The Nigeria Police says it has arrested the people that are allegedly involved in the failed attack on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
Acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, disclosed this on Thursday at the weekly special briefing of State House Correspondents, organised by the Presidential Media Team.
Baba said; “We have been able to uncover the assailants and we have uncovered what actually happened, contrary to what he said.
“We have been able get these people and know where they came from and how they came but the case is still under investigation. But as for those who organized and those who pulled the trigger have all been arrested.”
Governor Ortom had in March this year, alleged that gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders attacked him on his farm near Tyo-mu, along Makurdi-Gboko Highway of Benue State.
The Governor, who appeared ruffled while speaking to Journalists after the foiled attack at the Benue People’s House, Makurdi, said armed militiamen, numbering about 15, advanced quickly towards his convoy with sophisticated weapons but were repelled by his security details.
He said the men, dressed in black, had trailed his convoy from his farm.
Aspiring elective office holders come with different quests. Some want to be known for power, others see it at opportunity to make money, and of course there are some who want to be known for a long lasting legacy of achievements that will better lives of the people.
In this last category is Hon. Taiwo Oraka, one of the aspirants vying to become the Chairman of Ifako-Ijaye Local Government in the forthcoming local government elections in Lagos State.
Oraka is a seasoned technocrat with political awareness whose unwavering loyalty to the the progressive ideas of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is dated way back to his involvement in the MKO Abiola’s campaign under defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the early 90s.
His belief is that everyone deserves access to good and affordable health care as evident with his yearly medical outreach programme for the people of Ifako-Ijaye which he plans to develop into fully functional and funded health center in the 7 wards of the local government.
Apart from health, Oraka also has some other plans lined up for the betterment of the people of Ifako-Ijaye. He has laudable plans with verifiable blueprint on different sectors of human endeavors as his plans in education, transportation, portable water, youths and women empowerment as well as welfare of old people, are top notch that will make the local government a standard for others across the country.
Oraka’s ideology has been endorsed to a laudable way to bring dividends of democracy to the good people of Ifako-Ijaye Local Government. He’s full of hope he will be granted the opportunity by his people to serve through the forthcoming primaries of the APC.
Alkali Baba, acting inspector-general of police, says the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) created a vacuum in policing the country.
Baba said this at a media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
He said the morale of police officers in the country has been low since the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
The acting inspector-general of police said the special weapons and tactics squad (SWAT) established to replace SARS has not yet commenced operations.
He said the vacuum created by SARS has made it difficult to tackle most of the violent crimes in the country.
“The security situation of the country has been significantly stabilise from time to time but we think if it is stabilising then are isolated insurgency coming from these zones in terms of attacks on police facilities and police personnel, even all law enforcement agencies including the military,” he said.
“Therefore, we decided to, one, rejig the morale of our personnel, which has been a little bit dampened since the #EndSARS thing went.
“With the proscription of SARS and establishment of SWAT, which has not been able to take off fully. We had a vacuum in tackling most of the violent crimes from our position of strength.”
On the planned recruitment of 10,000 new police personnel, he said the process has reached 70 percent and that the exercise is in compliance with the federal character principle.
Afrobeat musician Seun Kuti has said that division of Nigeria can be achieved without going to war or killing one another.
The activist and leader of Movement of The People (MOP) noted instead of choosing destruction to achieve Yoruba Nation or Biafra, the people should negotiate to achieve a common goal.
He said this during a live video on Instagram while fielding questions on when ESN and Ebubeagu, a security outfit, would start a war among themselves.
Kuti reminded his viewers that England recently left the European Union without fighting.
“England just left the EU recently; did they fight anyone before leaving? The Scottish are agitating to leave England. Why are they not saying they want to fight war before they can leave England? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying these people don’t fight but understand the narrative.
“Must it be a fight if we no wan do again, wey our elites? Why are they not agitating for a referendum?
“Referendums now put the decision in the hands of the people. They want a constitutional conference, they should pick among themselves to help us divide.
“If Nigeria truly wants to divide we must pose it in a referendum program, yes or no vote to all the people in this country so that we can make our argument for and against and the people would be carried along every step of the way because we will need them to make the final decision.
“Even before we do constitutional conferences, democratically in any country, before you do a constitutional review, you must put it to the people, the people will now decide a yes or no vote for the review before you carry your review forward.
“But when only a handful of people want to make decisions for hundreds of millions of people, this is what you now get. Everybody is only discussing one angle, one way of separating Nigeria which will kill millions of us in the name of separating Nigeria.
“If the Yoruba people want to leave Nigeria, it is not overnight. Anybody wey tell you say Yoruba people can leave Nigeria over ten year period, that person is trying to put you in another long jump. Our problem needs like Fifty years of dedication to see front before everything balance,” he said.
Gani Adams, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, has said people of the Yoruba extraction are ready to die in the push to actualise Oduduwa Republic.
Adams said some people of the Southwest are determined to pursue Oduduwa Republic.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday, the former Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, leader said the Southwest reserves the legitimate right to struggle for Oodua Republic.
Adams also lamented that the struggle has been hijacked by top politicians in the region.
