South-East Govs, Igbo Leaders Plots To Keep Nnamdi Kanu Detained Untill 2027 - Ohanaeze Alleges
AFOLABI
The apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has alleged that the South-east governors, Igbo leaders, and members of the National Assembly were plotting to prolong the detention of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, till 2027.
In a statement issued by Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the body blamed the South-east governors for the deteriorating security situation in the zone
Isiguzoro said, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo decries and brings to light the plots by South-east governors, Igbo elders, and National Assembly members to prolong Nnamdi Kanu’s detention until 2027.
“The failure of some South-east governors to utilise their political ties to advocate for Kanu’s release is regrettable and underscores self-interest over communal welfare.”
The organisation stated that the South-east governors and certain Igbo leaders had not provided the essential assurances required to explore political resolutions for the release of Kanu.
According to Isiguzoro, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo underscores the crucial need for unity and cooperation among South-east governors and esteemed Igbo personalities, such as Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Pa Ebitu Ukiwe, Sen. Ike Nwachukwu, and others, in providing the federal government with assurances regarding Nnamdi Kanu’s future conduct post-release.
“Regrettably, it appears some South-east governors and Igbo elite have chosen to exploit Nnamdi Kanu’s detention for personal gain, political bargaining, and the pursuit of political relevance.”
The body noted that it was disheartening that certain South-east governors and Igbo leaders only visited Kanu at the DSS facility to take photographs rather than actively seeking political solutions for his release.
The statement said, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo expresses deep concern over the behaviour of South-east governors, senators, representatives, religious leaders, traditional rulers, and other prominent Igbo figures who prioritise visits to Kanu in detention over seeking his release and addressing the pressing security challenges in our region.
“It is paramount for Ndigbo to hold South-east governors, Igbo elders, National Assembly members, and traditional rulers accountable for the extended detention of Nnamdi Kanu, and refrain from laying blame on the federal government or President Tinubu.
“The federal government awaits a united stance and commitments from the Igbo community to facilitate a potential release of Nnamdi Kanu.”
Isiguzoro urged all stakeholders in the South-east to set aside personal ambitions and unite in the pursuit of Kanu’s release and the resolution of security challenges in our region.
I Was Attacked And Abused Online For Opening Up On Struggles With Sickle Cell Disease – Adekunle Gold
AFOLABI
Popular Nigerian singer, Adekunle Gold has spoken about how he was dragged online after he opened up on his struggles with sickle cell disease.
The ‘Ogaranya’ crooner disclosed that he was “attacked and abused” on social media following his revelation.
Speaking in a recent interview with CNN, Adekunle Gold said he decided to create awareness about sickle cell disease after summoning the courage to speak up.
The singer said he is on a mission to make people living with sickle cell feel “safe.”
He said, “I want people living with sickle cell to feel safe, to feel like they have help and support.
“They call you a sickler… Recently, when I talked about it [my struggle with sickle cell] on the song [‘5-star’], I saw a lot of tweets from people attacking and abusing me.
“I’m speaking about sickle cell disease now because I just got the courage to come out and speak up openly about it. A lot of people can’t share their stories like I can.”
Adekunle Gold said he has been aware of his diagnosis since he was a child, adding that growing up, he constantly put himself in situations that made him sick.
“I’ve known about my sickle cell disease all my life. I knew since I was a child that I couldn’t do certain things. They said, ‘You know you have sickle cell, you can’t play football in the rain just like your peers.’ And I was like, ‘No, I want to play.’ I’ve always been rebellious,” he recalled.
“I’ve known about my sickle cell disease all my life because growing up, I had crises every time. I was in the hospital back-to-back.
“As a child, I constantly put myself in situations that made me sick. And it affected me a lot. For example, I’m not supposed to be in the rain, so what happened to me was that I would have pains in my joints from being in the rain. But I always knew that I didn’t want this thing [sickle cell] to define me.”
Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ Made History, Becomes First African Song to Earn 1 billion On-demand Streams in US
AFOLABI
Popular Nigerian singer, Divine Ikubor, aka Rema has made history with his hit song ‘Calm Down.’
This is as the song became the first African song to earn 1 billion on-demand streams in the United States.
