Rampaging gunmen on Friday night, killed four policemen when they attacked Agwa Divisional Police headquarters in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo state.

Newsband gathered that part of the division and vehicles, including the one belonging to the Divisional Police Officer were burnt by the rag tag attackers

The development has reportedly caused palpable tension in the area as residents expressed shock.

Sources in the community who do not want to mentioned according to PUNCH Newspaper disclosed that they struck around 10- 11pm in three vehicles.

According to the sources, the gunmen came in a tipper vehicle and two sienna cars and invaded the police division.

One of the sources said,” They came in a tipper and two sienna vehicles shooting indiscriminately and we all ran into our houses. It was around 10 and 11pm.

“It was this morning that we heard that they were criminals and they attacked the police division, killed four policemen and burnt vehicles there.”

Another source said he was in his house when he started hearing sounds of gunshots and he didn’t bother coming outside.

He said, “I was already inside when I started hearings sounds of gunshots. I didn’t bother coming outside because it was safer to stay indoors than to come outside.

“It was this morning that we heard that the Agwa Divisional Police headquarters was attacked. Four policemen were killed. Two male officers were shot dead while two female police officers were burnt to death.

“Part of the building were the female officers were was burnt. Vehicles at the division, including the one belonging to the DPO were burnt. They also went to the house of an Okada man known as Ejike, shot him dead and shot his wife. His wife is alive.”

Another person said that his people were living in fear, calling on the government to rescue the situation.

He said, “We are living in fears. We don’t sleep with our eyes closed anymore. It is one problem or the other. We don’t even know the reason for this heinous crime. Two female police officers roasted and the two others killed in cold blood. This is anti- human.

“This is unbelievable. God should please come to our rescue. The government should please rise up to the occasion. Things are getting out of hand. I don’t know if they want us to run away from our homes. It is now like a way situation. God please help us.

Another source told our correspondent that one of the slain officers was only two weeks old in the force.

He said, “One of the officers killed is a new recruit. He is not more two weeks he became a police officer after the passing out parade.

Our correspondent saw gory pictures of the attacked division and some officers lying dead in the poll of their blood.

Another source told our correspondent that policemen drafted from outside the division had taken over the area and the state commissioner of police, Muhammed Berde, was being expected.

The federal government has declared the Dala Inland Dry Port in Kano State as a port of origin and destination, a major step to making it function like a seaport.

The Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo, an engineer who made the declaration Friday at the site of the port in the Zawachiki area of Kano State, also revealed that all the steps are being concluded for the official commissioning of the port later in the year by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Citing an example of how the port will improve the business activities in the northern part of the country, the minister said a businessman in Kano or the nearby states no longer have to take their goods to Lagos with all the attending challenges on the road but only have to bring it to the dry port, and the goods can be exported to any part of the world from Kano.

Also speaking, the executive secretary/chief executive officer of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Emmanuel Jime, said the port’s declaration as a port of origin and destination would positively impact Nigeria’s economy, noting that this is “a game changer as far doing business not only in Kano but the environments around Kano is concerned, including land-locked countries like the Niger Republic, Chad, even as far as Central African countries.”

On his part, the acting Kano State governor, Nasir Gawuna, said the project would lead to economic development and employment opportunities, not only to Kano people but other Nigerians, especially northern states and neighbouring countries.

Bola Tinubu will run on the template of President Muhammadu Buhari if elected president in 2023, his campaign spokesman Festus Keyamo said on Friday.

Presidential Candidate Tinubu is seeking to succeed his partyman in the next dispensation but there have been concerns about the direction his government would run given the bad performance of the incumbent.

Mr Tinubu’s associate and former party chairman Adams Oshiomhole had on Thursday sought to extricate Mr Tinubu from the failure of the Buhari regime, claiming his man has not been part of the government.

But Mr Keyamo, a serving junior minister for Labour and Employment said Mr Oshiomhole was misquoted by the media.

“It is the same APC template that both leaders (Buhari and Tinubu) that they will use,” Peoples Gazette quoted Mr Keyamo as saying during Channels TV interview on Friday night.

“I saw one misleading headline from one of the papers yesterday and I laughed. It was misleading, misinterpreting what one of our leaders said. That we were distancing ourselves from the records of Buhari. That is utter nonsense. Like I said, we are proud of the record of the APC.” The APC chieftain said.

