No fewer than 17 suspected thugs, who were planning a violent protest in the metropolitan city of Kano, were nabbed by the Kano State Police Command on Wednesday following credible intelligence reports.

The suspected thugs were arrested by the police in collaboration with adequate sister security agencies who were deployed with adequate personnel and assets to strategic locations within the Kano metropolis to prevent and arrest the thugs.

To this end, the Kano State Police Command, in a press statement issued by its spokesman, S. P. Abdullahi Haruna, on Wednesday, informed members of the public that adequate security measures had been put in place to prevent any potential breakdown of law and order in the state.

“As a result of these proactive measures, 17 suspected thugs have been arrested, and an investigation is ongoing. The command is committed to ensuring that the perpetrators of this planned violence are brought to justice.

“The command is using this platform to warn all individuals and groups against engaging in any form of unlawful gathering, procession, or violence. Such actions will be met with a swift and decisive response from the security agencies.

“We urge the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the security agencies. The command expressed appreciation for the cooperation and support of the good people of Kano State in our efforts to maintain peace and order.”

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Hundreds of people of Azumini Ndoki, Ukwa East local government area, Abia State have protested peacefully against alleged territorial encroachment by the Akwa Ibom State government.

The protesters, displaying placards with various inscriptions, accused the Akwa Ibom State government of extending a road project into the community based on a verbal approval by the Abia State government.

They lamented that to the best of their knowledge, there is no formal agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Abia and Akwa Ibom State governments on the project.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP, some of the community leaders, including Ogbo Ubani, pointed out the need for proper documentation of the project to avoid future boundary disputes between the states.

Ubani said the people are apprehensive about the project because of boundary disputes they are at present having with their neighbours in Akwa Ibom State “and don’t want to add another one to them”.

Contributing, the president, Azumini Welfare Association, Azubuike Nwankwo, noted that the people insisted on such agreement not verbal “which could be denied any moment”.

Nwankwo maintained, “With no such agreement or a MoU, we’re worried that we may wake up one day to find that we have been ceded to Akwa Ibom State by our own state government.”

In a reaction, the secretary of the community’s interim administrative committee, Fidelis Nnah, faulted a reported payment of compensation by the Akwa Ibom State government to owners of properties along the road.

The legal practitioner, therefore, questioned the rationale behind Akwa-Ibom State government revoking properties in Abia State territory and paying compensation for them.

“Such payment, in fact” according  to the secretary, “should be the sole responsibility of the Abia State government where Azumini belongs not Akwa-Ibom State at all.”

Addressing the protesters, the mayor of the area, Chibunna Akara urged them to remain calm and peaceful, and not to take laws into their hands to express their grievances.

Represented by the secretary to the council, Iheanyi Adindu, he assured them that their message would be conveyed to the Abia State government for amicable resolution of the matter.

 

The youths of Ohaji in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State have expressed anger at the slow pace of remedial works going on at the Owerri-Port-Harcourt Road by the contractors and threatened a peaceful protest.

The warning was handed down at an extraordinary meeting of the National Council of Ohaji Youths, according to a communique signed by the National President, Comrade Nicholas Tochi Nwosu and the Secretary, Edi Victor Okezuo, made available to TheNigerian Metro on Tuesday.

The youths warned that if their demands were not met within the shortest possible time, they would be forced to mobilise for a peaceful protest to demand justice for their suffering people.

The group maintained that they would not fold their arms while their people suffer due to the government’s neglect and contractor’s inefficiency.

The communique partly read, “The remedial work done so far on the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road is inadequate, as several sections remain impassable, leading to frequent accidents, vehicle breakdowns, and economic losses impending disaster in the rainy season.”

If the road remains in this poor condition, the coming rains will completely cut off the route, crippling transport and business activities in Ohaji, Egbema, Oguta, and beyond”.

The youths stated that the contractor handling the project had “shown a lack of urgency, despite the worsening condition of the road” and wondered why the relevant supervisory agency had failed to perform its statutory task.

