The Anambra State House of Assembly, through the motion sponsored by the member representing Njikoka Two Constituency, Dr. Jude Akpua, during plenary, has passed a resolution urging Governor Chukwuma Soludo to direct the Managing Director of Anambra State Physical Planning Board, and the Chairman, Material Testing Agency in the state to ensure that buildings under construction across the sate are continuously monitored after the initial approval to ensure strict compliance with all structural regulations.
This, according to the House, is to forestall cases of building collapse in the state.
Sponsoring the motion, Dr. Akpua informed his fellow lawmakers that experts attribute the cause of incessant building collapse to use of substandard materials, non-adherence and compliance to design and structural specifications, lack of comprehensive subsoil investigation before design are done, use of quacks, among others.
He observed that negative impacts of building collapse inflict both physical injuries and death, psychological and economic losses that cause untold hardship and pain, as well as leave the victims traumatized.
Recall that recently three persons from same family in Nimo, Dr. Akpua’s constituency, lost their lives when a storey building with a pent house collapsed on them at Egbu Umuenem Otolo Nnewi while they were on electrical work in the building; still under construction.
Contributing to the motion on the floor of the House, the member representing Onitsha North Two Constituency, Honourable Pat Okafor, disclosed that strict compliance to building ethics and regulations; as provided by the relevant agencies, will ensure that structural integrity of buildings in Anambra State are of the highest standards, as access to safe and affordable buildings for Ndi Anambra is a major contributor to sustainable development.
On his part, the member representing Ayamelum Constituency, Honourable Bernard Udemezue, who called for a rigorous physical monitoring of building construction across the state by the relevant authorities, urged developers to desist from cutting corners in building construction to put an end to cases of building collapse.
Others, including the member representing Ihiala Two Constituency, Honourable Golden Ilo, and the member representing Ogbaru One Constituency, Honourable Noble Igwe, charged the concerned authorities to be alive to their responsibilities to address the ugly trend.
Speaker of the House; Right Honourable Somtochukwu Udeze, who warned quacks to desist from building construction in the state, said anybody caught will be punished accordingly.
Following the assault on a bus driver with GUO Motors by Soludo’s aide, Ossy Onuko, kingmakers and Ozo titled holders from Awka town (Where Onuko hails from), on Tuesday visited Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of G. U. O. Transport Limited.
They begged him to pardon their son, Mr. Ossy Onuko, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Awka Capital Territory Development Agency, ACTDA whose escorts attached to his office reportedly battered a driver attached to G. U. O Transport Company.
Vigilante operatives acting on behalf of Onuko and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC attached to his office had last Friday descended heavily on the GUO bus driver whose name was simply given as Obum at UNIZIK Temporary Site Junction, Awka for allegedly overtaking Onuko’s convoy dangerously, along the Enugu/Onitsha Expressway.
The attack with machete and reported beatings whose video went viral landed the driver in the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment.
The incident has also sparked outrage and condemnations in the public domain with the GUO Company issuing a statement calling out the Soludo administration over the attitude of his aides and threatening to take further actions to pursue justice.
The Awka kingmakers, numbering about 20, dressed in full white traditional chieftaincy regalia and led by Chief Austin Ndigwe, (Ike Obodo Awka) arrived Chief Okeke’s residential home at GRA Onitsha with a giant sized ram, drinks and kolanuts.
After introductions and exchange of pleasantries, Chief Ndigwe told Chief Okeke that the Awka Community was in his home in full capacity to plead on behalf of their son, Ossy Onuko so that justice can be tampered with mercy.
He noted that the entire Awka Community felt bad over the incident which he described as a very unfortunate one for Onuko, a young Awka citizen who has not been found wanting or associated with any social vices before now, hence the reason they decided to visit immediately to intervene and apologise on his behalf, as their son.
Specifically, Chief Ndigwe also known as Uzu Awka, disclosed that the kingmakers had already blamed Onuko their son for his action and pleaded with Chief Okeke to withhold all further actions in the matter because knowing his antecedent and pedigree, Onuko cannot withstand his wrath if he (Okeke) should be allowed to push the matter forward.
