Power outrage as truck hits TCN transformer in Abuja-official
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has linked the recent power outage in some parts of Abuja to a truck loaded with gravel that ran into the company’s 132 Kilo transmission tower No. 20 power line.
Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s general manager for public affairs, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mbah said that the incident occurred at about 2.55 p.m. Tuesday and brought down the tower, adding that no lives were lost.
She said that the tower supplies bulk electricity to the 100 megavolt ampere (MVA) part of the Katampe Substation and 2×60 MVA gas-insulated switchgear (GIS Central Area Substation).
“Consequent upon the incident, there is a restricted power outage in Maitama, Wuse, the Central Area, and some parts of Garki,” she said.
She promised that electricity supply would be restored as the company was working hard to put in place a bypass from the Katampe Substation to the GIS Substation in the Central Area to restore power supply to the area and environs.
Read also: Chatham House: Tinubu’s handlers bungled it – Momodu
I won’t vote any of Atiku or Obi if i am not contesting – Tinubu
Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, has stated that if he is not running in the 2023 general elections, he will not vote for any of his opponents.
Tinubu specifically said he wouldn’t vote for Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) or Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if he wasn’t on the ballot.
In an interview with BBC News on Monday, the former governor of Lagos State expressed his feelings about his decision if he wasn’t running for office. His interview comes shortly after his appearance at Chatham House in London, the United Kingdom.
Asked if he would vote for any of Atiku or Obi if he weren’t contesting, Tinubu said, “None, because they are not as competent as any other person out there. They have no track record; none of them is qualified except me.”
APC has failed Northerners, muslim-muslim ticket won’t work – Shagari
Mukhar Shagari, a former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has failed Nigerians and that its Muslim-Muslim ticket strategy for the 2023 general election won’t get the desired voter turnout in the northern region of the country.
“The Christians in this country, especially in the North felt slighted, they felt insulted when APC decided to go with Muslim-Muslim ticket,” he said during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Tuesday.
Shagari, a former Minister of Water Resources and member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said if APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu has a Christian wife, Oluremi, it is only okay to choose a Christian running mate and not a fellow Muslim in the person of former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
He described as an insult the same-faith ticket of the APC, adding that Nigerians and Christians will reject the ruling party in the forthcoming presidential election.
“The APC has failed Nigerians in every aspect you can think of. In every aspect you can think of, APC has failed Nigerians, particularly in the North, where people are now kidnapped, ransoms have to be paid, and people are now being killed. Lack of employment all over the country, and so on.
“They simply think that both the Christians and the Muslims in this country are stupid. So, they decided to come out with the Muslim-Muslim ticket, thinking if they do that, everybody in the North-West, in the North-East, and the rest of Nigeria will jump at it, but Nigerian people are wiser; they know what they want: they want a government that will change their lives for the better,” Shagari said.
The PDP BoT member further described as disappointing Tinubu’s outing on Monday at the Chatham House in London, the United Kingdom, saying that Nigerians want a leader who can relate with them, answer their questions, and clear their doubts, not one who delegates his allies to respond to questions directed at him.
E-cigarette maker Juul reaches settlement with nearly 10,000 plaintiffs
E-cigarette maker Juul Labs said on Tuesday it has reached settlements with about 10,000 plaintiffs covering more than 5,000 cases in California.
According to Reuters, Juul did not disclose the settlement amount as part of the settlement and court process in the federal multidistrict litigation and related JUUL Labs product cases.
According to a company spokeswoman, the company has received equity investment to fund it.
Philip Federico, a lawyer representing 60 school districts in the United States in the litigation against Juul, said the settlement is a “tremendous victory for school districts burdened by the vaping epidemic,” adding that funds from it will allow school districts to recover the costs of combating the epidemic.
Partly owned by Altria Group Inc., Juul had agreed in September to pay $438.5 million to settle claims by 34 U.S. states and territories that it downplayed its products’ risks and targeted underage buyers.
Argentina’s VP Fernández guilty in $1B fraud, gets 6 years
Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández was convicted and sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and a lifetime ban from holding public office for a fraud scheme that embezzled $1 billion through public works projects during her presidency.
A three-judge panel found the leader guilty of fraud but rejected a charge of running a criminal organization, for which the sentence could have been 12 years in prison.
It was the first time an Argentine vice president has been convicted of a crime while in office. Fernández lashed out at the verdict, describing herself as the victim of a “judicial mafia.” But she also later announced that she would not run next year for the presidency, a post she previously held from 2007 to 2015.
The sentence isn’t firm until appeals are decided, a process that could take years. She will remain immune from arrest in the meantime.
Fernández’s supporters vowed to paralyse the country with a nationwide strike. They clogged downtown Buenos Aires and marched on the federal court building, beating drums and shouting as they pressed against police barriers. This is according to the Bellingham Herald.
