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Tag: Nigeria News

  • Enugu Airport runway rehabilitation yet to begin, says FAAN

    The rehabilitation of the runway at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, is yet to begin one month after the airport was closed by the Federal Government.

    The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, confirmed the development on Thursday in Lagos.

    FAAN had on August 24 announced the closure of the airport, which is the only international airport in the Southeast region, for the reconstruction of the runway.

    Yakubu said that the airport was closed due to safety concerns regarding its operations.

    Read Also: Unauthorized activities: FAAN seals off business outlets at Lagos Airport

    “Work is yet to begin on the runway, but it will soon, once the processes are concluded,” she said.

    Following the closure of the airport, international flights run by Ethiopian Airlines have been diverted to Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers.

    Similarly, domestic flights were diverted to Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, Port Harcourt Airport and the Asaba Airport in Delta.

    The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had in a meeting with Southeast governors assured that the Enugu airport would be reconstructed to meet the standard of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.

    Sirika also disclosed that the runway repairs and other renovation works would be completed by December.

  • U.S. to partner Wells Hosa farms on food security

    The United States  is to partner Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms on food security to increase food production in the country, using Greenhouse technology.

    Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms is owned by Cpt. Hosa Okunbo.

    U.S. Consular-General in Nigeria Claire Pierangelo, who spoke yesterday when she led a delegation to visit Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farms in Benin, Edo State capital described the place as unique, special and revolutionary.

    Pierangelo said Managing Director Bright Okunbo would be participating in next month’s Trade Development Agency in the U.S.

    She said it was possible to increase food production, using technology and education in Nigeria.

    Read Also: NNPC, MOMAN to partner on energy security

    “We are happy to come to Wells Hosa Greenhouse Farm today to see state of the art greenhouse operation. This is something unique, special and revolutionary in Nigeria. Next month, Wells Hosa will be participating in the US Trade Development Agency. He will visit four states in the U.S. to see the way we do business, to develop new partnership and offer new products.

    “We are excited about his vision, not just his company here, but his company across the country. It is possible to increase food production in Nigeria using technology and education by spreading it across the country to feed your industries.

    “This is a pure Nigerian investment and we are interested in it. We have the technology, we have the products, and we have the partnerships; we are hoping to work with them and other Nigerian investments.”

    Okunbo said they were the pioneers of greenhouse technology farming in the country. The farm began production in 2018.

    He said his visit to the U.S. would be to see how they could get the right technology and partners to improve on their work.

    Okunbo added: “We want to improve on what we have. To see how we can expand this green house spread all over the country. That is the goal; that is the mission we hope to achieve. This is because food security is very important. We have been able to use technology and agriculture to produce tomatoes and pepper here in Edo State.”

  • 10 bodies exhumed in Benue village

    Benue State police command has confirmed that four suspects have been arrested in connection with 10 bodies found buried in shallow graves in a forested community in the state.

    On Wednesday, police detectives led a suspect to a thick forest in Agbatse village, Ushonho Local Government Area of the state, and exhumed 10 bodies from shallow graves.

    The suspect, a man of about 30 years, told the police that he killed about 30 people mostly okada riders, and buried them secretly.

    Read Also: Police exhume 10 bodies from shallow graves

    The suspect said he was acting on the directives of a juju man who prepared a charm for him and said  if he killed a certain number of people he will have supernatural powers like those of wanted criminal gang leader Terwase Akwaza aka Gana.

    Police spokesperson Kate Anene confirmed the incident and said four suspects  have been arrested in connection with the crime and would be paraded shortly.

  • Ex-agitators seek probe of alleged diversion of N100m

    Former Niger Delta militants from Akwa Ibom State have demanded the investigation of alleged diversion of N100million empowerment funds meant for them.

    They urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the alleged diversion.

    But, the Amnesty Office described the allegation as baseless and “unsubstantiated”.

