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Minister restates commitment to ensure dignity of Older Persons.

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Labour Party Chieftain support call by TY Danjuma for communities to arm and defend themselves Danjuma Attah, Gombe A chieftain of the Labour Party and Governorship candidate in the 2024 general elections, Keftin E Amuga, has reiterated to his people in Billiri, the call by General TY Danjuma on communities to stand up and defend themselves against terrorists and land grabbers. Keftin Amuga made the call in a press statement sent to our Correspondent and gave reasons for reiterating TY Danjuma’s call to the continued attack on his people in Billiri LGA of Gombe State Amuga, also the Gombe State Chairman of the Middle Belt Forum, while condemning what he described as the barbaric, wicked and inhumane Easter Monday Suicide truck attack on the Christians faithful of Billiri, condoled families of victims of the attack. According to him, “this deliberately planned attack which left five dead and 13 injured is about the third one, two of which were deadly. Essentially the attack was born out of pure hatred and intended to maximize deadly impact on Christian faithful’s of Gombe State”, he stated. Recalling two similar attacks on Christian in the State in the past, the Easter celebrations in 2019 and the Christmas celebrations of 2024 when Christians were attacked by moving vehicles, Amuga said the recent attack during this year’s Easter celebrations indicated a pattern in the attack. He said, “the third and most current one which occurred on the 21st April, 2025 by another fanatic named Usman Muhammad aged 28, a resident of Afghanistan Quarters (a name synonymous with the hometown of the Late Taliban leader Osama Bin Laden) killed over 5 persons and injuring scores of Christian youth during the Easter Monday celebration. “Yet the Police PPRO came up with another narrative that was uncalled for after a very shallow investigation into the incident. “The question is, why this recurring decimal? Ironically while investigation was supposed to be going on, some government security outfits had already announced the conclusion of the investigation and the arrest of some Tangale youth for alleged vandalism at the scene of the suicide attack, insisting that the incidence was only a vehicular accident! This is very sad indeed”, he decried. Questioning government’s actions towards the Tangale people of the State, Amuga said, “When one recalls the unprovoked incident, with the state Government, following the aftermath of the Tangale Chieftaincy crisis in 2021, whereby the Tangale people were denied the choice of Dr. Musa Idris as the Mai (Chief) Tangle, because he is a Christian and further arrested some youth, some of whom have died in prison and others are rendered useless due various illnesses while still in prison, one begins to wonder, which of the law is in use in Gombe State, the Nigerian constitution or the Sharia Law? “Accordingly I have no option than to support and call on the ethnic nationalities, the Christians and Tangale people in particular, that in their own interest, they should comply immediately with the Clarion call made in May 2018 and repeated this April 2025 by our Elder Statesman, Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, that all indigenous ethnic nationalities of the nation should stand up to defend themselves and their God given land, otherwise very soon, there may be no land and communities to call our own”. He then called on all the elected and appointed political representatives who have benefitted in one way or the other from the support and votes of the Tangale people, the Christian population and the indigenous ethnic nationalities of Gombe State, to as a matter of duty required by the Oath of their various offices, prevail over Governor Inuwa Yahaya to put an end to the discrimination, persecution and maltreatment against the Tangale people, the Christians and the indigenous ethnic nationalities of Gombe State. He also called for the release without delay of all prisoners of conscience and politics, related to the Tangale Chieftaincy crisis and the recent Easter Monday Suicide Truck attack, recognize Dr. Musa Idris, as recommended by the Tangale Traditional Council, as the legitimate Choice for the stool of the (MAI) Chief of Tangale, thereby rendering unnecessary the present court case and Institute without delay a “Truth and Reconciliation committee” to fence-up the deeply fractured population down the line along Tribal and religious cleavages. End.

Power outage causes chaos in Spain and Portugal A massive power cut hit large parts of Spain and Portugal on Monday, causing widespread chaos and disruption. The outage left millions of people without electricity, while internet and phone networks were also down. Trains were cancelled and evacuated in some regions, and traffic lights stopped working as delays mounted at airports. With shops, homes and restaurants plunged into darkness – and some people stuck in lifts – Spain’s electricity network said by mid-afternoon that restoring power could take several hours. Spain’s political leaders said the cause of the disruption was still unknown but there was no indication of a cyber attack. When did the outage begin? The first reports of an outage began around midday (10:00 GMT) on Monday and its impact quickly escalated. As the scale of the disruption became clear, residents of Madrid were warned to stay put, keep off the roads and not to call emergency services unless “truly urgent”. A Spanish operator said power restoration would take up to 10 hours, while Portugal’s power firm REN said getting back to full power could take up to a week. Queues formed at cash machines as card payments were affected by the outage, and there were reports that some petrol stations are closed. Spanish media reported that some hospitals had implemented emergency plans, including halting routine work, news agencies reported. By early evening and after several hours of blackouts, residents in some parts of the country reported the lights are back on. Power was being restored “in several areas of the north, south and west of the [Iberian] peninsula”, the Spanish grid operator said. The authorities in Spain and Portugal are still trying to work out what caused the power cuts. “There are no indications of any cyberattack” at this point, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said. As panic spread earlier in the day, residents of Madrid were warned to stay off the roads. In a video on social media, the mayor of the Spanish capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, told residents to “keep their movements to an absolute minimum and, if at all possible, to remain where they are. We want to keep all roads clear.” People should only call emergency services if it is “truly urgent”, he said. “If emergency calls go unanswered, go to the police and the fire stations in person, where they will try to deal with all the emergencies.” What has been the impact? The country’s nuclear power plants automatically stopped when the blackout hit, and the Spanish oil company Moeve said it halted operations at its oil refineries. Flights were also impacted, with delays and cancellations at some airports. EasyJet said it was experiencing some disruption to operations at Lisbon and Madrid. It said the situation was “fluid” and told customers to check local advice. Aviation data company Cirium said 96 flights departing from Portugal – and 45 from Spain – had been cancelled. Businesses have been severely affected. Some Ikea branches in Spain switched to backup generators and stopped customers from entering its stores. The Madrid Open Tennis organisers have decided to cancel Monday’s event. Elsewhere, Andorra and parts of France were also hit, but the Balearic and Canary Islands were not affected.

Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has restated the commitment of the Ministry to ensure that Older Persons live a dignified and quality life.

Farouq made the commitment during her broadcast at an event to celebrate the maiden edition of the National Day of Older Persons 2022 on Friday in Abuja.

The event with the theme, ‘Celebrating the Resilience of Older Women and Men: From Resilience to Empowerment’ was organised by the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC).

She said the day was instituted by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 17 of December, 2021 during the first Presidential summit on Ageing in Nigeria.

“The National Day of Older Persons in Nigeria is set aside fundamentally to highlight invaluable contributions that older people have made to the society as well as raise awareness of their needs, challenges and opportunities. 

“In line with the universal decade of action which strongly suggests leaving no one behind, the Federal Government has implemented and kept faith with the spirit of social inclusion.

“This is reflected in the inauguration of the National Policy on Ageing, Development of a ten-year Strategic Roadmap and National plan of Action on Ageing that will enable sustainable sector wide inclusion and partnerships. 

“The Ministry is determined to usher in an era of dignity, security, health, wellbeing and improved quality of life for senior citizens.

“This provides an opportunity to generate renewed momentum for international action to advance the ageing agenda,” Farouq said.

In her address of welcome, the Director -General, NSCC, Dr Emem Omokaro appreciated Buhari and Farouq for making the celebration of the day for older persons a reality.

“This celebration also signifies that older people are included in Nigeria’s development plan and the significance of their expertise and experiences can no longer be ignored.

“In celebrating the resilience of older persons, we are also celebrating the family, the Civil Society Organisations, Nigeria, the current administration, development partners, MDAs, etc that put effort to ensure the older people have a voice.

“The older person’s resilience cannot be over emphasised; they can withstand the challenges of live. They have been mainstream into the Social Safety Net, National Social Investment Programmes and capacity building.

“Now If anything happens, they can bounce back. We thank our traditional rulers and other stakeholders,” Omokaro said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of NSCC’s governing board, Air Vice Marshal Muhammadu Muhammed (Rtd) said as the population grows older, there is a need to have policies to make them remain active to participate in economic activities in the country.

“To make life beautiful for Senior Citizens, let us continue to celebrate them all the time”.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigerian Union Pensioners, National Human Rights Commission, National Directorate of Employment, NAPTIP and other stakeholders restated efforts to continue to support NSCC to deliver on its mandate.

High points of the celebration include a short documentary on NSCC Grey and Vintage Project, spoken words poetry in honour of Senior Citizens by Richard Onyegbule, medical outreach and the tour of Grey and Vintage Fair.

NAN also reports that the celebration of the National Day for Older Persons started on Sept.28 with a news conference, Day Out with Older Persons with visitations to care homes on Oct.4, Slow Carnival and Road Walk on Oct.5 and Grey and Vintage fair on Oct.7. 

