NIGERIAN NOTCH

The news making rounds on the sacking of a community in Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State, by the personnel of the Nigerian Army, has been refuted in a press release by the security agency.  The Army authority dismissed the publication as lacking in merit, having been economical with the truth on the operation. It was further described as an artwork of those opposed to peace and tranquility in the State as the story did not reflect the true situation. According to the authority, in continuation of the security onslaught against criminal elements in Imo State, who have dominated a region of the State, the Nigeria Army embarked on an operation yesterday at the identified camps of these hoodlums in Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State. The joint operation yielded positive results with the Nigerian Army dislodging the hoodlums and razed down their camps. Various arms and ammunition were also recovered including their operational vehicles as well as some members of the gang. Re...

  Okere Andrew, MA I have read another mischievous, piqued and maudlin online publication credited to Uche Onyeagocha over his ridiculous and derisory call for the immediate resignation of Gov. Hope Uzodimma which repletes with exaggerations that did not ring true. It is not surprising and unbeknown to me that the PDP lynchpin will result to this self-seeking attention especially as it concerns insecurity in the state since it has become obvious that his party the PDP are covertly sponsoring the insecurity in Imo State while overtly sympathetic to them each time the state government clamps down on them after terrorising communities in the state. It is clear to Uche Onyeagocha that his actions of March 9, 2019 governorship election at the collation center where he rushed to INEC table, grabbed the results sheets and tore it into shreds and was arrested, detained and prosecuted for it as well as the same man PDP used in staging a violent protest against the judgement of the Supreme C...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday projected a voter population of about 95 million for the 2023 General Election in the country. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this at an election security management training in Abuja by the Nigeria Police Force for the police and other security personnel ahead of the 2023 General Election. The figure, Yakubu said was 20 million higher than the combined voter population of the 14 other West African countries in the subregion He said that the election preparations, deployment and implementation constituted the most extensive mobilisation that could happen in a country, whether in peacetime or wartime. “In Nigeria, it involves the recruitment and training of staff and managing the logistics for their deployment to 176,846 polling units spread across 8,809 electoral wards, 774 local areas and 37 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). “It also involves a projected voter population of abou...

For the first time after the presidential primaries and selection of running mate which resulted in a crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, met, yesterday, to hammer out solutions to the logjam. The duo, Vanguard gathered, held their long awaited, face-to-face meeting behind closed doors at the private residence of Professor Jerry Gana, a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, and pledged to resolve their differences within seven days.  The meeting held on a day Atiku named Senator Dino Melaye and Daniel Bwala as his campaign spokesmen with the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, boasting that the party will win the 2023 polls on account of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged failures. A top ranking member of the party leadership told Vanguard that the meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere with both men exchanging ba...

  According to reports released to newsmen by family sources Balogun, who became IGP in March 2002, died on Thursday night. He was born on August 8, 1947 at Ila-Orangun in Osun State, Tafa Balogun, was the 21st Inspector-General of Police. He was a member of cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Course 3. Having worked in various Police commands throughout the federation, and earning his promotions as at when due, Tafa, was at a time, the Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammadu Gambo, Deputy Commission of Police Edo State, the pioneer Commissioner of Police in Delta State. He was also CP in Rivers and Abia states. Tafa, a fellow of the premier highest military institution in Nigeria, the National War College, later became the Assistant Inspector General of Police A.I.G Zone One, Kano, from where he was named the 21st IGP of Police on March 6, 2002.

The National Broadcasting Commission has imposed a fine of N5 million on Trust Television Network Trust TV. The Federal Government had on Thursday vowed to punish the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Daily Trust over what it called the unprofessional airing of different documentaries that glorified and capable of fuelling terrorism in Nigeria, This was disclosed in a statement signed by NBC Director General, Balarabe Shehu Illela. The  Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had said that the Federal Government has taken note of ‘’the unprofessional documentary by the BBC, Africa Eye, where interviews were granted to bandit warlords and terror gangs, thereby promoting terror in the country’’. His words: “All I can say is that there is a regulatory body regulating broadcasting which is the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and they are also aware of these two incidents. “They are looking at which part of the Broadcasting Code that has been violated by...

Amid last minute rush to register for the Permanent Voters Card (PVC), registrants in Owerri have appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to further extend the exercise by two weeks to enable them participate in the 2023 general elections. The registrants, who thronged the various registration centres in their hundreds to beat Sunday deadline, said the many Nigerians could be disenfranchised if the registration was not extended.  This reporter, who monitored the exercise on Saturday in Owerri, reports that there was massive turn out of people at the INEC head office, Ikeduru and Assumpta Catholic church in a last minute move to register. A registrant, Mr Hygenus Udeagu, who said he came to change his PVC to a new polling unit, expressed worry that he had not been able to achieve his aim since arriving INEC office at 7:00 a.m. “I don’t know why it is taking too long; I have been moving from one point to another without achieving anything. “They don’t have en...

The Imo state government has described as distasteful and cheap blackmail the claim by Innoson Motors that it is owing the company N2.5b being cost of the vehicles it supplied to it some months ago, insisting that the company's claim are half truths ,intended to impugn on the integrity of the state government for ulterior motives. Reacting to a threat by the company that it is filling a lawsuit to recover" over N2.5B debt owed' it by the state government, the  Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba deplored the manner the company is going about the recovery of the so called debt. The Commissioner said the truth is that the government bought vehicles worth over N5b from Innoson motors and has so far paid them  N3.5b.  According to him, contrary to the claim of Innoson Motors, the said N2.5b is actually the balance due from the original value of the purchase. He regretted that Innoson motors,  for reasons best known to them,  decided to hid...

The Managing Director and CEO of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission Chief Charles Orie has taken delivery of transformers for onward installation in communities in the Oil Producing Areas of Imo State.  This is in fulfillment of the promise made by The Imo State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma that the lingering electricity issues confronting the Oil Producing Communities will become a thing of the past. According to the  MD/CEO of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission Chief Charles Orie, Governor Uzodimma had instructed that transformers and the rest of the lightening  equipment be distributed directly to communities and installed. The Governor further directed that all faulty transformers in various communities be replaced for the benefit of the Oil Producing Communities and Imo people at large. Recall that 41 million Naira  electricity bill backlog accumulated since 2011 for the three Local Government Areas of Ohaji...

Nwajiuba's principal assignment of educating Nigerians is at the root of the complex election suit he is now canvassing. Many people were taken aback when the PMB came to council and asked all ministers interested in politics to follow the Nwajiuba example and resign. These ministers read the same Nigerian statutes as Nwajiuba but understood it differently. The many issues Nwajiuba is now asking the court to adjudge are basically constitutional questions. A lot of commentaries have been noted since Punch broke the stale news of a matter filed on the 17th of June (barely 10 days after the APC 8th June convention) by 2 NGOs, in which Nwajiuba and 29 others were defendants. Court records show that Nwajiuba only applied to join the suit as a 2nd plaintiff, when 26 of the defendants were struck off on the 6th of July. Many of these commentaries appear to disclose an uninformed mindset. All the questions Nwajiuba is asking are very generic... whether statutory delegates can be sent ou...