    Akwa Ibom ex-Agitators Phase II leader, Imoh Okoko, in a statement, called for the immediate restructuring of the amnesty programme.

    He also accused the Amnesty Office of over-valuation of empowerment kits.

    Okoko urged the Federal Government to urgently address the issues or face protests.

    Read Also: Kuku, ex-MEND leaders to join APC

    “I, therefore, urge the Federal Government to consider this as a matter of urgent importance to guarantee continued peace and harmony in Akwa Ibom State.

    “If these demands are not urgently addressed, we will be left with no other option than to embark on mass protests, which will not be palatable for all and sundry.”

    Okoko alleged that former militants from Akwa Ibom and Cross River states were marginalised by the Amnesty Office.

    He alleged that they were not invited to meetings, were excluded from training programmes and had their names removed from the payroll.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that since Prof. Charles Dokubo assumed duties as the National Coordinator/Special Adviser on the Programme, ex-militants of Akwa

    “Ibom State origin have been sidelined, neglected and discriminated against, despite the huge contributions of our state to the country’s oil revenue.”

    Okoko said it was disheartening that former militants from other states were listed for overseas training and empowerment programmes on monthly basis, while those from Akwa Ibom State were shut out.

    Spokesman for Amnesty Office Murphy Ganagana said the allegation of N100million diversion was baseless and “vague”. “There is no substance in the allegation,” he said.

    Ganagana said all former agitators duly enrolled in the Presidential Amnesty Programme were catered for.

    He said those not enrolled should explore a political solution by, for instance, getting their governors to lobby the President to include them in the programme.

    According to him, there are 30,000 ex-agitators on the Amnesty Office’s database, adding that those not enrolled in the programme have no basis to complain about marginalisation.

    He said the office has no power to include anyone not originally enrolled, adding that only the President could make a declaration for the inclusion of additional ex-militants in the programme.

    Besides, Ganagana said the known camp leader in Akwa Ibom is Lanto Marine.

    “If the person who issued the statement is a bonafide beneficiary, ask him to provide the name of his camp and his UN Code. I promise that we’ll take it up if indeed he and his group are omitted,” Ganagana said.

    The Federal High Court in Yenagoa on Thursday summoned Prof. Dokubo over alleged diversion of stipends meant for 75 former militants.

    Justice Awogboro Abimbola also ordered Director of Finance and Accounts in the Presidential Amnesty Office Isaac Ityohuma and Head of Reintegration Aroloye Brown to appear before him on October 4.

    Justice Abimbola adjourned after taking evidence from the ex-militants’ leader, Mr Clinton Oroupade.

    Seventy-five ex-militants under the Benuwolo Camp (second phase of the scheme), who accepted the Presidential Amnesty in 2010, are demanding payment of outstanding N492 million from January 2011 to May 2019.

    Oroupade told the court that his group was documented and allocated 75 slots, but received no stipends afterwards.

    The group urged the court to declare that the alleged fraudulent manipulation of the 75 slots allotted to Benuwolo Camp by officials of the Amnesty Office in connivance with some ex-militants is unlawful.

    Through their lawyer, Richard Turner, the plaintiffs urged the court to order the Amnesty Office to restore the Camp’s 75 slots and halt further diversion of slots.

  • ‘My illness pushed me into stealing babies’

    A kidnap suspect, Oluwatoyin Lasisi on Thursday blamed her involvement in kidnapping and stealing of babies in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on her “life-threatening ailment”.

    Lasisi who was paraded for stealing a three-year-old baby, Nimotallah Sulaiman in Muslim area of Ibadan, said she did not know when she picked the baby from a dumpsite and took her to her house.

    She said the sickness usually threatens her sense of reasoning and pushes her to do unreasonable things.

    Speaking on how she stole the baby, Oluwatoyin said; “I was just going to where I beg for alms in a bakery around Muslim area of Ibadan and I saw the little baby, Nimotallah Sulaiman. I reasoned that it won’t be good of me to allow her be stolen by ritualists and that was why I picked her.

