Science Park High School in Newark, New Jersey, has honored Achunike Okafor, a remarkable Nigerian student, for his outstanding performance.

Okafor received an International Baccalaureate diploma from the school, boasting an extraordinary grade-point average of 4.625.

According to online newspaper TapIntoNewark, his GPA stands as the highest among the 2,649 graduates in the Class of 2023 in Newark and is the highest ever recorded in the city’s public school district. This achievement has garnered him over 40 scholarship offers from renowned universities, including Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Princeton, Penn State, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Southern California, and Rutgers.

Expressing his gratitude for the opportunities presented to him, Okafor stated, “I am grateful for the opportunities to attend such esteemed universities and to represent my family and community. I do not take lightly the privilege and responsibility to be among the few individuals selected for such honors.”

The 18-year-old plans to pursue a neuroscience degree at Harvard University.

Science Park principal Darlene Gearhart described Okafor as an extraordinary individual, highlighting his humility, drive, and industriousness. She stated, “There’s absolutely nothing average about him. He’s humble, driven, and industrious. He has always been a great kid. He is always eager to learn.”

Superintendent of Schools Roger León acknowledged Achunike’s exceptional achievements as a source of pride for Science Park High, the school district, and the Newark community. He commended Okafor’s perseverance, resilience, and dedication to excellence, expressing best wishes for his future success at Harvard and anticipating further accomplishments from him.

Achunike’s father, Godfrey Okafor, expressed the family’s pride in his son’s accomplishments, emphasizing the importance they place on education in their household. He shared that his five other children, including two older sons and three daughters, are currently pursuing studies in computer engineering, pharmacology, nursing, and law.

Beyond his academic pursuits, Achunike actively participated in various extracurricular activities. He co-founded the Science Club, served as the vice president of the Junior Student Council and the Stand & Deliver Club, and held leadership positions as president of the Future Educators Club and Black Student Union. Additionally, he contributed as co-captain of the robotics team and treasurer of the Environmental Club.

The Lagos State Labour Party governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, on Tuesday, closed his case against the victory of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the March 18 election before the election tribunal sitting in Ikeja.

The Labour Party governorship candidate is also challenging the eligibility of Hazmat to contest on the grounds that he allegedly renounced his Nigerian citizenship and swore allegiance to the United States of America.

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, the petitioner’s counsel, Mr Idowu Benson, informed the three-justice tribunal headed by Arum Ashom that the petitioner was closing his case.

Ten witnesses had testified in the petition of the LP candidate.

The counsel also tendered a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the INEC Form EC9 – an affidavit containing the particulars of a candidate – which was hand-filled by Hamzat and had been front-loaded by the counsel for the fourth respondent, All Progressives Congress (APC), before the tribunal.

All the counsel for the four respondents objected to the admissibility of the document tendered by the petitioner.

The tribunal, however, admitted the document into evidence and marked it as Exhibit PE713.

The APC counsel, Mr Noris Quakers (SAN), said the CTC tendered by the petitioner was warehoused by the first respondent and did not form a part of the court records.

“It is not a document before this tribunal.

“It is only a document signed by the Independent National Electoral Commission that can be tendered.

“We will further argue on why this document should not be admitted in the final written address,” he said.

The INEC counsel, Mr Eric Obigor, informed the tribunal that he would pick a date to open their defence while commending the petitioner for closing his case.

The tribunal ordered that the first respondent should open his case on the next adjourned date but he prayed the court for more time to put his house in order.

“We will be taking a date to open our case and commend the petitioner for closing its case even though it was unexpected.

“At the moment, for me to secure the attendance of my witness, I can not get them by tomorrow.

“I will need to do consultations with the stakeholders of my client.

“A day will enable me to put my house in order,” Obigor said.

Counsel to Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, Mr Bode Olanipekun (SAN), also commended the petitioner for closing its case while stating that they should have taken the wise retreat earlier.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the proceedings was stalled on Monday due to health reasons of LP witness.

The tribunal had on Monday adjourned the proceedings due to the ill health of a witness scheduled to testify in favour of Rhodes-Vivour.

Benson had mentioned that the witness was in court but had to leave for treatment before proceedings commenced.

The tribunal adjourned until July 5 for INEC to open its defence.

