President Muhammadu Buhari has urged all political parties in the country to keep elections and election-related differences aside and join the administration’s drive to defeat insecurity in the country.

Buhari’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina said the president made the call at an Iftar dinner with members of the business community and the leadership of political parties in Abuja.

Femi Adesina quoted the president as describing insecurity as a ‘‘common enemy’’ destroying the country.

The president said: ‘‘Without mass, popular support to our hard working Armed Forces, it will take us much longer to finish off the successful war we are waging against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.

”Our country must be kept safe for progress and prosperity to be entrenched.

‘‘I look forward to seeing the reflection of this spirit in the relationship between the parties and the government, especially as the electioneering season will soon be on us.”

Buhari recounted that last week the National Executive Committee ( NEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had a tremendous success at its meeting, ending with a clear message that the party would continue to push for the establishment of democratic principles at all levels.

‘‘Today, we can proudly say that we have a political system that allows political parties of all views and persuasions, reflecting the diversity of our nation to co-exist, and contest for elections at all levels of government without fear or institutional bias and pressure’’.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) warned Nigerians against exporting foodstuffs to other countries of the world following the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Dalha Wada Chedi, the Comptroller of the Katsina Area Command of the NCS, issued the warning while speaking on the achievements recorded by the command on the war against smuggling in the state.

He warned residents of the state that despite the reopening of the Nigeria/Niger Republic land border by the federal government, anyone found exporting the nation’s grains would face the full wrath of the law.

He said the effects of the Russia and Ukraine crisis are already being felt in the food processing chain, noting that the countries are the highest producers of food items especially wheat.

In his words: “Now that the border at Jibia is officially opened, we will not entertain anybody exporting grains out of the country. We told them (residents) yesterday (Tuesday) and even today (Wednesday) we held a meeting with some of them.

“With the crisis going on between Russia and Ukraine, you can no longer import from that side then the country will be short of the supply. And the little we have here are taken out of the country for profit.

“The issue is that you have taken your own out of the country, the foreign one you are expecting is no longer coming then where are you?. No food, there will be food crisis.

“On no account should anybody try to export foodstuffs out of the country. We will set examples for those who think the government is playing. Government is serious on the people’s welfare and wellbeing.”

The Comptroller also announced the seizure of nine vehicles, 398 bags of foreign rice, 244 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 39 jerricans of vegetable and other contraband worth over N31 milion within 27 days.

The family members of those who lost their lives in the Abuja-Kaduna train attack have continued to cry for help, as kidnappers posted images of the surviving victims, the kidnapped victims who are 62 in number were divided into four groups: children, elderly ladies, and men, were photographed on Tuesday.

The chairman of the group of Concerned Relatives of Abducted Persons, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh, said everyone in the picture is a kidnap victim, he call on the government and other relevant authorities to show leadership and courage by assuring the victims’ safety.

One of the victims was an 83-year-old woman with diabetes, who was accompanied by her daughter.

This is the third time the terrorists have revealed that their hostages are still alive.

Terrorists released a photo during the release of Bank of Agriculture Managing Director Alwan Ali-Hassan two weeks ago, and they later released another video in which the victims pleaded with the authorities to save them.

Following the attack, it was stated that the bandits had 68 captives, including 41 women, 22 men, and five children.

On March 28, gunmen used improvised explosive devices to attack a train traveling from Abuja to Kaduna, they also shot and murdered eight persons, wounded 26 others, and kidnapped the rest.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved 11,222 polling units in Kano State ahead of the 2023 general polls.

Prof. Riskuwa Arabu, INEC Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner, said at a one-day workshop on electoral reportage organised by the Kano State Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and sponsored by INEC.

“Media is part of INEC, they project our work in a way that people appreciate us particularly in the area of voter education,” he said.

Arabu said that the interactive session was to help the commission fine tune processes and procedures in such a way that the integrity of polls would be improved upon so that the country would have transparent elections.

“We have 484 wards of polling units across the 44 local governments in the state,” he said.

According to him, as at January 2022 in Kano State, 128,628 residents have completed their voter registration out of which 77,255 were valid and 51,373, equivalent of 39.9 per cent, were declared invalid.

He promised to hold the interactive session quarterly and called on the members of the public who have yet to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to do so.

“We have 481,318 both old and new PVCs yet to be collected,” he said.

On his part, the Chairman of the Kano State Chapter of the NUJ, Mr Abbas Ibrahim, urged d INEC to make the interactive session with journalists a regular feature.

He said this was needed to keep them abreast of current trends and fill the gap of misinformation and disinformation.

Ibrahim, represented by the NUJ Financial Secretary, Nasiru Ibrahim, assured the commission that journalists in the state would continue to give a fair and factual coverage of the electoral process.

Also speaking, Chairman Kano Correspondent Chapel, Mr Ibrahim Garba-Shu’aibu, said the workshop was to educate journalists on the amendment of the electoral act and effective reporting.

The Nigerian Federal Fire Service has gotten a new comptroller general, Engr. Jaji Olola Abdulganiyu.

His appointment was announced in a statement made by Aisha Rufai, a secretary at the service, she said the appointment is with immediate effect.

Abdulganiyu was the deputy comptroller of the service in charge of administration and supplies before the appointment, he commenced his career at the federal ministry of works and housing as a higher technical officer in 1991 and held several positions in the ministry before his redeployment to the Federal Fire Service in 1999.

He was born on August 13, 1965 to the family of Umar Olola Jaji in Ilorin, Kwara State, he also obtained a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in the year 1999 and he is married with children.