Governor
Governor Obaseki, PDP mourn ex-Edo speaker
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party have mourned the death of former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Zakawanu Garuba. Garuba (54), who was speaker between 2007 and 2009, was said to have died in Abuja in the early hours of Saturday after a brief illness. Obaseki, in a statement, said the former Speaker’s passing was “a deep personal loss to him.” According to him, “I received the news of the passing of Rt. Hon. Zakawanu Garuba with a heavy heart. He was an outstanding Nigerian and a good man. He worked for the good of the people and contributed his quota to the development of his immediate community and the state. “As Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services & Supervising Executive Commissioner, Operations at the Secu...
Kidnapped ex-Taraba senator cries out to governor for help
Kidnapped former Senator, representing Taraba North, Zik Ambonu Sunday, has cried out from his abductors’ den, calling on Governor Darius Ishaku to pay the fifty million naira ransom being demanded so that he could regain his freedom. The ex-senator was kidnapped in his Bachama village, Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba at about 1.30 am last Saturday, according to police spokesman, David Misal. Zik Ambonu Sunday was senator from 2003 to 2007. The abductee has also called on the federal House of Representatives member from Karim–Lamido/Ardo-Kola, Danladi Baido, to assist in making up the ransom cash. His abductors had initially demanded N100 million as ransom. But a few minutes ago -after spending a week with him, they reduced the ransom cash to N50 million, after series of negot...
Police ask Governor Wike to handover ex-NDDC chief
Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, has called on Governor Nyesom Wike to handover former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Joy Nunieh, to him. On Thursday, July 17, 2020, Governor Wike stopped police operatives from arresting Nunieh from her residence. The governor, who argued that the police had no arrest warrant, thereafter took Nunieh under protective custody in Government House, Port Harcourt. However, while addressing journalists at his office on Friday, July 18, 2020, in Port Harcourt, Mukan asked Wike to handover Nunieh to him, saying the former NDDC MD was under investigation. He said the police officers from the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit had been endorsed the Rivers State Police Command before going to Nunieh’s residence to arrest he...
Zamfara offers cows for guns to halt bandit attacks
Authorities in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state have offered two cows for each gun surrendered to halt bloody attacks by criminal gangs, including cattle rustlers. Remote communities across the region have for years been hit hard by deadly raids from armed groups of motorcycle-riding cattle rustlers and kidnappers. Military operations have failed to end the killings and local officials have tried repeated negotiations to broker peace. Zamfara governor Bello Matawalle said on Thursday that under the new initiative “for every rifle submitted by a repentant bandit, there would be compensation of two cows”. Matawalle said the offer of livestock was meant to convince the gangs, known as “bandits”, to disarm without cash payments that could be used to buy more arms. There was no indication i...
South-South Governors support audit of NDDC
The South-South Governors Forum on Thursday declared wholehearted support for a forensic audit of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. It deplored, with great concern, the crisis rocking the commission and said that it was convinced and expecting that the audit would serve to put the NDDC on a sound corporate governance footing and reposition it to better deliver on its mandate. In a statement by Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Delta, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa, the governors also gave full backing to the ongoing investigation of the commission by the Senate. According to it, we believe the Senate is operating within its oversight functions through the ad hoc committee set up for that purpose. “It behoves us to respect the Senate oversight ...
Nigerian government threatens sanctions over violation of airport coronavirus protocols
The Federal Government is probing reported violations of COVID-19 safety protocols by some high profile Nigerians accessing some of the newly-reopened airports in the country. The probe, government said, involving Adamawa State governor, Ahmadu Fintiri and the former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, is with a view to sanctioning violators if it is established that they indeed violated the rules, or apologise to them should the result of the investigations exonerate them. Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, PTF, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, who did not mention the names of alleged violators of safety protocols, urged them to desist from flouting the guidelines. He said: “You will all recall that the aviation sector reo...
Abdulaziz Yari: I never assaulted airport official
The immediate past Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has denied reports that he assaulted an airport official last Saturday at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano. This was even as Yari demanded that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), retract its offensive tweets regarding the incidence and tender an apology for the falsehood peddled against him. Yari in a statement by his media consultant, Mayowa Oluwabiyi, said although he did use the airport on the said date, but such incidence never occurred. Recall that FAAN had on Wednesday in a series of tweets, condemned Yari’s action for violating COVID-19 directive at the airport. FAAN further alleged that Yari refused to adhere to the protocols and procedures put in place by the Federal Government th...
Lagos government opens recruitment portal for doctors, health workers
The Lagos State Government on Wednesday, opened its portal for the recruitments of over 700 doctors and other health workers. It said that the exercise is in a bid to ensure adequate manpower in all its health facilities and the need to fill the vacant positions in the 27 General Hospitals across state necessitated the recruitment exercise for efficient and top-class healthcare delivery in all government health facilities. The State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said that approval was given for the Health Service Commission to employ over 760 health workers of which 400 would be doctors in line with the government’s commitment towards addressing the shortage of health workers across the state. He however disclosed that the exercise has been phased in batches to ensure compliance with coron...
Communal clash between Lungudas in Adamawa, Wajas in Gombe claims score of lives
Scores of people have been reportedly killed, while many were injured in the renewed communal clash between the Lungada ethnic group in Adamawa state and their Wajas counterpart in Gombe state. Locals in the troubled area confirmed that no fewer than ten people were killed in the latest uprising on both sides of the conflict, including a councillor with Guyuk local government council, whose identity is not known as at press time, Adamawa State Police command which has confirmed the reoccurring skirmishes, however, did not confirm the casualty figure. Pique by the reoccurring crisis and the attendant loss of lives and property, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa state has imposed a 24-hour curfew in Guyuk local government and parts of Lamurde local government predominantly occupied by the W...
Former Ekiti governor wants Ibrahim Magu placed on watch list so he won’t flee
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has asked security agencies in the country to place suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, on watch list. Fayose took to his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday to call on the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service, amongst others. According to the former governor, Magu should be placed on the country’s watch list so that he won’t disappear into thin air. He wrote, “Just as Magu directed that I be placed on “watch-list” even when I had immunity as a sitting governor, Magu too must be placed on watch-list so that he won’t run away. EFCC, DSS, Customs, Police, Immigration, Army, Navy, Air Force, oth...
Governor Wike: Abdullahi Ganduje has exposed plot to rig Edo election
Rivers State Governor and Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Campaign Council for Edo Governorship Election, Nyesom Wike, has said the statement credited to Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, that he (Wike) will be quarantined, was an admission of the plot by the party to use security forces to rig the Edo State election come September 19. Wike who addressed party leaders and members of the 93-member campaign council said the alleged confession of Ganduje was a challenge to the Edo people who have the responsibility to make their choice as electorate on election day. The chairman of the campaign council said while the council members may not have right to vote in Edo State, the security agencies should work by their mandate as provided for in the law and not go outside ...
Ondo doctors withdraw services from infectious disease centre
The National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP) in Ondo State has directed its members to withdraw their services from the state’s Infectious Disease Centre with immediate effect. The association said the directive became imperative due to government’s failure to meet their demands. The union had last month withdrawn the services of its members working in the employ of the state government following government failure to accede to their demands. The NAGGMDP Secretary in the state, Dr Olasakinju TJ, said government’s intervention has so far lacked a ‘human face’. ‘We had through the congress directed that our members who are the COVID-19 specialists in the Infectious Disease Hospital, Akure, to continue to work till Thursday morning, 2nd July 2020 i...
