Flood displaces 3,000 students, 500 staff of FEDPOLY, Oko

 More than 3,000 students and staff of the Atani Campus of the Federal Polytechnic, Anambra State, have been displaced by flooding arising from the overflowing of the River Niger.

Ten offices and 15 classrooms were totally submerged after the downpour of Thursday night, the Public Relations Officer of the polytechnic, Mr. Obini Onuchukwu, said on Friday.  

“Documents and other equipment of the institution were lost. Our students are currently being evacuated by the school authority to safe areas awaiting emergency relief from the government,” he said.  

Onuchukwu said the management was contemplating closing down the campus in view of the development, which did not seem to be abating.  He said the institution was in dire need of support and assistance from relief agencies. 

Meanwhile, the Anambra State House of Assembly has passed a resolution calling on the FG to declare five local government areas of the state – Anambra West, Anambra East, Ayamelum, Awka North and Ogbaru – as flood devastated areas.

  Voting on a motion brought by the member representing Anambra West, Mr. Victor Okoye, the house called on the FG to send relief materials to the victims and create camps for the thousands of victims who have lost their homes and farmlands to the flood.

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Nigeria stops pilgrimages to Mecca over women row

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria has suspended flights to Saudi Arabia for the annual haj pilgrimage, following a diplomatic spat over the detention of hundreds of female pilgrims for arriving unaccompanied by men.

Saudi authorities have deported more than 600 female Nigerian pilgrims and detained hundreds for trying to visit the holy city of Mecca without male relatives.

Aminu Tambuwal, Nigeria’s parliament speaker and the second most powerful Muslim in the government, was due to visit Saudi Arabia on Friday to try to resolve the spat.

“The airlift operations have been temporary stopped … It does not make sense to airlift people to be detained on landing. We will resume when all outstanding issues are resolved,” Uba Mana, spokesman of National Hajj Commission, said by telephone.

Women in Saudi Arabia are regarded as minors and require the permission of their guardian – father, brother, or husband – to leave the country, receive some kinds of medical treatment or work. They are not allowed to drive and are usually expected to be accompanied by a male chaperone.

“The Nigerian pilgrims came with their visas stating that they have to have a male guardian accompanying them, either a brother, a husband, or another relative,” Saudi Haj Ministry spokesman Hatim Kadi said.

“Some came with their guardians and were allowed to enter. Those who came without their guardians were not. They violated the regulations which were clearly printed on their passports.”

In Nigeria, where there are 80 Million Muslims, many practice a less restrictive form of Islam in which women are more or less free to move around as they like.

“I use this platform to plead with our compatriots, to leaders in Nigeria to be mindful of statements that we make on this issue so that we don’t aggravate the situation,” Tambuwal said late on Thursday.

All Muslims who are able are required to perform the haj at least once, as one of the five pillars of Islam.

The numbers taking part have risen sharply over the last 80 years from around 20,000 in 1932 to nearly three million in 2011.

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Nigeria Army seek retirement age of 70years for its officers

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika made the announcement at the commissioning of the Nigerian Army Transformation and Innovation Centre in Abuja.

Lieutenant General Ihejirika noted that the review is necessary for the army to save some experience and resources, which are being lost on the basis of regular retirement.

He enjoined the officers to be up and doing in the discharge of their duties because Nigerians look up to them for their security.

Speaking on the centre that was being commissioned, the Chief of Army Staff stated that the centre will serve as a think-tank for the Nigerian army security strategies.

The Army Transformation and Innovation Centre is a place designed to assist the army to strategize on how to combat contemporary challenges using latest innovations and strategy.

The army is hoping to engage retired officers in the centre and believes that if the retirement age of officers is increased, it will offer the force more experiences.

Explaining the reason the Nigerian Army must harness the resources in its old officers, the Chief of Army Transformation and Innovation; Major General Ibrahim Sani argued that judges in Nigeria have a mandatory 70 years retirement age and until recently, university lecturers have a similar retirement age.

The minimum age for enlisting into the Nigerian Armed Forces is put at 18 years old for voluntary service and at 55 years or after putting in 35 years of service according to the Federal Civil Service; public servants are expected to retire.

However, analysts view the plan for an upward review of the retirement age for the armed forces to 70 as needless.

In other countries, such as the United States, military officers are expected to put a minimum of 20 years of service and a maximum of 30 years, according to the department of defense directive. An officer can be enlisted in the force at the age of 17.

In Britain, officers are enlisted into the force at the age of 16 and are expected to put in at least 18 years of service.

In Africa, Ghana enlists officers at the age of 18 and retires officers at 50 years while in South Africa, officers stay in active service until they are 60 years and could be enlisted at the age of 18.