According to TAmerican Music Stats Company, Chart Data, ‘Calm Down’ has earned over 1 billion on-demand streams in the US.
“REMA’s “Calm Down” becomes the first Afrobeats song in history to earn over 1 billion on-demand streams in the US,” Chart Data tweeted.
In August last year, ‘Calm Down remix’ with Selena Gomez became the first African song to hit the billion mark in Spotify’s history.
The original version of ‘Calm Down’ was recognised by Guinness World Record as the first number one song on the world’s first regional streaming chart, MENA.
Says I’ve been fighting battle all my life, I’m not scared of anything
. Explains how Africa Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA agreement can work. ‘PMS will flow from refinery by the third week of July’
Size
For context, it is a 650,000 barrel refinery, the biggest in the world. It started in 2016.
Inside the plant itself, Aliko Dangote constructed about 126 km of road. There are 54,000 storm columns built for protection. On-site, there are over 200 buildings. Located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, covering a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares (seven times the size of Victoria Island, Lagos), it is the world’s Largest Single-Train 650,000 barrels per day Petroleum Refinery with 900,000 tonnes Polypropylene Plant. At the peak of construction, there were over 70,000 workers on site.
In the course of the civil works, some 700 piles were drilled daily, and the total number of piles came to 250,000. It has 177 tanks of 4.742 billion litre capacity – you can imagine that volume. He has bought over 2,262 units of various high-duty equipment to enhance the local capacity for site works since even the biggest local civil contractors are unable to handle “even small portions of our construction requirement.” He has also bought 308 cranes to build up equipment installation capacity since the current capacity in Nigeria is extremely poor. What do you do when the biggest crane in the country is 650 tons, whereas you need a 5000-ton capacity crane? Worse, there were only two such 5000-ton capacity cranes in the world, and they were in use. So, instead of hiring a crane for $300,000 a day, what do you do? Dangote bought his cranes. 65 Million Cubic Metres of Sand were dredged costing approximately 300 Million Euros, using the world’s largest, the second largest and the tenth largest dredgers to elevate the height by 1.5/1.75 metres, to insure against any potential impact of increase in mean sea level due to global warming.
That is not all.
The refinery has a 435 MW Power Plant, which can meet the total power requirement of Ibadan DisCo of 860,316 MWh covering five states, including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and Ekiti. Dangote Petroleum Refinery can meet 100% of the Nigerian requirement of all refined products (Gasoline, 53 million litres per day; Diesel, 34 million litres per day; Kerosene, 10 million litres per day and Aviation Jet A1, 2 million litres per day) and also have surplus of each of these products for export.
Aliko Dangote On CNN
So, if Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, and Africa’s richest man, says, in retrospect, that had he known the grand scope of what he was getting involved in, he wouldn’t have tried it, you would understand.
According to Dangote, during an interview on a CNN programme, Connecting Africa, “People don’t really understand what we undertook to build the refinery. In fact, we didn’t know what we were getting into. If we knew, we would have run away. We wouldn’t have tried it. It was very, very, very tough. We are sitting on a land that is more than 4000 standard football fields. The significance of this project is that we will be self-sufficient, not just in Nigeria but in West and Central Africa. I feel proud as an African that I’ve been able to prove that it can be done and we have done it.”
$19 billion cost
Speaking on what it has taken to put up the edifice, he said “we spent about $19 billion. It is going to change the game in terms of improvement. If we take in all the crude from Nigeria, it means that we will be taking about 21 million barrels per month. That would also help in terms of reducing the Co2 initiative, rather than ships coming all the way from Europe to bring in products. All the ships going out of Nigeria every month, then you have the products coming into Nigeria. In totality, when you calculate, you are talking about 480 ships of 1 million barrels. That actually will save the environment almost 1.5 to 2 million tonnes of Co2 emissions.”
Asked whether he has started making money from the project, he said: “We will start making money soon. It is not just all about making money, but it also gives us great satisfaction that we are making Africa great. We are making Africa proud.”
AfCFTA & Overcoming challenges
There has always been the issue of crude supply, and this was discussed during the interview. In his view, he agreed “that there are challenges here and there. That is the truth. We have to be very open too.
