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  • Kogi Gov poll: My victory assured, Bello boasts

    The governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello is confident of emerging winner of the forthcoming governorship election in the state saying what people should be bothered about is the margins of victory between him and his opponents.

    Bello who spoke with newsmen at the Kebbi governors lodge in the Asokoro area of Abuja shortly after the Progressive Governors Forum on Sunday night dismissed the threat by Senator Dino Melaye to unseat him as a nine-issue.

    He said that to challenge him for the governorship seat, the Senator representing Kogi west must be prepared to pass the eye of the needle while assuring that the election in the state will be peaceful

    He said: “In Kogi state, we know the election is coming up and of course, a lot of people will come out for the challenge. But the reality is that we are on ground. From within the party to the General election, we are not just talking of victory, we ‘re talking of the margin of the victory of APC over any other party that will come next because of what we have been able to do in the stage delivering on all our promises.

    “You are going to see election like never before. Kogi election is going to be as smooth as anything and we are very confident of victory.”

    On whether he was confident of getting the party ticket considering the quality of opposition emerging from within the APC in the state, he said “where will the ticket go outside myself?

    Read Also; Buhari okays Onnoghen’s voluntary retirement

    On Senator Dino Melaye’s threat to unseat him, he said “anytime you talk, we should talk of somebody that is good. Apart from that person, you are talking of, let him justify the mandate given to him by showing his people what he has done. For him to come and challenge me means that he is ready to pass through the eye if the needle.”

    He expressed confidence in the ability of the President to deliver on his campaign promises saying “he thank Nigerians for giving Mr. President the mandate for the second time to reposition the country. What he has done in the last four years and what he is going to do in the next four years requires the support of every Nigerian and we are very confident that Mr. President is going to take us to the next level.”

  • JAMB, stakeholders fix cut-off mark for 2019/2020 admission Tuesday

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will meet with stakeholders on Tuesday to decide the cut-off mark for the 2019/2020 admission.

    The 2019 Policy Meeting with stakeholder will hold on Tuesday, June 11 at Gbongan, Osun State.

    JAMB’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Benjamin said the official cut-off marks for the 2019/2020 admission would be made public at the end of the policy meeting.

    He advised candidates to disregard any cut-off mark being peddled by fraudsters, describing it as “fake.”

    He said: “The clarification became necessary following speculations that the board had fixed the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) cut-off marks.

    Read Also: 2019 UTME: No cut-off marks yet, says JAMB

    “It is pertinent to note that the heads of institutions and other stakeholders will do so at a policy meeting which is chaired by the Honourable Minister of Education. The board has scheduled the 2019 Policy Meeting for June 11 at Gbongan, Osun State.”

    The board added that candidates should not also believe some rumour that a candidate could have two different results released by the server.

    Benjamin also advised candidates to print their admission letter as they may not have been deemed to have been admitted.

    Meanwhile, the board said it has successfully secured conviction for fifteen persons who were involved in double registration, examination malpractice and other infractions during the conduct of the UTME.

    The board said some of the convictions were secured in Zamfara, Kebbi and other states.

  • 9th NASS: APC NWC adopts Omo-Agege as Deputy Senate President

    The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has finally broken its silence on the position of Deputy Senate President and formally endorsed the Senator representing Delta central, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege for the position.

    The party also formally endorsed Hon. Mohammed Idris Wase for the position of Deputy Speaker and asked all members to mobilise and support the two as choice of the party.

    National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu said in a statement that the decision was taken after two day emergency meetings held between Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2019.

    The governors of the party also formally endorsed Senator Ahmad Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila for the position of Senate President and Speaker at their meeting on Sunday night.

    The party formally adopts Senator Ovie Omo-Agege for the positions of Deputy Senate President and Hon. Muhammed Idris Wase as Deputy Speaker. This is sequel to wide consultations with President Muhammadu Buhari, party stakeholders, including APC governors.

    Read Also: Obaseki finally opens up on reported quarrel with Oshiomhole

    The statement said “You would recall that the party had earlier announced the duo of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as the party’s candidates for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of House Representatives respectively.

    ” All elected APC members of the Senate and House of Representatives are hereby directed to fully mobilise as a united force behind the party’s choice.

    “Members who have earlier signified interests in these positions are urged to support the party’s decisions as loyal and committed members of APC by working with other members to ensure the emergence of the adopted candidates.’

    Onilu said details of other positions in the two chambers will be made public in due course.

