Students and staff of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) in Imo State on Tuesday avoided the main entrance of the school over a coffin that was dumped there.
They took alternative routes to avoid the object.
It could not be confirmed who dumped the coffin, but sources said it could be members of one of the communities that have been at loggerheads with the institution of a land.
Some palm fronds were also placed at the school gate, apparently to warn the management to steer clear of the disputed land.
A source said: “We woke up this morning to see that thing there. “We do not know who placed it, but some people have told us that it is one of those communities in dispute with the school over the school’s land.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the suspension of the management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
He approved a new interim governing board to oversee the company’s daily operations.
It followed the industrial action embarked on by staff members over non-payment of arrears of pensions, allowances, salaries and promotion.
The dismissal, conveyed by the presidency to the Federal Ministry of Power, takes immediate effect, according to a statement by the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Goddy Jedy Agba.
The statement added: “The presidential directives as conveyed has also directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises to set up a new management team of the AEDC.
“However, in a memorandum of understanding MOU, jointly signed by the Minister of state power Goddy Jedy Agba, the chairman Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC, Sanusi Garba, Director General Bureau of Public Enterprises, Alex Okoli, Comrade Joe Ajaero on behalf of the union, the Federal government has ordered the suspension of the strike, given 21 days within which the outstanding emoluments and entitlements of staff will be paid.
“Government has described the nonperformance and incompetence of the AEDC as a national embarrassment, saying the suspension of the management team subsist until further notice.”
A 7-year-old girl, Damilade Fadare who was declared missing on evening of December 6, 2021, at Adehun, Ado-Ekiti, the has been found dead in the early hours of today.
According to reports, she was found dead this morning stabbed multiple times by a neighbour, who thereafter kept the corpse inside a cooler.
The house where she was found allegedly belongs to a pastor at Bolorunduro Street in the Adehun area.
It was gathered that the pastor said his wife was not around yesterday when officers of the Ekiti State Police Command were searching for the child, hence so the policemen could not search the house.
According to reports, irate residents of the area have the house ablaze due to the heinous act.
The court has ordered the remand of 108 suspects recently arrested by the police during a raid on the Merchant Navy training ground in Lagos.
86 male suspects were remanded in Ikoyi prison, while the 22 female suspects were remanded in SCID Panti, while the case was adjourned till January 18, 2022 for mention.
The court order was given on Monday after the suspects and their commander were arraigned before the Chief Magistrate Court, Yaba, Mrs. O. A. Olatunbosun.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, on Monday, said the 108 suspects were arraigned before Chief Magistrate O.A. Olatunbosun, adding that 107 suspects were granted N100,000 bail with two sureties in like sum.
He noted that the commander of the training camp, Mr Sunday Dakare, was granted bail in the sum of N5m with three sureties in like sum.
Ajisebutu said, “The suspects were charged with conspiracy, conduct likely to cause a breach of the public peace, obtaining money under false pretences, impersonation and fraudulently acquiring naval military accoutrement contrary to and punishable under sections 411, 168(b), 314, 79(i)(a)(b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.
“One hundred and seven of the suspects, who were applicants, were granted N100, 000, and two sureties bail condition each, while their commander, Mr Sunday Dakare, had a stringent bail condition of N5,000,000, three sureties who are level 12 officers with landed properties within Lagos. The sureties must deposit their passports with the court.
Policemen from the Zuba Division in the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Friday, reportedly raided Dakwa community, an Abuja suburb, shooting an official of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The unidentified DSS official was said to be on transit when he was allegedly shot in the Dakwa raid.
No fewer than 37 residents and other passersby in the community were arrested during the operation which took take place around 8pm.
A resident, Aliyu Ibrahim, who introduced himself as a security guard in one of the private schools in the area, was one of the people arrested and taken to the police division where they spent the night.
He said other people arrested included traders, tea and roasted meat sellers as well as commercial motorcyclists.
“They stormed the area with three vehicles including a Hilux van, bus and a utility vehicle. “They operated alongside local vigilantes who rode the impounded motorcycles, while their owners and other arrested people were conveyed in the police vehicles.”
Another resident, who craved anonymity, alleged that the arrested residents were released the following morning on bail, after parting with N5,000 each.
Responding, the Zuba Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Osor Moses, confirmed the shooting of the DSS official but said he was responding to treatment at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada.
