Author: Editor

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini were both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Friday. Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, was cleared of fraud by the Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona. Platini, a former France national team captain and manager, was also acquitted of fraud. The two, once among the most powerful figures in world football, had denied the charges against them. Prosecutors had accused Blatter, a Swiss who led FIFA for 17 years, and Platini of unlawfully arranging for FIFA to pay the Frenchman two…

By Owei Lakemfa Africa for centuries has been entangled in European conflicts and wars in which they suffer from both sides. The most terrible for Africans was the Second World War for which youths, including high school kids from various parts of the continent, were conscripted and many never returned home. In Nigeria, it was known as the ‘Burma War’ because that was the war theatre where many of our grandfathers were forced to fight a war they knew nothing about. African resources were seized to fund that war which like the first, was essentially, an All-European War in which the…

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka Anambra State Governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, has ordered the sanctioning of security operatives involved in the manhandling of a cleric, Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje. Odumeje is the General Overseer of Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry. His church was Thursday demolished for being built on drainage channel, while the pastor was brutalised by security operatives, when he attempted to disrupt the exercise. But Governor Soludo in a statement has condemned the brutalization of the cleric, saying he has ordered sanction on the security men involved. He said: “Yesterday’s outing has evoked emotions, not against…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Security has been beefed up around Abia State, as a former Senate President, Senator Adolphus Wabara, buries his late wife, Elder Mrs Felicia Edeomola Wabara, on Saturday, in his Ohambele, Ukwa East Local Government Area. Speaking with Ikengaonline on the security arrangement, Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Zone 9, Mr George Okafor, said adequate security measures had been put in place to ensure the safety of guests to the event. He said that Operational Order had been drawn, and security operatives deployed both around the venue of the burial and hotels as well as critical locations…

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka Anambra State Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has condemned reports making rounds in some  social media, alleging ‘budget-padding’ in ongoing right-sizing of the state’s budget. Soludo in a statement released by his press secretary, Christian Aburime on Thursday,  described the reports as   misinformation and falsehood. According to him, the peddlers were those who have lost out  in milking the state treasury. “These are the handiwork of  losers and detractors. The misinformation should evoke pity for the purveyors in the light of the manifest ignorance boldly couriered in every paragraph of the hasty piece of distraction. Bad as it is, no credible reporter…

Lawrence Nwimo, Awka The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned the Federal Government and other security agencies in the country to desist from luring Nigerians into unnecessary war and crisis. The separatist group gave the warning in a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful. It accused the government and security forces of syndicating bandits in the North to attack Kuje correctional centre in Abuja. It also claimed that the security agencies especially the military and DSS agents are in a covert action detailing a systematic strategy to eliminate IPOB members detained in the correctional center. According to…

Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia But for providence, 11 passengers including a National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, member, would have perished Thursday afternoon when a 14-seater passenger bus conveying them crashed in Abia State. The accident occured at Ofeme Umuahia axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway way. The Benue-bound passenger bus belonging to Benue Links marked XB 263 TKP took off from Aba and was headed towards Okigwe when the incident occurred. Confirming the incident to our Correspondent, the Abia State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr Paul Ugwu, said the victims had been evacuated from the accident scene and rushed to…

Our Reporter, Abuja The interim vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Dr Doyin Okupe, has officially withdrawn from the 2023 presidential race. Okupe, the Director General of Peter Obi’s presidential campaign organization, had his name sent to INEC by Obi and the Labour Party as the vice presidential candidate of the party, pending when an appropriate person would be named. But in a Facebook post on Thursday, Okupe said he had written to INEC to officially withdraw from the position of the vice presidential candidate of Labour Party. He also hinted that his replacement would be announced shortly.…

By Aloy Ejimakor Before post-colonial Nigeria lapsed into its current unitary state, while still passing off as a federation, regional security was largely within the purview of the respective regions, not the Federal Government. And it worked pretty well. This basic arrangement was not by chance but by well-considered design. Despite their many failings, Nigeria’s indigenous founding fathers and the departing British colonists knew too well that you cannot secure a people within their region without their participation. Even the mighty British empire knew that it couldn’t secure colonial Nigeria without the participation of Nigerians in vast numbers. In a…

By Azu Ishiekwene Nigeria is awash with arms – guns, bullets, charms, drugs and local stuff. Not just Nigeria. The entire Sahelian and sub-Saharan African region is drowning in deadly small arms and light weapons – so-called because of their portability and ease of use and adaptation. The firearms may be out of the line of sight, but they are making the rounds in cars and motorcycles or as headloads and hand luggage, concealed in unimaginable places. Many are also believed to be siphoned from the armouries of security agencies, and are making their way into the hands of “unknown…