The Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, has handed over the duties and responsibilities of his office to his Deputy, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi who will take charge of the Department with immediate effect.
This follows CP Mba’s nomination by the Inspector-General of Police for the Senior Executive Course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos.
Olumuyiwa Adejobi, a Chief Superintendent of Police, is an alumnus of the prestigious University of Ibadan where he studied Archeology and Geography (Combined Honours), a release signed by SP Benjamin Hundeyin, Admin Officer, Force Public Relations Department says.
The release added, “He also holds a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the same University. He was the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the Ogun State Command from 2008 – 2016; PPRO Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos, in 2016 and PPRO Lagos State Police Command between September, 2020 and August, 2021. CSP Olumuyiwa is an experienced communicator and image manager who has achieved great strides in his previous appointments.
“He is a member of several professional bodies and associations which include: Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); International Public Relations Association (IPRA); Pointman Leadership Institute, USA; International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), USA; and the Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria.
“CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi can be reached on cell phone number 08037168147 while he seeks support from all and sundary as he discharges his duties.”
Norway on Saturday lifted its final Covid restrictions, scrapping social distancing and masks in crowded spaces despite a surge in Omicron infections.
“The metre is disappearing. We are taking away the recommendation on social distancing,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told reporters at a press conference.
“Now we can now socialise like we did before, in nightlife, at cultural events and other social occasions. And on the way to and from work on buses, trains and ferries,” he said.
Norway lifted most of its other Covid curbs earlier this month, including remote working, crowd size limits, and restricted alcohol sales in bars and restaurants.
The requirement to isolate for four days after a positive Covid test was meanwhile on Saturday downgraded to a recommendation, and children with respiratory symptoms are no longer required to get tested for Covid.
Gahr Store stressed however that “the pandemic is not over”, and advised unvaccinated people and those in risk groups to continue practising social distancing and wear masks where social distancing is not possible.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said the country had yet to see the peak of the Omicron surge, but it was expected soon.
The agency’s director Camilla Stoltenberg told reporters the number of Covid hospitalisations had risen by 40 percent in the past week.
As of Friday, 986,851 cases and 1,440 virus-related deaths had been recorded in Norway, where more than 91 percent of the population has received at least two doses of the vaccine.
FHI estimates that three to four million people from a population of 5.4 million may be infected by this summer.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are afraid of electronic transmission of election results, hence the president’s refusal to sign the electoral act bill passed by the National Assembly.
Wike, stated this on Saturday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital while inaugurating projects at the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences of the Bayelsa Medical University (BMU) as part of activities marking Governor Douye Diri’s second term in office.
He said that the president’s continuous refusal to sign the amended electoral act shows that he and his party, the APC, are afraid of the provision on electronic transmission of election results in the Act, saying the president would not sign the act into in-law before leaving office.
He described as outstanding the performance of his Bayelsa State counterpart, Senator Douye Diri, in just two years in office as surpassing that of some governors, particularly in the opposition party, that had been in office for almost eight years.
Wike said: “Till now, Nigerians did not understand the modus operandi of the ruling party because every day they find an excuse not to sign the amended Electoral Act.
“After all that the National Assembly has done, Buhari keeps refusing to sign the amended Act. I know it is because they are afraid of the provision on electronic transmission of election results in the Act. Mark my words, Buhari won’t still sign the amended Electoral Act,” he said.
Also speaking, Governor Douye Diri said his administration was building on the vision of his predecessors in the late Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who initially proposed a 500-bed hospital, and Senator Seriake Dickson, who later converted it to a medical institution.
He said that Bayelsa Medical University was one of the best medical facilities in the country with a crop of distinguished medical professionals.
One person was feared killed and many confirmed injured on Saturday when armed thugs attacked the Soka residence of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Igboho’s lead lawyer, Yomi Aliyyu (SAN), confirmed the attack in a telephone chat with The PUNCH on Saturday.
Our correspondent also obtained footage of the injured aides of the Yoruba Nation campaigner.
According to Aliyyu, the armed thugs stormed Igboho’s residence and macheted the associates of the Yoruba Nation campaigner, leaving one of his aides dead.
