There was panic and gunshots in Bayelsa House of Assembly on Monday as speaker leaves with mace.
It was gathered that while the House was sitting, Speaker Emmanuel Isenah adjourned the plenary indefinitely in a tactical manoeuvre to foil his removal.
But thugs were said to have immediately stormed the House, shooting sporadically and made away with the mace.
Details shortly…
Gunmen have abducted a Professor of Soil Science in Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH), Yola, Adamu Zata and killed his brother, Dr Sheda Zata.
The kidnappers killed the professor’s younger brother, a veterinary doctor, possibly in panic, according to a family source, Mr Padio Phin.
He said the twin incidents occurred in the early hours of Monday at the professor’s residence in Girei, near Yola
The source told our correspondent that Dr Sheda, who decided to spend the night with the professor after having come from his rural posting to collect his salary in the state capital, was coming out of his room on hearing the commotion of the gunmen in the house when they shot him.
“You know, these people are on edge when they operate. They shot Dr Sheda when they heard his door open and sighted him come out of his room,” Phin said.
This is the second time in a year that the MAUTECH professor would be kidnapped.
Last October, he was abducted from the same residence and released after his family reportedly paid a ransom of N2 million.
A neighbour said more than 10 armed men broke into the house of the professor around 2:00am and took him, killing his 49-year-old younger brother in the process.
The Adamawa State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Suleiman Nguroje, confirmed the incident.
He said the Commissioner of Police had deployed operatives to apprehend the kidnappers.
Angry Mob Monday morning burnt to death three suspected kidnappers at Dutse Alhaji area in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The suspects were three young men and a female victim, who has been rushed to Kubwa General Hospital for treatment.
At the scene of the incident, a Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) officer, Mr Aminu Umar, told NAN that the incident happened at about 8:00a.m. when a lady inside moving vehicle was heard screaming for help.
“The lady was suddenly pushed out of the vehicle while screaming. A motorist, who saw what had happened, pulled over in front of the vehicle and blocked it under the Dutse Bridge.
“From there, Okada riders (motorcyclists) surrounded the vehicle and told them to come out.
“They asked them if the vehicle was one chance (kidnappers) and the next thing, they started beating them and eventually put fire on them and the vehicle,” he said.
Mr Sylvanus Ekpenyong, Route Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said that his men were alerted of the event by some people while on duty at Dutse.
“We were at Dutse junction and we got information that there was traffic building up before the Dutse Bridge because a vehicle was on fire.
“We rushed down there to clear the road only to see three dead burnt bodies and a burnt vehicle.
“When we made inquiries from eye witnesses, they said it was one chance (kidnappers).
“So we are here to ensure free traffic flow of vehicles but we don’t know the exact group of people who burnt them,” he said.
An eye witness who is also a motorcyclist, Mr Aliyu Mohammed said that angry motorcyclists attacked and burnt the suspects because it was obvious they were kidnappers as described by the victim.
Mohammed said that it was the normal tactics of kidnappers operating in Abuja to push victims out of their moving vehicle after carrying out their illegal act.
He, however, said that the incident of today would serve as a warning to all those involved in such activities within the territory.
NAN also reports that security agents were on ground to ensure the bodies of the suspects were evacuated to a nearby mortuary as they ensured peace and free flow of vehicles in the area.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit challenging the composition of the Federal Government and appointments made in military and paramilitary agencies of the Federal Government.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment on Monday, held that the plaintiff lacked the locus standi (the legal right to approach the court) to file the suit.
Justice Ekwo held that not only was the subject of the suit outside the objectives for which the plaintiff – Incorporated of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International (KHRFI) – was registered, the group, on whose behalf it claimed to have filed the suit – Igbo Youths Democrats – was not a registered body with the power to sue and be suit.
The plaintiff had, in the suit, filed in 2017 and marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/81/2017, argued among others that the exclusion of Nigerians of Igbo extraction from the appointments made in most of the agencies of the Federal Government, particularly the military and paramilitary agencies was discriminatory against the Igbo of Nigeria and a breach of the Federal Character principle contained in the Constitution.
Details shortly…
A car on Monday caught fire on the outer Northern Expressway by Phase three junction at Kubwa in Abuja.
NAN
Convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, has arrived the Federal High Court in Abuja for his arraignment on charges of treasonable felony and other sundry offences instituted against him by the Federal Government.
The DSS on August 3, 2019 arrested Sowore for calling for a revolution through a protest scheduled to hold on August 5.
This is the first time Sowore will appear in court and any public place since he was arrested.
A customary court in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has dissolved a marriage after listening to the plea of a policewoman who accused her husband of planning to use her for money ritual.
Sgt. Wuraola Babalola petitioned a Mapo Customary Court in the city, seeking the dissolution of her marriage of 14 years to Oladimeji.
The petitioner alleged that Oladimeji used different kinds of charms whenever he wanted to sleep with her, News Agency of Nigeria reports.
She also said Oladimeji has turned her into his punching bag.
