The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOMBE

  • Gombe closes schools

    Gombe closes schools

    The Gombe State government has closed schools for two weeks.

    Parents hailed the government for what they described as “a prompt action”, following attacks on Nafada and Ashaka by gunmen.

    However, Dr. Sani Jauro, the principal private secretary to the governor, said the closure had nothing to do with the security challenge and is the normal midterm break.

    A source, who pleaded for anonymity, said schools, mostly private, went on midterm break last week.

    “They cannot possibly go on another midterm break now, except those that did not observe theirs last week. Besides, where has midterm break ever been as long as two weeks?” the source said.

    A text message sent to parents by a private school in Gombe reads: “This is to inform parents that school closes today for two weeks, to resume on Monday, November 17, for security reasons.

    “However, the parents of pupils from Maiduguri, Mubi, Ashaka, Potiskum, Biu and related areas have to come for them – Management.”

    The Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Ahmed, and the permanent secretary were not in the office when The Nation visited the ministry.

    The commissioner did not pick calls to her mobile phone.

  • LMC awaiting match report for Nembe, Gombe stalemate

    LMC awaiting match report for Nembe, Gombe stalemate

    The League Management Company(LMC) says a ruling on the abandoned game between Nembe City and Gombe United will be made only after receiving a detailed match report from the match officials as to what led to the abandonment.

    The tie was stalemated at 2-2 before Gombe United got a penalty in the 89th minute for an alleged handball in the eighteen area by a Nembe player, but play was held up as the home team protested the awarded penalty.

    The melee led to the abandonment of the game, as players of Nembe walked off the pitch, making it the second time in two weeks when a game involving bottom of the table Nembe has been abandoned.

    In the tie postponed to yeterday due to heavy downpour on Wednesday, both teams were level at 1-1 after the first 45 minutes.

    However, in the second half, Austin Ekpoma gave Gombe United the lead in the 63rd minute by calmly picking his spot with a curler from the edge of the box.

    Six minutes from the final whistle, Sanni Yarma scored an own goal in a bid to stop a free-kick from Nembe City to put scores at 2-2.

    The game’s moment of controversy arrived a minute to the end, when a Nembe player was adjudged to have handled in the box leading the referee to awarding a penalty to Gombe.

    Nembe players, after protesting the decision, walked off the pitch, forcing the referee to call off the game after five minutes, the stipulated time for a referee to call off a game if a team leaves the pitch in protest.

  • WAEC fees: Gombe pupils bemoan government’s failure

    The ambition of thousands of secondary pupils in Gombe State to further their education has been endangered by the state government’s failure to pay their 2014 West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) examination fees.

    This development is coming on the heels of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo’s declarations that education is his administration’s priority.

    A candidate at the Government Day (Pilot) Secondary School, Gombe, Ahmed Ishaq Usman,  said it is disappointing that the results of public secondary schools candidates who sat for this year’s West Africa Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSCE) were not released together with their counterparts in private schools .

    He said: “Government is not being fair to us and we wonder maybe its because many of their children are studying outside the country.

    “We are appealing to government to correct this injustice because it is we from poor families whose results are being withheld.”

    Another candidate, Ibrahim Nasir Jalo, a resident of Jekadafari quarters, who wrote his examination at Government Day Secondary School, Gandu in Gombe, described the situation as surprising. According to him, government’s inability to pay their examination fees amounted to tampering with their future.

    “We were puzzled when on the day they said results were released, we all rushed to the café. Our mates who wrote their examination in private schools have got their results, but we did not get ours.

    “We asked why and we were told that it is because government did not pay for us. This does not amount to justice,” he explained.

    Jalo appealed to the government to look into the situation and help those of who want to further their education.

    The state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Aishatu M.B. Ahmed, when contacted for comment, said she was in Abuja for a meeting and refused to speak on the issue.

  • Police arrest six for murder of paramilitary men

    Police arrest six for murder of paramilitary men

    GOMBE State Police Command has arrested six persons in connection with last Sunday’s gruesome murder of the marshals of the Gombe State Agency for Community and Social Development behind the Emir’s palace.

