Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Mansur M. Dan-Ali (rtd) has said the Nigerian Armed Forces under President Muhammadu Buhari has been strengthened with the recruitment of more than 20,000 personnel into Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Dailytrust reports.

Kayode Oguntuase

Nigeria would soon establish a consulate in northern part of Benin Republic to provide diplomatic services to its citizens in the area, Nigeria’s Ambassador in Cotonou, Kayode Oguntuase, has said.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Cotonou that the new consulate would be established to meet diplomatic and consular needs of Nigerians in that country.

“We are in the process of establishing consulate office in other parts of Benin Republic, especially the northern side, because of the distance that our people have to cover when coming to Cotonou.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday cancelled the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.

According to a source in the State House, the President will instead meet with Service Chiefs at the Presidential Villa in Abuja to address pressing security challenges confronting the country.

Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural group, said it would resist any attempt to discredit Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu.

President-General of the group, Chief Nnia Nwodo, in a statement on Thursday, in Enugu, said it was preposterous for the Federal Government to be carrying out unwarranted inquisition into Ekweremadu’s life.

He said that the allegation that Ekweremadu, the highest ranking Igbo politician in the country, embezzled public funds without any prima facie case was inappropriate.

The governing party, the All Progressives Congress APC says there is no crisis of any form in the party. Chairman of the APC Governors Forum, Rochas Okorocha made this known to State House Correspondents after the governors met again with President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday morning at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Two women died on Tuesday in an auto crash involving the motorcade bearing the wife of Abia Governor, Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu. One of the dead was Nwamaka Maduchukwu, the media aide to Mrs. Ikpeazu, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.

The other woman was identified as Mrs Promise Uche-Nwamkpa, wife of a former member of the Abia State House of Assembly.

Maduchukwu was a senior special assistant on media to Mrs. Ikpeazu.