Author: Gloria Lamar Johnson

THE Benue State House of Assembly on Monday repealed the law for lifetime maintenance of former elected governors and their deputies in the state. Our correspondent reports that the the 9th Assembly had in May 2023, few days to their exit, passed the controversial pension bill to extend benefits to ex-elected governors and their deputies from 1999. But, the present 10th Assembly during plenary on Monday repealed the bill passed into law by their predecessors on account that it was not done in good faith. The lawmakers said the law was anti-people and they were unanimous in support of the…

THE police command in Kogi on Sunday confirmed the killing of two of the abducted students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara. The State Police Commissioner, Mr Bethrand Onuoha, said this when he spoke with newsmen in Lokoja. Onuoha described the killing by their abductors as very unfortunate. The CP did not, however, give the details of the killing, and said that the security operatives were on the trail of the abductors to bring them to book. Abductors invaded the school around 9.00 pm on May 9 while the students were studying in their classes ahead of…

AN OFFICER with the Nigeria Police Force has been confirmed dead with five other persons injured in a melee that ensued during a clearance operation of street traders at the Jos terminus market in Plateau State, on Wednesday. Reports suggest that the joint task force comprising of personnel from the Police, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Immigration and Operation Rainbow which is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring sanity in the market, met with stiff resistance from a mob. In the course of carrying out the enforcement of clearance operation an officer from one…

OVER 40 persons have been killed by bandits in Zurak Kompani and Bandalala communities, Bashar District of Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.  Some Wase residents who spoke to News Point Nigeria on the phone said the attacks on the villages occurred on Monday night when residents were retiring from the day’s work. The bandits, according to the residents, attacked the villages simultaneously. They set houses on fire, leading to pandemonium in which some of the residents were killed and others sustaining injuries. Over thirty persons were reportedly killed in Kompani Zurak while another ten were killed in Bandalala…

BANDITS on Thursday night invaded the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTEC), Osara, Okene in Kogi, and abducted some students. An eye witness said the bandits swooped on the university around 9.00 p.m. while the students were reading for their upcoming exams. The source said that the bandits came in through the bush, went into three lecture halls and began to shoot into the air. “They trapped the students inside the halls and started taking them; the school was thrown into total confusion as fear-stricken students in other halls scurried to safety, scampering in various directions. “By the time…

IN a bizarre incident, a police officer is under investigation for cutting off the hand of his wife over an argument about money. What usually transpired when a misunderstanding occurs and subsequently settled turned into violence in the home of Ibrahim Shagari, a police officer with Plateau State Police Command. The wife, Hauwa Shagari, who is a mother of three and heavily pregnant said the occurred following an argument between her and her husband. She narrated her experience at the hospital where she is receiving treatment and recuperating. “I don’t have issues of violence with him, except insults when he…

THE Kogi State House of Assembly has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to vacate the ‘wanted’ tag that it placed on the name and person of the immediate past Governor of the state, Yahaya Bello. This formed part of the resolutions of the House during plenary on Tuesday. This was after a member representing Ajaokuta State Constituency in the House, Jibrin Abu, presented a matter of urgent public importance on the floor of the House. In his motion, titled, ‘A call to end all false, frivolous, fictitious, and far from the truth smear campaign against the former…

THE Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo has called on the Federal Government to assist the state in tackling the menace of insecurity and incessant flooding in some parts of the state. Governor Ododo’s Special Adviser on Media Ismaila Isah revealed in a statement and quoted his principal to have made the comment when he received a delegation of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) at the Government House, Lokoja on Thursday. The Governor noted that as a transit state that borders 10 other states, Kogi is in dire need of improved financial intervention from the Federal Government to…

THE Plateau State University, Bokkos, has suspended all academic activities in the institution for 10 days. The decision to close down the institution followed the attack and killing of a 200-level Computer Science student of the institution on Friday during a night attack around the university’s environment. The Registrar of the institution, Yakubu Ayuba, in a statement on Saturday, said, “Following the sad incident that occurred in Plateau State University, Bokkos, and the surrounding communities on Friday, 19th April, 2024; and in view of the psychological effect of the unfortunate incident on students and staff of the university, the management…

A STATE High Court sitting in Lokoja on Wednesday restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting, detaining and prosecuting ex-governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. Justice I.A Jamil of High Court IV gave the order in a two hour judgement delivered in suit no HCL/68/M/2020 in Lokoja on Wednesday. The judge said that infringing on the fundamental human rights of the former Kogi is null and void except as authorised by the Court. “By this order, the EFCC is hereby restrained from arresting, detaining and prosecuting the applicant except as authorised by the Court. “This is a…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission, on Monday, tendered electoral documents against the Social Democratic Party and its candidate, Murtala Ajaka, at the Kogi State Governorship Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja. The SDP and its candidate in the November 11, 2023 governorship election are challenging INEC for its declaration of incumbent governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Usman Ododo, as the winner of the poll. Ododo won the election with 446,237 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ajaka of the SDP, who scored 259,052. The petitioners had, on April 6, 2024, closed their case after calling 25 witnesses. During…

