Gist Arena

W elcome to a new Legislative Day in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria! Deputy Senate President, Ike, led the Principal Officers into the chambers; took the official prayers; and began the day’s proceedings at 10:50am. Senator Binta Masi Garba moved for the approval of votes and proceedings of Wednesday, 28th March, 2018. Senator Kabir Marafa seconded. POINT OF ORDER Senator Emmanuel Bwacha cited Order 42, appealed to the negotiating team of the Federal Government for the release of the remaining Dapchi girl. “We will continue to pray for the release of the girl”-Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. Senator Kabir Marafa cited Order 43 and spoke on the unfortunate killings in Zamfara State as reported yesterday by the British Broadcasting Corporation. “We send our condolences to the people and families of the victims in Zamfara State. We are worried about what is happening in Zamfara State, a Committee headed by Senate Leader was sent t...

A rewa Consultative Forum has distanced itself from a communiqué passing a vote of no confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari and other Northern politicians. A key member of the forum and leader of the Northern Elders’ Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, and 17 other northern groups at a summit on Saturday had passed a vote of no confidence in President Buhari, noting that the President and other politicians in the region had failed the North. Abdullahi, a former vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was the convener of the summit held at the Arewa House, Kaduna. The groups went ahead to say that they were searching for “credible candidate” to replace the president. But on Thursday, the ACF distanced itself from the members who signed the Saturday communiqué passing a vote of no confidence in Buhari and politicians from the region. National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Muhammad Biu, in statement on Thursday in Kaduna, said the northern body was ...

T he Vatican said comments attributed to Pope Francis denying the existence of hell are a product of an Italian journalist's "reconstruction" of the pope's remarks and not a faithful transcript of the pope's real words.  Eugenio Scalfari, a co-founder and former editor of La Repubblica, an Italian daily, said Pope Francis -- with whom he has had several telephone conversations and face-to-face meetings -- invited him to his residence March 27. During their conversation, Scalfari, 93, an avowed atheist, claims the pope said that while the souls of repentant sinners "receive the forgiveness of God and go among the line of souls who contemplate him, the souls of those who are unrepentant, and thus cannot be forgiven, disappear." "Hell does not exist, the disappearance of sinful souls exists," Scalfari claims the pope said in the interview published March 29. The Italian journalist has explained on more than one occasion that...

T here is no hell where the souls of sinners suffer in eternity”, Pope Francis was quoted as saying in a Thursday interview with Italian daily La Repubblica. Francis said: “after death, the souls of people who repent are pardoned by God and join in his contemplation, “but those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be pardoned, disappear.” “Hell does not exist – what exists is the disappearance of sinful souls,” he added. The pope was interviewed by Eugenio Scalfari, a veteran Italian journalist and atheist who regularly muses about faith and religion, and enjoys access to the leader of the Catholic Church. In the past, the veracity of quotes he attributed to the pope has been called into question, especially after the 93-year-old Scalfari admitted to never using a tape recorder during interviews. However, the Vatican has never complained about Scalfari’s work, and Francis has continued giving interviews to him. (dpa/NAN)