Isese Day: Lagos, Oyo States declare Wednesday, August 20 public holiday - ITREALMS

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Like the commercial centre of the country, Lagos State, the Oyo State Government has declared Wednesday, August 20, 2025, a work-free day to commemorate the Isese Day Celebration.

According to Professor Olanike K. Adeyemo, Secretary to the State Government, Governor Seyi Makinde approved the work-free day to allow traditional religion worshippers and residents to mark the occasion.

AI Governance: Ticking time bomb for Nigeria, experts declare @ABoICT 2025 - ITREALMS

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With Artificial Intelligence (AI) rapidly reshaping the global digital landscape, Professor Adewale Peter Obadare and Amrich Singhal, have strongly warned of a ticking time bomb if its not properly governed in Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.

The two who spoke at the 2025 Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit & Leadership Award (ABoICT 2025), at the weekend in Lagos, urgently called for Nigeria and Africa to adopt a unified, governance-driven approach to AI development, stressing that trust, regulation, and cybersecurity are paramount, as they stressed that AI without governance is a 'ticking time bomb.'

CBEX collapse: EFCC declares 8 persons wanted - ITREALMS

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Some eight persons including four foreigners and four Nigerians have been declared wanted over alleged N1.3 trillion scam using the Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX), a digital trading platform, reports ITREALMS.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) made this declaration Friday in a publication on its X handle.

AFRICMIL to Tinubu: Declare your assets now - ITREALMS

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The African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) wishes to call on President Bola Tinubu to declare his assets in accordance with Paragraph 11 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and make it public as a way of committing to the genuine fresh beginning he promised Nigerians. 

AFRICMIL in a press statement available to ITREALMS and endorsed by its coordinator, Dr. Chidi Onumah, believes that declaring his assets and making it public would place Mr Tinubu on a much higher moral pedestal than his predecessors who were not on record to have taken any significant action regarding this constitutional obligation.

PDP to INEC: Declare Atiku winner now - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

…Alerts that Buhari, APC are seeking to alter results

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) charges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately announce results as delivered from the polling units and declare the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the winner of the February 23 Presidential election, reports ITREALMS.

National Publicity Secretary and Director, Media & Publicity PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that their position is predicated on clear and verifiable results across the nation, showing that Atiku Abubakar is in clear lead both in spread and total number of votes cast.

"Intelligence available to us is that INEC is delaying the announcement of results following directives by the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC), which are bent on altering the figures from the polling centers and allocate fictitious figures for President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly in northern states.

"Curiously, INEC server is now shut down, results are no more being transmitted and the reason is to enable the APC to inflate figures from six designated states.

"We call on international observers and election monitors to insist on a transparent process of transmission of results and the monitoring thereof.

"We already have reports of how APC governors in the northern states have been making desperate effort to tamper with the results of the elections in their respective states with the view to award conjured votes to President Buhari.

"In Kogi state, Governor Yahaya Bello has been making frantic moves to change results to suit APC’s intent and purposes as against the wishes of the people, expressly delivered at the polls.

"Nigerians already know how the Minister of Transportation and the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign, Rotimi Amaechi, used the military to hold an INEC official in River state, Mrs. Mary Efeturi, hostage and insisted that she will not be released until she alters the results in favour of President Buhari 

"The PDP calls on INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to note that in this age of Information Communication Technology, Nigerians already have the results as delivered at the polling centers and any attempt to alter any figure will be faced with vehement resistance.

"In delaying the announcement of the results, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is allowing the APC to turn him into a villain and directly pitching him against the people. He should therefore extricate himself from the rejected APC and be on the side of the people, by immediately announcing the results as already delivered at the polling units and declare, the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the winner," he said. 

Insisting that anything short of this is not acceptable to Nigerians, "who had already expressed their wishes and aspiration at the polls," PDP declared.

Uboshe Uboshe/Editor

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Igbos in Canada declare support for Atiku-Obi presidency - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA) have declared their support for the Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Mr. Peter Obi presidency come February elections 2019, reports ITREALMS.

ICCA, ITREALMS gathered  is made up of Igbos resident in Canada has urged the Nigerian electorate to vote massively as they are the only hope to redeem the nation’s glory, which had been battered severely under “unrepentant penchant for nepotism, unapologetic ethnocentrism and blatant display of sectionalism” as demonstrated by the Buhari-led APC government. 