He said the hoodlums attacked the same house of the agitator that the Department of State Services attacked on July 1, 2021.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, did not take his calls which rang out.
The secret police had stormed Igboho’s Ibadan residence in a Gestapo style around 2am on July 1, 2021. The secret police killed two of the agitator’s associates and arrested 12 others who were released months later.
Declared wanted by the secret police for allegedly stockpiling arms to destabilise Nigeria, an allegation he denied, Igboho escaped to the neighbouring francophone country in July 2021.
However, luck ran out on him and he was arrested by Interpol at a Benin airport when he tried to board a Germany-bound flight.
He had since been remanded in a prison in Benin Republic for over six months where he is said to be facing trial for immigration-related offences, amongst others.
ABN TV had earlier reported that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), said the Federal Government would bring back Igboho to Nigeria after his prosecution in Benin Republic.
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, says the glory of North-East Nigeria and other parts of the country troubled by terrorists will be restored.
He stated this on Saturday in a Facebook post after the ‘Light Up Nigeria’ outreach in Gombe State which was organised as part of activities to mark the cleric’s 80th birthday.
Adeboye wrote, “The Glory of the North-Eastern Part of Nigeria will be restored by God’s grace.
“I use Gombe state as a point of contact: that as the light of God came down powerfully during the @reach4christ Crusade, the light of God descends upon every troubled part of our dear Nation Nigeria.”
ABN TV had earlier reported that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit uncovered 123 companies, and 96 others linked to terrorism financing in 2021.
Earlier in 2021, the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari had arrested 400 alleged Boko Haram sponsors and financiers including bureau de change operators but about a year later, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has not prosecuted the moneybags behind the nefarious activities of the bloodthirsty marauders who have viciously mauled thousands of Nigerians in the North-East for over a decade.
Experts have argued that terrorism financing is a criminal offence and Nigerians have nothing to do with the information that the terror sponsors had been uncovered. Instead, the government should arrest and swiftly prosecute them.
A former Navy Commodore, Kunle Olawunmi, last August, had said that Boko Haram terrorists mentioned names of current governors, senators, and Aso Rock officials as sponsors during interrogation but the President demonstrated an unwillingness to go after the high-profile politicians for reasons best known to him.
The Boko Haram war has lingered for over a decade. Thousands of innocent Nigerians and soldiers had been killed by the insurgents in war-wracked North-East Nigeria including Gombe, Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states. Though the government of the day has repeatedly insisted that the terrorists had been decimated and “technically defeated”, the ferocious fighters continue to wreak unprintable havoc on the Nigerian state.
The Supreme Court, in a split decision of six Justices to one, on Friday in Abuja nullified the Executive Order 10 initiated by President Muhammadu Buhari to grant financial autonomy to the State Judiciary and Legislature.
The apex court held that the Executive Order 10 was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional, illegal, null and void, and of no effect.
In a judgment by Justice Muhammed Dattijo in the suit by the 36 states against the Federal Government, the court rejected the request of the 36 state governments for an order to compel the Federal Government to take up funding of capital projects for State High Courts, Sharia Court of Appeal and Customary Court of Appeal.
The Justices also refused to grant an order sought by the 36 state governors to compel the Federal Government to pay them N66bn being an amount they claimed to have so far spent on capital projects for the three courts in their respective states.
Six Justices led Mohammed Musa Dattijo agreed that the contentious Executive Order 10 violated the provisions of the 1999 Construction which clearly stipulates the functions and powers of heads of each arm of the government.
“This country is still a federation and the 1999 Constitution it operates is a federal one. The Constitution provides a clear delineation of powers between the state and the “The President has overstepped the limit of his constitutional powers by issuing the Executive Order 10. The country is run on the basis of the rule of law,” Justice Mohammed said in the lead majority judgment.
According to them, President Muhammad Buhari over-stepped his bounds with Executive Order 10 and thereby engaged in a breach of the constitution and usurpation of powers of heads of other arms of government.
