By Wale Odunsi 

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba has suspended DCP Abba Kyari, the Head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

A statement by Force spokesman, Frank Mba said Kyari will remain out of service of the Nigeria Police Force pending the outcome of investigations.

The IGP, in his letter to the Police Service Commission, dated 31st July, 2021, noted that the suspension is in line with the internal disciplinary processes.

The suspension will help the panel to carry out its investigations into the weighty allegations against DCP Abba Kyari without interference.

The Special Investigation Panel (SIP) is headed by DIG Joseph Egbunike, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID).

The SIP will undertake a detailed review of all the allegations against Kyari by the United States Government as contained in relevant documents that have been availed the NPF by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The SIP will obtain detailed representation of Kyari to all the allegations levelled against him and submit recommendations to guide further actions by the Force leadership on the matter.

The IGP reaffirmed the commitment of the Force to the rule of law and assured the public of the sanctity of the probe as well as the absolute respect for Kyari’s rights and privileges.

1. A certain businessperson was looking for a lender to invest $15m to build a school in Qatar.

2. JUMA, a Kenyan based in Nairobi who works with HUSH tells the businessperson that he would provide the loan.

3.Hush claims to be a Malik that works in a US based bank would facilitate the payment of the loan.

4.Hush and Juma convinced the businessperson to make certain transactions under the guise of taxes among others to expedite the loan.

5.After receiving several amounts in hundreds of USD, Hush contacted CHIBUZOR to design a decoy website to deceive the businessperson that the loan has been secured and he can transfer the funds.

6.Chibuzor at a point felt Hush wasn’t paying well enough and promptly decided to contact the businessperson that Hush and Juma were scammers that he is the one that can help him.

7.Hush found out what Chibuzor has done, contacted our super cop DCP Abba KYARI and tells him how Chibuzor snitched him and stole his job of about $575k which he would have lost if he didn’t quickly intervene.

8.Hush calls Chibuzor and threatens to deal with him for snitching him and Juma. Hush then provides Kyari with Chibuzor’s phone numbers which was used to trace and pick him up.

9.Upon picking and locking Chibuzor up, Kyari sent pictures of Chibuzor in police custody to Hush and Hush confirms the detainee was indeed Chibuzor. Hush then tells Kyari he wants Chibuzor beaten blue black and gone for a very long time. Kyari agreed to Hush wishes.

10.Kyari then provided a Zenith bank account details to Hush where payments for the job and the boys would be made and an estimated N8m was made.

11.Chibuzor’s girlfriend runs around to gather money to secure his release and even contacted Hush to help provide funds to bail Chibuzor from custody. Hush sent her 100k and then contacted Kyari telling him what happened and reiterating… his wishes to Kyari to ensure Chibuzor is not released.

12.After a while in custody, Chibuzor got really sick and seemed to have contacted a disease in the cell was taken to a hospital for treatment, Kyari sent pictures of a sick and diseased Chibuzor to Hush. Hush said he sees Chibuzor is really sick but doesn’t pity him for what he has done. They both ended that conversation and agreed to release Chibuzor.

13.Back to the businessperson, he has noticed some irregularities in his dealings with Juma as Juma was his first contact and who brought Hush into play and realized Juma was scamming him. Hush who is still a supposed Malik a US based banker then contacts the businessperson that he could solve the issues but might have to pay another $180k.

14.The businessperson made this payments in 2 transactions of $100k and $80k. Hush didn’t tell Juma about this dealings with the businessperson.

15.The businessperson eventually realizes he is been defrauded and challenges Hush, alleging Hush and Juma are part of the same team and stopped all comms with Hush.

16.Other people involved in this case mentioned are one BOLATITO and another MORAYO. These people who provided US based bank accounts for the businessperson to transfer to, who then laundered the money to Hush via various means.

17.Among these means include the purchase and delivery of a Richard Mille watch of about $250k which Bolatito received from the seller and delivered to Morayo who then sent it to Hush in Dubai.

