Members
Police recruit 503 special constables in Nasarawa
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has engaged 503 Special Constables (SCP) for community policing in Nasarawa State, to enhance intelligence gathering in tackling insecurity and crime. Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 4, Mr. Jonah John, made the disclosure on Monday in Lafia, at a one-day sensitisation campaign on community policing in Nasarawa. According to him, 49 of the 503 recruited SCP have successfully undergone training and posted to their various communities in the state to serve. The AIG added that 454 of the recruited SCP were currently undergoing training at the police Zone 4 Headquarters in Makurdi, Benue State. Speaking at the event, Peter Yisa-Gana, Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) Special Rapporteur on Community Policing for Nasarawa, Benue and P...
Ebonyi governor denies giving cultists N3 million
Governor David Umahi on Monday said he did not give N3 million to placate notorious cult groups allegedly terrorising residents of the state. Umahi said this when the 13 Local Government Area Chairmen, Coordinators of Development Centres, with their Management Committee members, among other political appointees, paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House, Abakiliki. He dismissed the report that he gave the money to the groups through his security aide. According to him, he had ordered a manhunt for members of the groups. “How can a warrior such as me bribe cultists, to do what with the money? The duty of political leaders and the citizens is to give me the names of the cultists because I will give them a bad Christmas celebration. “I am searching for them whether they are in gover...
AIBA approves new constitution in bid to regain IOC recognition
International Boxing Association (AIBA) has taken a step towards repairing a much-maligned governance structure that has been frequently criticised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after it approved an updated constitution at its virtual Congress. Under the new constitution, AIBA has installed term limits, rebranded the Executive Committee to the Board of Directors and reduced the number of members on the ruling body from 32 to 22. AIBA is hopeful the renewed document will appease the IOC, which last year suspended it as the Olympic governing body for the sport and stripped it of any involvement in the boxing tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games because of concerns over its governance, finances and refereeing and judging. The Inquiry Committee, led by IOC Executive Board ...
Air passengers decry upsurge in fares, seek urgent attention to roads, railway
Nigerians, who travel by air, have decried the “sudden” upsurge in air fares and urged the Federal Government to intervene to avoid poor patronage that could dwindle the fortunes of the aviation industry. Newsmen report that the air fares shot up by about 100 per cent in the last one week, with some airline operators even raising their fares by as much as 120 per cent or more. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the fare from Abuja to Lagos, which was N35,300 (Economy Class), rose to between N70,000 and N75,000. Newsmen found that Business Class travellers were charged between N100,000 and N120,000, depending on the airline. Our correspondents, who visited other airports across the country, found that the rise in airfares was the same, a situation that forced some passengers to...
Shiites call for release of Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites, have called for unconditional release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, along with those still in detention. Recalled that the convoy of Army Chief of Staff, Lt. General Yusuf Buratai had clashed with members of IMN in Zaria on December 12, 2015, leading to death of several persons on the fateful day. Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife and some Shiites have been detention, and undergoing court trial since the incident happened. In a statement on Sunday by the IMN media Spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa to mark the 5th anniversary of the Zaria killings, it noted that five years in detention amounted to systematic oppression of Zakzaky and other members of the Movement. “As we mark the fifth anniversary of this Zaria Genocide Memori...
Ondo tertiary institutions to shut down as unions declare strike
Non-academic staff of Ondo State-owned tertiary institutions have declared a 14-day warning strike over six months unpaid salaries. The strike will commence on Monday. The workers are embarking on the strike under the Joint Action Committee (JAC). They said the state government had refused to honour the union’s demands. They are aggrieved over the delay in the release of monthly subvention to the institutions which has caused a delay in payment of salary. According to JAC’s notice signed by Aguda Temitope Secretary of Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU); J.O. Fagbemi of National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), and A.O. Ogungbeni, all of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko (AAUA), and addressed to the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, the strike is due to failure of ...