Mr Keyamo emphasised that Mr Tinubu is proud of the achievements of the Buhari regime. He said Mr Tinubu may however choose to improve on certain aspects of governance “on the same template of progressivism.”

Nigeria has regressed on almost all indexes of national development in over seven years of the Buhari regime with worsening insecurity and the economy in comatose. Public universities have been shut for about six months as lecturers continue agitation over poor condition of service.

In 2018, Nigeria displaced India to become the world’s poverty capital, according to a report by Brookings Institution, while Nigeria’s total public debt hit N41.60 trillion under the watch of Buhari-led regime, according to the Debt Management Office.

Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS), has arrested some suspects for armed banditry and kidnapping in Kaduna, Plateau and Nasarawa states.

Bernard Onyeuko, Director of Defence Media Operations disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

He said the suspects were arrested in different local government areas within the three states.

The statement read, “Troops of Operation WHIRL STROKE have continued to dominate and deny criminals freedom of action in their area of responsibility. Notably, on 29 July 2022 based on credible intelligence, troops conducted clearance operation at TSE-IBOR, TSE-IGBAKYOR, AKWANA and AYINBE Villages in Logo Local Government Area of Nasarawa State and made contact with terrorists. In the encounter troops responded with superior firepower, forcing terrorists to flee.

“The aftermath of gun battle led to the arrest of Mr Danladi Selfa – 23yrs and Mr Usman Yau – 28yrs both were with gunshot wounds at a private hospital. Items recovered include; 1x AK 47 Rifle, 1x Magazine with 13 rounds of 7.62mm Special amongst others. Relatedly, on the same day, following intelligence report on the presence of suspected criminal elements at Kukyro village in Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, troops in conjunction with locals carried out a raid operation and arrested Mr Moses Aindigh – 27-year-old terrorist and alleged bandit collaborator.

“Also arrested was Mr IIiyasu Mohammed – 37-year-old notorious kidnapper. All arrested criminals have been handed over to relevant authorities.

“Furthermore, troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN on 3 and 4 August 2022 based on actionable intelligence arrested 3 x suspected notorious kidnappers; Mr Umar Zakari, Mr Usman Hamina and Mr Haruna Umaru at Fuskar Mata village Bassa Local; Government Area of Kaduna State. The suspects confessed to having been involved in kidnapping activities in mentioned Local Government Areas.

“Also, on 3 August 2022 troops responded to a distress call from locals in Qua’anpan Local Government Area Plateau State of 4 x kidnappers in a hotel hideout attempting to move people away. Troops mobilised to scene engaged criminals and neutralized 1 x kidnapper Mr Umar Muhammed. Items recovered include 1 x AK47 rifle, 10 x rounds of 7.62mm special amongst other items. Relatedly On 2 August 2022, troops on patrol recovered 100 x vandalised rail sleepers in an abandoned white Peugeot Boxer with Registration No AGL 466 XM at Bak village, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area Plateau State. All recovered recovered items are in own custody. Also, on 4 August 2022 troops also conducted a rescue operation at Kasuwa Ali in Gindiri District Mangu LGA and subsequently rescued 2 x kidnapped civilians Mr Ebuka Nnadi – 30 years and Mr Uchenna Edoga – 25years. The rescued civilians have been reunited with their families.

“The military high command commends troops of Operations WHIRL STROKE and SAFE HAVEN for their efforts in curbing criminal activities in their respective theatres of operations and encourages the general public to continue to avail troops with credible and timely information on criminal activities.”

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has called on Nigerian parents whose children are affected by the ongoing shutdown of academic activities in government-owned universities to appeal to the Academic Staff Union of Universities to shed the lingering strike.

ASUU had declared a nationwide strike on Monday, February 14, 2022.

The strike, according to the union, was as a result of the failure of the government to meet some demands such as the release of the revitalisation funds for universities, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers, renegotiation of the ASUU-Federal Government 2009 agreement among others.

Since the strike began, stakeholders had called on the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to find a lasting solution to the strike and increase funding of tertiary institutions.

The President, in a meeting with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, alongside his other colleague, gave a directive to the members of his cabinet involved to ensure a speedy solution to the strike.

Featuring on a programme on Channels Television, Keyamo noted that the government had done its best and appealed to parents to “beg” ASUU.

