The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian news

  • Navy warns personnel against substance abuse, violence

    The Nigerian Navy (NN) at the weekend warned its operatives to keep off hard drugs or any substance that could cloud their sense of judgment.

    They were also warned to shun violence or any act that could smear the image of the Navy.

    Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC) Rear Admiral Stanfford Enoch gave the warnings at the weekend after the quarterly 10km route march.

    The exercise saw over 600 personnel marching from the headquarters at Harbour Road, Apapa to Costain and back to the admiration of elated road users.

    Rear Admiral Enoch, who was represented by NAVTRAC’s Chief Staff Officer (CSO) Rear Admiral Idowu Yusuf said the NN was warning the personnel against drugs because they carry firearms.

    He said the navy was mindful of the doom it would spell for the country if firearm bearing operatives take to substance abuse.

    Read Also: Navy arrests fishing trawlers for ‘illegal’ activities

    The FOC said: “Stay away from bad substances. There are serious repercussions if you are caught.

    “Remember we carry firearms and so, it could spell doom for the nation if a rifle-bearing rating influenced by hard substance opens fire on people.

    “The warning does not mean there is an issue of drug abuse in the navy. The military is orderly and we do not  wait for things to go bad before we take action. We take action in advance to prevent occurrence of such issues.

    “That is why we are doing this exercise. It is often said that the more we sweat in peace time, the less blood we shed in war time.”

    The Nation reports that the quarterly route march, a directive from the naval headquarters, was held simultaneously across all units and formations in the country.

    According to Enoch, the exercise was aimed at enhancing the mental and physical alertness of personnel as well as assuring Nigerians of their preparedness to defend the country.

    He advised the personnel to undertake routine medical checks, just as he emphasised the need for synergy with other security agencies.

    “You must eschew violence. Running away from violence does not make you a coward, it shows maturity,” he said.

    Similarly, the FOC Western Naval Command (WNC) Rear Admiral Oladele Daji during the command’s march which held inside Navy Town in Ojo said the need for personnel to keep fit cannot be overemohasised giving the current security challenges in the country.

    Rear Admiral Daji,who was represented by the command’s Operations Officer Commodore Livingstone Izu charged the operatives to remain law abiding citizens and maintain improved.

  • Group celebrates Yoruba national Day

    A group, the Grand Council of Yoruba Youths, will on September 23 mark the ninth edition of the Yoruba Youth Leadership Summit, to celebrate the Odu’a role models, under the chairmanship of Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the National Leader of Afenifere.

    The event, which is dedicated to Ayo Fasanmi @ 94, will be conducted in Yoruba language. It holds at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Square, Osogbo, Osun State, by 11am.

    The guest speakers are Oloye Lekan Alabi, Agba Akin Olubadan of lbadanland, Otunba Jumoke Ogunkeyede, (JMK), Chief  Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, lyaloja General of Nigeria and Chief  Yetunde Babajide, lyalode Ojodu, Berger, Lagos State.

    Read Also: I accept to lead Yoruba, says Akintoye

    Special Guest of Honour is Senator Ayo Fasanmi, National Leader, Afenifere Egbe llosiwaju Yoruba, while guests of honour are the executive governors from the Southwest.

    Father and mother of the day are Oladosu Oladipo, the National Coordinator, Nigeria Next Level Forum and Iyalode Alaba Lawson, lyalode of Yorubaland.

    Royal fathers of the Day are Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi lll, the Alaafin of Oyo and Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi Enitan Ojaja ll, Ooni of lfe.

    The Chief Host is Osun State Governor  Adegboyega Oyetola.

    A keynote address will be delivered by lba Gani Adams, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland.

  • APC leaders drum up support for AbdulRazaq

    All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in Kwara State at the weekend drummed up support for the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.

    The stalwarts converged on Olooru in Moro Local Government to attend a prayer session organised by AA G13 Support Group.

