Television Nigerian

Matthew Edegbe, a Beninisian, and Joshua Dansu, a Nigerian, were detained by Nigerian Army soldiers as they attempted to smuggle a truckload of a substance thought to be marijuana into the nation.

During a stop-and-search operation on Tuesday along Ajilete road in Ogun State’s Yewa South Local Government Area, the troops detained the suspects.

According to a statement by Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu, Director of Army Public Relations, the suspects transported the drug in a truck without a licence plate.

He continued by saying that the troop investigation had shown the marijuana had been brought from Ghana.

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“Troops of 192 Battalion Nigerian Army operating in 81 Division Area of Responsibility have again on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, intercepted a suspected international drug syndicate smuggling a truckload of substance believed to be Cannabis Sativa (Marijuana) en route Sango Otta in Ogun State,” the statement read.

“In response to actionable intelligence, troops conducted stop-and-search operations along Ajilete Road in Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State, during which they impounded the suspected truck without a registration number that was loaded with 397 wraps of an unknown substance that they believe to be marijuana.

“Igholo-Idiroko was used to transport the illegal substance from Ghana to the Benin Republic on the way to Sango Otta, according to the preliminary investigations that followed.

The suspects who are currently assisting in ongoing investigations are Mr. Matthew Edegbe, a citizen of the Benin Republic, and Mr. Joshua Dansu, a resident of Idiroko.

He mentioned that among other items found on the suspects were a driver’s licence and a national identification card for the Benin Republic that belonged to one George Benyagbe.

The truck’s registration number (T 1826 LA Lagos), which was removed and hid inside the vehicle to prevent identification, as well as an iPhone, an Infinix and Itel phone, a Benin Republic national identification card, George Benyagbe’s driver’s licence, and the sum of Seven Thousand Naira (N7000) were all recovered from the suspects.

Onyema, however, claimed that the suspects, the car, and the evidence had all been taken into custody and would soon be turned over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

On Wednesday, members of the various transport unions that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had partnered with during the 2023 General Elections met with Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, the INEC chairman, and his National Commissioners.

Electoral officers also attended the meeting, whose main goal was to review how the General Elections of 2023 were conducted.

A review of the engaged transport unions’ behaviour with regard to the MOUs they signed with other unions regarding the provision of logistics is sacred, according to the Commission.

The meeting also evaluated the tasks that the electoral officers, who served as field supervisors, completed.
Here is the complete statement that the INEC Chairman read during the meeting.
COMMENTS MADE BY PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU, CHAIRMAN OF THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), AT THE POST-ELECTION REVIEW MEETING WITH ELECTORAL OFFICERS HOLDED AT THE ABUJA CONTINENTAL HOTEL ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2023

Leaders of the Road and Marine Transport Unions serve as national commissioners.

Members of the INEC Press Corps, a cross-section of our electoral officers from the states of the federation, and other senior commission officials
1. I am pleased to extend a warm welcome to everyone here. Some of you in attendance today may remember that the Commission announced the start of the review of the 2023 General Election at the meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) held two weeks ago on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. A week later, meetings at the state level were held across the country with participation from both regular staff and special officials. Today, we begin a more concentrated engagement with the Electoral Officers (EOs), the Commission’s front-line representatives, at the national level. By inviting the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), we also thought it appropriate to interact with transport providers to review logistic arrangements.

2. There is no question that the ability to distribute personnel and resources to various locations plays a key role in the outcome of any election. This entails the largest logistical deployment Nigeria periodically makes across vast terrain and frequently challenging topography. This has long been a problem, but infrastructure and security concerns have made it worse recently. However, the Commission must deploy personnel and resources not only for activities on Election Day but also for all other electoral activities that take place prior to, during, and after the elections. Numerous of these tasks, including the Continuous Registration of Voters (CVR), the monitoring of party primaries for the nomination of candidates for the election, and the acquisition and deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials, must be finished before the election otherwise vital Election Day procedures will not be possible.

3. As a result, this gathering offers the chance to discuss a variety of topics, ten of which are particularly important are highlighted for discussion:

i. the general level of preparedness for the general election in 2023; ii. the process of registering voters and the issues surrounding timing, the display of the voter list for claims and objections, the cleaning up of the voter register, the collection of PVCs, etc.;

iii. The hiring, training, placement, and compensation of ad hoc staff, including particular concerns with the mode of hiring, the manner in which training is conducted, the timing, the suitability, the efficacy, and the utility of e-learning training platforms, and a strategy for effectively paying ad hoc staff.

iv. Issues resulting from the expansion of voters’ access to polling places;

v. Receiving and distributing election-related materials;

vi. The use of technology during elections, including the various portals for ad hoc staff nomination, candidate nomination, accreditation of observers, accreditation of media, accreditation of polling/collation agents, voter registration, accreditation, and result management;

security during elections;

Election Day procedures in relation to:

i. forward logistics in terms of personnel transportation and material delivery to Registration Area Centres (RACs) and Polling Units (PUs), including particular concerns regarding engagement with transport unions and the execution of State-level obligations; and

ii. Reverse logistics, personnel movement, and field asset retrieval.

ix. An inventory of election materials, in particular how reusable items like ballot boxes, voting booths, and power generators are stored and in what condition; and

x. The structural integrity of storage facilities and other permanent structures.

4. In keeping with the Commission’s policy, a thorough report will be created after the review engagements are finished. In order to identify areas of strength and weaknesses for immediate improvement in upcoming elections, particularly the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi States scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 11, 2023, I therefore implore you to contribute your wealth of experience to the discussions.

5. I want to reassure Nigerians that the Commission plans to engage more internal and external stakeholders, such as political parties, civil society organisations, the media, and security agencies, over the course of the next two weeks.