18.Hush also used proceeds of his deal to acquire citizenship and passport of St. Kitts. Hush used a fake Nigerian wedding certificate to a St. Kitts citizen and bribed some people to acquire this citizenship.

Source: Thread Reader App

Blessing Okagbare

By Solomon Elusoji  

One of Nigeria’s brightest chances of a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Blessing Okagbare, has been provisionally suspended from the competition.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the independent body created by the World Athletics that manages all integrity issues for the sport, announced the decision on Friday.

According to the AIU, Okagbare tested positive for Human Growth Hormone.

“Growth Hormone is a non-specified substance on the 2021 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List and a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules,” the AIU said in its statement.

“The AIU collected the sample from Ms. Okagbare during an out-of-competition test on 19 July. The WADA-accredited laboratory that analysed the sample notified the AIU of the adverse analytical finding at mid-day Central European Time yesterday, Friday 30 July.

“The athlete was notified of the adverse analytical finding and of her provisional suspension this morning in Tokyo.

“She was scheduled to participate in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m this evening.

“The AIU will make no further comment on this matter at this time.”

Okagbare and another Nigerian sprinter, Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha, had earlier qualified from their respective heats for the semi-finals.

But the ban means the end of the road for Okagbare, who was participating in her third Olympics.

Her suspension is the latest blow for Team Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics.

On Thursday, the AIU had disqualified 10 Nigerian athletes from the Tokyo games for not complying with out-of-competition drug testing requirements.

Rachael Oniga

The beautiful Talented Actress who still shot some scenes in a movie in Mowe ogun state earlier in the week passed on late friday night.

The news is coming at a time the movie industry is grappling with mixed issues and after mourning the death of another entertainer, Sound Sultan, who passed on early this month.

The cause of Oniga’s death was unknown at the time of this report.

Oniga, who was a veteran actress, featured in over a hundred movies.

A family source revealed how veteran Nigerian actress, Rachael Oniga passed on. The source, who pleaded anonymity, said the popular actress died in Lagos.

It was also learnt that the light skinned talented thespian gave up the ghost early Saturday morning at her residence after being in and out of hospital for an undisclosed illness.

Her family is said to be devastated by the shock of her death, although they are yet to issue an official statement.

By Afeez Hanafi

The slain Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga, has been buried at Ebony Vaults, Ikoyi, Lagos.

He was buried around 12.30pm in a low-key ceremony attended by his family members, including his wife, and friends.

Journalists were restricted from covering some aspects of the burial. Photos taken by our correspondent were also deleted by a relation of the deceased.

His corpse was found on June 16 at a short let apartment on Adebowale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase I where he had checked in with his lover, 21-year-old Chidinma Ojukwu, a 300-level Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos.

Ojukwu was consequently arrested on June 23 in her father’s house in Yaba and paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.

She confessed to having stabbed Ataga multiple times with a knife under the influence of alcohol.

The young lady, who fled the crime scene and withdrew a sum of N380,000 from the victim’s account with his ATM card, later backtracked in a video, absolving herself from the murder.

The ramifications from the $1.1 million fraud case involving celebrated influencer Hushpuppi continues as a United States’ Court has issued a warrant of arrest for Nigeria’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari.

Kayri, according to court documents, was implicated over his role in the fraud perpetrated by serial internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas better known as Ray Hushpuppi.

Federal authorities in the U.S. have been investigating Hushpuppi, 46, and his co-conspirators after their syndicate was busted in Dubai, New York and other top cities in June 2020.

According to the court document shared by Peoples Gazette, Hushpuppi disclosed during interrogation that he paid bribe to Kyari, a deputy police commissioner, to have one of his rival, Kelly Chibuzor Vincent arrested and jailed in Nigeria following a dispute over a $1.1 million scam of a Qatari businessperson.

In the latest development, Otis Wright of United States District Court for Central District of California on Thursday ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track down Kyari and produce him in the United States.