    Read Also: ‘I stole baby because I wanted male child’

    “I didn’t know when I backed her and took her to my house. When I got to my house, a woman in my neighbourhood was challenging me where I got the baby from. I told her that the baby belongs to my brother who had a matrimonial problem. When she started disturbing me, I told her that I would take the baby back to her parents that night. I was heading to police station when some people stopped me and started beating me. That was when they took me to police station,” she recalled.

    The father of the victim, Sulaiman Dauda who described the situation as pathetic, said the baby was stolen at a refuse dump where she went to defecate.

    “The baby told her mother that she wanted to defecate and she took her to site where we dump refuse close to her shop. When she left her in the site, this woman came and stole the baby. That was when we knew there was a problem.”

    The state commissioner of police, Shina Olukolu who had earlier briefed the journalists about the development said; “upon information received from the members of the area, police arrested her and investigated the case.”

    He said when interrogated, she informed the police that she was in the area to beg for alms when she sighted the baby who was later identified as Nimotallah.

  • Expunge Atiku’s experts’ report, APC tells Supreme Court

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has filed a cross-appeal before the Supreme Court, challenging some portions of the September 11, 2019 judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

    The PEPC had, in its judgment upheld the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last election. Buhari contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In the cross-appeal, which is a direct reaction to the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Atiku Abubakar, the APC is praying the Supreme Court, to among others, void the evidence by three expert witnesses called by the petitioners before the PEPC.

    The witnesses are Segun Sowunmi (Atiku’s media aide), David Njorga, a Kenyan (who claimed to be an ICT expert) and Joseph Gbenga (who claimed to be data analysts, but admitted before the PEPC not to posses any certification).

    Read Also: Atiku’s lamentable lamentation (I)

    In the cross-appeal by APC’s legal team, led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the party urged the Supreme Court for an order setting aside the evidence of the three witnesses and the documents including video clips tendered through them from the bar.

    The party also wants the apex court to outrightly expunge their testimonies and documents from the record of the court for being inadmissible in law.

    The APC argued that the tribunal erred in law when it held that the evidence and the documents of the three witnesses were considered in the interest of natural justice.

    It also wants an order of the apex court striking out Atiku’s allegations of electoral malpractices in 10 states of the federation on the grounds that the allegations of electoral fraud were vague and not specific as required by law.

    The party said the decision of the tribunal on the point was untenable on the grounds that the issue of admissibility or otherwise of a document is a point of law and not natural justice as erroneously held by the PEPC.

    It argued that the petitioners did not state the specific polling units where the alleged fraud were committed, hence, they must be expunged for lacking in merit that can warrant the tribunal to look into them.

    Atiku had on September 23 filed a 66 grounds of appeal upon which he predicated his prayers for setting aside the whole decision of the presidential election petition tribunal, which upheld the declaration of Buhari as winner of the February 23 presidential election.

    The PDP candidate specifically faulted the decision of the Justice Mohammed Garba-led panel, which held that Buhari did not need to attach his academic certificates to the INEC’s form CF 001 before he can stand for the presidential election.

  • Internet fraudster jailed six months in Kwara

    An Ilorin, Kwara State High Court on Thursday sentenced internet fraudster Stephen Olarewaju Odanye to six months imprisonment. The 35 years old Odanye had earlier pleaded guilty to the one count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    The charge reads: “That you, Stephen Olarewaju Odanye (a.k.a Raymond Sullivan) sometime in September 2019 or thereabout at Ilorin,  Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court attempted to commit an offence of cheating by pretending and presenting yourself to one Lynn Smith,  to be a white man,  supplier of Engineering and Construction equipment,  living in Washington as it is contained in your email gmail account: raysulivan@yahoo.com and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 95 and 321 of the penal code law and punishable under section 322 of the same act.”