    Although a statement by the command said only one person was murdered, the Chief of Staff of Gombe State Government House, Alhaji Ahmed Yayari, alleged that two people were murdered.

    Residents also confirmed that two marshals were killed in the incident.  A statement by the command’s spokesman, Fwaje Atajiri, said those arrested over the murder incident were helping the police to unravel the circumstances that led to the killing.

    He identified the suspects as Abubakar Ibrahim, Yasir Suleiman, Usman Abdullahi, Ukasha Ahmadu, Pappa Usman and Abdulrahman Mohammed.

    The statement reads: “The killing of one person behind Emir’s palace close to Ali Jiji’s House on 15/08/2014 was traced to be an act of hooliganism between two rival state corps marshals.

    “Those who participated in the unwholesome act leading to loss of life of one Usman Adamu, a marshal now late, have been apprehended.”

    It added: “The rivalry witnessed among the hooligans who were hitherto branded as Kalare now gainfully employed by the state government as marshals are now seemingly engaged in acts of hooliganism between themselves on minor issues ranging from anti-social conflicts.”

    The command promised to continue in the provision of security and public safety of the people of Gombe State.

    Barely two weeks ago, a violent clash between two rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Kalare thugs resulted in serious injuries to six youths during a Sallah Durbar organised in honour of the Governor by the Emir of Akko.

    The development is causing serious concerns among residents ahead of the 2015 general elections.

     

  • Suspected thugs kill paramilitary men in Gombe

    Suspected thugs kill paramilitary men in Gombe

    Suspected thugs have killed two members of the Gombe State Corps Marshal, the Chief of Staff, Gombe State Government House, Alhaji Ahmed Yayari, has said.

    He spoke yesterday at the inauguration of the 11 committees of the Gombe Unity and Development Forum, at the palace of the Emir of Gombe.

    Yayari said the killing occurred three days ago behind the emir’s palace in the Gombe metropolis and described it as dastardly.

    “Three days ago, behind the emir’s palace, near Alhaji Ali Jijji’s house, two paramilitary men were killed by suspected thugs. This is bad,” he added.

    The chief of staff urged youths to desist from devilish acts.

    An eyewitness said the victims had their throats slit about 10pm on Sunday.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth leader, Alhaji Bappah Jauro, said youths sometime vandalised his house.

    He decried the act and enjoined them to appreciate the good programmes government had done in Gombe by their good conduct.

     

  • Gombe Utd will pay for our defeat – SALOMON

    Gombe Utd will pay for our defeat – SALOMON

    Bayelsa United captain Salomon Junior left the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt with a sad face but vowed that Gombe United will be at the receiving end of their anger in Benin when they meet on Match Day 22. Bayelsa United were beaten 2-0 by Sharks in one of the Week 21 games of the Glo Premier League decided on Wednesday.

    The defeat in Port Harcourt was United’s first in the league under new Technical Adviser, Solomon Ogbeide. Goals scored in each half by Abraham Okereke and Salawu Ibrahim condemned Bayelsa United to their 10th loss in the current campaign and leaves them hovering above the drop zone.

    In an interview with www.lmc-ng.org after the game, the brave centre-back bemoaned his side’s performance stating that it was not what they set out for.

    “I am not happy because it is a match we had hoped to win or at least pick a draw given Sharks’ form but we lost and it is not a good thing for us,” lamented Salomon.

    The Beninoise international, who has been a regular for the team since the start of last season, was, however, quick to dismiss the below par performance while affirming their readiness to get it right in their next game.

    “Some of these things happen in football,” he said of their performance, “We have to forget that quickly and go back home to the drawing board and bring back a good performance in our next home game against Gombe United,” Salomon added.

  • NFF CRISIS: Gombe blames Sports Minister

    NFF CRISIS: Gombe blames Sports Minister

    Former chairman of the Gombe state football association, Shuaibu Ahmed Gara-Gombe has accused Nigeria’s sports minister, Tammy Danagogo of fuelling the crisis currently eating up the leadership of Nigerian football.

    The fiery sport critic and administrator has told SL10 that all the issues currently bedevilling the country’s football, and all the blame should be forwarded to the doorsteps of the minister.