He said: “It is unfortunate that some people are determined to weaken the spirit of the agitators. Unfolding events in the last few weeks have shown that some prominent politicians have hijacked the struggle for the actualisation of the O’odua Republic.
“It is an attempt to distract us from the true and original intention of the struggle.
“But I want to say it here that the struggle to seek a new nation is the legitimate rights that we are determined to live and die for and we wouldn’t waiver in our beliefs and determination to liberate our race.”
An Ibadan chief, Mogaji Nurudeen Akinade, has said thuggery and gangsterism in Ibadanland will soon end. He said engaging youths through empowerment and other activities such as sports is one of the solutions to the problem.
Akinade said insecurity in Ibadanland and other parts of the state is caused by unemployed youths.
Speaking with The Nation in Ibadan, he said part of efforts of Ibadan chiefs towards engaging youths is discovering their hidden sporting talents, adding that Ibadan Compounds Sports Competition-Fiesta will be launched soon to create avenue for youths to be useful.
Akinade said the pre-event meeting for the launch of the sports fiesta, which will be held at Ilaji Hotel and Sport Resort, Ibadan has been slated for Saturday, while invitees will be hosted by Chief Dotun Sanusi, the Otun Apesinola of Ibadanland.
The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, has endorsed the proposed sports fiesta, describing it as a right step in the right direction.
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has threatened to ‘flog’ a former governor of Niger State and fellow member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Aliyu Babangida.
Wike also accused Babangida of being a ‘mole’ in the party. The Rivers state strongman disclosed that it was unfortunate that the PDP has continued to allow the former Niger State governor to remain a member of its highest decision making body after he publicly confessed to working alongside others to frustrate former President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid in 2015.
He made this comments during a media chat at the Rivers state government house on Monday. He added, “The same Aliyu in 2017 was one of those who opposed Secondus to be Chairman of the party. He only came on board at the dying minute when he knew Secondus was coasting to victory.”
“The governor also clarify that he was not aware if the PDP national chairman has disagreement with stakeholders of the party in Rivers State.”
Wike insulted Babangida stating; “Governor Aliyu Babangida comes early for meetings to sit in front and bulge out his eyes. People like him are noisemakers”.
“Aliyu thinks it was that time they were moving around to fight PDP, I will flog hell out of him”.
It was gathered that Babangida had accused Wike of being a ‘dictator’ in the PDP.
A house of representatives panel says the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) illegally paid N2 billion to Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), from recovered loot.
At its sitting on Tuesday, the house ad hoc committee probing the status of recovered loot queried Malami on the funds which they said they never approved as a budgetary allocation.
The lawmakers cited a letter from the CBN which indicated that the apex bank directed the release of the funds following a request made for the money to be used to prosecute terror suspects.
They also tackled the minister of justice for allegedly requesting payment of approved solicitors’ fees from the recovered loot.
Adejoro Adeogun, chairman of the committee, said: “The honourable attorney general of the federation is requesting payment of approved solicitors’ fees. You see, you are asking for solicitors’ fees from recovered funds’ accounts. I don’t think it is proper; that is what we are talking about.
“The question I want to ask regards to the payment of N2 billion which you received for the prosecution of terrorism suspects; was it supposed to come from that [recovered funds] account or should it have been part of the budgetary spending? Is it that when you exhaust your budget, you ask these people to send you some money?”
But Malami denied making specific requests from the recovered loot, although he did not deny receiving the said N2 billion from the CBN.
“Where the money comes from is a function of the federal ministry of finance and I am not making specific requests out of the recovered assets,” he said.
The lawmakers then presented a letter from the central bank titled, ‘Request for approval to effect critical payments in respect of federal ministry of justice for the recovered (funds)’.
Adeogun said the letter shows “the attorney-general knows that this is coming from the recovered funds; which means that the attorney-general knows that he is making a request that is against the law”.
The AGF, however, insisted that the request did not originate from his office.
“There is nothing indicating a previous correspondence from the office of attorney-general nor is there anything in the opening paragraph making reference to a letter from the office of attorney-general,” he said.
‘DISCREPANCIES’ IN RECOVERED ASSETS
The panel also raised the alarm over the discrepancies in the records of recovered assets presented by various government agencies.
According to Adeogun, “the EFCC said they handed over this number of vessels to your office, the navy gives a different number and you have a different number — the same items, different inventories, different figures”.
Malami responded that he is “not in a position to confirm the discrepancies with the number of assets” and asked the lawmakers to verify so through their oversight roles.
…AND THE CONTROVERSIES CONTINUE
TheCable had earlier reported how Ahmed Idris, the accountant-general of the federation (AGF), was unable to provide records to account for €5 million recovered funds said to be missing when he appeared before the committee.
The developments are the latest in a series of controversies that have rocked the recovery of stolen funds and assets under the Buhari administration.
This is mostly loot recovered from Sani Abacha, former head of state, who Transparency International estimates stole up to $5 billion, out of which about $3.6 billion has been recovered since 1999.