NNPC has been very, very helpful. They do their own bit. Some of the IOCs are struggling to give us crude oil. Because everybody is used to exporting, and nobody wants to stop exporting”.
Even Aliko Dangote himself asked Eleni Giokos, the CNN anchor, “Why do you think Africa is not growing as it should?”
Dangote answered the question himself: “It is because we export raw materials and import finished goods. It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it is gold or whatever. A raw material is always at a ridiculously priced amount compared to the finished goods.”
Asked how he hopes to battle this legacy system that profits from the ripoff of focusing on Africa’s raw materials instead of building capacity for processing on the continent, Dangote said “I have been fighting battles all my life, so I don’t get scared of anything.”
On the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, Dangote believes it will be beneficial: “The AfCFTA will be very, very beneficial. If you are talking about benefits, our company will almost be one of the top five in terms of benefitting from the free trade agreement. But I have not seen any improvement. We have 3 million tonnes of Urea we export to African countries, and we have petroleum products to export. We have cement to export. We have too many things to export. What makes sense is to have the free trade agreement work. The trade between Africans is only about 16 per cent, which is too low. We have to make sure that all the regional markets have to remove these requirements of visas. We have to allow free movement of people, free movement of goods and services, and the Afcta will work. Without that, it is almost impossible.”
Intra-Africa trade issues
Dangote then shared an experience: “I am going to Egypt tomorrow, but I need a visa. They are saying that they will give me a visa on arrival if I have an American visa. But I am an African, and Egypt is part and parcel of AfCFTA. But they are saying that no, if you have an American visa, we will give you. So, they are discounting me, being an African. So, how do we trade if you’re not allowing me into their country? What I would love to see is a South African come into Nigeria to get a job without hassle. If you don’t integrate, we will never see what we call prosperity. Integration is very important. If you remember, most countries used to have what we call the Ministry of Integration, but I don’t know what happened. Some of the countries have dropped this, and it doesn’t make sense.”
Aliko Dangote has his eyes set on the future with the succession plan of the group well laid. According to him, “by the end of the year, he expects that the group’s revenue should be around $ 30 billion, thereby placing the company among the best 120 companies in the world.”
PMS delivery date
Last week, during a visit by the leadership of the senate, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, to the premises of Dangote Refinery, some of the legislators who had not visited the site were left to marvel at the size of the complex. The question always asked by Nigerians about the refinery is focused mainly on the delivery day when Premium Motor Spirit, PMS (otherwise known as petrol) would flow. Yes, they should be concerned, not with the price of petrol hovering around N600 and 800 per litre, depending on which part of the country you reside or you are to buy from.
In responding to the question, Dangote explained: “It is good for us to test all the types of crudes that we are receiving. You know sometimes you can buy crude and people can give you the one that has a lot of metal or a lot of sulphur. But the most important thing is that we know West Africa is a home for dumped bad fuel and bad Petroleum products. This lab that we have here you can not even find it in Saudi Aramco because we have the latest and we can test anything be it aviation fuel, diesel, gasoline and kerosene and it will give you the actual result. The longest time a test will take here is 30 mins. As for PMS, it will start coming out by 10/15 of July. We want to keep it in the tank to make sure that it settles, and by the third week in July, we want to be able to take it into the market.”
Revelations from Afreximbank meeting in Bahamas
Last week, Dangote made some disclosures at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings, Dangote likened the oil cartels to a mafia stronger than the drug mafia hell-bent on maintaining their grip on the industry.
He said: “Well, I knew that there would be a fight. But I didn’t know that the mafia in oil, they are stronger than the mafia in drugs. I can tell you that. Yes, it’s a fact. But I’m a person who has been fighting all my life. You know, so I think it’s part of my life to fight. As a matter of fact, during the COVID period, some of the international banks really were looking forward to making sure that they pushed us into the default of our loans so that the project would just be dead. And that didn’t happen with the help of banks like Afreximbank.”
Dangote also disclosed that he has paid off $2.4bn of the $5.5bn borrowed for the Lagos-based refinery.
[Vanguard]
MultiChoice, owners of DStv and GOtv has readjusted its subscription prices for DStv and GOtv.