Court stops COSON from general distribution practice
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has declared that the General Distribution which is practised by the Copyright Society of Nigeria, COSON, is illegal. The practise involves the annual distribution of the same amount of music royalties, usually about N30,000 each, to thousands of the organization’s members. This practice was challenged in court by the Music Publishers’ Association of Nigeria, MPAN, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1418/2019; Green Light Music Publishing Ltd, Chocolate City Music Ltd, Premier Music Publishing Company Ltd v. Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte. The judgement which was delivered on November 25, 2020, by Justice Oguntoyinbo also ordered COSON to stop further distribution of royalties “in a manner known as ‘General Distribution’ or how so ever called which does not re...
Lagos anti-one way squad impounds 42 vehicles
Three police officers and a naval rating are part of the offenders whose vehicles were impounded on Friday in an enforcement carried out by the Anti-One way and Other Traffic Offences Squad of the Lagos State Government. The traffic offenders met their Waterloo during the Squad’s operations along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and Mile 2 area of the State. No fewer than 42 vehicles, including two articulated trucks and commercial tricycles, driving against the traffic were arrested by the Squad led by the Commander of policemen in Governor’s Monitoring Team (GMT), Shola Jejeloye, a Superintendent of Police (SP). The Friday enforcement was jointly carried out by the Squad and men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). The Squad was specially created, last Monday, by the Commissi...
Lagos governor goes into isolation after close aide tests positive for coronavirus
After one of his closest aides tested positive for COVID-19, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has gone into self-isolation immediately. Professor Akin Abayomi, the state’s Commissioner for Health, in a statement Friday, said: “Mr. Governor and other members of his team will be tested by the Lagos State biobank today but will remain in isolation until the results of the tests are available. “We are seeing slightly increasing number of COVID-19 positive cases in clusters in Lagos and all Lagosians should adhere to the prescribed advisories of safe distancing, good hand and respiratory hygiene and avoidance of unnecessary gatherings.” He stressed that “this is not the first time Mr. Governor is having the COVID-19 test. He has had at least three since May when he announced that 1...
Police arrest kidnapper of ex-Ekiti commissioner
Ekiti Police Command said it has arrested one person in connection with the kidnap of a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Mr Folorunsho Olabode. The suspect was among those paraded by Mr Sunday Abutu, the command’s Public Relations Officer, in Ado-Ekiti for their alleged involvement in various criminal activities. Abutu said that the suspect was arrested inside a forest at Ilemeso-Ekiti in Oye Local Government area of the state. “During interrogation, the suspect confessed to being a member of the syndicate that kidnapped Mr Folorunso Olabode, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state,” he said. The police spokesman said that the suspect also mentioned other members of his gang, including the two who had earlier been arrested, prosecuted and were now being remanded...
APC chieftain alleges plan to destabilize party using courts in Rivers
Chris Finebone, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, claims he has uncovered plans by a group working in cohort with the Rivers government to use the state judiciary to destabilize the party. Finebone, a former spokesperson for the party in Rivers made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday. He alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike and the Rivers chapter of PDP hatched the plot to destabilize the APC nationwide by making available Rivers State courts to enemies of the party (within and from outside the State) to file all manner of cases against it with a view to destabilizing the party as politics of 2023 approaches. Finebone further claimed that he learned from sources he did not disclose that the decision to use Rivers Courts was hatched at the highest level of government directl...
House of Reps suspends President Buhari’s scheduled appearance
The House of Representatives on Wednesday suspended its earlier plan for a briefing by President Muhammadu Buhari, after it became clear the president would no longer honour the House’s invitation. At plenary Wednesday, the House failed to mention an item on its order paper to admit Mr Buhari into the House chamber. It was the clearest evidence Mr Buhari, who was billed to explain the terrible security situation in the country to lawmakers, had cancelled the plan, confirming a report he would back off. All Progressives Congress (APC) governors had urged Mr Buhari to shelve his scheduled appearance. At a Tuesday night meeting between the governors and the party’s caucus in the National Assembly, those in attendance argued for hours on reasons for and against the appearance of the president ...
