Army Officer, 17 Soldiers Stand Trial for Communicating with Enemy

Chief of Army Staff

A lieutenant with the Nigerian Army, one Warrant Officer and 16 soldiers were on Monday arraigned before a General Court Martial accused of offences ranging from communication with the enemy, cowardly behavior, murder to manslaughter among others. They are being tried by the 3 Armoured Division as its Area of Operational Responsibility.

At the inauguration of the court, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3 Armoured Division, Major-General Ebiobowei Bonna Awala, remarked that the accused soldiers facing the General Court Martial from the 3 Armoured Division, Joint Task Force (JTF), Maiduguri and Special Task Force (STF), Plateau State have been duly investigated for the various offences they are alleged to have committed.

Court Nullifies Appointment of Service Chiefs

 

President Goodluck Jonathan

A Federal High Court in Abuja Monday nullified the appointment of all the Service Chiefs by President Goodluck Jonathan on the ground that the appointments were  done in violation of  the constitution.

Justice Adamu Bello, who gave the ruling, consequently declared as  unconstitutional, illegal, null and void because the President did not secure the approval of the Senate before making the appointments.

Amaechi Accuses Wike, Opara of betrayal

Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has described the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, as “too small and insignificant to discuss.” Wike, who is Amaechi’s former Chief of Staff, has been involved in a long drawn political battle with the governor.

Amaechi said this while  speaking on Saturday during a church service to mark the 60th birthday of the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief O.C.J. Okocha, at the Emmanuel Anglican Church in Port Harcourt.

49 Akure Prison Escapees Recaptured

Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro

The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro has disclosed that about 49 out of 175 inmates of Olokuta Medium Prison in Akure, Ondo State who escaped early Sunday  when gunmen numbering about 30 attacked the prison located on Ondo Road in the outskirts of the state capital have been recaptured.

Moro through his Special Adviser (Media), Mr. George Udoh, said that efforts are being made to apprehend rest of the prison escapees. He condemned the prison attack as an assault on the state and assured that the perpetrators would be arrested, while measures are being taken to fortify  prison yards across the country.

Public universities lecturers begin strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has resumed the strike it suspended in January 2011 following alleged failure by the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with the public universities lecturers.

ASUU National President, Dr. Nasir Isa, said the action though painful would be total, comprehensive and last for as long as the Federal Government implement the details of the Memorandum of Understanding both parties signed in 2011.

EXCLUSIVE: We Can't Compare Piracy in Somalia to Nigeria-Spanish Ambassador

The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Alvero Aguilar,  yesterday counteracted earlier reports which equated West Africa's waters (Gulf of Guinea) as the new hot-spot for piracy, stressing that the level of piracy in Nigerian cannot in any way be compared to that in Somalia (Gulf of Aden).

The ambassador made this disclosure yesterday when the Spanish patrol vessel, MV ARYO, under the command of Lieutenant Rafael Rodriguez, made a port visit to Nigeria to strengthen bi-lateral ties with Nigeria as well as engage the Nigerian Navy personnel in training.

2015: INEC Takes Delivery of Over 20m Voters Card

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, yesterday, said the commission has taken delivery of over 20million voters card from the supplier in preparation for the forthcoming 2015 elections, adding that efforts to get the rest were on.

Jega made this disclosure yesterday as the guest speaker of the National Old Students Association, Olivet  Baptist High School's night of excellence dinner held in Ikeja, Lagos and hosted by the President of the association, Mr. Olusegun Ahmadu.

EXCLUSIVE: UK Visa Bond: Ekweremadu, Oba of Lagos Flays British Government

...Bond not applicable to all applicants-High Commission 

The Deputy Senate President and the Oba of Lagos, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and His Royal Majesty, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, respectively, yesterday flayed the proposal by the British Government to demand for 3, 000 pounds bond each for Nigerians applying for visa to the United Kingdom.

The duo made this disclosure at the opening ceremony of a five-day workshop held in Lagos ans organised by the Commissioner of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin of the  Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Milverton, Ikoyi.

EXCLUSIVE: FG to Rehabilitate Police Colleges Across the Nation-Sambo

Police college

The Federal Government has pledged to reenact the massive infrastructural rehabilitation carried out on the Police College in Lagos in all other such colleges across the country. 

Vice President Namadi Sambo made this disclosure during an on-the-spot assessment tour of the Police College, Ikeja, to ascertain the level of completion of the trainee’s classrooms, hostels, dinning halls and other structures rehauled by the Nigerian Army Engineering Corp.

PUNCH EDITORIAL: Patience Jonathan’s excesses must be curbed

EACH time the wife of the President, Patience Jonathan, hits the road with her long motorcade, including bulletproof and bombproof limousines, or is having a whale of a time at an event, drivers and commuters who find themselves on her routes always have to live with the bitter experience of the encounter. As police empty the roads of traffic, forcing drivers to wait as her glamorous convoy drifts by, motorists are trapped in traffic for hours on end, while social and economic life of the affected community is brought to a halt abruptly.