The company reverted to the old subscription prices following a court order mandating the pay television company to halt its move to hike prices.
The readjustment has reflected on the company's apps according to checks on Sunday, June 16, 2024.
Recall that the company had vowed to challenge the order of the Competition Consumer Tribunal (CCT) after reporting a decline in its subscriber base in Nigeria, where it lost over a million subscribers.
Old DStv prices vs new ones
Checks show that DStv subscribers are now required to pay N29,500 instead of N37,000 for the Premium package, and Compact+ package subscribers can now pay N19,800 instead of the new price of N25,000.
Compact Bouquet subscribers can now pay the previous rate of N12,500 instead of N15,700, while Confam package subscribers must pay the old price of N7,400 instead of the increased rate of N9,300 per month.
Yanga package subscribers' prices have reverted to the old N4,200 per month instead of the new N5,100.
Padi subscribers will pay the former price of N2,950 instead of the N3,600 new price.
Old GOtv prices vs new
GOtv subscribers are now required to pay the old rates of N12,500 for the Super+ package from the N15,700 it increased to.
GOtv Super users have their prices reverted to N7,600 from N9,600, which increased before the court order.
Others include N5,700 for GOtv Max, N3,950 for GOtv Joli, and N2,700 for the lowest package, GOtv Jinja, which subscribers will now pay from the new N3,300 rate.
It is still being determined if the company is also offering a month-free subscription as ordered by the court. No official comments from MultiChoice to confirm the development, as the company's officials could not comment on the issue.
According to reports, the company hiked its subscription prices to align with market realities following high inflation in Nigeria and the naira devaluation.
Mary Grace Fajonyomi, a professor of guidance and counseling at the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) has narrated how a student stole millions from his father's account to play bet9ja.
Fajonyomi said the student hacked his father’s bank account, withdrew over N25 million from his gratuity and used part of the money to play Bet9ja and organised a party for his girlfriend.
The don made disclosed this while delivering a keynote address at a stakeholders’ dialogue themed: “Stemming the Tide of Social Vices Among Students: Panacea for Growth”, organised by the Kwara State Government.
She expressed concern about the level of moral decadence, calling on parents and the government to stand up to the menace.
She said, “I have served as a member of the Anti-Sex for Grade Committee at various universities and chairman of Exam Malpractice Committee at Unilọrin.
“There are many cases we are handling about students who are not able to register because they have used their school fees for gambling, especially Bet9ja.
“We had a case of internet fraud where a student got his father’s ATM card, hacked his account and withdrew over N25m from his gratuity which he used to play Bet9ja and lavished the rest to throw a party for his girlfriend.”
While noting that sexual harassment was becoming an epidemic in tertiary institutions in the country despite measures by authorities to curb it, she said, “The prevalence of the scourge still calls for concern, and the growing trend among lecturers/university workers and students is alarming. All of us are neck deep into it, and there must be collective efforts to fight it for the benefit of the children and society at large.”
More women have lodged s3xual harassment allegations against the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa.
This is according to a report by PRNigeria.
Lamuwa had been accused of s3xually harassing one Simisola Fajemirokun-Ajayi who is said to be an aide to the minister.
The lady wrote a petition to the minister which forced the latter to equally write to the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, to probe the allegation.
Consequently, the Head of Service set up a panel to investigate the allegations after suspending the Permanent Secretary, pending the probe’s outcome.
But findings by PRNigeria revealed that at least three more women have approached the probe panel to lodge similar allegations of s3xual harassment against the Permanent Secretary.
Meanwhile, the Joint Negotiating Council, JNC, the labour union in the Ministry, has also accused the permanent Secretary of high-handedness, maladministration, favouritism and financial improprieties, which, according to them, have significantly affected the welfare and rights of the workers.
In a petition addressed to the Minister, Ambassador Tuggar and dated 11th of June, 2024, the staff union accused the Permanent Secretary of relegating all issues that have to do with staff welfare, allowances, emoluments, training etc to the background.
They specifically highlighted the denial of various benefits the workers were entitled to, which has been a source of their discontent for months.
