State Security
Laurent Gbagbo files for divorce, to end 30-year marriage
Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo filed for divorce on Monday from his wife of three decades, his lawyer said, days after his highly anticipated return to the country. Gbagbo’s lawyer Claude Mentenon said in a statement that after years of “rejected requests for Simone Ehivet to consent to an amicable separation”, the ex-president had asked an Abidjan court for a divorce. The announcement comes four days after Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast following a decade’s absence, during which he was tried for crimes against humanity during the post-election conflict of 2010-11. Simone Gbagbo wielded significant political influence as first lady, and was arrested alongside her husband in April 2011 after he refused to concede defeat, sparking a conflict that left some 3,000 people dead. G...
Bayelsa government wades into communal crisis, warns against gunrunning
The Bayelsa State Government has read the riot act to those engaged in gunrunning in the state and warned such persons to desist from the unwholesome activity or they would face the full wrath of the law. Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo gave the warning while addressing the chiefs and people of Peretoru community in the Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state during a resumed meeting in the Government House, Yenagoa, on Saturday. Among those also present at the meeting were the representatives of the state Command of Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS) and Joint Task Force (JTF). A statement on Sunday by the deputy governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, said the meeting was part of ongoing efforts by the state government to resolve the leade...
Official: Nigerian government to establish central database for forfeited assets
The Federal Government’s inter-ministerial committee on assets disposal said Tuesday that it would create a central database of assets for finally forfeited assets. The chairman of the committee, Dayo Apata, said this during a courtesy visit of the committee to the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja. Mr Apata, who is the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, said: “the committee will create a central database of assets that had been forfeited to the Federal Government to ensure the Federal Government gets value for all the forfeited assets”. “Introducing uniform process of assets disposal, and avoiding wastages, so that the Federal Government can have the full benefit of what has been forfeited,” a statem...
Official: Gombe records 200 rape, 37 sodomy cases in 2020
Gombe State Commissioner for internal security and Ethical Orientation, Dauda Zambuk, on Saturday said the state recorded 200 rape, 37 sodomy and 10 kidnap cases in 2020 with five recorded in January of the new year 2021 alone. Addressing a group of journalists in his office in Gombe Zambuk said 61 persons were also arrested for an act of gross indecency while three children were reported abandoned. “In all the total number of 314 suspects were arrested and all were charged to court,” he said. The commissioner said the state government after the investigation was a shock to find out that all kidnappings were perpetrated by criminals from the neighbouring Adamawa and Taraba States. According to Zambuk, 40 rape cases were lodged in Gombe alone while 39 attempted rape were reported in the ent...
