Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been involved in a car crash, his spokesman said.
He was however not seriously injured.
The president was travelling in a motorcade through Kyiv on Wednesday when a passenger car collided with the presidential vehicle and his escort, Sergii Nykyforov said in a short statement.
“The president was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found,” he said.
The driver of the car that collided with the motorcade was treated at the scene and driven away in an ambulance, BBC reports.
Mr Nykyforov said all the circumstances of the traffic accident were being investigated by law enforcement officers but provided no further details.
This comes after President Zelensky, 44, visited the recaptured city of Izyum, a key logistics hub in north-eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday.
He thanked troops who took part in a swift counter-attack against Russian occupiers, and oversaw a flag-raising ceremony.
In recent days, Ukraine’s army has reclaimed swathes of occupied territory, forcing Russian troops to retreat.
Nigerian-born American professor, Uju Anya, has said her life has been under threat since her Thursday tweet on the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Anya, who is a Professor of Second Language Acquisition, Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University, United States of America, spoke exclusively to The PUNCH on Sunday afternoon.
Anya, on Thursday, at the news of the Queen’s ill health wrote, “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”
Although the tweet had since been deleted for violating ‘Twitter rules’, Anya confirmed to The PUNCH that her account had also been ‘logged off’ of the micro-blogging site for the same reason.
She accused Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, of inciting the public against her and putting her in harm’s way.
Bezos, rumoured to be a huge donator to the school Anya teaches, had quoted her post, saying, “This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow.”
Anya had replied Bezos, “May everyone you and your merciless greed have harmed in this world remember you as fondly as I remember my colonisers.”
In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, Anya noted that some persons were impersonating her and had linked her to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, which, according to her, is false.
She said, “I feel like my life is in danger. I don’t feel safe anymore because of these lies being peddled around against me. I left Facebook four years ago. I don’t have a Facebook account. People are putting out fake statements, saying I am a member and financier of IPOB or Independent Biafra or any political candidate like that, and they are using a fake Facebook account that bears my name. It is a lie. There is nothing like that.
“Some online blogs have been peddling fake rumours about me. I have not issued any statement since Thursday. The PUNCH is the first and (will be) the only Nigerian medium I have spoken to.
“It is urgent that the world knows that these people are trying to put me in harm’s way. Nothing that anybody sees with my name on Facebook is true. I am not a member of IPOB.
“They are using me for political movements and messages that I do not align with, and they are seriously damaging me and my safety.
“This is going to be a huge problem for me. What if the Nigerian government considers me a terrorist and wants to arrest me? They are putting my life in danger.”
The Department of State Services (DSS) has told a Federal High Court, Abuja, that the detained terrorists’ negotiator, Tukur Mamu is part of an international terrorist network using the cover of journalism to commit crime.
According to ThisDay, the DSS’ allegation forms part of an affidavit presented before a Federal High Court, Abuja, to secure the court’s permission to keep Mamu in custody, pending the conclusion of its investigation.
Mamu was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport after he was repatriated from Egypt where he had been detained while on his way to Saudi Arabia.
Mamu, an aide to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a popular Islamic cleric, has been involved in negotiations for the release of persons abducted during an attack on a Kaduna-bound train in March.
According to the DSS, Mamu who had negotiated the release of some victims kidnapped by terrorists during the Abuja -Kaduna train attack, was arrested on his way to meet some top international terrorists at a forum in Saudi Arabia.
In the affidavit in support of its ex-parte application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022, the secret police pleaded with the court to allow it to keep the journalist for further investigation because it has established an act of terrorism financing against him.
Following the submission, Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered that Mamu should be detained for another 60 days, adding that if the secret police were not done with their investigation within the period, the agency could renew the detention order.
In the motion dated and filed on September 12, by its lawyer, Mr U. N. Dauda, the DSS sought “an order enabling the State Security Service/applicant to detain the respondent (Mamu) for a period of Sixty (60) days in the first instance, pending the conclusion of investigation.”
The deponent of the affidavit, Mr Hamza Pandogari, a legal officer with the DSS, had told the court why it was necessary to detain Mamu for 60 days in the first instance, pending the conclusion of the investigation of various acts of terrorism against him.
According to the affidavit, “the self-acclaimed Kaduna train negotiator exploit the opportunity to perpetrate, aid and abets as well as render support to both local and international terrorist organisations”.
The DSS added that Mamu, “was intercepted by the Nigerian foreign partners at Cairo, Egypt, on September 6, 2022, while on his way to Saudi Arabia for a clandestine meeting with commanders and top leaders of terrorist organisations across the globe”.
The deponent said that upon his interception, and subsequent repatriation to Nigeria, a duly signed search warrant was executed in his residence and office at No. 4, Ali Ladan Street, Sabon Kawo GRA and No. 14, Mamona Road, Anguwan Sarki, Kaduna State and various exhibits and items to establish his complicity with terrorists were recovered.