Revealing the chronology of events that unravelled the investigations, American prosecutors first sought a court warrant to arrest Kyari on February 12, 2021, and another warrant was requested on April 29, 2021.

Judge Wright’s permission for the FBI to arrest Kyari and hold him in U.S. custody was unsealed on July 26.

In a rebuttal on Thursday, Kyari denied allegations of conspiracy with Hushpuppi.

The Federal Government is yet to issue an official statement regarding this turn of events.

The Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has chosen to build its laboratory complex in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, so says its Director General, Farouk Salim.

The laboratory will be cited at the sprawling Ayade Industrial Park, Calabar which houses a cluster of industries built by the Professor Ben Ayade-led administration.

Speaking during inspection of the Park, Salim said the sheer size of the industrial park and the industries therein was amazing despite Cross River's meagre federal allocation.

"It is amazing what has been done here by His Excellency and to think it was done despite Cross River being number 35 out of 36 in the country in terms of allocation.

"It's amazing that with that little income the state has been able to harness and build such a facility. It is quite impressive and the most important thing about this facility is that locally, it is going to create many opportunities for people from farmers, to processors and to the off-takers who sell the products. It is a very interesting and a special approach by a state government which I have not seen such so far in the country.”

Paying glowing tribute to the governor, the SON DG said: "His Excellency is a man of foresight , as a Professor with great ideas, it looks like there is more harmony between Cross River State and the federal government which is the most important thing because if there is harmony there is going to be progress. The federal government has every reason to contribute to Cross River State because they are now part of the harmonious relationship with the federal government.”

He described the industrial park as "one of the choice areas in the state and it is a wonderful opportunity for our organization to site our operations here.”

Salim expressed SON's readiness to certify the products of the industrial park after passing through the certification process.

Responding, governor Ayade thanked SON for the decision to cite its laboratory  complex in Calabar, describing the move as a validation of his industrialisation policy and dividend of socketing to the central government.

"Coming here and feeling excited by what we have done so far, for me, is a vindication and basically a socio political accreditation of my achievements. I want to thank him so much for the encouraging words, thank you for willingness and committment.

"But I think Cross Riverians should know at this point that our socketing into the centre by moving to the APC is beginning to yield far much more dividends at a speed I never imagined.

"Today we have SON here, not by any proxy but by the DG himself coming here, making a choice of a location to build a SON complex in Calabar and we have given them a place at our ultra modern industrial park.

"I am quite excited at the opportunity that SON is bringing to Cross River State and this would not have been possible if we didn't have this socketing to the centre principle. I agree that the harmony existing between federal government and Cross River at this point is so strong and much better and Cross Riverians should expect to see more of this", the governor said.

The governor explained that his industrialisation drive was driven from anthropological perspective "to create jobs for our people.”

President Muhammadu Buhari says nobody can succeed outside their educational qualification, hence Nigerians are aware of the priority of education.

Speaking on Thursday during a panel session at the global education summit, in London, United Kingdom, the president said his administration is committed to raising the budget for education by 50 per cent in the next two years, adding that Nigeria will attain 100 per cent budgetary increase by 2025.

He said no Nigerian parent jokes with education, as they are aware that if their children missed the opportunity of being educated, they have missed a lot.

Buhari noted that the population of the country is a challenge for any administration; but despite this, the government and people have realised that education is the starting point for success.

“You can’t succeed outside your educational qualification. Anybody who missed education has missed everything. Nigerians are acutely aware of the priority of education, and parents are making sacrifices to ensure that their children and wards get educated,” Buhari said.

On the panel with Buhari were Presidents Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi.

The presidents spoke on the peculiarities of the education sector in their countries, and how budgetary provisions would be increased to ameliorate the situation.

By Joseph Jibueze (The Nation)

The Police and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Tuesday urged Nigerians to stop offering their officers a bribe.

They also urged the public to report any officer who demands a bribe.