The six Justices are Muhammed Dattijo, Centus Chima Nweze, Hellen Ogunwumiju, Emmanuel Agim, Ejembi Eko, and Adamu Jauro.
Only Justice Uwani Abba-Aji gave an endorsement to the Order 10, adding that it was in line with the provisions of the Constitution to enforce the separation of powers and functions.
“We are not unaware of the hanky-panky, subterfuge played by state governors against the independence and financial autonomy of state judiciary.
“It is a pitiable eyesore what judicial officers and staff go through financially at the hands of state executives, who often flout constitutional and court orders to their whims and caprices.
“Thus, the presidential Executive Order 10 is meant to facilitate the implementation of the constitutional provisions…the Executive Order is to aid the states legislature and judiciary in curing the constitutional wrong of their financial autonomy which the state have always denied. This is not unconstitutional.
However, four of the seven-man panel of Justices turned down the request of the 36 state governors for an order of the apex court to compel the Federal Government to take up funding of capital projects for state High Courts, Sharia Court of Appeal, and Customary Court of Appeal,
The four Justices upheld the opposition of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and two other senior lawyers, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), and Musibawu Adetumbi (SAN), on the issue.
They upheld the arguments of Malami, Magaji, and Adetunbi to the effect that capital projects for the three courts should be funded by the states and not the Federal Government.
The apex court Justices specifically agreed with Adetunbi (SAN) who was one of the amici curiae, that the 1999 Constitution had sufficiently provided the manner the federal and states should fund their courts.
They further upheld his submission that part of the load that the Constitution wanted the Federal Government to carry was narrowed down in Section 84(7) while Section 121 also narrowed down the load it wanted the state governments to carry.
Adetunbi’s opposition against the Executive Order 10 and his prayer that it should be declared illegal, unconstitutional, voided, and set aside was also upheld.
The four Justices are Mohammed Musa Dattijo,Centus Chima Nweze, Hellen Ogunwumiju and Uwani Musa Abba-Aji.
With the majority decision, the state governments are to continue the funding of the three courts as they have been doing since 1999.
Attorney General of Abia State had on behalf of 35 others dragged the Attorney General of the Federation before the Supreme Court, praying for an order to compel the Federal Government to take up funding of capital projects for the three courts on the ground that they remained the courts of the federation and as such the funding of their capital project should flow from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
Their lead counsel, Chief Augustine Alegeh SAN, had argued that the salaries and emoluments of the judges of the three courts were being paid by the Federal Government in line with section 81 of the 1999 Constitution and as such the section should be invoked to place the responsibility of funding their capital projects at the doorsteps of the Federal Government.
The 37 state governments had in their joint suit also applied for an order of the apex court to compel the Federal Government to pay them N66bn being an amount they had so far spent on capital projects for the three courts in their respective states.
However, the AGF represented by Tijani Gazali (SAN), had opposed the request of the states and had urged the apex court to dismiss it.
He had canvassed that since the states had been responsible for the funding of capital projects of the courts since 1999, the position should be maintained.
In the bid to resolve the constitutional logjam, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Ibrahim Tanko, had invited five SANs as Amici Curies (friends of court) for their input in resolving the matter.
However, three out of the five SANs; Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, Olisa Agbakoba, and Chief Sebastine Hon, had thrown their weight behind the request of the 36 governors.
In their separate submissions, they had argued that the Federal Government should be responsible for the funding of capital projects for the three courts, since they were courts established for the federation.
Two other senior lawyers, Mahmud Magaji SAN and Musibawu Adetumbi SAN expressed dissenting views on the contentious issue.
They had aligned themselves with the AGF that capital projects for the three courts should be funded by the states and not the FG.
The Head of Sokoto Kingmakers, Magajin Garin Sokoto, Alh. Hassan Danbaba, is dead.
The influential kingmaker, who was the grandson of the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, reportedly slumped in his hotel in Kaduna around 11.30 am.
But he died on his way to a hospital.
He died barely a year after he lost his mother, A’ishatu, the eldest daughter of the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardaunan Sokoto.
His mother died in Dubai, UAE in April 2021.
