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  • Anambra woman begs husband’s kidnappers with N9,000 ransom

    A middle-year old man was reportedly kidnapped in Okpoko, Ogbaru local government area of Anambra state.

    The victim, simply identified as Chikodili, was abducted in the wee hours at his residence in No. 65 Nwokedi street.

    The Nation gathered that the abductors, numbering three, had stormed the area and whisked the victim away.

    A resident who preferred anonymity said the wife pleaded for his release, saying she was willing to offer the sum of N9,000 as her “widow’s mite”.

    He said the suspects had accepted the offer which she had gone to get when they took her husband away.

    The Nation however learnt that the victim was taken to a nearby bush from where the abductors intended to take him to an unknown destination before they were apprehended by the community’s vigilante.

    Leader of the vigilante group in the area, Mr. Okpala Victor, confirmed the incident, saying the suspects have been arrested.

    He said the suspects were apprehended inside the bush following a tip-off.

    He said, “The vigilante group stormed the bush, freed the victim and arrested the trio suspects who are now at the Police station.

    “The Police have assured us they would be charged to court immediately.”

    Reacting, President General of the community, Edwin Emesinwa, applauded the vigilante for the feat, describing the security outfit as the best in the state.

    He said, “Since my assumption of office about a year now the community sleeps with two eyes closed.

    “Those saying criminals have taken over the community are the criminals themselves.”

  • Policemen allegedly kill man over N200 bribe in Lagos

    Policemen on Thursday morning allegedly killed a motorcyclist identified as Ademola Moshood in Surulere, Lagos Mainland for refusal to part with N200.

    The incident was said to have occurred few blocks away from the victims’ house at the wee hours of Thursday at Kilo.

    It was gathered that the policemen involved in the alleged murder were attached to Soloki Police Station, Surulere with two of their names given as AK, Patrick.

    According to a witness, the policemen were on patrol when they sighted and stopped the deceased by Kilo Bus Stop in a bid to extort him.

    A resident alleged that when Ademola refused to part with the usual N200 bribe on ground that he had closed business for the day and was homebound, one of the cops, an Inspector, went close to him, placed his gun on the man’s head and shot him.

    They were said to have fled the scene with the man’s motorcycle, abandoning his body on the ground after shooting him dead.

    It was gathered that residents who witnessed the incident stormed the police station in Aguda in protest and sighted the culprits who hid behind a van.

    They demanded justice, insisting that those involved be charged with murder.

    Police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) said the Commissioner Zubairu Muazu had ordered that the culprits be detained and tried.

    “A petition was sent to the CP on the matter and he has ordered that those involved be detained and tried,” he said.

  • Updated: Appeal Court affirms Gov. Kayode Fayemi’s election

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the victory of Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship election held in Ekiti State.

    A three-man panel of the court, in unanimous judgment on Thursday evening, dismissed the appeal by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election. Kolapo Olusola, for lacking in merit.

    The court upheld the January 28, 2019 judgment of the Ekiti State Election Tribunal, which sat in Abuja owing to problem of insecurity in Ekiti State.

    The tribunal had, in its judgment, upheld Fayemi’s victory and dismissed the petition by PDP and Olusola on the grounds that they failed to prove their allegations, among which was that the election was marred by irregularities.

    Read Also: Osun gov, Oyetola asks Appeal Court to reverse tribunal’s decision

    Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgment, resolved the seven issues, identified for determination, in favour of the respondents – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Fayemi.

    Justice Adah, at the commencement of proceedings, at around 7.05pm, noted that the day was fast spent and elected to read a summary of the lead judgment.

    After announcing that the seven issues were resolved against the appellants, Justice Adah proceeded to uphold the earlier judgment of the tribunal.

    He subsequently dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

    Other members of the panel: Justices Tinuade Akomolafe Wilson and Emmanuel Agim agreed with the lead judgment.

    The proceedings lasted less than 30 minutes.;

     

     

  • Breaking: Appeal Court delivers judgment in Ekiti gov dispute tonight

    Parties to the dispute over the last governorship election in Ekiti State have besieged the Court of Appeal in Abuja in anticipation of the outcome of the judgment in the case, scheduled for tonight.

    The Ekiti State Election Tribunal, which later sat in Abuja owing problem of insecurity in Ekiti, delivered judgment on January 28, affirming the victory of Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.

    Read Also: Four injured, motorcycles burnt in Ekiti tanker accident

    The petitioners – the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Kolapo Olusola – against whom the judgment went, appealed.

    The appeal was heard on Monday and judgment reserved.

    The Nation learnt that parties were informed on Wednesday that the judgment will be delivered by 6pm today.

    Supporters of both camps and their lawyers are currently waiting at the Court of Appeal, Abuja for delivery of the judgment.

  • REA 8.03Mw project in UNILAG stalls

    The 8.03 Mega Watt (MW) gas power plant project that Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is implementing under its EnergiSe Education Project (EEP) in University of Lagos Campus, Akoka, Lagos, has been stalled.