The two agencies were among participants at a one-day virtual stakeholder dialogue on “effective and sustainable strategies for curbing retail corruption” organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC).

PACAC Executive Secretary Prof Sadiq Radda said citizens have a critical role to play in ending petty (retail) corruption, most of which occur in form of bribery.

He believes retail corruption can be reduced when citizens are law-abiding and comply with the rules, and when institutions play their roles effectively.

“Cutting corners is why we have retail corruption. There are processes for getting things done. We should have respect for process and procedures,” he said.

Radda called for the deployment of technology to automate the processes that are prone to abuse.

He added that government agencies have a duty to provide quality and efficient service delivery to achieve a system where average Nigerians would not need to cut corners or get frustrated.

A Deputy Commissioner of Police, Olaolu Adegbite, of the Force Intelligence Bureau, urged Nigerians to report infractions by officers and men to the X-Squad, the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit and the Police Complaint Response Unit (PCRU).

“The X-Squad monitors unethical conduct. Citizens can approach the squad with information.

“The IG Monitoring Unit also conducts sting operations and arrests officers in the field and makes recoveries. Citizens must provide support through evidence.

“Citizens should stop the act of offering bribe and gratification, which is a crime under the Criminal Code,” he said.

A senior FRSC official, Ntukidem Godwin, said the Corps has deployed technology through body cameras to monitor officers’ field activities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that there are plans to replicate it in other states.

He said Nigerians who comply with traffic rules do not have a reason to offer a bribe to road safety officers.

“Don’t commit traffic violations and don’t offer our officers bribe. Don’t tempt us with bribe so that we can let you go,” he said.

Godwin added that some members of the public who make reports hardly present evidence, which makes it difficult to sanction erring officers.

The event featured a keynote address by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) chairman Prof Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), represented by Dr Chris Chinda.

Senate Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes Committee Chairman Senator Suleiman Abdul Kwari was represented by his advisor Ashley Emenike.

Other speakers included Abiodun Aikhomu of the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, Usman Dakinviri of the Nigeria Customs Service, and the Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) Debo Adeniran, amongst others.

The Presidency has explained why Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari always seek medical attention abroad.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi  Adesina gave the explanation in an interview with Channels TV on Wednesday.

He said:

“President Buhari has been with the same doctors and medical team for upward of 40 years.

“It’s advisable that he continues with those who know his medical history and that is why he comes to London to see them. He has used the same medical team for over 40 years. Once you can afford it, then stay with the team that has your history.”

Nigeria’s D’Tigers fell apart in the fourth quarter of their second game at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to lose 92 – 99 to Germany in the early hours of Wednesday.

Coming from a disappointing loss to Australia, D’Tigers secured the first basket via Miami Heat Point guard Gabe Vincent and accumulated most of their points via three pointers, an improvement from the performance in their first game.

Germany also having suffered a first match loss to Italy made it and end-to-end game inspired by Orlando Magic’s Moritz Wagner and Danilo Barthel.

D'Tigers Tokyo Olympics basketball

The points were tied at half-time (50-50) and at the end of the third quarter (74-74) making it a frantic fourth quarter where Germany took the game beyond Nigeria.

Nigeria at some point in the game led with as much as twelve points but didn’t do enough defensively, giving away fouls the Germans easily converted from the free throw line.

D'Tigers Tokyo Olympics basketball

The duo of Miye Oni and Jordan Nwora led the scoring for Nigeria with their three pointers gathering 15 and 33 points respectively.

A late surge from D’Tigers was not enough as Germany got their first win of the competition. Nigeria will play Italy next on Saturday as their chances of qualifying for the next round now hangs in the balance.

By Grace Obike

The Federal Government has urged landlords of private property to start charging their tenants monthly, quarterly or half-year rents, instead of the current practice of charging one, two to three years of advance rents.

It noted that in the post-COVID-19 era, most tenants are owing rents or facing eviction.

