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There was a palpable tension, yesterday, in Kaduna, following the killing of two policemen by unknown gunmen in Tudun Wada area of Kaduna metropolis. The gunmen had, Tuesday night, opened fire on the police patrol team along Musawa Road, killing two an...
The National Convention Planning Committee of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of plans to sabotage the party’s convention slated for today. Reacting to the scheduled visit of President Jonathan to Lagos to...
The elders of the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State have restricted the governorship contest in the state to Kontagora and Wushishi emirate councils by 2015. The two emirates consist of four federal constituencies of Kontagora, Magama...
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, yesterday in Sokoto admitted that managing and reforming electoral process in Nigeria was a very challenging task, even as he assured that the body was redoubling its e...
Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, yesterday swore-in 17 new commissioners and the head of civil service of the state in a glamorous occasion at the Ta’al Conference Hotel in Lafia, the state capital. Of the 17 newly sworn-in m...
A group known as ‘We The People of Nigeria’ yesterday clarified that it was operating on its own against the presidency’s attempt to distance itself from it, saying it was not part of any committee nor being sponsored by the presidenc...
Speaker of the Jigawa State House of Assembly, Hon Adamu Ahmed Sarawa has expressed his support for the proposal by the federal government to grant amnesty to members of Boko Haram. He said that every true northerner would support President Goodluck Jo...
The federal government says it has identified and is collaborating with the private sector to the meet nation’s housing needs. The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amal Pepple, disclosed this in Abuja, when she toured the on-g...
Paralympics gold medalist and world record holder, Obiji Loveline has heaped praises on LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group for identifying with people living with disability and honouring them. Loveline alongside three of her colleagues, Nwokorie Ivory, Yakub...
Paralympics gold medalist and president Nigeria Paralympics Committee (NPC), Monday Emoghawve (MON) has advocated for the scraping of Paralympics Games and merged with the Olympics. He said this will fully help integrate physically challenged athletes ...
The Senate President, David Mark, says the media in the country has contributed to the success of the National Assembly and those who have come to the senate from the media have performed well. Mark made this statement when the Senate Press Corp paid h...
There is growing tension in Rivers State following the sack of the Chief Godpower Umejuru Ake-led executive of the state chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by an Abuja High Court. The Ake-led executive of the party is alleged to be lo...
His Eminence Alhaji Muhammed S’aad Abubakar, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Governor of Akwa-Ibom State Godswill Akpabio were among those honored today at the 2013 annual LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards Ceremony. The ceremony which beg...
Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia has called for the extension of the Federal Government's amnesty programme to some five thousand repentant kidnappers in the state.
The governor made the call on Monday in Umuahia at a public hearing on the non-inclusion of the former kidnappers in the amnesty programme, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
Orji, who was represented at the event by Prof. Mkpa Agu Mkpa, Secretary to the State Government, said that the call became necessary following the omission of the kidnappers in the amnesty offer.
“These young people ought to benefit from the same amnesty package of monthly stipends and job/vocational training opportunities being enjoyed by their counterparts in the Niger Delta,” Orji said.
The governor said that the State Government had granted amnesty to the kidnappers within its limited resources.
He said that when large number of persons were unemployed there would be greater possibility of increase in criminal activities.
Orji said that the ex-kidnappers were eager to be involved in programmes that would enable them make a living.
Hon. Uzo Azubuike, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition, said that the event was initiated in a bid to find a solution to ``an issue which had the capacity to engulf the society.
“Barely a month ago the committee was in Akwa Ibom to attend to a similar petition by ex-militants and the message is that there is still the danger of backslide,” he said.
He said that nothing would be left to chance, saying that collective effort should be made to create a community of love, peace and concord.
Mr Ahamefule Amaramiro, the Attorney to the Abia Committee on Amnesty, said the committee adopted procedures such as communication, advocacy and use of gatekeepers to reach and convince the ex-militants to embrace amnesty.
Amaramiro said that the activities of the committee were documented in hard and soft copies which were made available to the Public Petition Committee for reference purposes.
A participant at the hearing, Mr Felix Ogbonna, appealed for the implementation of the outcome of the hearing.
Ogbonna said that the aim of the public hearing would be defeated if the proposals, suggestions and requests made before the committee were not implemented. (NAN)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned the deadly attack at the Boston Marathon, describing it a senseless act on a day of celebration in the city. Ban said the violence was ``all the more appalling for taking place at an event renowned f...