“The moment they went on strike, we intervened, what is the manner again beyond that ? Even before the strike began, we called them to a meeting, what manner is more than that? It’s not like we left them to go on strike first and we were sleeping, as the talk started, they still went on strike.

“You can not allow one sector of the economy to hold you down and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion and our total income is around N6.1 trillion and we have roads to build, health centres and other sectors to take care of.

“I will tell the parents, everybody to go and beg ASUU like the President said the other time, those who know them should appeal to their sense of patriotism. The nation can not ground to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU”.

A Peoples Democratic Party stalwart in Lagos State, Babatunde Gbadamosi, on Friday, defected to the Labour Party, declaring support for its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Gbadamosi, a former governorship candidate of the African Democratic Party and a former Lagos East Senatorial Candidate of the PDP, made this known in a statement in Lagos.

“I had completely lost hope, especially in the youths of Nigeria, considering how the senatorial bye-elections panned out, after the traumatic events of the #EndSARS.

“However, the exit of Peter Obi from the PDP and his subsequent emergence as the Presidential candidate of the LP, and his brilliant choice of Mallam Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as running mate have rekindled my hope.

“I am 54 years old, and never in my life have I been privileged to witness the kind of energy, vim, vigor, unity and tenacity of purpose being exhibited by youths of all ethnicities and religious backgrounds in Nigeria over a political candidate..

“I hereby publicly declare my resignation from the PDP and wish all the remaining members well.

“By the same token, I also hereby publicly declare my support for the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi,” Gbadamosi said.

He recounted how he joined the PDP in Ikorodu in 2008 and remained a loyal member of the party, contributing whatever he could to the growth and development of the party in Lagos state and throughout Nigeria, until he took early retirement from partisan politics in 2017.

“I came to recognise that the problems of PDP run quite deep, and their tepid opposition is in fact by the design of some individuals populating the party leadership from top to bottom,” he said.

He said that he was motivated that almost all youths, who were not professional politicians or influencers-for-hire, had been popularising Obi’s presidential ambition.

He said that Obi had over the years, shown himself to be a creative, prudent and frugal administrator as well as a trustworthy custodian of public funds.

Gbadamosi also described the LP vice presidential candidate, as urbane, prudent, practical and principled politician.

He said: “These two share a passion for education and knowledge, with Obi’s documented exploits in the education sector as governor of Anambra and Baba-Ahmed’s direct investment in education as Pro-Chancellor of the highly respected Baze University, Abuja.

“Both share a disdain for graft and believe in exterminating contract padding.

“I find myself left with no choice, when faced with the alternatives, but to publicly throw in my lot with these two fine gentlemen, especially considering that another good Uncle of mine, Dr Doyin Okupe is one of the navigators of their journey and had invited me very much earlier.”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee has rejected the push by Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers State for the removal of Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s national chairman.

The NWC of the party reaffirmed its confidence on Ayu, after its meeting on Thursday.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, made this known on Thursday at the party’s headquarters in Wadata Plaza, Abuja.

The leadership of the chairman was ratified in a vote of confidence despite disputations from some sections of the party and yearnings for him to step aside as the national chairman.

Wike met with some PDP serving, former governors, and other party stakeholders on Sunday.

The Rivers governor has been in disagreement with the party’s flag-bearer, Atiku Abubakar, in the fallout of the party’s special convention last May and the subsequent nomination of the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as the party’s vice-presidential running mate.

The development didn’t go well with the Rivers State governor and his camp, prompting calls for the chairman of the party to step aside, including the reorganisation of the executive arm of the party.

However, barely 24 hours after setting up a committee by the party’s Board of Trustees to wade into the disagreement between Atiku and Wike, the duo were reportedly met at the residence of Jerry Gana, a pundit of the party.

According to the outcome of the meeting, Debo stated that the PDP has resolved to “restate confidence in the National Chairman, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, and the National Working Committee NWC in running the affairs of the Party.

The party also “restates confidence in the capacity, experience, and competence of H.E Atiku Abubakar to rescue, redirect and rebuild this country to earn the respect of the international community.”

Nigeria has threatened to withdraw its membership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) if the regional body does not suspend its ongoing recruitment exercise as recently directed in the 2022 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.

Nigerian representatives at the ECOWAS Parliament issued the threat when some principal officers in the regional bloc allegedly defied the directives and embarked on the illegal process of recruiting their relatives and cronies.

The lawmakers cited the huge financial commitments which Nigeria makes to the body amid its internal security challenges.

