Former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has said he didn’t bargain for the “deluge” of good will messages, which came his way on  his 70^th birthday, on August 8.

In a statement at the weekend, the former National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) said  while it was “no doubt a privilege worthy of appreciation to attain the age of three scores and ten on August 8, 2026” he   was overwhelmed by the show of love from   different parts of the country and beyond.

“My attempts to write individualized responses to the thousands of messages have come to nought as I lose count of who and what messages to respond to.

“I take this opportunity therefore, to convey my most sincere and heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the multitude of well wishers across all divides who have, in their various ways shared the momentous day with me. 

I, however, want to thank notably, Allah (SWT) for enabling the attainment as well as so many other favours that only He is capable of” he said in the statement to the media.

He appreciated President  Bola Ahmed Tinubu,    the Speaker, House of Representatives, Dr Tajuddeen Abbas,  Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, members of the National Assembly, the set of 1999 governors and other former governors, His Highness Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, CFR, Emir of Zazzau and several other Emirs and Chiefs from both within and outside Kaduna State, leaders of various political parties, other political leaders as well as candidates to various offices across partisan divides, religious leaders, and friends and well-wishers, as stated   who he said either called or wrote goodwill messages to him.

“I equally appreciate the numerous youths and youth groups that took to the social media to felicitate with me.

I want to say that the various messages, many of which described me in superlatives that made me wonder as to who the references are, have humbled me but at the same time will serve as a tonic that gingers me to continue to give my best to support the unity, peace and progress of our country and its people” he stated.

He urged his friends, political associates and supporters to close ranks and confront the myriad of problems bedeviling the nation saying the challenges were surmountable with a strong will and spirit.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the submission of the list of candidates for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections for the 2027 general elections to Aug. 11.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, announced the extension in a statement in Abuja.

Haruna noted that the extension of the deadline for the upload of nominations onto the commission’s dedicated portal followed appeals by political parties.

“The submission window which, according to the revised time table and schedule of activities for the general elections, originally scheduled to close on Saturday, Aug.

“The extension follows growing appeals by political parties for additional time to complete the process,” he said.

Haruna also notified voters who applied for replacement of lost, damaged or defaced permanent voter cards (PVCs) that the window to print downloadable copies of their cards would expire by midnight of Aug. 9.

This, according to him, is to allow the commission to compile the data of downloaded PVCs for final statistics of the total PVCs collected ahead of the Aug. 15 Osun governorship election.

He recalled that collection of PVCs in Osun was held at the registration area (RA) level from July 22 to July 28.

“Owing to complaints of large crowds and difficulties encountered by voters at collection centres, the commission approved an extension of RA-level collection to July 31, before collection moved to LGA level, running from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7.

“The commission also wishes to state that replacement of downloadable PVCs has been made available to voters in Odo-Otin and Ife Central local government areas whose cards were carted away by hoodlums who invaded the two centres.

“The commission reiterates that the stolen cards cannot be used to vote,” he said.

Haruna reassured the people of Osun of INEC’s readiness to conduct a free, fair, credible and inclusive governorship election on Aug. 15.

By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja

The Federal Government of Nigeria spent a whopping N1.16trillion on fuel subsidy, losing N16.20billion to crude and product issues while deducting a total of N1.20trillion from the federation account as sales and proceeds in 2021.

Disclosing this in Abuja yesterday during his presentation to the Senate Public Account Committee (SPAC) probing the 2021- 2023 Audit Report on the Oil and Gas Industry conducted by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the Chairman of Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr Mohammed Bello Shehu added that pipeline repairs gulped N22.

Speaking further, the RMFAC boss revealed to the Committee that during the period, the intention of the derivation objective was undermined by the way it was computed.

“The practice of computing 13% derivation on the balance of revenue after deductions from the total collections is contrary to the intention of the derivation objective “, he said.

However the Senate Committee Chairman on Public Account who was a former Accountant General of the Federation, Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo stood down the reports of the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) ‘s submission saying the measure was to offer members enough time to study the report while ordering the Agency to reappear midweek.

Senator Dankwambo who was visibly upset following the non – appearance of the Auditor – General of the Federation for the investigative session without any valid or representative however threatened that the Auditor General must unfailingly appear before the Committee on Tuesday next week or risk a forced appearance through the invocation of the powers of the National Assembly.

” The Auditor – General must unfailingly appear before this committee on Tuesday next week or risk invocation of powers of the National Assembly against him , which will lead to forced appearance”, he said.