“At any slightest opportunity, he strips me and prevents my relatives from seeing me. He puts charms in my private part whenever he wants to sleep with me. He also surrounds my plate of food with charms, saying he uses it to protect me.
“He has also buried different kinds of charms in the house chanting my name. My first child saw him do that. I have evidence of all the charms and how he maltreats me on my cell phone.” Oladimeji was not in court to answer to the allegations.
The bailiff informed the court that he had on several occasions served hearing notices on Oladimeji, who lives in Oluyole Estate in Ibadan.
After listening to the testimony of the petitioner, Chief Ademola Odunade, the President of the court, dissolved the marriage, on grounds of threat to life.
He granted custody of the three children to the petitioner and ordered the respondent to pay N15,000 as the monthly feeding allowance.
The arbitrator ordered the clerk of the court to ensure that a copy of the judgment is sent to Oladimeji.
Former NBA champion Festus Ezeli is eyeing a spot in the D’Tigers team to next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Ezeli, who won the NBA trophy with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, was in Abuja at the weekend to support the Power Forward Basketball Championship.
Ezeli, who has been out injured for about two seasons, disclosed that he was close to full fitness after recovering from a nagging knee injury. He also stated that he is now able to run without pains and he is in line to make a comeback with Portland Trailblazers.
He stated that playing for the Nigerian national team has been his dream and would work hard to achieve his aim at next year’s Olympic Games. “I have always said I wanted to play in the National team but injury put paid to that but I will resume playing soon and I hope to get into the Nigerian team in time for next year’s Olympics.
“The Nigerian team has grown stronger and I have teammates in the team. The team did well in the World Cup where they got an Olympic ticket and this shows that we have a team we can be proud of,” he added.
He also said that winning the championship with Golden State Warriors was a big achievement, considering that he was told he couldn’t play basketball. “I can’t put how I felt into words. It was surreal, I didn’t want to sleep because I could wake and find out it wasn’t real,“ he added.
Ezeli, enjoined the students who took part in the Power Forward event, to be hardworking, persevere and give their best at all times, assuring that these attributes would take them to the top.
Using himself as an example, Ezeli said they can get to the top if they take their craft seriously and study hard in school. “I started playing basketball at the age of 16 after getting to the US at 14. They said I couldn’t play but someone spotted me and taught me the game and the rest is history.
“I am sure you can also attain greater height, not only in basketball, but in everything you set out to do,” he added, while commending ExxonMobil and Africare for supporting the event.
The Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN) at the weekend accused some governors of threatening to abandon the new minimum wage if their states’ statutory allocation is not reviewed upward by the Federal Government.
Speaking with The Nation, its President, Comrade Abdul Gafar Mohammed, said the union was disturbed that workers were being subjected to another round of negotiations after the new minimum wage had been okayed.
“In the labour movement, we are disturbed and concerned with the continuous over politicisation of the minimum wage issue, which before it finally became law was unfortunately turn into a complex debacle with state governors threatening not to pay.
“They have given conditions that unless the revenue sharing formula is reviewed upwards, they will not comply with the law.
“We have had to use everything at our disposal to get the bill sent to the National Assembly and had to deploy even greater pressures in getting to different arms of the National Assembly to pass the bill into law,” he said.
Mohammed urged employers in the private sector, who still pay below the approved benchmark, to comply with the new law.
He urged the Federal Government to confront headlong the hydra-headed monster of inadequate power supply that had crippled the nation’s industrial , social and economic growth.
He said: “The privatisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) would have been meaningful, if the needful were done. It could have been profitable if those companies that bought over the electricity sector have thought of building their own power plant from the scratch.”
Mohammed said unemployment continues to be the number one problem in the nation, adding that the challenges of national development is to manage the economy in such a way as to promote job-led growth rather than the present situation of jobless growth.
“In our country, many graduates and skilled youths are roaming the street in search of job. All the promises by the government to create jobs have not yielded any dividend. It is a shame that the government is politicking with the unemployment by releasing spurious figures of jobs they have created only on the pages of newspaper,” he said.
Divine Oduduru has qualified for the semifinal of the men’s 200m after recording one of the fastest time among the losers at the 17th IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.
He finished fourth with a 20.40secs behind Great Britain’s Adam Gemili (20.06), Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev (20.27) and Netherland’s Taymir Burnet (20.37) in the first heat in the men’s 200m.
Among the seven heats, Oduduru remains the fastest among the losers even better that third place finishers in some of the heats.
Oduduru’s nearly missed competing in the 200m but a quick appeal from the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to IAAF ensured he took part.
Okagbare and Oduduru failed to show up for the 100m on Friday and they were expected to be prevented from competing in the 200m, but a quick appeal by AFN saved the day as the sprinters were given the go-ahead to compete.
Just like Oduduru, Okagbare will take to the track today as she competes against her rivals in the women’s 200m with the top three advancing to the semifinal.
In the women’s 400m, Patience Okon-George and Favour Ofili will battle it out with the best in the world for places in the semifinal.