The House of Representatives member-elect for Jalingo/Yorro/ Zing Federal Constituency Taraba State, Hon. Isma’ila Yushua Maihanchi, is dead.

Maihanchi died in the early hours of Saturday after a brief illness at an undisclosed hospital in Abuja.

An aide to the late member-elect said he will be buried according to the Islamic rites today at the national cemetery in Abuja.

Details later…

The Federal Government has expressed worry over its inability to evacuate Nigerians in Sudan as a deadly crisis continues to plague the North African nation.

The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, disclosed Friday evening on Twitter that efforts had been put in place by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Nigerian Mission in Sudan.

She however noted that the authorities were experiencing challenges, particularly with regard to airlifting Nigerian nationals out of the troubled country.

“While @nemanigeria and the Nigerian Mission in Sudan have put in place necessary arrangements, any flight now is gravely risky,” Dabiri-Erewa tweeted.

“Airlines on ground at the airport were all burnt today, there is a curfew in place and no flights can operate.”

The NIDCOM boss added that humanitarian groups were making efforts to distribute food, water, and medicals, while all efforts were being put in place to hopefully get the warring parties to ceasefire.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our citizens there, and the whole country,” she said.

The country is experiencing hostilities owing to two warring generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Amid the crisis, Nigerian students in Sudan cried out to be evacuated from the in-crisis country.

In response, NIDCOM on Thursday revealed that plans were already underway to see to the evacuation of Nigerians in Sudan, saying meetings were being held as to how best to handle the evacuation process.

The Management of the National Assembly has scheduled dates for the induction of the members-elect of the 10th Assembly ahead of the inauguration in June 2023.

This comes after the conclusion of the February 25 federal legislative elections, and the formal release of the authentic list of senators- and members-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The management’s Secretary, Research and Information, Ali Barde Umoru, who doubles as the Chairman, Sub-Committee on Media and Publicity, in a statement on Thursday, noted that it is fully prepared for the exercise.

According to Umoru, the induction will be undertaken in conjunction with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic studies (NILDS).

The Induction programme, which will be held in two batches, is scheduled to commence from the 7th to 13th of May 2023 with Batch A, while Batch ‘’B’’ will hold from May 14th to May 20th , 2023,” he said.

“The objectives of the Induction/Inauguration exercise is to expose Members-Elect to the functions of the National Assembly, its Practices and Procedures as well as the services available to them.”

The secretary added that the Management led by the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Sani Magaji Tambawal, had constituted a Central Planning Committee (CPC) as part of the efforts to ensure a successful exercise.

The committee is also made up of all the secretaries in the National Assembly Service as well as the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) and NILDS.