Tell a Tale

Thursday night’s ambush and another one this morning left no fewer than 11 members of the Boko Haram sect dead, while a soldier was killed and three others sustained injury in battle to clear Sabsawa and Ajiri villages of Konduga and Mafa local government areas of Borno state. A statement from Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col Sani Usman made available to newsmen on Friday said troops of 202 Battalion of 21 Brigade in Operation LAFIYA DOLE had ambushed Boko Haram elements in which they killed three and arrested one of the terrorists at Sabsawa-Boarding road and BOCOBS-Ngurusoye road between June 1 to 2, 2016. A captured Boko Haram terrorist, Umar Mustapha, who claimed to have come from Sabsawa has been handed over to the Brigade Headquarters for further interrogation and processing. The troops have, however, continued with their clearance operations of the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists within the Sambisa forest. In a related development, earlieron...

This happened along Umuahia - Okigwe road. A lorry ran into an oncoming Peace Mass Transit bus. Eyewitness reported that a lot of people travelling with the bus lost their lives. More photos. More details later ...

Trade Union Congress, TUC, has dissociated itself from any strike embarked upon by the organised Labour. Its President, Bobboi Kaigama made the confirmation to DAILY POST Wednesday morning. Our correspondent made several calls and sent text messages to some Labour leaders Tuesday night over today’s planned strike. In his reply around 1 am Wednesday, Kaigama said, “TUC is not on strike”. DAILY POST has also reached out to NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, who is yet to give a response. Details later… Source: Daily Post

At an exchange rate of N196.90k to a dollar, the country’s fuel subsidy has dropped from the N51.61 per litre it recorded last week to N45.66 per litre, according to the pricing template by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). With this latest development, as at Monday this week, the daily payment on subsidy has therefore dropped from N2.06 billion to N1.8 billion as at June 19 2015. The landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, also dropped from N123.12 per litre as at June 11 to N117.17, while the Expected Open Market Price also dropped from N138.61 per litre to N132.66. Based on daily petrol consumption of 40 million litres, a figure supplied by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, the total subsidy to be paid by the Federal Government to marketers on the product as of June 22 would be N1.8 billion down from N2.06 billion at N51.61 per litre on June 11. Subsidy refers to the money paid, usually by the government, t...

The Lagos State Government has given okada  (motorcycle) riders in the state 21-day ultimatum to leave restricted routes. The government met with  okada  unions on Thursday at the state secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, where the ultimatum was given. The Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Tunji Bello, who chaired the meeting, said the government decided to give the riders 21-day ultimatum for the unions to sensitise their members to vacate the restricted routes before enforcement would begin. He said. “We have held a meeting with the  okada  unions on what should be done. We had a meeting with security agencies before now on the resurgence of  okada  riders on the highways. “They said they thought that the government had relaxed the law;   there is no relaxation. We have decided to give them three weeks for enlightenment because we are not doing anything new; what we are doing is to re-enforce the law.” Bello said when the...

Another suicide! There was pandemonium in Abraka  recently as a female student of Delta State University, Abraka, Evelyn Mogekwe, aged 26, allegedly jilted by her lover of seven years, committed suicide. Vanguard  learned that the abrupt end of the seven years relationship traumatized the lady as all plans to work down the aisle failed to materialize. Sources said she was in high spirits in her hostel but her mood changed dramatically after her lover called her on phone to declare that their relationship was over. She was said to have bought some drugs, claiming she was having headache and went into her room, leaving a message for her room mate (identity withheld) that they might not see her again. It was learned that a few minutes later, her room mate who sensed danger, raced into the room and found her lying lifeless on the ground. The room mate then raised alarm which attracted other students to the room, but before help came her way, she had given up th...

The Deputy Governor of Ebonyi Dr. Kelechi Igwe yesterday said the government is in a hurry to transform and modernize Ebonyi state so that it will compete favourably with other states in the country. The Deputy Governor gave the assurance in Abakaliki after receiving eight trucks and one pay-loader donated from three different construction companies to assist the state government in its drive in the environmental sanitation of the capital city. The companies are Brass Engineering Company Limited which donated two trucks, Patan Limited , four trucks and a pay loader and China Civil Engineering Construction Company(CCECC), two trucks. Dr Igwe thanked the companies for their assistance to help the government to make the state clean encouraging other individuals, groups and cooperate bodies to live up to their expectations by contributing their quotas in the development of the state. The deputy governor noted that the administration led by Chief Dave Umahi has declared a state...