    The agency secured the Federal Executive Council approval after which the contract was awarded in December 2017 for the provision of gas powered solar lightening on the campus.

    But office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) had last week drafted a team, which included representation from the Federal Ministry of Power and The Nation, to investigate the level of the power project implementation.

    Addressing the team at the ivory tower, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, expressed disappointment at the space and level of the project implementation.

    The UNILAG boss, who pointed at the site from his office on the 11th floor of the Senate building, said the “people implementing the project have a major problem.”

    He added: “I don’t think they have done up to 5 per cent of the work.”

    According to him: “They (the contractors) are just sand filling the site.”

    He acknowledged that there was about 60 per cent work done in term of the solar lighting.

    The team however inspected the site at 11:30am on Monday 25th March, 2019 without the presence of the contractor.

    The contractor (Sterling and Wilson) and consultant scheduled to meet the team about 5:00pm in the same day never turned up.

    The team expected the contractor and consultant the next day to no avail.

    REA’s Head, Public Affairs, Mr. Abubakar Ahmed, was contacted on phone to explain why the power plant project that was awarded in December 2017 was still at take-off point.

    The spokesman of the agency simply said he was not authorised to comment on the issue.

    He advised our correspondent to “please give me time to get the Director of Project give me the clarification. Just send your question in a text message and I will get you his response.”

    By 9:56 am, our correspondent sent a text enquiry him but he neither replied the message nor received our correspondent’s call till the time of filing this story.

  • Ondo shuts hospital for training ‘quack’ nurses

    Ondo State Government on Thursday sealed off a private hospital in Okitipupa reportedly owned by Dr. Odusola Aribo for training auxiliary nurses against the established law.

    The Acting Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Dr. Dipo Durojaye, after being briefed by the Ministry’s Monitoring team, who monitored hospitals in Okitipupa, said Aribo also started a hospital without following laid down regulations.

    Durojaye added Aribo did not register the hospital with the State Ministry of Health, which makes it illegal.

    He said it would not be business as usual in the State health sector as government will descend heavily on quacks and those opening hospitals indiscriminately.

    The Acting PS vowed that any private health institution indulging in the training of health personnel would be sanctioned stressing government will not allow the life of the people to be endangered.

    He also warned Patient Medicine Stores operating as hospitals and treating patients to desist from such acts, which according to him, posed great threat to the well-being of the society.

    The Director Hospital Services, Dr Richard Adesoji, said quacks are dangerous to the health sector as they were not properly trained and could not make correct diagnosis.

    He disclosed hospitals that cannot employ qualified Nurses can make use of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWS) as agreed at the National Council on Health.

    Read Also: Man to die by hanging for killing girlfriend in Ondo

    The Director Nursing Services, Mrs. Alice Ogundele, who led the monitoring team to Okitipupa, said it was alarming that some hospital in that locality had more than 50 quacks in training when even some accredited Schools of Nursing and Midwifery were only allowed to admit 50 or less.

    Mrs. Ogundele said this trend was dangerous to the nursing profession as it will not allow qualified nurses getting jobs as these quacks are source of cheap labour.

    Some other hospitals visited in Okitipupa are St. Peter’s Hospital, Akingbola Hospital and Oresanya Hospital where student trainees took to their heels on sighting the monitoring team.

    The three hospitals were served letters of warning to desist from acts that are capable of endangering the health of the people or face seriously sanctions and eventual.

  • Gunmen kidnap four women in Nasarawa

    Gunmen on Wednesday attacked vehicles along the busy Akwanga-Akwanga-Keffi expressway kidnapping four women in the process.

    Chairman of Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists in Nasarawa State, Suleiman Abubakar’s wife, Yahanasu Abubakar, was among those kidnapped.

    Suleiman told newsmen that the incident happened around 7:00 p.m. along Gudi-Garaku road in Akwanga Local Government Area of the state.

    According to him, the gunmen shot at the union bus they were travelling in from Keffi, where his wife had gone to register at the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp.

    He said the bus ran into a ditch after it was shot at which gave the gunmen the opportunity to abduct his wife, the wife of a former state assembly member, who was on the bus as well as two other women from another vehicle.

    Meanwhile, ASP Samaila Usman, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said the command had mobilised officers to the area to search and rescue the abducted women.

  • How Tinubu led ACN to reclaim lost states in 2007, by Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo on Thursday went down memory lane to relate the roles played by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in reclaiming states lost by the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the 2007 general elections.

    Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari as Chairman of the 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium, told the gathering the All Progressives Congress (APC) National leader hired 63 finger print experts mainly from the UK police to help prove cases of over voting in the 2007 elections.

    He said with the help of the finger print experts who worked hard for six months, it was discovered while it takes an average voter about five minutes to conclude the voting process, it took PDP agents less than five seconds to thump-print ballots that were counted in its favour in 2007.