They said they were gravely concerned over what they described as the “unacceptable delay in project execution, the deteriorating road condition, and extremely slow pace of work” on the road.

According to the group, after a thorough assessment of the ongoing remedial work at the Umuapu section of the Owerri–Port Harcourt Expressway, awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission, they were frustrated with the delay and slow pace of work by the contractor, especially with the fast approaching rainy season.

They demanded immediate acceleration of the work, strict monitoring by the Niger Delta Development Commission, and urgent repairs on the critical sections noting that “while full repairs are ongoing, the worst-hit portions of the road should be urgently stabilised to provide immediate relief to road users.”

According to the group, there must be a stakeholder engagement involving the NDDC, the contractor, and community representatives to address their concerns and agree on the way forward.

Hundreds of youths from Omagwa Community in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State on Sunday blocked the Omagwa session of the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road to protest the alleged killing of a father of six identified as Bright Egbule by a policeman.

Egbule was allegedly shot dead by an officer from Omagwa Police Division on Saturday in his compound.

TheNigerian Metro gathered on Sunday that the angry youths were heading to the Images Police Station with Egbule’s corpse when the Chairman of Ikwerre LGA, Israel Agbosi, met them halfway and promised to ensure the officers responsible for the killing were identified and made to face the law.

A family source told TheNigerian Metro that the deceased was at home with his wife on Saturday night when the policemen stormed the compound, with one of the trigger-happy operatives allegedly opening fire on him.

The source who pleaded anonymity said, “The officers came here last night with full force. They said they were looking for a drug dealer, but they came into the compound here and killed an innocent man.

“It was on that note that the community youths mobilised and blocked the federal road with the corpse. We want the police to provide those officers who killed Chukwuma. All we need is justice for Chukwuma.”

The protest however caused gridlock on the road with the motorists and travellers stranded until the intervention of the LGA chairman.

Addressing the protesters, Abosi described the incident as unfortunate and unacceptable and appealed to the angry youths not to take the law into their own hands.

Abosi however called on the Commissioner of Police to investigate the killing and ensure that the officers were fished out and made to face justice.

When contacted, the state police spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident, saying the policeman had been arrested.

While commiserating with the family of the deceased, she said his remains had been deposited in a morgue.

Iringe-Koko stated, “The command is aware and we are on top of the situation. The officer has been detained. Normalcy has now been restored, and adequate security is on the ground to prevent any breach of peace.

“The man’s corpse has been deposited at the morgue and the investigation is ongoing.

Bonny Kingdom people in Rivers State have embarked on a protest over what they described as refusal of international oil companies (IOCs) to honour agreements and embark on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, both in an earlier Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and for the ongoing Train 7 project in the area.

Particularly, the Kingdom was demanding that NLNG, Mobil and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) should reach an agreement with the Kingdom on the execution of all the accrued CSR projects of over 15 years due the kingdom; NLNG and SPDC should release to Bonny Kingdom all the accrued funds for the 2015 MoU; LNG should immediately transfer the stakeholders’ provided funds for all the T-7 CSR projects to a special projects account to be managed by NLNG and BKDC.

However, the total shutdown which began in the early hours of Monday has been suspended as the companies which were earlier shut down have been allowed to continue with their operations with activities resuming at about 9.00am in the Kingdom.

Tension began to build up Sunday night when members of the Bonny Youth Federation (BYF) intensified mobilisation for shutting all entry and exit routes to the Island, including market, offices, among others.

This was said to have raised concerns by some of the stakeholders in Rivers State, including the state government, Commissioner of Police, and NLNG.

Discussions were said to have continued all of Sunday night but the youths had already moved in to implement the decisions.

It was gathered that a truce was reached to suspend the protests, reopen the island, and allow a meeting to hold between the IOCs led by the NLNG and the Bonny people in two days time.