One Godwin Bassey has allegedly absconded with a Toyota Corolla car worth N5m in Lagos state.

The vehicle belongs to one Amuta Friday in the Ejigbo area of the state.

The 27-year-old mechanic has since been arrested and arraigned by the Lagos State Police Command.

He was arraigned on two counts of stealing before Magistrate Patrick Nwaka, who held a brief for Magistrate Balogun at a Magistrates’ Court sitting in the Yaba area of the state.

The prosecutor, Chekwube Okeh, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime in March 2023, in the Ejigbo area of the state.

She said Friday, on March 9, 2023, hired and paid Bassey N32,000 to repaint his Corolla car, a job that would take three days according to their agreement.

Bassey, however, left with the car on that day and since then, all efforts made to reach him proved abortive until he was arrested.

According to Okeh, the offences contravened Sections 411 and 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.

The charges read in part, “That you, Godwin Bassey, and others still at large, sometime in March 2023, in Ejigbo, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did steal a black Toyota Corolla valued at N5m, property of one Amuta Friday, and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.”

Bassey, however, pleaded not guilty to the count charges.

Magistrate Nwaka granted him bail in the sum of N1m with two responsible sureties in like sum.

Nwaka also adjourned the case till July 13, 2023, for mention

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday declined the interlocutory application of the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah from restraining the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from tendering evidence to the Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

Naija News gathered that the governor who has been accused of allegedly forging his NYSC discharge certificate sought an interlocutory application through his counsel, Emeka Ozoani, (SAN) to stop the NYSC from giving evidence on alleged NYSC certificate forgery at the tribunal.

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the court however rejected the interlocutory application on Tuesday, during the resumed hearing of the suit, numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/611/2023.

The interlocutory injunction is a court order to compel or prevent a party from taking certain actions pending the final determination of the case. It is usually issued to maintain the status quo until judgment can be made.

This implied the NYSC would have stopped from making any commentary, written or oral about the contentious discharge certificate until whichever time the case is determined by the court.

This platform recalls that Justice Ekwo on May 16 had issued an ex parte other restraining the NYSC from making any further publications concerning Mbah’s NYSC discharge certificate because of the uproar by the public.

But during the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Justice Ekwo appeared to be in a hurry to remedy the earlier ex parte it issued, as he barely waited for Ozoani to finish speaking before cutting him short to say that “this court will not entertain any such application”.

He told Mbah’s counsel to forget about the injunction and concentrate on the main suit.

The court consequently adjourned the case to July 11, 2023, to hear the preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit filed by the NYSC.

Mbah had dragged the NYSC to court because the corps claimed that his discharged certificate was not issued by it.

However, the governor is claiming N20 billion for what he described as conspiracy, deceit, and misrepresentation of facts.

Apart from N20 billion in damages being sought by Mbah, he is seeking a declaration that he participated in the NYSC scheme for one calendar year via a call-up letter numbered FRN/2001/800351 with the Lagos code LA/01/1532.

He also argued that the declaration must state that he was issued a certificate of national service numbered A808297 upon the completion of his service year in 2003.

Car sellers in Jalingo, Taraba state capital are running out of parking space as civil servants who cannot afford to maintain their vehicles since the removal of fuel subsidy are selling their cars.

Civil servants in the state are compelled to sell out their vehicles since the removal of the fuel subsidy which forced the price of the commodity to skyrocket over 100 percent.

Pump price of fuel in the state sells within the range of N550,00 to N570,00 while the state is among numerous states that are yet to implement the national N30,000 minimum wage.

Most of the Car stands visited by LEADERSHIP within Jalingo proved that 42 percent of vehicles brought in for sell in the last three weeks belongs to civil servants working with the state or local government council. “They are bringing cars massively” one of the car sellers revealed.

Aliyu Aba, a sales agent with Najib Motors, located at TSTC Junction along Jalingo Yola Highway and Nafiu Johnbosco an agent with Haske Motors, located at Roadblock Roundabout and Nathaniel Ibro, an agent with Muri Company located at Muri Hotel within Jalingo told our correspondent that they lack parking space as more customers were approaching them to pick their vehicles to sell on their stands.

They confirmed that most people selling their cars are civil servants particularly from the state.

“Those approaching us to sell their cars are mostly civil servants, they claim life is unbearable to them and the cost of fueling and maintaining the vehicles is not possible any longer.

