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Makwe on two counts of intent to defraud over the internet. He pleaded guilty and asked the court for leniency. Delivering the judgment, Justice Aliyu Shafa sentenced him to two years in prison but allowed an option of a ₦5 million fine. Shafa ordered that ₦30 million and $1,300 recovered from the convict be forfeited to the victim, Maria Del Rosario San Jose…

There was a fire outbreak at Dangote refinery in Lagos on Wednesday. Reacting to the incident, Anthony Chiejina, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of Dangote Group, stated in a statement that the fire has been contained and there is no cause for alarm. The statement read: “We have swiftly contained a minor fire incident at our effluent treatment plant (ETP) today, Wednesday, 26th of June. “There is no cause for alarm as the refinery is operating normally, and there are no recorded injuries or bodily harm to any of our staff on duty.” Get instant and latest news updates via…

Kenyan President William Ruto attributed the storming of parliament to “a group of organized criminals” who, he said, infiltrated and hijacked what began as peaceful protests. In a televised address on Tuesday, Ruto addressed the protests, which erupted in response to a new tax law imposing additional taxes and raising existing ones. Since Tuesday morning, thousands of demonstrators across Kenya have voiced their opposition to the legislation through protests. By the afternoon, the protests had escalated into chaos, violence, looting, and arson. Buildings belonging to members of parliament who supported the new tax law were set on fire in several…

NATO has formally appointed Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of The Netherlands, as its Secretary-General. Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and uncertainties about the U.S. stance on the transatlantic alliance, NATO ambassadors appointed Mark Rutte as the new Secretary-General at their Brussels headquarters. This decision came after Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, his only competitor, withdrew from the race last week due to insufficient support. Rutte, 57, will replace Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, who will conclude his term on October 1. Stoltenberg has served since 2014, shortly after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Rutte, who served as Dutch Prime Minister for…

The Nigerian State House spent ₦244,654,350 on tyres in a single day. Data from govspend, a portal tracking Presidential Villa expenditures, revealed that the payments were for an unspecified quantity of bulletproof and Westlake tyres, around the time the Bola Tinubu administration marked its first year in office. Documents showed that the sums of ₦200,583,390, ₦38,070,000, and ₦6,000,960, were respectively paid for these items, on May 21, 2024. Documents showed two separate payments for tyres: ₦200,583,390 for bulletproof vehicle tyres and ₦38,070,000 for five armored bulletproof tyres to Obi-Wealth Enterprises Nigeria Limited (RC-640684). A search on the Corporate Affairs Commission…

The Rivers State Government, through its Commissioner for Health, Adaeze Oreh, says the prime suspect in the explosion that rocked Port Harcourt, the state capital on Tuesday, has been found. The commissioner said the suspect was found at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, formerly Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMH). She reported that doctors alerted the state government last night when a patient, with injuries suspected to be from a blast but presented as a road traffic accident victim, arrived. The suspect, brought in a semi-conscious state, was quickly taken into the theater for resuscitation and is now in stable…

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, stated that the country recorded a total foreign exchange inflow of approximately $24 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Cardoso disclosed during an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday in London that Nigeria recorded a $24 billion foreign exchange inflow in Q1 2024, about 50% higher than in previous quarters up to 2021. He stated that excessive naira volatility is over, citing the positive impact of the CBN’s monetary policies on the forex market. He also noted that inflationary pressure, currently at 33.69%, has begun to decrease due…

Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a lawsuit against the Kaduna State House of Assembly. This is over their claim that his eight-year administration allegedly misappropriated ₦432 billion, leaving the state with significant debt liabilities. El-Rufai filed a fundamental rights suit at the Federal High Court in Kaduna against the State House of Assembly on Wednesday. The suit, submitted by the ex-governor’s lawyer Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), contests the report of the Kaduna Assembly Committee that indicted El-Rufai for alleged corruption. In the suit, El-Rufai requested the court to declare the Assembly’s probe report null and void, arguing that…