He, however, referred our reporter to the FCT police command for further details on the incident.
At the command, the police spokesperson, DSP Josephine Adeh, said she would get back to our reporter but did not up till the time of filing this report yesterday night.
In a move to save his presidential ambition, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is set to meet Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje over the crisis rocking the party in Kano State.
Tinubu had on Sunday met with Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, whose camp has been having a running battle with Ganduje over the control of the party structures in the state.
The former Lagos State governor singled out the leaders of the warring factions in Kano for reconciliation at a time when the just concluded congresses of the party had triggered a crisis in 13 states.
The meeting between Tinubu and Shekarau had raised dust in Kano, regarded as the votes’ bank of the ruling party.
The congresses had polarised APC in the state into two with the governor’s camp being chaired by Abdullahi Abbas while Shekarau’s faction has Ahmadu Haruna Danzago as chairman.
The crisis reached its crescendo last Tuesday when an FCT high court gave a judgement upholding the parallel congress held by the Shekarau-led faction and voided the Governor Ganduje faction.
The battle between the camps assumed a violent posture on Thursday when thugs torched the campaign office of Senator Jibrin I. Barau. A petition has since been written to the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, indicting top shots in the governor’s camp including its chairman.
The camp loyal to Governor Ganduje led by Abbas had denied sponsoring the attacks.
Why Tinubu wants Kano crisis resolved
A stalwart of the party told Daily Trust that Tinubu waded into the matter as part of plans to advance his yet to be declared presidential ambition. The former Lagos State governor has been romancing with Ganduje since after the 2019 general elections.
Tinubu had last month visited an elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, in Kano, where he sought for the northern leader’s support towards the actualisation of his presidential ambition. Previously, clerics in Kano State had endorsed Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
The source said internal wrangling rocking the party in Kano State would affect Tinubu’s ambition, hence his intervention.
“Tinubu’s interest in all of these is the number of votes that can come from Kano. A good politician cannot play with the number of votes from the state. Lagos and Kano are central to any politician’s presidential ambition. Combined votes from the two states are over two million and that is why Kano was determinant of the 2015 and 2019 elections,” the source who is close to Ganduje and Shekarau said, pleading not to be named.
Another source said power brokers in the APC including a section at the centre and some governors who are allegedly averse to the Tinubu’s presidential ambition, are fuelling the feud.
“You know some powerful personalities in Abuja have reservations on Tinubu’s presidential ambition, thus they see this as an opportunity to advance their course by decimating the camp of Ganduje,” the source said.
The upcoming meeting between Asiwaju and Ganduje
Contacted, the Kano State Commissioner of Information, Muhammad Garba, said Governor Ganduje was also invited by the national leader of the party for the peace parley.
In a phone interview, he said; “Tinubu invited the two groups, both Malam Shekarau and Kano State governor to the reconciliation meeting. Asiwaju decided to hear from Malam first and subsequently hear from the governor and if there is any reason for reconciliation, then they take it from there.
“If you look at it politically and historically, there is always a contest or struggle for power after a second term. It happens during Shekarau and Kwankwaso.
“But at the end of the day, whether they are reconciled or not, the election will be conducted and Allah decides whoever emerges as governor, senator and what have you.”
Also Monday, the Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Lawan Musa, told Daily Trust that a notice of appeal has been filed against last week’s judgment that recognised the ward congress of Shekarau’s faction.
He added that they have also filed a motion for stay of execution and other motions, which he said they believe will tilt the tide in their favour.
Shekarau met Asiwaju without our consent – G-7 sources
Sources in the camp told our reporters that Shekarau went to the meeting without the blessing of other members of his camp.
Operating under the G-7, the Shekarau’s camp has Senator Barau (Kano North), Rep Shaaban Sharada, Nasiru Auduwa, Tijjani Abdulkadir Jobe, Haruna Isa Dederi, among others as key members.
One of the sources said the former governor was yet to brief them on the outcome of his meeting with the APC national leader.
“As far as we are concerned, the meeting was personal and not for our group because he went there without our permission and since he returned, nobody has been briefed.
“What I can tell you is that nobody can handover Kano to anyone come 2023. The state is bigger than anybody,” one of the sources said.