“From our stand, we are not seeing buyers like before the removal of fuel subsidy, people are not ready to buy more vehicles, the cost of fuel has cushion extravagant use of cars, the market is not moving like before.

Titus Illiman, a civil servant with Taraba state ministry of information who also give out his car for sell said he could no longer drive the vehicle since the price of fuel skyrocketed to N550,00.

“I can not park my car and watch it damage without any income, is better I sell it, use the money to farm so that I can make profit to train my children in school, my monthly take home as a civil servant cannot fuel the car.”

The House of Representatives yesterday set up an ad hoc committee to investigate an alleged abuse of N2.3 trillion generated from the Tertiary Education Tax by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) from 2011 to 2013.

The committee is to report back within four weeks for further legislative action.

The House took the action following the adoption of a motion to carry out the probe, sponsored by Olusola Fatoba, David Fouh and Zakari Nyampa.

The Green Chamber of the National Assembly recalled that the Tertiary Education Tax was introduced as a special corporate tax to provide specialised funding for tertiary education in Nigeria, including capital projects, research and development, among others.

It said the tax was introduced following the repealing of Education Tax Act, which established the Education Trust Fund to impose Education Tax on Nigerian companies at the rate of 2.5 per cent of the assessable profit for annual assessment.

The House also recalled that in 2011, the Education Tax Act was repealed and replaced with Tertiary Education Trust Fund Establishment, Act in 2021, the Finance Act 2021, increasing the applicable Tertiary Education Tax rate from 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

The Green Chamber said it was aware that since the establishment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund in 2011, the fund had earned trillions of naira as revenue.

It alleged that the fund had suffered numerous financial abuses in its operations, award of contracts and execution of projects.

The House said it was aware that the Standard Operating Procedure within the fund was porous and did not create a platform for proper supervision of projects domiciled with tertiary institutions.

The motion reads: “The House further notes that these abuses, actions, inactions and infractions have resulted in the misappropriation of funds and unjust enrichment of funds worth about N2.3 trillion.

“The House is worried that if urgent steps are not taken to investigate the allegations, the decay of the tertiary education system will continue to increase, thus resulting in strike actions, substandard institutions, lack of faith in the system, migration of talented youths and total collapse of the Education system arising from gross abuse of a laudable special intervention programmes and aspiration of the President to provide opportunities to young people through quality tertiary education.”

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum yesterday released 80 vehicles to ease high cost of transportation for farmers arising from the withdrawal of fuel subsidy in May.

A statement in Maiduguri, the state capital, by Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Governor, Mallam Isa Gusau, said the vehicles compressed 50 buses and 30 pick-up vans to convey farmers to their farms for free.

“To reduce high cost of living caused by withdrawal of fuel subsidy, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Tuesday, released 80 buses and pick-up vans for free transportation of farmers.

“The 80 means of transport will comprise 50 luxury buses to be allocated from the fleet of the Borno Express Corporation, while the 30 pick-up vans will be hired by the state government.

“Due to the removal of fuel subsidy, which although has a long-term benefit, cost of transportation has increased.

“Therefore, the Borno State government has decided to provide 50 buses and 30 pick-up vans to convey farmers to their farmlands this rainy season,” the statement quoted Zulum as saying.

The governor also addressed farmers on the Maiduguri-Damboa road, urging them to cooperate with the military and other security agencies deployed in the area to protect them.

He expressed gratitude to the military and other security agencies for their sacrifices in protecting the people.

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Olukayode Adeolu Egbetokun has ordered the deployment of thirty-five (35) Commissioners of Police to various state commands and formations across the country.

A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said, “This followed the approval of his recommendation by the Police Service Commission”.

The IGP assured that the postings are in line with the commitment of the police leadership to ensuring effective policing, security, and the maintenance of law and order in Nigeria.

Amongst the newly posted Commissioners of Police are CP Adelesi E. Oluwarotimi to Kwara State Command; CP Adebola Ayinde Hamzat to Oyo State Command; CP Augustina N. Ogbodo to Ebonyi State Command; CP Samuel Titus Musa to Kebbi State Command; CP Aderemi Olufemi Adeoye to Anambra State Command; CP Auwal Musa to Bauchi State Command; and CP Alamatu Abiodun Mustapha to Ogun State Command.

