As the nation marks one year of EndSARS today, Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, has insisted that the claimed massacre of Nigerians during the nationwide mass protests against police brutality, was phantom.

Speaking during a news conference in Abuja, Mr Lai said that most of the claims of killings were false and misleading as most of those who made the claims of losing people were yet to show up and give evidence a year after such allegations.

His statement reads in part:

“The military did not shoot at protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on Oct. 20th 2020, and there was no massacre at the toll gate. The only ‘massacre’ recorded was in the social media, hence there were neither bodies nor blood.

ii) Amnesty International, CNN, a runaway DJ and others like them should apologize for misleading the world that there was a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate and for portraying the Nigerian military, police and other security agencies in bad light.”

 President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, has offered some explaination as to why the pigeons used to symbolise peace refused to fly on the Armed Forces Remembrance day.

Mr. Adesina who disclosed this on Thursday, in an article he titled ‘REFLECTIONS FROM A WREATH LAYING CEREMONY’ disclosed that the pigeons did not fly because they have gotten used to the cage as lawful captives.

The president’s aide said that the birds not flying was completely normal, being roaming animals that have been circumscribed for a period of time he is not aware of.

“The pigeons had been kept in a cage. For how long, I do not know. And When birds and some other roaming animals have been circumscribed for a while, they get accustomed to their new status as lawful captives.Therefore, when you offer them freedom, they first baulk, thinking it’s too good to be true. It is a natural phenomenon,” Mr. Adesina wrote.

Mr. Adesina also characteristically threw a jab at Nigerian social media commentators who described the refusal of the birds to fly as an omen that there is no peace in the country, describing majority of them as “idle and indolent.”

He wrote: “But not to the idle and indolent, most of who populate the social media. It was time to major in something minor, cavil and find fault unnecessarily.”

FG increases electricity tariff by 50%

Although Nigerians are yet to come to terms with the last increase in electricity tariff, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has enforced a new Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO), increasing electricity bill by over 50 per cent across the country.

A revised MYTO and minimum remittance threshold payable by the Distribution Companies and signed by NERC Chairman, Sanusi Garba empowers the 11 DisCos to increase tariff by 50 per cent citing prevailing economic realities, especially inflation and exchange rate.

The document dated December 30, 2020 overruled the previous order Order NERC/2028/2020.

Labour unions and the Federal Government had been at loggerhead following increase in the pump price of premium motor spirit as well as the increase in electricity tariff.

After series of outrage and outright rejection by consumers who cited poor power supply and the impacts of Covid-19, DisCos had in October last year started the implementation of a service-based reflective tariff (SRT) structure after backing by an approval from President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the new order, tagged NERC/225/2020, NERC based its decision by current inflation of 14.9 per cent iN379.4/$1 exchange rate.

All classes of consumers, except those who enjoy a few hours of power supply would pay more for electricity until June this year.

Why we bombed Gov. Wike father’s church — IPOB members

The River State Police Command has arrested three suspects who allegedly detonated explosives in Governor Nyesom Wike’s father’s church in Port Harcourt, on Saturday night, November 28, 2020.

The suspects who claimed to be member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), allegedly confessed that they carried out the attack to get recognition in the group.

The suspects; Progress Onwudinjo, 37, Apuru Victor, 23, and 38-year-old John Okorie were paraded by the Commissioner of Police, CP Joseph G. Mukan, on Thursday, December 3, in Port Harcourt.

Mukan disclosed the suspects admitted they acted on the directive of a certain benefactor whose name will not be made public for obvious reasons pending the outcome of the investigation.

He said the investigation is still ongoing after which the suspects will be charged to court.

 Woman sells her 4-month-old baby for N300,000 in Kastina

A 25-year-old sex worker, Zainab Adamu, has been arrested by the police in Kastina State, for allegedly selling her 4-month-old baby girl for N300,000. 

The command’s spokesperson, Isah Gambo, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Wednesday, December 2, said that the suspect, an indigine of Adamawa state but residing at Kofar Kaura Layout area of Katsina, was arrested on November 26, based on a tip off.

It was gathered that Zainab conspired with her friend, one Ruth Kenneth, 32, of Kofar Kaura Layout, an indigene of Delta state and sold her baby to one Chinwendi Omeh, 43, of Ekwusigo LGA of Anambra state at the cost of N300,000.

In the course of investigation another suspect, one Chukwudi Elias Nnali, aged 45yrs of the same address, brother to Chinwindi Omeh, was also arrested for aiding and abetting the commission of the offence. 

The sums N165,000 and N85,000 were recovered from Zainab Adamu and Ruth Kenneth respectively as proceeds of the sale of the baby. 

Gambo disclosed that investigation is ongoing.

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians to embrace the use of gas as an alternative to premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol.

The President made the appeal on Tuesday, December 1, at a virtually held event at the State House, Abuja, to unveil National Gas Expansion Programme and National Autogas Roll-out Initiative.

The President said the auto-gas initiative will lead to increased domestic gas utilization and enrich the trajectory of national economic growth and development.

“I therefore encourage everyone to embrace gas in form of LPG, CNG and LNG as an alternative fuel for autos and other prime-movers.

