On Sunday, gunmen stormed an All Progressives Congress (APC) meeting in Anambra State, Nigeria’s southeast, and killed one of the party’s members.

Others who were present at the meeting were hurt.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the incident occurred at an APC local office in Uruagu, Nnewi North Local Government Area of the state (NAN).

Somadina Oforma, the assassinated politician, has been identified.

Tochukwu Ikenga, a police spokesperson in Anambra, confirmed the incident and said the police have launched an investigation.

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According to NAN, Andy Uba, the APC governorship candidate in Anambra State, said in a statement issued on Monday by Victor Ogene, an official of Andy Uba Campaign Organisation, the killing was “an obviously politically motivated murder, one too many to count.”

Mr Uba urged Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State to address the state’s rising insecurity ahead of the November 6 governorship election.

Mr. Uba is said to have reached out to those who were injured in the attack, promising to ‘immortalize’ the slain politician.

“We recall that on July 31, 2021, at Oba, Idemili South LGA, unknown gunmen acting in a similar manner accosted and killed Mr Cosmas Eze, our party’s acting Assistant Secretary for the local government area,” the Mr Uba campaign said in a statement.

“On Saturday, September 10, 2021, the traditional ruler of Ekpunando in Anambra East LGA, Igwe Alex Edozieuno, and his driver, Chukwuemeka, were waylaid and killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack on APC members.

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“While we do not attribute any direct motive to these attacks, we are compelled to note that the majority of them have been directed at our party, the APC, leaving us to wonder when the political contest in Anambra devolved to the point where opposition party members were living in fear.

As a result, we urge Governor Obiano, as the state’s Chief Security Officer, and other law enforcement agencies, including the police, the Department of State Security, DSS, and the Civil Defence Corps, to take immediate action to put an end to the state’s growing reign of terror.

“First and foremost, Governor Obiano must rein in his party’s men and women who engage in a hate campaign by peddling the false and misleading narrative that the APC is a Fulani party,” the statement continued.

For evading the Coronavirus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test at the country’s international airports, the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 has banned over 2,000 Nigerians and foreigners from traveling abroad and into the country for a year.

Mukhtar Muhammad, the Presidential Steering Committee’s (PSC) National Incident Manager, revealed this at the PSC’s Monday briefing in Abuja.

Mr Muhammad stated that the names of over 2,000 citizens and foreigners were pasted at all major federal medical facilities where medical experts were assigned to provide care to Nigerians and foreigners who entered the country during the COVID-19 third wave.

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He claimed that the government had insisted that passengers arriving in the country, particularly from high-risk countries, be quarantined in a government-run facility, and that those who did not follow the protocol had their passports revoked for a year.

“We included the provision of quarantine for passengers arriving from high-risk countries, and those who disobeyed these protocols were sanctioned by having their names published and their passports suspended for a year.

“Let me assure you that we have published the names of more than 2,000 people who have evaded quarantine in our health facilities so far. And we’ve gone ahead and suspended their passports, so there are consequences for every action,” he said.

The PSC issued a Travel Advisory for Passengers Arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India, or Turkey on May 1, 2021.

According to the chairman, Boss Mustapha, precautionary measures were necessary to reduce the risk of importation of concern variants and breaking the chain of transmission to the population.

Passengers arriving from/or visiting any of these three countries within fourteen (14) days of their visit to Nigeria were required to adhere to mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities under the measures.

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However, according to various findings, many passengers failed to comply with the mandatory isolation or show up for the PCR repeat test on day seven.

Defaulters’ names and passport numbers had previously been made public by the PSC.

Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, has stated that one of the major challenges facing the government’s efforts to stimulate the economy is the politicization of railway projects.

He emphasized that ethnicity is a major impediment to the country’s development, noting that rail projects across the country are being built with an emphasis on stimulating the economy rather than ethnicity.

Amaechi, who spoke as a guest lecturer at the Department of Economics’ annual Public Lecture at the University of Lagos over the weekend, said that transportation involves logistics and is responsible for driving a nation’s economy.

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“Virtually everything we do involves transportation,” he said. It is a critical component in the globalization of economies, and it opens up new opportunities for other industries. As a result, if you don’t create logistics, you won’t be able to create employment.

“Nigerians are overly ethnocentric. You consider yourself first as a member of your ethnic group, then as a Nigerian. We have a small Nigerian population, and ethnicity is putting a strain on railway construction costs. ‘I’m a Yoruba man, I’m a Hausa man, I’m an Igbo man,’ you hear. The Yoruba man is pleased that we have completed the Lagos-Ibadan railway; the Igbo man will be pleased once the railway is completed to Enugu. It’s what I refer to as the politicization of railroad construction.

“Railroads are fueled by economic activity, not by tribalism. The economics of a railway’s construction, or how many tons of cargo it can transport, is what determines its design.

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“Ethnicity is not a viable option. Those who fan the flames of ethnicity are those who used to benefit from the government but no longer do,” he said.

Amaechi also stated that financing is a barrier to railway development, as Nigerians continue to complain about loans.

“We are now constructing the Kaduna-Kano rail line from the budget while still negotiating the loan for Ibadan to Kaduna because the plan is Lagos to Kano,” he explained.

“So far, the Federal Government has laid out plans for the construction of Lagos-Calabar at $11.1 billion, Ibadan-Kano at $5.3 billion for a single track, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri at $3.02 billion for narrow gauge reconstruction, $12 to $13 billion for standard gauge approved by the President with additional spurs, Abuja-Itakpe at $3.9 billion in addition to the central line, and Lagos-Ibadan compatriots at $3.9 billion.