They said there was no commensurate return on investment for Nigeria in ECOWAS for all the country has done and is doing for the regional body from its inception in 1975.

This development is coming on the heels of recent lopsided recruitment exercise at the ECOWAS Parliament, which was discovered to be manifestly skewed to serve the personal interest of member-states to the exclusion of Nigeria.

Leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Ahmed Idris Wase, said it has become imperative that Nigeria review its relevance and membership of the bloc.

“If you are in a system, and you are not getting the right results where you are investing your money, it pays best to walk out of the union.

“In a situation where we are having an infrastructural deficit and witnessing security challenges, why should we continue to invest our money where it will not benefit our country.

“Yes, we will pull out if we don’t get the desired result from this,” Wase said.

He added, “we are asking for justice not just for Nigerians alone, but for the entire ECOWAS community. That is what MPs are asking for. There are few countries that want to run ECOWAS like a cabal but we will not tolerate that.”

The Nigerian Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Musa Nuhu, also wrote to the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, on the nepotistic employment scandal rocking ECOWAS.

The letter from Nuhu was dated July 20, 2022, and titled, “Formal Complaint About Unfair Treatment and Confirmation of Staff at the ECOWAS Parliament.”

He wrote in the letter that, “I have the honour to refer to our verbal discussion on the above subject matter and formally inform you that the attention of the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the ECOWAS Commission has been drawn to a number of complaints by Nigerian staff working at the ECOWAS Parliament. The grievances border around stagnation and overlooking of staff already working in the parliament in favour of outsiders in the ongoing recruitment for divisional heads and professional staff.

“This action directly contravenes the recommendations of the 30th meeting of the ECOWAS Administrative and Finance Committee as well as the position of the Council of Ministers, which directed that internal candidates should be prioritised in filling existing vacancies in ECOWAS institutions, as recommended in the Staff Skills Audit Report.

“The Honourable Speaker may kindly wish to note that the mission has examined the complaints of the staff of the parliament based on existing staff regulations as well as the decisions and guidelines given by the AFC and Council of Ministers for ECOWAS institutions to carry out the recruitment and found that their grievances are genuine.

“Therefore, as you rightly observed during our discussions, recruiting individuals outside the system to place them above the existing staff would only lead to discontent, demoralisation and continued stagnation of the staff. This will inevitably affect the overall performance of the Parliament.”

A Magistrate court in Damaturu, Yobe State has sentenced one Umar Alhaji Mustapha to 25 years in imprisonment for committing rape and incest with his 18-year-old daughter, Fatima.

The presiding Magistrate, Mohammed Bilyaminu ruled that all the ingredients of section 390 and 283 of the penal code were proved by the prosecution.

The Nation reports that while reading the testimony of the witness, the judge narrated that PW 1, a police inspector, during his testimony established the convict had several sexual intercourse with his daughter against her consent resulting to pregnancy. The child however died upon delivery.

The court stated that the prosecution was able to establish that the accused after impregnating the daughter, gave her N25,000 to abort the pregnancy which she refused.

The same evidence was collaborated by Fatima, the victim under cross examination, who also testified that her father became very angry with her after realising that she was pregnant and did not obey his instruction to abort the pregnancy and started threatening her.

The Chief Magistrate, Mohammed Bilyaminu, pronounced the accused guilty of incest and rape under section 390 and 283 of the penal code.

He sentenced him to five years with a compulsory fine of N5,000 for the offence of incest and 20 years for the offence of rape with a fine of 10,000.respectively.

Before the pronouncement of the judgement, the accused was given the chance to plead for mercy, which he did requesting the court to temper justice with mercy.

“I have an aged mother and other dependent to take care off,” the accused said.

The convict by the pronouncement of the judge has 30 days to appeal against the judgement.

A 23-year-old man identified as Quadri Qudus has been arrested by Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for allegedly stealing 21 telephones from admission seekers in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

Quadri was alleged to have stolen the phones from the university admission applicants while they were writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination at a Computer-based test center in Ilorin on July 5, 2022.

Quadri who pretended as a face mask seller at the center acted to be a Good Samaritan and collected the phones from the candidates, since they were not allowed to enter the examination centre with the phone.

However, before the students could finish writing their examination papers, the suspect had disappeared from the center with the telephone sets put in his care.

