President Bola Tinubu has sworn in seven ministers-designates.

The ceremony was held in the council chamber of the Aso Rock villa on Monday.

The ministers-designate were confirmed by the senate in the committee of the whole after a screening exercise last week.

The senators spent hours asking them questions on portfolios assigned to them by the president.

The upper legislative chamber confirmed Nentawe Yilwatda as minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi as minister of labour and employment, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu as minister of state for foreign affairs, and Yusuf Abdullahi Ata as minister of state for housing and urban development.

Others are Idi Mukhtar Maiha as minister of livestock development, Jumoke Oduwole as minister of trade and investment, and Suwaiba Said Ahmad as the minister of state for education.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Monday, discharged and acquitted a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, of the charge that led to his removal from office in 2019.

It will be recalled that former President Muhammadu Buhari had on January 25, 2019, about 29 days before the presidential election, suspended Onnoghen from office as the CJN and swore in the next most senior jurist of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary.

Onnoghen’s suspension came barely eight hours after he announced his decision to inaugurate judges who would preside over election petition tribunals.

Ex-President Buhari’s action elicited varied reactions from both within and outside the judicial circles, with the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, describing it as a coup against the judiciary.

Onnoghen was later convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, on a six-count corruption charge that was preferred against him by the Federal Government.

It was alleged that he made a false declaration to the Code of Conduct Bureau.

Meantime, about six years after he was convicted, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Mohammed Bello, acquitted the ex-CJN following a settlement agreement the federal government entered with him.

President Bola Tinubu had, through the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, persuaded the appellate court to halt further hearing of three separate appeals the former CJN filed to challenge his removal, conviction, and seizure of his assets.

In line with the terms of the settlement dated October 24, the appellate court ordered FG to, forthwith, unfreeze Onnoghen’s account with Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) on Monday said a market in the Ajah area of the state was engulfed by fire, destroying shops and goods worth millions of naira.

The agency’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, confirmed this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. Oke-Osanyintolu said the fire incident happened late Sunday night at Ajah Market by Alesh bus stop in Lekki, Lagos.

“LASEMA in response to distress calls from the 767 and112 toll-free lines at 09:30hrs, activated its Emergency Response Team from Lekki Base.

“On arrival at the incident scene at 22:10hrs, it was discovered that several shops and stores housing combustible materials were engulfed by fire.

“Investigations conducted revealed that the immediate cause of the fire could not yet be ascertained as at the time of writing this report.

“Fortunately, no casualties or injuries were recorded at the incident scene,” he said.

He said properties worth a fortune were destroyed in the inferno. He added that the agency and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service were able to curtail the fire from escalating to adjoining buildings.

“While fighting the fire, we were simultaneously trying to manage the hostile crowd as the two are the only primary responders at the incident scene.

“The fire has been successfully extinguished by the emergency responders at the incident scene and operation concluded,” he added.