The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Delta PPA guber candidate, Obire, returns to APC

    In was a warm embrace and colourful ceremony on Saturday for the members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ward 5, Ovu, in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State as the Delta State Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, governorship candidate in the last general elections, Dr. O’Diakpo Obire, returned to the APC, with his deputy candidate, Engr. Rex Biose and his teeming supporters of over 20,000 across the state.

    Receiving Obire at the party’s Ward 05 Secretariat in Ovu, the APC Ward Chairman Chief Ukavwe Anibor, the Exco members and notable party leaders applauded his decision to return to the party, adding that Obire is a political asset that would boost the strength of APC in Ethiope East LGA and Delta state at large.

    Read Also: Omo-Agege empowers 417 APC members, others in Delta

    The chairman said on June 26, 2018, Dr. O’Diakpo Obire who was then a bonafide card-carrying member and a frontline governorship aspirant of APC, released a press statement in which he announced his decision to quit the party due to what he described as “protracted and intractable rancour” between two factions that rocked the party over the control of its leadership in the state.

    The major highlight of the event of his return to the party was the revalidation of his membership of the APC even as he was formally welcomed back by all members into the party.

    In his response, Obire said he returned to the party after a brief sabbatical to run the governorship race on the platform of PPA, pointing out that in the last elections he ensured his supporters across the state voted President Muhammadu Buhari and the Delta Central APC senatorial candidate, DSP Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

  • Edo councils plan 50% revenue to clear salary arrears

    In a move to clear salary arrears owed by some local councils in Edo State, the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) has resolved to set aside 50 per cent of their monthly revenue to offset such arrears after payment of monthly salaries.

    Chairman, Oredo Local Government Area, Hon. Jenkins Osunde, said this at the end of the monthly JAAC meeting presided over by the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, at Government House, in Benin City.

    Osunde said after the payment of monthly salaries, 50 per cent of the revenue left will be used to clear salary arrears by LGAs that still owe their workers’ salary arrears.

    He further said that the total gross allocation that accrued to the 18 LGAs from the federation account for the month of July was N3,168, 456, 876. 47k billion while net allocation to the councils was N1, 464,888,502.66k.

    Read Also: Protest in Edo over NDDC nomination

    He explained that the total deductions from LGAs for the month was N1.703,568,371, while total amount transferable to the LGAs stood at N1,449,046,218.28k.

    According to him, teachers’ and non-teachers’ salaries gulped N923, 631,773.74k; primary school teachers N881,350,071.05k; non-teachers’ salary stood at 42,596,702.69k, while pension fund contribution was N423, 529, 894.

    Osunde noted that payment for pension arrears gulped N100 million while Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by LGAs in the month of July was N179, 530, 634.

    He explained that the about 8.7 per cent decrease in the IGR for July when compared with the N196,590,479.14k realised in the previous month was due to poor weather conditions and public holidays.

    Osunde added that the Airtel internet connectivity that would drive the new revenue collection system was being installed across the 18 councils of the state.

    According to the Oredo council chairman, N8,250,000 from the money that accrued to the councils was set aside for the Ward Development Committees.

  • NNPC commences repair of damaged oil pipeline in Delta

    The Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, said over the weekend that the corporation has begun repairs of its damaged Abura Crude Trunk line.

    The Crude Trunk line at Otu-Jeremi town in Delta State had experienced an eruption on Friday.

    Kyari, speaking in Benin during the tee-off at the 2019 (NNPC) upstream golf tournament, said the repair would be completed in three days.

    Read Also: NNPC, Total to grow production reserves

    “It wasn’t an explosion, it was an eruption on our pipeline, our team has moved to site and in three days we are going to fix it,” he said.

    “We have curtailed the spill that is coming out, so it was not an explosion but an eruption because there was no fire in the place.

    “It will have no effect on power supply, we are going to fix it soon,’’ he said.

  • Anxiety in Owerri over invasion of medical expert’s home by suspected B’Haram members

    Relatives of a medical practitioner, Dr. Conrad Esomonu, have raised alarm over the recent invasion of his Owerri residence by suspected members of the terror group, Boko Haram.

