The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • NDDC to contractor: complete our headquarters

    The Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Akwagaga Enyia, has urged the contractor handling the commission’s 13-floor permanent corpotate headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State to work expeditiously towards early completion of the project.

    She spoke on Monday during an inspection of the headquarters complex on Eastern By-Pass, Port Harcourt.

    The NDDC chief, who was accompanied by directors and engineers of the commission, expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of work at the main office building and the ancillary structure.

    Read Also: Akpabio suspends payment for contracts by NDDC

    She said: “I am not impressed with what I saw today (yesterday). I am not happy that after all these years, this is the level of work done. I will be here to work, if need be, to ensure that by December, the work will at least get up to 80 per cent.

    “From time to time, I will be here to do my work. If necessary, I will bring my table and my chair here to work, because we must get value for money.

    “I will be happy if when paid, the progress made will be exactly the work done. I can assure you that the government is ready to release fund to ensure that the project will be completed as soon as possible.”

    Enyia also stated that the contractor had assured her that the project would be ready by June next year, declaring that she would hold the contractor to his words.

  • Bayelsa PDP: Crisis rocks party over choice of running mate

    The choice of running mate to the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has thrown the party into crisis ahead of the November 16 election.

    The issue was said to have assumed a dangerous dimension following the insistence of the state Governor, Seriake Dickson, to zone the slot to his western senatorial district in order to pave the way for the incumbent senator representing the zone, Senator Lawrence Erwujakpor to emerge as the running mate.

    Despite earlier denials, Dickson was said to have perfected the process of making Erwujakpor, who hails from his Sagbama Local Government Area, a running mate to enable him realise his senatorial ambition.

    The stakeholders under the auspices of Bayelsa East Forum for Justice (BEFJ) said having picked the candidate from the Bayelsa Central, it was natural to select a competent party man with requisite political clout and popularity from the East.

    Speaking in Yenagoa on Monday,  Eribo described the feelers that the slot for running mate had been zoned to the West as sad and an attempt to deprive the people of the East their due.

    Read Also: No division in Bayelsa PDP, says Diri

    Eribo warned that if not rescinded the move was capable of handing over the state to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Also Concerned Bayelsa PDP Stakeholders (CBPS) condemned in strong terms the decision of Dickson to zone the running mate of the party to his senatorial district.

    The concern stakeholders, in a statement, described the decision as an outrageous political mistake that would  work against the PDP in the November 16 governorship election.

    In the statement by Chief Ere Opukiri and Omonibo ThankGod, the stakeholders rejected the governor’s action.

    Another group under the auspices of Youths for Douye Diri further called  Dickson not to facilitate the emergence Ehrudjakpor as running mate to their principal.

    Secretary-General of the group, Comrade Beinbebo Akpiri, said the report that Dickson had settled for Ehrudjakpor was a sad political development for the PDP.

    Akpiri warned against the imposition of Ehrudjakpor on the party, stressing that it would not fly because of the current political realities.

    But the State PDP Chairman and Secretary, Moses Cleopas and Chief Godspower Keku, in a statement, said since the party’s candidate came from the Central Senatorial District, Diri was at liberty to select any suitable person from either the East or the West.

    They said the party would be left with no option than to zone the speakership and other offices in the party and government to the remaining zones for equity and fairness in accordance with the established tradition in the state since 1999.

  • Pensioners boo Benue Speaker

    Benue State pensioners on Monday booed House of Assembly Speaker Titus Uba when he met them at the entrance of the Government House in Makurdi.

    On Monday marked the sixth day the pensioners have been sleeping at the entrance of the Government House.

    The Speaker angered the pensioners when he said Governor Samuel Ortom, during a meeting with the lawmakers, told them that the pensioners had agreed to vacate the Government House entrance if paid two-month pension arrears.

    The pensioners booed the Speaker and chorused: “It’s a big lie; we must be paid six-month pensions before we leave the Government House.”

    Uba said the Benue Pension Bill, which was expeditiously passed by the Eighth Assembly, was assented to by the governor, who had since inaugurated members of the PENCOM Commission, who would soon address their plight.