The government said it was evident that most houses available for sale or rent belong mostly to individuals and private companies, compared to those the state or the Federal Government could provide.

Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola said this yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 15th Abuja Housing Show.

The minister, who was represented by the Minister of State for Works and Housing, Abubakar Aliyu, said: “It is evident that most houses available for sale or rent belong mostly to individuals and private companies, compared to those the state or Federal Government have available.

“Therefore, many of the tenants who owe rent, who face eviction or who seek to rent or buy property due to the pandemic are dealing with private citizens or companies and less so with government agencies.

“Consequently, my recommendation for improving access and affordability in the COVID-19 era and beyond, as presented at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting and which is still apt for this gathering, is for private companies and individuals to give back some of what they control to citizens in the way that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has given back to citizens some of what it controls.

“For example, in- cases where the rents of businesses or some individuals are due for renewal, the private landlords can give back by accepting monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly rents, instead of one, two or three years rents in advance.

“The risk of defaults can be secured by bank guarantees or insurance bonds provided by the tenants or the employer in exchange for a direct debit mandate from the employee for the deduction of his rent from his salary to pay the landlord.

“Where rent has fallen into arrears, it is possible to emulate what the FGN did through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reschedule payment on loans by rescheduling the payment for the tenant to more affordable terms, instead of adopting eviction.”

By Obio Monday

The University of Calabar has been ranked the fourth best university in Nigeria by AD Scientific Index, a leading global ranking body based in Turkey, GRASSROOT REPORTERS reports.

The 2021 ranking which is the latest, was released by the body on Monday.

According to the 2021 “World Scientists and University Rankings’’, the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) were placed as the best three universities in Nigeria based on the quality of their scientists, while University of Calabar (UNICAL) came fourth and Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) came fifth-best in Nigeria on the rankings.

The ranking body also stated that University of Calabar ranks 1944th in the world and 42nd in Africa, listing Prof. Anthony Egrinya Eneji as the best scientist from the institution.

AD Scientific Index further added that the University of Ibadan ranked 19th in Africa and 1,350 in the world, while the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, occupied the 25th spot on the continent and 1,522 globally.

AD Scientific Index also stated that Harvard University made the top spot on the global list, while the University of Cape Town, South Africa, was adjudged the best institution in Africa.

The body said on its website:

"In the presence of many different university ranking systems, as the "AD Scientific Index", we have developed a ranking system with a different methodology based on the principle of including only meritorious scientists. Based on Google Scholar’s total h-index scores, we have listed all academicians, who are ranked in the world in the top 10,000 and top 100,000 in university rankings. Furthermore, we have listed the breakdown of this ranking by main subjects. As the order of ranking principles, we used the overall top 10,000 scientists list primarily. Secondly, we used the ranking in the top 100,000 scientists list. 

"Thirdly, the total number of scientists in the AD Scientific Index was ranked by the university. In the case of equalities within a university ranking, we used the highest rank of the scientist in the respective university as it is listed in the world ranking."

See full ranking of Nigerian universities and best scientists here

By Obio Monday

The Cross River State Police Command has vowed to deal ruthlessly with hoodlum, gangster, cultist or cult group trying to disrupt the relative peace enjoyed in the state.

The command warned cult groups attempting to resume cult war in the state to jettisoned such plan or be met with adequate force from the police.

This was made known by State Commissioner of Police, CP Sikiru Akande in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Irene Ugbo on Monday, and made available to GRASSROOT REPORTERS.

The statement said that cult groups have concluded plans to cause mayhem by disturbing the peace of law-abiding citizens and the police was aware.

The statemtent read:

“The attention of Cross River State Police command has been drawn to plans by some hoodlums, gangsters under the guise of cult supremacy are planning to wreak havoc as well as disturb the peace of law-abiding citizens.

