Ike Okoro Official Blog

As Etisalat international terminates its management agreement with its Nigerian arm, signally its final pull out, millions of subscribers of the network in Nigeria are getting apprehensive over the uncertain future of the telco. Etisalat, the Abu Dhabi-owned telecommunications networks has given Etisalat Nigeria three weeks to phase out the brand in the country. Chief executive officer of Etisalat International, Hatem Dowidar who stated this on Monday, said that there was no need for the brand in Nigeria after the collapse of the loan talks. This is coming on the heels of a $1.2billion loan default that saw a consortium of banks led by Access Bank taking over the company The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) had to step in to ensure the company did not collapse. Soon after there was a change of guard as top management staff and the seven-member board of Etisalat Nigeria, including its, chairman, Mr. Hakeem Bello Osagie, resigned ...

Following an emergency meeting held Thursday by members of the PDP in the House of Representatives, the members boasted that President Buhari will be roundly defeated by the PDP in 2019. The meeting and subsequent briefing of the press were in reaction to Wednesday’s Supreme Court Judgment which affirmed Makarfi’s status as the duly recognized chairman of the party under the law. House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, who led other members of his party to the briefing, stated that the APC should see the PDP’s victory at the apex court as a quite notice towards 2019, owing to what he described as their failure to fulfill promises and make the situation in the country better than it was prior to their emergence. The statements of these PDP members of the House of Representatives followed a similar pattern of responses from other PDP leaders and supporters who appear to have been reinvigorated by the ruling, and emboldened to make confident projections about the fortunes of the PDP. ...

The Senate leadership, unlike in the case of Senator Ali Ndume, whose suspension was given an accelerated hearing, has not uttered a word since this incident broke out. More than two weeks after a scandalous video emerged, which showed Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim dressing up in the presence of two women, allegedly after sex, the embattled lawmaker on Tuesday, sneaked into the National Assembly. We gathered that the lawmaker came into the premises at about 2:30pm on Tuesday and held a private meeting in his office with some global experts on environment. He did not attend plenary with his colleagues and has not been seen in any committee meetings since the scandalous video emerged and went viral on social media. Senator Ibrahim’s reappearance in the Senate, is coming, despite an informal arrangement it was gathered he had with the leadership of the upper legislative chamber not to be seen within and around the premises. The leadership of the Senate has kept mum on the issue ...

Residents, commuters and passersby in Oshodi area of Lagos were in great shock on the 10th July, 2017 when a moving passenger train crushed a young woman to death. Residents, commuters and passersby in Oshodi area of Lagos were in great shock yesterday, July 10 2017 when a moving passenger train crushed a young woman to death. The incident happened a few meters away from the Arena Shopping Complex, Bolade, Oshodi. According to witnesses, it was gathered that the deceased was rushing back to the tracks to pick her fallen baggage unaware of the oncoming train, in spite of repeated honking by the train driver. Her remains were later taken away by the rescue agencies.                       May her gentle soul rest in peace.

Digital Content Next joins a host of groups in supporting Al Jazeera against the Saudi-led calls for its closure. A trade association representing more than 80 media companies has voiced its support for Al Jazeera amid a Saudi-led campaign to have the network shut down. In a statement released on Monday, Digital Content Next (DCN) joined a host of media outlets and organisations that have announced their support for Al Jazeera against calls for its closure. "It is vital we value and protect the independence of media organisations and journalists around the world. Any effort to silence journalists or use news organisations as a bargaining chip is an affront to freedom," the statement said. The Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, the New York Times editorial board and The Guardian have all condemned the efforts to pressure Qatar into shutting down Al Jazeera.  What is behind the campaign against Al Jazeera? ...

Trump himself has remained out of sight since returning late Saturday from Hamburg, where he attended a high-stakes Group of 20 summit and met with several foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.  President Donald Trump has arrived in Europe for the second time in a week, a trip meant as a pomp-filled celebration of transatlantic ties at a time of anxiety on both continents. Air Force One landed at Paris Orly airport, south of the city center, early Thursday morning. From there, Trump's due to take meetings at the American ambassador's residence before being greeted in a formal welcoming ceremony by his host, French President Emmanuel Macron. The trip may provide Trump at least a short interlude from the political crisis swirling back home around a meeting between his son, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer during last year's presidential campaign. Later Thursday, the American leader will tour Napoleon's tomb at the Les Invalides befo...

Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, has described the bill seeking to grant amnesty to looters in the House of Representatives as disgraceful. In a statement on Wednesday, Sagay said the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Linus Okorie should be punished. He said: “Now what shall we do with Linus Okorie? I propose that the House of Representatives should regard Linus’s bill to be so impertinent and scandalous as to earn him a suspension from the House, for the rest of the 8th session, i.e., until July 2019. That should serve notice that Nigeria will no longer tolerate such brazen impunity and corruption or its promotion thereof.” Sagay insisted that Okorie was promoting corruption through the bill. “That a Nigerian legislator (a lawmaker) can have the effrontery to promote a bill which if enacted into law, will enable looters of our treasury and national patrimony to keep the loot, if only they can acknowledge it as looted, pro...

A court in Brazil on Wednesday found the country’s former president, Luiz da Silva, guilty of corruption and money laundering and sentenced him to almost 10 years in prison. Its such a shame that here in my country Nigeria where the founding fathers of corruption originates,they still call the shots and majority of them are even in power. The verdict is a shocking reversal of fortune for Mr. da Silva who wielded far-reaching influence across Latin America for several years. Mr. da Silva was the president of the largest country in South America from 2003 to 2010. Sergio Moro, the judge who delivered the judgement, said Mr. da Silva’s actions were part of a “scheme of systemic corruption” in Petrobras. “The president of the republic has enormous responsibilities,” Judge Moro wrote. “As such, his culpability is also” enormous when he commits crimes, he added. Mr. da Silva, was convicted for receiving $1.1 million, alongside his wife, in improvement and expenses from a construct...

The House of Representatives has ordered the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, to recall the suspended executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf Adewole had ordered Yusuf to proceed on three months suspension with immediate effect, through a statement by Boade Akinola, Director, Media and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Health. The lawmakers alleged that the suspension of the NHIS boss was an attempt to intimidate and punish him for testifying on issues of corruption in the sector. In a motion that was debated and adopted on Wednesday, the House concluded that the minister seemed to be victimizing Yusuf by suspending him. The lawmakers consequently demanded the recall of the NHIS boss from suspension, adding that he should be allowed to continue with his sanitisation programme in the agency. Speaking after plenary, Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, Chike Okafor said the development was to ensure that witnesses testif...