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It seems the bandits are back to the highways again as massive kidnappings occured on Abuja/Kaduna highway. No one knows how many people have been kidnapped and the road has become a desert of its own. Recall that in March 2021, the federal government approved the release of 809.7 billion naira for rehabilitation of Abuja/Kaduna/Kano expressway. Why is the government spending so much for a road that will be managed by bandits? And lest we say the security personnel aren't doing anything, let it be known that the police arrested 4 Bandits and rescued 40 cows and 15 sheep in Bosso LGA of Niger State. In the same Niger, there are bandit-controlled territories where bandits manage the security and economy. Are we not sitting on a keg of gunpowder? In case you expected rage from Arewa youths,  be disappointed to know that the  leader of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima has said the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu ...

I repeat 252! 252!! 252!!! All I can say is, Plateau people better brace yourselves because the number of “unknown gunmen” aka “bandits” aka “terrorists” have just increased by 252 in the state.  The mayhem they will most likely unleash on the populace is not something to be imagined.  One thing is certain, this was no mere “prison break”. There is a lot more to this incident. The courage and audacity to target this specific facility means that the risk was a lot more than the reward.  We can only imagine the value of the high profile persons the daredevils risked their lives to release. GUYS/MAZA Just be careful with yawo and “mu hadu, mu hadu”. These criminals are desperate and would feel they have nothing more to lose. So they would be prepared to take a lot more “risks” than usual.  Their first priority would be funds; hence roadside attacks, “obtaining”, collecting phones, wallets, cars etc and kidnapping would be on their list. The slightest provoca...

The Nigeria Police Force on Monday opened the online application portal for its 2021 recruitment exercise. This was announced in a statement signed by the Police Headquarters Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba. In the statement titled, ‘2021 recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force’, the force announced that successful applicants would be enlisted as Police Constables (recruits). The online application portal would be open for a period of six weeks starting from Monday, November 29, 2021 to Monday, January 10, 2021. Upon completion of the application, successful applicants would be invited for physical screening from January 10-24, 2021. Requirements for application National Identification Number, functional email address, and valid phone number. Applicants must possess a minimum of 5 credits in not more than 2 sittings in WASSCE/GCE/NECO/NABTEB with credit passes in English and Mathematics. Scanned copy of their original O’Level result(s) to be uploaded on ...

Manchester United is delighted to announce the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season, subject to work visa requirements. Following this period, Ralf and the club have agreed that he will continue in a consultancy role for a further two years. John Murtough, Manchester United football director, said: “Ralf is one of the most respected coaches and innovators in European football. He was our number one candidate for interim manager, reflecting the invaluable leadership and technical skills he will bring from almost four decades of experience in management and coaching. “Everyone at the club is looking forward to working with him during the season ahead, and then for a further two years in his advisory role.” Ralf Rangnick said: “I am excited to be joining Manchester United and focused on making this a successful season for the club. “The squad is full of talent and has a great balance of youth and experience. All my efforts for...

Controversial human rights activist and supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Kenechukwu Okeke has been killed in Anambra State.  Okeke was said to have been macheted by his attackers numbering seven.  The controversial activist who had dragged many celebrities and media outfits, including CNN to court for defaming President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration was killed in Nkpor, near Onitsha, Anambra State, in the presence of his wife, Mrs Blessing Odinakachi Okeke and his little daughter....

Ole’s tricky Reds struggling Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his Red Devils are having a tricky time of it of late. Saved on several occasions by Cristiano Ronaldo’s brilliance, they have nonetheless been embarrassed in back to back home ties against their two biggest rivals, Liverpool and Manchester City. For a club that spent over 100 million pounds in the summer, adding to an incredibly expensive current squad, the performances and results do not cut it. They currently sit in 6th place in the Premier League table, nine points behind league leaders Chelsea, and six behind Manchester City. Even Arsenal, who were 20th three games into the season, find themselves three points clear of the Red Devils, who have taken four points from a possible 18 across their last six domestic ties. To rub further salt in the wound, the club were unceremoniously dumped out of the Carabao Cup by West Ham United in the third round, meaning that another chance of silverware has gone. Ole Out? Now, as p...

Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, Damini Ogulu also known as Burna Boy has reacted to the Lagos State Judicial Panel report on the activities of SARS and other related offences which confirmed the October 20, 2020 incident at the Lekki toll gate as a massacre. The Panel submitted a 309-page report to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state on Monday, indicting the Nigerian Army and Police of having killed and maimed unarmed youths protesting police brutality and bad governance in Nigeria. Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had however on numerous occasions denied the massacre, insisting that no one was killed during the invasion of Lekki toll gate. Reacting via his Instagram story, Burna Boy stated that he woke up to see that government’s lies have been exposed.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has warned bandits against thinking that they cannot be crushed. This is as he said his regime will not abandon Nigerians to their fate in the face of the existential challenge caused by banditry. Buhari said this from South Africa while condemning the killing of 15 people by bandits in Goronyo and Illela Local Government Areas of Sokoto State. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu disclosed this in a statement titled ‘President Buhari Condemns Latest Killing Of 15 People By Bandits In Sokoto State, Sympathises With Victim, Urges Security Forces To Redouble Efforts.’ Shehu quoted Buhari as saying that “this needless and mindless violence against innocent people cannot go unpunished.” The President said, “This persistent and unprovoked violence against unarmed civilians must be met with fierce response by the government. “Let me once again, reassure Nigerians that this administrati...

According to report by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters, the panel submitted that at least nine persons were confirmed dead at the Lekki toll plaza on the night soldiers stormed there to disperse #EndSARS protesters on October 20, 2020. The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel made this known in its report submitted to the Lagos State Government on Monday. Titled, ‘Report of Lekki Incident Investigation Of 20th October 2020’, a copy of which was made available to  The PUNCH , the panel said at least 48 protesters were either shot dead, injured with bullet wounds or assaulted by soldiers. According to the report, nine protesters were confirmed dead, while four were presumed dead. The panel listed 48 names as casualties of the incident. Among the 48, about 20 sustained gunshot injuries, while 13 others were assaulted by the military.

"So Vizuum, the difference between us, engineers, and medical doctors is that we we ensure standards of structures in order to prevent loss of lives while the doctors sometimes rely on postmortems in order to prevent further deaths". That was Sani, a friend  of mine during our NYSC days. The recent collapse of the 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos, prompted me to recall my conversation with Sani, whose claim could be valid in many places in the world but definitely not Nigeria. How long will buildings continue to collapse before we get it right? There are magnificent buildings in many parts of the world that have outlived four centuries and yet were built by people who had not gone to school. Nigeria's case is a lot different because we prefer to cut corners. In the last 16 years over 150 buildings collapsed in Lagos State alone. I believe that of SCOAN which claimed nearly 200 lives is still fresh in our memory. The recent Ikoyi building collapse killed 45 p...

UNIJOS GOVERNING COUNCIL APPOINTS NEW VICE-CHANCELLOR The 14th Governing Council of the University of Jos has approved the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor for the University. He is Professor Tanko Ishaya who is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Acadamic), University of Jos.  This follows the Council’s consideration of the recommendation of the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board at the Council’s Special Meeting held on Friday 12th November, 2021. His appointment will take effect from 1st December, 2021. The appointment is for a single term of five (5} years. The newly appointed Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tanko Ishaya is a Professor of Computer Science with a Mathematics background and specialism and experience in Data Engineering, Computer Security and Forensics. He obtained his B.Sc. in Mathematics Education (2nd Class Upper Division) in 1992 at University of Jos and began work as a lecturer in Mathematics at the College of A...

The Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, who stated this when he appeared before the House Committee on Youth Development for budget defence on Wednesday, said corps members were served a meal worth N217, He, therefore, urged the House of Representatives to raise the allocation for feeding in the scheme’s budget for 2022. The Senate Committee on Interior had on October 27, 2021, increased the daily feeding allowance of the Nigerian Correctional Service from its current N450 per person to a minimum of N1,000 per day. Officials of the NCS were in the Senate to defend the 2022 budget of the Service, where they proposed an increment of the daily feeding allowance to N750. The committee, however, described the amount as grossly inadequate and increased it in line with the current economic realities, pledging to undertake an upward review of inmates’ feeding cost from N450 to N1000 per day. In his presentation, Ibrahim, who noted that it was his first ...

