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Breaking: Tension as APC suspends Party Chairman, Legal Adviser in Rivers, gives reason

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has suspended its chairman, Emeka Beke and legal adviser, Iheanyichukwu Azubuike, over alleged financial misconduct and anti-party activities.

According to the report, the state executive council (SEC) dissociated itself from the comment made by Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transportation, who earlier alleged that Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, singlehandedly nominated Mahmoud Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The development in the party was disclosed by Chika Eyinda, the special leader of the executive committee of the party in Rivers, alongside other members at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, on Wednesday, April 5.

FEC approves over N18.6bn for new EFCC training academy, census facilities, other contracts

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The Federal Executive Council meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ratified an approval of N3.3 billion to build a new training facility for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Beyond this, FEC also approved a contract award valued at N10.9 billion for the National Population Commission NPC to boost its ICT infrastructures, preparatory to the National Population Census scheduled for May this year.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu disclosed the approvals on behalf of some of the Ministers who had other engagements outside the Villa.
He disclosed that a variation cost of N65 million was also approved for the supply of fire crash tenders for selected airports in the country.

Read Also: Read also: How gunmen killed APC ward chairman, Pastor, seven others in Kogi community

FEC equally deliberated on a memo seeking approval for the procurement of 19 operational vehicles for the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) at a cost of N1 billion.
According to the presidential spokesman, “contract was approved for the development of external cost of infrastructure for EFCC new training academy at a cost of N3.3 billion”.

How gunmen killed APC ward chairman, Pastor, seven others in Kogi community

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A community leader, Mr David Abimaje, has narrated how gunmen attacked 32 villages in Oganenigu community of Dekina Local Area of Government of Kogi State between 7 am to 8 am on Sunday without any response by security operatives.

The community leader spoke when Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, represented by his Deputy, Chief Edward Onoja visited the community in company of heads of security operatives in Kogi state on Tuesday.

According to him, eight persons including an All Progressives Congress (APC) Ward Chairman, Jacob Wodi Hulobu, a resident pastor of the Living Faith Church in Aloko-Oganenigwu were killed while about 50 houses were destroyed in the attack.

While lamenting, Abimaje said, “It’s unfortunate that Oganenigu community, which comprises 32 villages has no single police station even in the face of several attacks by herdsmen.

”We alerted the security agents of the attack before it happened. They came around on Saturday but left after a while that same day only for the attackers to come on Sunday to attack us.

”By our records, eight people lost their lives in the Sunday attack including the APC Ward Chairman while 50 houses were destroyed, ” Abimaje said.
He, however, appealed to the Federal, State Local Governments to come to the aid of their communities and put an end to incessant attacks on them by herdsmen.

He urged the governor to facilitate the establishment of a Military Forward Base that will oversee the security of the 32 communities in Oganenigu so as to “save our lives, property and ancestral homes from herdsmen.”

Speaking during the visit, Onoja vowed that the Kogi Government will bring the perpetrators of attacks to justice.

He described the attacks as ”barbaric” “unacceptable” deserving serious action to be taken to forestall a re-occurrence.

“As we speak, the military on ground have forestalled more casualties and they will continue to be on ground.

Tribune Online
How gunmen killed APC ward chairman, Pastor, seven others in Kogi community
by Yekini Jimoh April 5, 2023Reading Time: 2 mins read
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A community leader, Mr David Abimaje, has narrated how gunmen attacked 32 villages in Oganenigu community of Dekina Local Area of Government of Kogi State between 7 am to 8 am on Sunday without any response by security operatives.

The community leader spoke when Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, represented by his Deputy, Chief Edward Onoja visited the community in company of heads of security operatives in Kogi state on Tuesday.

According to him, eight persons including an All Progressives Congress (APC) Ward Chairman, Jacob Wodi Hulobu, a resident pastor of the Living Faith Church in Aloko-Oganenigwu were killed while about 50 houses were destroyed in the attack.

While lamenting, Abimaje said, “It’s unfortunate that Oganenigu community, which comprises 32 villages has no single police station even in the face of several attacks by herdsmen.

”We alerted the security agents of the attack before it happened. They came around on Saturday but left after a while that same day only for the attackers to come on Sunday to attack us.

”By our records, eight people lost their lives in the Sunday attack including the APC Ward Chairman while 50 houses were destroyed, ” Abimaje said.

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He, however, appealed to the Federal, State Local Governments to come to the aid of their communities and put an end to incessant attacks on them by herdsmen.

“He urged the governor to facilitate the establishment of a Military Forward Base that will oversee the security of the 32 communities in Oganenigu so as to “save our lives, property and ancestral homes from herdsmen.”

Speaking during the visit, Onoja vowed that the Kogi Government will bring the perpetrators of attacks to justice.

He described the attacks as ”barbaric” “unacceptable” deserving serious action to be taken to forestall a re-occurrence.

