LAND OF INSECURITY ! Ondo senator: I can no longer travel to my town because of kidnappers

Ajayi Boroffice, senator representing Ondo north senatorial district, says he can no longer travel to his hometown because of the fear of being kidnapped.

Boroffice, who is the deputy majority leader at the upper legislative chamber, said this during a visit to the Akure residence of Reuben Fasoranti, Afenifere leader, whose daughter, Funke Olakunrin, was killed by gunmen.

Olakunrin, 58, was murdered along Benin-Ore highway while returning to Lagos after visiting her father in Akure, Ondo state capital, on Friday.

Boroffice called on the federal government to beef up security across the country.

“The government which I’m part of, should find a solution to this problem. The ordinary people in Ondo state will still carry out their businesses… you can’t ask them not to go out. In the senate, we discuss this issue of insecurity on regular basis,” he said.

“I’m here in Akure now, I would have loved to go to Oka, my hometown but the fear is that how do I move from Akure to Oka because their is a spot near Oba where these people (kidnappers) are. So, this issue is affecting everybody.

“It’s not something that we should feel unconcerned about. We are all concerned and I believe there is something going on on how to find a solution to this problem.”

- THECABLE

I slept with my brother-in-law thinking it was my husband – Woman tells court

A trader, Mrs Kuditat Ajayi, 52, told an Igando Customary Court that she slept with her brother-in-law because she thought he was her husband.

Ajayi’s husband, Akande is seeking the dissolution of their 35-year-old marriage, accusing her of infidelity, NAN reports.

”I was in bed in the night when my husband’s younger brother came to the house my husband rented for me.

“I thought it was my husband who normally come to the house at that particular time between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. to play and sleep with me.

“It was after he finished making love to me that I realised that he was not my husband.

“When I queried him, he claimed that my husband had traveled that was why he came to have sex with me.

“I reported the case to my brother’s wife, who advised me not to tell my brother so that peace can reign in the family.”

The respondent said that her husband treats the children of the other wives better than hers.

The mother of four denied being fetish as claimed by husband.

Ajayi prayed the court not to grant her husband’s wish for the dissolution of their marriage that she still love him.

The petitioner, Akande approached the court to terminate his 35-year-old marriage accusing wife of infidelity.

He said that his wife was wayward and adulterous that her man friend was claiming paternity of one of their children.

“When I married her, I rented an apartment for her because I have other wives and I don’t want them to live together.

“I started hearing from people in the area that my wife was having affair with a man, initially I ignored it until her lover came claiming ownership of one of my children.

“The man eventually came to the house but I refused to open the door for him.

“When I questioned my wife, she confessed that the man slept with her but it did not result in pregnancy.”

The 71-year-old businessman said that his wife was fetish.

“I once caught her burying something in my compound, I accosted her and tried to remove what she buried there but I could not.

“I went out before I returned, she had cemented the place.”

He begged the court to end the marriage that he was no longer interested that the love he once had for her husband had faded.

The president of the court, Mr Adeniyi Koledoye, urged the two parties to maintain peace and adjourned the case until August 22 for judgment.

- DAILY POST

Buhari’s service chiefs operating illegally – CSOs

Several civil society organisations (CSOs) have accused the service chiefs of operating illegally in office since their tenure had elapsed on Saturday, July 13, 2019.

The CSOs under the aegis of Coalition of Civil Rights for Justice, Peace and Security (CRJPS), faulted the approval given by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, for a shake-up within the top hierarchy of the army.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Monday, Executive Secretary of the coalition, Barr. Abubakar Dan Bauchi, said given the worsening insecurity in the country, it was high time President Muhammadu Buhari listened to agitations in many quarters and overhaul Nigeria’s security architecture.

He said, “We note with regret that the continued retention of the Chief of Defence Staff and the Service Chiefs despite the fact that their constitutional tenure of office lapsed since July 13, 2019 is not in the spirit and letters of our revered Armed Forces of Nigeria.

“The failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to listen to voice of reason and retire the security chiefs has not helped matters either; as the development has in no small measures contributed to stagnation in careers of our able military personnel besides the obvious fact that their morale in professional duties had been dampened.