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441 Lagos drivers test positive to cocaine, marijuana

 Lagos State Government has said it would prosecute and jail any motorist found to be driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the state. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris who disclosed this at a news briefing yesterday said 441 drivers tested positive to marijuana and cocaine in the screening recently conducted by the state government.

He explained that the state government was not relenting in educating drivers on dangers associated with consumption of alcohol while driving. “So far we have screened 2002 drivers with the following results obtained. 781 were found to be driving under the influence of alcohol. 601 were found to be hypertensive.

441 were positive to psychotropic drugs, especially cocaine and marijuana. 940 were screened for visual impairment and 13 percent had to be given special glasses,” he added. Idris noted that as a result of the far-reaching consequences of driving under such influences, the state government had no option than to invoke Section 21, Sub-section 1 of the state traffic law which prescribed a conviction fine of N100,000 or two years imprisonment or both on the offenders. 

The commissioner who pointed out that road accidents had become a major cause of deaths in the country, lamented that the state government could not achieve the desired health indices if it ignored the menace of deaths by road accidents.

He said, “alcohol and substance abuse have been documented as a cause of road traffic accidents and several studies have shown that an intoxicated driver is a danger to himself, his passengers and other road users.” Idirs said a major breakthrough was recently recorded in the sensitisation campaigns in the motor parks against irresponsible driving with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Guinness Nigeria Plc.

 

He added that the partnership by both parties was geared towards changing people’s attitude to alcohol to reduce menace of harmful consumption of alcoholic beverages. In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Transport, Kayode Opeifa, lamented the number of accidents recorded mostly over the weekend on Lagos roads caused by excessive drinking by motorists.

The commissioner revealed that government was focusing on motor parks to make the awareness campaign effective because of its involvement in mass transportation of people to various destinations within and outside the state. He reiterated that the new road traffic law was meant to return sanity and ensure discipline among road users.

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NDLEA Arrests Akure High Chief With 8 Bags Of Indian Hemp

The NDLEA in Osun has arrested an Akure high chief for allegedly being in possession of eight bags of Indian  hemp.The agency’s  acting Commander, Mr Samuel Gadzama, told the News Agency of  Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Osogbo that the 52-year-old suspect  was arrested  with his cousin  on Sept. 23 in Iwo town.

``The surveillance team of the command was monitoring the movement of the two suspects in a Honda saloon car  marked BC 57 FST  coming  from Ilesa  before it was finally stopped at Iwo.

``The team initially wanted to trace them to where they were going to supply the eight bags of Indian hemp weighing 45.45 kg, but swooped on them when the suspects wanted to escape after  discovering  that the officers were tracing them,’’ Gadzama said.

He said that investigation was still going on, adding that the suspects would be charged to court at the appropriate time.

But when questioned, the high chief  denied any involvement in the case.

He claimed that  he only assisted the second suspect who was his cousin in transporting the weeds to Iwo.

``I got to know what was inside the bags when he (second suspect) supplied two bags to a customer in Ilesa before heading to Iwo with the remaining eight bags.

``I am from a popular family in Obaile-Akure, a respected chief in Akure land,  so I cannot indulge in criminal act,’’ he added.

Gadzama further disclosed that 45 hectares of Indian hemp farm were destroyed between August and September in the state while 309.685kg of Indian hemp was recovered from traffickers and cultivators.

He said that the latest farm destruction exercise held  on Tuesday  at the Oloro-Araromi Forest Reserve in Isokan Local Government Area of the state where five hectares of Indian hemp were  destroyed.

The NDLEA boss further said that 10 suspects were arrested between August and Sept.

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35-year-old Man Arrested For Alleged Theft Of Landlady’s Underwear

A 35-year-old man, Azuka Mbadugbe, was on Monday docked before an Ogudu Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for allegedly stealing his landlady’s eight pants valued 80 dollars (about N12,480). Other items allegedly stolen by the accused include six leggies valued at 160 dollars (N24,960), one Canon camera phone worth N250,000 and 36 pieces of umbrella costing N12,600. Mbadugbe who lives at 2, Igi-Olugbi St., Bariga, Lagos, is facing a one-count charge of stealing.

 The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge. The prosecutor, Insp. Kemi Adeniran, told the court that the accused had on Sept. 8 at about 4:30 p.m. burgled his landlady’s apartment at No. 2, Igi-Olugbi St., Bariga, Lagos, and stole the above-named items totalling N300,040. Adeniran said that the items belonged to one Mrs Adeola Alowonle. She said that the accused had been living in one of the boys’ quarters for the past three years. 

