A former governor of Zamfara State and senator representing Zamfara West, Abdulaziz Yari, is being grilled by operatives of the Department of State Services. The reason for his detention and interrogation is not clear yet.

According to a source close to the lawmaker, Yari reported at the office of the secret police after plenary on Thursday.

The source claimed that he escorted the lawmaker to the DSS office to honour its invitation.

“Senator Yari is still in the DSS custody, but he should be out soon in sha ’Allah. He went to their office himself after the plenary. I escorted him there and he has been there since then,” the source said.

He, however, did not disclose why the lawmaker was invited by the security agency.

Peoples Gazette, an online publication, had earlier reported that Yari was arrested by the secret police after receiving a call from the director-general, Yusuf Bichi, to report at the DSS headquarters for an urgent discussion.

When our correspondent tried to reach the lawmaker on Saturday, his mobile phone indicated that it was switched off.

Yari went against the All Progressives Congress zoning arrangement by contesting the Senate presidency with the party’s choice, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who eventually emerged victorious in the election for the president of the upper legislative chamber.

Attempts to get a confirmation of the lawmaker’s detention from the DSS were not successful as the mobile telephone of its spokesman, Dr Peter Afunaya, did not connect.

Says Poverty, Ignorance Responsible For Bandits’ Actions

Senator Ahmad Yerima, a former governor of Zamfara State has vehemently defended his decision of marrying an underage Egyptian bride.

Recall that Yerima was accused of marrying a minor – the 13-year-old daughter of his Egyptian driver.

While speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Friday night, Yerima said: “Marriage cannot stop education. How many married women are in education now?”

When asked about his wife’s education, he responded by saying “She is doing her Master’s now. I told you my own daughter who was married at the age of 16, is doing her Ph.D.”

He also criticised the Child Rights Act (2003) saying whatever act is passed at the National Assembly has to be domesticated by the state assemblies.

“And once they have not done that, it’s no longer a law,” he added.

The former governor alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo “tried to smuggle the Child Rights Act”.

“He passed it at the National Assembly through some manipulations but I don’t think any state in the North domesticated it and passed it,” Yerima said.

The former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmad Sani Yerima, also asserted that those involved in acts of banditry are doing so because of poverty as well as ignorance.

This is coming off his earlier remarks asking the Federal Government to engage in negotiations with bandits as a way of eradicating the abduction, killings and incursions plaguing parts of the North.

“No educated person, Christian Muslim, Jew or Hindu who is in his right state of mind and has something to do and does not have a poverty problem that will take up arms and kill an innocent person.”

“The major problem facing these people is poverty and ignorance,” Yerima said when quizzed about the reason for the growing case of banditry.

Speaking further, the former Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate also claimed that the previous governments had failed to address the plights of the bandits

“In the past various state government have not taken care of them, and the cattle routes and forest reserves left for them have been taken over by farmers,” he said.

Senator Yerima was quick to debunk speculations that the presence of natural resources such as gold played a major part in the rise of banditry in his state

“This has always been there and the illegal mining that is going on there is of a very small scale; artisan mining.”

“We don’t have any industry or any large-scale or medium-scale mining going on in the state. People are just talking about it but we have solid minerals in the Northern part of Nigeria but that is not the cause at all,” he said.

“The Federal government’s previous administration banned all sorts of mining in Nigeria because they are all illegal.”

On his successor, Bello Matawalle’s assertion that bandits were involved in the commerce of gold for firearms and ammunition, Yerima said ” I think he just said it.”

“When I saw him presenting gold to Mr President (Muhammadu Buhari) I was shocked because where do we process such in Nigeria.”

He also dismissed what he described as “speculations” of the involvement of foreign corporations in the illegal trade of gold in the country.

When asked about possible involvement in the trade as well as turning a blind eye to it, the Senator said, “I assure you that nothing going on as far as large-scale mining in Zamfara state, we have artisan mining, in fact it is villagers that are going into it. But for a proper mining, it is capital intensive.”

Following the conclusion that Mmesoma Ejikeme falsified her results for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, the Commission of Inquiry constituted by the Anambra State Government withdrew the scholarship it had previously granted her.

On Saturday, Cornel Osigwe, the Innoson Group’s Head of Corporate Communications and Affairs, made this information public.

The top scoring in the 2023 UTME, according to Miss Mmesoma, a student at the Anglican Girls Secondary School in Nnewi, Anambra State, was 362.