    Read Also: I’m ashamed of not paying pensioners, says Ortom

    He said the commission would give succour to the retirees, adding that they had a mandate to source funds from financial institutions through negotiation, to offset their pension arrears.

    “We are not here to negotiate with you, but to sympathise with you over your plight. As a House, we will not support anything evil against our constituents. We will continue to be on your side. You are our fathers and some of us will join you one day.”

    The Chairman of Concerned Benue Pensioners, Peter Ikyado, said the two-month pensions (April and May), which the governor promised to pay this week, is for 2018.

    He said they wrote letters to the government and other stakeholders before embarking on the protest.

    “We are demanding to be paid at least six-month pension arrears. We cannot pay our children’s school fees. We cannot afford good food.

    “Three days ago, three of our members, David Atsanan (Ushongo), Joel Ijir(Oju) and Kiishi Dom(Gboko) died, while one Yaaakur sustained compound fracture.

    “We are dying. Your fathers are dying and you do not care about us. We want to die here at the Government House. We are now internally-displaced pensioners,” Ikyado added.

    The Nation gathered that the pensioners have been sleeping at the main gate of the Government House since September 4 to demand payment of 25-month pension arrears amounting to over N25billion.

  • I’m ashamed of not paying pensioners, says Ortom

    Pensioners in Benue State have turned down Governor Samuel Ortom’s advice to vacate the entrance to the Government House in Makurdi.

    The pensioners last Wednesday moved to the entrance of the Government House, sleeping on mats.

    The pensioners vowed to occupy the seat of power until their pensions and gratuities amounting to N25billion are paid.

    They said they had not been paid for 25 months.

    Their leader, Mr. Peter Kyado, said they would remain at the Government House gate until the governor meets their demand.

    Read Also: Benue pensioners protest unpaid 24-month entitlements

    Governor Ortom, who cut short his trip to Abuja to address the pensioners, said: “I’m ashamed that my government has been unable to meet its financial obligation to the pensioners, who are senior citizens.”

    He described the situation the pensioners found themselves as sad, but promised to address their plight.

    The governor said he met about N17billion as gratuity and N34billion as pension arrears when he took over the mantle of leadership, but had reduced the amount before the state found itself in a difficult financial situation.

    He called for understanding from the pensioners.

    Ortom said his administration had taken steps to address the problems through domestication of pension law to ease their plight.

    He said as a palliative measure, he had obtained a bank overdraft of N611 million, adding that “between    Monday and Tuesday the pensioners will be paid two- month pensions.”

    However, the pensioners, who are between 60 and 70 years, refused to leave the Government House entrance “until the government meets our demand.”

    As at 5pm on Monday, the pensioners were still observing their ‘sit out’ protest at the main entrance of the Government House.

  • 11 killed in Nasarawa road crash

    Eleven persons were reportedly killed on Monday, while others sustained injuries in a fatal accident on the Lafia-Akwanga Road in Nasarawa State.

    The accident occurred at Endehu hill, popularly called “Many have gone”, the same spot where the Nasarawa State deputy governor’s convoy was attacked recently.

    The accident, which happened some few minutes to 11am, involved a trailer loaded with cement, a Sharon car and a motorcycle.

    Our correspondent, who visited the scene of the accident, reports that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the police and travellers helped in the rescue operation.

    The Nasarawa State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Ismaila Kugu, confirmed the accident to reporters in Lafia.

    Read Also: 5,181 died in road accidents in 2018, says FRSC

    He said of the 11 victims, nine were men while two were women.

    An eyewitness said the trailer with number plate Kano-KMC 523 YD, loaded with cement and heading for Lafia, crushed the Sharon car marked Nasarawa-LFA 497 ZY, killing the nine occupants.

    The eyewitness said the trailer also crushed the motorcyclist to death, while one of the occupants of the trailer died in the accident.

    He said the trailer allegedly had a brake failure and hit the rear of a moving truck with registration number Gombe-GME 466 XA, conveying beans from Gombe to Aba in Abia State, before it lost control and crushed the Sharon car, killing the occupants.

    The bodies have been deposited at the General Hospital in Akwanga, Nasarawa State.

    One person has been reportedly killed in a crash on the Bauchi-Jos Road at Miri village, on the outskirts of Bauchi.

    This followed a head-on collision between a commercial Vectra and Sharon car.