    A younger brother to the medical expert, Ben Esomonu, said that he left the country four years ago following a similar ordeal in Maiduguri, Borno state, where he was practicing in Maiduguri.

    Esomonu, an indigene of Ahiazu Mbaise Council Area of Imo State, was a practicing physician in the Northern part of Nigeria before he relocated abroad after a failed attempt on his life by the Boko Haram sect.

    “Trailing and threats of lower magnitude have been hunting the family members which prompted the relocation of his fiancée and children to another part of the country.

    Read Also: Troops begin new strategy to counter Boko Haram’s attacks

    “It is worthy of note that the failed kidnap attempt on his fiancée in Calabar early last 2018 was evident. The failed kidnap attempt necessitated that they fled the country to an unconfirmed destination.”

    Also, an eye witness, Mrs. Carol Ugwuegbu, disclosed that, “six armed men suspected to be members of Boko haram terror group arrived the home of Dr Esomonu in two Hilux vans at about 6:30pm on Saturday 3rd August 2019. The assailants were chanting incomprehensible invocations suspected to be in Arabic, they were all dressed in flowing gowns (jalandher), a form that suggests that they are terrorists.

    “On their arrival at the residence, they started shooting randomly in the air and people nearby scampered for safety. They broke into the premises and shot sporadically into the air but as there was no one in the residence as at that time so they couldn’t get anybody.

    “The Police arrived shortly after their departure but no arrests were made instead they inspected the bullet shots around the premises.”

  • Stray bullet kills graduate

    A graduate identified simply as Chijim has allegedly died after he was hit by a stray bullet fired by some policemen in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    The deceased was said to be preparing for mobilisation for the mandatory National Youth Service when the incident happened penultimate Monday.

    Sources said he walking along the road when the unidentified policemen allegedly fired shots indiscriminately into the air.

    Read Also: Stray bullet kills APC leader at Oshodi

    One of the shots hit Chijim.

    He died on the spot.

    A source said the policemen claimed it was a case of accidental discharge.

    “Apparently aware of the reactions trailing their action, the policeman who fired the shot said it was an accidental discharge and ran away with other members of his team.

    “Family members of the deceased are crying out for justice as nothing has been done by the police authorities in the state to bring the culprits to book,’’ added the source who did not want her name mentioned.

    Police spokesman, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni however told The Nation reporter in Port Harcourt that he was not aware of the incident.

  • UI lifts ban on Students Union activities after two years

    The management of University of Ibadan (UI) has lifted the ban placed on student union activities in the institution.

    Following a protest on May 30, 2017, the university senate under the leadership of Prof. Idowu Olayinka, the Vice-chancellor, suspended the students’ union.

    Prof. Olayinka confirmed the development as ‘true’.

    He said the senate met on Friday and lifted the suspension on students’ union activities.

    Read Also: UI announces date for Post-UTME Screening

    Also, the Director, Directorate of Public Communications, Tunji Oladejo, also confirmed the development saying that the university is ready to conduct leadership training after the election.

    “We are ready to work with the crop of new leaders so as to move the university forward,” he said.

    The Nation however gathered that the erstwhile President for council of Faculties, Victor Olaonipekun, has been charged with the responsibility of conducting a ‘free and fair election’ for the Students’ Union within the next 9 weeks.

    It should be recalled that the Ojo Aderemi-led administration led a protest in 2017 over the non-issuance of identity (ID) cards which subsequently led to the suspension of the union.

    Olayinka’s reversal of the suspension of union’s activities has elicited cheers from the students and many alumnus of the institution.

  • Three suspected notorious robbers nabbed

    The police have arrested three robbery suspects, Ayomide Babatunde, 30; Tunde Shabi, 37, and Femi Adeolu, 27, described as specialists  in taking their victims to ATM machines to withdraw money from their accounts.

    They were arrested by the Lagos annex office of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    The suspects are also  said to be ex-convicts.

    They  were arrested after they allegedly attacked some persons including a woman and transferred millions of naira from their victims’ bank accounts using their ATM cards and handsets.

