State
Edo APC writes off former chairman’s defection claims
Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday described claims by a former charman of the party, Anselm Ojezua that he was leaving the party with 150,000 members as spurious and unfounded. A statement yesterday by the State Assistant Publicity Secretary of the APC, Ofure Osehobor, said Ojezua had long left the party but that he was not popular enough to gather such a number of supporters being claimed. He said “This is deliberate falsehood because Edo people know that this man has no such followership. Moreover he left the party long before now. What is sad is that instead of staying quietly in his new party, he has chosen to embarrass himself with these claims. “Here is a man who has lost political relevance, in all its ramifications but decided to lurk around by hold...
Gombe governor declares Friday work-free day ahead of council poll
The Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has declared today (Friday) a work-free day to enable eligible voters to travel to their respective areas to exercise their franchise in Saturday’s local government election in the state. Yahaya disclosed this during a state-wide broadcast to highlight his administration’s preparedness to conduct free, fair and credible local government election in the state, adding that the election was not a do or die affair. He said, “As part of the measures to ensure a peaceful and successful election, government has declared Friday a work-free day in order to enable our people return to their various local government areas for the election. We are also putting restrictions on all non-essential movements on the election day in order to ensure enhanced security an...
Court remands five over Rivers PDP chairman’s murder
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Thursday remanded in the Port Harcourt correctional facility five suspects allegedly involved in the murder of late Mr Nwozuruka Anele, a Peoples Democratic Party Chairman in the Alakahia community, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state on September 21, 2019. The accused persons are Blessing Ogbuagu, Bright Chima-Wali, Nnamdi Emenike, Thankgod Akani and Chibuchi Solomon-Festus. Counsel for the state, Chidi Ekeh, told the court that the defendants were also members of a secret cult known as Icelanders and were illegally in possession of firearms, thereby infringing on the state’s firearm prohibition and anti-cultism laws. The defendants, who are facing five counts bordering on murder, illegal possession of firearms and cultism, p...
Osun mechanic to die by hanging for armed robbery
An Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa, on Thursday, sentenced a 29-year-old mechanic, Sola Emorua, to death by hanging for armed robbery. The defendant was first arraigned before Justice Isiaka Adeleke on January 29, 2018, on two counts of conspiracy and armed robbery. Justice Adeleke, in his judgment after a trial that lasted almost three years, said the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and subsequently sentenced Emorua to death. The lead prosecution counsel from the Ministry of Justice, Motolani Sokefun, had told the court that the convict and others at large, on May 7, 2015 around 5.30pm in Osu, on the Ilesa-Akure Expressway, while armed with weapons, robbed a tanker loaded with 33,000 litres of kerosene belonging to one Ismaila Azeez. The counsel further expl...
Police ordered to arraign suspect detained for one year
The Independent Investigative Panel probing police brutality in Abuja, on Thursday, gave the police a six-day ultimatum to arraign a suspect, Raphael Toona, who has been in detention for about one year. The Chairman of the panel, Justice Suleiman Galadima (retd.), ordered that Toona should be arraigned on or before December 23. Justice Galadima gave the order following an application by Toona’s lawyer, N. T. Utasha, urging the panel to order the police to either release the suspect or arraign him in court. “The first complaint (Toona) should be taken to Benue State to be arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction on or before December 23, 2020 where his bail should be considered, considering the fact that he has been in detention for more than a year,” Justice Galadima ordered. Too...
2023: There was no pre-merger agreement in APC on zoning – Senator Yerima
A former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, has denied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had any premerger agreement to rotate the presidency between the north and the south. Yerima disclosed this yesterday during a media interaction with reporters covering the activities of the APC. His claim was contrary to the views of the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who recently said that the party had a gentleman agreement on zoning. Yerima said: “I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr. President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such agreement. Agreement can’t be verbal. It has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is co...
CAN: Nigeria almost becoming a failed nation
File Photo The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned the abduction of 333 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State. CAN also said that the worsening security situation across the country shows that Nigeria is “almost becoming a failed nation.” The group’s statement by Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President, described the incident as another tragic chapter in the history of the country. Newsmen reported how 333 schoolboys of the school were abducted on Friday by the gunmen. A terrorist group, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the raid. The federal government said security operatives have already located where the abducted students were taken to and they “would soon be rescued”. CAN expressed its sadne...
President Buhari a true leader and democrat – Reps deputy speaker
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, has described President Muhammadu Buhari as a true leader and Democrat with a listening ear to the yearning of the Nigerian people. Wase who congratulated the President on his 78 birthday said President Buhari has been able to showcase true qualities of a good leader and have proven to have a listening ear as he is always ready to do the yearnings of Nigerians. In a birthday message signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Umar Muhammad Puma, Wase joined the millions of Nigerians and well-wishers globally in extolling the virtues of the President as not only the Father of the whole nation but as a true leader and democrat. “True to his words before assuming office, President Buhari has stayed faithful to the yearnings o...
Senator Yerima joins 2023 presidential race
Former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, says there has never been any agreement in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the presidency to the South-West region in 2023. Yerima made this known in Abuja on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, at a media briefing, where he declared his interest to contest for president at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2023. Yerima said he had on three occasions stepped down to allow Buhari to win the presidential ticket of defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) as well as the All Progressives Congress. The former governor said he attended all meetings involving President Buhari and the National leader of the ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saying there was no meeting where it was agreed that the presidency ...
Senator Musa: Two killed, 30 abducted, 5,000 homeless in Niger East
Chairman, Senate Services Committee, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, All Progressives Congress, APC, Niger East has raised the alarm that the insecurity situation in his Senatorial District is worsening every day, saying that it has been one week of sleeplessness and horror. Senator Musa has reiterated his call on President Muhammadu Buhari to put the security operatives on their toes to ensure they live up to their responsibilities of protecting the lives of the citizens, adding that if security agencies in the country cannot guarantee the protection of lives and property of the citizens, then Nigeria may be on the precipice of anarchy. According to him, the horrible event in the last one week in Niger State and particularly in Niger East Senatorial District has raised tension and uncertainti...
Foundation feeds 1,000 Calabar orphans at yuletide
The Romeo Odey Cares Foundation has visited Infant Jesus Orphanage Home and Good Samaritan Home, both in Calabar, Cross River State, feeding over 1,000 orphans as part of its mission to cater for the most indigent members of society. A statement delivered to newsmen by the Brand Manager of the Foundation, Gidyon Thompson, explained that the gesture extended to helpless children from the streets of Calabar. The foundation, owned by network marketing expert Romeo Odey, said the gesture was a way of giving back to society. According to him, the move is part of Odey’s decision to affect humanity positively. He urged the federal and state government to step up and take responsibility for the children on the streets to avert impending doom. He added that the serial entrepreneur would launch two ...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...