“It is no longer news that the vast Natural Gas resources, which Nigeria is endowed with has hitherto been used sub-optimally as a result of a dearth of gas processing facilities and infrastructural connectivity for effective and optimal domestic utilization.

With a proven reserve of about 203 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and additional upside of 600 TCF ranking Nigeria as the 9th in the world currently, the need for domestic gas expansion and utilization is apparent.

Therefore, the roll-out of the National Gas Expansion Programme, Auto-gas initiative is coming at the right time, especially in light of global crude oil market fluctuations coupled with the full deregulation of the local PMS market.

These developments have made it imperative to focus on gas as an alternative fuel to move Nigeria from the conventional dependence on white products for autos and prime-movers of industrial applications, to cleaner, more available, accessible and affordable energy source.

The outcome will not only cushion the effect of the downstream deregulation that this government has to painfully implement, but also create new markets and enormous job opportunities for our people,” he said.

Kidnapper arrested after mistakenly boarding a vehicle owned by one of his victims in Sokoto.

The Police in Sokoto State on Sunday, November 29, arrested a suspected kidnapper after he mistakenly boarded a commercial vehicle owned by one of his victims at the Kwannawa motor park in the Dange-Shuni LGA of the state.
According to Daily Trust, the suspect was arrested after he was identified by the victim, a driver, who was kidnapped along Kankara in Katsina State while returning from Kano about two months ago.
He reportedly spent three weeks in captivity and was released after paying an undisclosed amount of money as ransom.
“The driver was quick to identify him because the incident happened not too long ago. After identifying him, he alerted our leaders who in turn informed the nearest police outpost,” one of the National Union of Road Transport Workers' members said.
While being interrogated, the suspect was said to have admitted belonging to a gang of kidnappers who fondly called him ‘Hadari’ and this was later corroborated by the driver when invited for questioning.
It was said that the suspect was later transferred to the Sokoto State Police Command headquarters for further investigation.
The spokesman for the Command, Muhammad Sadiq, while confirming the incident, said the investigation was still ongoing.

Just In: Boko Haram beheads 43 farmers in one of the most horrific mass murders in the history of the insurgency. HumAngle learned the barbaric incident happened this evening in Zabarmari, less than 20 km from Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital.
Update: The bodies of the 43 victims, all of whom had their throats slit, arrived Zabarmari. Residents, however, insisted they would not be buried until the state governor saw their bodies. Zabarmari is located in Jere LGA, approximately 20 km from the garrison city of Maiduguri.

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Credit : HumAngle

Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information and communication, says many people have asked Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi, to contest the 2023 presidential race.

In a Twitter post on Saturday, Fanwo said the desire of Nigerians for a great country aligns with that of Bello, “so we know the deafening calls will bring about a defining moment for our nation.”

The commissioner told TheCable that he decided to post a tweet on the issue because many Nigerians are asking the governor to seek the highest office in the land.

“The people are calling on him to run for president but he has not come out clearly to tell us whether he is accepting that clarion call or not,” he told TheCable over the phone.

“All over the six zones, we are having a lot of people calling on him to come and run. If you look at the people calling on him, it cuts across all parties and is not just an APC thing.

“He is a unifier. He is very capable and qualified, he perfectly fits into that bracket of what Nigeria wants.”

Bello, who is currently serving his second tenure in office, became one of Nigeria’s youngest governors at the age of 40 in 2015.

“He has shown that the youth can provide quality leadership in Nigeria,” Fanwo said, citing what he said are some of the governor’s biggest achievements so far in Kogi.

“In Kogi, we have diverse ethnic groups which were not unified; there was the challenge of insecurity and underdevelopment, but he came in 2016 and was able to unite the state.

“When you look at the economy, he has been able to inject a lot of dynamism into the economic management of the state and we are also looking into agriculture.

“When you look at the challenges of Nigeria – lack of unity, insecurity, economic diversification – he has the answer to them all.

Credit : cable.ng

An alleged case of malpractice charged against People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke by the federal government has been withdrawn.

Recall that during the heat of the Osun state governorship election campaign in 2018, Adeleke and one of his relatives, Sikiru Adeleke, were accused of engaging in examination malpractice.

Ademola and Sikiru were accused of impersonation, registering as students of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Ojo-Aro, Osun State to enable them to sit for the National Examinations Council (NECO) examination of June/July 2017.

They were later arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja in October 2018 along with Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau (the school principal), Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo (registrar) and Dare Samuel Olutope, a teacher in the school. The other three defendants were accused of aiding the commission of the alleged offence.

At the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, May 28, the prosecution lawyer, Simon Lough said the state has amended the charge to exclude Adeleke, in view of his continued absence in court. Adeleke has failed to attend court since last year when he was granted permission, by the trial judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, to travel to the United States on medical grounds.

The Nation reports that lawyers to the defendants, led by Alex Izinyon (SAN) did not object to the prosecution’s decision to amend its charge. They however disagreed with the prosecution on the appropriate order to be made; whether Adeleke should be simply discharged, based on the withdrawal of the charge against him, or whether he should be discharged and acquitted.

Justice Ekwo has fixed ruing on the issue for today Friday, May 29.