Parading Quadri alongside two other suspects at the state Command headquarters of the NSCDC on Friday, the Command’s spokesperson, Olasunkanmi Ayeni, said that the suspect fell into the hands of the operatives of NSCDC and was arrested in Ilorin after about one month of committing the alleged crime.

Ayeni said, “Quadri Qudus pretended to be selling facemasks at a JAMB examination centre and the student out of trust put the phones in his custody and he ran away with their phones. He was eventually caught by our men in Ilorin.”

Speaking with reporters, Quadri denied running away with the phones saying that the phones were stolen from him and he ran away out of fear of being apprehended and lynched by their owners after they might have finished writing their papers and discovered that their phones were missing.

He claimed, “The phones were actually stolen from where I kept them. I ran away out of fear of what would happen to me.

“I had to run away for my dear life before the owners came out of the examination centre because they would have beaten and lynched me if they learned that their phones have been stolen.”

Two other suspects paraded by the NSCDC included a 55-year-old security man, Arowolo Ayodeji, who allegedly had carnal knowledge of his 19-year-old daughter.

Professor Jim Nesin Omatseye, the patriarch of Omatseye family in Warri, Delta State, has pleaded with those who disagree with the article titled: “Obi-tuary by Sam Omatseye” to jettison threats to harm their son.

Recall that the Delta born journalist came under serious attack after he made all manner of unprintable and unbecoming assertions about Peter Obi and the Igbo race in his “OBI-TUARY” article which was published on the back page of The Nation Newspaper.

Meanwhile, Prof. Omatseye, while stressing that Nigerians are in desperate need of positive change, noted that the negative reactions that greeted the article was as a result of the high level of poverty, insecurity among other menaces facing the nation.

However, reacting to the development on Friday, the patriarch noted that it is not out of place for people to disagree with a journalist’s opinion, pointing out that the writer, like every other person, is entitled to his opinion.

He said: “I want to react to the negative reaction that is coming from many quarters as a result of the article Obi-tuary, which was written by Sam Omatseye, who is a member of my family.

“The reaction that is trailing that publication, I believe, it’s as a result of what is happening in the country; the state of insecurity, the high level of poverty, the suffering of so many people. And as a result of this, people are looking for change, whether from the right or from the left.

“The regular parties have people who have disappointed a lot of people in the country as a result of these challenges and people are looking for change.

“Whatever it is that Sam has written, it’s his personal opinion to which he is entitled. But he should not be threatened by anyone because he’s doing his job as a journalist.

“It is not all the time that what journalists say, everybody agrees with. Therefore, we want to say, from the perspective of the family that he should not be threatened or harmed by anyone.

“We plead with the public and those who disagree with him, to not do anything that will be detrimental to him”.

The Nation/Newsband

The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma has explained that he chose to partner Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) in order to patronise local content and not to brew trouble.

Governor Uzodimma made the clarification in a series of tweets on his twitter handle on Friday, accompanied with a video wherein he was addressing newsmen over the recent misgivings brewing between the state government and the vehicle Manufacturers.

Tweeting, he said: “In a bid to provide operational vehicles for security agencies at the early days of our administration in order to both combat insecurity and support other logistical needs of our government, we thought it necessary to patronise local content.

“This led us to partnering with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) for the supply of the needed vehicles.

“As a condition to the contract, IVM agreed to set up a mobile technical center for servicing the supplied vehicles, pending when it establishes a Technical Service Workshop in Imo State.

“Following the supply of the said vehicles, the State Government remitted over N3 billion to the company and awaited their compliance with the agreed condition of the contract, which was to set up the said mobile technical center to maintain the vehicles. But they didn’t.

“Unfortunately, as at today, over 70% of the supplied vehicles are broken down and the others are in various stages of disrepair due to the fundamental breach of the contract by IVM to set up a service unit.

“Rather than fulfilling its obligations to the Imo State Government and complying with the conditions of the said agreement, the management of IVM embarked on an unfortunate public outcry to whip up sentiments to mislead unsuspecting Nigerians and rip off the taxpayers of Imo State.

“Despite the breach of contract by IVM, we await its avowed legal proceedings, even as we remain open, as always, to amicably resolving the issues in the best interest of both parties, especially the good people of Imo State.”