    APC leader from Kwara North District Senator Ahmed Mohammed urged residents of the council and Kwarans as a whole to be patient with the AbdulRazaq administration.

    Read Also: APC to Kwarans: be patient with AbdulRazaq

    He admonished the people not to relent in praying for the success of the APC-led government.

    Another APC leader from Kwara South and a political associate of

    Governor AbdulRazaq, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, said the governor’s impressive performance in the first 100 days in office had earned him

    accolades and applause.

    Fagbemi, who was at the event to represent the governor, said: “The applause will continue as he will not renege on the good things he has been doing. He is prepared for governance. He has the heart to do good, he will continue to do good. Kwarans will be happier for everything that he will do.”

    Fagbemi, a former chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), hailed the springing up of groups supporting the administration.

    He said: “There is always strength in unity, so we expect that all hands must be on deck to put Kwara forward, except for those that have ulterior motives. We want unity and cooperation of all, so that he can excel.”

  • Makinde to launch 20-year development agenda

    Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde on Sunday spoke of plans by his administration to launch a 20-year development agenda to save the state from under performance.

    Makinde made this known  in Ibadan while speaking at the closing of a two-day retreat for members of the State Executive Council and his senior aides.

    He said that the launch of the development agenda would set a high bar for his administration’s developmental objectives.

    ”We have been underachieving for many years; administrations had come and gone. Yes, they did their best, but still, we have to set a high bar for ourselves.

    ”Within the shortest possible time, we have to put in place a strategic development plan for the state.

    ”Administrations had come and gone, but most of them operated on ad-hoc bases. We will put in place a 15 to 20-year development plan for Oyo State, and we will be bullish about our development plans.

    Read Also: I will recover looted funds, says Makinde

    ”Of course, we are aware that our mandate, for now, is for four years. What we want to do now is to put up a plan or vision so that successive administrations will not need to go back to do the work again.

    ”We will do the work. Who knows whether the leadership of the next administration is here with us? So we should not take anything for granted,” he said.

    The governor tasked his executive members and top civil servants to work in harmony, adding that collective responsibility must be the watchword.

    While promising that his administration would empower the civil servants to enable them do their job efficiently and effectively, he, however, said that accountability would be demanded from them.

    ” For our permanent secretaries, it still remains ‘soldier goes, soldier comes but the barracks remains’. So your commitment to the success of this administration must be unflinching.

    ”We are making a pact with you that the current administration will empower you and give you necessary and required responsibilities. We will give you the authority to carry them out but we will demand accountability from you.

    ”I know that the pertinent question that is probably agitating your mind right now is: will the system be fair to you? I make bold to say that, under my watch, the system will be fair to you, absolutely.

    “So, my appeal to everybody is: come with me; let us create a prosperous Oyo State together, and God will help us,” Makinde said.

  • Ex-Women Affairs Minister Alhassan returns to PDP

    Former Women Affairs Minister Aisha Alhassan, who suffered massive defeat in the 2019 governorship election in Taraba State, says she has completed arrangements to return to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Hajia Alhassan was the governorship standard bearer of the United Democratic Party (UDP) in the 2019 elections in which she scored only 14, 651 votes.

    She joined the UDP on the eve of the election after she failed  to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket, a party she contested under in 2015 and was able to secure 275,966 votes to come second in the governorship poll.

    Hajia Alhassan was subsequently made the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development by President Muhammadu Buhari, but had to resign amid doubts over her political loyalty.

    Hajia Alhassan told reporters on Sunday after a UDP stakeholders meeting in Jalingo that the majority of her supporters in the 168 wards of Taraba had encouraged her to shift base to the PDP.

    She said that the stakeholders meeting, which lasted till midnight on Saturday, drew participation from all those who contested for various political offices on the platform of the UDP, executive members of the party from the ward to state levels and other respected elders.