“As we speak, the military on ground have forestalled more casualties and they will continue to be on ground.

“There will be more deployment of the Mobile Police Anti Terrorism Squad. The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has taken stock of the situation to ensure quick intervention informed of palliatives to cushion the effect of the pains for the community.

“Kogi is proactive, we do not waste time in dealing with issues and challenges of our people.

Meanwhile, the Governor has charged security agencies in the state to unravel the attackers of three communities in Dekina Local Government Area to put an end to such a dastardly act of inhumanity.

Delta Youths Storm Police Headquarters, Say Man Killed Over N100 Bribe

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Angry youths on Wednesday blocked a major road in Asaba to protest the alleged killing of a young man for refusing to pay N100 bribe to policemen along the Ugbolu-Asaba road.

They carried the corpse of the young man in protest to the premises of the police headquarters in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

FG designates Friday and Monday as public holidays for Easter

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For Easter celebrations, the Federal Government has declared Friday and Monday as holidays.

This information was released by the interior minister, Rauf Aregbesola, in a statement on Wednesday that was signed by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Shuaib Begore.

Aregbesola urged Christians to imitate the qualities of selflessness, camaraderie, forgiveness, kindness, love, peace, and patience that were characteristics and deeds of Jesus Christ, as demonstrated by His earthly ministry.

The minister likewise urged Nigerians of all faiths to use the occasion of Easter this year to pray for an end to all security issues in the country.

“Security is everybody’s business. I, therefore, urge Nigerians and foreigners resident in our country to display a high sense of citizenship and public spiritedness by supporting the efforts of all security agencies in bringing peace and security of lives and property of the citizenry,” Aregbesola said.

The minister assured that the Federal Government is doing all necessary to ensure a peaceful government transition following the peaceful conduct of elections.

Aregbesola also enjoined all Christians at home and in the Diaspora to love their neighbours through acts of kindness and generosity of spirit, with the well-to-do sharing their substance with the less privileged around them.

He assured Nigerians that the nation is on the path to greatness and urged them to positively deploy their creative energy to realise it.

 

Breaking: Senate adjourns plenary till April 25

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The Senate adjourned its regular session on Wednesday until April 25, 2023, so that senators could observe Easter and Eid-El-Fitr holidays.

Just before the end of the plenary in Abuja, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, made the announcement.

 

He stated that during this time, lawyers would be able to take part in their various religious activities and get some well-earned rest.

details soon…

Breaking: Abuja Court restricts National Chairman of LP, others from acting as officers

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A Federal Capital Territory FCT High Court has issued an order restricting the Labour Party’s National Chairman, Mr. Julius Abure, National Secretary, Farouk Ibrahim, and two other individuals from holding themselves out as party national officers.

The National Organization Secretary, Mr. Clement Ojukwu, and another individual have also been prohibited from posing as National Officers.

On Wednesday in Abuja, Justice Hamza Muazu issued the restraining order after ruling on an ex-parte application that was brought by Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN James Ogwu Onoja.

Onoja had described to the court in the application how the restrained national officers were alleged to have falsified several FCT High Court documents to conduct illegal substitutions in the most recent general election.

Among the documents were the receipts, seals and affidavits of the Court to carry out criminal activities. The Senior lawyer who tendered several documents confirmed to the Judge that the Chief Registrar of the Court wrote the Labour Party to disown several documents used for the alleged criminal activities by Abure and three others. Onoja said following their indictment by a police investigation, the four people are to be arraigned in court adding that warrants for their arrest have already been obtained. In a brief ruling, Justice Muazu held that the application and the supporting affidavits have a good case for the request to be granted. The Judge subsequently ordered that the four people should immediately stop parading themselves as National Officers of the Labour Party.

Details later…

 

UN to meet Taliban officials over women staff ban

In order to “seek clarity” regarding a recent government decree that prohibits women from working for the international organization throughout the nation, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan will speak with Taliban representatives in Kabul on Wednesday.

Since taking control in August 2021, the Taliban government has put a variety of restrictions on Afghan women, including prohibiting them from many government jobs and higher education.

The Taliban’s first administration, which ran from 1996 to 2001, was accused of repeatedly violating human rights, particularly those of girls and women, according to the UN. The growing restrictions are similar to those during that administration.
On Tuesday, the UN said the Taliban government had extended a ban on women working for non-governmental organisations to the world body.

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“UNAMA received word of an order by the de facto authorities that bans female national staff members of the United Nations from working,” spokesman for the secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters, adding that the UN had heard “from various conduits that this applies to the whole country”.

The UN had so far been exempt from a December order for all foreign and domestic NGOs to stop women from working across the crisis-stricken nation.
Dujarric said no written order had yet been received, but that the UN was to hold meetings with the Taliban on Wednesday in Kabul to “seek some clarity”.

