News & Announcements

A month after it was commissioned, it was claimed that criminals broke into the 100-bed Mother and Child Hospital in Iperu, Ikenne Local Government Area, Ogun State.

According to report, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo opened the facility on Saturday, February 1, 2023.

According to reports, the criminals forced entry into the hospital and stole electrical equipment worth millions of naira.

David Akinremi, the state commander of the Security Network, also known as the Amotekun Corps, verified the occurrence.

In a statement given to journalists in Abeokuta on Friday, Akinremi made this revelation.

He claimed that his agents had detained three people in relation to the crime.

He revealed that the suspects took a total of nine items worth N3 million, including six 43-inch Hisense televisions, two 65-inch Bruhm televisions, three Bruhm refrigerators, one Midea refrigerator, and three Lontor rechargeable standing fans.

Akinremi claimed that Ogunjembola Kehinde, the main suspect, organized his crew to rob the hospital.

He claimed that Ogunjembola was detained in response to a complaint of burglary and theft made by one Kehinde Banjoko. Banjoko claimed that while she was away in Lagos, some unidentified individuals broke into her home and stole a number of household items, including generating sets, gas cylinders, standing fans, mattresses, and rugs, among others, valued at about N500,000.

“Based on actionable intelligence, the prime suspect was arrested, and upon interrogation, he admitted that he committed the alleged crime with one other now at large. His admission led to the recovery of all the items stolen from one Lawal Aliu, who is the criminal receiver.

“While investigation into the original complaint was still ongoing, intelligence received further revealed that the same principal suspect in this case, Ogunjembola Kehinde and his criminal gang was responsible for breaking and stealing of some electronic equipment at the newly inaugurated 100 bed Mother and Child Hospital, Iperu.

“When he (suspect) was confronted with this, he also admitted he committed the offence with his co-accomplice in the original case of burglary and stealing reported by Banjoko Kehinde.

“So far, three suspects have been arrested in connection with this case while efforts are ongoing aimed at apprehending other criminal receivers mentioned by the suspects with a view to recovering items allegedly sold to them,” Akinremi said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has denied awarding a contract for the printing of sensitive election materials to the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed.

Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairperson of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, signed a statement on behalf of the commission announcing this.

The statement partly read, “Our attention has been drawn to a news report that the commission awarded a contract for the printing of sensitive election materials to Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed. It was alleged in the report that she owns Binani Printing Press Limited.

“Procurements in the commission go through open competitive bidding and Binani Printing Press Limited was one of the security printing companies that applied to print security documents for the commission.

“After inspecting the company’s facility and carrying out due diligence at the Corporate Affairs Commission, the commission was satisfied that they are qualified printers with the requisite technical capacity, security consciousness and expertise in printing security documents.

“However, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed was not listed as one of the Directors of Binani Printing Press Limited.”

In order to support Nigerian printers and promote economic development, according to Okoye, the commission opted to print all of the security documents for the 2023 General Election in the nation.

The commission declared that it would keep exercising due diligence in its procurement procedures.

The Indigenous People of Biafra have condemned the IEP Global Terrorism Index Report of 2022, calling it a plot by the Federal Government and several other foreign organizations to intimidate and demonize the organization.

The pro-Biafran group was responding to the Institute for Economics and Peace research, which had ranked it as the tenth-most deadly terror organization.

Emma Powerful, the media and publicity secretary for IPOB, expressed disappointment in the publication of “fictional and incorrect accounts in their 2022 terrorism index report” by a reputable organization like IEP in a statement on Thursday.

According to IPOB, a portion of the report published by the global research group contained a significant inconsistency with what was generally believed to be the work of a research and investigative group.

Thus, Powerful stressed that IPOB maintain its nonviolent stance while remaining steadfast in its pursuit of Biafra liberation through a UN-supervised referendum. They also added that they would not be sidetracked by sponsored blackmail and misinformation.

The statement partly read, “In the IEP’s Terrorism Index Report of 2022, the current Federal Government was cleverly portrayed as having improved in counter-terrorism while in reality the terrorists have become more emboldened during the period.

“According to the report, the total dead due to terrorism in Nigeria for 2022 is 448, which in the lowest level since 2011. This is concocted falsehood. In one state such as Benue alone the Fulani sponsored terrorists have killed more than 400 civilians. The report, as it relates to Nigeria, showed a full script from Nigeria Government handed over to the institute for publication.

“In the same report, IPOB was mentioned as the third most violent group that has caused civilian deaths. We challenge IEP to present irrefutable evidence where IPOB killed any person in Nigeria. On the contrary, there are many verifiable evidences, both in print and social media, on the massacre and extrajudicial killings of many IPOB members by Nigeria security agencies since 2017.

“We are here to tell our own stories to the world with facts and figures.  We advise the US government to stand as a global human rights defenders to defend the right of every world citizen and not join the oppressors to abuse the rights and privileges of ordinary citizens.”