In the petition obtained by PRNigeria, the union listed and explained in detail the series of benefits that the workers were entitled to that Ambassador Lamuwa has been denying them for months.
They accused him of unduly and illegally favouring a certain category of people and victimising those who do not dance to his tunes, in the area of posting, training and other benefits like Hajj seats.
Some of his alleged crimes against the labour union as listed in the petition include delay in payment of some benefits, delay in promotion and conversion of staff, lack of transparency in posting exercise, delay in paying of clothing allowance, discrimination in paying First 28 Days Allowance, lack of fairness in the distribution of the 2024 Hajj seats, inadequate posting of Batch B officers to foreign missions, poor sanitation and hygiene due to insufficient water supply, lack of work tools, dilapidated office buildings, refusal to pay the 25th regular course allowance for nine months among others.
In the petition signed by JNC Chairman, Comrade Ali Seidu, and Assistant General Secretary, Comrade Akpana S.E, the union urged the Minister to look into their grievances and address the series of injustice allegedly done by the Permanent Secretary to avoid a drastic action by the workers.
“Consequent upon the maladministration, dwindling level of productivity occasioned by the administrative leadership apathy in the ministry, the JNC has been engaging with the management thinking its solidarity with the authorities of the Ministry will yield positive results and prompt action on pending issues.
“Unfortunately, there was no corresponding improvement instead, the management has become worse, unreceptive and very harsh to everyone who dares to speak and ask questions. Victimisation, intimidation, and harassment has become a tool the management uses to shut critics while the staff of the Ministry continue to suffer.
“The staff of the Ministry are outraged by the egregious neglect, surreptitious administrative skullduggery, manipulations and commercialisation of the Ministry’s activities by the Permanent Secretary and his allies under the guise of rejuvenation. They have introduced harmful practices that threaten the very fabric of our Institution. We demand an immediate end to all their destructive policies and a return to the principles of fairness, equity and transparency. We call on the Honourable Minister to direct the authorities to investigate these grievances and take swift action.
“We the staff hereby give a 21-days ultimatum to the Management to immediately address the grievances outlined in our communiqué, failure to do so will be met with strong resistance,” the petition read in part.
In his response, the Minister called for calm and promised to look into their grievances.
Former Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George has opened up on why he resigned from the position.
Finidi submitted his resignation letter to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, on Saturday.
The 53-year-old took the decision after the NFF announced it would hire a foreign technical adviser to tinker the team.
In a video posted on social media hours later, a former media officer of the Eagles, Colin Udoh, confirmed he had spoken to Finidi after his decision.
“Finidi confirmed to me that he resigned his position indeed,” Udoh said.
“The reason being that he met with the NFF on Thursday, and they had a very good conversation.
“They spoke about the things they need to do going forward and he (Finidi) asked if he will be back.
“At no point during that meeting did anyone tell him they were going to appoint a foreign technical adviser.
“The NFF board had met on Wednesday and made that decision. But it was when Findi landed in Port Harcourt after that meeting that someone called him and informed him. He (Finidi) had to park his car and read the link to see that it actually was true.
“So he waited for two days to see if anyone would contact him but nobody spoke to him. So he (Finidi) felt they didn’t want him anymore and so he decided to turn in his resignation.”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has said that the upsurge of corruption in the country is defeatable if every stakeholder on the anti-graft corridor makes concerted efforts.
The Commission’s chairman, Ola Olukoyede made this statement in his Eid-El-Kabir message.
He stressed that renewal of efforts towards combating all forms of economic and financial crimes is necessary to kill the menace.
“It is obvious that we can attain peace, love, progress and unity of purpose for a Nigeria free of corruption and unsavoury practices.
“Let’s keep building. Let’s keep attacking every threat to our progress. Let’s keep fighting economic and financial crimes together,” he said.
Olukoyede added that Nigerians were not inherently corrupt, and there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the nation.
The anti-graft boss felicitated with the nation on the occasion of Eid-El-Kabir, emphasizing that the lessons of the festival should drive more commitments to the anti-corruption fight.
“The lessons of forbearance, sacrifice, faith and hope in Almighty Allah which Eid teaches should imbue in us fresh desire to please God and serve our nation without corrupt practices.