“We, the Coalition of Civil Rights for Justice, Peace and Security have appealed to the president to immediately do the needful by retiring the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs given that their constitutional tenure of office had since lapsed.

“Any official action taking by the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs after this date is deemed not only illegal but also considered null and void.

“Their continued stay in office would amount to gross violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and will also demoralize officers and men who cannot grow in the system.

“As not only citizens of this country but also lovers of the current government, we are constrained to make this appeal to Mr President to immediately retire the service chiefs who were appointed on July 13, 2015 for a tenure of two years and whose tenures of office were extended. Our records show that they completed a four-year term.

“Given this, we kindly appeal to Mr President to immediately retire the Chief of Defence Staff and the various service chiefs as any official action taken by them in the office after July 13, 2019 will amount to illegality.

“Besides, their continuous stay in office is compressing the system and may have been responsible for the so much security lapses we have in the country today.”

The service chiefs include: Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

- DAILY POST 

Danger! Read LASG’s timely warning on consumption of food preserved with chemicals

The Lagos State government has warned the public against consumption of food preserved with pesticides or other agro-chemicals, noting that it is harmful to human health.

This warning is coming on the heels of recent reports on social media in which it was alleged that grains, especially raw beans was being mixed with known insecticide – dichlovorous also known as ‘Snipper’ to preserve it and prevent insect infestation.

Lagos State Ministry of Health’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Titilayo Goncalves who gave this warning on Monday explained that dichlovorous, which is from the class of the Organo-phosphotus chemicals, were poisoning in nature and dangerous to human health.

She added that the chemical was oil based and did not wash off easily on grains when rinsed with cold water.

“It is criminal to spray food items, including grains, with such poisonous chemicals, these chemicals have lasting odour and retentive capacity”, Goncalves said.

The Permanent Secretary stated that anyone who consumed food preserved or contaminated with dichlovorous would exhibit symptoms ranging from abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, breathlessness or respiratory disturbances, become irritable, and that this might lead to coma and even death.

Goncalves added that the effect of exposure of human, especially traders and marketers in edible grains who use it to preserve their product and prevent pest infestation might include irritation of eyes and skin, headache, nausea, dizziness, chest tightness, discharge of thin nasal mucus and even paralysis.

“Any person who exhibits any of these symptoms should report immediately to the nearest health facility for prompt management”, she said.

She explained that thorough cooking of grains generally reduced risk of exposure to the chemical, stressing that the best possible caution against exposure was to avoid preserving food with poisonous chemicals, including pesticides.

She advised residents to wash all raw foods, including grains, fruits and vegetables thoroughly before cooking and eating, saying that that thorough washing of raw foods and fruits in several rinses of water before cooking was a lot better than just cooking without washing.

“You are advised to also report any individual or group of people suspected of involvement in harmful food preservation techniques to the State Government through the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Lagos State Safety Commission”, Goncalves said.

While reaffirming the State Government’s commitment to the good health and well-being of residents, the Permanent Secretary stated that government was working towards ensuring food security and safety.

According to her, the State government was aware of various harmful and unhygienic practices of food processors, traders and marketers in food preservation and was doing the needful to curb food poisoning in the state.

Goncalves warned traders, marketers and processors of raw foods to desist from the use of unapproved chemicals for killing pests on raw food, noting that the State government was against any practices inimical to the good health and wellbeing of the populace.

“We wish to reiterate that the Lagos State has zero tolerance for distribution of unwholesome foods and all forms of food poisoning in the State and we will therefore leave no stone unturned in ensuring wholesomeness in the process and distribution of foods that Lagosians consume”, she said.

While soliciting the support of residents in exposing any unhygienic and harmful health practices, Goncalves tasked them to make formal reports to the aforementioned agencies of government or call the 09095259940.

- PM NEWS

Global hunger on the increase – UN

More than 820 million people worldwide were under nourished in 2018, the third consecutive year of slight increase after decades of decline.

This is said according to a report presented on Monday by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to newsmen, United Nations officials and stakeholders at IFAD’s headquarters.

The 239-page ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ report, released annually, is a comprehensive look at the state of hunger worldwide.

The report is produced by IFAD along with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), both based in Rome, as well as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

According to the report, the number of hungry people in the world is increasing more or less in step with the global population growth.