    Read Also: Suspected internet fraudster on FBI’s watch-list paraded

    Delivering his judgement, Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar said that “the defendant was arraigned on one count charge of attempt to commit an offence of cheating by pretending and representing one Lynn Smith, an offence contrary to section 95 of the penal Code Law.

    “The prosecution called one witness, Olamide Sadiq, an operative of EFCC who narrated to this honourable Court of how the defendant was arrested and items recovered from his laptop computer.”

    Justice Abdulgafar added that the prosecution was able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt as the evidence of the sole witness was not challenged.

    “I found you Stephen Olarewaju Odanye guilty of one count charge of attempt to cheat by impersonation and hereby sentence you to six months imprisonment without an option of fine,” he said.

    He directed that the convict’s laptop and mobile phones of the convict be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

  • Police: ASP died in kidnappers’ attack on Abuja Road

    THE police on Thursday, in Lokoja, Kogi State, confirmed the killing of an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and another victim when suspected kidnappers opened fire on  travellers on their way to Abuja.

    The incident happened on Tuesday in the Koton-Karfe  section of the Abuja-Lokoja Road.

    The police command said investigation into the shooting has started and that the perpetrators will be apprehended.

    Suspected kidnappers had on Tuesday evening, opened fire on an Abuja-bound passenger bus, around Koton-Karfe, killing an unspecified number of perssengers. Others escaped with bullet wounds.

    They shot several times into a Sharon bus, said to be coming from Port-Harcourt.

    The occupants of a Toyota Camry going from Ibadan to Abuja, who escaped the scene, sustained various degrees of injury.

    Speaking with our correspondent yesterday in Lokoja, the state’s police image maker, William Aya, said that the commissioner of police has ordered a manhunt for the suspects and rescue of the victims.

    Aya, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said two people, including a senior police officer, died from the shooting.

    “On yesterday’s incident at Gegu Beki, only two people lost their lives while others sustained injuries. The victims are one ASP and one yet-to-be identified person. They died as a result of accident and not gunshot. The vehicles ran into kidnap scene and as a result summersaulted, and that led to the death of the two persons, as against eight as earlier reported.”

    He said that other victims were receiving treatment at the hospital.

    “The Commissioner of Police has ordered for a complete manhunt of the kidnappers and to rescue the victims,” added Aya.

    Read Also: Police exhume 10 bodies from shallow graves

    One of the survivors said that the incidental happened around 5.58 pm.

    He said that he and four others that were in the Toyota Camry, were on their way from Ibadan, and heading for Abuja, when suddenly they cited some masked men in military gears, about two kilometers away.

    He said that the attackers wore military camouflage, with black mask, and were stopping vehicles.

    According to him, some of the occupants of the vehicles they stopped were marched into the bush.

    He said that the driver of the Sharon bus coming from Port-Harcourt, on sighting them, tried to escape, was shot at, deflating the tires.

    According to him: “It was at this point we noticed that they may be kidnappers. Our driver then engaged reverse gear and they started firing at our car.

    “The driver was hit on the shoulder with the bullet coming out at the other side, and it hit the man at the back seat on the head.”

    He said that they drove to the Gegu police station, from where arrangement was made for their evacuation to the Koton-Karfe General Hospital, from where they were taken to the Federal Medical Center Lokoja.

    He said the driver was referred to the National Hospital Abuja, while another occupant who sustained bullet wounds to the head was referred to the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, to remove bullets lodged in his head.

    According to the Police Extract diary obtained by our correspondent, the incident was reported on Wednesday by one of the victims.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Busari while confirming the incident, said that he got a report that a car stopped by kidnappers dressed in camouflage was shot at, which made it to summersault, killing all the occupants, including an ASP, from Edo State.

    Efforts made to report on the progress of the two survivors that were taken to the Federal Medical Centre Lokoja, for treatment, was to no avail, as the hospital’s spokeswoman, Blessing Ajayi, who sought to receive clearance from the management before knowing what to do, did not give a go ahead to speak with the victims, as at the time of filing this report.

