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  • Kogi guber election: Miyetti Allah endorses Bello

    The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has adopted Gov. Yahaya Bello as its candidate for the forthcoming Nov. 16 governorship election in the state.

    The National Organising Secretary of the group, Alhaji Aliyu Saleh, who made the declaration at a news conference in Lokoja on Saturday, directed Fulanis in the state to immediately embark on Ruga-to-Ruga campaign for the re-election of Bello.

    Saleh said that the group decided to support the governor for providing a secure environment for Fulanis to operate in the state.

    “We are also supporting the governor for approving free Contagious Bovine Plurol Pheneumonia (CBPP) vaccination for over 23, 000 cows belonging to our members in the state ,” he said.

    The group also commended Bello for putting in place measures which had led to a reduction in clashes between farmers and herders in the state.
    It also stated that the governor had given its members a sense of belonging by appointing one of them into his cabinet and by making their leaders members of the traditional councils at the state and local government levels.

    The national organising secretary, who was flanked by the state Chairman of MACBAN, Alhaji Umaru Jaido, also said that they decided to endorse Bello’s candidature because of their love for President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Read Also: Kogi poll: SDP candidate rejects disqualification

    The State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Abubakar Ohere, who received the endorsement document on behalf of the governor, thanked the group for adopting Bello as its candidate.

    Ohere described Gov. Bello as a leader with a large heart, saying that his priority had always been to provide security for all, irrespective of tribe and religion.

    He said that Bello decided to include Fulani leaders in the traditional council to reduce communal clash, especially between farmers and herders.

    While thanking the association for the endorsement, the commissioner said the gesture would propel Bello to do more for the people of the state.

  • DSS loses two personnel in car crash

    The Department of State Service on Friday September 27, 2019 lost two of its personnel in a fatal car crash.

    A statement by the Public Relations Officer,Department of State Services, National Headquarters, Abuja, Dr Peter Afunaya, indicated that the incident occurred in the evening at Gidan Busa Katari, along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

    “The team was heading to one of the States in the North-West zone for an operation when the Hilux vehicle in which they were travelling somersaulted. Two (2) persons died in the accident while another was injured. He is presently receiving required attention in a medical facility.

    “This clarification has become necessary in order to debunk fake news making the round that the gallant officers were attacked by bandits. The public is enjoined to disregard any contrary information,” the statement read.

  • Five RRS operatives arrested for alleged extortion of N5,000

    Five policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command had been arrested over alleged extortion of N5,000 from a woman.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the RRS said through its Twitter handle that the men were arrested on Friday in Ajah area of the state.

    “Our officers at Ajah extorted N5,000 from a lady; our Ops officers went in search, arrested and detained them at Alausa Headquarters of the squad.

    “They will be transferred to the headquarters on Monday for trial,” the RRS twitted.

    The squad, however, did not state what led to the extortion and if the money collected was recovered.

    In response to NAN queries on cases of impersonation of RRS operatives, it said that all RRS operatives must wear official badges on sleeves and their name tags on the breast of their shirts.

    It stressed that the public could also identify white vehicles of RRS operatives with red and blue stripes and “RRS” boldly inscribed on the body of the vehicles, motorcycles and Armored Personnel Carriers (APC).

  • Imo bans use of polythene bags for waste disposal

    Imo State government has banned the use of polythene bags to dispose refuse in the state, reiterating its determination to restore the state to its premier position as the cleanest and most beautiful state in the country through sustained aggressive environmental sanitation exercise.

    The Chairman of the State Sanitation Committee and former governor of the state Chief Ikedi Ohakim disclosed this shortly after monitoring this month’s state environmental sanitation exercise within the Owerri capital city and its environs, jointly with officials of the State Environmental Transformation Commission (ENTRACO) led by the General Manager, Alex Emeziem.

    He said that the use of Polythene bags to dispose refuse has been banned in the state with immediate effect.

    “From now henceforth nobody is allowed to use polythene bags in this state to dispose refuse and anybody who dumps refuse in unauthorized places will henceforth be sanctioned accordingly,” he warned.

    He warned road site/street traders to relocate to markets or be prepared to face the full weight of the law established in this regard.