The ‘feat’ earned her praise from Nigerians on social media, including the Anambra State Government.

Later on, the candidate will get a N3 million scholarship from Innocent Chukwuma, the founder of the Innoson firm.

However, JAMB charged the candidate with falsifying her UTME scores and inflated them from 249 to 362. However, the applicant stated that the 362 was the mark that appeared on the JAMB website and in the SMS that the board gave to her.

The candidate’s first UTME score was subsequently withdrawn by the testing organisation, and she was disqualified from taking the exam for the following three years.

However, Miss Mmesoma, the applicant, stated in a widely shared video on Monday that the contentious result of 362 she claimed to have received was printed off the JAMB website and that the test body’s accusations had scarred her.

Several Nigerians called for an “independent” investigation into the controversy.

Consequently, the Anambra State Government, last week, set up a panel of inquiry into the controversy.

The eight-member panel, led by professor Nkemdili Nnonyelu, concluded on Friday that Miss Mmesoma had fabricated the 362 score that the JAMB had earlier claimed.

The candidate acknowledged, as stated in the eight-page report, that she had fabricated the outcome on her own before going to a cybercafé to have it printed.

Given that Miss Mmesoma received the scholarship from Innoson Motors in acknowledgment of her allegedly outstanding achievement, the company’s spokesperson, Mr. Osigwe, called the discovery that she cheated on her UTME results “deeply disappointing.”

According to him, the candidate’s manipulation of the results “stands in direct contravention of the values” of the organisation.

“In line with these principles and in response to the confirmed findings, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw the scholarship awarded to Miss Joy Mmesoma Ejikeme. This action is a testament to our unyielding commitment to honesty, integrity, and merit-based recognition.

“We acknowledge that this development is regrettable, and it has undoubtedly caused dismay among those who stood by Miss Joy including her school principal and other well-meaning supporters. However, it is crucial to maintain the integrity of our scholarship program and the values it represents,” he said.

IVM added that it believes in rewarding exceptional students who display not just academic prowess but also embody the values of honesty, transparency, and respect for the processes that govern the educational system in Nigeria.

“I came to Ibadan, Oyo State 30 years ago I remember that time very well. I was really scared of vehicles, my body was shivering throughout the journey and I was scared it was a big vehicle. I came here to look for food to feed my children. I was left with the children, after my two husbands died. I fell out of love with my first husband after I had two children with him unfortunately he died and I married my second husband who also later died. Both of us were blind and you know some of us are not lucky.”

Rahinatu Ibrahim, popularly called Ganga, recalled with nostalgia when she first embarked on her journey to the South West many years ago from Kano State.

After the demise of her two husbands, the visually impaired woman decided to travel far with her children in search of food to feed them.

Despite being scared of vehicles at that time, the thought of her children starving and her inability to farm made her face her fears. She was determined to conquer.

“My children were young and I couldn’t farm, I did not have the strength to do so, so I had to come here to beg. Nobody was helping me with the children; I was only depending on God. I came here with seven of them and we begged everywhere together and along the line, one of them died here, he was a twin,” she told Saturday Tribune in an interview during the week.

After begging for many years, when her female children were ripe for marriage, Rahinatu took the girls back home and married them off.

“They all grew up here and when they were due for marriage I took them back home and I married them off. Someone asked for one of the girls hands in marriage here in Sabo but I refused, I didn’t want her to marry a Yoruba man and maybe he wasn’t lucky or God didn’t want him to marry her,” she said.

The visually impaired woman said she stopped moving around to beg many years ago after her legs developed some pains and because of the harsh begging conditions, she had to return her granddaughter who was her aid, back to her mother in Kano. “I used to move around to beg a long time ago with my sister but since my leg developed some pains I stopped moving round to beg, I just come to the roadside and sit to beg.”

I’ve stayed to beg at Oke Bola, Oke Ado and many areas with my children. My granddaughter was helping me to cross the road but I had to take her home because it is not easy to be out here under harsh conditions with a child, so, I took her home to her mother.

“After my daughters got married, I travelled home to visit them. I just a returned a couple of days ago; I went for Sallah. My son wanted me to stay longer to rest, he wanted me to wait and return after the raining season but I refused. There is no money in the north; those who stay in the north are trying.