  • Buhari, world leaders mourn ex-President Jacques Chirac

    President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders and political chieftains in France in paying tributes to former French President, Jacques Chirac, who died on Thursday at 86.

    The torrent of tributes came from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, European Commission President and former Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and British prime ministers (past and present), with John Major and Boris Johnson hailing Chirac’s political prowess.

    The late Chirac was a two-term French president, who was the first leader to acknowledge France’s role in the Holocaust and who defiantly opposed the United States’ (U.S.) invasion of Iraq in 2003.

    His death was announced to lawmakers sitting in France’s National Assembly and members held a minute of silence.

    In a rare homage, President Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, addressed the country yesterday evening in Chirac’s honour. The light in the Eiffel Tower in Paris was also put off.

    Read Also: Buhari mourns Robert Mugabe

    Buhari, who sent condolences to Macron, and citizens of France, “commiserated with family and political associates of the former French leader, who served his country as a military officer, mayor, parliamentarian, and President, leaving behind a unique blend of leadership that promotes unity, cares for ordinary people and creates possibilities for all to prosper”.

    The President, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, believed the ability of the departed leader to make friends easily contributed to the harmonious relationship Nigeria and France enjoyed during his two tenures, 1995-2007.

    He prayed that the soul of the courageous leader will find eternal rest and the legacies of global peace that he pursued will be remembered and upheld.

    Merkel said Chirac had been a “stellar partner and friend” to Germany.

    Putin, in a letter to Chirac’s widow, Bernadette, paid tribute to his “great personal contribution” to friendship between the two countries.

    At home, political leaders were united in paying homage,  with many recalling his historic acknowledgement of the French state’s role in the wartime round-up and deportation of Jewish people to Nazi death camps.

    The National Assembly and Senate in Paris interrupted their debates to stand in silence in memory of the conservative statesman who led France from 1995 to 2007.

    The late Chirac, who was admired by many abroad for his staunch opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, “is now part of France’s history,” National Assembly President Richard Ferrand said.

    Former Socialist President Francois Hollande said his predecessor was a fighter, a humanist, a man of culture and a European.

    “For 12 years, he presided over France with the intention of making it respected throughout the world,” Hollande wrote in a statement.

    “I think he was one of the last giants of French political life,” the conservative president of the Upper France region, Xavier Bertrand, who served under him as a minister, said.

    The late French leader had “defended, with panache, the very particular place of France during the great international disorder that followed the end of the Cold War,” his conservative successor as president, Nicolas Sarkozy, wrote on Twitter.

    “He loved France more than others after him. And for that, we are grateful to him,” radical left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted.

    “Even though he was a political adversary of the National Front for decades, we will remember his refusal to take part in the second Iraq war in 2003, which was one of the last acts of sovereignty by a French head of state,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen said.

    Under Chirac’s presidency, France entered into the single European currency and abolished compulsory military service.

  • No crack in the Presidency, say APC, governors

    All Progressives Congress (APC) governors on Thursday denied that there was rift in the Presidency.

    The governors described allegations of division as a mere rumour concocted by mischief makers.

    According to them, there is a cordial relationship between President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

    The ruling party, APC, chided the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for fuelling “fallacy” to distract the President and his deputy.

    But the PDP, which maintained that there is division between President Buhari and Prof. Osinbajo, dared the Vice President to waive his constitutional immunity to face the claims against him.

    The ruling party and its governors spoke on separate occasions in Abuja.

    Addressing reporters during the inauguration of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) Steering Committee on Media and Communication, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is the chairman of the committee, described the alleged face-off in the Presidency as a “gossip”.

    Read Also: I’ll waive my constitutional immunity to clear my name – Osinbajo

    Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, explained that the Buhari administration had carried on with its normal duties in the last few days, despite the alleged bad-blood.