    The incident, which occurred yesterday, left seven students of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi injured.

    Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC) spokesman Rilwan Sulaiman, while confirming the accident, said the Sharon was conveying ATBU students to Bauchi before it collided with the Vectra car. The driver of the Vectra car died on the spot.

    He said the body has been deposited at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

  • NURTW crisis: MC Oluomo, predecessor settle rift

    The leadership crisis that many thought maylead to another bloodbath among the members of the Lagos State Council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) was resolved “peacefully” on Monday, it was learnt.

    This followed the endorsement of Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo), who was appointed by the union’s national body as the Lagos State Caretaker Committee Chairman by the immediate past NURTW Lagos State Council Chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede.

    Akinsanya and 17 others were last Wednesday appointed Caretaker Committee members to run the council union.

    The National Deputy Secretary-General, Kayode Agbeyangi led the national and zonal leaders to swear in the new state helmsmen at the union’s state headquarters at Oko-Oba, Agege.

    Agbede, who was said not to have favoured Akinsanya to succeed him, showed up at the swearing-in.

    Read Also: Lagos NURTW protests against Olu Omo’s emergence as caretaker committee chairman

    Many were surprised by his appearance and subsequent peace message to the gathering.

    Agbede declared Akinsanya as the new leaderof the state council.

    He urged all members irrespective of where they belong to support Akinsanya and join him to move the association forward.

    The era of changing leadership of the union through bloodbath, he said, should be jettisoned.

    “I want members of our union in Lagos State to let peace reign and join hands together with the committee chairman to move theunion forward,” he said.

    Agbede urged the union leaders to do things in accordance with the union’s constitution.

    Agbeyangi hailed Agbede for ensuring that the leadership crisis is resolved.

    According to him, the immediate past chairman has handed over all the property of the union in his custody to the new leadership.

    He urged other former executive members totoe the same line.

    He warned the new leadership not todiscriminate against any member.

    Agbeyangi also enjoined members to stopposting negative materials on the social media.

    According to him, executive members at branchesand units’ level have not been dissolved.

    “No one should go and take over any branch because of the new leadership at the state level. You should also stop circulating rumours just to create unnecessary tension,” he said.

    Akinsanya urged the members to sheath their swords and embrace one another.

    “We have won the war but the most important thing now is to win the peace. We are one and we will always remain brothers irrespective of our differences during the struggle for this position. Whoever I have offended should forgive me; I also forgive those who offended me. Be sure that we are going to run this administration together. Let us join handtogether to make this union great,” he said.

    The NURTW boss warned that henceforth there will be no forceful takeover of the union’s branch, adding that anybody that participates in such act will end up in jail.

    He directed all branch’s chairmen to recallany member suspended during the electioneering period.

  • El-Rufai hails affirmation of his re-election by tribunal

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai on Monday hailed the affirmation of his re-election by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

    A statement by the Special Adviser, Media & Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, quoted the governor as thanking the tribunal for its verdict and expressing his gratitude to the people whose electoral choice has been reaffirmed.

    The tribunal on Monday upheld the election of El-Rufai as the duly elected governor.

    The Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Ibrahim Bako, said the petitioner, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Isah Ashiru, was unable to prove his allegations of massive rigging and other electoral irregularities against Governor El-Rufai, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In the petition filed before the tribunal, the PDP candidate had alleged that irregularities marred the conduct of the March 9, 2018 governorship election and asked the tribunal to declare him winner.

    Read Also: BREAKING: Tribunal upholds El-Rufai’s election

    The Vice Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Mohammed Bello, who was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer, had said El-Rufai polled 1,045,427 to defeat his closest rival, Isa Ashiru, the PDP candidate, who scored 814,168.

    The PDP and its governorship candidate, Ashiru, had petitioned the tribunal asking it to nullify El-Rufai’s election.

    The petitioners, in their final written address, asked the tribunal to cancel 515, 951 votes, which they contended, were unlawfully added to the total votes cast during the poll.

    The petitioners called 135 witnesses out of the 685 they assembled to prove alleged massive rigging, ballot stuffing and other irregularities during the poll as contained in their petition.