Watch video of Governor Uzodimma addressing newsmen over the clash between the state government and the vehicle Manufacturers below:

In a bid to provide operational vehicles for security agencies at the early days of our administration in order to both combat insecurity and support other logistical needs of our government, we thought it necessary to patronise local content. pic.twitter.com/Utx2EQARPw

— Hope Uzodimma (@Hope_Uzodimma1) August 5, 2022

—

©Copyright 2022 News Band

(If you would like to receive CURRENT NEWS updates from News Band on WhatsApp, join here; for Telegram, join here. If the group is full, kindly send WhatsApp/Telegram message to +234 905 038 2526. You can also send eyewitness accounts/reports/articles to elstimmy@gmail.com; follow us on twitter @News Band; like our Facebook page: News Band.)

Management of Ekiti State Government-owned Bamidele Olumilua University of Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti has proscribed all the staff unions in the institution.

This was made known by the acting Registrar, B.S. Momoh, who said the step was necessary as the unions, through their actions, were distracting the university from its development vision and mission.

Momoh, in a memo to the university community, titled, ‘Proscription of staff unions in BOUESTI,’ listed the affected bodies as Academic Staff Union of Universities, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities.

He said that the situation in the university had been “one day one trouble” since June 2, when the unions protested against the activities of the instruction’s Governing Council.

Momoh stated, “The management views these acts as unbecoming of and unexpected of responsible staff members hiding under the guise of union activism.

“BOUESTI, being a new university, certainly does not need these distractions if it must develop properly to fulfill the vision and mission for which it was established. It has, therefore, become imperative to ensure that irresponsible acts like these are avoided in our university.

“After a review of the incidents and in line with the directive of Ekiti State Governor and Visitor to the university, the three trade unions in BOUESTI – ASUU, SNANU and NASU are hereby proscribed with immediate effect.

“Members of staff are hereby enjoined to go about their normal duties without fear and desist from getting involved in unlawful activities.”

…Berates Tinubu, Atiku for divisive utterances

The Peter Obi Support Network (POSN) has called on Nigerians to shun the divisive utterances of the presidential candidates of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar respectively, and rally round the Labour Party candidate, Mr Peter Obi to rescue Nigeria from total collapse.

It said the APC, and PDP should be telling Nigerians how they would rescue the country from the path of precipice that it is heading, rather than polarizing the country along ethnic and religious fault lines with their divisive utterances.

POSN which stated this in a statement issued on Friday, and signed by its Spokesman, Mr Sani Saeed Altukry, wondered how those candidates could unite Nigerians after dividing them if they eventually win the election.

The group asked Nigerians to compare the statement of people driven by selfish ambition and those driven by a desire for nation building, while making their choice for the next president of this great country.

“Mr Peter Obi is using campaign to unite. His preaching, teaching and messages of hope have made many Nigerians to start seeing their Hausa, Yoruba and Fulani neighbours as brothers and Nigeria as their only country which must be repaired and made habitable by them. It is happening before the eyes of everyone.

“But Tinubu and Atiku camps are using divide and rule approach as their campaign strategy. Because of Atiku and Tinubu’s blunders, Nigeria has divided far much more on religious and tribal lines than ever before. The same mistake made by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“When you divide the people in order to win presidential election, how will you be able to rule the already divided people when you finally become the president,” the POSN queried.

The group quoted some of the statements credited to those candidates like Tinubu who stated: “Labour Party members and supporters can never rule us, they will Labour till death.”

“Atiku was also quoted as saying, “Obi is not known in the North; will remain unknown by the over 90 percent of northerners who do not make use of internet and can never be voted by the northerners.”

In contrast, Peter Obi has said, “We shall depopulate the ranks of terrorists by ensuring enhanced, quality and equitable access to education to all our children.

“Our youths Must be freed from the slavery of overt dependence on handouts from politicians by creating jobs and business opportunities.

“I do not have a lifetime ambition to rule Nigeria, but I have a lifetime passion to make Nigeria, the pride of the world.”

Obi has also been quoted as saying, “I am not going to be the President of the Southeast or the Northeast, the President of Christians or Muslims, I am going to be the President of all Nigerians.

“We will create a people’s economy. The economy, that is not merely doing well on the books of analysts, but the economy that does well in the people’s stomach.

“The youths have become easy preys to terrorist recruiters because they do feel the love of this nation towards them. We shall show love to our youths and make them proud of their heritage as Nigerians.

“I have no greater pride than being Nigerian and making Nigeria great again is my greatest passion.”