The nine stalwarts of the All Progressive Congress in Bayelsa State expelled and suspended by the All Progressives Congress, Bayelsa State chapter, have described the decision of the party as laughable. The sanctioned members led by a former Security Adviser to the State Government, Chief Richard Kpodo, said their purported suspension and expulsion was illegal, unconstitutional and breach of process. They said the sanction without proper trial was a deliberate act by some questionable characters to cause an implosion within the party in the state. The APC had on Monday expelled two and suspended seven of its leaders for anti-party activities. The two expelled members are former Chairman of defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Perekeme Kpodo and a top member of the party, Mr. Sunday Oputu. Those suspended were Mr. Godwin Sidi;  Fred Akamu; Rosemary Okeazi; Chief Livinus Opratapu; Harrow Zuokumo; Enoch Koripamo; and Christopher Abariowei. The APC ...

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Senate on Sunday described as unnecessary, the call for the immediate resignation of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, by some aggrieved All Progressives Congress’ senators. The Pro-Ahmad Lawan senators under the aegis of the Senate Unity Forum had on Saturday demanded the immediate resignation of Ekweremadu, as part of conditions that would make them recognise Senator Bukola Saraki as the President of the Senate. The spokesperson for the group, Senator Kabir Marafa, told  The PUNCH  in a telephone interview that his colleagues had nothing personal against the deputy senate president but that he was not properly elected since he got 54 votes against 55, being the simple majority. But some members of the PDP senators, who nominated and voted for Ekweremadu on June 9, have vowed to resist any unconstitutional or illegal means by the APC senators to remove their member as a principal officer. In her reaction, ...

An 11-year-old boy, Adolphus Akua, has been reportedly killed by an explosive device suspected to be a grenade at Nyor Igyungu village, near the new Makurdi International Market. Sunday Vanguard  gathered from a source in the neighbourhood that the deceased was a primary four pupil. According to him, the deceased only recently lost his father, Akua Mjoko, who, until his death, was an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, from Mbapupur Gaambe Ushin in Gwer West local government area. “The boy’s father, who died few months back, was an ASP. After the father’s death, his children have also been dying. In this particular case, we learned that the boy was clearing up their living home few days ago when he found a grenade in one of the bags in the room”, the source said. “Unaware of what the substance was, the boy took it outside and used it as toy with children within the compound and neighbourhood. “In the cause of toying with the substance, he pulled off the pin on the ...

Operatives of the 9th Mile Division of Enugu State Police Command  raided a ‘baby factory’ located at Etiti in  Amankwo-Ngwo Udi Local Government Area where they rescued nine pregnant girls. The ‘baby factory was allegedly operated by a suspect  arrested on June 13 during a raid on his private house where he operated from. The state police command spokesperson, Mr.Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed the arrest, saying pregnant girls were rescued during the raid. Amaraizu said, “We had strong intelligence from about his activities. We had to put a tab on him for some  time which eventually paid off. “Nine girls at various stages of pregnancy were rescued. Their name are Stella James, 19, from Ohaozara, Ebonyi State; Eze Jennifer,19, from Obukpa, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State; Ugwu Christabel,17, from  Aku,Igbo-Etiti Enugu State; Happiness Mbaonu,17, from Nnewi, Anambra State; Ovunna Ifeoma,20, from Ezza, Ebonyi State; Esther Nwankwo, 21, f...

As the trial of some staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other commercial banks over alleged fraud totaling over N8billion continues, the Economic Financial Crimes Commission yesterday told the Federal High Court in Ibadan that one of the run-away suspects had been arrested. The commission through its counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) disclosed this during the sitting of the court yesterday. Mr Rotimi Jacobs, who gave the name of the arrested suspect as Tijani Olusoga, informed the court that he would like to effect some amendment to try the suspect along with his colleagues. Six CBN staff are standing trial over alleged forgery and stealing mutilated currency notes. Jacobs said the suspect would be charged with an 11- count charge. After arguments from counsel to all the applicants, Justice Faji, adjourned ruling on the bail applications till 19 June, 2015. The accused are Kolawole Babalola, Muniru Adeola, Toogun Kayode Philip, Kehinde Fadokun and Olutunde. In the ...