  • Moghalu blames elite, politicians for North’s under-developing

    PRESIDENTIAL candidate of Young Progressive Party (YPP) in the 2019 presidential election, Mr. Kingsley Moghalu, has accused northern elite and politicians  of encouraging poverty among the masses for their selfish and political agrandisement.

    According to Moghalu, the selfishness of the northern political class remains the major cause of poverty and under-development in the region.

    Speaking as the guest speaker during the Ra’ayi Initiative for Human Development (RIHD) annual lecture at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Conference Hall, Moghalu wondered why the North could hold power at the centre for 42 years and still remains “the headquarters of poverty in Nigeria”.

    The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  spoke on the topic: “Northern Nigeria’s prosperity in the 21st century: The imperative of social and economic transformation”.

    He said  solutions for repositioning the North were based on resetting of the people’s mindset and worldview, insisting that “the problem with the North is the North versus itself”.

    Moghalu, however, urged northerners to make human development their priorities, adding that there was a nagging need to fight youth unemployment, drug abuse and upgrade the status of women in the region.

    He noted that the Almajiri system of education should be supported with Western education.

    He noted that there was a need to increase the enrolment of women in schools “because if you educate a woman, you have educated a village”.

    Read Also; Saraki donates severance allowance to Leah Sharibu’s family, others

    He noted that re-structuring Nigeria along regional lines would favour the North, adding that re-structuring would encourage economic growth of the regions which will, in turn, build a more stronger and stable Nigeria.

    According to him, Nigeria cannot develop on “feeding bottle federalism”, noting that what Nigeria needs at this point in time remains true federalism that will encourage fiscal independence of the regions.

    He called on northern elite to put heads together in revitalising Kano’s industrial prowess, as well as making a huge investment in mechanised and value-chain agriculture.

    Moghalu urged traditional rulers and religious leaders in the North to play major roles in re-setting the worldview of northerners to tally with development agenda of the 21st century.

    Also speaking, the chairman of the occasion and former Kano State Commissioner of Finance, Prof. Kabiru Isa Dandago, said: “We are here for agenda-setting. The known fact is that in northern Nigeria, all we do is to criticise ourselves, finding faults among our leaders. We waste energy in discussing problems of the North without finding solutions to the problems.”

  • Saraki donates severance allowance to Leah Sharibu’s family, others

    FORMER President Senate Bukola Saraki has directed that the National Assembly Management should distribute his severance allowance to families of three victims of the insurgency in the Northeast zone and children of late senators in need of financial assistance.

    In a statement signed by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki stated that the severance allowance should be used to support the families of Leah Sharibu, who is being held by Boko Haram after she and other girls were abducted from Dapchi town in Yobe State, and two humanitarian workers abducted and subsequently murdered by the insurgents, Hussaini Ahmed Khoisan and Hauwa Liman.

    Also to benefit from the money are children of late members of the Eight Senate who may require financial assistance in furtherance of their education as a Trust Fund is to be established by the management of the National Assembly for the purpose.

    Read Also; Leah Sharibu’s ordeal

    He stated that his decision to use the severance package to support the selected victims of the insurgency was based on the fact that their cases represented some of the most touching humanitarian issues debated at the plenary during the four-years of the Eighth Senate and on which his colleagues and himself made emotional and passionate speeches.

    According to him, “20 percent of the severance allowance is to be donated to the family of Leah Sharibu, 20 percent is also to be paid to the family of Hauwa Liman and another 20 percent is to be donated to the family of the second aid worker, Hussaini Ahmed Khoisan.”

  • Just in: Bandits kill 18 in Sokoto

    Gunmen, suspected to be bandits, on Saturday night killed no fewer than 18 persons across villages in Rabah local government area, eastern axis of Sokoto.

    The incident, which also left four others with various degrees of major injuries,  is one of the most recent dastardly attacks in the state.

    Chairman, Zakkat and Endowment Commission and member, state committee on Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs), Malam Lawal Maidoki, disclosed these to reporters on Sunday.

    It was learnt the council chairman and a team of joint security operatives have been to Rakumni, Tsage and Kalgo for rescue operation.
    They are also said to be assembling the corpses for burial.
    Attempts to get the Sokoto Police Command spokesperson, DSP Sadik Abubakar to confirm the occurrence of the incident failed.

    Similar deadly attacks were carried out across 8 villages in Rabah local government last year with several people killed and displaced.