In a Letter of Endorsement for the Atiku/Obi PDP ticket signed by its President, Ugochukwu Okoro; Chairman, Board of Trustees, Benjamin Chike Allison; PRO, Ahaoma Kanu; and Secretary, Board of Trustees, Chris Chike Nsoedo, ICCA did not hide its support.

According to the group, their position was informed by “the state of the nation and the blurred horizons and increasing despair of ordinary Nigerians who are the worst affected”, they expressed their trust in Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to re-design the country for the benefit of all. In their letter, the Association affirmed to the PDP flag-bearer: “We see in you a bridge-builder that will bring some measure of stability, calm and trust in governance and belief in our country which is going through a divisiveness that is as scary as it is gruesome”.

The group observed that the antecedents of Atiku and Obi, including their long experience in service, leadership, entrepreneurship and statesmanship, assuredly lead Nigeria from the present morass of “massive unemployment, job losses, progressive demise of industries, increased brain-drain, and a failing health sector”.

Using healthcare delivery metaphor as an example, the Association expressed their confidence that in Atiku and Obi, Nigeria has discovered two economic surgeons that will  “put her on the recovery theatre and perform procedures that will make our economy become healthy again”.

Nenye Dom with additional report from Vanguard/Editor

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Metele killings: Ositelu urges FG to declare national security emergency - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Presidential candidate of the Accord Party (AP), Mr. Isaac Babatunde Ositelu, has urged the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria to declare, with immediate effect, a state of emergency in the nation’s security architecture, reports ITREALMS.

This call, ITREALMS reports, follows the spate of gruesome killings of the civilian population and military personnel by the insurgent groups rampaging in the sections of the country. 

According to him, it’s a tragedy of immense proportion that each time, the military claims to have technically defeated the insurgents, the group usually responded with bigger damage on the people and the military.

In a statement released to the media in Lagos, on Tuesday, he said that the life of every Nigerian must not be cut short with reckless abandon while the nation’s leaders and its people carry on as if it is business as usual. “It is unacceptable the way our people are being killed on a regular basis. No nation should stand aloof and watch with trepidation the deliberate and consistent carnage in our land,” he said.

Ositelu admonished that the war on insurgency cannot be fought and won in the media space. According to him, it is demeaning to the image of the country how military bases are cheaply over run by the Boko Haram fighters, promising to make military institutions fortresses that are impenetrable to armed gangs if elected President.

While condoling with the federal government, Nigerian military authorities and the families of the fallen heroes, Ositelu said that the Metele massacre in Borno State, north eastern state of Borno, is one too many. He therefore said that with the intractable killings of the military operatives and the Nigerian people, particularly, in the northern states, his government would probe all defense and security budgets and expenditure from 1999 to 2018. He noted that if the capital votes and releases to the military had been efficiently executed in the last 19 years, there was no way the Nigerian military would continue to come under violent butchery by the marauders and insurgent groups. He said that since the beginning of this year no fewer than 160 officers and soldiers have been killed by the militant groups.

The Accord Party presidential candidate said that clear cut performance metrics would be used in defining the tenure of his security chiefs once the mantle of leadership is handed over to him. He stressed that military commanders who failed to meet up to their deliverables would be asked to give way to a more robust leadership that is result oriented. While assuring that competency, commitment, dedication and loyalty to the country would be rewarded, he said that the various agencies including the armed forces, Police, Department of State Security (DSS), the Military Intelligence Agency (MIA) and Defence Intelligence Agency would be encouraged to have seamless collaborations in the interest of the nation. He said that the unmitigated rivalry among the security services would be a thing of the past during his tenure.

Ositelu said that the Nigerian military which had won international accolades across Africa and other parts of the globe had no business being decimated by a rat tag insurgent militants. According to him, if insinuations that the welfare of the military operatives had ebbed deeply and that most of the military equipment for fighting the insurgents were obsolete aside from being ill equipped, there is no better time than during his tenure to fumigate the budgetary provisions and expenditures from 1999 till date.

He said that there will be a paradigm shift in the manner of tackling the insurgents if the Nigerian people vote him into power at the 2019 Presidential election. According to him, the Accord Party led central government would not claim to know it all. Rather, he said that his government will be going into strategic collaborations and partnerships with nations that have striking experience in the successful dismemberment of insurgencies across the world. He assured that technology driven and intelligence focussed military would be the new plank of the military that he would bequeath to the Nigerian nation.