“If you have money and food, no problem, you’d enjoy the north. But this era, everything is hard, food is expensive. We buy a measure of corn for as high as N1,050 and one of my daughter’s husbands abandoned her and her four children. He said he wanted to go and work in Ile Ife and he has refused to go back. With the high cost of goods in the market, I had to send her some money two weeks ago to buy food for the children,” she said.

Rahinatu revealed that the people in Ibadan have been good to her since she moved to the South West as no one has ever talked down or harassed her.

“I thank God because since I came here, no one has ever harassed or taken advantage of me. The people here have been good to me. If someone has not done anything bad to you, you shouldn’t say he did.

“But I can remember one time here at Mobil, there was some crisis. I did not come out to beg that Sunday so I was told what happened. The crisis unsettled us so I went to Apata to beg and that was my first time of going there to beg.

“When I got there, the beggars there chased me away. They said I should not sit there because I was not begging with them. I moved away from them and fortunately one woman gave me a place to sit and that was how I was able to get money to feed that period. After a while, peace returned to Mobil Junction and I came back,” she told Saturday Tribune.

Would she ever go back to live in the north? She revealed that it was not easy begging in the North because “we usually don’t get much alms back home.”

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has reiterated its readiness to ensure credible, fair, and reliable assessments in the public examination sector.

The examination body disclosed this in reaction to the report of the inquiry committee set up by the Anambra State Government to look into the controversy surrounding the UTME result of Miss Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma.

Reacting to the committee’s report, which indicted the pupil for forging her result unaided, JAMB’s Head of Public Affairs and Protocol, Fabian Benjamin, stated in a press release that there has never been any doubt about the credibility of the examination body.

According to him, the committee’s report not only vindicates the body but also reaffirms the fact that the examination body’s system can never be compromised. He added that the board is more determined than ever before in the fight to ensure a clean public examination sector, regardless of distractions from detractors.

While clarifying that the pupil has finally admitted to forging her result, the statement also revealed that Miss Mmesoma’s real age is 19, contrary to the belief held by many that she is 16.

The examination body also warned candidates to refrain from any acts of forgery and other examination irregularities, emphasizing that it will always lead to regret for the culprits.

The board, however, enjoined Nigerians to learn to appreciate and trust their institutions rather than constantly seeking means to bring them down.

Read the full statement below:

“The report of the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Anambra State Government, an independent and unbiased body, as demanded by some Nigerians to look into the Mmesoma saga, has vindicated the Board. This has further reinforced the position of the Board that its system was not and cannot be compromised.

“It is to be noted that the Board has built a reputation in terms of the conduct of credible examinations over the years and cannot afford to fail the nation at this critical juncture of its development.

“Therefore, we will not despair in spite of the painful realisation that some Nigerians would do anything to cast aspersions on the good name of the Board.

No fewer than 13 former governors still receive pension allowances as serving senators in the 10th National Assembly amidst cutting the cost of governance talks.

TRIBUNE ONLINE, compiled the names of the former governors who still receive pensions as serving senators.

Full list below;

1. Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) 2007 – 2015
2. Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto) 2007 – 2015
3. Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) 2011 – 2019
4. Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) 2015 – 2023
5. Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) 2015 – 2023
6. Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) 2008 – 2016
7. Ibrahim Dankambo (Gombe) 2011 – 2019
8. Abubakar Bello (Niger) 2015 – 2023
9. Orji Kalu (Abia) 1999 – 2007
10. Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) 2012 – 2020
11. Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe) 2009 – 2019
12. Adamu Aliro (Kebbi) 1999 – 2007
13. Danjuma Goje (Gombe) 2003 – 2011

NB: Former Ogun Governor, Gbenga Daniel (2003 – 2011) was excluded from the list following his recent announcement requesting the state government to stop the payment of his monthly pension as an ex-governor.

Mr. Romanus Ejikeme, the father of Mmesoma Ejikeme, the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate who falsified her result, has tendered an unreserved apology to JAMB and Nigerians.

Recall that eight-member panel set up by Anambra Governor Charles Soludo to investigate the controversies surrounding the results, had exposed the candidate.

JAMB barred Mmesoma from taking its exam for the next three years.

Romanus admitted that he didn’t know where his daughter registered for the examination but he gave her the money for the registration.

Mmesoma’s father had insisted that her daughter did not forge her results saying that she was a hardworking and studious student who did not joke with her studies.