    Besides,they are alleged to have snatched their victims’ cars which they drove to  Cotonou in Benin Republic to sell off.

    Ayomide who claims to be from Ekiti and a father of   three children said he could not go beyond secondary  school on account of the death of his father.

    “To be able to fend for myself, I became  an estate agent but I was arrested when I joined Aye confraternity due to unending bloody clashes with rival cult groups,” he told his interrogators.

    Read Also: Suspected robbers cart away valuables in Oyo schools

    “I was eventually charged to court and sent to prison.

    “In the prison I met Ola, Tunde and others. We formed a car snatching gang when I came out of the prison.

    “We had three pistols, one Beretta pistol and two locally made short guns. I bought the guns in Cotonou,Benin Republic, when I went there to sell the stolen cars. It was our receiver in Cotonou that helped us to buy the guns.

    “I have operated more than five times. Our first victim was a woman. In March 2018 we were trekking along Kola in Alagbado area of Lagos and saw one woman who wanted  to enter her house. We then followed her and robbed her. We collected her bag , phones and two ATM cards.

    “We first took her to ATM gallery and forced her to withdraw money for us. We also collected his pin number and transferred one million to the gang’s bank current accounts.

    “We drove off to Cotonou in her Toyota Highlander Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and gave the car to our standby receiver simply addressed as Oga Azeez  to sell for us.

    “When she wanted to shout we calmed her down. We also held her hostage for 12 hours to enable us do another transfer of one million naira.

    “We drove to Oju-Ore (Ota,Ogun State) along Idiroko road to while away time. “The purpose was to allow for 12 hours before another transfer could be done. We however succeeded in transferring another one million naira.

    “I gave five vehicles to Gani who is one of the receivers we have in Cotonou. We stopped at Atan, a  community  after the popular Winners Church and waited for another 12 hours before making another transfer of one million naira.

    ”When we searched the woman’s  bag we saw only N50,000 cash. We transferred the sum of N2million  to our members  who are still in Kirikiri prison.

    “I gave N600, 000 to the owner of the account we used in transferring the money. We gave N200, 000 to the person who went to withdraw the money in prison. We shared the remaining N1.2 million. I did not save a dime because of my life style; I slept in hotel with women almost on a daily basis

    “I sold the Toyota Highlander SUV for N600,000, Formatic Benz-N900,000; Toyota Camry car , N300,000; Toyota Camry( big daddy) car N500,000; Lexus SUV 350; N600,000; Toyota Muzzle N600,000; Toyota Corolla N400,000, among others.’’

  • Police arrest murder suspect nine months after

    Nine months after he allegedly conspired with others to kill a man, a murder suspect, Ibrahim Tafiyau has been arrested by operatives of the Niger state Police Command.

    Tafiyau, a native of Tutungo village of Paiko Local Government Area of Niger state had conspired to kill one Abdullahi Mohammadu of Izom in Gurara Local Government of the state.

    It was said that one Abdullahi Mohammadu on November 11, 2018 Ahmadu Abdullahi, reported to the police that his son Abdullahi Mohammadu left home on his Bajaj motorcycle and was attacked  by armed men along Izom-Suleja road and his motorbike snatched.

    According to the bereaved father, the armed men inflicted injuries on his son leading to his death.

    The police on December 5, 2018, arrested one Babangida Shaibu who was in possession of the said motorcycle and was charged to court.

    Read Also: Storm in Enugu over rape, murder of pregnant woman

    Investigations had been on since then and the suspect, Ibrahim was trailed and apprehended by a team of policemen attached to Gawu-Babangida Division .

    Confessing to the crime, Ibrahim said he and two others who are still at large killed the victim and made snatched his motorcycle.

    He said: “I thought that the case is over. Frankly speaking, I thought that this matter has died down since 2018; I do not even know that Police were still dragging the matter. I never knew that police was trailing me until I was arrested.

    “Me and my gang members actually killed the victim and dispossessed him of his motorcycle; we thought it was all over not knowing that the long arm of law will one day catch up with us one by one.”