     

     

  • Music producer threatens to sue EFCC for parading him as ‘Yahoo Boy’

    An Abuja-based music producer and photographer, Mr Nasiru Ali, popularly known as “Kozzographa”, on Sunday threatened to sue the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for wrongly calling him a fraudster (Yahoo boy).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ali was among 10 suspected internet fraudsters paraded on May 17 by the EFCC operatives.

    The EFCC personnel raided suspects residence at Favour Land Estate, Life Camp, Abuja.

    According to the EFCC, they were arrested following a tip-off by an anonymous source.

    The agency said that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.

    But Ali in a petition to the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, on May 31 demanded a compensation of N100 million and an unreserved apology for arresting him wrongly and giving libellous information to the public about him.

    The musician, through his lawyer, Mr Pelumi Olajengbensi, said that he would drag the EFCC to court for refusing to retract the negative publications about him after a seven-day ultimatum.

    Read Also: 5 lessons from Naira Marley’s trial

    “He lost a contract of five million naira with United Global Resolve for Peace (UNGREP), which he had been interviewed for and hitherto offered unequivocally because the contractors became disturbed and concerned by the publication thus doubtful of his reputation.

    “He has been ostracised by his colleagues and associates as well as senior associates who usually refer to him for jobs in the past, thereby losing their trust and reference.

    “He has been bombarded with a barrage of calls from friends and family members calling his reputation to question while expressing their disappointment and indicating their intention to cut all connection with him forthwith.

    “His relationship with his intended life partner has been irreparably strained by the negative publicity generated by the unlawful arrest, particularly the publication on your media platform on same matter.

    “The publication has led to close clients taking their jobs off him and taking them to other persons thereby amounting to great level of loss and in some cases varying level of indebtedness,” Ali’s lawyer stated in the petition to EFCC.

    Ali also claimed in the petition that his health and psychology had been affected following the Gestapo way he was arrested and assaulted by the commission operatives .

    He said that the men that raided his home were dressed in black with no means of identifying them as officers of the EFCC.

    The petitioner had given the EFCC seven days to meet his conditions or face legal action.

  • Kidnappers send ransom letters to Edo burrow pit owners

    Burrow pit owners in Avbiama community and environs in Ikpoba-Okha local government area are working in fear following demand of monthly payment of ransom by kidnappers.

    Four burrow pit owners, including a relation of former Edo Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu, operating in Avbiama have been kidnapped within the last three months.

    They were released after huge ransoms were paid.

    National President of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigerian (RTEAN), Comrade Osakpamwan Eriyo, who owns a burrow pit in the area, is said to be a target of the kidnappers.

    A burrow pit owner said he has asked to be paying some money monthly to avoid being kidnapped.

    Besides the burrow pit owners, clergy men, workers of NSIK Engineering, the firm carrying out the construction of St Saviour road, a native doctor and many others have been abducted.

    The abduction of construction workers has stalled work on the road project.

    It was gathered that the kidnappers usually stormed the burrow pits and Avbiama community through the Ikpoba River and also take their victims through the river to their hideout.

    A top staff of NSIK Engineering who confirmed the abduction, said their workers have been released but refused to disclose how much was paid as ransom.

    Sources said the chairman of Tipper drivers was chased to his residence and narrowly escaped being abducted.

    The source said he has increased private security guard at his residence.

    In the same vein, Bénin Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, has condemned attempted kidnap of its former Chairman, Barr. Solomon Odiase.

    Read Also: Education reforms: Public Schools in Edo wear exciting new look

    A statement by its spokesman, Barr. Douglas Ogbankwa, said Odiase managed to escape from his abductors but the kidnappers made away with his Toyota Camry Saloon Car Market Edo USL 330 EL.

    The statement said continuous target of Lawyers by armed robbers and kidnappers validates the present position of the Benin Bar of boycotting Kidnapping and Armed Robbery cases in Court and Police formations.

    It called for a rejig of the Security architecture of Edo State to provide a safe security corridor for inhabitants of the State.

    When contacted for comments, spokesman for the Edo Police Command, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, promised to speak on the matter on Monday after getting official report.

  • UTME best, Ekene, receives Ghanaian scholarship

    Overall best candidate in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) Ekene Franklin Ezeunala, formally received his $40,000 Presidential Scholarship award from representatives of the Academic City College Ghana at the weekend in Lagos.

    The presentation was witnessed by his mother, Mrs. Chinelo Ezeunala; a team from his school (Meiran Community Senior High School) led by the Vice Principal, Mrs Toyin Ogunleye and Prof Adewale Solarin, who runs the Non- Profit Organisation, International Academy for the Gifted, that recommended him for the scholarship.

