Spokesman
More than 90 killed in Myanmar in one of bloodiest days of protests
Security forces killed more than 90 people across Myanmar on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days of protests since a military coup last month, news reports and witnesses said. The lethal crackdown came on Armed Forces Day. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital Naypyitaw to mark the event that the military would protect the people and strive for democracy. State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot “in the head and back”. Despite this, demonstrators against the Feb. 1 coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns. The Myanmar Now news portal said 91 people were killed across the country by security forces. A boy reported by local media to be as young as five was among at least 29 people killed in...
Police: Whereabouts of abducted Ogun monarch unknown
Ogun Police Command has said it is still searching for a traditional ruler, Oba Tajudeen Omotayo of Imope land, in Ijebu Igbo area of Ogun State who was abducted by gunmen on Saturday. Spokesman of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi said that operatives from relevant units have been drafted to Ijebu-Igbo in Ijebu North local government area to rescue the monarch but have neither located the abductee nor the abductors. Abimbola, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the “search and rescue” task by the operatives would continue until the captive is rescued unhurt. It was learnt the monarch was returning from Ijebu-Ode in his vehicle marked W 3J9 when gunmen accosted him at Oke-Eri area of Imope, pulled him out and took him away to an unknown destination, leaving his vehicle on the Ijebu-Ode-Oru...
Ekiti by-election: Shot policewoman recuperating – CP
Contrary to the news making the rounds, that a policewoman lost her life during Saturday’s bloody poll, in Ekiti East Constituency 1, the Ekiti State Police Commissioner, Mr Babatunde Mobayo, has clarified that she is alive and responding to treatment. Mobayo said the Policewoman who was shot during Saturday’s House of Assembly bye-election, only sustained gunshot wounds and was immediately rushed to the hospital for medicare. Three persons were on Saturday shot dead by suspected party thugs while five others sustained gunshot wounds during the House of Assembly bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state constituency. Speaking with journalists via telephone in Ado Ekiti, on Sunday, Mobayo, who responded through the Command’s spokesman, ASP S...
National Assembly members agreed not to be hostile to Prudent Buhari’s government – Senate spokesman
The current 9th National Assembly members all agreed that they will not have an acrimonious relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, unlike the 8th Assembly under Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara. Spokesman of the senate, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, who represents Osun Central disclosed this in an interview published in newsmen on Wednesday while responding to claims that the current national assembly is a rubber-stamp that is always quick to do the bidding of the executive. He said “I don’t know the basis for your question, but what I do know is that at the inception, there was an agreement among the lawmakers that we do not want an acrimonious relationship between the Executive and the Legislature”. “All of us witnessed how such a relationship worked against the interest of...
FRSC intensifies enforcement of use of helmet – spokesman
File Photo The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is deploying all its operational energies in enforcing the use of helmets by motorcyclists across the country, its spokesman Mr Bisi Kazeem has said. Kazeem, the Corps Public Education Officer (CPEO) of the FRSC, said this on Monday in Abuja in an interview with newsmen. He stressed that the enforcement had reduced fatalities in the event of crash, adding that motorcyclists were vulnerable road users as most of the crashes involving them were fatal. According to him, the use of helmets reduce damage to sensitive parts of their bodies, including eyes, skull, brain and nose. “As such, the use of helmets does not only make them responsible, but saves their lives in most cases. “Currently, our records show that there is significant improvement in...
Anambra poll: PDP fixes date for governorship primary election
File Photo The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that its governorship candidate for the November 6, Anambra State governorship poll will emerge on June 26. The governorship primary to produce the PDP candidate will be preceded by ward congresses to elect 3-man Ad-hoc delegates on June 10 and 11. The PDP stated this, on Sunday night, in a statement by its National Organising Secretary, Austin Akonbundu. According to the statement, collection of nomination and expression of interest forms expected to begin on March 10 and end on March 31. Aspirants for the PDP governorship ticket are to pay N1 million for Expression of Interest Form and N20million for Nomination Form. However, female aspirants are to pay only N1million for the Expression of Interest Form, while they will get the nomin...
Lobbyist says Myanmar junta wants to improve relations with the West, spurn China
An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar’s junta said on Saturday that the generals are keen to leave politics after their coup and seek to improve relations with the United States and distance themselves from China. Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli military intelligence official who has previously represented Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s military rulers, said Myanmar’s generals also want to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who fled to neighboring Bangladesh. The United Nations says more than 50 demonstrators have been killed since the Feb. 1 coup when the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won polls in November by a landslide. On Friday, a U.N. special envoy urged the Security Council to take action against t...
CNG: Northerners should be wary of Yayaha Bello, Femi Fani-Kayode
The Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, has said that Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, fooled the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria, AUFCDN, to suspend its strike action and resume supply of food items to the South. It also said northerners should be wary of the duo, who it accused of being driven by personal interests and not the interest of the North. The leading northern group said this in a statement by its spokesman, Suleiman Abdul-azeez, made available to newsmen today. The statement reads: “The Coalition of Northern Groups CNG is of the view that the conclusion to suspend strike action embarked by the cattle and foodstuff dealers under the aegis of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN) was fo...
Bayelsa governor: 2.5% revenue for host communities ‘unacceptable’ to Niger Delta
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa on Tuesday proposed that 10 per cent of derived oil revenue be provided in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) for the host communities. Mr Diri, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, said this on Tuesday during a townhall meeting on the bill with members of the National Assembly in Yenagoa. The governor said the 2.5 per cent revenue proposed for the host communities in the PIB was grossly inadequate and unacceptable to the people of the Niger Delta. He argued that if the National Assembly members saw firsthand the level of environmental degradation and its attendant effects on the people, they would not hesitate to increase it from 10 per cent. Mr Diri stressed that the PIB was critical in addressing issues such as unemployment, lack of tran...
IPMAN advises Nigerian to stop panic buying of petrol
AHA Taxis The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has advised Nigerians to stop panic buying and stocking of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol. Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu, the National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, gave the advice in an interview with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja. Yakubu fielded questions on the long fuel queues recorded at some filling stations in Abuja. He decried the panic purchases and long queues witnessed in various filling stations across the nation’s federal capital. Yakubu however said that crude oil price has gone up and it has affected the price products. He assured Nigerians that normal supply of petroleum products would soon be restored since loading have commenced at various deports. “We want to assure the buyers that g...
Sokoto villages deserted as bandits kill residents
Suspected bandits have raided some communities in the eastern part of Sokoto state, killing four persons and rustled several livestock. Colonel Garba Moyi (rtd), the state Commissioner for Carrier and Security Matters, confirmed the attacks, saying three persons were killed at Bargaja village in Isa local government area while one was killed in a community under Sabon Birni local government. Newsmen learnt that the attackers invaded Bargaja around 2pm on Thursday, shooting sporadically. A resident said six persons were shot in the village, but only three died while the remaining three are currently receiving treatment in the hospitals. A resident of Isa who identified himself as Surajo, told newsmen that inhabitants of Bargaja, Tozai, Turba and Danzanke have all relocated to Isa town follo...
Kidnappers abduct schoolchildren in northwest Nigeria – official
Kidnappers have abducted schoolchildren in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state, a spokesman for the state governor said on Friday, but declined to say how many people were taken or provide further details. A police spokesman for the state did not immediately respond to calls and messages seeking comment. This is the second such kidnapping in a little over a week in Nigeria’s north, where a surge in armed militancy in the northwest has led to a widespread and worsening breakdown of security. Last week, unidentified gunmen killed a student in an overnight attack on a boarding school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger and kidnapped 42 people, including 27 students. The hostages are yet to be released. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are lo...
