Five more new Commissioners and four Special Advisers have been sworn-in. The ceremony took place in the Exco chambers of the Government House. The swearing followed their recent screening and approval by the State House of Assembly. The five new Commissioners bring the number of Commissioners in the State Executive Council to Seventeen.
Governor Peter Obi in his speech said more Commissioners and Special Advisers would be appointed to increase the Executive Council Members to thirty. He explained that his administration has a lot to deliver within the next one year which he said will mark a turning point in the life of the State and urged the Exco members to brace up for hard and tedious work.
The Governor disclosed that the State government is working relentlessly to resuscitate the five billion Naira Omor Rice Mill project and will, within the next six months, deliver a 1.3 billion Naira MDGs project.
He enjoined the members to work as a team and put the collective interest of the State above every other consideration. Meanwhile, Governor Obi has assigned portfolio to the new Executive Council members. Mr. John Okoh Akirika is now the Commissioner for Lands while Mr. Chuba Okoli is the new Commissioner for Science and Technology.
Dr. (Mrs) Uju Okeke, who in 2000 resigned as Obi’s Senior Special Assistant is the new Commissioner for Education and Mrs Ngozika Okoye is the new Commissioner for Finance and Mr. Ndubisi Menakaya is the Commissioner for Social Duties. Retired Colonel George Molokwu was re-appointed Special Adviser on Security while Mr. Fidel Okafor is now the Special Adviser on Political Matters. Mrs Vivian Nwandu is the Special Adviser on MDGs while Sir Godfry Moutulu is the Special Adviser on Chieftaincy and Town Union Matters.
HON. FIDEL UCHENNA OKAFOR SA POLITICAL MATTERSCOL. (RTD) GEORGE I MOLOKWU SA SECURITYNDUBISI C. MENAKAYA SOCIAL DUTIESNGOZIKA B. OKOYE FINANCEDR (MRS) UJU T. OKEKE EDUCATIONOKOLI, CHRISTOPHER CHUBA SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYCHIBUNNA J. OKOLI-AKIRIKA LANDSMRS VIVIAN O. NWANDU SA MDGkih
Suspected cultists, armed with sophisticated weapons on Monday, shattered the peace of the Bayelsa State capital with the close range shooting of two middle aged men including the security aide to the Bayelsa State Governor, simply identified as British.
The other occupant of the shattered vehicle was also identified as Orlando. They are both from Ekeremor Local Government area of Bayelsa State.
The shooting, which caused panic and pandemonium along the Good News street area along the newly built State Assembly Quarters along the Azikoro Village road, happened at about 8.45am on Monday.
When our correspondent got to the scene of the shooting, the men of the Nigerian Police led by the Divisional Head of the Azikoro Police Station, Mrs. Rita Grean was supervising the removal of the corpses of the deceased and the bullet ridden Infinity Jeep numbered GBJ 154 AA.
An eyewitness told LEADERSHIP that the killers of the middle aged men came in a smaller car and blocked the Infinity jeep conveying their victim at the near bend corner along the road. The gunmen were reportedly dressed in T-shirt and with unmarked bullet proof vests over it.
“The men opened fire with rifles like AK-47.They shot the two men from the side windows and moved to spray them again from the front. After the sporadic shooting, the gunmen made a u-turn and drove off.” Another privately owned vehicle was also affected by the stray bullets from the attack.
According to another witness identified as Sunday, ”when we got to the scene of the shooting, we met the corpses leaning on the dash board with blood and fragment of the body tissue and brain all over”.
Another version to the report claimed that the armed men, after the first round of shooting at the deceased, came back again to release more shots into the victims. The police said an unspecified amount of money was carted away from their vehicle.
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the Bayelsa Governor on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Markson Oworiso-Daniel, said he was not aware and would call the State Commissioner of Police to confirm the development and get back with details.
Contacted on the development, the State Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO),Mr. Fidelis Odumma, confirmed the incident and said the police have commenced investigation and will wait for the report from the Divisional Office of the Police at Azikoro area.
Reports reaching 247ureports indicates that Damaturu the Yobe State Capital is under fire now as there has been series of Massive gunshots and explosion underway in the Damaturu the State Capital.
However, the details of the reports indicates that targets and the attackers remained not clear at the time of filling this report sources said that it is more happening around the main town.
There have been a lot of gunshots and people are scampering for safety as they are rushing from office to their homes.