    Speaking during the presentation at the university’s Lagos office in Isolo, Senior Admissions Manager (Nigeria), Mrs. Ogechi Ekpe, said Ekene was not given the scholarship just because he scored 347 in the UTME – the highest in the country – but because he had been recommended by Prof Solarin who runs programmes and competition’s that identify and rank gifted children in Africa.

    “We have here today Ekene who scored the highest score in the UTME from Meiran Community Senior High School and we also have the key person from the International Academy for the Gifted who followed through and made sure that he got this particular scholarship.

    “I want you to understand that this is a very rare privilege. You stood out among the best in Nigeria and Academic City, with a lot of counsel and a lot of selection has seemed it fit to offer you what we call a Presidential Scholarship,” she said.

    Solarin, a Professor of Algebra at the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja, said Ekene was recommended for the scholarship because he had been ranked as gifted having participated in international competitions like the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) and Kangourou Sans Frontieres (KSF) Mathematics Competitions with children in about 120 countries.

    “I have slides here to show what students of his ranking achieve. When a student participates in this competition, we are able to compare him with students from 120 countries of the world.

    “We have an agreement with Academic City to recommend the best three from the Academy for scholarship.

    “We checked our records and we have been looking at him. He is here not just because of JAMB but his track record. Over the years he has established himself,” Solarin said.

    Senior Admissions Officer, Ms Sandra Plangtok, said the $40,000 would cover Ekene’s tuition, feeding and transportation as well as $30 monthly stipends when the school is in session.

    Read Also: JAMB, stakeholders fix cut-off mark for 2019/2020 admission Tuesday

    Plangtok added that Ekene would benefit from the institution’s small class size, well equipped facilities, practice of yearly internship, action-based learning that allows students to practice what they learn and entrepreneurship training.

    Responding to the Scholarship, Ekene’s mother thanked Academic City for the award and Prof Solarin.

    “I am so overwhelmed with joy. My thanks go to Prof. Thanks for this wonderful recommendation.

    “To Academic City, you have been wonderful. To the teachers, thanks for pushing him,” she said.

    Mrs. Ezeunala, a Chemistry teacher at Bigtree College, Berger Lagos, however expressed disappointment about the lack of recognition of her son’s feat from her home State Government, Imo State and the fake news making rounds that she had received huge sums from government and various groups.

    “I am using this medium to let Nigerians know that there is need to encourage young brains.

    “The Governor of our state has not called. If this achievement was in the entertainment industry I know what would have happened by now.

    “All we see on the internet are fake news. They said the government had come to see us and we were relocated to Ajah, which is not true.

    “A group, Hijab Society presented him an envelope and when I checked it was N2, 000 that was in it year they posted online that they gave him a cash prize.

    “People have been calling me thinking I received a lot of money, which is not true,” she said.

    Mrs. Ogunleye also thanked the school for the scholarship. She described Ekene as a good boy.

    “Franklin has been a good boy. He is quiet; he is going to represent us well.

    “He is child that will go far in this world,” she said of the 15-year old who is the Head Boy of his secondary school.

  • Breaking: JAMB, stakeholders fix cut-off mark for 2019/2020 admission Tuesday

    The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board will meet with stakeholders on Tuesday to decide the cut-off mark for the 2019/2020 admission.

    The 2019 Policy Meeting with stakeholder will hold on Tuesday, June 11 at Gbongan, Osun State.

    JAMB’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Benjamin said the official cut-off marks for the 2019/2020 admission would be made public at the end of the policy meeting.

    He advised candidates to disregard any cut-off mark being peddled by fraudsters, describing it as “fake.”

    He said: “The clarification became necessary following speculations that the board had fixed the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) cut-off marks.

    Read Also: 2019 UTME: No cut-off marks yet, says JAMB

    “It is pertinent to note that the heads of institutions and other stakeholders will do so at a policy meeting which is chaired by the Honourable Minister of Education. The board has scheduled the 2019 Policy Meeting for June 11 at Gbongan, Osun State.”

    The board added that candidates should not also believe some rumour that a candidate could have two different results released by the server.

    Benjamin also advised candidates to print their admission letter as they may not have been deemed to have been admitted.

    Meanwhile, the board said it has successfully secured conviction for fifteen persons who were involved in double registration, examination malpractice and other infractions during the conduct of the UTME.

    The board said some of the convictions were secured in Zamfara, Kebbi and other states.