Others include CP Margaret Ochalla to Police Special Fraud Unit Annex Lagos; CP Banji Ogunrinde to head the Explosive Ordnance Unit; CP Rhoda A. Olofu to Ports Authority Police Western, Lagos; and CP Kareem Musa to Interpol Annex Lagos.

CP Audu Dabigi is posted to Border Patrol Force; CP Abibo D. Reuben to Police Mobile Force; CP Adekunle Ismaila Olusokan to Welfare FHQ Abuja; CP Omolara Ibidun Oloruntola to Special Fraud Unit FCID Abuja; and CP Abaniwonda S. Olufemi to Deputy Force Secretary amongst others.

Furthermore, the IGP charged the appointed Commissioners of Police to key into his policies, vision, and mission for the Nigerian Police Force while mandating them to prioritize the safety and well-being of the citizens they serve, ensuring adherence to the principles of fairness, professionalism, and respect for human rights.

While urging them to serve as exemplary leaders, fostering harmonious relationships with other security agencies, community leaders, and relevant stakeholders, the IGP tasked them to promote intelligence-led policing, proactive crime prevention strategies, and community engagement initiatives that will enhance public trust and confidence in the Nigerian Police Force.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, says the commission is working with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to prosecute electoral offenders in the general elections.

During a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja, Mr Yakubu said the NBA had provided a list of 427 lawyers offering pro bono services.

“Already, the NBA has submitted a list of 427 lawyers across the country who have volunteered to render pro bono services to the commission,” said Mr Yakubu.

He added, “They are not charging legal fees, but by mutual agreement, the commission will provide a token amount to cover filing fees/expenses. We are most grateful to NBA and its president, Yakubu Maikyau, for this historic collaboration.”

The INEC chairman announced that the commission had received 216 case files related to the 2023 general elections.

He said the files include one on the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, and 215 other electoral offenders.

Mr Yakubu emphasised that INEC thoroughly examines all evidence of infractions during the elections and is committed to prosecuting the offenders.

According to the INEC chairman, the examination also extends to the activities of high-ranking officials within the commission.

Mr Yakubu assured that appropriate action would be taken within days, and the public would be duly informed.

To address vote buying and associated violations, he said INEC is working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to prosecute such cases.

Moreover, INEC has received reports from 54 accredited national and international observers.

The chairman urged RECs and senior officials to lead discussions on all aspects of the election, encouraging frank and constructive dialogue.

Mr Yakubu said the review would cover various areas, including the operational processes for Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) and general elections, the legal framework for elections, and technology in the electoral process.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said Nigeria needs all the help that it can get at the moment.

The president said this on Tuesday while receiving visiting Bank of America officials in his office at the State House, Abuja.

He expressed confidence that his administration was on the pathway to success in spite of the challenges facing the country.

President Tinubu, in a statement by his spokesman, Dele Alake, said his government was committed to instituting reforms that would engender the sustainable growth and development of the country.

“We believe we are on the right track so far. We believe we need all the help we can get,” the President said as he asked the bank’s management for support and partnership that would advance mutual benefits for Nigeria and the financial institution.

The president said governance and development challenges facing the country could not be addressed without fiscal and institutional reforms.

“21st Century actions on climate change, finance and innovation are intertwined. Having a good platform and believing in innovation will help in undertaking reforms and tackling the issues.

“This is the largest economy and democracy in Africa and if we cannot do it, nobody will do it for us,” he said.

President Tinubu, while stating that no one could do it alone, made a case for the bank and other willing financing institutions to help the country, for instance in partnering to ensure Nigerian gas compete favourably in the global market, as a viable source of alternative revenue.

In his remarks, the leader of the delegation and President of International for Bank of America, Mr. Bernard Mensah, expressed excitement about the initial steps taken by the new administration, which, he said, is taking Nigeria back to its rightful place on the global stage.

He said the bank was willing to assist the country address its immediate and longer term challenges not only in the area of financing but also contributing with ideas.

In company with Mr. Mensah on the visit were Head of Sub-Saharan Africa of the bank, Mrs. Yvonne Ike Fasinro, and Head of Investment Banking Sub -Saharan Africa, Mr. Chuba Ezenwa.