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on Monday, presented N1.18tn budgetary estimate for 2025 to the factional state House of Assembly comprising three lawmakers.

The development was a repeat of last year’s action by Fubara, who shunned the 27-member factional Assembly loyal to his predecessor and estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike.

In an interview with The TheNigerian on Monday, the opposition All Progressives Congress in Rivers State accused Fubara of perpetrating an illegality.

The Rivers State House of Assembly became factionalised in October 2023 following a breakdown in the relationship between Fubara and Wike.

At the height of the crisis, Fubara survived an impeachment plot by the pro-Wike lawmakers, while the latter also announced their defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

Since then, Fubara had tagged the 27 lawmakers, led by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, as illegitimate, insisting he would have nothing to do with them.

On Monday, he presented the  N1.18tn 2025 budget to the three-man factional Assembly, led by the Speaker,Victor Oko-Jumbo.

The other members of the Assembly are the Deputy Speaker, Adolphus Orubienimigha, and the  House Leader, Sokari Goodboy Sokari.

The budget presentation took place at the Administrative Block of the Government House in Port Harcourt.

Fubara, in his address, said the budget, christened: “Budget of Inclusive Growth and Development,” would be implemented to achieve sustainable economic growth, accelerate development and improve the living standards of residents.

He said, “The total projected revenue for Rivers State for the 2025 fiscal year is N1,188,962,739,932.36.

Two components of the budget are constituted as follows: recurrent expenditure of N462,254,153,418.98; capital expenditure of N678,088,433,692.03; planning reserve of N35,688,864,931.16; and a closing balance of N12,931,287,890.19.

“This gives a recurrent/capital expenditure ratio of 44:56 per cent, indicating the sincere commitment of our administration to both infrastructural and human capital development of our people and state.”

Fubara said nearly N31bn had been allocated to support interventions in agricultural development and support programmes for Rivers youths to tackle unemployment.

On education, the governor proposed to spend over N63bn, representing 9.3 per cent of the budget.

“With this, we shall access all outstanding matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission to rehabilitate, equip and furnish dilapidated public primary and junior secondary schools, and continue to provide free basic education to our children.

“We will also rehabilitate, equip and furnish as many senior secondary schools as possible across the state, including the provision of new classrooms, perimeter fencing, water and electricity, to provide a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning to take place,” he said

Fubara said with the proposed N97.750bn for the health sector, representing 14.4 per cent of the budget, all zonal hospitals, the upgraded neuropsychiatric hospital, and the new general hospital at Rumuigbo under reconstruction would be completed.

On road and transport infrastructure, the governor said over N195bn had been earmarked to complete all ongoing road projects and initiate new ones.

“In social development and investments, Mr Speaker, we have proposed to spend N15.4bn to advance youth and gender empowerment, jobs and wealth creation, sports development, and social inclusion,” he said.

The Speaker, Oko-Jumbo, lauded the governor for recording over N100bn increase in IGR, adding that it was also a testament to how attractive Rivers’ investment climate had become.

He promised the support of the legislature to the executive to ensure that the governor remained focused on delivering democratic dividends to the people.

However, the Rivers APC, led by its chairman, Tony Okocha, condemned Fubara’s decision to present the budget to three lawmakers while shunning the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers.

In an intervie with our correspondent, the Rivers APC’s Publicity Secretary, Chibuike Ikenga, accused the governor of flouting court orders.

He said, “I think the trajectory is a continuum where a case is sub judice and the government of Rivers State is continuing to act in disobedience to court processes and procedures.

“It is expected that having disobeyed the decision of the high court and the decision of the appellate court, we await the final decision from the Supreme Court on who is the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“Our party, the APC, expects the state government to obey the judicial pronouncement and positions and await the determination of these issues before the final court so that we can have a reprieve and begin to develop our state

“That the government is disobeying those positions is unfortunate and does not encourage peacebuilding and development.”a