Three other cabinet chiefs including a former Deputy Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Chief Hon. Kene Molokwu also joined in appealing to Chief Okeke to forgive and forget, adding that they were even ready to offset the driver’s hospital bills .
Responding, Chief Okeke commended them for the important visit even as he condemned the resort to brigandage and molestation meted on citizens and residents of the State by government agents in the name of revenue drive.
He however informed his visitors that having retired from the company and handed over the management to his children, the matter was already beyond him as the company from Lagos office has already pushed out petition to that effect .
Chief Okeke also disclosed that the incident would have generated widespread protests and demonstrations because many interest groups both within the South-East, other parts of Nigeria and the diaspora including USA and UK were already spoiling for a showdown if not that he prevailed on all the aggrieved to sheath their swords for now.
He also warned individuals and groups against recklessness and acts of brigandage particularly when they find themselves within the corridors of power noting that such acts has adversely affected business and the economy in Anmbra State because many don’t come to Onitsha to source their goods anymore.
Chief Okeke stated that as a man of peace, he can make further sacrifices for peace to reign if government will do their own part.
“All I want in Anambra State is peace. Once the government takes care of touts and those who brutalise the citizens so that traders can operate in a free atmosphere devoid of fear, I can agree not to push this matter further.
“If this is the sacrifice I can make, my family and my company to end molestation of people in Anambra State so that people can come to Onitsha and other parts of Anambra State and buy what they want without fear of attack, then I agree,” Chief Okeke stated.
President Bola Tinubu has approved N18 billion for the Group Life Assurance benefits and other entitlements for families of fallen heroes of the Nigerian Armed Forces .
Tinubu announced the approval on Wednesday, during the Launch of the Emblem Appeal for the 2024 Armed Forces Remembrance Day at the State House, Abuja.
The President also assured of his administration’s continued support to the nation’s armed forces by repositioning the forces.
He said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to our gallant troops, who have risen to the challenge of securing this great nation. In appreciation of the sacrifices of the men and women of our armed forces and to underscore this government’s commitment with their welfare, I have approved the sum of N18 billion for the payment of the Group Life Assurance benefits and other entitlements to the families of service members who lost their lives in line of duty.”
Nigeria’s Supreme Court has fixed Thursday the 26th of October to deliver the judgement of the appeal filed by the People’s Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate in the February 25 polls, Atiku Abubakar, and the Labor Party’s Presidential candidate in the February 25 polls, Peter Obi, which seeks to void the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This development was confirmed by a spokesman of the Supreme Court, Festus Akande.
The court had, on Monday, reserved judgement on the appeals after counsels of Atiku, electoral body, INEC, Tinubu and the All-Progressives Congress APC adopted their briefs of arguments.
Atiku Abubakar had approached the Supreme Court in his quest to have it set aside the decision of the lower court, depending on 35 grounds for seeking this.
The former Vice President insists Mr Tinubu didn’t win the election, citing non-compliance with the electoral act by failing to upload real results to INEC portal, corrupt practice, forfeiture due to alleged drug trafficking, failing to secure 25% votes in the FCT, among others.
Atiku, through his counsel, Chris Uche, prayed the apex court to grant the main appeal and nullify the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu.
In their separate response, the electoral body- INEC, Bola Tinubu, and the APC urged the Court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.
A joint security team comprising the Military, Police, DSS, Civil Defense and Vigilante members has neutralized one suspected bandit and rescued three abducted persons on Sunday, a government statement said.
The operation was conducted in Kanzama Forest, Bunza Local Government Area of the state, Malam Yahaya Sarki, Special Assistant to Kebbi Governor on Media and Publicity, said in a statement issued in Birnin Kebbi on Monday.
He said that the operation followed the assurance given to Kalgo communities in Bunza LGA by Gov. Nasir Idris when he paid a visit to the area on Saturday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor, at an emergency Security Council meeting, ordered a joint operation to go after the bandits and the provision of adequate security to the affected villages.