    Read Also: PDP governors okay appeal

    Alhassan added that more than 80 per cent of respondents in an opinion poll conducted by a committee headed Alhaji Abdulmumini Vaki, a former PDP chairman in the state, which covered the 16 local governments, suggested that she should move to PDP.

    The former minister said, based on the outcome of the opinion poll, she had no option but to go  by the decision of majority members of the UDP.

    She said: “I cannot go against the decision of the popular opinions of my supporters,” adding that she was glad that the committee did not suggest the APC as an option.

    A communiqué issued at the end of the stakeholders meeting, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo on Saturday night, recommended that two committees be set up immediately to fast track the defection process.

    According to the communiqué, which was signed by the state UDP Chairman, Alhaji Hassan Chul, the first committee is to visit the national leadership of the UDP in Abuja to express the appreciation of supporters of the former minister for providing her the platform to run for the 2019 governorship election.

    The communique added that the second committee is to arrange a meeting with PDP leadership in Taraba to work out modalities for the former minister’s official return to the PDP.

    NAN reports that Alhassan contested and won the election for the senatorial seat of Taraba North in 2011 under the PDP before defecting to APC in 2015.

  • Why I wrote book on masturbation, by author

    A writer, Beryl Ehondor, said she wrote Pants Down to sensitise the youths on the dangers of masturbation. According to her, the book contains insights on how to break free of the habit.

     

    Ehondor is a life-coach, communications consultant and doctoral scholar at the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University.

    She is the founder, Monteeclairs Initiative – a platform that inspires godly and purpose-living for young persons.

    Read Also: Effects of masturbation

    The author said: “It seems that parents are paying for the erosion of good African and godly values to the detriment of the children and society. Keeping quiet is no longer an option. It is imperative to confront the issues by discussing the right values in the light of current realities.

    “Hence, the book, Pants Down, also on Okadabooks.com (for the Nigerian market), Amazon and SmashWords.”

    Ehondor is the author of Kaleidoscope – an exciting collection of short stories on everyday people and issues, as well as the The Ant & The Pig, which explores the power of folktale and explains why the Pig is the face of savings.

  • Rivers election: Awara abandons ‘police result’

    Governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in Rivers State Biokpomabo Awara has abandoned results tendered by Superintendent of Police, Solomon Egba, to the governorship election tribunal.

    Awara brought in Egba as a subpoenaed witness to tender concocted results/documents, but lawyers to the defendants opposed their admissibility because they were part of paragraphs already struck out by the tribunal.

    At the resumed hearing on Sunday, Awara’s lawyer, Emenike Ebete, said his client decided to abandon the police documents because they were of no value, and since they were dumped on the tribunal.

    He said: “We will not be tendering the documents brought in by the police. They are of no value to us. We hereby abandon the documents brought by the police.”

    Read Also: Court dismisses AAC’s suit against Rivers election

    Emmanuel Ukala, lawyer to the Rivers State governor told Awara that no subpoena was served on the Office of the Inspector-General of Police (IG) as the tribunal registry indicates.

    Awara was a petitioner-witness yesterday. He was cross examined by lawyers of AAC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He admitted that the results, marked exhibit, were not signed, without INEC’s official stamp, had no names of Collation officers and were not signed by party agents. According to him, the results had no authenticating features because that was how his agents received them from the field.

    Awara, during cross examination by AAC’s lawyer, Henry Bello, admitted that other than the official INEC results, he had no other results. Though he held no rallies in any of the 23 councils, he did a few consultations in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area.

    The candidate, during cross examination by INEC’s lawyer, Steve Adehi, admitted that he did not tender all the results declared by INEC after the election. He also admitted that results were declared for Obio/Akpor council after due collation.

    The tribunal adjourned till today for the second petitioner, AAC, to open its case.

  • Zikist-Buharist movement greets Buhari

    The Zikist-Buharist-Movement (ZBM) in the Southeast has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on his victory at the tribunal.

