Federal Government Drags ASUU To Court

   

The Federal Government has dragged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (AUU) to the National Industrial Court over the union’s ongoing strike which is in its seventh month.

   In a statement on Sunday, the Head of Press and Public Relations at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, said the Federal Government took the decision after dialogue between it and ASUU failed. The government wants the National Industrial Court to order ASUU members to resume work, while the issues in dispute are being addressed by the court.

Gunmen Attack Ifeanyi Ubah’s Convoy In Anambra, Several Aides Killed

 Convoy of the Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial Zone, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, has been attacked at Enugwukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State. 

According to eyewitnesses, the convoy was ambushed by heavily armed men who opened fire on his convoy from all directions. Some of his aides were killed including some police officers.

The Senator is said to have managed to escape but his bulletproof car was riddled with bullets. Reacting to the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, said the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr. Echeng Echeng, has already led operatives to the scene at Nkwo market, Enugwukwu.

Court orders arrest of two monarchs in Ondo

    The Chief Magistrate Court in Akure, Ondo State capital, on Friday, September 9, issued arrest warrants for two individuals who had been parading themselves as traditional rulers in Irele and Igodan Lisa in the southern part of the state.

Prince Charles of Wales Finally Becomes King

    Following the application of Charles Titiloye, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for Ondo State, the court ordered the Commissioner of Police to bring the suspects before the court. Last week, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had ordered the arrest and prosecution of the suspects.

Troops Rescue Three Chibok School Girls With Their Children

Nigeria’s Story Not Complete Without Queen Elizabeth, President Buhari’s Condolence Message

   The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Thursday, received with immense sadness news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth ll of the United Kingdom. He also condoled with the Royal Family and Great Britain over the loss of the longest reigning monarch.

Prince Charles of Wales Finally Becomes King

Fresh Fuel Scarcity Looms As PENGASSAN Threatens To Shut Down Installations Over Oil Theft

   

    Nigeria may witness yet another fuel scarcity as members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on Wednesday threatened to pull out its entire workforce from oil and gas installations nationwide in protest of the increasing oil theft and vandalism.

Festus Osifo, the President of PENGASSAN, made the intentions of the association known at a press conference held in Abuja, lamenting that crude oil theft had crumbled the nation’s economy.

He, however, declared that oil workers are ready to withdraw their services if the government pays lip service to their demands of fighting the menace with sincerity and sense of purpose.

According to him, in other climes governments deploy high technology to fight such heinous crimes of sabotage, but upon all the hues and cries and the damage oil theft and pipeline vandalism are doing to the nation’s economy, the Federal Government appears to be helpless.

Osifo, who described the growing incidents of oil theft menace as a real time challenge, urged government to develop the muscle and the political will to chase out oil thieves vandalising the nation’s pipelines. According to him, some cartels are responsible for the menace and are feeding fat on the nation’s wealth, as well as sabotaging the economy.

Ebonyi security man arrested for allegedly beating pupil to death

   

One of the security men drafted to work on the construction site of Ebonyi International Airport, at Onueke, in the Ezza South Local Government Area of the state, identified as Chukwuma Anyigor (aka Ite Igwe), has allegedly beaten a 17-year-old pupil, Miss Nwuka Nwafor, to death.

    Punch reports that the victim was a Senior Secondary School (class one) pupil at Izo High School, in the LGA, who usually engaged in menial jobs on the construction site during the weekends and holidays, to fend for herself and her family.

  According to a worker at the site, who spoke on condition of anonymity, trouble started when Anyigor instructed the victim to pack some corn husks which were dumped at a particular section of the ongoing constructed airport. The source said the deceased refused to park the dirts as she neither ate any corn nor dropped its husks at the place.

Kaduna Train Hostages’ Negotiator Mamu Is In Our Custody – DSS

     The Department of State Services (DSS) says the Abuja-Kaduna train hostage negotiator, Tukur Mamu, is in its custody.

   This is according to a statement released by the DSS spokesman Peter Afunanya on Wednesday following reports that Mamu was arrested in Egypt. “This is to confirm that Mamu, as a person of interest, was intercepted by Nigeria’s foreign partners at Cairo, Egypt on 6th September 2022 while on his way to Saudi Arabia,” the statement read. “He has since been returned to the country, today, 7th September 2022, and taken into the Service’s custody.

26-year-old female lawyer sentenced to five years imprisonment for drug trafficking

   

    A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced a 26-year-old lawyer, Sulaimon Kaosarat Yetunde, to five years imprisonment for drug trafficking.  Justice Daniel Osiagor handed down the verdict on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, following Miss Yetunde’s guilty plea to a charge of conspiracy and the unlawful export of 1.10 kilograms of cannabis sativa.

   The convict, who was arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), was said to have studied law at a Benin Republic university. Prosecution counsel Mr. Abu Ibrahim told the court that Yetunde of 28, Fehintola Giwa Street, Aguda – Surulere, Lagos, was arrested on July 18, 2022, at the Export Shed of the National Handling Company Limited (NAHCO), a Customs Area/Point of thé Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja-Lagos.

Police arrest three suspected kidnappers in Ogun forest

   

   Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested three suspected kidnappers and rescued three victims at a forest on the Imeko- Iwoye Ketu Road in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of the state.

