Author: Editor
Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki A Police officer, Inspector Ibrahim Kudu, attached to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Bernard Odoh has died. He has been on admission in the in intensive care unit at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki since Thursday night. He was rushed to the hospital after he sustained gunshot injuries when Mr Odoh and his campaign team were attacked near Okpoto in Ishielu Local Government Area of the state. In the attack, a driver to Mr Odoh was shot dead while Kudu and another Police officer sustained gunshot injuries. But Mr Kudu died on Monday in the hospital.…
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka Anambra State Government has expressed its commitment to addressing the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the state to alleviate the sufferings of the people. Commissioner for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Anthony Ifeanya, disclosed this during a meeting with Petroleum Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in his office. The Commissioner decried the scarcity of PMS also known as fuel and rising cost of the product in the state which he said, had brought untold hardship to the people of Anambra State. Ifeanya, who observed that most petrol…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja, Monday, sentenced the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, to prison for flouting court order. Consequently, the court presided over by Justice R. O Ayoola, directed the Inspector-General of Police to immediately arrest the EFCC boss and remand him in Kuje prison “for the next 14 days until he purges himself of the contempt.” The court granted the application for committal to prison of the EFCC Chairman for disobeying a court ruling delivered on November 30, 2022, wherein the EFCC boss was directed to produce the applicant in…
By Kolawole O. Ogunbiyi The discrimination against persons with disabilities is a global phenomenon. However, most countries of the world have moved from such discriminatory practices to an inclusive society for persons with disabilities. The population of persons with disabilities in Nigeria, which is about 30 million, is higher than the entire population of five countries in the West African sub-region. Unfortunately, Nigeria is one of the major countries in Africa where little or no attention is paid to the plight of persons with disabilities, hence their exclusion from governance, electoral process, healthcare, education, employment, and social and community life.…
By Hassan Gimba President Muhammadu Buhari’s followers, therefore, created in him an image of an ascetic, beyond reproach, and so canonised him as a saint. And he also did his best to fit into that picture. Ramrod, shed of any fat and wearing the cheapest materials around, the story was that he had seen it all yet refused to be tempted into taking anything from anywhere he worked. He was a military governor with executive powers over what are now six states and then a federal commissioner of petroleum and later a military head of state. Yet he depended on…
By Owei Lakemfa A Lebanese man on September 16, 2022, wielding a gun, held up the Byblos Bank in Ghazieh, Southern Lebanon. No, not to rob the bank or its customers. Just to retrieve part of his money trapped in the country’s banks! So, to retrieve part of his money, he had to hold up the bank and take hostages. As news of the holdup spread, crowds gathered in front of the bank to cheer him on. Two days earlier, there had been two other holdups in Beirut and the town of Ale. Although all the weapons turned turned out…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia Thirteen out of 18 political parties in Nigeria, Monday threatened to boycott the forthcoming polls if the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, extends the deadline of February 10 for the old currency notes to cease being a legal tender. The parties expressed suspicion that any further shift on the deadline for the currency swap would negate the very aim of the policy. Declaring their full support for the naira re-design policy which they said would help curb vote buying, the coalition of political parties threatened to stay away from the general elections if CBN attempts to further…
Ben Ezechime, Enugu The Uzo-Uwani Professionals in collaboration with Rev. Fr. Paulinus Ogara at the weekend organised a stakeholders/Community Leaders inaugural town hall meeting to discuss the perceived political marginalisation of the Local Government Area. The professionals said they were worried about the continued domination of the people of Uzo-Uwani by the Igboetiti Local Government Area whom they share common political constituency. In a speech read by Barrister Obidike Okolo, the professionals lamented that the Uzo-Uwani people have been relegated to the status of political slaves. “Since 1999 following the constituency delineation exercise, Uzo-Uwani has witnessed political marginalisation and injustice in political representation…
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia The Supreme Court, Monday, restored the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, as the Yobe North senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Ikengaonline had reported that the Court of Appeal had sacked the Senate President on the grounds that having participated in the APC presidential primary, he could not have also been a participant in the senatorial contest in the same election. It upheld the candidacy of Bashir Machina as the authentic senatorial candidate of the APC. But not satisfied with the judgment, the APC headed for the Supreme Court. Delivering judgment on Monday, the apex court upheld the appeal filed by the APC…
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today (Monday) urged the National Assembly to launch an investigation into the regulatory activities of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), accusing it of succumbing to the control of an overtly politically partisan Minister of Information to cow broadcasting stations in Nigeria in an effort to prevent them from criticising government officials and powerful political figures. MRA said in a statement issued in Lagos that it was compelled to seek the intervention of the National Assembly in the light of Friday’s imposition of fines of N2 million each on two television stations, Arise News and Television Continental…