    The petitioners accused the INEC of adding 391,741 votes to El-Rufai’s and 124, 210 unlawful votes to the PDP through wrong or double entry on the result sheets.

    They said that declaring El-Rufai as the winner by INEC was illegal, as he did not poll the majority of lawful votes.

    The PDP through its legal team led by Mr. Emmanuel C. Ukala (SAN), said deducting 391,741 votes from 1,045,427 scored by El-Rufai and 124,210 from Ashiru’s 814, 168 votes would give victory to PDP and Ashiru, its candidate.

    The PDP Chairman in Kaduna State, Hassan Hyet, has said his party will appeal the tribunal’s judgment.

  • IGP urged to investigate ‘killing’ at Sango police station

    The Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu has been urged to probe the alleged extra-judicial killing of one Chinedu Obi at Sango Police Station in Ogun State.

    A statement by the Conference for the Actualisation of Human Rights said lawyers of late Obi’s family described comments by the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola Opeyemi, as “far from the truth”.

    The rights group gave the police a seven-day ultimatum to start investigating the matter.

    Read Also: Police nab suspect for alleged armed robbery, kidnapping in Niger

    The statement signed by the group’s national coordinator and secretary, Omemiroro Ogedegbe Esq. and Comrade Ozobo Austin, respectively, said the deceased had travelled to Otta on July 19 in a bid to advance his music career.

    The group said Obi died following a confrontation with policemen at the station.

    Until his death, Chinedu Obi, from Utagba Ogbe, Ndokwa West council area of Delta State, was a final year student of the Department of Physics, University of Port Harcourt, Choba in Rivers State.

  • Cleaner ‘steals’ employer’s gold watches

    A cleaner, Lydia Ekeremoyia, was on Monday arraigned before a Tinubu Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing her employer’s wrist watches valued at N250,000.

    Ekeremoyia, 25, resident in Lekki area of Lagos is facing a lone count charge of stealing before Magistrate T.A. Anjorin-Ajose.

    She pleaded not guilty.

    Read Also: Man arraigned for allegedly stealing N2.3m diesel

    The Prosecutor, Insp. Ajaga Agboko, told the court that the defendant committed the offence on August 31 at about 11:56a.m. at No. 6, Omodayo Owutuga, Bera Estate, Chevron Lekki, Lagos.

    Inspector Agboko  alleged that the defendant, stole two Seiko gold wrist watches valued at N250,000 belonging to  her employer, Mr Eieri Anwara.

    She pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate  Anjorin-Ajose, granted the defendant  bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

    He adjourned the case until October 10.

  • Six abducted on Kaduna-Abuja Expressway

    No fewer than six people have been kidnapped on Kaduna-Abuja highway on Sunday evening.

    The six people The Nation learnt were travelling from Offa to Kaduna on board a commercial bus, Okin Motors.

    The incident, according to sources, happened around the Rijana axis of the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway.

    Though, police were yet to confirm the incident at the time of filing this report, the development associations of of offa people, Offa Descendants’ Union (ODU) said was already making efforts to secure the victims’ release.

    National Public Relations Officer of the Union, Maruf Olalekan Ajenifuja  in a statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Monday said, ODU has waded in and efforts are in top gear to secure the release of the victims.

    Read Also: Police recover kidnapped Ondo varsity lecturer’s official car

    The statement added that all the abducted people would be released soonest.

    According to him, “The Offa Descendants’ Union (ODU) has received the sad news of the Kidnapping of 6 people travelling with Okin Motors from Offa to Kaduna on Monday.

    “This worrisome incident happened at Rejana along Abuja-Kaduana Expressway thereby throwing many families into period of sorrow.

    ‘ODU. has waded in and efforts are in top gear to secure the release of the victims and we hope they would be released soonest by the special grace of God. We may not be able to give you details at the moment due to security reasons.” The statement read.

    Meanwhile, Chairman Yoruba Traditional Council of Obas and Chiefs in the 19 Northern states and Abuja, Ambassador Muhammad Arigbabuwo has called for release of the victims The Monarch made the plead while speaking with the media in Kaduna on Monday, appealling to their abductors to free them because they are people in search of means of survival.

    He also asked the goverment to improve in the welfare packages of all security agents, especially those in the frontline.