This means the figure of 820 million hungry people in 2018 represents a slight increase compared to 2017, but in relative terms, the number of undernourished people in the world has held steady at just under 11 per cent.

More or less consistent in percentage terms since 2015. Before that, the report said, the number had steadily decreased in percentage terms.

“We can no longer wait to transform global, national and local food systems,” IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo told Xinhua via email.

“This report comes at a time when the calls are growing for a radical transformation of food systems.

Houngbo said the world needs “food systems that are sustainable, nutritious, inclusive and efficient.’’

The report said Africa is hardest hit by under nourishment, with nearly 20 per cent of the population suffering from hunger.

In western Asia, hunger is on the rise, with more than 12 per cent of the population impacted.

Hunger is also becoming more common in Latin America and the Caribbean, where nearly 7 per cent of the population is affected.

More than two billion people live without sufficient access to safe and nutritious food.

That includes around 8 per cent of the population in North America and Europe, the most economically developed parts of the world, noted the report.

It added that the number of babies with unhealthily low birth weight and the level of obesity worldwide are also on the rise.

It cited poor economic development, climate change and violence as the main culprits behind the trends.

The cheapest food options in many countries, including large economies in transition like Brazil, China and India, contain increasingly high levels of fats and sugars.

This is making it harder for people with low incomes to eat a healthy diet, it pointed out.

The report said the rising number of hungry people in the world underscores the immense challenge of achieving the Zero Hunger target by 2030.

This is a reference to one of the main planks from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals agreed to in 2015.

The Zero Hunger provision includes efforts to end hunger, eliminate malnutrition (and) to build inclusive and sustainable food systems

- PM NEWS

Estimated billing: NLC tells NERC to provide meters

Ayuba Wabba, the President Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to direct Distribution Companies (DisCos) to stop estimated billing.

Wabba made the call at the “Public Consultation on Capping of Estimated Billing, Distribution Franchising and Competitive Transition Charge’’ organised by NERC in Abuja on Monday.

He said that estimated billing was exploitative and had continued unabated, adding that it could be addressed by providing meters to customers.

“Your organisation is essentially a regulatory outfit, recently I had to make a statement that it seems the agency is soft on the operators and hard on customers for obvious reasons.

“How can we make progress in such a situation, it shouldn’t be about profit, but it should be about service to Nigerians.

“Therefore, I want you this time around to make sure you bring the full wrath of the law to respond to those people that are actually making things difficult for Nigerians.”

According to Wabba, power is central to development of the country and businesses, especially those in the manufacturing sector.

He said that labour and capital work hand-in-hand, adding that “what affects capital, affects labour, so that is why the issue of electricity is dear to our heart.”

The NLC boss said that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had continued to decry the lack of stable power supply as their businesses were almost going under.

“Industries are closing down because they have to run on generators, power is not stable and it is too expensive.

“We cannot create jobs if we don’t have stable power supply, if we are going to the wrong direction, we should put a stop to this as it will not take us to the ultimate direction.

“This type of interaction is very important but you must also act on our complaints, we must be able to do what is right.”

- PM NEWS

Another Lagosian shot dead by SARS

Men identified as members of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) of the Nigeria police force have shot dead a man in the Ilupeju area of Lagos state. 

A witness told TheCable that incident happened on Ajisegiri street in Ilupeju, Odiolowo Ojuwoye local council development area of Lagos, on Monday morning.

The victim was simply identified as Francis, while residents said he had gone about his daily job of cleaning when he was killed. 

“The guy was in the area to sweep the compounds of his customers,” a witness told TheCable. 

“The Ajisegiri area is notorious because of these boys who come there to smoke, and the area has always been raided by police. But this morning none of the boys was there, just this man going about his business. He was shot and he died almost immediately.” 

Bala Elkana, spokespsman of the Lagos police command, did not immediately respond to a message seeking an update on the matter.

In March, there was a nationwide outrage following the killing of Kolade Johnson, a football fan, in Onipetesi area of Lagos.

Johnson had left his on a Sunday evening to join friends at Kingstine-Jo, a nearby bar, to watch the live English premiership match between Hotspur and Tottenham.

His killers were later identified as Ogunyemi Olalekan, an inspector, and Godwin Orji, a sergeant who have now been dismissed from the force.