    A communiqué by the Chairman Godwin Onwusi and Secretary Stanley Ohajuruka reads: “The ZBM is happy with the unanimous decision of the election petition tribunal, especially its thoroughness and diligence in puncturing the balloons mounted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    “ZBM is at a loss why eminent senior lawyers of the PDP relied heavily and inadvertently on a server unknown to the Electoral Act 2010, and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, hence neglecting the position of jurisprudence and trite law that you cannot build something out of nothing.

    Read Also: Buhari’s tribunal victory, FUOYE killings, VAT increment, xenophobic attacks and others top this week news

    “Or the embarrassing national joke of the year that a man who attended Katsina Provincial College; Mons Officer Military Cadet Academy in Aldershot, England; United Military College in Pennsylvania, and who was a former Head of State; did not meet the fine conditions of qualification intended by the spirit and letters of our constitution and extant laws.”

    ZBM urged Buhari to address the dilapidated federal roads in the Southeast, second Niger Bridge, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway line, non-existent gas pipelines in the region, especially Nnewi industrial zone, and revamp Enugu Coal.

    “…your remaining four years is important to us, because of the trust the international investors and lenders have on you … We, therefore, plead that the Southeast is adequately considered to avoid the exodus of our youths to South Africa and other places…”

  • Man mobbed for ‘manhood theft’

    A dwarf, simply identified as Anayo, was at the weekend mobbed in Enugu for allegedly causing a man’s manhood to disappear after shaking him.

    Anayo was beaten up by an irate mob before policemen rescued him.

    A statement by police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu said the victim gave his name as Sunday Ebubechukwu, of Obiagu axis, Ogui Enugu.

    Read Also: Mob ‘critically’ injures ASP, two other policemen for shooting pregnant woman dead in Lagos

    Ebubechukwu allegedly raised an alarm, which attracted sympathisers to the scene at Obiagu, saying someone who he shook hands with might have caused his manhood to disappear. The people descended on Anayo and beat him up before policemen from Ogui intervened.

    Amaraizu said: “The Enugu State Police Command, through its operatives at Ogui Division, is trying to unravel the mystery of a missing male organ. Investigation has begun.”

  • PDP governors shun meeting in Anambra

    The four Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in the Southeast  – Emeka Ihedioha (Imo); Dave Umahi (Ebonyi); Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) – did not attend Sunday’s zonal meeting in Anambra State.

    The meeting, however, was attended by zonal PDP Chairman Austine Umahi and governorship hopefuls for Anambra 2021.

    Leading the pack of governorship hopefuls were Dr Obiora Okonkwo, Senator Uche Ekwunife and Chris Azubuogu.

    They vowed to work together to ensure victory in the 2021 governorship election to make the zone a PDP-controlled zone. They also vowed to prevent moneybags from hijacking the party.

    Read Also: Anambra 2021: It’s time for PDP to take power back

    Umahi urged interested aspirants to work hard rather than hoping to hijack the party.

    He said: “We’re happy that Anambra PDP today is one family. There is no faction in the party, and I assure you that under my watch, no one man can hijack this party.

    “My wish is that under my watch, Anambra will join PDP. I am not in doubt that you have the capacity to do this. You have people in Anambra who are capable, and the party in the state also has the resources.

    “When we started working to win Imo State, I was going to the state weekly. It was like a joke but today Imo is a PDP state. We hope Anambra will be the fifth PDP state in the southeast, and when I am handing over, I will do so happy.”

    Anambra State Chairman Ndubuisi Nwobu said the party would not do any form of merchandising in the election. He urged those interested in contesting the governorship to seek the people’s support and not think of inducing the party to hand them the ticket on a platter.

    He said: “Anambra PDP comprises people who are easy to govern. I found this out since I became the chairman. All you need to cage an Anambra man is to keep telling him the truth. As elections approach, I want to say there won’t be merchandising. The primary election of will be very transparent.”