Author: Gloria Lamar Johnson

THREE unidentified black Land Cruisers have been intercepted by the military special forces on election duty in Kogi State. The military personnel intercepted the vehicles on Saturday morning at Itakpe Junction, en route to Okene area of the state. There is restriction of vehicular movement in the state from 12 midnight on Friday to 6pm Saturday as voters go to poll today to elect a new governor. The three vehicles and their occupants were suspected by the military and arrested.

OFFICIALS of the Independent National Electoral Commission deployed to various polling units across Lokoja are currently stranded at the Ajayi Crowther Memorial School. The officials were at the location to receive electoral materials for the conduct of the governorship elections in the state. Among them are corps members and other ad-hoc staff contracted by the commission for the conduct of the election. Though the officials have received the electoral materials, they are still stranded as no means of transportation to their various polling units was in sight. An official was heard informing others that the only way they could get…

CHAIRMAN of Lokoja Local Government Council, Hon. Muhammed Danasabe Muhammed, is dead. He was confirmed dead around 4.30am at a hospital in Lokoja, the state capital. Muhammed was rushed to the hospital after he slumped at his residence. He was said to have been active at series of political meetings in preparation for Saturday’s governorship election. A family source said he was rushed to Shifa Hospital, Lokoja, shortly after he collapsed in the house at the late hours of Thursday. “Doctors confirmed him clinically dead around 4.30am on Friday”, said a family member who craved for anonymity. The deceased was…

THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has nullified the participation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and its senatorial candidate in the February 25 National Assembly Election, Napoleon Bali, for Plateau South Senatorial District, on ground of refusal to carry out lawful order of court. Delivering judgement, a three-member panel led by Justice Elfreda Williams-Dawodu declared as unlawful and wasted votes cast for PDP in the election and declared the former Governor of Plateau, Simon Lalong, as the Senator for the Plateau South Senatorial District. Lalong, who stood for the election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC),…

IN Nasarawa Eggon, tragedy struck as a boat carrying farmers from Ubbe District capsized while crossing a river in Hunki village, Awe LGA killing four farmers and others missing. The incident occurred on Monday night as the farmers were returning from their rice farm. The deceased individuals have been identified as Alkali Congo, Shedrack Dauda, Mashack Dauda, and Akolo Moses. Reports state that the bodies of the deceased have been taken to the village for proper identification by their families. The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, confirmed the incident to News Point Nigeria on Tuesday afternoon. Nansel confirmed…

TROOPS of the Nigerian Army have arrested a lawyer at Rimin Zayam village in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State. The legal practitioner identified as Abdullahi Abubakar was nabbed last Saturday in “connection to the killing of own Mobile Police personnel on 2 November 2023 at Kuba village in Bokkos LGA”. This was disclosed in a statement on Tuesday via the Nigerian Army’s X handle. According to the tweet, the suspect equally admitted to being involved in kidnapping activities and other sundry crimes with other gang members. “Based on his confessional statement, on 5 November 2023, troops conducted raid…

NOLLYWOOD comic, John Okafor, better known as Mr Ibu has undergone surgery to remove one of his legs. Details of this development were revealed on his official Instagram handle on Monday. “As of 1 pm, noon today, Daddy has gone through 7 successful surgeries but to keep him alive and increase his chances of recovery one of his legs had to be amputated.,” the statement read in parts “This development has been hard on us all but we’ve had to accept it as Daddy’s new reality to keep him alive.” The family has also appealed to Nigerians to support the…

PETER Obi has described the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed Bola Tinubu’s election as Nigeria’s president as a breach of the citizens’ trust in the judiciary. The apex court had some weeks ago dismissed the appeals of Obi, who contested under the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, and that of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart Atiku Abubakar challenging Tinubu’s victory at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC). But while reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, Obi accused the apex court of ignoring evidence which he said further dampens citizens’ trust in the judiciary. “Without equivocation, this…

THE Kogi East Neighborhood Watch (KENW) has called for the immediate  redeployment of SP Ojo of Quick Response Unit Kogi State Police Command before the gubernatorial election in Kogi State scheduled 11th November, 2023. According to a statement signed by the Director, Public Communications, KENW, Wing Commander Iye Ayefu Akuh rtd, Sunday, there is a plan to deploy some fake police/ military men to use  military vehicles  stationed in Government House, Lokoja to  cause mayhem in Kogi East from Sunday 5th November 2023. SP Ojo OC Quick Response is mentioned to be the leader  of this illegal outfit earmarked to…

TROOPS of Operation SAFE HAVEN (OPSH) have successfully uncovered and dismantled an illegal weapon manufacturing factory in Vom, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State. The Nigerian Army disclosed this in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Saturday. The recovered items include 6 AK-47 rifles, 4 sub-machine guns, 11 AK rifle bodies, a pistol and 7 x AK 47 bridge blocks. Others include 4 x AK 47 rifle magazines, 210 recoil springs for AK 47 rifles, 7 rifle butts, 8 rifle muzzles, 9 piston assemblies as well as 5 cartridge housings.Also recovered were one drilling machine set,…

