The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian news

  • How Otedola came to my rescue again – Sadiq Daba

    Nigerian veteran actor, Sadiq Daba, says oil magnate, Femi Otedola, is a life-saver, as he received oxygen converter and  a year’s worth of  medical supplies paid for by the mogul.

    The medical supplies were delivered to Daba on behalf Mr Otedola by Deacon Philip Akinola, Chief Operating Officer of Zenon Petroleum and Gas on

    In November 2017, Daba was diagnosed with prostate cancer and needed to be flown to the United Kingdom for intensive treatment.

    There was not enough cash to ensure he got the treatment he needed until Otedola volunteered to foot the bills.

    In a recent post expressing his gratitude, Daba said of the billionaire philanthropist’s gesture: “Today, billionaire and philanthropist, Femi Otedola began providing me with one-year at-home medical treatments. The billionaire oil merchant sent his representatives, a few hours ago to visit me at home with supplies of urgently needed medications. The team included Dr. Oriaifoh and Pastor Akinola.”

    According to the veteran actor and former broadcaster, Oriaifoh and Akinola brought a mobile oxygen converter and drugs supply of one year, arranging for at-home therapy to him for seven weeks.

    Daba disclosed: “Today, they came to present me with an oxygen converter; various drugs as prescribed by my doctors, and to crown it all, a physiotherapist to take care of my needs!”

    Daba had been coping with severe challenges with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD.

    Read Also: Why Otedola paid Chukwu’s medical bills in London

    “Honestly, I am beyond speech for this superb magnanimity from Mr. Otedola. Imagine paying a home therapy for seven weeks, provide medications and treatments for one year, including being monitored and cared for by specialists. I am grateful to Mr. Otedola,” he added.

    Daba pointed out that he had never met Otedola and had not imagined their paths would cross.

    “How do you say thank you to such a wonderful person? God sent? Yes, he is indeed…… I have never met him ! I was told that he read about my plight and remembered my days as “ Bitrus “ in “ Cock Crow at Dawn “ and the delight he had in watching me!! Hmmmmmm!! Must confess… I shed tears! I am indeed grateful and full of appreciation…. as you read this, please help me offer a prayer for him… May God in His Infinite Mercies continue to bless, protect and shower him with His benevolence.

    “But that saying, ‘man proposes, God disposes’ comes to mind,” he said.

    Continuing, the veteran actor, said: “How true and apt it is in my case! My dear brothers and sisters had again come out in full force to help out when they learnt about my new health struggle. This time around with COPD!

    ”Yes. I will be forever so grateful to all of you. Diana Omayeli, Soni Irabor, Monica Omorodion Swaida, Azuka Jebose, Generals Kevin and Jack Ogunewe and their friends, Hajia Mariah Abdullahi, Hauwa Ibrahim Funtua, Hauwa Jinadu, Bello Sule, Ladan Salihu, Charles Oputa, and so many others!”

    The effusive and grateful actor added, “Please tell me: what do you say to such a man? How do you say thank you? I am confused! I am so happy; excited and over the moon! Please, find time to offer on my behalf a special prayer for this wonderful man!”

    Daba in 2015 won the ‘Best Actor’ award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for his role as “Inspector Waziri” in the acclaimed movie “October 1”.

  • Banditry: Varsity dismisses report of attack on female hostel

    The authorities of Federal University, Dutsinma, FUDMA, in Katsina State, on Saturday dismissed social media and news reports of banditry attacks on its female hostel, describing it as not only fake but mischievous and unfounded.

    The varsity’s Acting Director Public Relations, Habib Garba Matazu, told newsmen yesterday in Katsina that it is unfortunate that some people hide under unpopular platforms to spread rumours and discordant lies for their selfish motives.

    He further stated that the university is currently enjoying a safe and secured academic environment and that activities are going on uninterrupted in the institution.

    Read Also: JUST IN: Robbers attack UI New Hall hostel

    He said, “This is to clearly inform well-meaning Nigerians, especially parents and guardians that one Isah Musa is spreading rumours and lies on social media that bandits have attacked the female hostel of Federal University Dutsin-ma.

    ”This is very unfortunate that some people enjoy spreading rumours and blatant lies for their selfish end.

    “I want to confirm to the general public that it is not true that our female hostel was attacked by bandits. There is nothing to hide. If there is anything like this, we would have issued a statement to the general public.

    “All our two female hotels at Isah Kaita College and Take-off Campus are safe and fully protected.”

    Recall that several social media outfits in Katsina had in the past few hours been awash with reported bandit attacks in FUDMA.

  • Katsina NYSC tasks corps members on skills acquisition

    The Katsina State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Scheme, NYSC, Alhaji Ahidjo Yahaya on Saturday in Katsina tasked corps members of the 2019 Batch B Stream2, currently in the orientation camp, to key into the various aspects of the Nigerian economy by participating fully in the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme, SAED, introduced by the scheme.