    Police spokesman, Muhammad Abubakar said the matter had been charged to court adding that efforts were being made to arrest fleeing members of the gang.

  •  Six die, 24 others injured as two buses collide on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

    Six people were confirmed dead and 24 others, including children, injured on Friday when two commercial buses collided along Isara – Ogere stretch of the Lagos – Ibadan expressway.

    The accident which involved a Toyota bus with vehicle number ABC932XJ and a Mazda bus with vehicle number FST820XD, occurred when the Mazda bus veered off its lane and collided with the Toyota bus coming from Abuja.

    The Route Commander, Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ogun State Command, Florence Okpe, attributed the fatal crash to “excessive speed and wrongful overtaking.”

    Okpe added that the Mazda bus travelling from Lagos perilously left its lane while overtaking another vehicle and collided with the Toyota bus coming from Abuja which was travelling on the opposite direction of the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway.

    Read Also: Two die in Zamfara gov’s convoy accident

    She stated: “A total of 30 people were involved made up of 19 male adults, nine female adults, one male child and another female child.

    “The people injured in the crash were 24 comprising 16 male adults, female adults, a male child and a female child.

    “Unfortunately the crash led to the death of six people made up of three male adults and three female adults.

    “The FRSC rescue team rescued 11 injured victims and took them to Victory Hospital Ogere, six other victims were taken to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OSUTH) Sagamu.

    “Seven other  victims were taken to Idera Hospital Sagamu for medical attention.”

  • Police clash with service commission over recruitment of 10,000 constables

    There are indications that all is not well between the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force.

    The disagreement may not be unconnected with the recruitment of 10,000 Nigerians as constables into the Nigeria Police Force.

    The Commission on Friday issued a statement signed by its spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, to announce the suspension of the recruitment exercise which it started last year.

    The statement reads: “The Police Service Commission has enjoined applicants for recruitment into the Constable cadre of the Nigeria Police Force to exercise some patience as it finalises the remaining stage of the recruitment exercise.

    “The Commission also wishes to advise all the candidates who participated in the recruitment exercise up to the aptitude test to ignore any list or information on the exercise emanating from outside the Commission.

    “It is the constitutional responsibility of the Commission to recruit Nigerians into the Police Force whether as Constables, Cadet Inspectors or Cadet ASPs, and the Commission is not ready to abdicate this very important mandate.

    “The Commission will resist any attempt to ambush the ongoing recruitment exercise or dilute its content. It notes that such attempt will be an affront on the Constitution and a waste of national resources.

    “Meanwhile the Commission wishes to put the ongoing exercise on hold in order to finalise the remaining stage of the exercise. Candidates are to wait for further directives from the Commission.”

    Mutual suspicion

    A source close to the latest development explained to The Nation that the suspension was announced following indications that the Nigeria Police Force may tamper with the process and list submitted to it.

    According to the source, the Nigeria Police Force decided to hijack the whole process of recruitment after the Chairman of the Commission, Alhaji Musiliu Smith refused to do the bidding of the police leadership.

    Narrating the circumstances that led to the suspension, the source who is privy to the whole recruitment process said: “On Tuesday, the Inspector-General of Police came with his management team to the Police service commission but before then, he had written a letter to the commission saying that the recruitment is the responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force, quoting the Nigeria Police Act.

    “He said that it is after recruitment that the PSC will be given the material or the list to place, which is the appointment. That, to the commission, appeared like a rubber stamp approach to things.

    “They came and met with PSC, at the meeting, there were argument back and forth about what recruitment was and what appointment was.

    “Recruitment is a process of appointment and even in the public service, recruitment is filling of vacancy. Appointment is filling of vacancy too.

    “The commission told them that appointment is recruitment and that there can be no appointment without recruitment.

    “The IG also came with a letter written by the former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, where he described recruitment as a screening while appointment was placing.

    “The Commission told them there was an earlier legal opinion by Kanu Agabi where he described recruitment as a process of appointment.

    “Ben Nwabueze also had similar opinion with Kanu Agabi.  The letter by Adoke that the IG quoted was written in 2010, and even when he wrote that, it was not and has not been in operation.