“We should renew our efforts towards fighting all forms of economic and financial crimes,” he said.
'Protest against Tinubu govt as you did against Jonathan' - Eedris Abdulkareem ‘Drags’ RCCG’s Pastor Adeboye Over Hunger and Hardship
AFOLABI
Veteran Nigerian musician, Eedris Abdulkareem, has called out the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor E.A. Adeboye, over the ongoing economic hardship in Nigeria.
Naija News reports that the hip-hop singer and rapper took a swipe at the cleric in a viral video clip sighted by our respondent on social media, where he challenged Pastor Adeboye to call out President Bola Tinubu’s government over the current state of the nation just as he did with the previous administration.
Abdulkareem recalled how Pastor Adeboye staged a one million match during Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration to decry the state of the nation at that time.
The singer stressed in his lyrics that it is time to speak truth to power, describing Adeboye’s alleged silence as ‘hypocrisy’.
“Our Daddy, Pastor Adeboye, during Goodluck Jonathan, your voice was so loud. You even vow to stage one million match. Hunger and hardship under Tinubu government you ‘say’ Nigeria get spiritual problem. Baba we need your one million disciples to protest against President Tinubu govt just the way you protest against President Jonathan.
“Daddy abi leg don dey pain your disciples? Dis na very big hypocricy. It is time for you to speak to truth to power because hunger wan kill Nigerians,” Abdulkareem mentioned in the video clip.
Media
More...
The Lagos State Police Command has begun an investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of a businessman, Onyejekwe Izuchukwu, whose remains were found in a hotel room in the Ikoyi area of the state.
PUNCH Metro gathered that Izuchukwu, who was based in Texas, USA, returned to Nigeria for some business dealings when the tragedy that claimed his life struck on June 9, 2024.
The 62-year-old businessman was said to have lodged in the hotel in Ikoyi while engaging in the business activities that brought him back to the country.
Speaking anonymously to our correspondent on Sunday, a source, who didn’t disclose his name over fear of victimisation, said Izuchukwu started lodging in the hotel on Thursday, June 6, until one of the cleaners, while attempting to clean his room, found him lying motionless on the floor of the room.
According to the source, the cleaner, after suspecting that the businessman had died, informed the management of the hotel and the hotel, through its Chief Security Officer, reported the case to the police.
The source said, “He (Izuchukwu) was a customer, who lodged in the hotel on June 6, 2024, and was found dead in his hotel room on June 9, 2024, around 7 pm by a cleaner in the hotel.
“It was the Assistant Chief Security Officer of the hotel located in Ikoyi who reported that Onyejekwe Izuchukwu, 62, was found dead on the floor of the room he lodged to the police.
“Despite discovering him in that state, a doctor was also invited to assess him and it was the doctor who confirmed him dead.”
Until Izuchukwu’s death, an online platform, okay.ng, hinted that he had served as the President of Bits and Drilling Tools, a division of Schlumberger, where he led the development of innovative drilling technologies designed to reduce costs and improve efficiency in the oil and gas industry.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, when contacted, said the command had commenced an investigation into the case.
He said, “Izuchukwu was found lifeless on the floor of the hotel room. A doctor confirmed him dead and his (Izuchukwu) corpse has been deposited in a morgue in Ikeja for autopsy. The command has commenced an investigation into the case.”
Christian council raises alarm, Says only 45,000 receiving treatment
The Christian Council of Nigeria, CCN, has raised the alarm over the high rate of children living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, in Nigeria, saying of an estimated 160,000 children living with HIV in Nigeria, only 45,000 are receiving treatment.
CCN urged the government and other stakeholders to intensify efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS among children in the country.
The council made the call weekend at the close-out ceremony of the HIV intervention programme implemented in collaboration with the World Council of Churches, WCC, in Abuja.
The CCN President, Most Rev. David Onuoha, represented by Archbishop Peter ogunmuyiwa, decried the high number of children living with HIV in Nigeria, stressing the need for urgent action to address the situation.
He said, “Our mission is to identify with the needy and less privileged, and to make a positive impact on their lives. Our efforts have been enriching and impactful. We are committed to combating the HIV epidemic in our society, and we urge all relevant NGOs and government agencies to join us in this crusade.