- THECABLE

Court remands man for allegedly raping 14-year-old niece

An Ile-Ife Magistrates’ Court in Osun on Monday ordered that a 26-year-old man, Abibu Babatunde, who allegedly raped his 14-year-old niece be remanded in prison.

The Defence Counsel, Mr Ben Adirieje, prayed the court to admit Babatunde to bail in the most Liberal terms.

He pledged that his client would not jump bail, but would provide reliable sureties.

The Prosecution Counsel, Insp. Sunday Osanyintuyi, told the court that the defendant committed the offence between September 2018 and July 2019 at Sabo area, Ile-Ife.

Osanyintuyi said that the defendant raped his 14-year-old niece.

He added that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 222 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Osun, 2002.

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty.

Ruling, the Magistrate Olukunle Owolawi, who refused to admit the defendant to bail, ordered that he be remanded in Ile-Ife prison custody.

Owolawi adjourned the case until Aug 8, for hearing.

- DAILY POST

Crisis as Fulani herdsmen kill farmer in Ogun community

Residents of Adao community in Alabata area of Odeda Local Government in Ogun s
 state on Sunday, were thrown into confusion as one of their own was killed by suspected herdsmen.

The 49-year-old farmer, Rafiu Showemimo, was stabbed in the neck by suspected herdsmen on his way back home from the farm around 12 noon.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi could not be reached as of the time of filing this report .

The Olu of Alabata, Chief Sanusi Waheed, who oversees the affected Adao community, stressed the need for quick government’s intervention to stop the community youths from responding to the incident.

“The Fulanis have crossed their boundaries and we can’t condole them anymore.

“There is need for urgent intervention of the government in the Fulani/herdsmen problems in this community and country.

“We would do all within our powers in communicating our plight to the government,” Waheed said.

However, the community youths were seen standing at strategic points in their numbers and armed with local guns, cutlasses and charms, Vanguard reports.

- DAILY POST

I know politicians who have suddenly turned billionaires – Amaechi

A former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has stated that Nigeria is a country without consequences, adding that citizens and voters have failed to hold politicians and leaders accountable for their actions and policies.

Amaechi said that he knows politicians who have suddenly turned billionaires few months after taking up political positions.

Amaechi who is also a former governor of Rivers State stated this during a panel session at the fifth edition of The Nigeria Symposium For Young and Emerging Leaders held in Lagos on Friday.

Speaking on ineffective policies and extreme poverty, Amaechi explained that the country’s wealth has been in the pocket of an influential few and called for politicians to invest in infrastructure in order to create jobs and reduce crime.

“I know politicians who have suddenly become billionaires, and this is the money that should have been used to build roads and provide amenities that could have been used to improve the lives of citizens. Our politicians have to be clear on how they intend to lift people out of poverty,” he said.

Also commenting on citizen participation, a former presidential candidate, KOWA, Professor Remi Shonaiya, added,“We have to educate ourselves in order to become more active, and we have to begin to consider the greater good in our decisions.

“Most of us don’t care about what is happening in the House of Assembly, we are much more concerned about ourselves. The focus has to be on the people, not the government. But we as the people also have to make sure that we hold our leaders accountable to us. There’s too much personal style in the way we practice politics in the country,” said Professor Shonaiya.

- PM NEWS

New minimum wage: Organized labour threatens FG over lack of commitment to paying N30,000

Organised labour has raised doubts over federal government’s commitment to the implementation of the new N30,000 minimum wage.

President of Trade Union Congress, TUC, Quadri Olaleye, threatened that organised labour may be forced to take industrial action over the delay in the payment of the new minimum wage.

Speaking to reporters in Lagos yesterday, Olaleye said workers had thought that consequential adjustment on the minimum wage would be negotiated openly.

“From the look of things, it appears the Federal Government is not committed to implementing the new minimum wage arrangement going by the way its representatives in the committee, set up to negotiate the consequential adjustment arising from the new minimum wage, are handling the negotiation,” Olaleye said.

He also said that the organised labour has been considerate by lowering its initial demand for increasing the salaries of officers on Grade Level (GL) 07 to 17 by 66.66% as the rate at which the minimum wage was increased but the FG side is only offering 9.5% for GL 07 to 14 officers and 5% for those on GL 15 to 17.