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said that President Muhammadu Buhari would extend bailout to states to enable them offset backlog of salaries and liabilities crippling their economic activities across the country. He made this known yesterday in Makurdi, the state capital, during separate meetings with students and other union leaders from the Benue State University, BSU. Ortom further revealed that his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam left behind a debt burden of over N90 billion for his administration, contrary to the N9.2 billion debt as claimed by the former governor. Benue is among the distressed states in the country. Others include Osun, Enugu, Kaduna, Plateau and Imo. Most of the states or their local governments are said to be owing between four to six months salaries of workers amounting to several billions of Naira. However, according to Ortom, “the list of the debt (left behind by Suswam) include N50 billion incurred from ongoing contracts, N18 billion on...

The fighters of Boko Haram sect have killed 37 people in separate attacks on six villages in Borno State, a youth vigilante told journalists in Maiduguri on Thursday. He revealed that the notorious group drove in a convoy of Sport Utility Vehicles to Koshifa, Matangle, Buraltuma, Darmanti, Almeri and Burmari villages – all in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, on Wednesday night. He said the insurgents opened fire indiscriminately on the villagers and burnt down houses. A top member of the youth vigilante group in Biu, a neighbouring local government to Damboa, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said some of the villagers who fled from the villages under attack, narrated their horrible experiences to vigilante in Biu. He said those that escaped were mostly women, who said the insurgents killed their husbands and burnt down their houses. The women were afraid that the insurgents might come back to finish off the villages and they had to flee. He sai...

A Makurdi High Court, presided over by Justice Jennifer Ijohor, yesterday, sentenced a 38-year-old house wife, Mrs. Ternenge Tersoo, to death by hanging for the murder of her one-year-old step-son. Vanguard  learned that the convict’s husband had reported her to the Police at Vandeikya in 2012, alleging that his wife killed his one-year-old baby. According to the First Information Report, FIR, filed before the court by the police prosecutor, she was accused of snatching her year old step-son from a nanny and strangled him to death. In the course of the trial, the accused testified for herself and denied the allegation, but called no witness to support her claims. No remorse Alleged to have failed to show remorse over the incident and held her ground that she had no hand in the death of the baby. The prosecution counsel called two witnesses, including the Investigating Police Officer, IPO, who tendered a medical report of the autopsy carried out on the dead baby...

About N400 billion bad debt outstanding in the banking sector is causing panic in the industry and most of the debtors are individuals who have the capacity to pay but have refused to do so. Following this development, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Deposit Money Banks in the country have concluded plans to publish the list of such debtors starting from August 1, 2015. The decision to publish the list was arrived at yesterday after the bankers rose from the 322nd Bankers’ Committee meeting in Abuja with a resolution that the names of all serial bank debtors be published latest August 1, 2015. The CBN Director of Banking Supervision, Mrs Tokunbo Martins, said banks had been given August 1 deadline to publish names of their debtors. Martins disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the 322nd Bankers Committee meeting in Abuja. She said: “You will recall that at the last Bankers Committee meeting, we discussed about publishing the names of serial de...

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has promised to tackle the problem of multiple taxations in the state. The governor, yesterday, when members of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture, PHACCIMA; Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN  and the Petroleum Technical Association of Nigeria paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Port Harcourt, said his government will continue to create the needed atmosphere for businesses to thrive in the state. “What is important is commitment. The government has the political will to create a conducive environment.  If we want investment to come into the state, then we must fight crime,” he said. Promising to appoint a core professional as Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, the governor said he will also take steps to redress delays associated with the issuance of certificates of occupancy and other title documents, noting that it will also raise the internally generated revenue of t...

In their daily lives, Nigerians must cope with this open ambivalence – they have oil but they can’t see oil; they have petroleum, but they have no petrol; they pay for light but they get darkness. There is no better way to explain what we mean here than by telling our usual story of the so-called subsidy on petroleum products in its most elemental form. Nigeria is said to be the sixth largest producer of oil in the world. But with mismanagement, what was originally supposed to be a blessing from God has virtually turned a curse. At every point, we are either fighting because of the poor allocation of this resource, or we are crying that some dubious elements have stolen the total proceeds. The original arrangement was that as soon as the crude oil came out from the ground, Nigeria would sell 90 percent at the spot market, in hard currency. The remaining 10 percent was meant to be refined for local consumption. At various times, Nigeria had built four refineries – two in Port-Ha...