EDEGBE ODEWENGIE writes that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was fired up by its surprising deregistration of some political parties. Prelude to the 2015 General Elections, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission ...
Adamawa Police Command’s Public Relation Officer, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim, has confirmed the attack on Hong Divisional Police Station in Hong Local Government Area by some unidentified gunmen on Sunday.
Ibrahim told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Monday that the gunmen attacked the station at 8 pm on Sunday but were repelled by policemen who engaged them in a shootout.
``They were forced to retreat in different directions and were disorganized after they were forced to abandon their mission.
"They scattered and could not regroup to attack other places as they planned", Ibrahim said.
He explained that no casualty was recorded on the police side except that a girl in the neighbourhood sustained minor injury from a stray bullet.
NAN reports that the Hong incident came three days after a similar attack on Maiha Divisional police station on Friday.
During the Maiha attack, in which two people were killed (a policeman and a civilian), the hoodlums also attacked Prisons, Customs, the Presidential Lodge, the Area Court and the Local Education Authority offices in the local Government.
Meanwhile, the Adamawa Comptroller of Prisons, Mr Andrew Barka, has confirmed that 11 out of the 35 convicts freed by gunmen at the Maiha satellite Prisons on Friday were now back in custody.
Barka explained that four of the convicts returned on their own while seven were re-arrested. While seeking the support and cooperation of the public in tracking those still at large, Barka said the inmates have been transferred to Mubi Prison.
Barka said the convicts of Maiha were serving various terms based on minor crimes.
A 26-year-old man, Rabiu Oriade, was on Monday arraigned before an Abeokuta Magistrates' Court for allegedly knocking down an official of Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC).
The Police Prosecutor, Mr. Augustine Ozimini, alleged that the accused on Nov. 22, at Agbeloba area in Abeokuta, drove a Datsun vehicle on the public highway in a dangerous manner.
He alleged that the accused knocked down the FRSC official, Mr Badmus Aderemi, while he was on official duty.
``Oriade hit Aderemi, carried him on top of his vehicle's bonnet and drove round with him till he was later arrested at Ita-Eko by eye witnesses, ``The accused drove the vehicle without a vehicle license, certificate of insurance nor a state hackney permit, which permits him to operate a commercial vehicle," he alleged.
The accused, who had no legal representation, pleaded not guilty to the three count charge of reckless driving, hitting an official of FRSC, failure to produce driver’s licence and vehicle particulars.
The accused was granted bail by Magistrate Idowu Olayinka in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case to Feb.7, 2013 for hearing.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday called on Nigerians to keep faith in Federal Government’s agenda of transforming all sectors of the economy. The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Olisa Metuh, made the call in a statement ...
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.
Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says her doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam Sunday. Reines says Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants.
Clinton was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital so doctors can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours.
Reines says doctors will continue to assess Clinton's condition, "including other issues associated with her concussion."
Former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed optimism that despite the challenges confronting Nigeria, the country will soon bounce back as a great nation. Obasanjo said this at the weekend in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, at a meeting of...
A Gombe State House of Assembly member representing Gombe North, Hon Ahmed Jalo Ganga was, yesterday, abducted on his way to the mosque for his morning prayers at about 5am. Reports indicated that two people on motorcycle attacked and forced him to ent...
The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has noted with concern the statement credited to Senator Abba Bukar Ibrahim, a two time governor of Yobe State that government must dialogue with the Boko Haram sect for peace to be restored.
Bukar Ibrahim, who is now a senator, also insisted that the reason for the action of the sect was inequality, neglect and injustice.
Pastor Oritsejafor described the statement by the senator as “overly reckless, irresponsible and insensitive”, and noted that it was capable of encouraging the increasingly violent sect to be even more daring.
In a press release signed by his Media aide, Mr Kenny Ashaka, yesterday, in Abuja, the CAN president said that it was naïve for Senator Ibrahim to reason that if the Federal Government dialogued with Boko Haram, the sect would limit itself to concessions made even when they had stated that their aim was to do away with western education and enthrone the Islamic law of Sharia’a.
Oritsejafor advised Senator Bukar Ibrahim not to make recommendations that were short-sighted and avoid taking counsel from only a section of a state or region.
The CAN president said that he expected Senator Bukar Ibrahim to help put the sect in strict subjection to the laws of the land, rather than treading the dangerous path of dialogue which has always been truncated by harsh conditions from the sect members.
According to him, Senator Ibrahim must bear a heavy responsibility for the spiraling violence of Boko Haram against Christians in Yobe State if he now speaks of inequality, neglect and injustice, which were direct consequences of the neglect of the people by those who govern them, himself a two-time governor of Yobe State, inclusive.
“If, today, the people are fighting biting poverty, inequality and injustice as Senator Ibrahim would want us to believe, it is his likes that should be held responsible for being the sources of their poverty. In that case, Boko Haram’s anger should have been directed at leaders like Senator Bukar Ibrahim who had not allowed his people to take full advantage of the vast economic opportunities that exist in Northern Nigeria.
“It is hypocritical for Senator Bukar Ibrahim to now make the country and her citizens to pay a heavy price for their ineptitude. In fact, apart from the extremist ideology of Boko Haram, I am tempted to believe that Senator Ibrahim’s statement is also a confirmation that the increasing violence in the north is a sponsored revolt to pressure the Federal Government into making huge regional concessions.
“The Federal Government should, therefore, not succumb to blackmail from any quarters on account of the Boko Haram issue but should remain focused in dealing with the sect members in accordance with the laws of the land. It is worrisome that a Senator of the status of Ibrahim rather than pursue a secularist ideology on which the survival and stability of this country depends, is giving an advice that favours Boko Haram, a sect that has killed many Christians, bombed and burnt Churches. I am shocked that Senator Ibrahim is not worried by the growing killings of Christians in his home state, Yobe, where five Christians, including their pastor were killed on Christmas day.
“Few days after these killings and burning of 20 houses, Senator Ibrahim is only concerned with government’s dialogue with the sect members.
“I believe that elders in the north, especially those in the North East zone hold the key to the cessation of violence in the region and should begin to discuss how to end the unprovoked attacks on Christians and their Churches,” Oritsejafor said.
Some tourists and residents have condemned the ‘distasteful’ appearances of some of the female participants at the just-concluded Calabar Carnival. Some spectators at the grand finale of the carnival, held on December 27, told the News Agen...
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The Bayelsa State Government as well as the State Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kept sealed lips over the alleged plan by the Police to arrest the Speaker of the Bayelsa State Assembly, Hon. Kombowei Ben and two others ove...
The falling standard of education in Nigeria and its attendant consequences have been subjects of intense public interest in the recent past. In this interview with DONATUS NADI, the Executive Chairman, Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board (N...
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