Kano State House of Assembly Speaker Abdullahi Yusuf Atta has being impeached.
The impeachment took place on Monday morning.
The new Speaker, Alhaji Kabiru Alhassan Rurum(Turakin Rano) has been sworn in and already presiding over plenary.
Alhaji Alhassan Kabiru Rurum was the deputy Speaker and prior to that was the immediate past Speaker that resigned last year over bribery allegation .
He was later exonerated by the committee set up to investigate the allegation.
Imo State Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha has doled out one billion naira to each of the twenty (27) Local Government areas in the state.
The amount which totals twenty billion naira is according to the governor meant for rural roads and other Infrastructural developments in the council area.
Governor Okorocha who announced this on Wednesday during the presentation of the 2018 budget tagged Budget of Consolidation and Continuity III also reeled out over 1000 completed projects in various socio-economic sectors.
The budget estimate is 190,921,464,290 (One hundred and Ninety Billion, Nine Hundred and Twenty One Million, Four Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand, Two Hundred and Nine Naira
Out of this figure,the Imo state government is allocating 132,977,495,866 or 69.7% on Capital expenditure while recurrent expenditure is expected to gulp N57,943,968,424.
Speaking after the budget presentation, the SA Electronic Media to the Imo state governor Dr Ebere Nzewuji explained that the N1b given to each of the 27 local government areas in the State is not part of the 2018 budget.
According to him " it is part of the robust economic interventions of the administration in 2017 to enhance rural development in the state"
Nzewuji added that Governor Okorocha has also put in place mechanisms to ensure that the funds are well utilised in line with his administration's creed of good governance at all tiers of government.
The news of the sudden death of a vibrant, charismatic, humorous politician, a
Prince from Ikegwuruka Royal dynasty of Mgbirichi Ohaji Egbema local government area has reached our news desk with a big shock.
Prince Chinonye Ikegwuruka (Alums aluma Amara Dike) is a grassroot politician, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and 2019 Imo State House of Assembly aspirant.
According to information made available to Ifeanyicy.com, the Royal Prince was said to have slumped and died in his home at Mgbirichi Ohaji after attending political meeting last night.
Before his death, Prince Ikegwuruka was the pioneer chairman Consumer Protection Council CPC, Imo State during Governor Achike Udenwa regime . He was appointed Transition Committee Chairman of Ohaji Egbema LGA by former Governor of Imo State, Dr Ikedi Ohakim and later was elected the Local Government Chairman of Ohaji Egbema under Ikedi Ohakim administration. His tenure in office was affected by Governor Rochas Okorocha unconstitutional sack from office in 2011.
He is currently the South Coordinator consumers protection council, CPC, with office at Port Harcourt, Rivers State
(See-why)
In a lengthy discussion with PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday afternoon, Mr Melaye narrated his own version of what he said unfolded along the Abuja-Lokoja Highway.
In all, he confirmed he was not abducted, but that he was not the architect of his ordeal either.
He said he was travelling from Abuja to Lokoja for a court appearance on Thursday morning and shortly after passing Gwagwalada, which is roughly 50 kilometres southwest of Abuja, a convoy of three vehicles drove recklessly by his vehicle, intercepting him on the highway and forcing him to stop.
He said the assailants tried to open fire to force themselves into the vehicle, only to realise that it was a well-fortified vehicle with bullet-proof. Without much time to waste at the scene, the attackers devised an alternative.
“They started shouting that they wanted to burn me, they said ‘burn him, burn him down,’ and crossed the road to look for tyres to set the vehicle on fire,” Mr Melaye said.
As the attackers dispersed in different directions to scavenge for tyres, Mr Melaye said he feared for his life and made instinctive calculation to jump into the bush and bolt, rather than remained in the car in defiance.
“I jumped into the bush, and I started running,” Mr Melaye said. “They pursued me and I was able to outmanoeuvre them and climb a tree.
“I was on top of the three when I saw them run past looking frantically for me. When they didn’t find me, they also ran back.”
The senator said it was on the tree that he perched until his assailants left. While on the tree, he saw four of them passing, but remained hushed to avoid being detected.
He would go on to spend 11 hours trying to ensure that he was no longer at immediate risk from his assailants and navigating his way out of the overgrown weeds.
He also said he could not identify any of them, even if there is an identification parade by authorities, largely because he was more apprehensive of his survival than anything else at that traumatic moment.
Mr Melaye said he believed those who attempted to attack him were police-sponsored elements.
He said when he appeared in court on Wednesday for his attempted suicide trial at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo, he saw some men trailing him after the proceeding.
He described the vehicles the men were driving as two Toyota Hilux trucks and a Toyota Sienna minivan.
“They were exactly the same vehicle that were used to attack me on Thursday morning,” he said.
He was driving to Lokoja in a vehicle not previously known with him, in a bid to disguise his move to those who were trailing him.
“I was going in a totally different vehicle, but I asked my brother to drive behind me in an SUV as a back-up,” he said. “But I was shocked to see the attackers run into the middle, creating wall between my brother and I before attacking me.”
He said his brother immediately performed a U-turn, a task that was by and large seamless since he was not the target of the assailants.
(C) Premium Times
Operatives of the Federal Special Anti -Robbery Squad in the Imo State Police Command have arrested one Garrick Slacks , a dismissed United States soldier , for allegedly defrauding Nigerians with fake promises to secure visas and other travelling documents to US.
Southern City News learnt on Sunday that the suspect , who was arrested on Saturday , was in the custody of the state Police Command in Owerri .
The police source, who did not want his name in print , said , “He was a serial fraudster who had used his position as a foreigner to defraud Nigerians , who are desperate to travel abroad , especially to the US. ”
The source alleged that the dismissed soldier was in Nigeria on a special mission to defraud Nigerians , adding that he changed his location immediately money was paid to him .
“He is a serial and sophisticated fraudster . He was arrested this afternoon ( Saturday ) while he was hurriedly leaving Owerri for Port Harcourt .
“He is equally impersonating the US Army and Nigerian Army at the same time . His targets are mostly women . He would promise them marriage and tell them that he had the capacity to secure their visas and other travelling documents to America with his position as a colonel in the US Marine Army and as an American citizen .
“He has confessed to the crime and the forensic investigation we have done using his fingerprints revealed that he is a wanted man in California and he only ran to Nigeria in February to continue his heinous crimes .
“Just five days ago , he defrauded a young widow N 500 ,000 with a fake promise that he would secure stay visa for the widow’ s three children. He was about running away from Owerri before we tracked him. Could you imagine that the lady we used in tracking him, he had promised to marry her on meeting her for the first time this afternoon ( Saturday ) .”
Exhibits recovered from the suspect , according to the police included a cash of over N 2m , two pairs of military uniform, military fez cap , jungle boot , fake military identity card , fake driving licence and a car , which he used in making his fraud look real .
“All the exhibits we recovered from him are fake . The military identities which he used to make his fraudulent activities look genuine . He was even beating security men to this game until we nabbed him ,” he said .
When interviewed , the suspect told Southern City News that he was sorry for his actions and was ready to make amends if given the opportunity .
He admitted that he was dismissed from the US military in 2015 over his involvement in cocaine peddling .
He said that he came into the country in February and was ready to refund one of his victims ( the widow ) her money.
The widow , who was one of his victims , told our correspondent that she fell into the suspect ’s trap in her bid to afford good life for her three children.
The state Commissioner of Police , Mr Dasuki Galandanchi , confirmed the arrest .
He described the development as one of the dividends of community policing in the state as instructed by the Inspector -General of Police , Mr Ibrahim Idris .
Copyright PUNCH.