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Labour Party Chieftain support call by TY Danjuma for communities to arm and defend themselves Danjuma Attah, Gombe A chieftain of the Labour Party and Governorship candidate in the 2024 general elections, Keftin E Amuga, has reiterated to his people in Billiri, the call by General TY Danjuma on communities to stand up and defend themselves against terrorists and land grabbers. Keftin Amuga made the call in a press statement sent to our Correspondent and gave reasons for reiterating TY Danjuma’s call to the continued attack on his people in Billiri LGA of Gombe State Amuga, also the Gombe State Chairman of the Middle Belt Forum, while condemning what he described as the barbaric, wicked and inhumane Easter Monday Suicide truck attack on the Christians faithful of Billiri, condoled families of victims of the attack. According to him, “this deliberately planned attack which left five dead and 13 injured is about the third one, two of which were deadly. Essentially the attack was born out of pure hatred and intended to maximize deadly impact on Christian faithful’s of Gombe State”, he stated. Recalling two similar attacks on Christian in the State in the past, the Easter celebrations in 2019 and the Christmas celebrations of 2024 when Christians were attacked by moving vehicles, Amuga said the recent attack during this year’s Easter celebrations indicated a pattern in the attack. He said, “the third and most current one which occurred on the 21st April, 2025 by another fanatic named Usman Muhammad aged 28, a resident of Afghanistan Quarters (a name synonymous with the hometown of the Late Taliban leader Osama Bin Laden) killed over 5 persons and injuring scores of Christian youth during the Easter Monday celebration. “Yet the Police PPRO came up with another narrative that was uncalled for after a very shallow investigation into the incident. “The question is, why this recurring decimal? Ironically while investigation was supposed to be going on, some government security outfits had already announced the conclusion of the investigation and the arrest of some Tangale youth for alleged vandalism at the scene of the suicide attack, insisting that the incidence was only a vehicular accident! This is very sad indeed”, he decried. Questioning government’s actions towards the Tangale people of the State, Amuga said, “When one recalls the unprovoked incident, with the state Government, following the aftermath of the Tangale Chieftaincy crisis in 2021, whereby the Tangale people were denied the choice of Dr. Musa Idris as the Mai (Chief) Tangle, because he is a Christian and further arrested some youth, some of whom have died in prison and others are rendered useless due various illnesses while still in prison, one begins to wonder, which of the law is in use in Gombe State, the Nigerian constitution or the Sharia Law? “Accordingly I have no option than to support and call on the ethnic nationalities, the Christians and Tangale people in particular, that in their own interest, they should comply immediately with the Clarion call made in May 2018 and repeated this April 2025 by our Elder Statesman, Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, that all indigenous ethnic nationalities of the nation should stand up to defend themselves and their God given land, otherwise very soon, there may be no land and communities to call our own”. He then called on all the elected and appointed political representatives who have benefitted in one way or the other from the support and votes of the Tangale people, the Christian population and the indigenous ethnic nationalities of Gombe State, to as a matter of duty required by the Oath of their various offices, prevail over Governor Inuwa Yahaya to put an end to the discrimination, persecution and maltreatment against the Tangale people, the Christians and the indigenous ethnic nationalities of Gombe State. He also called for the release without delay of all prisoners of conscience and politics, related to the Tangale Chieftaincy crisis and the recent Easter Monday Suicide Truck attack, recognize Dr. Musa Idris, as recommended by the Tangale Traditional Council, as the legitimate Choice for the stool of the (MAI) Chief of Tangale, thereby rendering unnecessary the present court case and Institute without delay a “Truth and Reconciliation committee” to fence-up the deeply fractured population down the line along Tribal and religious cleavages. End.

22 hours ago
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Power outage causes chaos in Spain and Portugal A massive power cut hit large parts of Spain and Portugal on Monday, causing widespread chaos and disruption. The outage left millions of people without electricity, while internet and phone networks were also down. Trains were cancelled and evacuated in some regions, and traffic lights stopped working as delays mounted at airports. With shops, homes and restaurants plunged into darkness – and some people stuck in lifts – Spain’s electricity network said by mid-afternoon that restoring power could take several hours. Spain’s political leaders said the cause of the disruption was still unknown but there was no indication of a cyber attack. When did the outage begin? The first reports of an outage began around midday (10:00 GMT) on Monday and its impact quickly escalated. As the scale of the disruption became clear, residents of Madrid were warned to stay put, keep off the roads and not to call emergency services unless “truly urgent”. A Spanish operator said power restoration would take up to 10 hours, while Portugal’s power firm REN said getting back to full power could take up to a week. Queues formed at cash machines as card payments were affected by the outage, and there were reports that some petrol stations are closed. Spanish media reported that some hospitals had implemented emergency plans, including halting routine work, news agencies reported. By early evening and after several hours of blackouts, residents in some parts of the country reported the lights are back on. Power was being restored “in several areas of the north, south and west of the [Iberian] peninsula”, the Spanish grid operator said. The authorities in Spain and Portugal are still trying to work out what caused the power cuts. “There are no indications of any cyberattack” at this point, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said. As panic spread earlier in the day, residents of Madrid were warned to stay off the roads. In a video on social media, the mayor of the Spanish capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, told residents to “keep their movements to an absolute minimum and, if at all possible, to remain where they are. We want to keep all roads clear.” People should only call emergency services if it is “truly urgent”, he said. “If emergency calls go unanswered, go to the police and the fire stations in person, where they will try to deal with all the emergencies.” What has been the impact? The country’s nuclear power plants automatically stopped when the blackout hit, and the Spanish oil company Moeve said it halted operations at its oil refineries. Flights were also impacted, with delays and cancellations at some airports. EasyJet said it was experiencing some disruption to operations at Lisbon and Madrid. It said the situation was “fluid” and told customers to check local advice. Aviation data company Cirium said 96 flights departing from Portugal – and 45 from Spain – had been cancelled. Businesses have been severely affected. Some Ikea branches in Spain switched to backup generators and stopped customers from entering its stores. The Madrid Open Tennis organisers have decided to cancel Monday’s event. Elsewhere, Andorra and parts of France were also hit, but the Balearic and Canary Islands were not affected.

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