The Senate on Wednesday approved the sum of $16,230,077,718, €1,020,000,000 and a grant of $125,000,000 as foreign loans for the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to fund its legacy projects. The red chamber specifically approved the issuance of €500,000,000 from the Bank of Industries and €750,000,000 Eurobond in the International Capital Market. It asked the President to forward the terms and conditions of the loans from the funding agencies to the National Assembly. The Senate gave the approval following the consideration of the report of its Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, chaired by Senator Clifford Ordia.

The Senate on Tuesday approved the conference committee report on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The report was approved after the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, moved a motion on Tuesday. The Senate and House of Representatives had in July passed different versions of the bill. While the Senate proposed either direct or indirect mode of party primary, the House of Representatives made direct primary mandatory for all parties. The Senate had also in its version, empowered the Nigerian Communications Commission to determine the electronic transmission of election results. The House did not give such powers to the NCC in its version. The provision caused an outrage, with many calling on the Senate to follow the example of the House of Representatives which adopted the use of technology “where practicable.” The development led to the setting up of a conference committee. In the conference committee report, both chambers of the National Assembly empowered the Independent N...

*A VERY BIG THANK YOU.* It is with a huge delight and grateful heart that I wish to return all the well wishes upon my humble approval by the Execitive Chairman of Qua’an Pan LGA, Honorable Ernest A. Da’a to serve in his cabinet as “our” Council Secretary.  This, to me, and many of us who have believed in this mission, remains an immediate task and a sacred assignment to serve all the good people of Qua’an Pan here at home and far away.  As most of us are aware, this is an opportunity to harness our strengths for the best purposes and collaborate all our  efforts for the upliftment of our entire Local Government Council. Our doors, hands and ears are open to objective suggestions that may further better our interest as a people while we hope to listen to you as this is work in progress.  I remain steadfast and most importantly, humbled by the trust invested and reposed in the office I hope to occupy with all sense of responsibility and humility. Out of ma...

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday sentenced a former chairman of now-defunct Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, guilty to 61 years’ imprisonment but to run concurrently for eight years. The court had found him guilty of inducing staff of Fidelity Bank to open bank accounts for him without conducting due diligence and money laundering. Delivering the judgement, Justice Abang also found him guilty of concealing his true identity as signatory to accounts opened in UBA and Fidelity Bank by using the identity of his family members without their knowledge. These accounts were said to have cash deposits of N300 million, N500 million and N1.5 billion. The court held that Maina stole monies meant for pensioners as he could not prove where he got same from. Justice Abang also held that through Maina’s service as a civil servant, his salary and emoluments would not amount to the monies in these accounts. The court further held that the prosecution (the Economic and F...

(1) Dunukofia LGA APC 1991 APGA 4124 PDP 1680 YPP 1360 (2) Awka South LGA  APC 2595 APGA 12,891 PDP 5498 YPP 919 (3) Oyi LGA  APC 2830 APGA 6133 PDP 2484 YPP 900 (4) Ayamelum LGA  APC 2409 APGA 3424 PDP 2804 YPP 407 (5) Anaocha LGA  APC 2085 APGA 6911 PDP 5108 YPP 868 (6) Anambra East LGA  APC 2034 APGA 9747 PDP 1380 YPP 559 (7) Idemili South LGA  APC 1039 APGA 2312 PDP 2016 YPP 752 (8) Onitsha South LGA  APC 2050 APGA 4281 PDP 2253 YPP 271 (9) Njikoka LGA  APC 3216 APGA 8803 PDP 3409 YPP 924 (10) Nnewi North LGA  APC 1278 APGA 3369 PDP 1511 YPP 6485 (11) Orumba South LGA  APC 2060 APGA 4394 PDP 1672 YPP 887 (12) Ogbaru LGA  APC 1178 APGA 3051 PDP 3445 YPP 484 (13) Onitsha North LGA  APC 3909 APGA 5587 PDP 3781 YPP 682 (14) Aguata LGA  APC 4773 APGA 9136 PDP 3798 YPP 1070 (15) Ihiala LGA  No election  (16) Idemili North LGA  APC 2291 APGA 5358 PDP 2312 YPP 902 (17)  Ekwusigo LGA  APC 12...