    “I will tell you that the minister deserves the entire blame, as he has been the one behind these issues. He has been the architect of the whole thing but unfortunately, the problems have grown beyond him now and he seems to lack the capacity to manage it,” Gombe said.

    “He has over 30 sports federations under him, how come football takes his whole time? And now it’s obvious that he cannot even manage any of football’s problems in the country. The reasons why he has towed this path are that he is inexperienced and has bad advisers, and he also failed to sit with people who have the experience with the politics of sports management in Nigeria.”

    Gombe has been an open critic of Danagogo, since the inception of the NFF crisis and has never hidden his opinion about the issues. And he believes the minister has made mistakes because he hasn’t taken his time to study the laws governing the game in Nigeria and the world at large.

    “I don’t think he has studied the laws governing the NFF and FIFA statutes and for me, that is where his mistakes started from,” he said.

    Meanwhile, senior special assistant to the minister on media, Patrick Omorodion has replied the accusations, saying Gombe has got nothing meaningful to say.

    “I don’t even like joining issues with him (Gombe); he obviously has nothing to say. He has been talking and claims to be a saint, but he should come and tell us what happened to him in Kano and why he was sacked.

    “He keeps talking and talking but why was he sacked from the Kano State government, if he is a saint like he claims,” Omorodion told Hot FM.

  • Gombe to employ 2,000 teachers, civil servants

    GOMBE State government will soon employ 2,000 qualified graduate teachers in public schools, according to Head of Service Alhaji Aliyu Kamara.

    He said the government had already employed 2,000 relevant first Degree holders, but still need to employ the same number.

    Kamara said arrangements were underway for massive employment of youths and others into the civil service.

    Kamara pledged the administration’s commitment to building workers’ capacity while collaborating with the Centre for Human Development for staff training.

     He said the days of dearth of tools and relevant office equipment would soon be over as government spends more funds to enable civil servants work without tears.

     “We are committed to all these things. We are working vigorously and we will work to ensure that we achieve all these things, because we are concerned about the wellbeing of the citizenry.

     “We will leave no stone unturned in the drive to ensure that Gombe State excel and become one of the most vibrant states in this country by the year 2020,” said the Head of Service.

  • Gombe in danger after three polio-free years

    Gombe in danger after three polio-free years

    After almost three years of being polio-free, Gombe State seems to be at risk of the disease and other contagious childhood killer-ailments.

    This followed the discovery of measles among refugees, who trooped in from Borno State into Gombe.

    Chairman of the National Association of Community Health Practitioners, Mohammed Kabir Babangida dropped the hint at the Internally Displaced Persons camp.

    He said they have immunised 110 in a camp that is believed to hold more than 250 children, adding that they were frustrated by non-compliance to the immunisation programme by the IDPs.

    “We gave them health talks to sensitise them on personal hygiene, environmental hygiene and other clinical issues before embarking on immunisation because we realise they avoid immunisation,” he said.

    The UNICEF D Field in Bauchi, which also controls Gombe State, has donated relief materials worth millions of naira to the IDP camp.

    Ajiya Thomas, who brought the items, said they include learning materials for school children, blankets, vaccines, food items and other household items.

    Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency Dr. Danlami Arabs Rukujei said they have been working with NEMA in the provision of food and other items to the refugees.

    Not less than 500 adult IDPs were said to have been registered last week, with more coming in.

  • FRSC promotes eight in Gombe

    FRSC promotes eight in Gombe

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has promoted eight Assistant Route Commanders to Deputy Route Commanders in the Gombe State Sector Command.

    Sector Commander Galadima Kuteb, who decorated them yesterday, said the promotion was in recognition of their hard work.

    The commander urged other officers to be patient and work hard.

    Responding for the others, Deputy Route Commander Rimaskwe Gideon Kitan  said “promotion is about hard work, commitment and dedication,” and sought the cooperation of everyone towards the goal of saving lives.

    State Sector Commander Kuteb hailed the conduct of road users during the Sallah celebration.

    “It was crash-free, we have never had it so good, Accidents rates have reduced”.