“Irrespective of all these illegal arrest, detention, torture, extrajudicial killings including extraordinary rendition of our leader, IPOB have remained peaceful in the face of all these high levels of provocation. Nigeria Government is pushing the narrative that IPOB is the aggressors but in the reality we are the victims of oppressive Government.

“As evil and wicked as the Federal Government of Nigeria and in their desperation to blackmail peaceful IPOB struggle, they have sponsored armed groups claiming to be IPOB who were paid to commit all manner of crimes in the Eastern Region so as to shop evidences to  blackmail IPOB.

“We have in several press releases distance ourselves from those criminals being led by agent provocateur in Finland. Their actions and inactions has nothing to do with IPOB nor Mazi Nnamdi KANU. Some gullible IPOB’s members who joined them were dismissed from the movement.”

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, personally oversaw the most potent intercontinental ballistic missile’s recent test-firing, state media images from Friday showed. He was accompanied by his daughter.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency, the launch on Thursday—second Pyongyang’s ICBM test this year—involved a Hwasong-17 missile and was shot in retaliation to “frantic” US-South Korea joint military exercises.

Images published in the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed Kim witnessing the Hwasong-17, called a “monster missile” by analysts, launch into the sky in black and white.

Others of the pictures showed him watching the launch with his daughter, who state media never named but who South Korean intelligence recognized as his second child Ju Ae.

Prior to this, South Korea claimed the missile was launched on a lofted trajectory, which is generally used to prevent overflying nearby nations.

Kim recently called for a “exponential” increase in the production of weapons, including tactical nukes. North Korea declared itself a “irreversible” nuclear power last year.

Kim, who oversaw the launch on Thursday, is reported to have declared that North Korea would “respond to nuclear weapons with nukes” and advocated for “irreversibly strengthening up the nuclear war deterrent”.

In addition, he emphasized the nation’s “quick response posture… to deal with any armed conflict and war,” according to KCNA.

In Munya Local Government Area of Niger State on Wednesday night, bandits murdered a Major of the Nigerian Army along with seven other security personnel.

According to reports, the bandits ambushed the security personnel in Igu village.

During the attack, four military personnel, including an army major, and four vigilante members perished, according to Igu local Inuwa Danladi, who spoke over the phone.

“The bandits ambushed the joint task force as they were passing to Sarkin Pawa and opened fire on them,” he said.

He claimed that earlier in the day, there had been a gunfight between the bandits and the security personnel, and that the bandits later attacked them again.

“They ran into the ambush by the gunmen at Igu village which is 10 kilometers from Sarkin Pawa on their way back to the scene where they had earlier engaged the terrorists in a gun battle to recover the bodies of some of the local vigilantes that were missing,” Danladi added.

Danladi claimed that while the security personnel were about to rescue the remains of the vigilantes, the bandits who had been burying victims from their previous fight with them in the jungle decided to attack.

He said, “The bandits were in the bush trying to bury their dead and they ambushed and overpowered the soldiers who were going to recover the bodies of the vigilantes and only one soldier among them escaped.”

He claimed that during the incident, two patrol vehicles owned by the Joint Security Unit had their windscreens and tires shot out by the terrorists.

When reached, Emmanuel Umar, the state’s commissioner for internal security and humanitarian affairs, acknowledged that there had been a number of attacks, but he promised to obtain more information and make a comment later.

On Wednesday, former president Goodluck Jonathan claimed he was against serving as vice president of Nigeria in 2007. However, destiny had other plans for him.

He claimed that he nearly sobbed when he was named Nigeria’s second-ranking citizen and added that he had no idea he would eventually hold such a powerful position.

At a condolence visit on Wednesday to Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri following the passing of the governor’s father in Sampou Village in the state’s Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, Jonathan made the statement.

“As a leader in the country who had the privilege of serving at the state level and national level, I can only advise that politics is not about that you must be there. If God wants you to be there, you will be there.

“If it is not yet your turn to be there, you will not be there. When I became a vice president I almost cried, I never wanted to, but that was my destiny and I had to move.

“So, I advise people who are interested in these offices and their supporters to conduct themselves very well. They want to serve us, not to serve themselves.

“I always tell people that if you are so ambitious, then go into business. If you want to be in the state assembly and people don’t want you, fine, go and sleep. You want to be a governor and people don’t want you, to go and sleep or do business.

“But if you want to serve us as people then you must be humble and you will not kill us before you serve us. So, people must conduct themselves peacefully and if God wants them to win their elections, they will win their elections,” Jonathan said.

When Jonathan was governor of Bayelsa State in 2007, the late President Musa Yar’Adua chose the former president as his running mate.

The election was won by the team representing the Peoples Democratic Party, which was in power at the time. Until Yar’Adua’s passing, Jonathan held the vice president position for three years.