According to our reporter in Damaturu the Yobe state Capital said that the heavy gunfire which began about forty minutes ago is happening around within the town and especially around Gasua road, even as residents who are still at home cannot go out,
A Christian group, Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN) has responded to the statement credited to the chief strategist of the Congress for Progressive Change, controversial former minister, Nasir Elrufai, who yesterday threatened the government with reprisals should they go ahead with their attempts to go after suspected Fulani herdsmen and mercenaries who had unleashed a reign of terror in Plateau state in the last few weeks, killing hundreds of innocent people including a serving senator and a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
Elrufai had posted an inciting post on his twitter and facebook profile which you can read HERE
In response, Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN) issued the statement below;
The Masquerade Has Been Unmasked
“Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN) notes with dismay the reaction of the Northern Muslim establishment to the recent order by the Plateau State Special Military Task Force to certain Communities to temporarily evacuate their villages in order to minimize civilian casualties as the Military perform internal security operations to find and arrest mercenaries who were behind the deaths of hundreds of innocent Nigeria citizens including a serving Senator and a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly.
We are astounded that these characters who were curiously silent when the mercenaries were killing innocent men, women and children have suddenly found their voice when it comes time to detect and apprehend those behind these killings.
What are we missing here? Are these characters in support of these mercenaries or in support of the Nigerian state? Where was the voice of Nasir Elrufai ,Dr Tilde ,Dr Babangida Aliyu and those now vocal against the planned action to go after the killers when the mercenaries carried out a series of genocidal attacks?
These same people who are threatening bloodshed in 2015 if they do not win elections are now threatening the Nigerian state if the military should go ahead and conduct their internal security operations. Is it not time to ask if they have been the ones sponsoring these attacks? Shall we continue to breathe the putrid air and pretend that we do not know who amongst us has fouled the air?
Only a couple of days ago, these same folks were in the media raining insults on the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, when he testified before the U.S. Congress and asked that they designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization. How can any sane person attack such a move? Do they know more than they are saying?
When the Shehu of Borno and the Deputy Governor of Borno state were almost killed by Boko Haram, Pastor Oritsejafor led the Christian community to condemn the attack. But when three churches were attacked in one weekend in Kaduna where Dr Babangida Aliyu Chairman NGF,Dr Tilde ,Elrufai and many of their supporters live they were silent and only spoke to condemn the reprisal killings.
The world is watching and we say very clearly that we support the patriotic decision of the military authorities to issue a temporary evacuation order to the Fulani communities in Plateau state so that they can avoid civilian casualties as they hunt for the murderers and terrorists who killed hundreds of innocent victims. This tactic has been used in Europe and America and is a civilized practice covered by the Geneva Convention and meant to stem civilian casualties.
We therefore call on all and sundry in Plateau to ignore the call by these selfish religious and regional champions and like minded individuals who have asked them to ignore the military order and stay put. To Dr Babangida Aliyu and Elrufai who has threatened that the Fulanis would retaliate if any of them are killed we at Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria say that the masquerade has eventually been unmasked and we hope that the authorities are watching. We also call on the International Criminal Court to take cognizance of this statement by these regional champions and their co travelers with a view to bringing them to justice wherever and whenever.”
History was made in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal capital this morning as Chief Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar was sworn in at a well attended ceremony held at the Council Chambers of Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Justice Mukhtar who was also decorated with the national honour of Grand Commander of Niger is the 13th Nigerian CJN and the first woman to occupy the position.
President Goodluck Jonathan who presided over the ceremony described it as “historic”. He was accompanied by his wife to signify the significance of the occasion.
The President also added that Justice Mukhtar has been a trailblazer- as the first female lawyer in the former Northern Region, First female High Court Judge in the North, first female Justice of the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.
While noting that Justice Mukhtar is a woman of destiny, the President however noted that she owes her rise to brillance, resilience and hardwork.
President Jonathan urged the new CJN to quickly settle down for the urgent task of reform of the Nigerian judiciary.
While noting that the three arms of government must work together to tackle emerging national challenges like terrorism and corruption.
The President asked new CJN to consider dedicating judges for the trial of cases of corruption and terrorism or special courts using her prerogatives.
The ceremony was attended by the leadership of the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council, retired and serving justices, the Governors of Kano and Bayelsa States among others.
The Civil Liberties Organization has warned one Nnamani Tagbo to stop using their name to perpetuate what they termed as illegality and also dissociate itself from any purported petition or write up against one Hon. Offor.
According to the CLO,For Nnamani Tagbo was the opponent of Hon. Offor in the last 2011 General Election in which the duo contested for the House of Representatives Seat of Enugu south/ North Federal Constituencies, an election which Hon. Offor defeated Tagbo Nnamani of People for Democratic Change (PDC).
Nnamani had his first baptism into politics during the last election in which he was roundly beaten. However, since the end of that exercise, he had been trying all available means within his reach including blackmail, campaign of calumny and defamation to bring to the dust a reputable career of the opponent who defeated him in the last General election.