    Read Also: NYSC DG encourages corps members to inter-marry

    Alhaji Ahidjo Yahaya, who made the call while sensitising the corps members  on the programme at the orientation camp in Mani Road, further urged them to  make use of the opportunity of the State Craft Village’ inside the NYSC Orientation camp.

    He also counselled them to disabuse their minds of white collar jobs and rather believe in using their hands and creative ideas to better their future.

  • 7 bodies abandoned in ATBUTH

    The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi (ATBUTH), Dr. Saidu Abubakar Kadas, has disclosed that seven bodies have been left unclaimed at the hospital’s mortuary.

    The Nation’s findings revealed that one of the corpses is a female while the remaining 6 are male.

    Kadas, who made the disclosure in an interview with The Nation on Saturday, said the bodies, which were deposited by the police between February and August 2019, were yet to be identified.

    He said further that the victims were casualties of road accidents within the state, who were brought by the police and road safety personnel.

    Read Also: ‘Commercial sex worker’ found dead in hotel

    ”Within this year (2019), we have had 7 bodies deposited at the mortuary between February and August.

    Apparently, none of their relations have come to claim the bodies.”

    Kadas, who alerted members of the public over the unclaimed bodies, advised that there should be regular visits to the mortuary, especially in cases of missing persons.

    He said the teaching hospital may proceed on medical evacuation once the corpses start to decompose at the morgue, adding that the hospital was yet to decide on the deadline for the relatives of the victims  to come identify them.

  • Probe loss of Sumaila/Takai, Kawu tells presidency/APC

    A former Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Reps), Hon. Suleiman Abdulrahman Kawu Sumaila, has called on the Presidency and the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to urgently probe the circumstances that led to the party’s loss of Sumaila/Takai Federal Constituency at the elections tribunal on Friday.

    The elections tribunal sitting in Kano ruled that the APC did not have a candidate for Sumaila/Takai Constituency during the National Assembly elections held in February.

    The tribunal, which based its ruling on the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed Shamsuddeen Dambazau as the APC candidate for the seat against Kawu, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately issue a certificate of return to the candidate of the political party with the next highest votes.

    Kawu, who was the original candidate for the seat until Dambazau’s suit challenging his candidature, said in a statement on Friday that the APC national leadership should constitute a special panel to probe all those involved in the underhand dealings that led to the loss.

    Read Also: Kano Tribunal sacks Dambazau’s Son

    It would be recalled that Kawu was picked as the consensus candidate for Sumaila/Takai Federal Constituency, where he went into the elections and won with wide margin.

    Kawu Sumaila’s choice was as a result of the decision of Muhammad Baffa Takai, who had picked the APC ticket, to drop his ambition following series of persuasions on him so that Kawu would be compensated for being unfairly treated during the APC primaries for Kano South Senatorial Zone.

    The former Senior Special Assistant to the President was compensated with the Sumaila/Takai Reps ticket so that he would not take the issue of APC primaries for Kano South Senatorial Zone, which he clearly won, to court.

    In turn, Baffa Takai was made the Special Adviser to the State governor on community development.

    However, Shamsuddeen Dambazau approached the high court and challenged Kawu’s nomination by the party and the court ruled in his favour.

    Stressing that the tribunal has finally vindicated him, Kawu, a former two-term deputy minority leader of the house, said “I therefore call on the presidency and the national leadership of our party to take decisive action on this matter by probing it to ensure that all those that contributed to this are adequately sanctioned.”

  • Women, youth groups back NDDC appointees in C/River

    Women and youth groups in Cross River State have given their support to the appointments into the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), made by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The groups include Youth Alliance in Cross River led by Comrade Ekpenyong Akiba, Buhari Youth Organisation led by Prince Clement Etim Asanya, Women in Focus led by Hon Vivian Umo Edem, Southern Cross River Youth Liberation led by Elder Abednego Okon, G7 led by Edem Bassey, and National youth Council of Nigeria Bakassi Local Government led by Asuquo Nyong Etim.

    Read Also: Buhari okays NDDC Board appointments

    In a resolution from an emergency meeting in Calabar on Saturday, they said, “We wish to very strongly state in clear terms without any equivocation our total support to our newly appointed Commissioner representing Cross River state in the person of the indefatigable Sir Maurice Effiwatt and by extension also specially congratulate others who have been nominated by our dear President His Excellency Muhamadu Buhari.”

  • Stakeholders urge Buhari to review new board of NDDC

    Niger Delta stakeholders at the weekend urged President Muhammadu Buhari to review the composition of the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The stakeholders under the auspices of the Niger Delta Entrepreneurs Forum (NDEF) faulted the way and manner the Presidency replaced the Prof. Nelson Brambaifa-led board.

    NDEF in a statement signed by its Coordinator, Kester Okele and Secretary, Ebipade Timi, said the development was not in tandem with the style of Muhammadu Buhari-led Presidency and the Act establishing the commission.

    Timi explained that Section 4 of the Act establishing the NDDC was clear on the rotation of the chairmanship position of the commission in alphabetical order.