    Ohakim said that his committee had already desilted 16,000 K/m of roads with drainages previously blocked by refuse cleared of such refuse

    The former governor commended Governor Emeka Ihedioha for providing new engineering dumpsites in the three senatorial zones of Owerri, Okigwe and Orlu and enjoined the residents in the state to make maximum use of the facilities.

    Read Also: Nwajuiba proffers solution to intraparty dispute over primaries

    Also speaking, the ENTRACO boss, Alex Emezie disclosed that the state government had acquired new equipment and trucks and would soon come up with the policy of door to door system which would later be evacuated by trucks to stem the ugly tide of environmental degradation in the state.

    Emezie, a former member of the state House of Assembly added that his commission had divided the state into 12 zones and would also engage some qualified vendors that would pick waste materials in any part of the state and dump them at designated sites.

    “By next week, we will finish the selection of vendors who will be collecting refuse in the state from the zones created so that if there are any lapses, we will know who to hold responsible,” he added.

  • Gunmen kill 24-yr-old student in Kogi

    Yet-to-be identified gunmen have allegedly killed a fresh student of the Department of Community Health, College of Health Sciences and Technology, Idah, Kogi State, Sule Moses.

    The 24-year old student was allegedly attacked and killed by the unknown gunmen, on Thursday, at a private hostel, located behind the school.

    The college provost, Dr Nuhu Anyegeu described the attack on the student as ‘inconceivable and shocking.

    The provost in a statement issued, in Idah, on Saturday, expressed regret over the death of the deceased, who he described as a promising young man.

    “On behalf of the college community, particularly the Governing Council and management of the institution, I am deeply touched by this act of man’s inhumanity to man.

    “We sincerely extend the deepest sympathy of the management to the parents of the deceased and the entire college community over this shocking development,” he stated.

    He appealed for calm and cooperation, particularly among the students of the institution.

    He said that the incident was immediately reported at the Idah Police Station, and the body of the conveyed to the mortuary.

    Read Also: Gunmen abduct two senior NSCDC officials

    He added that the deceased has since been buried in his home town in Dekina LGA of Kogi, amidst weeping and wailing by students of the institution.

    He called on the police to do a thorough investigation into the unfortunate incidence and bring the perpetrators to justice.

    The Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), William Anya, said that he was not aware of the incidence, but promised to find out and get back to our reporter.

    As at the time of filing this report, the police spokesman was yet to get back to our reporter.

  • Ex-Northern governor desperate for Fowler’s job

    People who say that politicians without political offices are like fish out of water surely know what they are talking about if the case of an immediate past governor of one of the northern states is anything to go by.

    Since he lost his bid for a second term in the 2019 general elections, he has been angling for juicy positions in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    One of the positions he is eyeing desperately, SENTRY gathered, is that of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) currently occupied by a former Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, Dr. Babatunde Fowler.

    Although many expect that the former governor would take his scanty academic qualifications into consideration in angling for the juicy office, he is driven by his belief that he could get anything he wants by pulling the right strings.

    He is busy pulling the strings in Abuja at the moment and even telling whoever cares to listen that he would succeed Fowler. Some of his close pals were said to have drawn his attention to his limited academic qualifications but he reportedly told them it is a political battle and not an academic one, hence he would fight it to the last point.

    Ironically, the former governor was said to have failed woefully to grow the internally generated revenue of his state while he held sway as the state’s chief executive.

  • Yes, I’ve seen Buhari’s certificate, but any further need?

    Since Atiku Abubakar lost in his bid to become our President, he has made great issue of whether or not President Muhammad Buhari possesses the minimum educational qualification to run for the high office of President of Nigeria.

    I have combed all relevant documents to know that to be our President, you must be educated up to a minimum of West African School Certificate level. Atiku, the PDP and their lawyers are telling us that our President does not have a secondary school leaving certificate and that if he has, he couldn’t produce it. They offered to help Buhari search for it – from his weather-beaten cupboard in his native home in Daura to the remnants of the burnt records of the West African Examinations Council at their imposing office headquarters in Jibowu area of Yaba in Lagos.

