State
RTEAN: Commercial buses strike illegal
Pool Photo The Lagos State Chapter of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) on Monday said the stay-off-road action by commercial buses on the Lagos-Badagry Road was unnecessary. The Secretary of the chapter, Abdulrahman Amusan, told newsmen that the N800 ticket imposed on commercial buses in the state was for tax purposes. Newsmen report that the commercial bus drivers had on March 1, embarked on what they called “Cease Commuter Operation” on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway – from Badagry to Mile 2 – following what they termed an unbearable increment in ticketing and brutality by RTEAN. The drivers were still off the expressway while passengers remained stranded at various bus stops. It is still not certain when they will return to the roads. They claim that both the RT...
CBN donates relief items to IDPs in Borno
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Maiduguri branch, on Monday donated relief items worth Millions of Naira to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the State. Presenting the Items, Alhaji Lawan Tijjani Kanuriyana, the CBN Maiduguri Branch Controller, said that the gesture is to support displaced families at this critical time of needs. Kanuriyana said that that the items which included 300 bags of rice, 151 cartons of Indomie, 20 cartons of maggi, 31 cartons of tomatoes, 151 cartons of spaghetti, 150 bags of semovita, 20 cartons of vegetable oil and 11 cartons of salts would be given to the IDPs. Responding, Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, the Director General of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), lauded the bank for the donation, noting that it would go a long way to providing succor to ...
Governor Ikpeazu: Oil companies have no presence in Abia
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, has expressed concern that despite the long years of oil exploration in the state, there was nothing tangible people of oil-producing communities in the state have to show for it. Ikpeazu, while receiving the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill led by Senator Albert Bassey at Government House, Umuahia, said that Abia oil-producing communities have remained peaceful more than other oil-producing communities in the country, stressing that the peaceful disposition of the communities should serve as a model for the compensation of oil-producing communities. The governor lamented that the oil exploration and production companies who do business in Abia do not pay taxes to the state, but rather reside in neighbouri...
Protest as PDP sweeps Delta council polls
File Photo Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) on Sunday in Asaba returned all the 25 chairmanship candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as winners in Saturday’s local government elections. The PDP chairmanship candidates won the election in their respective local government areas, with landslide, according to the various returning officers. Declaring the announcement of results open, chairman of DSIEC, Mike Ogbodu said the election was conducted in observance of COVID-19 protocols, adding that the exercise was generally peaceful. Although, the All Progressive Congress (APC) which is the main opposition party, pulled out midway into the polls, the returning officers insisted that the elections were contested. Publicity secretary of the APC in the state, Sylvest...
Police: Why we detained OPC members after arresting ‘kidnapper’
The police in Oyo State have confirmed detaining three members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) for arresting suspected kidnapper, Iskilu Wakili, on Sunday. The police in a statement by its public relations officer, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said the three members of OPC detained are being interrogated for their involvement in arson and murder. “The Oyo State Police Command would like to inform the general public that at about 0900 hrs of date (7th March 2021), information was received that a group of persons, (later found out to be members of the Odua Peoples Congress OPC), had invaded Kajola community in Ibarapa axis of the State. “The invasion was reportedly aimed at arresting one Wakili, a Fulani by tribe, who is alleged to be the sponsor and mastermind of various criminal attacks against ...
Lagos agency pledges orderly, liveable communities
The Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA), has put in motion plans to create orderly and livable communities in the state. To achieve this and also in concert with the new developmental realities in the state, the agency evolved a new mission statement “Making Lagos an heritage for orderly, spatial planning and development for economic and livable community” In a chat in his office at Ikeja, LASPPPA, General Manager, Funmi Osifuye, said the new mission statement is as a result of the new resolve of LASPPPA to conform with present realities of Lagos as a smart city. He said henceforth, the Monitoring and Compliance Unit of the Agency will be zoned into 5 operational and enforcement locations according to the five Divisions of the State. While noting the need to focus on t...