“We are by this notice warning any group with such intention to jettison the idea as such activities would be met with adequate force, anyone caught would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“The police will not fold its arms and watch unscrupulous elements disrupt the relative peace that the state has enjoyed over time as we intend to maintain that status of the most peaceful state in the country.

“Students commenced exams and some cult groups are intending to cause mayhem for the benefit of the doubt we have infiltrated all tertiary Institutions across the State to nip such attack in the bud, we will be proactive in our approach to deal decisively with any threat.

“All law-abiding citizens should go about their lawful activities without fear as we are watching and never resting on our oars in making sure that our state is safe".

President Muhammadu Buhari will today Monday July 26, 2021, travel to the United Kingdom to participate in the Global Education Summit on Financing Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2021-2025.

After the Summit, the President will spend a few days for an earlier scheduled medical check-up. He is due back by second week of August, 2021.

A statement by the Mr.  Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity said

"The Summit, which will be co-hosted by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, and the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, will bring together Heads of State and Government as well as stakeholders and youth leaders, and provide a platform for partners to chart a way forward towards transforming education systems in partner countries, through exchange of best practices.

"It will also offer the opportunity for leaders to make 5-year pledges to support GPE's work to help transform education systems in up to 90 countries and territories.

Deliberations at the Summit will focus on: The Power of Education –A Conversation between Global Champions; Transforming Education for Girls; Financing for Impact and Recovery and; What Now? Priorities for Transforming Education in the Coming Five Years, among others.

President Buhari will also hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"The President will be accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of State Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd) and Director General of National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar". The statement read.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to resume the industrial action it suspended since December 2020 over the Federal Government’s alleged failure to honour many of the agreements it signed with the Union.

The Chairperson, ASUU, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Dr. Ibrahim Inuwa, stated this while speaking with select journalists at the Union’s Secretariat.

He said the protracted strike, which was to press home their demands for the continuous survival of public university system in Nigeria, was suspended in December after the two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the various issues providing timelines for the implementation of each of the eight items.

Inuwa, who said that over seven months after the MoU was signed, only two out of the eight issues have been addressed, listed some of the issues to include Earned Academic Allowance, Funding for revitalisation of public universities, Salary shortfall, Proliferation of state universities and Visitation Panel.

Others, he added, are Renegotiation, Replacement of the Integrated payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and withheld salaries and non-remittance of Check-off Dues but “only salary shortfall and visitation panels to federal universities have been addressed.”

He said, “Renegotiation of the 2009 agreement which would have been completed within eight weeks from the date of inauguration of the committee has up till now not been concluded, even though the Committee was inaugurated since December 2020.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria willingly agreed that the UTAS will replace the IPPIS as a payment platform in Federal Universities after it passed an integrity test. However, soon after the agreement, agents of the FGN are doing everything possible to frustrate the coming of UTAS onboard.

“Meanwhile the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation through the IPPIS office have continued to omit our members from payment of salaries while others experience serious salary amputation. We are convinced this is done in connivance with the University Administration through the distortion of our members’ personal details.

“In the meantime, IPPIS appears to be the corruption headquarters of the Federal Civil service, as exemplified by double payment of salaries to employees, payment of salaries to non-employees, over taxation, dubious amputation of salaries, etc.”

Inuwa stated that the body language of the federal government on the proliferation of State Universities shows that they are not willing to put a stop to it stressing that instead, the federal government itself has joined in the Proliferation of Universities ignoring the obvious challenges of funding.

He further stated that it is obvious to the Union that the OAGF is deliberately omitting its members from payment of Salaries and withholding check off dues as a ploy for victimization and coercion to enroll ASUU members into IPPIs.

“This plague,” he said, “has been evident across all Federal Universities in Nigeria since February, 2020. This to us is an outright act of ingratitude on the part of the Government for the sacrifices members of ASUU are making in order to establish a progressive nation. A clear case of punishing citizens for being patriotic.”

Inuwa declared that “Enough is enough. ASUU is fed up with deceptive antics of the federal government of Nigeria.