A source said: “Magajin came to Kaduna on Thursday to condole with a former Minister of Defence, Gen. Aliyu Gusau on the death of his brother.
“As usual of him, he lodged in his hotel, Stonehedge in Kaduna metropolis.
“Both Gusau and Magajin had prepared to make a joint return trip from Kaduna to Abuja on Saturday. After having his bath at 11 am, he dressed up to go and join Gen. Gusau in his house.
“While about to leave, he slumped. His aides rallied around him and rushed him to a hospital. But on the way, he gave up the ghost.”
Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai has ordered the evacuation of Danbaba’s remains to the Government House in Kaduna for airlifting to Sokoto for burial.
”The governor was at his best in coordinating the evacuation of Magajin’s corpse to the Government House in Kaduna ahead of transfer to Sokoto.
”By virtue of his position as the head of the kingmakers of Sokoto Caliphate, there is a reserved cemetery, Hubbaren Shehu, where royal leaders are usually buried in Sokoto, “the source added.
Until his death, he was one of those behind the Rice Revolution of President Muhammadu Buhari being championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He played a key role in the last Rice Pyramid fair in Abuja by the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria(RIFAN).
Magajin Garin Sokoto was part of the eminent Nigerians who converged on Lagos last weekend to find solutions to the challenges confronting the country ahead of the 2023 elections.
A cosmopolitan Nigerian, the late Magajin Garin Sokoto was a Director of THISDAY newspapers until he died.
President Muhammadu Buhari in a drastic move on Saturday, approved the appointment of former lawmaker, Muhammad Zorro, as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs and Strategy, Office of the First Lady.
This is as the President temporarily redeployed three aides of the first lady to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Saturday titled, ‘President Buhari Approves Sami Zorro SSA to First Lady, Redeployment and Disengagement of Others’.
At the insistence of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, the president also approved the immediate redeployment of three of the political appointees in her office to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, pending their assignment to some other government departments or agencies.
Adesina said, “Those affected by the redeployment are: Dr. Mohammed Abdulrahman, who was Senior Special Assistant to the President on Health and Development Partners and Personal Physician to the First Lady; Hadi Uba, who was Special Assistant to the President on Administration; and Wole Aboderin, who was Special Assistant to the President on Non-Governmental Organisations.
“Also approved with effect from February 11, is the disengagement of Zainab Kazeem, the Special Assistant to the President on Domestic and Social Events, Office of the First Lady.
“Zorro, a famous journalist, brings to the new job decades of experience in media practice, publishing, and unionist leadership. He was at various times President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, West African Journalists Association, and the Federation of African Journalists.
“He was in the House of Representatives, where he chaired the committee on Internally Displaced Persons, Refugees and Initiatives in the North-East.”
Although the reason for the reshuffle remained unknown as of the filing of this report, it came barely 48 hours after the First Lady was spotted on an evening train returning from Kaduna to Abuja.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to speak with his US and French counterparts on Saturday after the United States warned that Moscow could invade Ukraine in days.
The United States had dramatically raised the alarm over Ukraine on Friday, saying a Russian invasion starting with civilians caught under aerial bombing could begin in days and telling US citizens to leave within 48 hours.
In a diplomatic flurry to head off a possible invasion, Putin will speak with Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he will also speak to Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov the same day, terming this “a pivotal moment” in the crisis and that his government was “prepared for whatever should happen.”
“We continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving around Ukraine’s borders,” Blinken said at a press conference in Fiji.
“If Russia is genuinely interested in resolving this crisis of its own making through diplomacy and dialogue, we’re prepared to do that,” he said.
The White House had earlier warned of an attack by the more than 100,000 Russian troops currently massed next to Ukraine, even while the Beijing Olympics were still underway.
Blinken added that dialogue would only be possible if accompanied by “de-escalation.”
“So far, we’ve only seen escalation from Moscow,” he said, adding Russia has yet to respond to “some of the ideas” floated by Washington. “I’ll be asking Mr Lavrov if we can anticipate a response in the coming days, to see if we can carry the dialogue forward.”
