Senator Francis Alimikhena, APC, Edo North is the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate and a retired military officer. In this interview with Vanguard, Senator Alimikhena, who is in his first term in the Senate and the only APC senator from the South-South, speaks on topical issues affecting the Senate and his party. Excerpts:

New regulations aimed at rolling back Brazil’s obsession with Cesarean sections took effect Monday, with the government hoping it can steer the country from its status as a world leader in C-section births.

Sacked Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has told Nigerians to leave him alone after being relieved of his duties by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) at the weekend.

Ondo State Government has cautioned the Federal Government to re-consider laying off thousands of health workers engaged under the SURE-P Midwives Scheme noting that this would cause a setback for the gains recorded on maternal and child survival in the last few years.

Abuja—Five Nigerian students have been arrested and detained in Malaysia over alleged involvement in an internet fraud amounting to N125.2 million (RM2.4 million) in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

SCORES of Osun State citizens were yesterday said to be warming up towards participating in today’s rally in support of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s impeachment, according to the organisers, Civil Societies’ Coalition for Emancipation of Osun State, CSCEO.

ABUJA — AGAIN, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has vowed to reclaim power from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2019.

ABUJA — The Acting Chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs Amina Zakari, yesterday, reconstituted 14 standing committees of the commission.

The United Nations, UN, has commenced the screening of 2,000 Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, for the first phase of providing means of livelihood and early recovery support scheme to victims of Boko Haram insurgency.

The nationwide enrolment of banks’ Biometric Verification Numbers, BVN, has reached a landmark of 15 million customers, just as United Bank for Africa, UBA introduced a simplified process for registration.

FEELERS from the Federal Ministry of Works indicate that a bill to create a special fund for the construction and rehabilitation of federal roads nationwide will soon be forwarded to the National Assembly for promulgation into law. According to the Director of Federal Highways in the Ministry, Alhaji Shehu Dankano, the bill, when it becomes law, will go a long way in reducing the nightmares motorists go through on many roads in the country.

Former Press Secretary to the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo and now a monarch, Igwe Alex Nwokedi, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the complaints resulting from selective justice in the pardon by former President Goodluck Jonathan over the phartom coup of 1997.

Hon. Danladi Angulu Kwasu, a retired Wing Commander, with the Nigeria Air Force, at a Press Conference in Kaduna yesterday accused the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, of deliberating pushing his 19- year -old son, Elshadai Kwasu, (NDA/10037) , into a 100 metre-deep lake, and drowning him during a training .

CALABAR — Supply of Petroleum products in the country is expected to receive a significant boost in the next couple of days, with the inauguration, by the Governors of Cross River and Delta states, of Fynefield Petroleum FZE’s 40 million-litre capacity ultra-modern petroleum products depot located at the Calabar Free Trade Zone in Cross River State, built at the cost of N3 billion.

Embattled US comedian Bill Cosby admitted having drugged at least one woman with Quaaludes to have sex with her, in court documents unsealed Monday.