“The above statements attributed to the Labour Party candidate marks him as a different type of great politicians that Nigerians need today, POSN concluded.

An indigenous pay cable television company, Metro Digital Limited, has kicked against failure of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission to comply with the directive of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, asking it to address the firm’s complaints about a trade dispute between it and MultiChoice within 21 days.

The Court of Appeal had, on 13th July 2022 ruled in favour of Metro Digital in a case of cable TV channels licensing which it appealed against leading entertainment Company, MultiChoice.

The court of Appeal, Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Olabode Adegbehingbe in the said ruling, said the failure of the NBC as a regulatory body to act on the complaint brought before it by Metro Digital amounts to a breach of its statutory duty; and directed the agency to commence the process of settling the dispute within 21-days.

But reading the text of a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Friday titled ‘Ending monopoly in broadcasting in Nigeria’, Managing Director of Metro Digital, Dr. Ifeanyi Nwafor, said as at the expiration of the 21-days directive given to the NBC, it had yet to hear from the federal government agency.

Nwafor said the company had made the outcome of the Appeal Court judgment available to NBC without response as of the time of the briefing.

He said, “The NBC is yet to reach us, and the 21-day directive, I think, expired a few days ago. But we are working with the federal government to ensure that NBC listens to us.”

He warned that if NBC continued to delay in carrying out its responsibilities, following the court’s directive, it would take appropriate steps within the law to tackle the matter head-on.

While noting that the Nigerian Broadcasting industry was facing various challenges inhibiting its growth and development since its inception, Nwafor added that it suffers from a lack of competition, exclusivity in content acquisition, channels warehousing, and monopoly from the dominant market player.

“This practice has made Nigeria the highest subscription paying country for pay TV the world over. Operators in the industry, usually local operators who lack the muscle, are stifled and choked to death,” he explained.

Nwafor further said local pay television firms belonging to the Association Cable Operators of Nigeria have all died due to their inability to cope with unhealthy business practices in the Nigerian broadcasting space.

No fewer than four persons were, on Friday, burnt to death, while 16 others sustained varying degrees of injuries in a lone accident on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

A statement by Sector Commander, Ogun State Command, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Hamed Umar, noted that the fatal crash occurred at about 7: 50am on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway around Oniworo, after Foursquare Camp.

Umar added that 20 persons were involved in the accident. He said one female and 15 male adults survived with injuries, while four of them were burnt beyond recognition.

“A total of 16 people were injured. The lone crash involved a Mazda bus with registration number APP934XH.

“The suspected cause of the crash was excessive speed, which led to loss of control and the Mazda bus rammed into the median strip (road divider) and went up in flames.”

Umar said the injured victims were taken to Victory Hospital, Ogere.

The Sector Commander stressed the evil of speed violation and advised motorists to obey traffic rules and regulations.

My dad, my sister and our driver travelled to our state (Imo state) the other day. On their way back my sister called me.

She said: “I don’t want you to panic but Fulani herdsmen blocked the road and are shooting sporadically.

“We all ran out of our car into the bush waiting for the shooting to stop.

“People are saying they are kidnapping in front, hence the shooting”.

“All the motorists plying that road had to abandon their vehicles and run into the bush pending when the gunfire ceased.”

Ah! My chest sank. I was cooking when she called. I wanted to go crazy. I was imagining my dad and my sister running for cover.

She later told me that a vigilante group called ESN (Eastern Security Network) came with Hilux vehicles and buses and guns to fire back at them and clear the herdsmen.

I didn’t even know such a group existed till yesterday. They engaged them and the road cleared. They now urged people to go back into their vehicles and continue their journey.

When my family got to the spot where the Fulani people laid siege, they saw a burnt army van. And several empty cars with their owners nowhere to be found.

My questions started:

1. What was an army van doing there since no army person came there?
2. Did the fulani herdsmen “borrow” the army van to carry out their operation?
3. Is the army somehow in on this?
4. Do the empty cars belong to motorists who left their vehicles to hide for cover or to people the Fulani herdsmen kidnapped?
5. Why weren’t the army or police there to protect the citizens? It had to be a combat between a vigilante group and terrorists. No army, no police!
6. Why is Hope Uzodimma (Imo State Governor) so comfortable with the heavy infiltration of herdsmen in his state? The insecurity in Imo state is the worst in the east. Uzodimma is just growing fatter and wearing designer watches.

