Navy dislodges miscreants from Warri waterways

WARRI- THE Commanding Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS, Warri, Delta State, Captain Musa Gemu, said he deployed naval personnel to chase away the troublemakers, who commandeered a section of the Warri waterways, near the disbanded Camp 5 in Warri South-West Local Government Area, Saturday,  harassing travellers.

He said it was in reaction to the lawlessness by the boys that he dispatched his men, saying, “There is calm now, we have driven them away.”

His words,  “Some youths were beaten up people before Camp 5, the reason for their action is not known, we had to dispatch men to ensure that there is peace in the area.”

Captain Gemu, however, said that movement on the waterways was restricted till the period of free movement as ordered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, asking residents and voters to remain in their respective wards because the same restriction that apply on land also apply in the riverine area.

Former PDP chieftain in Warri, Chief Ayirimi Emami, who defected to APC, few days ago, raised the alarm, this morning, that his step mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Emami, was detained for hours by Ijaw boys at Kurutie, who also harassed and beat up other innocent travelers, yesterday.

But, PDP chairman in Warri South West local government area, Chief Boro Opudu, who acknowledged that Emami spoke to him about his step mother, dismissed the allegation of tension on the waterways, saying there was calm from information available to him.

Read More

B’Haram attacks Borno villages, kills 22

Twenty-two persons were killed on Thursday when Boko Haram insurgents attacked two villages in Borno State.

In Dile, a village in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of the state, a member of the youth vigilante group said 20 people were killed while many were injured when the Boko Haram fighters invaded the village around 2am.

The source said, “Hundreds of suspected Boko Haram militants, who are believed to be fleeing from the Nigerian troops on Thursday, killed at least 20 people in an attack on a remote village in Askira Uba Local Government Area in Borno State.”

“The insurgents stormed Dile village at 2am in several vehicles, burning houses and killing anybody in sight.”

Also a resident, Dauda Ardo who fled to Mubi, told our correspondent on the telephone that 20 persons were killed in the village and many others sustained injuries during the attack.

He said, “Dozens of Boko Haram fighters attacked our village at about 2am and killed 20 people. Many of us fled to the bush. Everybody was running for his life. We don’t know the whereabouts of our family members.”

The other two were killed when Boko Haram fighters on Thursday attacked Buratai village in Biu Local Government Area of the state. At Buratai, they also injured three others.

A security source from Biu town, told our correspondent on the telephone that the insurgents invaded the village on Thursday night, killing two persons and injuring three others.

Read More

Girl, 15, two others injured in Lagos-Ibadan road crash

A 15-year-old girl and two others were critically injured on Friday in an auto crash at the popular Arepo Bus Stop on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway area of Ogun State.

Commercial motorcyclists and other sympathisers rushed the injured victims to the nearest hospital for medical attention.

An eyewitness said the accident, which involved a Toyota Sienna car marked APP 947 CQ and a truck marked YN 163 XA, occurred as both vehicles were struggling to overtake each other.

Another eyewitness, Olamilekan Akande, 40, explained that the accident occurred as the truck’s driver was trying to avoid hitting a stationary bus and thereby swerved to the direction of the Toyota car.

“The accident happened in my presence. I saw how it happened and I am ready to testify anywhere on how it occurred. It was the back of the truck that hooked up the front part of the Toyota car and dragged it on the road while the driver was overtaking it,” Akande said.

But both drivers blamed the crash on each other.

The 35-year-old driver of the Toyota car, who simply identified himself as Obina Uraka, accused the driver of the articulated vehicle, Mr. Mosudi Adigun, 50, of wrongful overtaking, while the latter said Uraka hit his vehicle from the rear, leading to the fatal destruction of the car.

Our correspondent noted that two of the victims were in critical condition when he visited the hospital, but the Medical Director, Dr. Abiola Ajayi, assured them of adequate treatment.

The 15-year-old victim, Cocy Onyemechi, whose right leg was affected, said she was fast asleep when the crash occurred, adding that it was the dragging of the car by the truck that woke her up.

When contacted for comment, the Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said he was not aware of the crash, but promised to get back to our correspondent after investigating the incident.

As of the time of filing this report, however, the police spokesperson had yet to comment on the crash.

Read More

PDP expels Lamido’s deputy, Mahmud heads for APC

The Deputy Governor of Jigawa, Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud, has been expelled from the Peoples Democratic Party for alleged anti-party activities.

This was contained in a statement by the PDP chairman of Galagamma ward in Gumel, Jigawa, Alhaji Ibrahim Kafinta, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria  on Monday in Dutse.

The chairman said the decision to expel Mahmud was taken during a stakeholders meeting held in his ward.

Reports had earlier indicated that Mahmud had dumped the PDP for the All Progressives Congress, which won the March 28 election in the state.

Kafinta did not say when the stakeholders meeting, which ratified the expulsion, held.

The ward chairman alleged that the deputy governor “sabotaged PDP” during the recent National Assembly election.

He added that the Gumel Local Government Area headquarters of the party, had endorsed the expulsion.

Efforts by NAN to get the comments of the deputy governor on the matter was futile as he neither picked a call nor replied a text message sent to him.

Read More

Why Jonathan lost to Buhari – Sanusi

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the current Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, says President Goodluck Jonathan lost because of the mood of voters which was determined by the economic conditions and level of poverty across the country.

Sanusi, who is now known as Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, said this during an interview with our correspondent on Saturday.

He said the voting showed that areas which had a high rate of poverty felt neglected by the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government over the years.

Sanusi said the presidential poll results showed that the figures of the PDP in presidential elections from 1999 had continued to dwindle significantly.

The monarch said the PDP got fewer votes in 2007, less in 2011 and then fewer votes in 2015 causing the ruling party to finally lose to the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress.

He said, “I think in 2011, it was very clear that Jonathan had lost many states in the North that had previously been won by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. And it was clear that there was a general sense by people of the Federal Government not investing in the areas where there is a high level of poverty.

“I believe more and more of those states began to feel that sense of not feeling the federal presence and not feeling the impact of democracy in their pockets and I think it is extremely important for people to connect with the government and when you have such conditions after 16 years of democracy, it was natural that people would want to have a change and I think this is basically what has happened.

“I don’t think it is something about an individual, I think it is something that has been going on for a number of years and you could see the states won by the PDP in 1999 and what they won in 2003, what they won in 2007, 2011 and you would begin to see the changes in the way Nigerians were responding so it was a matter of time.”

Sanusi, however, commended Jonathan, the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari; and the Independent National Electoral Commission for the conduct and atmosphere of the election.

He said change of leadership was good for democracy as it encouraged healthy competition. He said it was the trend in democracies across the world.

“I think it is good for the country that you have different parties winning and if the APC performs, they get another term and if they don’t, they get voted out after four years and it is extremely important that this happens so let us not see it in terms of somebody losing,” he said.

Sanusi also urged Buhari not to focus solely on corruption but on other areas that required urgent government attention such as education, decaying infrastructure, diversifying the economy and fixing power.

Read More