“The University Campuses are becoming restive across the length and breadth as Academics are threatening to shut down activities once again. This is coming as a result of the failure of the FGN to implement many aspects of the memorandum of Action it willingly signed with ASUU that ended the last strike in December, 2020.

“Given the glaring and deliberate failure of Government to honour the agreement it willingly signed with the Union, it is becoming obvious that industrial harmony is gradually being destroyed in the University Campuses.

“We, therefore, call on well-meaning Nigerians to wake up the FGN from its slumber to avoid another disruption of academic activities on Universities Campuses across the nation” adding that “the atmosphere is tensed and charged.”

Source: PUNCH

Edem, ranked 123 defeated the 67th-ranked Madaraz 11-8 11-9 11-9 in the first three sets. She lost the fourth set 9-11 but won the fifth deciding set 11-4. In the second round, Edem will face the 30th-ranked American, Lily Zhang on Monday at 4 am Nigeria time.

A 16-year-old girl identified as Favour was on Thursday, July 22, made to tie a dead child on her back for hours after she was accused of allegedly feeding the dead child with a poisonous leaf known as 'Gegemu' in Yoruba (botanical name: Datura stramonium).

The incident took place in Kiagbodo, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta.

GRASSROOT REPORTERS gathered that the child, identified as 6-year-old Friday Okoko was rushed to General Hospital, Kiagbodo, where he was pronounced dead by the doctor on duty.

It is not independently clear whether the said leaf was responsible for the death of the child, but the family of the child believes their child died from complications arising from the ingestion of the leaf.

Eyewitnesses who spoke with GRASSROOT REPORTERS expressed sadness over the incident.

A brother of the deceased who spoke on condition of anonymity said the child fell ill  few weeks ago and was rushed to the hospital where he was treated and discharged, but fell ill again on Thursday morning. He added that before his brother died, he told them that the accused (Favour), gave him the poisonous leaf to eat.

As of the time of filing this report, no security official was seen by our correspondent at the scene of the incident.

Scene from a violent protest

 Judex Okoro (Daily Sun)

Hoodlums reportedly invaded Ayade Industrial Park along Goodluck Jonathan By-Pass in Calabar Metropolis and allegedly stabbed a security man on duty.

The incident occurred about 1:00pm on Monday when a criminal gang numbering about 8 invaded the industrial estate through the back of Calachika Factory allegedly to kidnap some of the workers.

An eyewitness told Daily Sun that 8 young men armed to the teeth tried to enter the factory through the back, but a security officer on duty quickly saw one of them and accosted him.

The account said immediately one of the hoodlums saw the security man he brought out a sharp knife and stabbed the officer, who defended with one of his hands and consequently one of the fingers was cut off in the process.

The officer, realising that they were armed men, raised the alarm which attracted attention of other officers and workers who in turn made serieis of calls to different security units in the state calling for help.

Confirming the incident, the Permanent Secretary in charge of security in Governor’s Office, Dr Alfred Mboto, said the they got a distress call that some criminals have invaded the Industrial Park and he immediately dispatched Operation Akpakwu, the state-owned sscurity outfit, to move in for rescue.

Mboto said Operation Akpakwu has brought the matter under control and are in the trail of the hoodlums, adding that “they had cardoned off the entire area and are combing the swamp to fish them out.”

Also reacting, the Commissioner for Industry, Mr Peter Egba, said: “It is true that some gang of criminals tried to invade the the Indudtrial Park, but luck ran out on them as the plain cloth security men responded promptly. You know that at the back of Calachika Factory is a swampy area. So they came through there not knowing out security men area on ground.

“I can also confirm that one of the security men was stabbed on of his fingers for daring them. But he is in a stable condition as the finger is being stitched at Univeristy of Calabar Teaching Hosptial, UCTH. So no cause to panic”

As at the time of filing this report workers have all ran for their safety while a team of stern-looking security officers have drafted to take over the park.