Chairman
Ondo governor: No land in southern Nigeria will be ceded to invaders masquerading as herdsmen
The Ondo State Governor and Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has declared that “no inch of the space delineated and known, currently, as South West, and indeed the whole South, will be ceded to a band of invaders masquerading as herdsmen under any guise.” Akeredolu made the declaration in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant Special Duties and Strategies, Dr Doyin Odebowale. The declaration was sequel to a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, on the position of President Muhammadu Buhari, on the farmer-herder clashes and what was termed as “Deep Rooted Solutions to the herdsmen attacks”. Shehu had in the statement revealed the presidency’s position that ranching and revival...
President Buhari presides over extraordinary summit of Lake Chad Basin Commission
President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government of Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. Newsmen report that other sub-regional leaders participating in the summit include the Presidents of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum and Central African Republic, Faustin Touadera. Others are Mahamat Idriss Deby, President of the Transitional Military Council of the Republic of Chad, while Cameroon’s President Paul Bryan, was represented at the meeting. Other participants at the summit include representatives of Mohamed Al-Menfi, Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya, and the Sudanese President. Newsmen report that the leaders would be discussing the growing security threats in Sahel and Lake Chad region, politica...
Rivers governor accuses predecessor of embezzling proceeds from aircraft, power projects
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has accused the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, of embezzlement of proceeds from the sales of the state aircraft and power stations. The governor offered to resign from office if Amaechi could mention any federal project he has attracted to Rivers State as a minister since 2015. Governor Wike made the remarks at the formal defection of two former chairmen of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Dr Davies Ikanya and Igo Aguma, as well as other chieftains of the opposition to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt on Saturday. The governor explained that Amaechi, the former governor, had claimed he sold a Dash 8 aircraft purchased by the administration of former Governor Dr Peter Odili to the Government of Cross River ...
House mourns army chief, others
Members of the House of Representatives have expressed sadness over the death of Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and his entourage in an air crash in Kaduna. Attahiru, along with six senior officers and four crew members were onboard Nigerian Air Force Kingair 350 from Abuja to Kaduna, ahead of today’s passing out parade of soldiers from the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, when the crash happened amid torrential rainfall, on Friday evening. The Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in a statement issued on Saturday described as shocking and sad the death Attahiru and others involved in the plane crash. Gbajabiamila said the death of the Army Chief was unfortunate coming at a time that the Nigerian military was finding solutions to the security challenges in the country...
Strike: Kaduna government, NLC reach agreement
The Kaduna State Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress have reached an agreement on the plan by the state government to lay off workers. The NLC has since Monday led workers to protest against the plan by the Kaduna government to lay off the workers. The late Thursday agreement between the two parties was brokered by the federal government in Abuja. Part of the agreement was that the Kaduna government will follow due process and the “principle of redundancy,” as stipulated in Section 20 of the Labour Act, in its Public Service Revitalization and Renewal Programme, which is expected to lead to the retrenchment and sack of workers. The parties also agreed that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) twill no longer continue with its industrial action while no worker shall be victimized by the...
Kano council boss laments influx of illegal miners from Zamfara
Bashir Abdullahi Kutama, Chairman of Gwarzo Local Government Area in Kano State, has raised concerns over the influx of Zamfara-based miners into his locality for illegal mining operations. The Chairman raised the alarm during a town hall meeting on Thursday with representatives of security agencies, village heads, transport unions and sections of the public. The meeting was intended to streamline modalities to improve and strengthen security of lives and property in his area. Kutama told his audience that he had recently introduced a migrants registration system in all parts of the local government, directing traditional leaders to form security watch committees in their respective communities. He added that the local government management was taking adequate precautionary security measur...
Rice millers protest ‘multiple taxation’ in Ebonyi
Rice millers in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, have protested against what they claimed to be multiple taxation in the state’s mill market. The millers, who decried alleged extortions of traders by the management of the market, called on the state government to find a lasting solution to it. They appealed to the government to review its revenue policy and reduce the increased taxes. The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions such as, “Management should not take rice mill as their father’s business”, “We are tired of the multiple and high taxes”, “We need an elected chairman and not Caretaker Committee to move development forward in the mill.” Speaking with journalists in Abakaliki on Tuesday, Chukwuma Eniokoro, the chairman of millers in the market, said they embarked on the pea...
Nigerian anti-graft agencies urged to beam searchlight on professional bodies
Human rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), members of civil society groups and others have called on anti-graft agencies to beam their searchlight on professional bodies in the country if the fight against corruption must be successful. Falana and others are of the opinion that until members of professional bodies who are found to have aided crimes and criminality are sanctioned, corruption will continue to be on the rise. Falana, Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Olarenwaju Suraj, and Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), Mr Sadiq Radda, argued that professionals such as lawyers, accountants, bankers etc should be made to face the same punishment alongside their criminal clients. They made the suggestions on Wednesday...
NDLEA intercepts 4.9 million capsules of Tramadol
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Wednesday said it intercepted 4,995,200 capsules of tramadol weighing 2,498.2kilogrammes at the Onne port, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja. He said efforts by the NDLEA to block access and availability of illicit substances led to the interception of the container conveying the illicit drugs. Babafemi said the seizure of the illicit drug concealed in 1,387 cartons on Tuesday, May 18 followed a joint examination by NDLEA operatives and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) personnel. He said the drugs were concealed in a container marked MRKU 0764717 which had been on the agency’s watch list. In another development, a 42-year-old man, Muntari Hamidu, has been arrest...
Kaduna strike: Northern governors call for calm
The Northern Governors Forum has called for calm and dialogue between Kaduna State Government and organised labour, to resolve the ongoing warning strike by workers in the state. The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau, Mr Simon Lalong, made the call in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr. Makut Macham, on Tuesday in Jos. He said the forum was concerned of the impact of the strike on the state and its residents following the lockdown of economic activities in the state. The chairman noted that dialogue and negotiations were effective tools of addressing dispute in labour relations. He called for restraint and de-escalation of the situation to enable amicable resolutions. He pointed out that peaceful resolution was only possible when both parties operate wi...
Kaduna strike: Nigerian governors appeal to NLC to exercise restraint
Governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to exercise calm and restraint in its engagement with the Kaduna State government. The NGF in a statement on Monday by its chairman and Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, called for cautious introspection on the part of Labour as no meaningful progress of any kind has ever been achieved in an atmosphere of conflict and chaos. He said the NGF also wishes to remind the NLC that its actions could become counter-productive especially as the last year 2020 adversely affected workers socially and economically. “Therefore the NGF advises the NLC to explore the already open avenue of rapprochement that the Kaduna State government has provided to resolve the matter and join the State...
South East leaders decry injustice against Igbo
Pool Photo A leading Igbo social-political group, Nzuko Umuna, says that Nigeria, particularly the South East, is witnessing insecurity because of injustice, inequalities and lack of governance. Addressing reporters in Abuja on Monday, Sam Amadi, chairman of the legal committee of the think tank, said the unfair and unequal treatment of citizens have compounded the insecurity crisis. Amadi said the South East used to be the ‘safest region in Nigeria, but has become a site of organised criminality.’ ‘Nzuko Umuna recognises that Nigeria has descended into a depth of insecurity partly because of the failure of governance across the country and particularly because of inequities and injustices of political leadership in Nigeria,’ the former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commi...