The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, says it will appeal the order by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) asking its members to call off the seven-month-long strike.
The University of Abuja chapter chairman of ASUU, Dr Kasim Umar, stated this while reacting to the order by court in Abuja.
Umar said the national executive Council of ASUU will meet today to conclude modalities on the appeal process.
Meanwhile, the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Prof. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed, has advised the federal government to apply caution in handling the crisis with the union.
According to Modibbo, the said court order cannot resolve the lingering crisis between ASUU and the government.
Reacting to the court judgment, Professor Modibbo, while appealing to both the government and ASUU to embrace dialogue in order to find a lasting solution to the strike, insisted that resorting to force was not a solution.
He stressed that dialogue remains the best means to resolve the crisis rather than just giving a fiat order.
An undisclosed number of gunmen on Wednesday evening attacked the Criminal Investigation Department office of the Abia State police command located in Umuagu in Umuahia, inflicting serious injury on three police officers, ABN TV reports.
While one was seriously macheted, the rest two were shot but no casualty was recorded.
The injured officers have since been rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
A source who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said the armoury was also invaded, though it is not clear if arms were carted away.
The facility had been attacked previously and burnt down by unknown gunmen.
All efforts to reach the police public relations officer of the command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna proved abortive.
Abia State Police Command on Monday paraded a dismissed official of the Department of State Services, DSS, Prosper Israel, his younger brother Chinwendu Israel along with eight others for robbing a billion van loaded with cash.
In his confessional statement, Mr. Prosper Israel said he was dismissed from DSS in 2007 after his service at Government House Abia State ended in 2007 following the end of then Gov. Orji Kalu’s tenure.
According to the Ugwunagbo-born robber, before he could return to his station, he was tried and summarily dismissed in absentia.
He said his younger brother along with his “colleagues” brought money are shared in his house and gave him part of it. On whether he was aware that his brother was into robbery, he answered in the affirmative.
He said he regrets his action, appealing for forgiveness.
The robbery gang had on 26 July 2022, waylaid the bullion van being escorted by the the Police along Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway near Ntigha Junction in Isiala Ngwa North L.G.A of Abia State, killing the cash officer on the spot.
Parading the suspects at Abia State Police command headquarters in Umuahia, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Janet Agbede said the sum of 10,184,000.00 was recovered from the gang.
CP Janet Agbede
.According to the police boss, the arrest of the suspects follows a careful study of “their modus operandi and set up a special intelligence technologically led investigation squad (ITLIS) with a clear directive to arrest and recover weapons used by the deadly armed robbery gang.”
Other suspects arrested include, Adesoji Adeniyi aka ‘Soji” male from Ondo state, resident and arrested in Lagos State, Nnamdi Nwaosu aka ‘Prophet’ male from Rivers state, resident and arrested in Imo State and Nwachukwu Albert aka White male (1st Armourer) from Delta state, resident and arrested in Lagos state.
Others are, Felix Ajalaja male from Ondo state, resident and arrested in Rivers state, Moshood Opeyemi aka Abiola male from Osun state resident and arrested in Rivers state, Matthew Christmas aka Aluwa male from Delta state, resident and arrested in Delta State, Azubuike Amaefula aka Zubby male from Abia state, resident and arrested in Rivers state and Monday Samuel aka MD male (2nd Armourer) from Delta state, resident and arrested in Ondo state.
Exhibits recovered from them include, one General purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with 53 rounds of live ammunition, Thirteen AK47 rifles with 1,749 live ammunition, Two improvised explosive dynamite, One cut to size double barrel gun with 5 live cartridges, and Eighty-four (84) AK47 magazines.
Others are, Mercedes Benz mini truck they used in concealing their firearms and Cash of Ten million, one hundred and eighty-four thousand naira (N10,184,000.00) only.
“All the above-mentioned suspects in their individual voluntary statements confessed belonging to a 14-man awful armed robbery gang with a speciality in bullion van attacks and that for about two months before the attack, the Bullion van had been under their surveillance,” the CP said.
She advised parents, Guardians, husbands, wives and children to always know the sources of one another’s livelihood.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday urged fellow African nations and United Nations member states to uphold free speech.
This was as he called for the protection of vulnerable communities against misinformation which, he said, had driven most of the armed conflicts in Africa and around the world.
Buhari made these comments during his last address as President of Nigeria at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, holding in New York, USA.
Citing the enormous advantages of social media in the country’s efforts towards Climate Change adaptation, the President lamented that it is a “more corrosive form” of disseminating information which has been weaponised by some sinister elements in the past.
“We must defend freedom of speech while upholding values that we cherish. Efforts to protect communities from misinformation must be intensified to reduce inequality and stem conflict drivers,” Buhari said.
The President’s comment comes in the shadows of his regime’s seven-month ban on Twitter last year after it deleted a provocative tweet violating the platform’s rules.
Former Governor of Abia State and Chief Whip of the Senate, Dr. Orji Kalu has congratulated wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Senator Oluremi Tinubu on the occasion of her 62nd birthday anniversary.
Describing the Senator as a strong advocate of gender equality and democracy, Kalu urged the celebrant to sustain her humanitarian gestures.
The former Governor joined family, friends, and associates in celebrating the remarkable and robust accomplishments of the Senator in all facets of life.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Senate Chief Whip prayed to God to strengthen Tinubu in her pursuits.