    Açcording to tales by Atiku, since the search for Buhari’s certificate had, to them, ended up in futility like the guys out there looking for the head of the air that circulate round the world, Buhari should be asked to relinquish the mandate given to him by the Nigerian people and surrender the presidential ‘tiara’ Atiku has coveted so much since his barely disguised bid to oust his boss, Olusegun Obasanjo in the post-military Presidency of 1999 to 2007.

    But the elusive certificate, I am happy to report to the Atiku crowd, has been found by some concerned citizens in the vault of Tafa Adeoye, the deceased leader of the Yoruba militant group otherwise known as Agbekoya Movement, at his headquarters at Akanran, the border town between Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State and Ibadan in Oyo State. The ‘but’ in the matter is that the certificate has been partially eaten by termites and thus defaced to be presented in the President’s favour at the Supreme Court where Atiku is headed in his desperation to win through the courts, the presidency he lost at the polls.

    Some hope for Atiku? If you ask me, I’d say his ice hasn’t got a ghost of a chance in hell in this case. In the first place, it is uncommon for a 5-0 unanimous decision of a presidential election appeal tribunal to be upturned by any Supreme Court. One could have made a safe guess of victory for Nigeria’s serial presidential contestant if the appeal tribunal verdict had been split, say 3-2!

    In the second place, no Supreme Court of the calibre of the eminent jurists sitting there will be consciencelessly audacious enough to throw a whole country into chaos by upstaging a sitting president whose popularity rating on integrity and piety has no parallel among his peers.

    That said, this columnist calls to question the patriotic and intelligence credentials of those who thought educational qualification could be a basis for blighting Buhari’s victory.

    I move forward to say all those who think that way have insulted the collective intelligence of citizens of this country and portrayed the nation in bad light by suggesting even remotely that a man who rose in the nation’s Army to become a General, a state governor, a federal minister of petroleum, a head of state and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and a democratically-elected president, is un-educated and unfit to lead the country.

    Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the afro-beat legend, had not seen much when he sang his popular song “Ye-ye dey smell”. This is it! The putrid odour of this Atiku desperation and the height it has been taken is offensive to the nose and altogether unacceptable. He should wait till 2023 to try his luck again.

  • ‘No plan to dethrone Emir of Kano’

    The Kano State Government, on Friday, denied allegations that Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, is planning to dethrone the Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II.

    Earlier, a Kano group, Renaissance Coalition, in a press statement, signed by its spokesman, Ibrahim A. Waiya, which was made available to The Nation, alleged that plans were under way by the Kano State Government to transfer the Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II to Bichi Emirate.

    According to the statement, if the monarch resists the move, he would be dethroned.

    Read Also: Ganduje’s, Sanusi’s feud worsens

    However, the statement cautioned Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje against, the plot, which is capable of destabilizing the peace and stability being enjoyed in the state.

    The group, in the statement, threatened that if the governor goes ahead, with its plan, it would have no option than to compel the Federal Government to declare a state of Emergency in Kano.

    When contacted,  Governor Abdullahu Umar Ganduje’s Chief Press Secretary, Abba Auwal, dismissed as false, allegations that the State Government was planning to depose the Emir, insisting that there was no such plan.

  • How we killed 16 Okada men, buried them in shallow graves

    A suspected serial killer in Benue State arrested for killing 16 persons and burying the victims in mass graves has said that he killed his victims for ritual and supernatural powers.

    The 30-year-old suspect, Iorwuese  Kpila, made the shocking confession while he was paraded on Friday alongside six other members of his gang by the Benue State Police Commissioner, Mukaddas Garba.

    They were paraded before reporters at the Benue State Police headquarters in Makurdi by the state Commissioner of Police Mukaddas Garba.

    Kpila said he planted cassava on the mass graves as a decoy. The suspects said they lured their victims who are mostly commercial motorcycle operators popularly called okada and killed them.

    He said: “We would tell okada riders to drop us at a certain location and immediately we reached there, me and my gang members would grab the victim and strangulate him with a rope. We would dig a grave, bury him and plant cassava on top of the grave, thereafter sell the motorcycle.’’