6. With that, allow me to once again extend a warm welcome to this gathering.

7. God bless you all, and I thank you.

Mansur Abdullahi, a former Super Falcons assistant coach, has said that the team’s defence is its weakest area ahead of their Women’s World Cup Group B opener against Canada on Friday.

At Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday, the Falcons face the current Olympic champions.

According to Abdullahi, Onome Ebi, 40, is the Falcons defense’s weakest link.

Abdullahi thinks it is unacceptable that the nine-time African champions, led by Ebi, have only managed to keep three clean sheets in their last 12 games across all competitions.

“Our defence hasn’t been that tight in recent games. The defence is what worries me the most, Abdullahi said. How adaptable is Onome Ebi at the age of 40? She won’t be a good addition to the team, in my opinion.

But our best and most talented players, including Asisat Oshoala, Rasheedat Ajibade, and Gift Monday, are in the attack. Although the offence appears to be strong, the team’s major World Cup failure may come from the defence.

Osasu Obayiuwana, a seasoned journalist, also questioned the selection of the former Levante Las Planas player for the squad.

“How can a player who is 40 years old, exhausted, and who hasn’t played club football in a full season, make the Falcons World Cup squad? On Twitter, Obayiuwana questioned how a coach could be proud of such a careless action.

Ebi’s inclusion, in the opinion of former Falcons coach Godwin Izilien, may hurt the team’s chances of having an impact at the competition.

Why must Onome be used in the Falcons when she is no longer having an effect on the team?

“Onome has no place on that squad. Our team has talented players. As you can imagine, Ebi was present when we won the championship in Johannesburg in 2004. Her quick reflexes are gone, and she can no longer run quickly.

“The World Cup is not an exhibition match. We have the players who can help us win titles, so we must strive to do so.

The All Progressives Congress, its candidate for governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo, Ozigi Deedat, and the Independent National Electoral Commission were all named in the Federal High Court of Abuja’s dismissal of Abubakar Achimugu’s case on Tuesday because it lacked merit.

In the primary election that was held on April 14, 2023, Ozigi Deedat and Ododo, who finished first and second, had asked for their disqualification. Achimugu, a candidate for governor, had done the same.

According to him, the pair did not resign, withdraw from, or retire from their positions as members of the Kogi State Government’s public service prior to the primary election.

The 2nd and 3rd defendants, on the other hand, were found to have properly resigned from their positions in government, even more than 30 days prior to the primary election date, according to Justice Egwuatu, who also determined that they were eligible to vote in the primary.

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He declared, “I have reviewed the resignation letters addressed to the governor of Kogi State. On March 8th, 2023, they were duly accepted. As of the letter’s receipt date, the resignation letters took effect.

The Constitution’s requirement of 30 days prior to the general election, rather than a party’s primary, for a public employee to resign, according to Justice Egwuatu, was changed.

According to him, there was no legal requirement that the letters of resignation be submitted to INEC or the APC, who are not their employers, and that the claimant’s claim that they were not with those organisations was unsupported by any legal authority.

Rather than a general election, a party primary was held on February 14, 2023.

As a result of their duly submitted resignations, the second and third defendants are eligible to vote in the primary.

Due to its lack of merit, he therefore dismissed the lawsuit.

Ivan Omhonrina, a two-year-old boy, was killed by a stray bullet on Tuesday during an operation by agents of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency at Okpanam in the Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State. President Bola Tinubu expressed his sorrow over the death.

The President instructed the NDLEA management to investigate the incident quickly and thoroughly in order to punish those found to be at fault.

Ivan did not merit that kind of death. In a statement released by his special adviser on special duties, communications, and strategy, Dele Alake, Tinubu said, “We must make sure the incident did not end like that and that what happened to Ivan does not happen to any other person again.

A stray bullet struck the child when NDLEA agents raided the Okpanam neighbourhood of Asaba, the capital city of the Delta province, according to the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who made the confirmation on Saturday.

The victim passed away in the hospital while receiving treatment, according to Babafemi.

In contrast, the President said in a statement titled “President Tinubu sympathises with parents of a two-year-old killed by a stray bullet in Delta,” “I mourn the death of little Ivan Omhonrina and sympathise with his parents for the painful experience of losing an innocent child in a most tragic manner.”

Tinubu called the incident unacceptable and urged security personnel to conduct their operations with greater professionalism and caution in order to protect the lives of uninvolved Nigerians.

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It’s unacceptable what happened there. The President stated, “We must identify those who inflicted suffering on the Omhonrinas and make sure they are brought to justice.

Additionally, he prayed for the deceased’s one-year-old sibling, who was reportedly injured in the tragic incident and sustained an eye injury, to recover quickly.

The government of Abia State claims to have found 2,300 ghost employees in its payroll system and purged them, which has resulted in a savings of over N220 million on the state’s monthly wage bill.

According to the state, the ghost workers were discovered as a result of ongoing verification efforts conducted on the state’s civil servants.

This information was provided by Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, the Accountant General of Abia State, on Monday in Umuahia, the capital of the state.

After having a meeting with the Governor of the state, Dr. Alex Otti, Onyemenam stated that the verification exercise was still in progress when he made his statement.

“From the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments, and pensioners, we have been able to save N220m so far.

“Not less than 2,300 ghost workers have been weeded out from the payroll, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise,” the accountant general said.

She confirmed and reiterated the directive that the governor issued the previous week, which stated that workers would be paid the arrears of April salaries left behind by the administration before this one, as well as pensions to retirees for the month of June.

She also disclosed that local government employees who were unable to receive their salaries in June due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule will receive their salaries this week. The reason for this was that they failed to submit their schedules in time.