Dakolo’s House Invasion, Shiites Protest, Ministerial List, Others Top This Week

This week, the country, was abuzz with many activities comprising both pleasant and unpleasant events.

However, events like the protest by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) which turned violent on Monday in Abuja and the Buhari’s Ministerial list topped major activities in the country this week.

Shiites Protest, Buhari’s Ministerial list, Dakolo’s House invasion, Edo Assembly Crisis and other controversial news dominated the socio-political discourse this week. We brings you a brief round-up of the major stories of this week.

Below are some of the events:

Shiites Protest

A protest by members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) turned violent on Monday in Abuja.

The protesters clashed with security agencies close to the Federal Secretariat in the Nigerian capital.

On Monday, the Shiites had begun a protest at Nitel junction and were expected to end at the secretariat.

During the protest, government vehicles including those owned by the emergency management agency were burnt by the aggrieved protesters.

Some other sources alleged that the Shiites threw petrol bombs as part of the protest.

A Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, in charge of Operations at the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, was shot dead during the protest

Also a member of the National Youth Service Corps reporting for Channels TV was hit by a stray bullet as many more were injured during alleged exchange of fire between the sect and security forces.

The reporter, Precious Owolabi, was rushed to the National Hospital, Garki, where he later died on Monday evening.

This protest comes about two weeks after two Shiites were killed and two police officers injured after a similar protest turned violent at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The Shiites are demanding the release of their leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who has been in detention for alleged murder since December 2015.

Buhari’s Ministerial list

President Muhammadu Buhari officially forwarded his list of ministerial nominees to the Senate.

This was made known by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who read out the president’s letter at plenary on Tuesday.

The president appointed a total of 43 ministers from the 36 states and Abuja.

Among the appointees are former Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, senior lawyer Festus Keyamo, ex-Benue governor George Akume and 40 other nominees.

The president also retained Babatunde Fashola, Chris Ngige and a few other returnee ministers.

The appointments were made across the six geopolitical zones.

However, the screening exercises has commenced on Wednesday.

Nominees who have previously served in the upper and lower legislative chambers of the National Assembly as well as in a State House of Assembly were not questioned by senators, as is tradition, and were simply asked to ‘take a bow’ and leave after they were introduced.

Dakolo’s House invasion

In another News story, information broke that the residence of gospel musician, Timi Dakolo, was invaded by police officers.

Armed policemen reportedly stormed the residence of Dakolos to take them to the police headquarters in Abuja.

Following a public outcry, the police later said the visit was to invite Busola Dakolo for an investigation of matters of criminal conspiracy, falsehood, mischief and threat to life.

Busola had accused Biodun Fatoyinbo, the founder of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly, commonly (COZA) of raping her when she was a teenager.

Fatoyinbo repeatedly denied all the allegations.

However, The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered that petitions from the Senior Pastor of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly in Abuja, Biodun Fatoyinbo, and Mr and Mrs Timi Dakolo, be merged and investigated at the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Edo Assembly Crisis

As the Edo Assembly crisis continues to linger on, the House of Representatives, acting on a motion moved by a member from Edo, Julius Ihonvbere, last week set up the Abdurazak Namdas-led panel to probe the Assembly crisis and make recommendations.

It should be recalled that the state Assembly had been inaugurated in controversial circumstances on June 17 after nine out of 24 members-elect elected Frank Okiye as Speaker at 9 pm.

This week, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, met at the presidential villa, Abuja.

The duo have been at loggerheads in recent times, they shook hands at the presidential villa on Wednesday, July 24.

The reason the duo have been at loggerhead is due to an ongoing crisis rocking the Edo state House of Assembly.

The governor and his predecessor stood together after the presidential policy retreat at the presidential villa on Wednesday, July 24.

New UK PM Boris Johnson

In the foreign scene, Boris Johnson has been appointed as the new prime minister of the United Kingdom after Theresa May stood down over her failure to lead Britain out of the European Union (Brexit).

Johnson, 55, was appointed to the premiership by Queen Elizabeth II in a formal meeting at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.

His elevation to the UK’s highest political office was a formality after being announced on Tuesday as the winner of an internal ruling Conservative Party leadership contest involving a ballot of the party’s some 160,000 members.

Boris Johnson immediately launched a clear-out of ministers, taking the numbers either sacked or resigned to more than a dozen, and has promoted Sajid Javid to chancellor, Priti Patel to home secretary and Dominic Raab to foreign secretary.

During his speech, Johnson pledged to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement brokered during months of arduous negotiations between May and EU leaders or leave the bloc on the UK’s scheduled departure date of October 31 without a deal

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