    “The commission told the team that we are in 2019 and that what it was quoting was nine years ago letter.

    “At the end of the day, the commission told the team that there was no time to argue the letter as Nigerians were eager to be employed to fill vacant positions in the Force.

    “The recruitment started since 2018 with advert placement which was followed by short-listing those who showed interest, followed by screening and exams.

    “Aptitude tests have just been concluded. It is now that the commission is about to start aptitude test that the Nigeria Police Force realised that it is their responsibility to recruit.”

    He continued: “To me, it is an ambush. Rather than allow it to collapse, the Commission now suggested that we jointly do it together.

    “To be honest, the whole process had seen the involvement of personnel from the Force Headquarters.

    “CP in charge of recruitment from Force headquarters were posted alongside others to other states for the joint exercise.

    “We told them that we should go ahead with this and then go for judicial interpretation after the completion of this process. The management team agreed and said henceforth, whatever we do must be done from the Force Headquarters and the commission agreed.

    “A team consisting of a commissioner from the commission agreed to co-chair the committee with the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of training. The commissioner came low to the rank of the DIG who is an employee of the commission.

    “A commissioner was confirmed by the National Assembly after he was screened just like the ministers and their tenure is five years. Despite all these, he still agreed to work with the DIG.

    “Despite all these, a date between 28 and 29 August was fixed to meet at the Force Headquarters for them to jointly look at the list from exams conducted and also to check the work of the consultant and come up with a list of candidates who would be invited for medicals.

    “The day came and the Director of police recruitment from the commission started calling the DIG designated as agreed but he did not pick his call all through the day.

    “About four of them left for the force headquarters but there was no place arranged for the meeting and those they went there to meet could not be located. The DIG refused to pick his call. With that, it was obvious their visit to the commission was just to sell a dummy.”

    Crux of the matter

    He said further: “The truth is that when the result from the exam conducted was released by the consultant, we submitted the soft and hard copy to them. Now, the team is supposed to work together but since they have a copy, it appears they want to hijack it from us.

    “We got information that they locked themselves up in a place and were inserting names of unqualified candidates and those who did not even take part in the screening process.

    “The main crux of the disagreement is because the Police Force came up with lots of names of those that did not apply and asked that the chairman insert their names, but the chairman being a man of integrity refused to put those names because they did not undergo screening.

    “They just want to input names of those who we are not sure have met the requirement. Who knows whether some of those they brought their names are dwarfs and have other forms of disability? So it appears they want to put names of those who did not apply.”

    When The Nation contacted Ani to know why the exercise was suspended, he said: “The commission is interested in making a success of the recruitment of 10,000 Nigerians as constables into the Force.

    “We will however resist any attempt to dilute merit in the process of the recruitment. The Commission and the Force had jointly handled the exercise.

    “Even it is the exclusive responsibility of the commission but we felt we should carry the police along since we are recruiting for them.

    “The commission will not in any circumstance abdicate the mandate given to it by the Nigerian constitution.”

    Section 153 (m) of the 1999 Constitution empowers the PSC to recruit for the Nigeria Police Force.

    It reads: “The commission is one of the federal executive bodies established under section 153(m) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended. By virtue of paragraph 30, part I of the Third  Schedule to the constitution and clause 6(1) of the Police Service  Commission (establishment), Act 2001, the commission is charged with the responsibilities of appointment, promotion, dismissal, and disciplinary control of members of the Nigeria Police force (except the Inspector-General of Police).”

    The constitution also says that the commission shall not be subject to the direction, control or supervision of any other authority or person in performance of its function other than as is prescribed in the Act.

    Another source who didn’t want his name mentioned told The Nation that actions taken so far by the Commission shows that it wants peace and amicable resolution.

    According to him, “We are interested in peace because a lot of manpower has gone into this process since we started last year.

    “It will amount to waste of national resources if the Force jeopardizes this whole process. Also, the candidates whose hopes have risen might end up unemployed thereby increasing the unemployment rate in the country.”

    On the next action the commission is likely to take and when it would resume the process, he said: “The Commission is likely to sit next week because of this development.”