Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) chapter, yesterday protested the pro-rata October salary payment and backlog of eight-month salary owed members by the Federal Government.

The union directed lecturers to withhold exam results and not to participate in department, faculty or senate council meetings to approve results, until government does the needful.

During the peaceful protest, the lecturers chanted solidarity songs, and carried placards with inscriptions such as: “We say no to intimidation by government”, “Our government does not honour agreement”, “No pay no academic results, say no to pro-rata”, “Pay us our salary backlog, stop using pro-rata to pay us”, ‘Lecturers are not casual workers”, “Enough is enough, mother of all strikes is loading”, among others.

Speaking to reporters in Nsukka after the protest, the Chairman of ASUU-UNN, Dr. Christian Opata, said the aim of the congress was to get the input of members on issues concerning the union.

He said the rally was to inform the university community of the inability of the government to pay ASUU backlog of eight-month salary, and to protest the half salary paid to members when the union suspended the strike on October.

“ASUU-UNN has directed its members not to release exam results or participate in any department, faculty or senate council meeting to approve results until the government does the needful.

Ex-agitators, under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Third Phase, have disassociated themselves from the recent protests by the First and Second Phase former militants that led to hours of blockade of Bayelsa and Rivers states’ sections of the East-West road.

The first and second phase ex-militants had reportedly gone on the rampage over the decision of the Interim Administrator of PAP, Maj.- Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd.), due to alleged monumental fraud in the Amnesty Office, to initiate plans to re-negotiate with beneficiaries and conduct a verification to ascertain the real ex-agitators in the programme.

The Chairman of the Strategic Communication Committee (StraCom), Amnesty Office, Nature Dumale, had said PAP had uncovered through an internal and external audit where an individual was receiving monthly stipends meant for 30 people through fraudulent means, hence Ndiomu ordered the verification of delegates.

Dumale had said the verification was not meant as a witch-hunt for any beneficiary of the programme, but rather to clear the roadblocks of fraudulent practices in the programme.

In a statement yesterday by the National Leader, Third Phase Ex-agitators, Tonye Bobo, he condemned the protest, saying it came at a point when there was a relative peace in the Niger Delta.

He, therefore, described the protest by the first and second phase ex-agitators as politically-motivated.

Bobo said: “To set the record straight, we wish to state that there are a lot of abnormalities in the Amnesty Programme, and that the Third Phase is in support of the verification, which is long overdue and in line with the due process of the programme.

“We call on the public to disregard the protest and the ultimatum given to the Amnesty Office, as their demands and misleading insinuations are designed to malign Gen. Ndiomu (rtd.), the Amnesty Office, cause disaffection and distract him from sanitising the system.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of N80 billion for the reconstruction of Sapele/Benin Road, as well as Amukpe/Agbor/Uromi roads.

The Deputy Senate President and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, made this known at a meeting with members of the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN), held in Sapele.

The Director, Communications and Media Strategy, Delta APC Campaign Council, Ima Niboro, said in a statement yesterday that Omo-Agege claimed that on assumption of the office of the Deputy Senate President, he reached out to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on the status of the highways, but he was not forthcoming with the necessary information.

“He recalled that as soon as he became Deputy President of the Senate, he requested from Governor Okowa to know the status of the road all the way from Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) to Agbor.”

Traditional rulers of gas pipeline host communities in Ukanafun Local Government of Akwa Ibom State have expressed commitment to the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

To strengthen their resolve, they have reaffirmed the nomination of Mrs. Akaninyene Patrick as Board of Trustees (BoT) member to work with Savannah Energy Company.

The Coordinator of gas pipeline communities, Kufre Emmanson, said Patrick was unanimously and duly nominated by the four paramount rulers, four local government chairmen, as well as 18 village heads of Ukanafun gas pipeline host communities.

He urged the management of Savannah Energy to disregard any other nomination not authorised by the royal fathers, to avoid crisis.

rum of Village Heads, Ukanafun Local Government.

“Any other nomination is null and void. Therefore, I am calling on the company to disregard any other nomination to avoid causing crisis in our communities. We warn against ploy by any individual or group to bring confusion in our area in respect of the host Communities’ Development Trust”

In a letter dated November 22, 2022, addressed to the Regional Manager, Southeast, Savannah Energy, Akwa Ibom State branch, the Chairman of Ukanafun Local Government, Godwin Inyieng, described Patrick’s nomination as irrevocable.

The Chairman, Forum of Village Heads, Gas Pipeline Host Communities, Ukanafun Local Government, Chief Iniobong Udom, reaffirmed their endorsement of Mrs. Patrick.

Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia

An Abia State-based activist, Mr. Okoye Fidelis, has warned the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, against move to step down for any of the presidential candidates.

Fidelis, who spoke to our correspondent on the heels of the call by some youths for Obi to forget his presidential ambition if he loves the Igbo, said the presidential ambition of Obi was not about Igbo presidency, but Nigerians, who were desirous of change.

He said: “Anyone urging Obi to step down his presidential ambition is not just the worst enemy of the Igbo, but also of Nigerians.

“Obi, at this time, should be more focused than ever. The youth are speaking their minds and not the minds of Nigerians or Igbo. I hate it when people make it appear that Obi’s presidential ambition is an Igbo thing.”

The United Business Women Association of Nigeria and Diaspora (UBWA) has said it is partnering Catholic Women Organisation (CWO), Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, Anambra State to empower over 2,000 women, including widows.

UBWA Founder Dr. Nkiruka Duru, who made this known after a visit by a six-member executive/delegation of CWO led by its President, Ifeyinwa Onochie, said the collaboration would help to promote women’s welfare.

She said the partnership was targeted at empowering widows and women to assuage their suffering, especially during the Christmas.

Onochie urged individuals and corporate organisations to support the group with donations and food items, to help lift widows and women.

She said: “Christmas is here again; it is a time to show love and help the needy. Our women are going through a lot in the country due to economic hardship.

“The association is keen about service to God and humanity; we will love to bequeath a legacy like Esther in the Bible.”

Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) has accused Southeast governors of masterminding the killing of Ndigbo by herdsmen under the guise of bandits.

The youth body lamented that the leadership of the council had raised the alarm over the unwarranted, massive influx of herdsmen and bandits into the region.

It, however, regretted that the governors had been nonchalant towards the brutal killing of people.

In a statement yesterday signed by the National President of OYC, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, the youth council accused Southeast governors of “giving into slavery to their herdsmen-masters, whereas the latter have turned the region into a scene of bloodbath.”