Tag: Adamawa

An attempt to mend fences in the Adamawa state chapter of the Labour Party (LP) faltered at the weekend when a meeting called for that purpose was ignored by the aggrieved side.

Some local government chairmen of the party earlier in the month met in the state capital, Yola, and cited incompetence and highhandedness against the state Exco of the party.

They later declared the Exco sacked and went ahead to name its preferred state Exco.

The embattled Exco, headed by Christopher Nicholas as the state chairman, which had called the press and declared their sack null and void, held a stakeholders meeting weekend, attended by organized Labour and other stakeholders of the party in the state; but the local government chairmen stayed out. 

Christopher Nicholas who spoke to newsmen after the stakeholders’ meeting, said the meeting was called not only to mediate the apparent rift in the party but to address elders of the party and other stakeholders on the true condition of the party and how it is preparing for upcoming ward, local government and state congresses of the party.

On the refusal of the aggrieved local government chairmen to attend the meeting, Nicholas said the Labour Party remains one and that the chairmen, whose authenticity he questioned, could not in all honesty be taken seriously.

The organized Labour was represented by the stakeholders of the Labour Party which took place at the Labour House, Yola, by Comrade Nasiru Babale of the NUC/ TUC/Joint Negotiating Council of the state.

Babale who is the immediate past TUC chairman of the state, agreed with the Christopher Nicholas state Exco that the state LP local government chairmen erred in the way they sought to demonstrate their grievances.

“As far as the Organized Labour is concerned, there is no issue in the state Labour Party again,” Babale said, urging the aggrieved group to come forward with whatever they had problem with for proper resolution.

Four youths have been arrested in the Adamawa State capital Yola after they attacked a tricyclist and snatched the tricycle.

Operatives of the Adamawa Police Command, who made the arrest of the four suspects, also recovered the stolen tricycle.

The Nation gathered the suspects on Sunday boarded the tricycle of one Nuhu Muhammed who was using the tricycle, better known as Keke NAPEP, for commercial purpose.

The suspects boarded the tricycle in Jimeta, asking to be taken to nearby Vuniklang, only to pounce on Nuhu Muhammed as they travelled through Jimeta Bridge, a long bridge that links Jìmeta with Vuniklang.

A statement by Adamawa Police spokesman, SP Suleiman Nguroje, identified the suspected robbers as Abdullahi Yusuf, 22 years old; Umar Yahaya, 20; Hassan Ishaka, 24; and Shuaibu Abubakar, 19. 

Read Also: JUST IN: Fire damages Adamawa’s foremost fuel station

All the suspects are from Kwabura, a village in Hawal Local Government Area of Borno State.

“Investigation so far reveals that the suspects boarded the tricycle as passengers to a certain location, around Viniklang, Girei Local Government Area. Upon reaching the Jimeta Bridge, they (suspects) applied force on the tricyclist, threatening him with dangerous weapons,” the statement explained.

It added that the suspects pushed the victim out of the tricycle and went away with it.

“A swift response from the Jimeta Division patrol team led to the arrest of these suspects and the recovery of the tricycle. The Commissioner of Police CP Dankombo Morris, assured that the suspects will be charged to court for criminal conspiracy and armed robbery upon the conclusion of investigation,” the police said.

Executives of the Labour Party (LP) in Adamawa State have dismissed a vote of no confidence passed on them by local government chairmen of the party in the State. 

Eighteen of the party’s 21 LGA chairmen met in a hotel in Yola on Thursday, and accused the state chairman of incompetence before announcinh removal of the chairman, Christopher Nicholas along with all members of his state executive committee.

The LP LG chairmen had gone on to constitute what they described as a state caretaker committee to run the party pending what the national leadership of the party may decide. 

Read Also: Labour Party crises take new turn

Reacting to this on Friday, Nicholas gathered his own executives at the Labour Party state secretariat in Yola and insisted that they remained in office.

“This (the LG chairmen) is just a group raised to cause disaffection in our dear party,” Nicholas charged. 

Stressing that there is a procedure for any event in the party,” he said the procedure had not been followed.

“At no time did anybody write or officially raise an eyebrow against anyone in the leadership. We have a mechanism for raising issues and it has not been done,” he added. 

A foremost fuel station in Adamawa state, situated in the capital city of Yola, has been damaged by fire.

The NNPC Mega station, located on the famous Bank Road, was engulfed in flames in the early hours of Thursday, March 28.

During a visit to the site, The Nation discovered that the fire had destroyed a petrol tanker parked on the premises and caused significant damage to the roof covering the large station.

Witnesses said that the fire originated from the petrol tanker and spread to the roof above the pump area.

However, no one present at the station or associated with it was willing to provide details about the incident at the time this story was filed.

Read Also: Adamawa remodels capital city’s 2nd biggest market

There are concerns about fuel scarcity in Yola, as the damaged NNPC Mega Station is a primary destination for most motorists in the city.

Known for consistently providing fuel even when other stations in Yola do not, the station is also trusted for its reliable products, sold accurately and without the usual sharp practices often encountered elsewhere.

The Adamawa State Government has set the process in motion to remodel Jimeta Shopping Complex, the second biggest market in the capital city, Yola.