He said: “As it stands now, we may be forced to go to the trenches.

“We sincerely hope that the government will act fast and direct its representatives to return to the negotiation table with a more realistic mandate that will be beneficial to workers who have had to wait for almost a decade to get something meaningful added to their emoluments.”

- DAILY POST

Nigeria will be fully Islamized in few years, Igbo can’t be president – Adolphus Wabara

Former Senate President and member of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Adolphus Wabara, has said that in few years, Nigeria will be Fulanized.

According to the Abia-born politician, Fulanization of Nigeria is an agenda that must be accomplished and for this reason, the South East should perish the hope of taking over from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Wabara noted that Buhari will not hand over to anyone who will not continue the project of making Nigeria a full Muslim state, adding that the signs are already manifestating.

“I believe what is happening is an agenda, it’s just that some of us, we are media friendly, but we don’t have easy access to the media to cry out every of your thought or whatever you say and we say things like that, sometimes the journalist will not take them seriously except if it comes from one with the stature of Obasanjo that you just mentioned,” he was quoted by Sun.

The former Senate President added that Nigeria may not survive the next 20 to 30 years, adding that if it does, it must have become a 100 per cent Muslim state.

He added, “I have always been of that opinion anytime I had the opportunity of talking to the press on that particular topic. I have read how Turkey became a Muslim state, 100 per cent, so to speak Muslim state and those signs are manifesting in my great and blessed country called Nigeria.

“I foresee this country as it is today if it survives another 20, 30 years Nigeria will be a mono-religious state, a Muslim state, then Nigeria would have been Islamized and not only being Islamized because if you talk of Islam, you don’t even know where you belong and I will rather say Nigeria would have been Fulanised because even within among the Muslims they are also confused.

“You see many Muslims who will not support what the Fulani’s are doing to us today, so if you talk of Islamization they will disagree with you, so what we are getting is Fulanisation of Nigeria because those who want to Fulanize Nigeria are indeed not true Muslims, they are nomadic Muslims who do not even believe in Islamic teachings neither do they believe in Western education, no wonder President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to bring education, nomadic education to them and what happened, it failed and it has failed till today because they are not interested in any form of education except their cattle, that is what they believe in.

“But the true Muslims of the North believe in Islam and they believe in peaceful co-existence between other religions in the country, but these Fulani people, they are basically not even Nigerians, they are mainly from Mali, Mauritania, etc, so they are territorial, no wonder they are talking of moving their cattle from one end to another and in the process they will Fulanize whatever territory they are.

“So, I foresee and I want to be quoted that the way we are going, if we don’t find a solution to our problems, particularly security-wise Nigeria will become Fulanized in the next couple of years and that is why I deeply regret and I hope anyway that my party, the PDP and specifically Atiku Abubakar will thrive in the tribunal. This is because Nigerians are looking forward to his doctrine of restructuring the country that is the only way we can save Nigeria from Fulanisation.

“The answer is no, if you want a sincere answer from me. You cannot be talking of the Fulanisation of Nigeria and you are thinking of an Igbo president coming in between 2023 for eight years, no. It is a project, Fulanisation of Nigeria is a project and it cannot be interrupted, I hear somebody from the Southwest is hoping to take over in 2023, it doesn’t matter whether he is a Muslim, but the truth of the matter is that he is not a nomadic Fulani, so there is no way power can shift to the South in 2023 and we the Igbo do not have what it takes to fight for it.

“As at today’s Nigeria, we don’t have what it takes to fight for it, where are we? Is it in the security apparatus of the nation? Where is the Igbo man, anything we have achieved or have been achieving is all personal efforts and in some cases community efforts.

“You hear of people stealing billions of naira, how many Igbo people have been mentioned? This is because you have to be where the money is before you can steal it.

“And this money they are using to Fulanize us, it is this money that you use to conduct an election and you know what happens with the election. So, we are not there unless you want to deceive yourself, we will not be there in 2023, mark my word.”

- DAILY POST

Trump back in ‘shithole’ controversy

U.S. President Donald Trump has reignited the infamy of his reference to some countries as ‘shithole’, as he descended on a a group of mostly American-born Democratic congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” 

His comment via three tweets on Sunday was instantly condemned by Democrats as racist.

