Nation
THE STATES
Adamawa
Adamawa State Police Command has said it arrested
an unspecified number of suspected Boko Haram members who were residing at the Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Yola, the state capital.
Those arrested are said to be among the insurgents that unleased terror on communities of Michika, Bazza, Madagaili, Gulak and other surrounding villages in the Northern part of the state.
The Police Public Relation Officer for the command, ASP Michael Haa, confirmed the arrest.
He said, “Yes we have people all over, whenever we see suspicious movement, we pick them for questioning.
“As at the moment, I can’t tell you their number, because we are still screening them to establish the reality of their presence there”.
Bauchi
Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State has backed Presi
dent Goodluck Jonathan’s recent declaration of a deadline to finally stem insurgency by the middle of October.
The governor, who spoke in Abuja, described the target as attainable if only all well-meaning Nigerians would support the President in view of the ongoing stepping-up of the anti-insurgency infrastructure to stem increasing threats to the unity and stability of the country.
”If there is anytime our President deserves and direly needs our fervent prayers and unconditional support, it is now. The best all well-meaning Nigerians can do in the present circumstance is to rally round President Jonathan and support him in steering the ship of the Nigerian State successfully at this critical moment”, he said.
He condemned the recent bombing and attacks in Kano and Kaduna, describing them as cruel, callous and barbaric. He prayed that the blood of the innocent victims of the senseless killings would continue to haunt the perpetrators.
Borno
The National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA) has appealed to journalists to monitor the distribution of relief materials donated to the victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Borno.
In an interview with newsmen in Maiduguri, the Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Alhaji Sani Sidi, noted that more than 50 trucks of such relief materials had been supplied by the Federal Government.
Sidi said that the monitoring would ensure fair distribution of the materials among the displaced persons.
“The task is to ensure that the items go only to those affected, those in need and those that have been displaced and those in camps.
“You will recall that President Goodluck Jonathan set up a presidential committee for the procurement and distribution of relief materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
FCT
A governorship aspirants of Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, in Rivers State, Senator Lee Maeba, has promised to reconcile Governor Rotimi Amaechi with former governor Peter Odili and the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, if he became governor of the state.
Senator Maeba also promised to float a N100 billion business support scheme to empower the people in the rural areas to boost their businesses and financial base.
Speaking in an interview in Abuja weekend, Senator Maeba, who was Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum, Upstream, said he would take it as a priority to reconcile politicians from Rivers State for the rapid development of the state.
He also said that himself, Governor Amaechi, Mr. Wike, the Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secundus, among others, were members of the Odili political family.
Kaduna
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Sanga
Local Government Area of Kaduna State has said over 300 natives were killed by terrorists in the communities within the area.
Its chairman, Reverend Fadan Amana, told Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State, in a letter made available to journalists, that they had suffered series of death in the hands of the gunmen.
“We have suffered gruesome massacre as members of the Christian community in Sanga. CAN, Sanga council chapter, wishes to passionately appeal that, as a matter of urgency, you kindly use your good offices to arrest this ugly development, by ending these terrible attacks on our peace-loving and defenceless people.
Kogi
Kogi State Government in collaboration with the United Nation Development Programme, UNDP, has committed N120 million for youth training in the state.
The Focal officer of the UNDP, Lokoja, Mr. Joseph
Osasona stated this at the opening ceremony of the three week first phase of the Youth Entrepreneurship and Youth in Agriculture camp holding at the NYSC orientation camp in Ashaya, Kabba-Bunu Local Government area of the state.
Osasona, who eulogised Governor Idris Wada’s efforts to make Kogi State re-enlisted into the UNDP projects after a long absence from the scheme, said 500 youths would be trained in the first phase in different vocational and artisans skills.
He said; “We appreciate Governor Idris Wada, who painstakingly spearheaded the visit to the Minister for National Planning, Abuja to solicit for the re- enlistment of Kogi State into the UNDP activities.
Lagos
Resident Doctors in Lagos, have petitioned the
State House of Assembly, seeking its intervention over alleged refusal of the state government to pay their August salary.
In a letter through the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, the resident doctors said they were not finding the alleged refusal of government to pay their August salary funny.
NMA letter which was read on the floor of the House by the Clerk, Ganiyu Abiru, called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to pay the doctors’ salary in the interest of industrial peace.
NMA had embarked on a nationwide industrial action which lasted for about two months before it was finally suspended in August.
Ogun
The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) has described the purported lone defection of former Governor Gbenga Daniel (OGD) from the Labour Party (LP) to the PDP as “a continuation of the deceit that OGD is known for”.
In a statement issued in Abeokuta yesterday by the State Publicity Secretary, Waliu Oladipupo, the party said, “Much as our hands are widely opened to receive defectors into our party, including OGD, we find his purported solo return as a less than clever attempt to hoodwink our people and deceive the national leaders of our party.
“We have reliable information that the kite being flied that most of his followers have vowed not to return with him to the PDP is part of a grand plot to deceive our leaders and use the resources of the PDP and its government to fund his followers in LP.
“This is a repeat of what happened in 2011 when his body remained in the PDP but his heart and soul were with the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN). He used the resources of the PDP-led government to fund the PPN.
Ondo
Six suspected kidnappers were amongst the 48 sus
pected criminals paraded by the Police in Ondo State yesterday.
The six suspects were said to have requested for N50 million ransom before they were arrested.
Parading the criminals, the state Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, said in Akure that the kidnappers robbed one Adeniji Ayewamide in Idanre and later kidnapped him.
Eke said the victim was dragged into a Golf Volkswagen car and taken to the leader of the group, Basiru Ijimiga in Odigbo Ore.
Luck ran against the kidnappers on the fourth day when detectives from the state Criminal Investigation Department stormed their hideout.
Oyo
The Federal Government and the United Industrial De
velopment Organisation (UNIDO) will donate 51 units of ozone-friendly machines to Nigeria Association of Refrigerators and Air-conditioning Practitioners.
The Acting Director, Pollution and Environmental Health, Ministry of Environment, Mr Abdul-Kazeem Bayero, said this in an interview with newsmen in Ibadan.
Bayero said 30 units of ozone-friendly low pressure foaming machines had been earlier distributed to the practitioners in Abuja and Ibadan.
He said the machines would enable ice machine manufacturers to meet markets demands in a friendly environment with low cost.
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.