 The prosecutor explained that the accused unlawfully broke into the complainant’s apartment when she was on a foreign trip. “When the landlady came back, she discovered that her apartment had been broken into and subsequently discovered that some of her properties were missing,” she said. The prosecutor said that upon investigation, the duplicate key to the landlady’s apartment was found with the accused. 

 She said the offence contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State, 2011. Magistrate I.O Afunwa granted the accused bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like and adjourned the case till Oct. 22. What will cause a 35 year old man to steal his Landlady’s underwear.

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JTF kills 2 sect members, arrests 8 in Maiduguri

 The Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore order in Borno State, has said that its operatives and men of the State Security Service (SSS), in a gun battle at about 2.20 p.m. on Wednesday, gunned down two top sect commanders on Maiduguri/ Kano road.

A statement from the JTF, which was signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Sagir Musa, said the security outfit was provided with intelligence report when the top commanders were about fleeing the state.

According to the statement, “the terrorists were top commanders coordinating the sect’s activities in Mubi and Yola in Adamawa as well as Yobe states. They were travelling in a silver ash colour Honda Accord 2000 model car with registration number Bam 214 AA. They were on their way to Damaturu for a planned special operation to attack civilians and military locations today (Thursday 20, September 2012).”

The statement also said intelligence report equally revealed that they were meant to carry out attacks in Maiduguri, adding that, items recovered from them include a Honda car, five handsets and weapons.

In another development, the JTF said in earlier operations, a total of eight sect members were arrested in Garanam, GRA and Lawanti areas of Maiduguri metropolis.

It also said that those arrested were discovered to have found their way into Maiduguri from neigbouring states. 

Items recovered during the arrests include a 1988 model silver colour Camry car with Yobe State registration number AE 574 DTR, suspected to have been stolen for possible suicide attack and movement of weapons.

The JTF, while thanking law abiding members of the public for the timely information, also appealed to them to report suspicious movement and activities in their neigbourhood to security agencies.

Meanwhile, about 12 shops were said to have been set ablaze by soldiers around Budum area of Maiduguri following the killing of a medicine seller in the area by gunmen suspected to be members of the sect.

An eyewitness told the Nigerian Tribune that the soldiers were allegedly angry with the people for not being able to provide information about the killers, which according to them, lived in the neigbourhood.

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Rep Wants Aviation Minister Brought To Book Over Licence

 The deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives and leader of the All Nigeria People’s Party caucus in the House, Hon Suleiman Kawu, has described the denial of commercial flight operating licence to three foreign airlines by the minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, as “a sectional agenda.”

He vowed that the House of Representatives would intervene to put an end to the agenda.

In a press release signed by the lawmaker and made available to Leadership yesterday, he called on President Goodluck Jonathan to put a stop to the action which he said was disuniting Nigerians.

Kawu, who is one of the principal officers in the House of Representatives said, “My attention has been drawn to publication in Daily Trust of Tuesday August 28, 2012 in which the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, was reported to have denied permission to three foreign airlines to commence commercial flight operations to the nation’s capital Abuja. The story was also confirmed by her spokesman.

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2 Trailer Loads Of Lunatics Intercepted In Anambra

Two trailer loads of human cargo, suspected to be insane people were yesterday intercepted at Upper Iweka, Onitsha, Anambra State.

We gathered that those conveying the lunatics had attempted to off-load the content of the trailer at the busy Upper Iweka when vigilant inhabitants of the area stopped them.

A source told our correspondent that those conveyed by the trailer were suspected to be lunatics, and that though their intentions were not known, it may be an attempt to dump them in the city.

|We gathered that the authorities were alerted, leading to the arrest of the conveyors and confiscation of their trailers, while the content was also handed to the police.

Meanwhile, State Governor Peter Obi has charged the state’s citizens to be alert and vigilant at all times.

He offered this advice while reacting to the interception of the trailer load of lunatics brought to the state yesterday.The governor thanked public spirited Anambrarians for bringing the information to him as soon as the trailers stopped at Upper Iweka to off load their human cargo and called for increased vigilance in all the communities in the state.

 He urged them to always report unusual movement and even suspicious faces to law enforcement agencies.On the fate of those that were conveyed by the trailers, Obi said he had directed law enforcements agencies to impound the trailers and keep them in custody pending further  investigations to ascertain their motive.

The Governor took the opportunity to reiterate his personal commitment to security in Anambra State, insisting that he would remain awake in order to sustain the gains recorded in recent times against crime and criminality in the State.

The spokesperson of the Anambra State police command, DSP Raph Uzoigwe could not confirm the story to LEADERSHIP as his mobile phone was not reachable as at the time of filling this report.

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