Blinken declined to confirm whether the United States would be evacuating its embassy staff from Kyiv: “We’ll have more to say about that in the coming hours,” he said.
On Friday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called on Americans to immediately leave Ukraine, warning a Russian attack “is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians.”
While stressing that it was not yet known whether Putin had taken a decision, saying “we can’t predict the exact determination,” Sullivan made clear the United States was bracing for the worst, including a “rapid assault” on the capital Kyiv.
Sullivan spoke shortly after President Joe Biden and six European leaders, the heads of NATO and the European Union held talks on the worst crisis between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War.
A US official said Biden would speak with Putin on Saturday, while Paris said Macron would also be calling the Russian leader on Saturday.
Underlining the bleak outlook, a string of countries joined the exodus of diplomats and citizens from Ukraine, while oil prices surged and US equities tumbled.
– Western, NATO unity –
Sullivan repeated warnings that Russia risks severe Western sanctions and said that NATO, which Putin wants to push back from eastern Europe, is now “more cohesive, more purposeful, more dynamic than any time in recent memory.”
The Pentagon announced it was sending 3,000 more troops to bolster ally Poland.
Following the earlier group phone call between US and European leaders, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman said “the aim is to prevent a war in Europe.” But if Moscow fails to pull back, “the allies are determined to jointly take swift and deep sanctions against Russia.”
These sanctions would target the financial and energy sectors, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
Sullivan spoke to der Leyen’s chief of staff Bjoern Seibert by video call on Friday to coordinate “the details of a potential transatlantic response, including both financial sanctions and export controls,” according to a White House statement.
– Russia surrounding Ukraine –
Russian naval forces and troops, including units brought in from all over the vast country, now surround Ukraine to the south, east and north.
Russia, which denies any plan to attack Ukraine, already controls the Crimea territory seized in 2014 and supports separatist forces controlling Ukraine’s Donbas region in the east.
The Kremlin says its goal is to get NATO to agree to never give Ukraine membership and also to withdraw from eastern European countries already in the alliance, effectively carving Europe into Cold War-style spheres of influence.
The United States and its European allies reject the demands, insisting that NATO poses no threat to Russia.
Adding to tensions, large-scale Russian military drills were underway Friday with authoritarian ally Belarus, which lies just north of Kyiv and also borders the European Union.
Russia’s defence ministry said Friday it was also holding military exercises near Ukraine’s border in the Black Sea.
According to the head of Norway’s military intelligence service, Russia is operationally ready to conduct a wide range of military operations in Ukraine and the Kremlin just needs to make the call.
Top US general Mark Milley and his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov talked Friday by phone, the Pentagon said, giving no details of the discussion.
Men of Ogun State Police Command in the early hours of Saturday arrested 43 year-old, Kehinde Oladimeji and his wife Adejumoke Raji, for being in possession of fresh human parts.
The couple, according to a statement by the command Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, are residents of No.72 MKO Abiola Way, Leme, Abeokuta.
Oyeyemi said, “the couple were arrested following a report lodged at Kemta Divisional Headquarters by Chief Moshood Ogunwolu, the Baale of Leme Community, that one Pastor Adisa Olarewaju who is a co-tenant with the suspects informed him of offensive odours coming out from the room of the suspects”.
He added that upon the complaint, the DPO Kemta Division, CSP Adeniyi Adekunle led his detectives to the scene where search was conducted.
“On searching the room, a plastic bowl containing fresh different parts of human being was discovered in the room, and the couple were promptly arrested”.
“On interrogation, the suspects confessed they were herbalists and that the human parts comprises of hands, breasts and other parts were given to them by one Michael who they claimed resides in Adatan area of Abeokuta”.
“All efforts to locate the said Michael proved abortive as the suspects could not locate his house”.
“It will be recalled that a dismembered body of an unknown person was found in a swamp area at Leme area of Abeokuta about a week ago, it is not yet clear whether the parts is that of the found body or not”, Oyeyemi said.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.
The CP vowed that anyone who is directly or indirectly involved in the crime would be brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others
The Member representing Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogah, has extended warm birthday wishes to his elder brother,...