    He said: “There is no crack. It is in the realm of gossips. By the time they said that, the Vice President went to Zimbabwe to represent this country. It was the prerogative of the President but he nominated him.

    ”Like I said earlier, it is in the realm of gossips because only on Wednesday, the vice president presided over the Federal Executive Council  (FEC) meeting, which is the highest decision making body in the country. So, we don’t listen to rumours. We deal with facts and the fact is that they are working together. So, it is all rumour  and don’t take it that serious.”

    Shedding light on the purpose of the steering Committee, co-chaired by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Sanwo-Olu said it was inaugurated to support the Progressive sovernors to achieve the vision of rolling out progressive public/media engagement initiatives in APC states.

    He said the move underscored the party’s commitment to citizens’ participation as a necessary condition for the expansion of the democratic space.

    Sanwo-Olu recalled that, between 2015 and 2019, the committee adopted a number of initiatives, which included the PGF Monthly Progressive Strides, online sectoral campaigns and Town Hall Meetings.

    “The forum recognises the fact that the successes and impact of these activities especially in relations to stimulating the envisioned public engagements in our states is constrained by factors.

    “These may have to do with capacity gaps of state officials and associated issues of conservative mindsets. We, however, should be able to strengthen our capacity to rollout more progressive public/media engagement initiatives between the 2019 and 2023.”

    Sanwo-Olu said the committee has a mandate to strengthen the capacity of APC controlled states to implement approved initiatives.

    Describing the allegation of a face-off in the Presidency as a fallacy, APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said: ”We have important issues of governance than to continue to respond to fallacies. How do you determine a crack?

    “The vice president had been sent out to represent the president at an international event. After PDP saw a crack, the vice president presided over the FEC meeting on Wednesday. Is that part of the PDP’s crack? Let us stop this joke. We know we have challenges in this country. Let us face these challenges”.

    Issa-Onilu also alleged that the PDP has been erecting campaign billboards and printing of campaign posters, purportedly in preparation for the 2023 elections.

    He said APC is preoccupied with solving the challenges facing the country and working to fulfill her campaign promises to Nigerians. He said the party does not have any room for election thoughts at the moment, adding that those who wanted to distract the party from its task of providing leadership will use anything to do so.

    Issa-Onilu added: ”As a party, we want to state clearly that, having won elections convincingly and having been given the mandate to run government for the next four years, our major and only focus now is governance. We are not engaging in any other activity on 2023 elections and wherever you see such (posters), you can be sure it is from mischief makers and, of course, we know it is part of the strategy of the PDP to continue to take actions to cause distractions for the governing party from focusing on anything that is important to the people of Nigeria which is to deal with the challenges that we are all faced with; the challenges of governance, security, economy and corruption as well as other associated issues. That is what we are focused on.

    ”So, as a party, we understand the social contract we have signed with the people of Nigeria with the renewal of our mandate. Whatever poster you might have seen about any of our leaders anywhere in this country is irrelevant to us. We do not have a hand in it and it is not from those leaders. It is strictly part of the strategy of a party that is supposed to provide alternative to our governance model and since they do not have such, the only thing they can do is to continue to throw spanners into the works”, he said

    Urging Prof. Osinbajo to fulfill his threats to set aside his immunity, PDP also challenged him to immediately resign from office to enable him face corruption allegations leveled against him by his traducers.

    PDP National Publicity Secretary  Kola Ologbondiyan said immunity under Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is conferred on an official by virtue of his/her election into an office within a duration and cannot be waived by any means other than resignation.

    He said: “It is instructive to state that Section 308 confers immunity to the holder of the office during his period in office. There is no provision for waiver while the holder is still in office.

    “Vice President Osinbajo should know that it is settled that section 308 can only be set aside by vacating the office. It is not a jacket to be put on or dropped at will.

    “Significantly, our party invites the vice president to note that his pronouncement has set off a process, which is expected to terminate in his resignation”.