As the rains take control of the skies, some areas in the country are already experiencing early flood signs.

A heavy down pour in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Sunday, has sacked some residents of Orji village and have also damaged properties worth millions of naira, including farms and buildings.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in the village on Monday, one of the victims, George Eke, blamed the government for what befell the village, as there was no drainage channel in the area, making free flow of the flood difficult.

He said a similar incident occurred in April 2012 where a lot of residents lost their businesses and houses to the flood.

“The government visited us then and promised to construct drainage system to help solve the problem, but till this moment, the administration has not shown any concern,” he said.

Another victim, Chibuzo Opara, who narrowly escaped death by a collapsed building, claimed that since the incident on Sunday, he has not had any shelter for his family as his building was pulled down.

“When the incident happened, I first noticed that part of the building had collapsed. I quickly ran out with my children, few minutes later, the whole house collapsed,” he said.

Also recently, rainstorm in Cross River state killed a thirteen year old girl and rendered thousands of people homeless as it destroyed over one hundred and fifty houses, affecting about 15 communities in Boki Local Government Area.

Some of the communities affected include: Ntamate, Okundi,Panya, Ishiagube and enin.

The rainstorm uprooted trees, electric poles and destroyed schools and hospitals thereby blocking roads and drainages.

Speaking on the development after visiting the affected areas, the member representing Boki Two in the State House of Assembly, Jacob Otu Enyia, appealed for urgent response from relevant agencies to give the people immediate relief.

The 2012 floods cost the country approximately N2.6 trillion, even though many of the victims are yet to be resettled or compensated.

A report contained in the 2013 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) for Nigeria presented by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency,NIHSA, has predicted floods in 31 states of the country this year.

The states include: Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto, Rivers, Taraba, Plateau, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Niger, Nasarawa, Lagos, Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Gombe, Edo, Ebonyi, Delta, Cross Rivers, Benue, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, andAdamawa.

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has called off the strike action which it commenced on April 29.

The decision was reached by the National Executive Council, NEC, of ASUP after an appraisal of the progress made by the government towards meeting their demands.

Before this time, talks had existed among the union and the National Assembly Joint Committee on Education, the minister of education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’i and her labour and productivity counterpart, Emeka Wogu.

During one of such meetings, on July 9, the committee and ministers had begged the union to reconsider its decision and call off the strike action, promising that all pending issues would be resolved.

ASUP president, Chibuzor Asumogba, hinted on Monday that today’s NEC meeting would decide the next line of action, noting that the union had received approval for a consolidated salary structure.

“We have received a green light on the CONTISS 15 (Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure) and we have promises here and there on other demands. The committee on education is proactive in addressing our demands,” he said.

Asumogba added: “The committee is highly placed and with its members’ integrity, we have no doubt that our demands will be addressed.”

The union had cited the failure of the federal and state governments to implement agreements on issues affecting polytechnic education as the reason behind its strike action.

ASUP wants a full implementation of the Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure and a stop to discrimination against holders of the Higher National Diploma.

The body is also protesting the absence of a National Polytechnics Commission and the deplorable condition of many polytechnics in the country.

An Ikeja High Court on Monday dismissed an application filed by a former managing director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, ErastusAkingbola, seeking to quash a N47.1 billion theft charge against him.

Akingbola is being prosecuted alongside Bayo Dada, the general manager of Tropics Securities Ltd.

The two men had been charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly stealing the N47.1 billion belonging to the bank.

Counsel to Akingbola, Wole Olanipekun, had applied for the case against his client to be quashed, arguing that the EFCC had no power to initiate criminal proceedings at the state high court.

He also said that the proof of evidence had not linked Akingbola to any of the charges preferred against him.

EFCC counsel, Emmanuel Ukala, however, opposed the application and urged the court to dismiss it.

Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo, in a ruling on the application on Monday held that the EFCC, as a government agency, was qualified to institute criminal proceedings under Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution.

He said that the Court of Appeal had settled the issue in its ruling on an appeal Akingbola had previously filed against the ruling of the former trial judge, Justice Habeeb Abiru.

The judge said he could, therefore, not be swayed by another ruling on a similar issue delivered by Justice Babajide Candide-Johnson of a Lagos High Court in Igbosere.