    He said it was the political dexterity of the former Lagos state governor that ensured the ACN reclaimed Edo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states, adding the last to be won through that process was Osun state.

    The Vice President commended the roles played by the APC leader in the success of the party in the just -concluded elections, adding the choice of the phrase next level as campaign slogan was simply to tell Nigerians that the country was moving to the next phase of development.

    He said: “We celebrate a man who has spent the last thirty years of his life in creative and catalytic public service. He is not a lawyer as many of us know but there are few Nigerians who have provoked so many legal controversies and constitutional challenges resulting in several landmark judicial pronouncements especially in the area of federalism and what today is loosely described as restructuring.

    Read Also: I’m a product of God’s special mercy, protection- VP Osinbajo

    “Many of us know that he is not an engineer but a lot of his vision is what is responsible for what we see today in Lagos, the BRT, the Lekki industrial zone, even the Eko Atlantic project and of course the reform in the tax system of Lagos State.

    “Today, Lagos as we know, earns more revenue, more IGR, than 31 states of Nigeria put together. That by itself began in 2001.”

    Speaking on the next level, the Vice President said: “As you know, the expression Next Level, itself, is our political campaign slogan in this last election. And what we were saying was simply that there was a next phase to what our country has seen.

    “There are many who will say that there many things that were promised in 2015 which have not yet been realised.

    “I think the best way of putting is to say that our country, for the first time, is witnessing the type of leadership that is bound to lead us to where it is that we are proposed ourselves as a government.

    “In my view, the honest leadership, leadership with integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari, is a very important component of getting anywhere at all in all of our development plans.

    “I said before at the last colloquium that Nigeria’s main problem is not the lack of ideas, it is not the lack of projects and programmes.

    “It was most of the time, especially the leadership in the past, and corruption in particular as the reason why we were finding it difficult to make progress.

    “I explained that that’s why we earned $383billion in four years, the highest ever in the history of our country, and yet Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was not done.

    “Lagos-Kano Railway and all that is being done today, not done. We cannot point to a single major infrastructure project that was completed in the 10-year period, despite the high earnings, including power.

    “So, a government coming after so many years of waste must be a government, first that emphasizes fiscal prudence, a government that emphasizes integrity in public finance so that it would manage the

  • Police move to stem cases of kidnapping in Plateau

    The Plateau Police Command has decried the increasing cases of kidnapping in the state.

    DSP Terna Tyopev, the Command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), said in a statement on Thursday in Jos, that the command has put in place stringent measures to address the ugly trend.

    He said that information at the command’s disposal indicates that the perpetrators were living within the community; warning that anyone caught also harbouring criminals would be decisively dealt with.

    “The Police Command in Plateau wishes to inform members of the public of the new trend of crime in the State, where criminals go into unsuspecting homes to kidnap innocent people.

    “The command is using this medium to assure the public that everything is being done to track these criminals.

    “It has been established that the kidnappers are not far from the communities.

    “Already we have gotten the profile of some of them through our intelligence network and they will soon meet their waterloo,” Tyopev assured the people.

    The police spokesman said that Mr Isaac Akinmoyede, the state’s Commissioner of Police wants residents to assist the police by giving useful information that could help in apprehending criminal elements in the state.

    Tyopev said the Command arrested one Daniel Useini, a notorious criminal and resident of Rukuba Road, Jos, who had been on the wanted list of the police over alleged criminal conspiracy and armed robbery.

    He said the suspect was arrested on Tuesday with one locally made revolver pistol with ten rounds of live ammunition and fifteen rounds of rubber ammunition.

    According to him, the suspect is under investigation and would soon be charged to court.

    Tyopev called on members of the public to report any suspicious movements around their areas to the security agencies.

  • Buhari to Congo Envoy: Stability key to efficient resources management

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday told the Special Envoy of the President of Republic of Congo that without social, political and economic stability, it will be difficult for any country to effectively manage its resources.

    He received Mr Jean Claude Gakosso, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Congolese in Diaspora, at State House, Abuja, who conveyed a special message on behalf of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, and also congratulated President Buhari on what he called his “brilliant performance” at the recently held presidential election.

    Republic of Congo is a medium oil producer in Africa, and President Buhari pledged continued collaboration with the country, “so that we can get the best for our respective countries, and invest for development.”

    Buhari, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, stressed the need for peace and stability, so that the resources of a country can be used for the good of the people.

    “Stability is critical, if a country would manage its resources effectively. I am aware of the problems of our own country. We are very large, deficient in infrastructure, and trying to improve on political and economic stability. In my last lap in office, I will give it my best,” President Buhari said.

    He noted that developing countries that had oil used to be very powerful in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), due to their production capacities, but as a result of technology, the United States no longer depends on them for her oil and energy needs.

    The Special Envoy, on behalf of his President, wished President Buhari wisdom and good health, so that he can continue to lead his people efficiently and effectively.