APC wins Jigawa assembly bye-election
The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Muhammad Adamu, has won the bye-election held on Saturday in Kafin-Hausa constituency to the Jigawa State House of Assembly. The declaration was made on Saturday at Kafin-Hausa local government collation centre by the returning officer, Ahmed Kutama. He said Adamu of the APC polled 14,924 votes to defeat his main rival, Garba Tambale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 8,612 votes. The seat became vacant following the death of the occupant, Adamu Babban-Bare (APC), in January. The winner of the Saturday bye-election, Adamu, is a son of the deceased lawmaker. His candidature was allegedly imposed on the constituency by Governor Muhammad Badaru. Some APC members had protested, saying his major recommendation was that he is the son of t...
Boko Haram: Nigerian Army commanding officer, four others laid to rest in Borno
The Nigerian Army has buried a commanding officer and four other soldiers killed in the attack on the military base in Marte local government of Borno state. The attack occurred on February 14 when the Commanding officer Bedan Ishaya, now late, a Major from the 22 battalion led a reinforcement to Marte to support dislodged troops. The insurgents had hoisted their flags in Marte for at least a week before the Chief of Army Staff’s 48 hours ultimatum to troops (at the 81 DIV Task Force battalion which is also the headquarters of Super Camp 9 Dikwa) leading to Marte’s recapture. The bodies of Major Ishaya, a sergeant, two lance corporals and a private soldier were retrieved from the battlefield; they were all laid to rest today at the Maimalari Cantonment Military Cemetary. Deputy Theatre Com...
ASUSS lauds Nigerian government over recognition as legal trade union
The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) has commended the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity for granting recognition to the trade union in spite of an alleged deregistration plot against it by a rival union. ASUSS also saluted the Supreme Court of Nigeria for proving the judiciary as the last hope of the common man by upholding its appeal in a judgment delivered on January 15, where it held that ASUSS’ registration did not contravene the trade union statutes. This was contained in a statement entitled “A Woeful Cry; Agony Of A Loser” signed by ASUSS National Secretary Sola Adigun and made available to reporters in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday . Adigun, who doubles as the ASUSS Chairman in Ekiti, upbraided the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) for m...
Rivers governor: Good infrastructure reward for people’s resistance when army ‘tried to rig’ election
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said the construction of eight flyover bridges in Port Harcourt alongside other critical infrastructure is in a mark of appreciation to the people of Rivers whom he commended for, in his words, having resisted ‘the Army and other security agencies [when they] tried to rig [the 2019] election’ in the state. Governor Wike stated this at the flag-off of the 802 metres long Orochiri-Wurukwo flyover bridge, made up of a deck span of 315m, north and south side ramps of 238 metres and 249 metres respectively, in Port Harcourt yesterday. ‘Why we are doing this is because you too played a role in bringing us to government. We also have to pay you back,’ the governor stated. ‘Remember during the last election how the Army and other security agencies tried to rig...
Lobbyist says Myanmar junta wants to improve relations with the West, spurn China
An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar’s junta said on Saturday that the generals are keen to leave politics after their coup and seek to improve relations with the United States and distance themselves from China. Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli military intelligence official who has previously represented Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s military rulers, said Myanmar’s generals also want to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who fled to neighboring Bangladesh. The United Nations says more than 50 demonstrators have been killed since the Feb. 1 coup when the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won polls in November by a landslide. On Friday, a U.N. special envoy urged the Security Council to take action against t...
APC boycotts Delta local council elections
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State said it pulled out of the Saturday local council elections in the state. The APC spokesperson in the state, Sylvester Imonina, said this in a statement in Asaba on Saturday. Imonina said the party boycotted the election because the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) and others “cheated the Delta people again.” “I told the people of Delta some days ago that there were evil machinations to deprive them of their right to choose who to lead them at the local government level. “Yesterday, March, 5, 2021 at DSIEC headquarters in Asaba, Delta APC representatives were not allowed to take statistics of the materials that it intended transporting to the different LGAs in the state. “This is despite the insistence of the party’s rep...
