A new 0.5% levy has been proposed on imported goods from Nigeria and other member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
They are seeking to fund a new three-state union after leaving the larger regional economic bloc, according to a statement.
The trio’s official statement stated that the levy was agreed on Friday and will start in effect right away.
Humanitarian aid will not be affected by it, but it will be imported from outside the three nations, according to the statement.
Without providing specifics, it said it would “finance the activities” of the bloc.
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The move puts an end to free trade between West African states, which have for decades fallen under the ECOWAS, and highlights the tension between the three Sahara Desert-facing influential democracies like Nigeria and Ghana in the south.
Following their exit from the ECOWAS bloc, the three countries, each led by military juntas that recently emerged as rulers in 2023, had established the Alliance of Sahel States as a security agreement.
With plans to expand military and financial integration, including introducing biometric passports, this alliance developed into an aspirational economic union over time.
The three countries left ECOWAS last year, citing allegations that the bloc had not adequately supported them in their efforts to combat Islamist insurgencies and address insecurity.
Siminalayi Fubara, the governor’s governor, has alleged that Edison Ehie, the governor’s chief of staff, received a $5 billion offer in October 2023 to facilitate the governor’s impeachment.  ,
Ehie  claimed to have concrete proof of the offer.
“It was for impeachment,” he said. It is present. In case they decide to attack me or kill me, he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics. “I have it recorded, and I have printed it, and I have distributed it.
Watch Edison explain the offer that was made to him below:
Two children have died following a stampede that occurred at the Gombe main Eid prayer ground on Sunday.
The children were identified as Aisha Salisu Ahmed (4½ years old) and Maryam Abdullahi Gwani (4 years old),
The stampede was said to have started when a crowd consisting mostly of women and children rushed to leave the venue in haste,
Several other persons suffered varying degrees of injuries.
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, in a statement signed by Director-General, Press Affairs, Government House, Ismaila Uba Misilli, condoled with the families of the two young girls who lost their lives, adding, “We grieve with their families during this difficult time, and our hearts are with them as they mourn the loss of their beloved children”.
Governor Yahaya directed a comprehensive investigation to examine the circumstances that led to this unfortunate event and to prevent such occurrences in the future.
He said, “The safety and well-being of our citizens remain a top priority”, adding that the state government is committed to ensuring that lessons are learned and corrective measures are put in place.
According to the statement, the governor had earlier sent a high-powered delegation, led by the Chief of Staff of Government House, Alhaji Abubakar Inuwa Kari, to visit the medical facilities where the victims were receiving treatment to sympathize with them as well as ensure that the affected individuals receive the best possible care.
In all the facilities visited, including Zainab Bulkachuwa Hospital, Specialist Hospital and Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, most of the patients were seen in stable condition, with doctors assuring that they would be discharged soon, just as other patients from the same incident had been treated and discharged before the delegation’s visit.
The Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s suspended governor, Edison Ehie, has refuted claims that he was a part of the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex on October 29, 2023.
George Nwaeke, former Rivers State Head of Service, claimed incontrovertibly that Fubara and Ehie were the ones who planned the Assembly Complex’s burning.
Ehie, however, claimed he had no influence over the 2023 arson attacks at the state assembly complex on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics program.
He added, “It is very important to clarify that I was not, I had no hand, and I did not participate in the Rivers State House of Assembly’s burning.”
I woke up in the early hours of October 30th, 2023, to learn that the Rivers State House of Assembly had been destroyed. ”
Related: Fubara Rejects Nwaeke’s Claims and Asks Nigerians to Disregard Them
George and his wife
Ehie claimed that he has given his lawyers instructions to file a criminal libel lawsuit against Nwaeke for his false allegations.
I have already instructed my lawyers to file an issue of criminal libel against George Nwaeke, and I hope he is well-prepared to back up his assertions and assertions, he said.
Edison Ehie and Martin Amaewhule as COMBO
According to Ehie, Martins Amaewhule, the speaker’s representative from the state assembly complex, should be questioned about the fire that broke out in the state assembly complex in October 2023, alleging that the speaker’s convoy started it shortly after security guards had allowed the speaker’s convoy inside.
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Nwaeke has “contrayed his political enemies” to “satiate his hunger for emergency riches,” according to the associate of the governor who has been suspended.
Ehie claimed that the wife of Nwaeke’s wife’s outcry over the weekend’s sudden disappearance of her husband was a true story about a man who “betrayed his conscience” and his family “to own the world”.
Nwaeke, the company’s chief of staff, resigned last week and showed his WhatsApp messages, which he had been receiving financial assistance.
Ehie claimed that Nwaeke is not speaking from his right perspective, and that George is not content.