The governor also directed the provision of adequate logistics to the joint security team and called for the deployment of more security personnel to complement ongoing efforts to bolster security and protect lives and property in the area and across the state. According to Sarki, the governor has saluted the gallant security personnel for their efforts and pledged to provide all necessary support for them to make the state safe.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has mandated the demand and verification of Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) as a pre-condition for business transactions in the FCT. Mr Chinedum Elechi, the Mandate Secretary, Economic Planning, Revenue Generation and Public Private Partnership Secretariat, FCT Administration (FCTA), made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
“I am here today to announce that the Minister of the FCT has approved the implementation of Section 85 of Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) and Section 31 of the FCT Internal Revenue Service Act, 2015.
“Both sections provide for demand and verification of TCC by the Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs); Commercial banks; and FCT Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs).
“Implementation of these laws is intended to ensure that all eligible taxpayers in the FCT comply with their tax obligations.
“This will ensure that the FCT Administration gets the required resources it needs to provide essential services to FCT residents,” he said.
Elechi explained that Section 85 of the Personal Income Tax Act, 2011, provides that MDAs or a commercial bank demand for TCC when transacting with any person as specified by the law. He added that the TCC would cover the immediate past three years preceding the current year of assessment. He further said that MDAs or commercial banks shall also verify the authenticity of the tax clearance certificate by the issuing tax authority before carrying out any of the transactions.
“Section 85 of PITA also provides that for purposes of obtaining a TCC, any person who gives incorrect information or obtains a TCC through misrepresentation, forgery or falsification is guilty of an offence.
“Such a person is liable on conviction to a fine of N50,000, plus twice the tax payable by him or her, or to imprisonment for three years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
“Similarly, a person, be it a government organization or corporate entity to whom Section 85 applies, who fails to demand for, or verify a TCC, is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N5 million, or to imprisonment for three years or both fine and imprisonment,” he said.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Monday that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian enclave since Israel launched its withering bombing campaign more than two weeks ago.
Alarm has surged about the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack that, Israeli officials say, killed more than 1,400 people who were gunned down, stabbed or burnt by the Islamist militants. Hamas also took more than 200 hostages. On a day when Israel’s army reported more than 300 new strikes within 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said the death toll had surged above 5,000, around 40 per cent of them children.
About a dozen trucks carrying desperately needed aid — the third convoy in three days — arrived inside Gaza from Egypt on Monday through Rafah, Gaza’s only crossing not controlled by Israel. The United States, which has brokered the entry of the aid convoys, has vowed a “continued flow” of relief goods into Gaza, even as UN aid agencies have said far more is needed.
Fighting raged unabated overnight after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed again that Israel would “erase Hamas” and as a full-scale ground invasion loomed. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled government media office said that “more than 60 were martyred in the raids” during the night — including 17 in a single strike that hit a house in Gaza’s north — and at least 10 others were killed in new strikes early Monday.
Thousands of buildings have been destroyed and more than one million people displaced in the territory that has been under siege and largely deprived of water, food and other basic supplies. The Israeli military said it had hit “over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip” in the past 24 hours.
It said the targets “included tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers” as well as “military compounds and observation posts” used by Islamic Jihad, another militant group.
“Alaba International Market, Ojo has been sealed up for poor waste disposal practices, failure to pay their waste bills, and gross environmental sanitation offences,” he wrote on X.
The closure is the latest in the shutting down of markets and demolition of illegal structures by the Lagos State Government.
It recently sealed but later reopened the Mile 12 International Market. The Owode Onirin Market along Ikorodu Road also faced a similar fate for indiscriminate waste disposal.
The Lagos State Government had equally shut the Ladipo Auto Parts Market and other markets for environmental infractions.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 40-year-old Madrid, Spain-based “businessman”, Sherif Egbo Ally, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, while attempting to board an Air France flight to Paris, France, after they discovered he ingested illicit drugs.
According to a statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, Egbo was arrested on Saturday 14th October after body scanner revealed he had wraps of illicit drugs in his stomach. He was subsequently placed under observation at the agency’s exhibit recovery room where he excreted 93 pellets of heroin weighing 2.222 kilograms. He subsequently in his statement, claimed he works at a chicken hatchery farm in Madrid, Spain and also into drug trafficking business.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the NAHCO imports shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos last Monday seized a consignment of 10 cartons containing 500,000 pills of tramadol 225mg branded as tapentadol.