For UN chief Antonio Guterres, Dujarric said, “any such ban would be unacceptable and frankly, inconceivable”.

“This is the latest in a disturbing trend undermining the ability of aid organisations to reach those most in need,” he added.

“Female staff members are essential for the United Nations to deliver lifesaving assistance,” he said, noting that the UN is working to reach 23 million people with humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

A foreign aid worker said the ban on UN women will have a huge impact.

“Women employees identify women beneficiaries, that’s how it works across agencies, and that work will be further affected with the extension of this ban to UN women staff,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The UN employs around 400 Afghan women — the bulk of some 600 female staff members working in Afghanistan, according to UN figures. There are about 3,300 Afghans in total in the 3,900-strong UN workforce in the country.

“It’s very difficult to imagine how we deliver humanitarian aid without our female staff,” Dujarric said, noting that “obviously, given the society and the culture, you need women to deliver aid to women”.

After the ban was announced last year, several NGOs suspended their entire operations in protest, piling further misery on Afghanistan’s 38 million citizens, half of whom are facing hunger, according to aid agencies.

Days of discussions led to an agreement that women working in the health aid sector would be exempt from the decree, and UN staff, including those in the aid sector, were never beholden to the ban.

Last month, however, UNAMA chief Roza Otunbayeva told the UN Security Council she feared the Taliban government could extend the ban imposed on women working for NGOs to the UN’s women staff.

In a tweet, the agency earlier on Tuesday expressed “serious concern that female national UN staff have been prevented from reporting to work in Nangarhar province”.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP he was seeking information on the matter in Nangarhar.

Since surging back to power, the Taliban government has imposed an austere interpretation of Islam.

Authorities have barred teenage girls from secondary school, women have been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside of the home, ideally with a burqa.

Read Also: Yakubu: Falz speaks from UK: I am not running, everyone knows where to find me

Women have also been banned from universities and are not allowed to enter parks or gardens.

UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett said in a recent speech in Geneva that the Taliban authorities’ policy “may amount to the crime of gender persecution”.

 

Kano bus catches fire, killing three, injuring thirteen

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According to the Kano State Fire Service, a commercial bus caught fire on Tuesday, killing three female passengers and injuring 13 others.

In a statement he gave to Kano newsmen, the service’s public relations officer, Alhaji Saminu Abdullahi, confirmed the incident.

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According to him, the Toyota Hiace bus with the license plate XE 222 TRN, a commercial vehicle, caught fire near the Government Technical College in the state’s Nassarawa Local Government Area.

He claimed that the incident happened as the bus traveling from Ajingi LGA to Kofar Wambai caught fire.
According to the statement, firefighters and officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps were able to extinguish the fire and save the majority of the victims.
Abdullahi, who said three women in the bus were burnt beyond recognition, gave two of their names as Surayya Umar and Zeenai Babaji.

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Abdullahi said the remaining 13 victims, who sustained various degrees of injury, were taken to the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital, Kano, for treatment.

He said that the driver, Muhammed Gali, 35, and his bus conductor Hassan Danladi, 30, were also rescued without any injury and handed over to the police.

The fire service official, who attributed the cause of the accident to a speeding limit violation and a burst rear tyre, implored motorists to drive with caution.

Yakubu: Falz speaks from UK: I am not running, everyone knows where to find me

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Falz, a well-known Nigerian rapper, has claimed that despite his recent confrontational song questioning the 2023 elections, he has not gone into hiding.
The singer insisted that he is not afraid of dying in a recent interview with Arise TV, claiming that life in Nigeria has no purpose.

It was recalled that Falz and Vector performed the diss track “Yakubu,” which was named after Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The rappers criticized Yakubu in the song, among others, for electoral fraud and misusing the N300 billion given to the electoral body.

Read Also: Court orders forfeiture of N725 million in property linked to ex-NIMASA DG

Falz, who joined the program from the United Kingdom via Skype during the interview, said he was afraid to travel. He said, “I knew that was going to come up when you announced that I was doing this from London. As I said earlier on, this is not the first time, this is not the second time, and this is not the third time.

“I have released tons of records that are very confrontational. And I was on the ground. I’m always on the ground when I released these records.

“It is not to say that I’m running anywhere. Absolutely not. Everyone knows where to find me. If anyone wants to find me. But I have no reason to fear anything. And I always say this when people ask me ‘How do you do these things without any fear of consequences?’

“And this is the same answer that I always give: the kind of life we are living already is one which we are more or less fading away already. It’s not a meaningful life that we have in Nigeria as a country.

“What’s the worst that could happen? It’s death. I don’t fear death. I would rather go down fighting for a just cause. I would rather be remembered as someone that lived a life that was meaningful rather than someone that for example was walking down the road and got run over by a danfo [bus] because he was driving recklessly.

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“Or, someone that got a heart disease and could not save himself because there are no hospitals capable of saving him in Nigeria.”