“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe… viciously telling the people of the United States… how our government is to be run,” Trump said in a series of three comments on Twitter.

While he did not mention names, Trump appeared to be referring to first-year Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – a group known as “the squad” that has been very critical of Trump and also of the current Democratic leadership of the House.

Only Omar, whose family left Somalia as refugees and arrived in Minneapolis in 1997, was born outside the United States.

“Mr. President, the country I ‘come from,’ and the country we all swear to, is the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez, like Trump a native of New York City, responded on Twitter. 

“You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has feuded with the group in an increasingly bitter intra-party fight, but came to their defence Sunday along with other Democratic colleagues.

She called Trump’s comments “xenophobic.”

“When @realDonaldTrump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again,” she said on Twitter.

“Do I fit into the President’s category?” U.S. Senator Dick Durbin on Illinois, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” mentioning his family’s Lithuanian heritage.

“Thanks goodness,” he said of Omar’s journey from refugee to one of only two Muslim women elected to Congress, along with Tlaib, a native of Detroit. 

“That is what America holds as a dream. The president should not diminish it.”

In January 2018, Trump had angered many people overs his description of Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as shithole countries. 

- PM NEWS

Samson Siasia’s mum kidnapped again

Beauty Ogere Siasia, the 76 year-old mother of former Super Eagles striker and Coach, Samson Siasia has been kidnapped again, the second time in four years.

Multiple sources including The Nation reported that the woman was taken away by unidentified armed men, on Monday morning at about 2 am.

One report said she was taken away from her home in Andoni community in Sagbama Local Government of Bayelsa state.

When she was kidnapped in November 2015, she was released 12 days after.

- PM NEWS

47,200 IDPs now in Cross River – SEMA

Cross River State is hosting 47,200 persons displaced by crisis and persistent flood, according to Mr Princewill Ayim, Acting Director-General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

Ayim said on Sunday in Calabar, that the figure was far above the 32,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the state hosted in 2018.

He attributed the rise in the number of IDPs to the incessant communal clashes across the state, which had rendered thousands of residents homeless.

He said that the heavy rains witnessed in the state had also resulted into massive flooding which displaced many families from their ancestral homes.

Ayim listed local governments with the IDPs to include Boki, Biase, Yala, Odukpani, Obubra, Bakassi and Obanliku.

He said that IDPs from Odukpani, Biase, Obubra and Yala Local Governments were displaced from their homes as a result of the lingering feud between communities in Akwa Ibom State and their neighbours, Ebonyi.

“Some of the clashes have lasted for years and have impacted negatively on the economy and welfare of the people,” he said, adding that the state government had done a lot to end the violence, but without success.

“Currently, we have invited the National Boundary Commission to the affected areas. The commission has been holding peace meetings with the governments of Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom toward finding a lasting solution to the clashes,” he said.

He said that government had been preaching peace and urging those living in the disputed areas to treat their neighbours as brothers and sisters, and regretted that people in same local government were fighting and killing over land.

Ayim urged traditional rulers in affected communities to take precautionary measures by calling their subjects to order, especially during the rainy season, so as to avert future occurrence of communal clashes

- PM NEWS

Suicide: UNIBEN student jumps from 2-storey building

A yet-to-be identified final year student student of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, has reportedly committed suicide by jumping down from the 2nd floor of a hostel building.

The incident occurred Sunday evening at the Faculty of Arts.

The deceased male student was said to be a student of the Department of Actuarial Science, Faculty of Management Sciences.

As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear if the deceased left a suicide note.

It was, however, gathered that the victim who was supposed to have graduated before now, had a spill over.


Efforts to get confirmation from the Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr. Michael Osasuyi, failed, as calls made to his mobile phone failed to connect.

It would be recalled that a 21-year-old student of the University, Christabel Buoro, also committed suicide over alleged failed love affair.

The lifeless body of the 300-level student of Medical Laboratory Science was discovered four weeks ago at her hostel located on Plot 4 Uwaifo Lane, off Newton Street, Ekosodin, a sprawling students’ community behind the University’s main campus.

Unconfirmed reports had it that Christabel mixed sniper, a popular insecticide, with a bottle of soft drink, which she allegedly drank.

- PM NEWS