“While we have made some progress in preventing the transmission of HIV from mother to child, we still have much work to do. According to statistics, Nigeria has a high number of children who are HIV victims – 160,000, with only 45,000 undergoing treatment. This is unacceptable, and we must do more to address this issue.”
The WCC representative, Ms Gracias Ross, reiterated the organization’s commitment to supporting Nigeria in the fight against HIV/AIDS, lamented that “160,000 children are living with HIV, but remember that two million people are living with HIV in Nigeria. They will have partners and children. In what condition will these children be born?
“We must change things. If these children are alone and don’t have a family, the church has to be their family. This is the calling that we should become the father of the fatherless and fight for the widows and fight for justice.
“You can imagine how many young people don’t have any positive orientation on sexuality. So the Church should be bringing light to these large numbers of young people in Nigeria who are not having information.”
Rev. Dr. Evans Onyemara, the General Secretary of the CCN, appreciated the WCC’s support in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, highlighting the success stories from the programme’s implementation in several states.
Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have begun a manhunt for a young man identified as Stanley for allegedly killing her six-year-old daughter for ritual.
It was gathered that the dastardly act took took place in Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government Area, LGA.
State Police spokesman, Bright Edafe in a statement gave the name of the little girl as Abigail , saying the sad incident occurred at Uvwiama new layout area of Agbarho.
The police spokesman said police had commenced manhunt for the suspect who fled after the heinous act, noting that the remains of the little girl had been deposited at the morgue.
“The Command is aware of the gruesome murder of one Abigail, six years old, allegedly by the father one Mr. Sankey . The sad and painful incident was reported by the brother to the fleeing suspect who is in his 20s.”
A businessman and former New Nigeria Peoples Party governorship candidate, Musa Saliu, has dragged the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, before a Federal High Court in Abuja, over his false declaration as a wanted person in a land dispute.
In the suit filed Friday, June 14, 2024, and a copy of the documents obtained by our correspondent on Sunday, the applicant through his lawyer, Femi Motojesi Esq, wants the court to declare that a police publication of his picture and name in the Special Police Gazette bulletin as a wanted person with Ref No: CB: 3510/LX/FHQ/SEB/ABJ/T.7/Vo. 1/20 amounted to the violation of his fundamental rights.
Listed in the suit marked CV/2839/24, are the Inspector-General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department and Funmilola Olorunfemi, as first to third respondents respectively.
Saliu, in the suit, contended that the police lacked the powers “to engage in the act of debt recovery for the third respondent (Olorunfemi) who is a subscriber to the applicant’s (Saliu’s) estate under construction.”
Saliu, who is also a politician and former New Nigeria Peoples Party governorship candidate in the 2023 election in Kogi State, narrated that the dispute arose after Olorunfemi paid N25m to subscribe to one of his houses being built but work paused after the FCT Department of Development Control demolished the estate.
He said afterwards, Olorunfemi invited the police to recover her money even after he had notified all the subscribers to the estate that he was making efforts to resolve the issue and return to the site.
The aggrieved estate developer faulted the police for their actions in a fundamental rights enforcement suit brought pursuant under Sections 34, 35, 41 and 46; Articles 5 and 6 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights Cap 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
He asked the court to order the police to issue an apology to him which should be published in the Special Police Gazette bulletin and two national dailies.
He argued that the dispute between him and Olorunfemi is civil and has no criminal connotation to warrant the police involving themselves in it and inviting him for questioning, blocking his bank account and publishing his picture and details as a wanted person in the Police Gazette bulletin.
On this note, he demanded the sum of N500m in damages for the violation of his constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy and dignity of the human person, personal liberty, and freedom of movement when the police declared him wanted.
Saliu also urged the court to order the police to unfreeze the account number 1000129689 with Globus Bank belonging to Emperor City Integrated Limited where he is the alter ego and signatory for being a violation of his fundamental rights.
No date has been assigned for the hearing.
As of the filing this report, the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, had not yet responded to our correspondent’s test messsge seeking clarification on the matter nor did he pick his calls.