Port Harcourt
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...
IGP set to launch new police operation in South-South
The Acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, is expected to launch a new tactical unit of the Nigeria Police Force in the South-South, Wednesday. The new tactical unit christened Operation Restore Peace in the South-South region would tackle issues of insecurity in the oil-rich region. It would be recalled that the Federal Government had announced that it was coming up with a new security formation for the South-South and South-East in order to end the wave of attacks on security formations in the areas. National Publicity Secretary of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Hon Ken Robinson, had condemned the move and urged the FG not to be selective in its programs and policies However, the Acting IGP, Alkali, on Tuesday inaugurated the said outfit in the South-Eastern part of the countr...
Rivers governor: We can’t succumb to secessionist agenda
The Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, has declared that his state will not be cowed into secessionist agenda. This is just as Wike condemned the killings of seven police officers in the state. The governor in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, after an emergency meeting of the Security Council at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Saturday called for calm in the state. Wike, who presided over the meeting, condemned the attacks by the unidentified armed assailants on some police formations. He reiterated that no amount of intimidation or cruel resort to barbaric attacks will make the State succumb to the secessionist agenda of those who are bent on plunging Nigeria into another unwarranted crisis. However, Wike, on behalf of the Government of Rivers ...
Nigerian government establishes 20 new marriage registries
The Federal Government has established 20 new Federal Marriage Registries across the country in a bid to bring Federal Marriage Registry closer to the grassroots. Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola disclosed this Friday in Abuja at a National Stakeholders’ Conference on the Administration and Conduct of Statutory Marriage in Nigeria. According to him, efforts are ongoing to have Federal Marriage Registries in all the State Capitals of the Federation. A statement issued by the ministry’s Department of Press and Public Relations and signed by Towoju Raphael added that the Minister was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Shuaib Belgore. He said the Conference was necessitated by need for the Ministry to inform stakeholders and enlighten the public on some new...
Rivers governor imposes statewide curfew
Governor Nyesom Wike has imposed statewide curfew on Rivers based on the advice of the state security council. The Council gave the advice after an exhaustive deliberation at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Thursday based on threats of attack on the State, Governor Wike said in a broadcast on Thursday. He said, ” Security Council has imposed Consequently, a night curfew is hereby imposed on the entire 23 Local Government Areas of the State prohibiting any human and or vehicular movement within or any part of the State from 10.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. from today 29th April 2021 until further notice.” The governor recalled that on 28th April 2021, the State Security Council, in consideration of the recent murderous attacks on security personnel in Ikwerre and Abua/Odual Local Government A...
PANDEF seeks South-south security outfit
The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has paid a consultative visit to former President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja to discuss the current security situation of the country and South south matters particularly the need for a regional security arrangement for the South-South as being done by other zones in the country. The PANDEF delegation led by the National Chairman, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, said they visited the former President because he was a key voice in the country, and the political leader of the Niger Delta Region, and that his vast knowledge and understanding of the complexities and intricacies of the country, and the region, would be of immense benefit to PANDEF, and other groups in the country in the efforts to resolving the challenges we are confronted with. The group in a s...
NIMASA: SPOMO act improving Nigeria’s image
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) says the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, is improving Nigeria’s image in its fight against piracy and sea robbery. Dr Bashir Jamoh, Director-General, NIMASA, said this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos. He said that the Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in June, 2019 was to end piracy and sea robbery in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea. He made this known at the maiden edition of the Nigerian Admiralty Law Colloquium organised recently in Lagos by the agency, in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI). The colloquium had the theme, “Achieving Maritime Safety, Security and Shipping Development (TRIPODS) through Enforcement of Legislations and the Implementation of th...
PDP wins all seats in Rivers council election
File Photo In line with expectation and trends in other parts of the country, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers has been declared the winner of all the chairpersons and councillorship seats contested for in the State local government election held on Saturday. The announcement that the PDP won all the seats contested for in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers was made by the State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, in Port Harcourt on Sunday. However, one of the parties that participated in the election, the Social Democratic Party, SDP has described the poll as a ‘sham’ while calling for the resignation of Chairman of RSIEC, Justice George Omereji [rtd]. The party also called for cancellation of all the results of the election. The SDP councillorship candidate ...
PAP sets JAMB as criteria for ex-agitators to get scholarship
The Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, has explained that its new policy mandated all ex-agitators desiring to benefit from its scholarship scheme to first take the examination organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB. Amnesty office said the new policy was designed to eliminate mediocrity in the programme, adding that the scheme was aimed at transforming ex-agitators into well-educated entrepreneurs and employable citizens. PAP’s Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio, disclosed in a statement in Port Harcourt signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Nneotaobase Egbe, that the policy was vital for the personal, intellectual and mental growth and development of the delegates. Dikio explained that PAP was targeted at ensuring that beneficiaries of PAP schol...
Gunmen abduct APC caretaker committee chairman in Rivers
The Rivers Chapter of the APC has announced the abduction of Hiasine Wiye, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of APC in Khana Local Government area of the State. He was kidnapped in his residence on on Sunday evening, according to the party in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by its Spokesman, Ogbonna Nwuke. He expressed dismay at the abduction of a grassroots member of the party. The party said the abduction of Wiye without any trace confirmed the claim that even ordinary citizens resident in Rivers State are not safe. “The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State was snatched on Sunday from his home by unknown persons. “We have been briefed that he was taken into captivity at a time when well meaning people were celebrating the resurrection ...
Rivers 2023: Ogoni begs PDP, APC for governorship slot
People of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State, have appealed to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), to cede the 2023 governorship slot to their area. KAGOTE, the apex socio-cultural organization in Ogoni, made this call yesterday, saying that it was for the sake of political equity. President of KAGOTE, Emmanuel Deeyah, stated that no person from Ogoni has governed Rivers since the creation of the state. Deeyah, in a statement signed by the Acting Publicity Secretary of the organization, Mr. Obele Chu, in Port Harcourt, explained that the move would enhance equity and political justice in favour of Ogoni. Deeyah’s reaction followed a recent comment credited to the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, that the chances of qualified and i...
Rivers government launches new security outfit
The Rivers State Government has launched a new security outfit to help maintain security in the oil-rich state. The security outfit, called C4i, was launched on Thursday in Port Harcourt by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike. Wike, in a series tweets, said the outfit comprises 400 police officers and 200 officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and that they have been trained in “relevant skills to ensure they carry out their duty efficiently”. “We have made appreciable success in the area of security but we wouldn’t rest on our oars. “With C4i, we intend to take it a step further by adopting a proactive policing approach and nipping the effort of criminals in the bud,” the governor said at the inauguration ceremony which was attended the Assistant Inspector General of...