He said, “On behalf of my family and good people of Abia North Senatorial district, I felicitate with Senator Oluremi Tinubu (representing Lagos Central Senatorial district) on her 62nd birthday anniversary.
“Senator Tinubu is a source of inspiration and role model to the womenfolk, many of whom have continually benefitted from her benevolence.
“She is a woman of virtue, who is passionate about an ideal society.
“I applaud her giant strides in all facets of life.
“She deserves to be celebrated for her contributions to humanity through various platforms”.
Kalu wished the Senator a memorable birthday celebration.
Former Vice President and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday reinstated his position that Senator Iyioricha Ayu cannot be forced to resign as the party’s National Chairman.
Atiku made the remarks while reacting to the decision of the camp of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to pull out of his campaign council.
The statement reads: Early this morning, my attention was drawn to a news clip in which several very senior and influential members of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), addressed the press and, amongst other things, declared that they are withdrawing, forthwith, from the Presidential Campaign Council set up by our party to judiciously plan and prosecute the general elections set to hold in February and March 2023, on the one hand; and reiterated their earlier calls for the resignation or removal from office of the national chairman of our party, Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, on the other hand.
The people that addressed the press must have their reasons for withdrawing from the Presidential Campaign Council, and I will not speculate as to what those reasons may be. Personally, I am quite surprised with this withdrawal because, as I have been informed by officials of our party, apart from the Rivers State chapter of the PDP, all the remaining states of the federation submitted names of people who they wanted included in the Presidential Campaign Council.
On the calls for the resignation or removal from office of our national chairman, however, I must reiterate what I have said severally in public and in private; the decision for Dr. Iyorchia Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, neither I nor anyone else can make that decision for him. As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organized and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that everything that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution. If Dr. Ayu is to be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with the laws that set out the basis for such removal. In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him.
Now, our nation is currently in the throes of a multidimensional crisis encompassing insecurity, economic meltdown, disunity and mutual mistrust and educational dislocations, to mention a few. I have a plan to address these issues and I have, graciously, been given the ticket to lead our great party in next year’s presidential elections, with the singular mandate to come and lead the efforts to cure these ills. It is in this light that I have reached out to every single member of our great party to join me in the massive undertaking required to reset the ship of state, and help rebuild our country. Every single person who loves this country, as I do, is needed for the arduous tasks that face us ahead as a nation, and this includes every member of the PDP. And it is my fervent hope and prayer that every man and woman of goodwill will join hands with us to help rebuild and reposition our beloved country. In this light, therefore, I will urge those members of our party that have stated their resolve to withdraw from the Presidential Campaign Council to have a rethink, retrace their steps, and join us in these efforts.
The above notwithstanding, and for the sake of our country, our children, and those yet unborn, we must not, for one minute, shirk in our responsibilities to rebuild this beloved country of ours.
Accordingly, we must forge on with the task and the mandate that we have been bestowed with. It is time, therefore, to move on with the formidable tasks of nation-building ahead of us.
May God guide us all, and may God soothe our great party, and our dear country.
A chieftain of the Labour Party, LP, Prof. Pat Utomi, has disclosed when Peter Obi’s manifesto for the 2023 elections will be available to Nigerians.
Utomi made this known ahead of the political campaigns that will commence next week.
While speaking exclusively with Vanguard in an interview in Abuja, he said that Obi’s manifesto was ready but carefully kept under wraps to prevent opposition candidates from copying it.
“There is a manifesto ready, and it will be released before the campaign starts. We have it, but we decided to keep it secret until campaigns start,” he said.
He maintained that the Labour Party, has a structure far bigger than those of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“Those who understand what structure means know that LP has better structure than PDP and APC in Nigerian terminology. NLC has 10m registered members, and we are going to energise all of them into a structure so that it becomes a superstructure.
“We have a big tent which constitutes several social movements, several political parties with labour party as part of it. Several of these political movements, like the Congress of Professionals, which is a great Nigerian project, consists of 6 million members in every part of Nigeria,” he said.
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria on Wednesday ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to call off its ongoing nationwide strike.
ABN TV reports that ASUU has been on strike since February 14 to press home the demands for improved funding for universities, a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.
Several meetings between ASUU and the Federal Government had ended in a deadlock.
Consequently, the Federal Government went to court to challenge the strike.
According to TheCable, the government, through its counsel, James Igwe, prayed the court for an interlocutory injunction restraining ASUU from taking further steps as regards the strike, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The Director ABN TV, Mr. Ifeanyi Okali has felicitated with the APC House of Representatives candidate for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency in the 2023 general elections, High Chief Daniel Chimezie Okeke on his birthday, describing him as a man of means who has touched the lives of his people in several positive ways.
He said Chief Okeke has gloriously carved a niche for himself in advancing the horizon of humanitarian campaign, philanthropic gestures, empowerment for improved living standard, and selflessness in service spanning several years.
In a goodwill message on Wednesday to celebrate the businessman and community leader, Mr. Okali applauded him for being a source of joy, testimony, and dreams among his constituency’s people.
He said, “HighChief Okeke no doubt is an embodiment of good heart, spreading the tentacles of his means to impact the lives of those around him, a campaign he has maintained for a very long period of time.
“He is a quintessential description of modesty and decency whose integrity stands tall, a man whose word is his bond, trustworthy and wholly reliable.
“I celebrate this great son of Abia whose quest for an egalitarian state which our children will be proud of is unpretentious. On behalf of my family I wish you God’s endless blessings, protection, and success in all you do,” he said.