Babafemi said the cargo, which was shipped from India through Qatar Airways with airwaybill number MAWB 319-01227236 was purported to be a transit cargo to Monrovia, Liberia, but the lid was blown open through partnership and real time intelligence sharing mechanisms between NDLEA and its Liberian counterpart.
The spokesman said an attempt by an intending passenger to Muscat, Oman on Qatar airways, Ngene Chinecherem to export 11.1 kilograms of skunk and 600 grammes of tramadol concealed in foodstuffs through the Lagos airport was thwarted by NDLEA officers who arrested him and seized the illicit substances.
In another operation, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations, DOGI, attached to courier companies on Sunday 15th October intercepted 1 kilograms methamphetamine concealed in containers of body cream going to New Zealand as well as another consignment of 2.5 kilograms cocaine and phenacetin hidden in walls of a carton heading to Saudi Arabia.
Babafemi said two more seizures: 112 grammes of Dimethyl Sulfone and 583 grammes of cocaine and phenacetin were made at another courier company in Lagos last Wednesday, while the Dimethyl Sulfone was concealed in the hollow of a motor driving shaft going to New Zealand, the consignment of cocaine and phenacetin was packed into a bottle of body cream heading to Saudi Arabia.
He disclosed that in Imo state, operatives on Sunday 15th October intercepted a Mercedes Benz container truck marked ABN 418 YN parked in an isolated area along Owerri – Onitsha expressway. A search of the abandoned truck led to the recovery of 168 bags of skunk weighing 1, 854 kilograms.
He added that not less than 1,381.3 kilograms of the same substance were seized in four interdiction operations in parts of Edo state including: Ekpon community, Igueben local government area , Iguiye forest in Ovia North East local government area, Iruekpen, Ndokwa West where a suspect, Monday Samuel Nwocha was arrested and Egwalor village in Onwude local government area where the duo of Obune Prince and Chika Obi was arrested and their Audi 80 salon car marked BEN 406 CL loaded with cannabis sativa, recovered.
In Kano state, an ex-convict, Aminu Suleiman, 46, was arrested along with Haruna Abdurrahaman, 41, and Ojo Esezobor, 34, at Gadar Tamburawa area of the state on Saturday 14th October while 106 kilograms of cannabis were recovered from them. Aminu was first arrested with 22 kilograms of cannabis on 3rd June 2022 and convicted by the court on 24th November 2022. Four other suspects: Inusa Ali, Yahaya Musa, Abba Audu, Ali Abubakar, and Bunu Kyari were also arrested at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano last Monday for dealing in 75.3 kilograms of skunk.
He said while operatives of the Zone J Command of the agency seized 478 kilograms of cannabis in a forest in Ikere Ekiti last Friday, those of Ondo state command recovered a total of 928 kilograms of the same substance in a bush by Shagari market, along Ifon-Owo express road, and Ibola camp, Ipele forest.
In Borno state, a suspect, Sani Mohammed, 31, was arrested on Saturday 21st October with 182 kilograms of cannabis at Njimtilo, along Maiduguri – Damaturu road.
Babafemi said Commands across the 36 states and the FCT equally continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization lectures in schools, communities, work places and others. Some of these include: WADA sensitization lecture for students of Ogborhill Secondary School, Aba, Abia state; WADA sensitization lecture to Students of Nana Aisha Memorial Islamiyya Secondary School, Buba-Shongo, Gombe; WADA sensitization lecture at Awe High School, Awe, same at Smiles and Surprises Academy, Onna, Akwa Ibom; WADA sensitization lecture for students of Sango High School, Ijoko, Ogun state while the Zone C Command of NDLEA along with Kwara state command also had WADA sensitization town hall meeting with principals of secondary schools from five local government areas of the state.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) while commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of the NAIA, MMIA, Imo, Ondo, Kano, Edo, Zone J Commands as well as those of DOGI, charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the Agency to continue to remain vigilant and double their efforts especially with the desperation of criminal networks to make money by all means towards the end of the year season.