Ever since singer, Joseph Akinfenwa-Donus, aka Joeboy, released the hit song,  Alcohol , it has been greeted with diverse reactions, with some being of the opinion that it encourages alcoholism. However, in an interview with an online platform, Genius, Joeboy stated that that was not his intention. He said, “Being tipsy inspired ‘Alcohol’. There are different challenges in life; it never ends. There is always something one needs to fix or solve. I am not encouraging alcoholism in any way but I understand that people need breaks but trying to run away from one’s problems won’t fix them at the end of the day.” Sharing his thoughts on the success of the song, he said, “It is really special for me, seeing how big the song is becoming and how big it is going to get. It was a different step (direction) in my sound. It’s not like the regular Joeboy sound that people are used to. I am more or less known as a lover boy. I am not saying it’s a bad thing but I wanted to explore di...

The Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Charles Soludo has won five Local Government Areas in the ongoing governorship election in Anambra State. The local governments won by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria are Awka South, Onitsha South and Enugu Anambra East, Anaocha, and Anambra East. Anambra State has 21 LGAS by results from five local government have been announced at LG collation centres and it has been in the favour of Soludo. Soludo has a total of 38,413 votes from the five LGAs and he is been followed by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Valentine Ozigbo who has 14,543 votes, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Andy Uba, scored 8,145 votes. Below are the results of the candidates in the LGAs. AWKA SOUTH APC – 2595 APGA – 12891 PDP – 5489 Onitsha South LG APC – 2050 APGA – 4281 PDP – 2253 Anambra East LGA APC 381 APGA: 4584 PDP: 313 Anambra East LGA APC 2034 APGA: 9746 PDP: 1380...

Toff Kulere bags an Award of Recognition by Chief of Naval Staff. The award was in recognition of his sterling presentation during the maiden Warrant Officer's Convention of the Nigeria Naval Force held at the Admiralty Conference Hall Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos from 1st - 2nd November, 2021. The presentation was titled "Warrant Officers as role models and bridge builders towards enhancing naval capabilities in the 21st milenium". A native of Toff District of Bokkos LGA in Plateau State, Toff is a personnel of the Nigeria Navy who epitomizes the height of public perception of Naval Force which is seen as an organ of the Nigeria force consisting of personnel with high level of intelligence and literary prowess.  Toff Kulere who have presented several eye catching lectures on numerous occasions on different topics was singled out this time for praise above all other presenters during the Warrant Officer's Convention by Chief of Naval Staff, Rear ...

It would appear that the PDP now has a clear direction following the peaceful National Convention which was organized in Abuja last weekend. The convention saw the emergence of Senator Iyorchia Ayu as the new PDP National Chairman along with 20 other members of the party's executive council. Indeed, the party deserves commendation for proper planning and execution of the convention, especially in view of the fact that at almost every political gathering of up 100 members in Nigeria is platform for a brawl. Fintiri's committee led about 3,600 delegates to vote peacefully and that must be commended. Perhaps, their prolonged stay from the national cake had also informed a peaceful negotiation because what can not be done with cold water can hardly be done with hot water. In the past, dramas involving PDP1 and PDP2 or PDP and nPDP were a common sight at National Conventions. Lesson learnt?  Still on political matters, albeit a crisis-ridden one, the Plateau State House ...

Marriage is defined as a legal union between a man and a woman joined together as husband and wife.  While bride price is a sum of money or other valuables paid by a bridegroom or on his behalf to the family of the bride, in some cultures especially parts of Africa. But as important as marriage is, many young people nowadays in the African realm are beginning to change their mind towards it.  Every weekend there used to be endless kinds of weddings/marriage ceremonies ranging from the Christian, Moslem and traditional sides, but there is a growing apathy and general reluctance towards it now especially from the masculine angle who usually shoulder the financial responsibility of marriage expenditures. This is unhealthy for the next generation. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CAUSE. 1. Growing rate of Poverty: With every Government usually putting strides towards poverty eradication in Nigeria, the resultant is not reflecting the intention. The number of poor peopl...