At the conclusion of the election in 2011, Tagbo Nnamani went to the Tribunal to challenge the declaration by Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] of Offor as the winner of the polls. The Tribunal in their wisdom looked at all the evidence he provided and reiterated the position of INEC that Offor indeed won the election convincingly. Determined and desperate to pull his opponent down, few months after he rushed to the Civil Liberties Organization in Enugu asking them to write a petition on his behalf which borders on a purported forgery which he claimed it was done by the Honorable, an offer which the Enugu CLO chapter did ignorantly. However he was caught on his alleged escapades when the CLO after thorough investigation saw that he just manipulated them by raising a false alarm that Hon. Offor falsified his credentials which includes WAEC and NYSC certificates.
According to the letter from CLO to 247ureports.com, the organization said that they wrote the petitions on Nnamani Tagbo behalf without proper inquiries. According to the CLO they went further to verify the authenticity of Nnamani’s claim and Hon. Offor’s making available of his credentials which were different from what Tagbo gave to CLO, and upon the realization by the CLO that it had been used, the body went and withdrew the petitions. It also issued a statement which also includes a letter sent to 247ureports.com, distancing themselves from it and the manipulations of Mr. Nnamani.
According to CLO, “we also further warned media houses to refrain from making references to the said petitions, an advertorial which was published in page 35 of Sun Newspapers Monday June 11, 2012 edition”.
The CLO had also written and asked some print media houses that erroneously ran the story quoting her statement to withdraw them, while it has also filed a case in court against Publishers of a Weekly Tabloid, “Weekly Verdict” over a recent publication it made using the purported petitions.
In being fast about his tricks and manipulative acts, Initially when he met the CLO he gave them only a case of forgery of WAEC and NYSC certificates, but later when he submitted his so called documents to some media houses he brought the issue of Certificate of Birth over it showing how untruthful and unreliable he is, which also made this online news to doubt his claims after much scrutiny and investigation, discovered some lots of facts, which showed his incompetence.
According to CLO when an inquiry was made about the certificates from an official at the WAEC Head office; “concerning the letter he wrote to WAEC which he claimed they wrote him back telling him that Hon. Offor was not the Original owner of that result is not true. It was found out that the letter he claimed he wrote was not real as he ought to have written to WAEC Headquarters Lagos and not Enugu Office and even if he had actually written to WAEC Enugu for verification of the result as he claimed, WAEC Enugu will refer him to WAEC Headquarters.”
Secondly, we discovered that the letters he wrote to NYSC Benue State Secretariat were lies. The official of the NYSC added,” if also he had written Benue NYSC for verification of the NYSC Discharge certificate, the same Benue NYSC will also refer him to NYSC Headquarters Abuja”
Meanwhile, in the issue of the Baptismal certificate, it was also found out that all these were formulated as Hon. Offor used declaration of age knowing well that anybody can go to a Catechist and pick up Baptismal Certificate and put what he or she wants.
Questions have been asked as to why such issues have not developed until now. This is in view of the fact that the Honourable member has been in politics since year 2000, when he gained his first political appointment and in 2003 when he won the election in which he served as a lawmaker at the Enugu State House of Assembly.
In 2007, he ran against more formidable aspirants in his constituency and won. It was due to his numerous achievements that his people re-elected him in 2011 for tenure of four years at the House of Representatives.
In a chat with Hon. Offor with our Abuja Reporter, he has this to say “I am not only a Bachelors degree holder, but also a Masters Degree holder and has served as a lawmaker since 1999 from the State House of Assembly of my state to the House of Representatives. To earn these positions, there are requirements which the constitution said one must meet with and all these I genuinely earned.”
“I believe there are appropriate authorities vested with the responsibilities to inquire and pronounce on this kind of matter – forgery. One should therefore, ponder on why my opponent would not take the matter to such authorities and allow them adjudicate on it, than resort to character assassination through the media. If he has concrete proof that I falsified my credentials or otherwise, I think it is better handled by the law courts.”
“I intentionally decided not to comment on this development because there is really nothing to it. It is an attempt by a misguided few to distract me from avowed responsibilities to the people who gave me the mandate to represent them at the National Assembly. Tagbo should know that you don’t earn political power by misguiding and misleading the media.”
In conclusion, he also said that; “As much as I have restricted actions and comments on this matter, I shall not fail to use all approved legal means to seek redress over my reputation which he [Tagbo] has consistently engaged some media houses to drag to the mud at the right time.”
Moreover after much investigation also, it was discovered that Tagbo Nnamani was doing this in collaboration with some politicians in their constituency, in order to pull Hon. Offor down ahead of the 2015 election.
Information at the disposal of this online news reveals that Nnamani may have engaged in this campaign of pull him down after his request for funds to finance his business was turned down by the Honorable member.
This online news gathered that he [Nnamani] had sometime approached the Honorable member to assist him raise some funds to enable him finance his business, adding that the huge funds he expended running election had affected his business.
