Author: Chief Editor

Economic and Social activities were paralyzed in Enugu State on Monday as residents deserted the streets in compliance with the sit-at-home order issued by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) to mark this year’s Biafra day anniversary. As of 10.30 am on Monday, various institutions including banks, businesses, markets remained under lock and key as vehicular and human movements were restricted from the roads in the state. Most streets and major urban roads in the state were turned into football pitches by young men and school children who…

Many state governments have started reducing their overhead costs as part of measures aimed at addressing the dwindling funds from the federation account. State officials, who disclosed this in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Sunday, ruled out sacking workers or slashing salaries in order to reduce the states’ wage bills. Some of them also said that the governments had embarked on the private-public partnership to finance capital projects that had the potential of yielding revenue. The officials said states that had yet to start the PPP, were also planning to embrace it to finance projects. They confided in our correspondents that…

•North-west, South-south, South-east intensify lobby for more states Leaders from the Middle Belt and the South yesterday joined the crusade for power shift to the South in 2023, after the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s final tenure in office. They also expressed concerns about the deteriorating security situation in the country and called on the federal government to impose a state of emergency in the sector. The leaders, under the auspices of Southern and Forum (SMBLF), rising from a meeting in Abuja, during which they discussed the state of the nation as well as the 2023 general election, called on…

West African leaders suspended Mali from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at an extraordinary summit Sunday but stopped short of reimposing sanctions, after a second military coup in nine months. The putsch had sparked deep concerns over stability in the volatile Sahel region and warnings of fresh economic penalties. Ten regional heads of state and three foreign ministers attended the summit in the Ghanaian capital Accra, with former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan serving as a mediator in the crisis. “The suspension from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022 when they…

Imo State Police Command Sunday night claimed four persons who participated in the murder of Ahmed Gulak have been killed dead in a shoot out at Aboh-Mbaise. Gulak was killed on his way to the airport in Owerri, where he was going to catch a flight to Abuja. Imo State Police Command spokesmen Bala EIkana said the driver of the late Gulak identified the dead bodies as those of the men who assassinated the late politician. “Eyewitnesses account, especially the account given by the driver of the vehicle that was conveying Ahmed Gulak to the Airport before the attack, gave…

Security operatives on Sunday raided a church on Owerri Road, Enugu State, and marched suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra away. In a video sighted by The PUNCH, the security operatives, especially policemen, held guns while members of the church marched out one after the other. The church members were seen raising their hands and searched as they exited the premises of the church under the strict monitoring of the security operatives. “The Nigeria police and military have just stormed a church on Owerri Road, Enugu State, molesting over 50 men, both old and young while matching them to…

A newly completed office of the Independent National Electoral Commission has been set ablaze at Okwudor community in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State. INEC said that the arson attack took place around 11:30 am on Sunday. It was learnt that the burnt office was commissioned shortly before the 2019 General Elections. In a statement titled, ‘INEC office in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State set ablaze’, the electoral body’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the latest attack makes the total number of INEC offices attacked nationwide 42. “Our resident electoral…

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Sunday, said his regime would ensure that those who killed a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmed Gulak, are brought to justice. Buhari said this in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled, ‘President Buhari expresses outrage, sadness over Gulak’s murder’. Gulak, a former Special Adviser on Political Matters to former President Goodluck Jonathan, was killed in Owerri, Imo State, earlier in the day. Shehu quoted the President as describing the killing a premeditated. He said the President expressed outrage and disgust over what…

Nigerian university workers, under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), have again warned the federal government against paralysing academic activities in tertiary institutions with the non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) both parties signed. SSANU decried the growing insecurity across tertiary institutions in the country, saying none of its members is safe again. The workers, who spoke through their President, Mohammed Ibrahim Haruna, shortly after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that was held in Abuja weekend, said that only three out of eight demands have been addressed partially by the government. He said that…

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has extended its strike ultimatum by two weeks to let the Federal and State governments address the issues of welfare of their members across the country. The extension is contained in a communiqué at the end of the association’s 41st Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) which held in Nnewi/Awka, Anambra, between May 25 and May 29. The communiqué was released by Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, National President of NARD, in the company of other members of the executive. It said that the association would resume a total strike action if its demands remained unattended at…