The shopping complex, comprising 2,330 shops, is to be expanded, complete with more shops and modern faciities, such as a car park.

Commissioner of Commerce, Trade & Industry, Dr Ishaya Dabari, chairs a committee which has designated a large currently unoccupied facilty elsewhere in Jimeta to which traders at the shopping complex are to relocate while the complex remodelling takes place.

In an interview with The Nation, the commissioner said, “We are upgrading the shops to modern standards, and we will make more shops available to people, which will enhance the state’s drive for internal revenue.”

The commissioner added, “The remodeling plan for the shopping complex is to expand the facilities, even after widenon ing the Mubi Road by which it is located, because upstairs (multi-story buildings) will replace the current one-story shops.”

According to him, work will start on the remodelling exercise two weeks after the ongoing Ramada fast, and is expected to be completed within one year.

“As is usual with projects done by this government, this one year duration is sacrosanct. By end of one year, the whole thing should been concluded and a brand new modernized Jimeta Shopping Complex with all necessary facilities is expected to be in place,” he assured.

Read Also: Adamawa police parades 58 robbery, kidnapping suspects

He explained that the idea to remodel the complex came from Governor Ahmadu Fintiri himself. 

“It is in line with his urban renewal program. It is also necessary to make room for expansion of the road leading from the Mubi Roundabout flyover towards the Police Roundabout Flyover & Interchange,” he said.

Our correspondent reports that the Jimeta Shopping Complex, famous for being the place to go over anything to do with GSM phones, lies in the heart of Jimeta, adjacent the site of Yola’s third flyover now nearing completion in place of what was widely known as Mubi Roundabout, Yola.

The Adamawa State Police Command on Tuesday, March 19, paraded 58 people charged with various crimes.

Forty individuals among the suspects were identified as members of a young criminal group called the Shila Boys.

This gang primarily comprises teenage boys who engage in daylight robberies, targeting residents of the state capital, Yola, with knives, often aiming for cash and mobile phones.

The Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, Dankombo Morris, who paraded the suspects, said 11 of them were involved in kidnapping while seven were suspected highway robbers.

Read Also: Three die in clash between two Adamawa communities

The CP said the Shila Boys were rounded up at Sambisa Forest, a forest near Yola named after the more widely known Sambisa Forest in Borno State.

“In a bid to checkmate their nefarious excesses, on the 16th of March 2024, the Command in collaboration with hunters, launched a coordinated operation at Sambisa Forest here in Adamawa State,” the Police commissioner said.

He explained that the Sambisa Forest in Yola is a safe haven for Shila Boys.

“During this raiding operation, about 40 Shila Boys were arrested and dangerous weapons recovered from them,” the police commissioner said

He also disclosed that on March 17, his command operatives and tactical teams who were on patrol, arrested five armed robbery gang members in Jimeta, Yola, after they robbed occupants of their vehicles from Taraba State.

According to the police boss also, on the 5th of this month, the Adamawa State Police Command arrested an armed gang of kidnappers at Ngurore, near Yola, after they had been terrorizing the community.

He said that in total, the arrests of the 40 Shila Boys, 11 suspected kidnappers, and seven suspected armed robbers were made by his officers and men within the past one month.

Exhibits seized from the suspects, according to him, include one Toyota Prado Jeep with registration number ABJ 344 HX; one Hummer bus with registration number RSH 79 FA; two AK-47 rifles; a leather of charms and rings, and two GSM phones.

Students in Adamawa State have been charged to view democracy as the best form of government for Nigeria and work towards its perfection.

The students, during an interactive political forum at the America University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola at the weekend, were also charged to be intentional about the fact of Nigeria being their only country that they must contribute to build.

The Frame Democracy Forum organised by a strategy and media group, Gatefield, at the AUN Auditorium which attracted students mostly from the host university, included talk sessions by two resource persons and a panel discussion session which featured the resource persons and two students: President of the AUN Student Union Government (SUG), Talford Ongolo and another, Otuekong Nyong.

In the course of presentations by the Public Affairs and Strategic Communications consultant and founder of Gatefield, Mahmud Jafar as well as Development and Social Change advocate, Vanessa Williams, the students voiced hard words against how democracy is practiced in Nigeria.

Read Also: Adamawa housewife’s lover stabs her husband dead 

“Nigeria’s democracy exists only on paper,” one of the students asserted, adding, “Our politicians start with rigging their path to office and once there, feel no commitment to anyone.”

Another said, “Youths are willing to engage politically but are discouraged by the feelings that their votes, their opinions, their needs don’t matter.”

Another voice said, “Political corruption affects youths. It is so highly monetised, it suggests a deliberate policy to keep people out. And young people feel that this country can be authoritarian, that power belongs to a few political elites.”

Mahmud Jafar, who presented a paper on the topic, ‘Promoting Democratic Values through Youth Dialogue and Narratives,’ admitted imperfections in Nigeria’s democracy, including authoritarian occurrences.

He, however, impressed it on students not to dismiss democracy wholesale, but to participate in redemptive efforts.

On her part, Development and Social Change campaigner, Vanessa Williams who is of the North East Innovation Hub, Yola, agreed on certain issues raised on democracy, but said the only wise option was to fight for its reform.