    Read Also: Sanwo-Olu to decide 4,500 okadas’s fate

    He claimed that a spirit known as ‘Queen’ told him to kill 18 persons to acquire supernatural powers ’to appear and disappear.’

    He added: ‘’My father was a native doctor, I have four wives but they left me with their children

    He disclosed that he had operated for three months only, although some of the bodies exhumed appeared to have been buried for more than a year.

    CP Garba urged members of the public to feel free to offer his command genuine information about criminals and their activities in the state.

  • ‘I sold my children with their fathers’ consent’

    One of the six suspects arrested by the police for stealing and selling babies  to childless women has confessed that she sold two of her own children with the consent of their fathers.

    The suspect, Blessing Stephens, was arrested by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) after stealing a boy from a couple at Ikota area of Ajah, Lagos State.

    The 25-year-old suspect was arrested alongside five others, including a homeopathic medical doctor, Una Ekong Godwin, 58; Blessing John 27; Israel Ariyo 33; Itoro Anthony, 40, and Mrs. Mforbong Itoro, 48.

    She said:” I am from Nsitayi, Odor Akwa Ibom state but resides in Ijota Ajah area in Lagos. I dropped out of Bright Academy Secondary School, Ajah, due to a financial problem.

    ‘’There, I dated one Julius Abang and he impregnated me. I had a boy called Emmanuel with Abang in 2010 but we broke up in 2011. Only my mother was taking care of me and when life became unbearable for me I sought an advice from one Mrs. Mforbong and she advised me to sell the child and tell the father that the child had died if he ever cared to ask.

    Read Also: Woman arrested for allegedly stealing two-month-old baby in Ekiti

    ‘’I was working as an office assistant and my mother did not know that the child was sold. In 2012 I started another work in a shopping complex in Ikota. When I went to Akwa Ibom for my mother’s burial  I dated another guy, a truck driver and he impregnated me but after two years he abandoned me after impregnating another girl. After one month I sold the baby but I got only N100,000.

    ‘’In 2013, I got another lover named Israel who is an iron bender. Within six months he impregnated me but he was so poor that he could not even feed me nor pay house rent. The motorcycle he usually used to find small money was destroyed by someone who put salt into the engine and the motorcycle became useless.

    ‘’We decided to sell the baby for N250,000. Mrs. Ntoro collected N20,000 and she advised us to tell whoever asked after the child that the baby diead and had been buried.

    ‘’Later, Mrs. Ntoro called from village that she needed another baby boy. I told my sister Blessing John to steal a baby boy from Ikota. It is this one that put us in trouble.’’

    On July 14, 2019, a four- year-old boy, Master Ojo Adegboyega Fapounda was stolen from his parents in Ikota housing estate Ajah, Lagos by his neighbour identified as Blessing John.

    She allegedly took the stolen child to Ibadan on July 15, 2019 to meet her childhood friend, Blessing Stephen. The child spent three days in the house of Stephens’s husband identified as Israel Ariyo.

    The stolen child was taken to Akwa Ibom and sold to one human trafficker, Mrs Mforbong for N350, 000. Unfortunately for the buyer, the toddler started crying uncontrollably to the hearing of neighbours who wondered why the child was crying in the house of the old woman who had reached menopause.

    Afraid that she might be exposed, the woman advised Blessing Stephen to return the child to his parents in Lagos after three days on the pretext that the child was too old for her to buy and that she preferred a week- old baby instead.

    Blessing (Stephen) returned the child to Ibadan and handed him over to Blessing (John) to return the boy to his parents at Ikota in Ajah area of Lagos.

    Determined to take the child to a place close to Ikota, she tried to deceive a security man attached to a church at Ketu, a Lagos suburb that she wanted to leave the boy with him in order to pick some items across the road, but the security man declined.

    Unknown to the security man, Blessing later sneaked into the church through the back door and dropped the baby and bolted.

    On discovering the baby in the church, the security man reported the matter to the church authorities and the matter was reported to the nearest police station.

    The baby was subsequently taken to a child care centre in Lagos by the police.

    Operatives of IRT traced the suspects to Ibadan, Oyo State capital following a petition by the father of the boy leading to their arrest.

    It was said that the syndicate had sold over 30 stolen children.