Onigbanjo said: “There is no decision on this issue yet by the Supreme Court; so, the Court of Appeal’s decision takes precedence over the decision of the lower court.

“I am bound to respect the Court of Appeal’s decision, irrespective of my personal conviction,” he added.

The judge further held that a prima facie case had been established against Akingbola in the proof of evidence attached to the information.

He said Akingbola, in his statements to the EFCC, never denied knowledge of various transactions relating to the sums of money allegedly stolen during his tenure at the bank.

The matter was adjourned till September 19.

“It is disheartening to note that students in 200, even 300 level cannot write simple letter, this has shown how poor our education standard is,” Mohammed Aliyu, chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, branch said on Monday.

Aliyu said this while addressing a news conference in Zaria, KadunaState.

The chairman blamed the decay on setbacks caused by the federal and state governments.

He said that the on-going strike embarked upon by the union was not to demand increment in salaries, but to compel the federal government to honour an agreement reached in 2009 with the union.

The agreement, according to Aliyu, is aimed at addressing the rot in the Nigerian university system and enhancing its overall efficiency.

“The agreement focuses on funding requirements for revitalisationof the Nigerian universities, federal government assistance to state universities, progressive increase in annual budgetary allocation to education to 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020 and amendment of the pension/retirement age of academics on the professional cadre from 65-70 years,” he said.

The listed other issues to include, the non injection of N100 billion intervention funds in 2012 as federal government assistance to state universities, payment of earned academic allowances, raising education budget to 26 per cent and setting up research units in companies.

He however, expressed regret that after signing the agreement, both the federal and state government developed cold feet, forcing the union to embark on a warning strike before proceeding on an indefinite action.

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Aliyu said that the union tried to avoid the present situation when it wrote to the Secretary to Government of the Federation and the Minister of Education in February, reminding them of the pending issues.

The letter, he said, highlighted outstanding issues in the 2009 agreement and the subsequent 2012 memorandum of understanding.

However, failure for both parties to reach an understanding led to the announcement of the on-going strike action on July 2, as an option of last resort.

The Nigerian Army on Monday confirmed that Hamza Al-Mustapha, the alleged killer of Kudirat Abiola who was freed last Friday by a Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State, is still one of its own.

At a briefing by the joint security information committee, the director of Army public relations who was represented by his chief of staff, Joe Agim, a colonel, said: “With regards to Mustapha’s release, well, I want to confirm that he is still in the army”.

“The case is going to be handled by the army administratively in line with the harmonised terms and conditions of service,” he added.

Al-Mustapha was chief security officer to late General Sani Abacha, and the Lagos Court of Appeal in setting him free, upturned a death sentence passed on him by Justice Mojisola Dada, of a Lagos High Court on January 30, 2013.

The Kwara State government on Monday suspended Bisi Abidoye, the editor of the Herald, an independent newspaper in the state over what it describes as a misleading publication.
The suspension order was contained in a statement signed by the state commissioner for information and communications, TunjiMoronfoye.

According to the statement, the caption of a publication in the Herald newspaper dated July 15, which reads: “Armoured Personnel Carrier deployed to guard Mrs Jonathan’s Guest House in Bayelsa,” is utterly untrue and therefore misleading.

“The unchecked misleading caption is regarded as serious misconduct which amounted to serious negligence and dereliction of duties for which Mr Abidoye becomes liable,” it said.

Abidoye’s suspension is to commence with immediate effect and he has been directed to hand over all official documents of the newspaper in his possession to the General Manager.

The Joint Task Force, JTF, in Borno State, tagged “Operation Restore Order” has discovered a mass grave in former enclaves ofBoko Haram in Maiduguri where weapon were buried along with deceased members.

The task force found several decomposing bodies as well as assorted weapons in mass graves discovered in Nganaram, Aljajeriand Falujain Maiduguri between July 3 and 8.
The discovery was made known over the weekend in statement issued by the JTF spokesman, Sagir Musa, who said the graves were found after the insurgents were dislodged from the enclaves.

The dislodgment of the sect members also led to new insight into how they operated as a network of man holes and bunkers under houses in which they lived.

“Troops also discovered vast network mouse holes linking compounds and underground tunnels as well as bunkers under houses.”

“During the encounter, some terrorists were killed in the fire fight including the main Amir of Bulabulin Nganaram (who was on the wanted list of the JTF with a ten million naira bounty”

The JTF spokesman said that the Amir “was responsible for the killing of a teacher and three students of Sanda Karami Secondary School, Ruwan Zafi, Maiduguri.”

“Many abducted women, girls and children were rescued and handed over to their families by the Task Force,” he added.
Musa said further that “many arms and ammunition of variouscalibre buried in houses and cemeteries were recovered” adding that “decomposing corpses of those killed by the terrorists were also found in soak-away and mass graves of terrorists killed and taken away by them.”
While disclosing that men of the JTF were still combing nooks and crannies of the enclaves for hidden or buries ammunition, he urged residents of the area with useful information not to hesitate to make it available.

A Kogi High Court on Friday sacked the state and local government pension boards and the Pension Fund Management Commission.

The sack followed a suit filed by the state wing of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NUP, against the Kogi State government and the attorney-general.

Justice Henry Olusiyi, in his judgment, faulted the composition of the boards.

Olusiyi held that the appointment and inauguration of the board members by the state government was contrary Sections 17(1) and 18(1) of the state Pension Reform Law, 2007.

The judge, therefore, declared the constitution of the boards null, void and of no effect.

He held that the 1999 Edict from which the state government derived its powers to constitute the boards had become “obsolete”.

Olusiyi said the edict ceased to exist with the promulgation of the Pension Reform Law of 2007, which inherited all its powers.

“As the law presently stands, the first defendant can only appoint a Bureau for the State Government Pension and of Local Government pursuant to Section 17(1) of the 2007 Law, the composition of which shall be as provided for by the section 18 thereof,” the court held.

The presiding judge added that “Anything done to the contrary by the first defendant is a sham and an illegality. It is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”

In their originating summons dated April 19 supported by a 23 paragraph affidavit, the claimants challenged the composition of the boards, alleging that the appointment and inauguration of members of the two boards on December 19, 2012, contravened the law.

The union further argued that the appointees of the boards were politicians and not civil servants as provided for by the law.

It urged the court to declare the appointment of heads and members of boards null and void and of no effect.

Following the fracas that erupted at the Rivers State House of Assembly on Tuesday, an investigation panel headed by the deputy inspector-general of police in-charge of operations, Philemon Leha, has been drafted by the inspector general of police, MohammedAbubakar, to move to Port harcourt.

The panel is to investigate the circumstances surrounding the breakdown of law and order in the House, particularly as it relates to the reactions of security operatives that were physically on ground during the fracas.

Abubakar in a press release signed by the police deputy public relations officer, Frank Mba, pledged that the force will not spare anyone found guilty of breaking the law, irrespective of his status.

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He said the peace of Rivers State is paramount to the wellbeing and development of the state and that the police force requires utmost support and understanding of the people to optimally discharge its statutory responsibility.

Reports in some newspapers indicate that the Rivers State police commissioner,  Mbu Joseph Mbu, and some policemen  attached to governor Rotimi Amaechi have been invited by the panel to answer questions regarding the roles they played in the clash.

The governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, has alleged that theFulani herdsmen and their collaborators, who attack Benuecommunities, are residents of Nasarawa State.

During a peace meeting between both states held at the NasarawaState Government House, Lafia, Suawam maintained that it was obvious that the attackers were being accommodated by some communities in Nasarawa State and that the government of the state pretend not to know anything about their modes of operation.

“The truth is that we cannot pretend over these things, because the Fulani and their collaborators come from Nasarawa State and unleash attacks on Benue communities, yet we pretend that we do not see them or know anything about it,” Suswam said.

“Can over 600 people pass through a community and you claim you don’t see them?”, he questioned.

The Benue State governor warned that the people of the state were “being pushed to the wall”, and that the killings and destruction of propery must be stopped immediately.

He warned that the people of Benue State may be forced to react if there was no sincere and genuine commitment from both governments and stakeholders to arrest the trend.

Earlier, governor Tanko Al-Makura  of Nasarawa State commended the Benue State government for promptly responding to the peace meeting, noting that the present situation should not be  allowed to cause disaffection in the relationship which both states have enjoyed for over 20years.

He expressed hope that the meeting would chart a way forward towards addressing the issue of security in the region and urged delegates to make genuine input that would bring the desired peace.