    “How come Edo is being gifted the chairmanship of the Board after Cross River State took the last shot?” He queried and questioned why part IV of the Act was not respected in the entire process.

    Read Also: NDDC gets acting MD, calls on Niger Deltans to work together

    He said the part of the Act provides for a Managing Director and two Executive Directors, who must be indigenes of oil-producing areas beginning from states with the highest production quantum of oil.

    Timi wondered why a state like Rivers, classified among the first three highest producers of oil, playing host to two refineries and refining the highest amount of crude oil, was left out in the appointment of the management committee of the NDDC.

    He pointed out loopholes in the procedure of the new appointments and the announcement by the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) asking appointees to come with their updated documents.

    He noted that the previous set of appointments by the President in January was duly signed by the President’s Spokesman with a directive that the NDDC should come under the supervision of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs rather than the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

  • Edo councils plan 50% revenue to clear salary arrears

    In a move to clear salary arrears owed by some local councils in Edo State, the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) has resolved to set aside 50 per cent of their monthly revenue to offset such arrears after payment of monthly salaries.

    Chairman, Oredo Local Government Area, Hon. Jenkins Osunde, said this at the end of the monthly JAAC meeting presided over by the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, at Government House, in Benin City.

    Osunde said after the payment of monthly salaries, 50 per cent of the revenue left will be used to clear salary arrears by LGAs that still owe their workers’ salary arrears.

    He further said that the total gross allocation that accrued to the 18 LGAs from the federation account for the month of July was N3,168, 456, 876. 47k billion while net allocation to the councils was N1, 464,888,502.66k.

    Read Also: Protest in Edo over NDDC nomination

    He explained that the total deductions from LGAs for the month was N1.703,568,371, while total amount transferable to the LGAs stood at N1,449,046,218.28k.

    According to him, teachers’ and non-teachers’ salaries gulped N923, 631,773.74k; primary school teachers N881,350,071.05k; non-teachers’ salary stood at 42,596,702.69k, while pension fund contribution was N423, 529, 894.

    Osunde noted that payment for pension arrears gulped N100 million while Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by LGAs in the month of July was N179, 530, 634.

    He explained that the about 8.7 per cent decrease in the IGR for July when compared with the N196,590,479.14k realised in the previous month was due to poor weather conditions and public holidays.

    Osunde added that the Airtel internet connectivity that would drive the new revenue collection system was being installed across the 18 councils of the state.

    According to the Oredo council chairman, N8,250,000 from the money that accrued to the councils was set aside for the Ward Development Committees.

  • NNPC commences repair of damaged oil pipeline in Delta

    The Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, said over the weekend that the corporation has begun repairs of its damaged Abura Crude Trunk line.

    The Crude Trunk line at Otu-Jeremi town in Delta State had experienced an eruption on Friday.

    Kyari, speaking in Benin during the tee-off at the 2019 (NNPC) upstream golf tournament, said the repair would be completed in three days.

    Read Also: NNPC, Total to grow production reserves

    “It wasn’t an explosion, it was an eruption on our pipeline, our team has moved to site and in three days we are going to fix it,” he said.

    “We have curtailed the spill that is coming out, so it was not an explosion but an eruption because there was no fire in the place.

    “It will have no effect on power supply, we are going to fix it soon,’’ he said.

  • Anxiety in Owerri over invasion of medical expert’s home by suspected B’Haram members

    Relatives of a medical practitioner, Dr. Conrad Esomonu, have raised alarm over the recent invasion of his Owerri residence by suspected members of the terror group, Boko Haram.

    A younger brother to the medical expert, Ben Esomonu, said that he left the country four years ago following a similar ordeal in Maiduguri, Borno state, where he was practicing in Maiduguri.

    Esomonu, an indigene of Ahiazu Mbaise Council Area of Imo State, was a practicing physician in the Northern part of Nigeria before he relocated abroad after a failed attempt on his life by the Boko Haram sect.

    “Trailing and threats of lower magnitude have been hunting the family members which prompted the relocation of his fiancée and children to another part of the country.

    Read Also: Troops begin new strategy to counter Boko Haram’s attacks

    “It is worthy of note that the failed kidnap attempt on his fiancée in Calabar early last 2018 was evident. The failed kidnap attempt necessitated that they fled the country to an unconfirmed destination.”

    Also, an eye witness, Mrs. Carol Ugwuegbu, disclosed that, “six armed men suspected to be members of Boko haram terror group arrived the home of Dr Esomonu in two Hilux vans at about 6:30pm on Saturday 3rd August 2019. The assailants were chanting incomprehensible invocations suspected to be in Arabic, they were all dressed in flowing gowns (jalandher), a form that suggests that they are terrorists.

    “On their arrival at the residence, they started shooting randomly in the air and people nearby scampered for safety. They broke into the premises and shot sporadically into the air but as there was no one in the residence as at that time so they couldn’t get anybody.

    “The Police arrived shortly after their departure but no arrests were made instead they inspected the bullet shots around the premises.”