Offor in his magnanimity was said to have offered to assist him and infact on three occasions advanced funds totaling about N3.5 million to him through his [Nnamani’s] UBA account.
However, few months ago when he ran to him for more money, the Honorable member was said to have turned down his request. Tagbo who would not take no for an answer was said to have made his way into raising the forgery allegation.
Initially, when the allegation was hatched, he had rushed to a publisher in Lagos with copies of the purported statement from the CLO to demand thirty million from the Honorable member “or we will publish the story of your forgery with your full photograph on the front page of our Magazine and online” Since the attempt to use some print media and online publishers to extort money from the Honorable failed to work, he has been busy collecting money from gullible persons within and outside the state on the guise that he was going to court with the Honourable member over the forgery.
COPY OF CLO's Advertorial dissociating themselves from the purpoted petition by Nnamani Tagbo
Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi has congratulated the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, on his victory at the gubernatorial election held in the state on Saturday, describing it as a victory for democracy, Edo State and Nigeria.
His words: “I knew what Edo State used to be and what it is now due to Oshiomhole’s developmental strides. This is a good lesson of what politics should be – the promotion of the totality of the welfare of the people. I am happy to note that in Oshiomhole’s case, he is doing exactly that and that his work and not the amount of money he was able to share, commended him to the people.”
Obi described his victory as a positive commentary on his government. “It is a testimony that you have done well for your people and that they want you to continue,” he said.
Obi also congratulated the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR for providing the appropriate and needed leadership in ensuring that vote cast now counted unlike in the past that the will of the people were always subverted. By this, He said, the President had demonstrated that he was a true democrat who would not subvert the will of the people on the altar of party allegiance.
For the leadership of Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies, Obi was full of commendation, saying that Nigeria has continued to improve on its elections and electioneering processes by the day.
Finally, he congratulated the people of Edo Sate for conducting themselves in an orderly manner
MOPOL Officer- Victim of Historic Violence in Kaduna
Information available to 247ureports.com through sources within the Kaduna State government house indicates that another violent killing has occurred in Kaduna State. The recent violent attack was reported to have occurred Mahuta in Igabi Local government area [LGA]. Eleven people were reported dead.
As gathered, the attack was carried out by three persons who rode in a bike. They struck in Mahuta, Near National eyes centre shooting sporadically into the gathered crowd killing 11 while injuring six others. The injured are receiving treatment at the Garkuwa hospital and at the 44th Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna. Officials at the hospital confirmed the number of injured as 6 and the number of dead as 11.
The tribal identities of the dead were not known.
But the police in Kaduna disagreed with the reported number of casualties. The police commissioner, Abubakar Jinjiri Mohammed in his reaction stated that the number of death was one person by name Nura. The police commissioner added also that two out of the three assailants were arrested.
In his words, “They attempted to rob Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Hakimin Abakpa but they received resistance by the people of the community and ran to Rigasa area. We have recovered 3 riffles while investigation continues. But as I told you, only one person was killed. The area is calm no cost for alarm”.
The Nigerian northern state of Kaduna has recently been on the receiving end of religious violence aimed at both sides of the aisle. Over 250 deaths have reported since the outbreak of violence. It is uncertain if the motor bike attack of today was the result of a religious intent.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has tasked the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commissioner to conduct an investigation into the delay in the arrival of election materials in the Benin metropolis with a view to forestalling a repeat in other parts of the country.
Speaking with newsmen in Benin City yesterday, Oshiomhole said “I ask Jega to conduct an investigation into why for four hours, materials were not delivered in Benin City. That investigation would help determine why some people were disenfranchised.”
Oshiomhole however commended the INEC Chairman and the State Resident Electoral Commissioner for conducting a free and fair election in the state.
He said “I believe that the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Geidam demonstrated uncommon quality of leadership. He showed commitment and courage to duty. Under tension he maintained his cool.”
The Governor said “some of the people posted to Edo are people that cannot be entrusted with responsible positions. I have argued that anybody in INEC who has conducted an election that was annulled has no basis to get involved in any other election.
“It is unacceptable for INEC to have been able to deliver materials to Edo Central and North that are over two hours drive, how can they explain that they could not deliver materials to areas that are within five to ten minutes drive”?
Oshiomhole maintained that one outcome of the election was the unanimous agreement of the people that his government deserves a second term.
“Edo people from the South to the North to the Central have spoken as one. This shows that all efforts of some people to whip up ethnicity failed woefully. Edo elections have shown that merit alone would determine the pattern of voting.
“The way the people have voted have made my job easier. I will build on the existing bridges of unity and sustain our developmental agenda”, he said.
While expressing appreciation to the president for his adherence to the principle of one man one vote which facilitated the conduct of a free and fair election in the state, the Governor called on other political parties to support his government to take the state to the next level.
