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Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has accused members of the opposition party of using old and doctored videos to blackmail him.

Soludo, who spoke through his press secretary, Christian Aburime, was reacting to two videos trending on the internet, where some youths, led by a former commissioner, Christian Madubuko, made derogatory chants against the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and another where Soludo said that he will not work with lawmakers from other political parties.

Aburime, in his response to the first video, said it was old and was made during the regime of the former governor, Chief Willie Obiano when he had squabbles with the commissioner.

Following the unfortunate auto crash along Enugu-Onitsha expressway by CBN bus stop, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, on Thursday, which was allegedly caused by wrong overtaking, leaving some people dead and others injured, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has visited the scene of the accident.

Governor Ugwuanyi who was represented by his deputy, Hon. Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, thereafter, proceeded to ESUT Teaching Hospital, Parklane, Enugu, to empathise with the survivors of the accident and ensure that they are receiving adequate medical treatment.

The governor, who commiserated with the families of the deceased, empathised with surviving victims and directed the management of the hospital to deploy all possible medical expertise to ensure their survival.

The Anambra State Police Command has launched a manhunt for three suspects for allegedly stabbing a man, identified simply as Chikodili, to death during a disagreement over N1,600 in Ogidi, in the Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.PUNCH Metro gathered that until his death, Chikodili, who hailed from Ebonyi State, was a scrap dealer at Tarzan Junction along the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway, Nkpor, in Idemili North LGA

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Iyorchia Ayu, will on Monday (today) lead some governors elected on the platform of the party on a protest march to the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters, Abuja, over the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.The development has, however, sparked apprehension in the Federal Capital Territory as residents feared the march may result in violence following the anger over the conduct and outcome of the polls.

Soldiers attached to troops of Sector Four of Operation Whirl Punch, and Special Forces of the 167 Battalion have killed one bandit after engaging in a fierce battle with the outlaws in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.The superior fire power of the troops, it was learnt, forced the hoodlums to flee in disarray.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, have refused to concede defeat in the February 25 presidential election, vowing to recover their mandate in court.

The two candidates rebuffed the gesture of conciliation made by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, who in his acceptance speech after he was declared the winner of the poll on Wednesday, asked them to support him in the task of building the nation.

Atiku and Obi spoke at separate news conferences in Abuja on Thursday.

 In the early hours of Wednesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Tinubu as the President-elect after the 70-year-old polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rivals, Atiku and Obi who scored 6,984,520 and 6,101, votes, respectively.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect.Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, was declared the president-elect after the 70-year-old polled 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja during the early hours of Wednesday.

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP  Peter Obi has defeated the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Lagos, his home state.

According to the results declared, Obi polled 582,664 while Tinubu scored 541,850.

The Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Cross River State chapter,  Dr Lawrence Ekwok, has called for the cancellation of elections in areas where some people were not allowed to vote or where BVAS, ballot boxes and other election materials were either carted away or destroyed by political thugs.

He made the call in a statement he issued on Saturday night after the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

According to him, “Other areas where elections should be cancelled and repeated should include polling units or states where ballot papers did not contain the logo of some political parties.

“Doing this will avoid possible protests from those who feel disenfranchised and will also discourage thuggery of any form.

Gunmen, in the early hours of Tuesday, razed the country home of the Imo State Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Emeka Okoronkwo.Also razed is the country home of a former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Imo State University, Owerri, Nnamdi Obiaraeri, who served as Commissioner for Information, Youths and Sports as well as Land and Urban Planning, respectively during the administrations of former governors of the state, Ikedi Ohakim and Rochas Okorocha.

Some commercial banks and filling stations have stopped collecting the old naira notes from customers, contrary to the ruling of the Supreme Court restraining the Federal Government from enforcing the February 10 time limit earlier fixed by the apex bank for the currency swap.

Findings by The PUNCH on Monday indicated that the banks refused to accept the old N1,000, N500 and N200 notes from depositors and point-of-service agents who flooded the bank to lodge their cash.

Point of service operators and other bank customers whose old naira notes were rejected, panicked as bank officials, who said they were acting on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive, remained adamant.

Also, lawyers and litigants at high courts in  Lagos State were unable to file their court processes using the old naira notes for payment.

The crisis between Anaku and Omor communities in the Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State has taken a new dimension after an attack allegedly carried out by soldiers in revenge of their missing colleague.Anaku and Omor communities have been embroiled in a land dispute.The crisis erupted again within the week when six people were allegedly killed and six others abducted in Omor.

The Central Bank of Nigeria may bow to mounting pressure and contract the printing of the redesigned N1,000, N500 and N200 notes to foreign contractors in the coming days in order to boost the circulation of the currency.

The National Population Commission Chairman, Nasiru Isa Kwarra, has disclosed that census will hold in Sambisa Forest.

He said, despite the security challenges, the commission would ensure people in the area are counted.

Kwarra announced this at the inauguration of the population and housing national census publicity committee in Abuja.

“I can assure you your village has been covered. There is no place we have not visited. Our staff even went as far as Sambisa Forest where we have security challenges. So, I assure you that no one will be left out in the entire census process.

The Trade Union Congress on Thursday threatened to take “constitutional and legal ways” against the Federal Government following the ongoing naira scarcity and fuel price hike.

Speaking during a press conference in Abuja, the national president of the trade union, Festus Osifo, noted that many Nigerians are “on the brink of financial collapse” due to the policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The problem as you know is that Nigerians have been betrayed by the banking system which has been unable to pay them their money on demand.

“They have also been failed by the Federal Government which unilaterally decided to change the three highest denominations of the currency, fixed dates for the change, and is utterly incapable either to deliver on its promises or protect the populace from financial strangulation,