   The suspected kidnappers were said to be eight members of a gang terrorising the Imeko and Iwoye areas of the state. Spokesperson of the command, SP Abimbola, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, said officials at Imeko Divisional Headquarters, made the arrest after receiving a distress call.

Death toll in the seven-storey building that collapsed at Oniru area of Ibeju-Lekki rise to six

   

   Death toll in the seven-storey building that collapsed at Oniru area of Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos on Sunday, has risen to six.

    The building under construction caved in on Sunday, with about six people reportedly trapped. Two bodies were evacuated from the building yesterday as rescue operation was intensified. But on Monday, four bodies were recovered from the debris, bringing the total to six.

Power Sector Workers To Embark On Fresh Nationwide Strike

   

    Two weeks after suspension of the nationwide strike by electricity workers that threw the nation into blackout, indications have emerged of a fresh looming strike over alleged unwillingness of government to resolve issues of unpaid entitlements to former workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. Some government agencies, including the anti-graft bodies, are allegedly harassing labour leaders in the sector over the agreements reached with government during the privatisation of the sector.

The issue of unpaid benefits was one of the reasons that led to the industrial action by the workers in the industry, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEC, two weeks ago. Vanguard gathered that as the committee set up to resolve the issues meets today, the issue of unpaid benefits to some of the ex-PHCN workers had become a stumbling block to resolving the issues.

''There's just a problem with irresponsible leaders who don’t want to govern properly'' - Kukah

   

  Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has said that there is no problem between Christians and Muslims in the country. 

   Speaking in an interview with TVC, the cleric stated that Nigeria only has a problem with irresponsible leaders who don’t want to govern properly and religious leaders who use religion as a tool of oppression.

EFCC Arraigns Ogun Assembly Speaker Over Alleged N2.5bn Money Laundering

 

   The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned the Speaker of the Ogun State House Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, before a Federal High Court in Lagos.

He was arraigned alongside the Director of Finance of the State Assembly, Oladayo Samuel, as well as the Clerk of the House, Adeyemo Taiwo. The defendants were arraigned at about 10am on Tuesday before Justice Daniel Osiagor on 11 counts of conspiracy, forgery, and stealing.

Police Arrest Two Women For Operating Baby Factory In Ogun

    Ogun State Police Command have arrested two women, Ms. Christiana D’ivoire Iyama and Ms. Margaret Ogwu, for allegedly operating baby factory. The women, according to the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) for the Ogun State, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, were arrested on August 27, 2022.

Ogwu said: “The suspects were arrested following an information received by police at Agbado Divisional Headquarters that, Christiana Iyama, who lives at No 4, Ibrahim Famuyiwa Street, Agbado Ogun State, is operating a baby factory at the above address, where she used to harbour young girls and hired men to impregnate them after which she will collect the baby on delivery and sell to her waiting buyers.

Federal Government Suspends Proposed Five Per Cent Tax On Phone Calls, Data

 

 

   The Federal Government has suspended the introduction of five percent excise duty in the digital economy sector, a tax which was earlier proposed by the Minister of Finance.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami disclosed this in abuja during the inauguration of a committee that will review the policy. Pantami said he personally rejected the policy and advised president Muhammadu Buhari against it in view of the effects it would have on the digital economy.

According to him, the introduction of excise duty in the telecommunication and information and communications technology industry would jeopardise the successes already recorded within the industry.

Lingering strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities could lead to disastrous consequences for the nation

   

   A group of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities have warned that the lingering strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities could lead to disastrous consequences for the nation.

In a letter on Monday, the group urged the Federal Government and ASUU to come together and resolve the impasse. ASUU has been on strike for more than six months.

The academics are seeking improved welfare, revitalisation of public universities and academic autonomy among other demands. One bone of contention for the academics is the non-payment of university revitalisation funds, which amounts to about N1.1 trillion.

But the Federal Government has said it doesn’t have the money to pay such an amount, citing low oil prices during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Read the group’s full statement below:

Federal Government Begins Kara Bridge Repairs Saturday, Announces Traffic Diversion

   

   The Federal Government says it will commence repair works on the Ogun-bound lane of the Kara Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway effective Saturday, September 3, 2022.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Frederic Oladeinde, in a statement, said he received a notification from the Federal Ministry of Works on the ongoing reconstruction works along the Berger-OPIC Axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Project for an emergency fixing of the expansion joints that got damaged.

Court Acquits Ex-Gov Jang Of Fraud Charges

   

    A state High Court sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital, on Friday, discharged and acquitted a former governor of the state, Jonah Jang, of over the N6.3 billion corruption charges levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The court presided over by Justice Christy Dabup also discharged and acquitted a former cashier in the office of the Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Yusuf Pam, who was accused alongside the former governor.

RIVERS- Governor Wike flag-off flyover project in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area

 

    Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State says his administration has fulfilled its promises to the people, maintaining that only failed leaders move around with security details even after leaving office. 

   The governor made the comment on Thursday during the flag-off of a flyover project in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, adding that he will leave office next year a happy man because he did not “disgrace” the people of the state.

Kidnapped Zamfara DPO Regains Freedom

 

    Usman Ali, the Divisional Police Officer of Magami Division, Gusau Local Government of Zamfara State, has regained his freedom after five days in captivity.