“But I gave her the money for the registration, and I can vouch for her that she cannot forge any result,” Ejikeme had said then.

Backtracking, Mmesoma’s father said: “As I said earlier, my daughter didn’t open up to me on time, she didn’t. Then I realised the mistake she did, I warned and pleaded her not to dent her image.

“I’m still apologising to Nigerians and JAMB to pardon her”.

Former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has called on Nigerians to encourage the 19-year-old Anambra student, Mmesoma Ejikeme for scoring 249 in her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Mmesoma has been in the dailies following the forgery of her 362 UTME score which the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) confronted her upon.

She later confessed that her original score was 249, and both JAMB and the Anambra State Government panels instituted to probe the incident submitted that the 362 score was forged.

In his reaction on Twitter on Saturday, Keyamo said Mmesoma did not know the degree of her offence as a teenager but Nigerians could help her through encouragement, adding that many have made grave mistakes as teenagers that never came to bare.

The former minister said Mmesoma is a brilliant teen to have scored 249, and that her family should help in making a public apology to JAMB and Nigeria as a whole.

Keyamo wrote, “I deliberately waited for the end of this investigation before commenting on this unfortunate case of our daughter, Mmesoma Ejikeme.

“She’s a brilliant girl, judging by her actual score of 249. The nation should be careful not to destroy her. What she needs is counselling, correction and guidance. She obviously did not know the weight and gravity of what she was doing. As teenagers, most of us made juvenile mistakes that never came to light.

“The parents should encourage her to do a public apology to JAMB, to her family and to Nigerians after which she should be allowed to get her admission based on her actual scores. Anyone still pushing other narratives over this issue is not helping her and her family.

He was a revered religious leader – Peter Obi mourns Apostolic Church founder
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“It is time to close this very unfortunate chapter and move on. This is my plea.”

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu State has commenced sitting on the petition filed by the Labour Party and its candidate Chijioke Edeoga against the election of Dr Peter Mbah as the governor of the state after the Sallah break.

At the resumed hearing on Friday, the petitioners presented the National Youth Service Corps, as its first witness in defence of their petition.

Edeoga and his party are challenging the election of Governor Mbah on grounds that he did not secure the highest lawful votes cast in the March 18 governorship election and that the respondent, submitted a forged NYSC discharge certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission in an effort to secure his election.

The PUNCH had reported that the Tribunal had earlier subpoenaed NYSC following Petitioners’ application to appear before the panel to certify as true or not its document the respondent (Mbah) had submitted to the electoral umpire before the election.

Testifying before the tribunal on Friday evening, NYSC tendered among others documents including the alleged forged discharge certificate, as well as the original discharge certificate which Mbah ought to have collected.

The NYSC also tendered a letter written by Oma and Partners, an Abuja-based law firm, which had asked the Corps to scrutinise the discharge certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission by the governor.

The Petitioners, represented by Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, who is the lead counsel, alongside Dr Valerie Azinge, SAN, Ifeanyi Ogenyi Esq, and others, led the Petitioners Witness 1 (PW1) in evidence.

The petitioner’s witness 1 is the Director of Certification, NYSC, Aliyu Abdul Mohammed, who adopted his written deposition on oath.

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Awomolo sought to tender the witness’ deposition on oath as evidence before the tribunal.

The third respondent, Peoples Democratic Party, Counsel, Anthony Ani, SAN, objected to the admissibility of the document and opted to move a motion dated and filed on the 7th day of July 2023, which seeks to pray the tribunal to strike out the written deposition on oath of the PW1 on the ground of incompetence.

The 1st respondent, INEC, as well as the 2nd respondent (Peter Mbah), aligned themselves with the submission of Ani and prayed the court to strike out the written deposition of Mohammed (PW1) for lack of competence.

Relying on the Court of Appeal decision in the case of ANDP & anor V INEC as well as that of Damina & anor V Adamu and ors, the respondents’ counsels asked the court to strike out the written deposition on oath of the PW1 for lack of competence.

In response, the petitioners’ lawyers relying on the case of Ararume & anor V INEC, which according to them, is a conflicting decision with the authorities cited by the respondents’ counsel, asked the court to admit the written deposition on oath of the PW1.

In a short ruling, the tribunal admitted the document and reserved ruling on the objections raised by the respondents for final judgement.