He then took over as Nigeria’s president and finished their term. He ran for office in 2011 and won, extending his term to four years.

Yet in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) of the All Progressives Congress defeated Jonathan in his attempt for reelection.

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party’s candidate for governor in Lagos State, revealed on Thursday that he had no godfather supporting his bid for the position.

The LP candidate is responding to the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, who claimed that he has the support of godfathers like PDP head Chief Bode George.

On Tuesday, Jandor was cited as saying that godfathers like PDP leader Chief Bode George were endorsing Rhodes-Vivour.

“I fought against godfatherism in the APC, Lagos. My refusal in recognising (Chief) Bode George as a godfather in the PDP is a major reason for his endorsement of Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of LP against my candidature in the PDP,” Jandor said.

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour said there was no godfather in the LP nor did he have one, adding that he only had mentors and leaders.

Rhodes-Vivour stated, “In the Labour Party, there’s no godfather. I have no godfather.

“I had no godfather in PDP. I only had mentors and leaders. There were rumours of money being embezzled. Money meant for rally, elections. The narrative he brought to get the ticket was that he would bring half of the APC to add to the PDP.

“That was the story. But all of them have gone back to the APC now. Where is the value? He got the ticket because all the leaders of the party on national level, from Ayu, even Obasanjo supported him. And now when tables have turned, he’s talking about godfatherism.”

“That was the story. But all of them have gone back to the APC now. Where is the value? He got the ticket because all the leaders of the party on national level, from Ayu, even Obasanjo supported him. And now when tables have turned, he’s talking about godfatherism.”

It was reported that Rhodes-Vivour is Nigerian architect, activist and politician. He was the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the Lagos West senatorial district in the 2019 Senate elections.

Nigeria fell from sixth place in 2021 to eighth place globally in terms of country terrorization in 2022.

The most recent update on the 2023 Global Terrorism Index indicated that terrorist activity in the nation had decreased to its lowest level since 2011.

Nigeria was the fourth most terrorized country in the world between 2017 and 2020, and it was second in 2016 and 2015.

Since 2009, thousands of Nigerians have died as a result of the insurgency of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, but the groups were less active in 2022.

The report stated, “Deaths in Nigeria peaked in 2014 at 2,101 deaths before declining in five of the subsequent nine years.”

In Nigeria, the number of terrorism-related fatalities decreased from 497 in 2021 to 385 in 2022.

Moreover, the number of terrorist assaults decreased from 214 in 2021 to 120 in 2018, the fewest since 2011.

According to the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, the results of the February 25 presidential election surprised many people who had already chosen a winner before the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made the comment during an interview with Arise Television News.

He claimed that notwithstanding the irregularities seen during the February 25 election, it was still the most improved election in Nigerian history.

Shehu claimed in a statement he released on Monday that the Buhari administration has prepared the foundation for genuine elections to take place in the nation. He did note that INEC is in charge of handling the results’ tabulation, though.

The complaint of a parent, Mr. Barinada, who claimed that his daughter, Marvellous Barinada, was expelled from Odomola Junior Secondary School, Epe, for using the poster of one of the candidates in the most recent election to wrap his books, is being looked into by the Lagos State Ministry of Education.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Education, the principal had been asked to explain what had truly happened.

A viral Facebook post by the father, which had a screenshot of the exit slip, read, “This is to inform you all that my daughter, Marvelous Barinada, was exit (sic) from Odomola Secondary School today, March 14, 2023, by the school principal, just because my daughter uses Peter Obi’s poster paper to wrap her school notebooks, and this girl is just 10 years old; she doesn’t know anything about politics, but she was sent away from school without informing the parent because they said we supported Peter Obi and the Labour Party.

“Please, is this act by the school principal good? See what the school principal wrote in that letter. And after (sic), we will say we are one Nigeria.”

However, the Lagos State Government’s statement read, “The Lagos State Ministry of Education is investigating the complaint of a parent that his child was sent out of school for using the poster of one of the contestants in the last election to wrap his books. The incident was reported to have happened at Odomola Junior Secondary School, Epe.

“The ministry has recalled the principal, who will be asked to explain the incident.

“The Lagos State Government, the Ministry of Education, and all its agencies will never instruct any school principal, personnel, or teacher to act in such a manner.”

The public was reassured by the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, that the situation will be handled “within the ambit of our rigorous regulations as the cause for sending the pupil home is unacceptable – if true.”

Adefisayo also indicated that the Odonguyan school principal who was captured on camera and posted to social media pushing her political choice to kids had faced the proper repercussions.

“The ministry promotes and runs a public school system devoid of politics and political insinuations. A thorough investigation of the matter will be carried out and anyone found culpable will be subjected to disciplinary measures as laid down in the civil service rules,” the statement read.