Some of the items the agency said it recovered from Mamu’s residence and office include; 151 dollars, 20 pounds sterling; 1, 530 Indian Rupees; one Saudi Riyald; 70 Dirham; one million, five hundred and six thousand naira; and 16 assorted foreign coins.
The DSS also alleged that two packs of pump action cartridges; 16 ATM cards from both local and foreign banks; seven cheque books of different banks; six laptops; four tablets; 24 handsets and three international passports belonging to Mamu; one firearm licence; eight pieces of Nigerian Army uniforms; 16 pieces of Nigerian Naval uniforms were recovered from the suspect.
The agency claimed that the “preliminary investigation so far established, amongst others, is the offences of logistic supplier, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism as well as terrorism financing”.
The DSS in addition claimed that the defendant (Mamu) has used the cover of his profession as a journalist to aid both local and international terrorist groups.
“That the action of the defendant has orchestrated the untimely death of several security personnel in North Central and North East parts of Nigeria.
“That the defendant has discreetly given several information to bandits and terrorists that escalated various acts of terrorism in Nigeria.
“That the investigation has assumed a wider dimension and sophistication requiring time and advanced expertise to conclude.
“That some of the suspects working with the defendant are at large and premature release of the defendant will jeopardise the ongoing investigation.
“That it is in the interest of justice and national security to grant this application. That the activities of the defendant and his associates at large constitute a potent threat to the unity and peaceful co-existence of Nigeria”.
Pensioners in Anambra State have expressed happiness with the plans by Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration to defray the gratuity arrears owed them since the regime of former Chinwoke Mbadinuju.
They are also excited that the existing cordial relationship between them and the state government would continue unhindered especially if Governor Soludo would redouble his efforts at liquidating the arrears owed them by his predecessor, former Governor Willie Obiano’s administration.
Chairman of the state chapter of Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, Anthony Ugozor, who spoke in Awka, said Soludo had been paying the pensioners their monthly pensions as at when due since he assumed office in March.
Ugozor who spoke against the backdrop of arrears of pensions and gratuities owed them since former Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju administration, which he said Governor Soludo has referred to the state House of Assembly.
According to Ugozor, “The administration of Obiano owed us arrears and left, but we met the current governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, concerning the problems of all the pensioners in the state, and the matter is now before the House of Assembly.
“We have met the lawmakers twice and they have also invited the ministry concerned Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, but officials of the ministry have refused to honour the invitation.
“Since they have failed to come on two occasions they were invited, the House committee has written again, warning that if they fail to come at the next meeting, it will use every power available to it to address the issue”.
On the issue of gratuities, he said Governor Soludo has decided to keep money aside every month and when it reaches N300million, he will divide and share it among pensioners who are owed. He will use N150million to pay the state pensioners and the other N150million for the local government pensioners. He has started doing it. It is a way of gradually liquidating the arrears and it is very impressive.
“We petitioned the Assembly and they invited us and we gave them some documents. It is the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, which supervises the Joint Action Committee, JAC that has been invited. Although it is not the problem of the present officers at the ministry, since the government is a continuum, they have to be invited. The most important thing is for the money to be paid to us”.
The Court of appeal in Abuja has struck out the motion for an accelerated hearing filed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Sonia Ekweremadu, the ailing daughter of the detained former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has appealed to members of the public to donate a kidney to save her life.
The PUNCH had reported that Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, were arrested by the Specialist Crime Team of the Metropolitan Police in London, United Kingdom, for bringing a child into the country to allegedly harvest his organs.
They were arrested in June 2022 at the Heathrow Airport in London and arraigned before a UK Magistrate’s Court.
While Ekweremadu’s wife was granted bail by a criminal court in London, the Senator was denied the same and had been in the custody of UK authorities since June 23.
Checks by The PUNCH revealed that Ekweremadu had spent no fewer than 82 days in prison custody since his arrest in the UK. The case against him was recently adjourned till October 31, 2022.
However, as the politician continues to languish in prison, his ailing daughter, who expressed worry over her father’s health, in an emotional post on Instagram on Monday, appealed to members of the public to save her with a kidney donation.
Chronicling her ordeal using her Instagram handle, @soniaekw, Sonia, a graduate of Media and Communications, University of Coventry, said she dropped out of postgraduate studies after she was diagnosed with rare kidney disease.
In the statement titled, “Appeal for Kidney Donation by Sonia Ekweremadu,” the 25-year-old wrote, “I, Sonia Ekweremadu, hereby appeal to the general public to come to my aid and save my life. I was diagnosed with rare kidney disease, FSGS Nephrotic Syndrome.
My family has battled to save my life and has taken me to various hospitals but the illness persisted and kept degenerating. I am alive today by the special grace of God. I am presently in London, UK, receiving five hours of dialysis 3-4 times a week. This is at the expense of my family as I am not qualified for the NHS due to my immigration status.