The PW1 was then taken in for examination-in-chief.

Mohammed told the tribunal that he acted on a subpoena served on the Director General of the NYSC or any other official to appear before the tribunal to give evidence in order to clear some issues bothering on the certificate purportedly issued by the agency.

The subpoena was admitted in evidence without objection from the respondents and was marked as exhibit PTC/01/06.

Mohammed also tendered his official identity card as a staff of NYSC which was admitted in evidence and marked as exhibit PTC/01/07.

In paragraph three (3) of the Petitioners’ Witness’s deposition on oath, the witness stated that in obedience to the subpoena by the tribunal, he came with the authentic discharge certificate of the governor, as well as the one purportedly given to him.

The respondent’s counsel objected to the admissibility of the documents and reserved their reasons for final written addresses.

The tribunal admitted the documents and marked them as exhibits PTC/ 01/08 a and b.The Petitioners also fielded another witness, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mary Nneoma Elijah, a principal partner in the law firm of Oma and Partners.

She is the Petitioners’ Witness 2.

The Petitioners’ counsel sought to tender her written deposition on oath as evidence, which was objected to by the respondents’ counsel, citing the same grounds raised in the first stage.

The court admitted the document and reserved the ruling during the judgement.

She also adopted the subpoena of the tribunal dated the 21st day of June 2023, which was admitted and marked as exhibit PTC/01/09.

The witness’ letter to INEC, as well as the reply given by INEC, was sought to be tendered by the petitioners’ counsel amid objections from the respondents’ counsel.

However, the letters, as well as the discharged certificate were admitted and marked as exhibits PTC/01/11 a, b & c respectively.

Also, a letter addressed to the presiding justice of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, for the production of the appointment letter dated 14 July 2003, appointing Barr. Peter Mbah as the Chief of Staff to the then governor of Enugu state, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani in the same year he (Mbah) claimed he was serving, also admitted in evidence amidst objections and marked as exhibit PTC/01/13 a&b.

During cross-examination, the 1st respondent’s counsel, Mr Abdul Mohammed, applying for the subpoena, asked “confirm to this tribunal that the subpoena did not ask you about anything at the Federal High court”.

In response, PW2 said, ” True”.

Mr Abdul Mohammed further asked the PW2: “Confirm to this tribunal that you have given to the petitioners the contents of these letters at the time they were preparing this petition”.

In reply, the PW2 said, “It’s false, the letters are public documents which are in the public domain. Anybody can ask for the letters and they will be given to him.

The matter was adjourned to Tuesday, 11 July 2023 for further hearing.

There is tension among residents of Isheri-Idimu community, in Alimosho Local Government of Lagos State, following the discovery of a spot where oil thieves siphoned fuel from pipeline.

The Lagos State police operative have cordoned off the spot and currently keeping an eye on it, waiting for officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to fix the damaged pipeline.

From the spot on Pipeline Road/Segun Irefin Road junction, near the Jonathan Estate, Isheri-Iminu, oil thieves stole petrol in the middle of the night.

Last night, it was gathered that the oil thieves operated at about 1am and succeeded in filling three fuel tankers before residents alerted the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad (RRS), whose operatives stormed the spot.

It was further gathered that when the RRS team arrived, the oil thieves, numbering more than 60, scampered and abandoned one 11, 000 fuel tanker, which was yet to be filled. Some arrests were also said to have been made during the operation.

Incidentally, the illegal bunkering spot is said to be behind Idimu Police Station, which did not respond to earlier distress calls, prompting the residents to alert RRS operatives.

While the oil stealing was going on, the whole area was plunged into darkness as public power supply was switched off, which the residents said was unusual.

THE WHISTLER understands that 10 days ago, the illegal bunkerers operated from the same spot, which had put residents of the area on the watch.

In the illegal operation, the oil thieves allegedly loaded three 33,000 litre tankers in the dead of the night successfully.

The spot where the bunkering takes place is in front of an array of shops, which are usually closed for business before 10pm.

Residents said that the the activities of the illegal bunkerers must have gone unnoticed for long because they usually operate in the night when residents have gone to sleep and the place deserted.

The residents are calling on the official of NNPCL to come and seal the compromised pipeline to avoid fire outbreak.

Also, they are calling on the authorities to fix the Pipeline Road and the adjoining ones to make it impossible for illegal bunkers to tamper with pipeline.