Aside from providing the most modern equipment and training facilities for a combat ready army, he said that welfare of the rank and file of the military would be top notch for his administration. According to him, the impunity with which political leaders, the bureaucracy and military hierarchy siphon the funds for military equipment and welfare of the soldiers will be a thing of the past as those found culpable would be dealt with according to the laws of the land. He said that budgets for military and security operations would be streamlined for results. “Never again will the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) get more budgetary provisions than the sum allocated to the entire defense sector as witnessed in recent past,” he said.

“My government will also try to address the ideological angle to the issue of insurgency by working with the stakeholders including religious clerics, traditional rulers and civilian joint task force to nip such ideas in the bud in the future”, he said. He assured that the multi-national joint military taskforce would be re-energised and refocused so that insurgents won’t continue to wreak havoc in country and run for cover in another because of the uncoordinated management of the four nations (Nigeria, Republics of Niger, Chad and Cameroun) joint military taskforce.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Lagos declare June 12 public holiday

ITREALMS:

The Lagos State Government on Saturday declared June 12, 2018 as public holiday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the annulled 1993 Presidential elections adjudged to be have won by the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, reports ITRealms.

The State Governor,  Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government,  Mr. Tunji Bello, said the significance of June 12, 1993 elections, adjudged as the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria, would always be a reference point in the State's quest to entrench true democracy in service to the people.

Commending President Buhari's recent declaration of June as the new Democracy Day, the Governor said the singular act would forever ensure that Chief MKO Abiola and other martyrs of democracy who laid down their lives in the struggle to entrench good governance did not do so vain.

"On behalf of all Lagosians, we want to commend and applaud Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari for deeming it fit finally against all odds from all other past presidents that 25 years after, we are able to now celebrate our own Democracy Day and also declare that the real winner of 1993 June 12 Presidential election was actually our own MKO Abiola.

"No matter how long you try to hide history, history will always reveal itself with a true platform. So, we know that is one very important singular step as we go forward to build an enduring democracy. And for all democrats in this country, we are excited that we are moving in the right direction.

"It also affirms that Nigeria can get it right if we begin to put things in the right perspective and work for the general good of the greater number of people. That is the true essence of democracy.

“For us in Lagos, June 12 is not just a day to remember, it is a rallying point for those of us in service that we must continuously strive to entrench true democracy and good governance which is what Chief MKO Abiola totally exemplified," Governor Ambode said.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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Buhari to declare open eNigeria confab’17

ITREALMS:

The president, Mohammadu Buhari, has been confirmed to declare open the 2017 eNigeria conference in Abuja, while the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami is to give the keynote, reports ITRealms.

Head, Corporate Affairs & External Relations at the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mrs. Hadiza Umar, disclosed this in a press statement made available to ITRealms at the weekend, saying that eNigeria is the no. 1 Information Technology Conference organised by NITDA in collaboration with relevant IT stakeholders from public, private sector as well as non-governmental organisations.

The 2017 theme, she said, is on the theme "Fostering Digital Economy through Local Content Development and Effective Regulations" will be declared open by His Excellency, President Mohammadu Buhari GCFR, President and Commander -in- Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is the Keynote Speaker.

The event is eNigeria, she also said, involves conference, exhibition and award holding inside the International Conference Centre, Abuja from 7th to 9th of November, 2017, as President Buhari is to use the occasion to advance the agenda for local content and sectoral regulations as basis for Nigeria’s entry into the digital economy.

The 10th Edition of eNigeria 2017 will promote deliberations on how Nigeria could thicken the value of its policy thrust on local content in pursuit of a national economy that is less dependent on crude oil export.

Uboshe Uboshe & Doris Minimah/GEE

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FG: Declare October national cyber awareness in Nigeria - Stakeholders

ITRealms:

The cybersecurity stakeholders in Nigeria have urged the Federal Government (FG) to consider the adoption of October as the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NASCAM) in line with global best practices, reports ITRealms.

Some of the stakeholders who disclosed their disposition to this novel concept at the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NASCAM) conference held at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, recently, described this call as a national priority.

They stressed that cyber security should be given additional attention by the federal government of Nigeria going by the exponential growth of Internet related activities in the country and the growing vulnerability of the government, corporate and individual citizens to the threats of cyber criminals.

