Retired Justice, who served as the First Grand Khadi of Niger State and Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Ahmed Lemu has died in the early hours of Thursday in Minna, Niger State. His daughter, Maryam Lemu confirmed the demise of the educationist via Instagram, saying “Inna lillahi wa inna liayhi raji’un,” she wrote.
The Nigerian Government has declared three days of public holiday ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. These work-free days are; Friday, 25th Dec. 2020; Monday 28th Dec. 2020, and Friday, 1st January 2021 respectively.
Following the blacklisting of Nigeria by the United States over Religious Freedom Violations, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs has disclosed that it will be engaging the U.S government in a bid to remove Nigeria from its blacklist of countries over concerns of religious freedom. The ministry's spokesperson, Mr. Ferdinand Nwonye made the disclosure in Abuja following the U.S announcement of blacklisting Nigeria for "engaging in systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations" under its Religious Freedom Act of 1998, expressing the government's displeasure of its inclusion on the list.
The Nigerian Army on Wednesday released a list of 86 people wanted in connection with acts of terrorism, including the two factional leaders of Boko Haram sect, Maman Al-Barnawi and, Abubakar Shekau, who has been rumoured to be dead several times in the past. The Commandant, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, declared them wanted during the indoctrination of members of the civilian joint task force into the operations of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri.
The General Overseer of the Citadel Global church and also one-time running mate to President Buhari in the 2011 general election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has endorsed the move by the federal government to regulate the social media space.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has advised Muslim faithful in Nigerian to disregard any invitation by anyone to join fresh protest in the country. MURIC Director Professor Ishaq Akintola, while issuing the advice on Monday, said the protests are legitimate as long as they are peaceful but the last one was hijacked by disgruntled politicians, religious bigots and ethnic jingoists. Akintola said, “The attention of MURIC has been drawn to subterranean rumblings as precursors of demonstrations. We like to remind Nigerian Muslims in particular and all citizens in general that the last experience we had during #EndSARS protests was very bitter as it pushed the country to the edge of the precipice.