THE last victim of the abduction at the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State Treasure Ayuba has been released by his kidnappers after two years and four months in captivity. Treasure is among the 121 students of Bethel Baptist High School who were kidnapped by bandits in July 2021 at Maraban Damishi village in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. He was released on Friday with the student already reunited with his family. Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has expressed happiness over freedom from the abductors. While thanking God for his divine intervention, Governor Sani expressed…

FEW days to its annual conference in Uyo, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has said that Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, masters of economy and many corporate organisations, like the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) and United Bank for Africa (UBA) have rallied support for the conference. Other organisations that have also indicated support for the conference, being organised by the professional body of editors in Nigeria, include Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Nigeria Ports Authority and the Dangote Group. In a press statement by the NGE President, Eze Anaba and the General Secretary,…

THE Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, sacked the former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, from the Senate. The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, said it was satisfied that Suswam was not the valid winner of the senatorial election that held in Benue North East on February 25. It faulted the judgement of the Benue State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which returned Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the Senate, after it nullified the election victory of Mr. Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress, APC. According…

THE Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has affirmed Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan as the duly elected candidate for Kogi Central Senatorial Election earlier in February. The court dismissed the appeal filed by Abubakar Ohere for lacking in merit. Earlier in September, the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lokoja had nullified the victory of Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial Election. The court further declared Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the actual winner of the February senatorial poll. However, Ohere had headed to the appellate court to seek…

THE Peoples Democratic Party has announced the death of its National Woman Leader, Prof. Stella Effah-Attoe. Effah-Attoe, a member of the PDP National Working Committee, according to the family, died on Sunday after a brief illness. PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Sunday, described Effah-Attoe’s death as a huge blow to the nation. The statement read in part “Prof. Effah-Attoe was very brilliant, towering and magnificent in all spheres, but yet lived an exceptionally humble, pleasant, sociable, gracious, compassionate and loving life. She touched lives in many positive ways and made pivotal contributions towards…

A 17-YEAR-OLD student in Plateau State, Elijah Anthony, has been arrested by operatives of the State Police Command for allegedly killing his neighbour’s five-year-old child after collecting N400,000 in ransom from the victim’s parents. Anthony, a Senior Secondary student of Manret High School in Angul D community, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, was among 39 other suspects paraded for various offences at the police command’s headquarters in Jos on Thursday. In an interview with News Point Nigeria, Anthony, who confessed to killing the five-year-old neighbour identified as Dawom Pam, said, “They sent his (victim’s) elder brother to…

THE Nasarawa State University lecturer, Dr Comfort Adokwe, who was abducted on Sunday, has been released. This newspaper reports that Adokwe, a lecturer in the Faculty of Administration at the university and a Deputy Director, Gender Studies, of the school, was abducted on Sunday night by gunmen from her residence in Angwan Jaba in Keffi. Speaking with this newspaper on phone, Timothy Adokwe, brother to Comfort, confirmed the release. “Yes, she was released around 8:30,” he said. He said the kidnappers initially demanded a N100million ransom. He confirmed that the family paid an undisclosed amount to secure her freedom. Timothy,…

KOGI State governor, Yahaya Bello, has denied reports of assassination attempts on his life by gunmen in military uniforms as claimed by his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo. This newspaper reports that the Commissioner had earlier on Sunday issued a statement on behalf of the Kogi State Government alerting the public to failed assassination attempts on the life of the State governor while on transit from Lokoja to Abuja for official engagements. Fanwo had claimed that the attackers, who were dressed in military uniforms, waylaid the governor’s convoy and started shooting sporadically at his vehicle and other vehicles…

THE Kogi State Government, on Sunday, said that there was an assassination attempt on the state governor, Yahaya Bello, a few kilometres away from Abuja, on his way to an official engagement from Lokoja, the state capital. According to a statement issued by the state Commissioner for information, Kingsley Fanwo, it stated that the attack occurred at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 22, 2023. According to him, “The attackers who were dressed in military uniforms waylaid the governor’s convoy and started shooting sporadically at his vehicle and other vehicles in the convoy. It took the swift intervention of the…

RESIDENTS of Otukpo town in Benue State fled in different directions on Friday as armed robbers invaded two banks in the ancient city. Witnesses said the armed robbers storm the banks at exactly 3:30pm on Friday and operated unchallenged till about 4:50pm. A resident who preferred anonymity told our correspondent people scuttled to safety as the armed gang broke loose. “They are robbing First bank and Zenith banks simultaneously. They stormed the banks at 3:30pm. “Two vigilante have lost their lives as we speak. Gunshots renting every where and if you listen carefully, you will hear the sound. The place…