In his presentation on Internet Jurisdiction: A Cath-22 Situation and the Trajectory of Nigeria’s Judicial System, Kunle Adegoke, Managing Partner M. A. Banire and Associates said, “The evil effect of cybercrimes can be hardly exhaustively appreciated as same may seem to be limitless. According to a report, “Cyber-crime costs the global economy about $445 billion every year, with the damage to business from the theft of intellectual property exceeding the $160 billion loss to individuals from hacking”. A 2012 report says that Nigeria lost over 2 trillion naira to cybercrimes in 2012 and $200 million per annum. The amount of loss annually occasioned now can be better imagined as youths today see cybercrime as an open sesame to sudden riches.”

While commending the Nigerian government for enacting the enabling law to deal with cyber criminality, he called for the strengthening of the existing laws because “The computer has created a different world of cyber existence where man can live without laws of ancient regime. The benefits of burden of human relations have occasioned cyber-crime as well.” He expressed concern that “it is not good for technology to run faster than law. Whenever, technology moves faster than law, what you will have is a legal vacuum”. Nigeria suffered this legal vacuum for a long while.”

Immediate past Director General, National Broadcasting Commission, Emeka Mba also expressed the need for increased citizens and government’s participation in awareness creating and pragmatic interventions in the cyber security issues and challenges. He said that even the broadcast industry that used to have a sense of immunity against cyber-attacks is now more vulnerable like every other IT entities because of the convergence of technology which has allowed for the integration of Internet Protocols in the broadcasting industry and the emergence of Smart television sets.

He underscored his concern by citing an instance that on April 8, 2015, hackers penetrated the French broadcaster TV5Monde, crippling email and production facilities, hijacking social media accounts and disrupting the transmission of 11 channels for three hours. Putting it in context, Mba said “that Few years ago, the major head ache for a pay tv service was smart card hacking, and piracy, today its much worse, pointing out that a new report on Digital TV Europe showed that “Cybercriminals target broadcasters up to 1,000 times a day.”

According to him, for years the industry has been moving away from traditional, analog audiovisual broadcasting technology towards digital-only, network-based infrastructures. This is a logical and necessary process for broadcast companies to keep pace with technological development, and to benefit from the efficiencies of digital media network distribution. But any system based on delivering digital media over the internet is potentially vulnerable to cyber-attack from outside.

“Broadcast signal intrusion is the hijacking of broadcast signals of radio, television stations, cable television broadcast feeds or satellite signals. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks, he stated.

President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association, (NIRA), Reverend Sunday Afolayan, who spoke on Internet governance, highlighted some of the issues that have made it pertinent for the Nigerian government to speedily consider the presidential proclamation of October as the national cyber security awareness month.

As said by him, the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the issue of breaches and surveillance by the Government or Individuals “because most of our data are online,” stressing, as well that broadband penetration is narrowing digital, physical, economic and educational divides, due to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

Afolayan noted as well that the cyber space is now a veritable channel for the dissemination of “… propaganda to promote violence, including radicalization, recruitment and financing organized crimes using the Internet. Online child sexual exploitation. The internet as both tool and object of militant protest either for liberation or for domination.”

Publisher and founder Technology Times, Shina Badaru canvassed for a presidential amnesty for cyber criminals in order to allow government access the potentials of the IT savvy individuals for positive trajectories in building a wall of defence in the nation’s electronic boundaries across the board. While saying that the nation’s conventional security forces might have been over stretched and ill-equipped to tackle the dynamic tactics and strategies of the cyber goons, he said that those granted the amnesty could be converted to the nation’s strategic ‘army’ to combat the looming threats from the new frontiers to national security.

Director General Cyber Security Challenge Nigeria, Victor Phikparobo Idohor said cautioned that no one or organisation is immune to the real and present danger in the cyber space. He concurred with Badaru on the need for a dedicated law enforcement agency particularly for cyber security in Nigeria. He stressed that the emerging threats in the cyber space is beyond amateur hacks to the looming attacks on corporate entities and businesses. 

According to him, the attacks on infrastructure presents gloomy picture of the threats to nation at large.

Brandish Publisher, Collins Onuegbu spoke on the break away from the silos of expert discussion on cyber security to a more inclusive citizens’ participation at all levels. 

For him, cyber security challenge has gone beyond the experts’ enclave and should now be broken down in the common man’s language in order to have a comprehensive frontal defeat of the menace.

The one-day conference, ITRealms gathered was attended by representatives of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, EFCC, DSS, civil society group, Lagos State government, students, developers, start-ups, entrepreneurs, banks, insurance companies ICTs media and agencies.

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Pix: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari,