Hoodlums have kidnapped the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Abia State University, Godwin Emezue.
According to a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of Abia State Police Command, Maureen Chinaka, on Saturday, January 27, Godwin was kidnapped while purchasing fuel at a filling station at Umuopara in Umuahia.
Part of the statement read, “On 26/01/2024, at about 9.30 p.m., the Abia State Police Command received information that on the same date, at about 7 p.m., the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Uturu ABSU, ProfGodwin Emezue, while in the company of his wife in their vehicle, was abducted by hoodlums while purchasing fuel at a petrol station in Umuopara, Umuahia South LGA.”
She said that the hoodlums confiscated the victim’s wife’s ATM card, dragged the Deputy Vice-Chancellor into a Lexus SUV, and drove away with him.
She noted that the Command is deploying resources and assets, including intelligence and technical aid, towards unravelling the crime, and safely rescuing the victim from his captors.
The police urged Abia residents to remain calm and continue their legitimate activities while maintaining vigilance and being security conscious.
The Command further appealed for the cooperation of the public, especially by way of providing any useful information that could be helpful in these particular circumstances and in generally attaining enhanced security in the state.
THE winner of the November 2023 governorship election in Kogi, Usman Ododo, was sworn in as the governor of Kogi state on Saturday.
Ododo was sworn in on January 27 at the Muhammadu Buhari Civic Centre and took the oath of office and allegiance.
The event had in attendance the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, Ododo’s predecessor, Yahaya Bello, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje and other top members of the party.
Speaking at the event, the Kogi new governor eulogised his immediate predecessor, Yahaya Bello, for giving him the opportunity to govern the state.
The governor promised that the state under his administration would be made a hub for economic growth in line with President Tinubu’s renewed economic policies.
Ododo urged the people of the state to stem the tide of greed and be prepared to make hard choices with unity and cooperation, assuring that it is a new dawn for the people.
He assured the people of the state that he would work to meet the yearnings and aspirations of the people and stressed that the era of bitter politics is over.
Part of his statement reads, ”There would no longer be politics of bitterness in the state, as taught by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu. I urge all the people of the state to join hands with me in building a vibrant Kogi State.
“I will build on the solid foundation of unity existing in the state. I will strive not to undermine the trust placed in him to lead the people of the state.
”Our administration will strive to complete all ongoing projects and focus on solid minerals, steel development, marine, and digital economy.”
“We will work to sustain the ideals of the founding fathers, delivering on the dreams of a prosperous Kogi State that will lead to the progress of Kogi State as envisioned by the founding fathers.”
He expressed optimism about a better Kogi State that will meet the expectations of the people, with Kogi State made better under his administration”.
Ododo said he will build on the achievements of his predecessor, described former Gov. Bello as the father of modern Kogi State, and praised him for his life transformation achievements and for building a modern Kogi State.
He called on the people to join hands with him in building the unity of the state, acknowledged the efforts of former Gov. Idris Wada, Ibrahim Idris, and said history will remain kind to them for their roles in shaping the state on the basis of unity.
Ododo was declared the winner of the November 11, 2023, election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He won with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who scored 259,052, while Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 46,362 votes.
THE New America National Fellows Programme invites fellowship applications for initiatives aimed at establishing a new public policy, which will run from September 2024 to May 2025.
The application is open to journalists, scholars, filmmakers and public policy analysts who who generate big, bold ideas that have an impact and spark new conversations about the most pressing issues of our day.
Fellows are expected to promote ideas through research, reporting, analysis, and narrative. Projects must be unique, ambitious and viable.
The goal of the fellowship is to find bold, impactful thinkers and to fund them for a year, long enough to make progress on a book, develop a series of articles, produce a documentary or work on another project that is accessible.
Fellows will stay in their current career and city, but attend two events in Washington.
Stipends range from US$15,000 to $30,000.
Deadline for application is February 1. Interested persons can apply here.
SUPER Eagles attacker Ademola Lookman’s brace edged out Cameroon on Saturday, January 27, out of the ongoing African Cup of Nations, AFCON, securing Nigeria the ticket to the quarter-final.
The victory reposed the dominance of the Super Eagles over Cameroon after winning the Indomitable Lions, 3-2 and 2-1 in the round of 16 (2019) and quarter-final (2004), respectively.
The high-tempo match was played at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny stadium.
Nine minutes after the kickoff, Semi Ajayi’s goal sparked wild jubilation, inspiring the hope of gunning for the needed result but the joy was short-lived after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) disallowed the goals.
Despite the disallowed goal, Nigeria displayed the craving to give the lead after they put more pressure on the defence of the opponent.
The quest to get the lead bore in the 36 minutes after Lookman tapped in the ball, which slipped through Fabrice Ondoa’s gloves after he benefitted a pass from Victor Oshimen, who struggled to gain possession off Oumar Gonzalez just outside the penalty area.
The first half saw the display of Nigeria’s confidence as they dominated possessions via the combination of coordinated passes from the attackers’ midfield.
The match ended 1-0 in favour of Nigeria in the first half.
The resumption witnessed the relentlessness of the Super Eagles as Frank Onyenka surged to the edge of the penalty area but was bundled by the Cameroon defender Christopher Wooh.
Cameroon attackers attempted to restore parity, but they met the firm resistance of the Super Eagles defence.
Their pressure to score a goal called Super Eagles’ goalkeeper Stanley Nwabili to action, leading to injury after a collision in an aerial challenge from Cameroon forward Georges-Kevin N’Koudou.
He could not continue the match, stretched out and called for a replacement.
He was replaced by Francis Uzoho in the 80 minutes.
Also, Cameroon brought in Vincent Aboubakar, who replaced Oumar Gonzalez.
At the death of the regulation time, Lookman doubled the lead to ensure the existence of Nigeria and also to advance to the quarter-finals.
Nigeria will face Angola in the quarter-final on Friday, February 2, 2024.
AMID concerns over the timely release of its reports, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has fixed September 24, 2024, to unveil its 2022/2023 reports on oil, gas, and solid minerals industries.
Executive Secretary, NEITI, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said this at the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) media briefing on Friday, January 25, in Abuja.
He said NEITI focused more on transparency while assuring that the two separate reports would be presented simultaneously to ensure current and globally acknowledged reliable data.
Notably, EITI, who is an international partner of NEITI sent a delegation to Nigeria to assess NEITI’s post-validation plans and how to support the EITI implementation in Nigeria.
The international delegation was led by Bady Balde, Deputy Executive Director, Global EITI Secretariat.
Orji, at the media briefing, explained that some local challenges, including the time of resettlement of its office, affected the timeliness of the reports, adding that the challenges had been sorted out, insisting that the September scheduled date is assured.
Oriji noted that the international partners visit would among other things feature knowledge sharing and capacity building.
“Validation is a global assessment that holds all implementing countries to the same standard and Nigeria scored 72 per cent, excelled and recorded over 90 per cent in quality and reliability of data.
“Their visit is timely because we are trying to align our operations and mandates to the priorities and strategic development goals of the renewed hope agenda of the President Bola Tinubu administration,” he said.
The executive secretary said the organisation is working with the National Assembly on the review of the NEITI Act to align with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA 2021)
“We have done an in-house review of that Act and are seeking legal opinion. Consultants are working on it while we are working with the national assembly to see how to help us,” he said.
He said his management had looked at the EITI 23 standard agreed upon in Senegal and emerging issues in the global EITI, which included energy transition, contract transparency, and beneficial ownership.
According to him, the issues also include open and accessible data, climate change and gender inclusiveness, the environment, and several areas where the law is deficient.
“We also want to see what could be done to make NEITI less dependent on government for funding.
“Also to see if there are windows where our reports which usually lead to recovery of huge revenue could aid in giving some soft landing in terms of supporting government for funding instead of relying wholly on government,” he added.
Speaking earlier, Balde, the official from the Global EITI Secretariat, had expressed concerns with the delay in the publication of old data, adding that timeliness of data was necessary to cover current relevant issues.
Balde said data publishing should not be delayed, adding that many EITI compliance countries had gone far in producing data in the public domain including Senegal, Zambia, and Norway, among others.
Balde, while describing NEITI as the largest secretariat by staff in the world with twice the number of staff at its headquarters, called for more technical assistance, engagement, and timely data publication to avoid speculation.
He urged the internal governance of NEITI to sustain its principles and uphold values by practicing what it preached and maintaining the highest level of transparency and credibility.
He supported the amendment of NEITI’s act to address the imperfections of the law.
THE proposed decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to replace the external members of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has raised questions about possible interference in monetary policy decisions.
Bloomberg reports noted that some of the members said they’ve been sidelined ahead of a meeting next month, which has not been held since July 2023.
Four of the five external members of the 12-seat MPC, who spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity, said they have not been paid since August, last heard from the central bank in September, and have been excluded from the usual planning ahead of the Feb. 26-27 gathering. The fifth member did not respond to requests for comment.
The apex bank official spokesperson, Sidi Hakama, said the appointment of new independent MPC members was in the pipeline but gave no further details.
An Economist and former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Muda Yusuf who spoke to The ICIR on the Development said external MPC members are key to making independent decisions about Nigeria’s Monetary policy issues.
“We have barely a month to the MPC meeting. I believe the nomination of other external members is key to an independent decision of the apex bank on the matter. Let’s give the President and the Governor benefit of doubt on the nomination of external members before the February meeting date. There’s a reason for external competition of some members into the MPC to enable external and balanced perspectives to issues on monetary policy,” he said.
Notably, monetary authority is crucial to President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to boost growth and attract foreign investment to Nigeria’s lethargic economy. Soon after taking office in May, he suspended the bank’s then-governor Godwin Emefiele, who was arrested weeks later on charges including fraud. Emefiele denies wrongdoing and his trial is ongoing.
Tinubu then installed new leadership under ex-Citibank executive Olayemi Cardoso, who has pledged a return to orthodox central banking with a focus on tackling inflation, stabilizing the country’s free-falling naira currency, and delegating development banking roles to other financial institutions.
“We are committed to rebuilding an institution that is trusted and respected and promoting confidence in the economy,” Cardoso said.
The MPC consists of the governor, four deputies, and two bank directors, plus five outsiders appointed by the president and the governor. The current five external members were picked by former President Muhammadu Buhari, and former Apex Bank Governor- Emefiele.
The MPC needs six of the 12 to be present to constitute a quorum, so there’s no risk that next month’s meeting won’t be properly constituted, even if new external members have not been named by then.
The current external members who spoke to Blomberg said that they’ve not been invited to the Scheduled meeting and don’t anticipate being there.
Economists expect Cardoso to raise interest rates sharply in what will be the first gathering of the MPC since July when it lifted the policy benchmark to 18.75 cents. Inflation has subsequently surged and stood near a three-decade high of 28.9per cent in December.
But if no external members of the committee are present, it will leave question marks over the possible political interference in the key monetary decisions.
“Holding February’s MPC meeting without any independent member would likely raise questions concerning the credibility of the decision,” said Omobola Adu, an economist at BancTrust & Co. “Having external members reduces the bias that the central bank can be influenced by internal or political pressures.”
THE Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the license of Mattini Airline Services Limited, the private jet operator involved in the runway overshoot incident at Ibadan airport on Friday.
The ICIR reported that a private jet conveying ten persons overshot the runway at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport in Ibadan, Oyo state, on Friday, January 26.
The jet skidded into the nearby bush during an attempt to land at the airport.
Reacting to the development, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of NCAA, Michael Achimugu, in a statement via NCAA’s X handle on Saturday, cited Sec 32 (4) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022 as the basis for the license suspension, emphasizing that this move is in line with ensuring safety and global best practices.
He further revealed that the NCAA has initiated a comprehensive safety and economic audit of all private jet operations in Nigeria to reinforce aviation standards.
The statement reads in part: “NCAA is aware of the runway excursion involving a Challenger CL 601 aircraft, operated by Mattini Airline Services Limited, with registration marks N580KR at Ibadan Airport on 26th January 2024.
“Martini Airline Services Limited holds a valid Permit for Non-Commercial Flight, PNCF. In line with statutory provisions, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, has launched an investigation into the occurrence.”
He added that the NSIB is conducting the safety investigation, while the NCAA has initiated an economic inquiry into the operation of the aircraft, such as the terms and conditions of the PNCF as detailed in its Annexure.
Recall that on November 3, less than three months ago, an aircraft conveying the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu crash-landed while descending at the Ibadan airport.
No fatalities were recorded as a result, and a preliminary report by the Federal Government indicted Flints Aero in the incident.
The report stated that Flint’s Aero violated its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) by conducting a commercial trip, as the aircraft was not meant to be used to convey passengers.
In August, the NSIB commenced an investigation into an aircraft crash in Lagos State during a test flight.
Two passengers aboard the aircraft during the crash had sustained injuries, though there had been no fatalities at the time of the incident.
THE Kano State Hisbah Board has arrested at least 52 commercial tricycle riders over alleged “immoral haircuts”, the sale of illegal drugs and substances, and the mixing of opposite genders in their tricycles.
According to Punch, the tricycle riders were apprehended by operatives of the Hisbah Command from different parts of Kano city and were later released after a warning by the officers.
While addressing the tricycle riders on Friday, January 26, the Deputy Commander-General of Hisbah, Mujahid Aminuddeen, urged them to be good ambassadors of Islam and Kano State by shunning social vices.
“We want to use this opportunity to appeal to you to avoid such acts and avoid acts capable of tarnishing the image of our religion and culture of Kano people, ” he said.
According to him, among the alleged offences of the tricyclists include “immoral haircuts, riding around wearing only shorts, using objectionable posters on their vehicles, mixing unrelated men and women, selling illegal drugs, and conveying women to places where they engage in immoral acts.
“As Muslims, we would not accept this behaviour and activities of the tricycle riders. That is why we brought you here to admonish you on the negative implications of these acts on our religion and culture as people of Kano.”
THE Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has signed the 2024 Appropriation Bill into law.
The governor also assented to the Local Government Amendment Bill.
According to a statement on Friday night by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, Abdulrazaq said the budget is aimed at expanding infrastructure and growing the economic base of the state on a sustainable basis.
He lauded the House of Assembly for its legislative roles on the Local Government Elections Bill, which he noted now paved the way for the conduct of the elections.
He noted that the 61 per cent that the administration has budgeted for capital expenditure is a deliberate move to scale up infrastructural development across the state.
The governor said, “Today, we are taking another bold step in the annals of our state. We commend the Assembly for doing a good job with the budget and for taking their time and making sure it is SABER (State Action on Business Enabling Reforms) compliant.
“You did very well before when we were committed to SFTAS (State Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability). Our being SFTAS compliant has been very beneficial to the state as it ensured transparency in the way we do things,”he added.
Abdulrazaq further pledged that the debt profile of the state will soon go down on the Debt Management Office (DMO) chart as his administration has been able to reduce the debt of the state through negotiation with the federal government.
THE family of Dambem Datom Dafur, a sexagenarian father allegedly murdered by the Nigerian military in the ongoing clash in Mangu Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, has given its account of how its patriarch was killed.
Dafur’s death on Wednesday, January 25, 2024, came as a shock and has continued to weigh heavily on his wife and children.
Born in 1964, the last child of his father, the deceased was blessed with three children and survived by a wife.
His family said it was planning to sue the Army to demand answers to his death and bring the officers who allegedly shot him in the chest to justice.
A member of his family, who spoke with The ICIR on condition of anonymity, described the incident as unfortunate, noting that his uncle (the deceased) was standing guard close to his house against arsonists who were burning houses in a nearby community when the soldiers started shooting.
The ICIRreported how a source accused the military of taking a side in the clash, having allegedly killed a man while trying to disperse unarmed women protesting against the military harassment in the Angwan Sarki community.
Photo of Dafur, a sexagenarian father, allegedly killed by the military Photo credit: Family
The military and other security operatives were deployed to Mangu LGA on Tuesday, January 24, following the escalated attacks, leading to a clash between Muslim and Christian-dominated communities.
Giving the account of the incident that led to his uncle’s death, the family source stated that the man was an easy-going person and in no way was armed and deserved to be brutally killed.
“Sincerely, it’s very unfortunate because we believed that the military always maintained law and order. But to our greatest surprise, someone who was 60 years old, my uncle and the only older person left in the family, was shot dead by the military.
“According to his wife, he left the room without carrying anything, not even a stick, and stood near his house with other people around when the military started shooting. The other people ran, and the place he was running to didn’t have a road, but one military man followed him to the wall of a particular house and then shot him directly in the chest. Other people who were running away saw how the military personnel shot him,” said the source.
The source noted that the military took away the shell of the bullet to avoid being traced, adding that more than six eyewitnesses confirmed the killing.
The source pointed out that the family had decided not to bury the deceased, adding that they would demand justice as soon as possible.
“The corpse is there; we are not going to bury the corpse now. We took him to the mortuary so that we could embalm him, and at the end of the day, we are going to demand justice because he was shot in the chest. If you see the body, you will see that somebody who’s trained shot that particular man.
“People that were there saw it directly, and they (military) took away the shell of the bullet so that probably they wouldn’t trace the person that did that job. Everybody that was there saw exactly what happened. More than five eyewitnesses said it was the military, and they wouldn’t lie.”
Meanwhile, Dafur was not the only victim of the alleged military attack in Angwan Sarki, as The ICIR spoke to a survivor of the event.
A survivor of the alleged military brutality in the Mangu area, Sunday Yusuf. Photo: Local/The ICIR
Sunday Yusuf, originally from Murish, Mangu ward, alongside his family, was displaced sometime around 2023 by herdsmen and had to take refuge in Angwan Sarki of Mangu LGA.
Yusuf, a father of four children, was also allegedly shot by one of the military personnel deployed to the town to enforce the curfew declared by the state government despite being unarmed and staying close to his residence.
Although Yusuf survived, his right arm, where a bullet caught him, has now been amputated and has been left to battle the aftermath of the attack alone.
As all the sources who spoke with The ICIR confirmed, Yusuf said that Angwan Sarki was not among the areas plagued by the clash.
He added that he and others were standing close to their houses to protect them from possible attacks.
The military had, however, denied allegations of abetting killing, burning of houses and also killing of civilians in the clashes.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), in a statement released by its acting director, Defence Information, Tukur Gusau, a brigadier general, on Thursday, January 25, denied killing unarmed civilians in the LGA.
It described allegations of unarmed civilians killing and other claims against its officers as untrue.
The DHQ stressed that the troops of Operation Safe Haven restoring peace in the state carried out their duties professionally and by the rules of engagement.