THE Benue State Police Command has confirmed an attack on Terwase Orbunde, the former Chief of Staff to the immediate-past Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, by armed men, who took away his wife and house help. The State’s Police Command’s spokesperson, SP Catherine Anene, who disclosed this to this newspaper via a telephone conversation, saying, the command got a report on Friday evening from the former Chief of Staff that he was attacked on his farm in the evening and his wife and housemaid were whisked away by the armed men to unknown destination. According to the PPRO, Orbunde was…

THE Senate has commenced probe into the financial records of 774 federal agencies based on the queries raised against them in the 2019 report of the Auditor General for the Federation. The Chairman, Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC), Senator Aliyu Wadada, who represents Nasarawa West on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), disclosed this in Keffi, Nasarawa State, while speaking with newsmen., on Friday He said his committee was not out to witch-hunt any one but pledged that members of the panel would discharge their responsibilities diligently in the best interest of the country. Wadada also disclosed that…

THE Secretariat of the Audu/Faleke Political Structure (Kogi East)  has blasted the self acclaimed Kogi East Critical Stakeholders (KECS) for unwarranted attack on the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaibu Abubakar Audu. The Fmr. DG. Protocol Head of Secretariat Audu/Faleke Political Structure (Kogi East), Emmanuel Ekele while addressing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja said, the acclaimed KECS are pursuing their personal agenda by exploring the emotions of the people while their stories are heavily hinged on deliberate falsehood and lies to mislead the unsuspecting public. He said, it’s  pertinent to clarify certain deliberate and erroneous impressions created by this groups…

KOGI State Governor, Usman Ododo, has revealed that the sponsors and perpetrators of last week’s crisis that rocked Bagana in Omala Local Government Area of the state, which claimed about 25 lives have been arrested. The governor while answering questions from journalists at the Okene central praying ground shortly after observing the Eid-El-Fitr prayers, said the perpetrators as well as the sponsors have been arrested while they are undergoing investigation to ascertain the extent of participation. He called on those fanning the embers of discord to desist from their unpatriotic tendencies as his administration is unwavering in its resolve to…

THUGS have reportedly set ablaze the residence of a former Governor of Benúe State, late Aper Aku, in the Gboko area of the state. The incident was said to have happened on Monday after the occupants were safely evacuated from the building. A daughter of the late governor, Deborah Aku, told journalists in Makurdi that the Police rescued six of them early enough before the hoodlums burnt the house. She explained that trouble began in March after a man came to the house with a cutlass and threatened to deal with them if his goat died again, claiming that he…

ABDUCTORS of two students of the Federal University Wukari, Taraba State are demanding a ransom fee of N50 million in exchange for the freedom of the students. This was disclosed by the head of information and protocol unit of the institution, Ashu Agbu, via a telephone interview. About 90 percent of the students and staff of the institution live outside the school premises as stated by the vice chancellor during the recently conducted convocation ceremony. One of the shops attached to the hostel accommodating these students outside the school premises came under attack on the night of Wednesday, April 3,…

GOVERNOR Usman Ododo of Kogi has expressed shock and sympathy over the recent killing of 25 persons during bandits attack in Agojeju-Odo community in Omala Local Government Area of the state. Ododo, who spoke on the attack in Lokoja, regretted the ugly dimension that communal clashes between people in the area have assumed over time. He promised immediate intervention by his administration to forestall a reoccurrence of the unfortunate situation. “I am assuring the citizens that the perpetrators of the dastardly act will be brought to justice soon. “Already, security agencies are on the trail of the assailants whose acts…

– Caution EFCC Against ‘Enemies Of State’ Fighting Selfish Battles YOUTHS from Kogi State, on Tuesday, declared that they had decided not to fold their arms and allow those they described as desperate politicians continue to drag the name of an otherwise great state in the mud. The youths, from the three senatorial districts of the state, under the aegis of Kogi Independent Youths Association, particularly cautioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be wary of politicians who they said meant no good for Kogi State but were out to use the Commission to achieve selfish objectives detrimental to…

THE Tiv Traditional Council led by the Tor Tiv, Prof James Ayatse has brokered peace between the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume. After the closed-door discussion, the estranged political allies who had been enmeshed in a cold war over the political leadership of the North Central state, embraced themselves to the cheers of their supporters. The conflict reached its peak with the recent inauguration of a factional All Progressives Congress (APC) State Executive Council by the governor, a development that saw the police stepping in to take over the…