The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has strongly condemned the Wednesday killing of soldiers in the Umunze community by gunmen.
Soludo lamented that the soldiers were ambushed on a routine patrol at Umunze by yet-to-be identified gunmen in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
A statement made available to journalists by the governor’s Press Secretary, Mr Christian Aburime, indicated that Soludo vowed to apprehend the perpetrators.
The Federal Government has declared Monday October 3, 2022, as public holiday to mark the nation’s 62nd Independence Anniversary Celebration.
In a statement signed by the permanent Secretary ministry of interior Shuaib Belgore, the Minister Rauf Aregbesola, who made the declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulates all Nigerians on this year’s celebration and assures of government’s commitment to tackle all the challenges facing the nation.
Aregbesola admonishes Nigerians to use the occasion of the celebration to reflect on the challenges facing the nation and the role individuals can play in addressing them.
While urging Nigerians to work hard, shun any attraction to get rich through criminal and other immoral means, saying only through productivity can an individual and the nation create wealth and get rich.
There was tension in Enugu as gunmen, yesterday, attacked an Army checkpoint at Obeagu-Amodu Road in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State.
It was gathered that the hoodlums stormed the checkpoint in two Lexus SUVs and one Toyota Sienna around 7:25 a.m., and reportedly opened fire on the combined team of Police and military.
A source confirmed that there was heavy shooting, while two deaths were recorded in the shoot-out.
Confirming the incident, spokesman of the state Police Command, Daniel Ndukwe, said:
“There was an attack on a Joint Operation Team checkpoint at Amodu in Nkanu West LGA, in the morning hours of today (yesterday).
“However, I await full briefing on the incident due to ongoing intense manhunt of the masked assailants, most of whom escaped the scene of the incident with fatal gunshot injuries, after the gun duel with the team. Further development will be communicated.”
The federal high court sitting in Damaturu has ordered the All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise Bashir Machina as Yobe North senatorial candidate of the party.
The presiding judge, Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu, nullified the parallel primary election that produced the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, on June 9,
The police in Lagos state have arrested three persons for drug peddling.
Disclosing this on his Twitter handle, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, spokesperson of the state police command, wrote;
”Started with reasonable suspicion, then search. Francis Friday ‘m’ aged 30; Kemi Adeyemo ‘f’ aged 35 years; and Nonso Orji ‘m’ aged 22 were arrested while conveying 150 bottles of skuchies in a Suzuki minibus at Igbo Agowa, Ikorodu. Investigation is ongoing. Say no to drugs!”
The presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, on Saturday, left Nigeria for London, the United Kingdom, The PUNCH has learnt.
The PUNCH gathered that Tinubu and Shettima decided to take a break to prepare them for campaigns.
Tinubu and Shettima’s trip to London coincided with that of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who also travelled to London with his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, on Friday.
According to the schedule released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, campaigns for the presidential election will begin on September 28.
When contacted on Sunday, the Director of Media and Publicity for Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed that his principal took a break.
“He only took a week break for vacation,” he said.
He added that Tinubu’s campaign might begin on October 8.
“Although the campaign will flag off on October 8, we will kick off the stipulated September 28 date with a prayer in all the APC branches nationwide.
“After committing the day to God, we will embark on road work in Abuja. However, I am sure the policy document will be ready before October 2,” he said.
One million-man march
Three suspects have been arrested after a 21-year-old man identified as Micheal Arigbabuwo who died after overdosing at a birthday party in Lagos.
Lagos police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin said the incident happened on Friday September 23, in Ikorodu area of the state.
The deceased who overdosed on loud and codeine, reportedly began gasping for breath before being rushed to a hospital where he was confirmed dead.
As the new academic session begins, the Kwara State government has warned school principals not to engage in collections of illegal fees in secondary schools in the state, adding that new students should not pay more than N7,430 and N9,580 for the Parents and Teachers Association levy and books for Junior and Senior Secondary Schools respectively.
The Permanent Secretary, Kwara State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs Mary Adeosun, gave the warning at a meeting held with Principals of Secondary Schools at Saint Anthony Secondary School, Ilorin, on Friday.
The Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr Ahmed Audi, says Nigerians are not ripe to be allowed to bear arms.
Audi made the observation when he attended the News Agency of Nigeria Forum in Abuja.
“I strongly disapproved of it. Even now that there is no law in existence, you still have proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the hands of people.
“It has to do with civilisation and education.
“Even in Europe and America where they have that law where virtually everybody once you can drive can have arms, they are trying to control it now because of how some events unfold.
Supporters of the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, are currently carrying out a rally in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.The rally began from the Unity Fountain to the Moshood Abiola National Stadium amid security presence.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the Federal Government is determined to end crude oil theft through “the deployment of technology and additional security measures”.
He noted that the nefarious activities of pipeline vandals had caused Nigeria to lose approximately 700,000 barrels of oil daily; a trend which investment in technology will help curb.
Some Nigerians have kicked against the proposed plan by the Federal Government to ban the consumption of cooked cow skin, popularly known as ponmo.
Recall that the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology, Zaria, Prof. Muhammad Yakubu, recently said the institute and other stakeholders would be approaching the National Assembly and state governments to establish a legislation to ban the consumption of the cow skin.
According to him, the decision is aimed at reviving the moribund tanneries and leather industry in the country.
He said it had no nutritional value and should be proscribed to save the industry and boost the nation’s economy.
The Federal Government is currently gearing up to put the Transmission Company of Nigeria, up for sale, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
The fresh move comes on the heels of stalled negotiations between the Federal Government and the National Union of Electricity Employees as the latter threatens to shut down the economy.
A source close to the matter, on Thursday, told The PUNCH, on condition of anonymity, that talks to resolve pending disputes between the workers and the Federal Government had hit the rocks, and was “currently not yielding the desired results.”
“The Federal Government is quietly negotiating with buyers to sell the TCN. The process will be announced soon,” the source had said.
Officials of the Department of State Service, on Thursday, in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, allegedly denied human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr Omoyele Sowore, access to detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, despite granting him a formal invitation.
Sowore was listed among those expected to visit Kanu as requested by the IPOB leader on Thursday. A document acquired by The PUNCH revealed.
A
chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State, Perekeme Kpodoh, has challenged Governor Douye Diri, to publish the costs of the projects his administration has carried out in the state and their contractors.
Kpodoh, in a statement on Thursday, claimed that projects executed by Diri’s government were shrouded in secrecy, stating that the governor had brought the state under ridicule with his penchant for inaugurating uncompleted projects.