He emphasized that the crisis rocking the APC in Kano was “to solely free the party and open it up to all in the state. As it is now, many people are being side-lined. They are practicing politics of exclusivity and it is not good for our democracy”.
Another source said they would meet today. “There is the possibility of asking Shekarau to tell the world that he went to Lagos on his own,” he said.
A member of the Governor Ganduje faction, Engineer Ramat Ungogo, said the meeting was a sign that the governor’s side is winning in the ongoing crisis.
Ungogo, who is the Chairman of Ungogo LGA, said if Tinubu had invited Ganduje, it would have been interpreted as though “father and son are combining to deal with Shekarau”.
Tinubu’s media aide, Mr Tunde Rahman, pledged to call our correspondent when his comment was sought on why his boss was interested in Kano.
He was yet to call up till the time of going to press last night.
The national leadership of the APC yesterday insisted that the congresses attended by its delegation were authentic. The party also said it was yet to receive and study the recent High Court judgment recognising Shekarau’s faction as legitimate in the state.
Speaking with newsmen on Monday in Abuja, Secretary of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, said the party did not send parallel state congress committees to the state.
“We are responsible leaders of the party and we won’t like to comment on a judgment that we haven’t seen.
“All I can tell you now is that we are going to apply for a certified true copy of the judgment. We haven’t seen it. We need to study the judgement.
“We didn’t give letters to two committees! How could we have done that? We won’t put fire in our own house. We know the people we gave the official letter to go to Kano and conduct the official assignment. That is the team we will accord recognition to,” he said.
In a separate interview, Barrister Auwal Ibrahim, who led the team that conducted the congress which produced the displaced Abdullahi Abass as chairman, told newsmen that the congress attended by Governor Ganduje was the authentic congresses.
There was no comment from Shekarau’s camp as the number of his media aide, Dr Sule Ya’u Sule was not going through.
By Ismail Mudashir, Saawua Terzungwe (Abuja) & Clement A. Oloyede (Kano)
Recall that Sanwo-Olu’s representative was booed on stage while giving his speech after he was introduced during ’The Experience’.
Senior Pastor of House on The Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin has tendered an apology to the Lagos State government.
The apology came after youths booed Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s representative at The Experience on Friday night
Sanwo-Olu’s representative was booed on stage while giving his speech after he was introduced during ’The Experience’ held at the House on the Rock Cathedral, Lekki.
Adefarasin displeased with the crowd’s behavior, apologized to the Lagos State government, describing the attitude as unscriptural.
He cautioned youths to pray for leaders in order for peace to reign in the country.
“I must honestly caution that we must pray for those who lead us that we may dwell peacefully in the land
“You must never disrespect authority because they beat the sword.
“I apologise to the leaders of Lagos state on your behalf,” Pastor Adefarasin said.
The burial arrangements of a Ghanaian end up capturing the attention of the internet space following his friend’s special way of sending him off.
Man receives unusual burial arrangement from friends (Video)
The video making rounds on social media captures the moment friends of a deceased hung his coffin on a hydraulic vehicle.
It, however, did not stop there as two of the supposed friend of the deceased sat on the coffin while the hydraulic vehicle raise the lifeless body back and forth.
The carefully hung coffin swung back and forth in the air as mourners wail over the loss of the deceased.
Lil Wayne, a popular foreign rapper, is being investigated by the police for allegedly pulling a rifle on one of his own bodyguards during a dispute at his home.
According to TMZ, one of the rapper’s bodyguards reported to the cops that he and Wayne got into a fight at Wayne’s Hidden Hills, California home, resulting in physical violence with a brandished firearm.
Following the initial altercation, the guard alleges that the rapper requested him to leave the residence, but things escalated when he went to the restroom. According to a source close to Wayne, the incident did not occur, and the rapper does not even own a pistol.
The guard claimed, however, that the rapper pulled out an AR-15, which was when he went to the gated community’s guard shack and phoned the police.
Before the cops arrived to investigate the rapper’s story, he had already fled. The guard told police the fight started with Wayne accusing him of taking photos and leaking them to the media.
Other law enforcement sources familiar with the case told TMZ that the guard’s claim is doubtful, and he had no marks or injuries on his body from the purported physical confrontation.
The guard also does not want to pursue charges against Wayne, and police will investigate despite their doubts about some of the allegations.