“The last three years have been extremely challenging. The charges being faced by my parents in London presently are directly connected to my illness and have complicated matters for me and my family.
I do not intend to delve into details of this unfortunate development as the matter is still in court. I am however optimistic that the truth will prevail and it will end in praise to God. In the circumstance above, I am appealing to anybody whom it may please to assist me willingly with a kidney donation in the name of God.”
Sonia, who said her family members were eager to donate their kidneys knowing that she would do the same for them, explained that a comprehensive medical examination had shown that her case of nephrotic syndrome was a genetic illness and doctors advised against donation from any of her family members, noting that it would likely reoccur.
She said, “In the time that my father has been incarcerated, he has been diagnosed with acute kidney damage. Anybody that is moved by this appeal and wishes to donate his or her kidney to me may send an email to helpsonialive@gmail.com and include his or her name, phone number, email address and place of residence.
“Please, note that under the laws of England and Wales, organ donation must be purely driven by compassion and therefore no reward is involved.
“Finally, I have decided to commit and dedicate myself to helping people with the challenges of kidney disease, upon my full recovery. Thank you and God bless you.”
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved Judgment in the appeal filed by the leader of outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu challenging the seven charges against him by the Federal Government.
Kanu had filed the appeal through his lawyer Mike Ozekhome. He is facing charges bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony.
Some of the casualties of the attack on the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah have been identified. More than 6 persons reportedly lost their lives during the attack.
The convoy of the Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District came under heavy attack by gunmen suspected to be assassins at Nkwo Enugwu-Ukwu, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Though the police is yet to give further details of the Sunday evening attack, unconfirmed reports said 10 persons died in the attack.
According to our Reporter, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah lost his personal treasurer, Mr Ikechukwu Odum who is his most trusted aide. He also lost his personal assistant, Mr Goodness Mathias.
“Another man killed, who was not in the convoy of the Senator was identified as Onowu Agu-Ukwu Nri. He is said to be a titled chief in neighbouring Nri community, and had just driven to Enugwu-Ukwu to drop someone who visited him, who would be traveling to Lagos this morning, and he was unlucky to be at that point at the time when Senator Ubah was going to be attacked.
“He was driving a big SUV, so the assassins may have thought he was in the same convoy with the senator, and he was gunned down.”
Other people identified to have been killed were six Mobile Police Men who were riding in the convoy of the Senator, and a driver, who was said to be driving one of Ubah’s cars.
The attack has been described as an assassination attempt on the senator, as eyewitnesses said the gunmen targeted every car in his convoy, especially his security men, and riddled them with bullets.
“In the confusion yesterday, all the cars were just hitting each other. Since the vehicle the senator was driving in was a bullet proof car, his driver managed to manoeuvre out of the damaged cars and drive away, even as it was being shot at,” the source narrated.
An unspecified number of police operatives have been killed at Enugwu-Ukwu community in Njikoka Local Government Area as unidentified gunmen attacked the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.
Sources said the gunmen opened fire on the convoy, and police operatives in the convoyed responded, but about six policemen were gunned down.
The source said the gunmen may have been after the senator, but there are no evidence to prove this.
A Blogger reported that Sen Ifeanyi Ubah was attacked today by Hired killers in Enugwu Ukwu. It was a calculated attempt. It wasn’t an impromptu stuff.
“Information was gathered about the time of movement and takeoff. The policemen were about four in numbers and they were attacked.
“All their arms were collected.The boys that spearheaded that attack were about nine in numbers.”
But another source who begged not to be named said six policemen were killed in the attack.
We could not reach Senator Ubah for confirmation as his line remained busy all through.
The spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga confirmed that there was an attack on men of the command at Enugwu-Ukwu, but insisted that the casualty figure remained unknown.
He said: “Yes, there was an attack at Enugwu-Ukwu today, but the casualty figure is not clear. As I speak to you, the CP has personally led a team of men to the scene, and normalcy has been restored.”
He promised that brief journalists on the findings of the command.
Anglican Diocese of Anambra State, Rev. Barr. Ogbuchukwu Makuo Lotanna has just resigned from being a priest in the Anglican Diocese, with plans to kick off a movement that supports Polygamy.
To Reverend Ogbuchukwu, Polygamy is not bad. He said he has taken his time to discover the truth about Polygamy, which the Church has been hiding for a very long time. He claimed that he has received a divine mandate from God to kick off a movement in support of Polygamy called ‘Gideonites’ and that their place of worship will be called ‘Gideonites temple’.
Reverend Ogbuchukwu who is a legal practitioner has also advised men to marry their side chicks, instead of sleeping around with women who they’re not married to. He said that it will help in reducing sexual sins.
Reverend Ogbuchukwu also said that what God hates is unnecessary divorce, and not Polygamy. – Ndi Igbo page……..