Nwaeke does not have any particular or significant influence over Rivers State’s governance, according to Ehie.
Siminalayi Fubara is in the FILE.
The Nwaeke-based chief of staff refuted claims that the former head of service had intimate conversations with the governor who had been suspended. Nwaeke was asked to specify the day and time of his unauthorised travel to Fubara.
According to Ehie, “George Nwaeke has never, ever, been included in the protocol list of those who can have uninterrupted access to the governor.”
The Government House has the records, he says. I oversee or supervise the DSS for the Government House’s security clearance.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, says he is willing to step down his presidential ambition in the 2027 elections for a better politician to emerge as the flag bearer of his party.
The lawyer stated this on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television.
“Everybody knows that I have an aspiration. I’m working on it but God is the author of tomorrow; we don’t even know who is going to be around in 2027,” Adebayo said.
“It is my prayer to God that if there is a person who God thinks is better than me to fix the problem of Nigeria, my ambition should not stop that person because we want a country that works. That is the kind of thing we are working on at this time. ”
Adebayo said the SDP would give Nigerians a candidate that all citizens would be proud of and be ready to give a chance to unseat President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next presidential election.
The politician said the SDP won’t divide Nigerians along the delicate lines of religion and ethnicity.
He said, “What used to be an easy discussion – with religion and ethnicity – has become explosive now. So, we will not use the SDP forum to try to bifurcate our people into different zones.
“What we are looking for now is a system where when we make a choice in the SDP, there will be resounding joy outside the SDP and Nigerians will say: ‘Okay, finally, this platform has given the country a chance’. ”
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Adewole Adebayo on Inside Sources on Channels Television on March 30, 2025
Ahead of the 2027 polls, talks about an inter-party alliance reached a climax on Thursday, March 20, 2025, when opposition arrowhead Atiku Abubakar, alongside former Anambra governor Peter Obi, ex-Kaduna governor Nasir El-Rufai, amongst others, announced a coalition to oust incumbent Tinubu whose administration has been accused of mismanaging the economy, with all-time high inflation and unprecedented cost of living.
The coalition is banking on the numerical strength of the votes recorded by Atiku and Obi in the last poll. In 2023, Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party’s Obi came second and third respectively with combined votes of over 12 million, more than four million above the total votes recorded by Tinubu who was declared the winner by electoral umpire INEC.
With a litany of court cases arising from intra-party squabbles and protracted leadership crises rocking the PDP and the LP, as well as alleged maltreatment of some APC members, politicians in the three parties seem to have made the SDP a darling.
Already, El-Rufai and some of his foot soldiers have joined the SDP. There have been talks about Atiku and Obi reportedly making moves to join the SDP but both politicians have not made such a decision known officially.
‘SDP To Disinfect El-Rufai, Others’
Adebayo said the SDP is open to all interested persons but the party would disinfect all newcomers so that they won’t pollute the party with the contaminants of where they are coming from.
He said, “If you want to come to the SDP, you have to make sure that you allow us to apply disinfectant, not because we don’t respect you but because you are coming from a highly infected zone.
“The same way we did it during COVID, when you go to your friend’s house. If you love your friend, he will disinfect you so that you don’t infect others.
“We’ll do it with order. Our party’s constitution is well-sanitised. The party’s guidelines are well-sanitised. Chapter 2 of the constitution around which we are organised to render services to the Nigerian people, the quality of leadership that we want, the processes untainted by criminality, bribery, excessive use of money, the notion of ethnicity, religionism and all of that.
“They (the newcomers) told us the calamity they were facing where they were coming from. Each of them talks about injustice. When Peter Obi left PDP, he said there was criminality and injustice there. El-Rufai is not shy about his calamity; how they (APC members) embarrassed him and how they were to give him a position and they stole it from him in a disrespectful way and other things like that.
“Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has his issues about how he ran and some people in his party did not support him.
“We sympathise with everyone who is coming, we know they’ve gone through a lot of trauma but our job is to say: whatever your job is, leave it at the door because this political party is not about politicians; it’s about the Nigerian people.
President Bola Tinubu has appointed Dr Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe as Chairman of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
This was revealed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Sunday.
The appointment of the former Kwara Central Senator will be for an initial term of four years.
The communique also stated that Oloriegbe’s appointment took effect on March 11, 2025.
Oloriegbe represented the Kwara Central Senatorial District at the 9th Senate of the National Assembly.
“He holds a Master’s in Coaching and Consultation from the University of Oxford, UK, and HEC, Paris, and a Bachelor’s of Medicine and Surgery from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State”.
“He is a member of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), Nigeria Veneral Disease Association, Guild of Medical Directors of Nigeria, International Aids Society (IAS), and the Africa Health Leadership and Management Network”, it also read.