I’m grateful they got back to Enugu safely. In a blink of an eye, Nigeria fit happen to you. Ahapu ihe anako kowa ihe ozo.

Thank God for ESN. Ya gaziere unu.

—

©Copyright 2022 News Band

(If you would like to receive CURRENT NEWS updates from News Band on WhatsApp, join here; for Telegram, join here. If the group is full, kindly send WhatsApp/Telegram message to +234 905 038 2526. You can also send eyewitness accounts/reports/articles to elstimmy@gmail.com; follow us on twitter @News Band; like our Facebook page: News Band.)

The Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has warned against the indiscriminate and illegal use of personal and commercial drones in the FCT.

In a statement released, the police command said information at its disposal as well as public outcry on the sighting of drones hovering around personal and government-restricted air-spaces contrary to extant laws, thereby creating fear and apprehension in the minds of residents, pushed the decision.

The statement adds that the police boss has therefore ordered the immediate enforcement of drone usage regulations, arrest of violators and confiscation of such drones.

The statement in part read,’Consequent upon the above, the Commissioner of Police FCT Command CP Babaji Sunday has directed the immediate Enforcement of Drone usage Regulations, arrest of violators, and the confiscation of such Drones.

In the light of the above, it is pertinent to state that flying drones in the FCT requires meeting certain qualifications, obtaining certifications, as demanded by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), & Obtaining approval from the Office of the National Security Adviser- (NSA) as the case may be without which it becomes an offense to at any time and any day be found flying one.

The CP while calling for calm, noted that investigations carried out has shown that the small and lightweight drones sighted are of zero imminent security threat as they are flown by individuals for leisure or commercial purposes. However, to help the Police effectively Police the air-spaces, it is important to in addition to the above notify the Police of the usage of the drone in every instance, especially for commercial purposes.’

The Commissioner of Police, while tasking DPOs and other vital organs of the Command to carry out the enforcement, urged residents to be law-abiding and exercise calm bearing in mind the assurance of the Command’s unalloyed commitment to bringing crime and criminality to its barest minimum. while the Police continue to take proactive security measures, residents are urged to remain vigilant, and report any suspicious or abnormal occurrences to the Police through the following emergency lines: 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883, while the Public Complaint Bureau (PCB) desk, could be reached on: 0902 222 2352.”

Federal High Court in Lagos State in Nigeria on Thursday sentenced 20 Ghanaian fishermen to one-year imprisonment each for transporting 13.670 kilogrammes of marijuana, aka cannabis, from Ghana to Nigeria.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo convicted and sentenced them after finding them guilty of the charges of conspiracy and unlawful transportation of the drug.

They were sentenced on Thursday, August 4, 2022.
The convicted fishermen include Francis Teye, Kweke Komel, Gad Adjah, Theophilus Tetteh, Kwesi Aboagye, Ekon Fynn, Kwamena Baah, Kwabina Adjei, Micheal Okutu, Isaac Kofi, Kweku Moko, Kwezi Adzi and Kweku Mensah.

Others are Micheal Kofi, Ekon Bentum, Kwesi Amissah, Joshua Huago, Otu Otipeseku, Isaac Yorsson and Nana Kodwo.

The convicts were arrested with the drug conveyed from Ghana into the Nigerian territorial waters on January 14, 2022.

They were arraigned on two counts of conspiracy and unlawful transportation of the substance.
The prosecutor, Mr Fingere Owen, told the court that the offences were contrary to and punishable under sections 11(b) and 14(b) of the Nigerian National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.
Following their guilty pleas, the prosecutor reviewed the facts of the case.

Owen also tendered some exhibits and urged the court to convict and sentence them in accordance with the sections they were charged with.

However, lawyers for the convicts, Mr Uche Okoronkwo, who led Calistus Onyewueke, both of Minerva Legal Practice, told the court that all the defendants were first time offenders without previous criminal records.

Okoronkwo told the court that his clients were fishermen, who were engaged by a purported customer, who did not tell them the content of the bag.

Justice Oweibo sentenced them to one-year imprisonment each, the Punch reported.

The judge also ordered that the sentence should commence from the date of their arrest.

He, however, ordered the convicts to pay the sum of N50,000 each in lieu of the sentence and ordered that the boat used in smuggling the banned substance be forfeited to the Federal Government.