TheCable had exposed how the current administration paid controversial legal fees of up to $15 million to lawyers hired by Malami for the repatriation of $321 million Abacha Loot despite that Swiss lawyers had done much of the work.
Antonio Conte leaves role as Inter Milan head coach by mutual consent; former Chelsea boss led Inter to their first Serie A title in 11 years; Lazio manager Simone Inzaghi is likely to replace Conte at Inter
Kaveh Solhekol has the latest developments as Antonio Conte leaves Inter Milan just weeks after winning the Serie A title
Antonio Conte has left Inter Milan by mutual consent, with Simone Inzaghi likely to replace him as head coach of the Serie A champions.
Conte has agreed a deal with the club’s owners which will see him paid €7m (£6m) for the final year of his contract.
The former Chelsea boss guided Inter to their first Serie A title in 11 years but was embroiled in a dispute with the club’s owners after they proposed a downsizing of his squad.
Inter chairman Steven Zhang reportedly asked Conte to cut his wage bill by 15 to 20 per cent and potentially sell players worth up to £70m this summer.
Zhang arrived at Inter’s headquarters to continue discussions with senior staff on Wednesday morning.
A club statement read: “FC Internazionale Milano announces that it has reached an agreement for the consensual termination of the contract with the coach Antonio Conte.
“The whole club would like to thank Antonio for the extraordinary work he has done, which culminated in winning the 19th Scudetto. Antonio Conte will remain forever in the history of our club.”
Conte was keen to keep up to eight players he sees as “untouchables” which include Milan Skriniar, Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez.
Lukaku is happy at Inter but Conte’s departure, coupled with the club needing to cut costs, has put a question mark over his status at the club.
The club’s strategy, according to Sky in Italy, could include the sale of one of the club’s star players and a move to focus on developing young talent.
Lazio manager Inzaghi is set to replace Conte at the San Siro. The former Italy striker has been in charge of the Rome club since 2016 and led them to a sixth-place finish this season, finishing six points above fierce rivals Roma.
“Antonio Conte is one of the best managers in the world, and this evening he is unemployed, although he has got €7m pay-off from Inter Milan. There had been crunch talks going on all day about his future and he was very unhappy about the fact that the owners of the club had asked him just a few days after winning the Italian title for the first time in 11 years to cut costs.
“They wanted him to shave around €100m off Inter’s budget for next season and Conte was very unhappy about that. He basically said that he had won the title, he had done what had been asked of him, but when it came to Europe, they had finished bottom of their Champions League group.
“Next season, he wanted to win the title again and to win the Champions League. He wanted to make them a force in Europe again as well, and he claimed he would not be able to do that if they were asking him to sell some of his best players to cut the wage bill. He said he could not manage with one hand tied behind his back and that’s the reason why he has decided to go.
Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez celebrates after he scored his side's fifth
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Uncertainty remains over several of star players including Lautaro Martinez
“He had one year remaining on his contract worth around €11m after tax, so a lot of the talks today were around what the pay-off was going to be. The question people will be asking is why Inter’s owners have allowed this to happen? This is a manager who has won titles at Juventus as both a player and as a manager. He’s someone who has won titles at Chelsea and he’s done it again at Inter.
“The owners of Inter are a Chinese retail giant called Suning, who also owned the reigning Chinese Super League champions Jiangsu Suning. They won the Chinese title in November but just a few months later, Suning turned around and said they were closing the club down due to financial problems.
“They wanted to step back from football, and that’s exactly what they have done at their other club as well, Inter Milan. They felt it was costing them too much money. Conte has heard what they have had to say and decided this is not how he operates.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Reconciliation Committee and Strategic Committee, led by former Senate President Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday reconciled warring chieftains of the party in Lagos State.
The party leader, Chief Bode George, and chairman of the chapter, Deji Doherty, embraced truce and promised to work jointly for victory in future elections.
The reconciliation train rolled into the Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi at noon, where Saraki and other members of the panel held a four-hour meeting with Lagos PDP stakeholders.
With Saraki were former Governors Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Ibrahim Shema (Kaduna); Mulikat Adeola-Akande and Linus Okorie.
Lagos PDP chieftains at the peace parley included the secretary, Muiz Dosunmu, former acting national secretary, Remi Akitoye, Senator Kofo Akerele-Bucknor, Lai Ogunbambi, Uthman Shodipe, and Otunba Okanlawon.
A source said the chieftains and committee members had frantic discussion about the protracted crisis and the need for mutual forgiveness and peace.
It was agreed that George should be accorded the accorded the respect of the party leader, who is should also be conciliatory.
Saraki, who spoke with reporters after the meeting, urged the warring chieftains to sheathe their swords, jettison bitterness and adorn a forgiving spirit in the interest of the party.
He said: “We’ve seen committed of PDP members in Lagos to bury their differences and understand that the call of majority of Lagosians to have PDP in government is more important than their own individual differences.
“We have reconciled the party leaders today and they are ready to dissipate their energies to push the agenda of the PDP for Lagos State. We are happy to see that.”
He added: “We must present ourselves as a serious party. The differences for many months have been buried and that shows people are committed now to make the party attractive to new people who want to join the party.”
