The Harbingerngr News

By Adekunle Adekoya  ON Friday, 7 January, the headline of this column was Happy New Year: How much happiness in 2022? I tried to pass across the message that 2022 being an electioneering year, our leaders will have less time to manage our affairs as they will devote more time to managing theirs - seeking re-election, wheeling and dealing to fund re-election, and holding endless diurnal and nocturnal meetings in furtherance of these objectives, and more. My submission is that what they choose to do or opt not to do will substantially affect our pursuit of happiness, individually and collectively this year. One of the things that they have chosen to do, at the national level, is to remove subsidy on petrol. The National Economic Council announced, yesterday, that a final decision on the matter will be communicated to fellow Nigerians at the end of June. So, till then, subsidy stays.  At the state level, the Lagos State Government is ramping up efforts to improve transportation ...

... Sanctions candidates, others for malpractices THE West African Examinations Council, WAEC, has announced the immediate release of withheld results of candidates, who were exonerated of malpractices during the conduct of West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2020-Second Series and WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2021- First Series. This is as the body at the end of the 72th meeting of the Nigeria Examinations Committee, NEC, vowed to sanction those indicted of any malpractice during the conduct of the examinations.  The Committee is the highest decision-making organ on examinations related matters in Nigeria. WAEC, in a statement by its Acting Head of the National Office, Moyosola Adeyegbe, said: "At the 72nd Meeting, the Committee received reports on Irregularity, Special and Clemency Cases arising from the conduct of WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2020-Second Series and WASSCE for Private Candidates, 2021- First Series earlier consi...

The suspect. *Says his boss promised N30m to produce, deliver human parts to buyer in Lagos A 35-year-old suspected ritualist, Timothy Odeniyi, caught with human parts in Ondo State, said he was promised N30 million if he could get the human parts and deliver them to a buyer in Lagos. The suspect was arrested in Ondo town motor park, Sunday, by operatives of the Ondo State security outfit, Amotekun, while conveying the human parts to Lagos. Speaking during his parade in Akure, the state commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye, said the suspect killed the victim, removed the human parts and hurriedly buried the corpse, but the suspect disagreed saying he got the parts from a corpse he exhumed from a grave. The suspect, a truck driver, who reportedly wrapped the human parts in a bag, said his former boss in Ibadan introduced him to the business of making money through rituals. The suspect said: “I went to the burial ground to cut the legs and hands of one of the corpses buried there. Bef...

*Teacher, 4 others kidnapped in Yobe  UNKNOWN gunmen have abducted Jephthah Robert, a cousin of former President Goodluck Jonathan . The abduction, it was gathered, occurred at about 9:30 pm on Monday. Though details of the abduction were sketchy, yesterday, it was learned that the gunmen stormed his residence around Dimrose Road, in Yenagoa, laid ambush and waylaid him as he was returning home around 9:30 pm before whisking him away. The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident. The news of the abduction of Jonathan’s cousin filtered in barely 24 hours after the state Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Federal Otokito, was freed by his abductors. Teacher, 4 others kidnapped in Yobe — Police In a related development, the Police Command in Yobe, yesterday, confirmed the abduction of Babagana Kachalla, an Assistant Headmaster, Central Primary School, Buni Yadi, and four others by gunmen in Madiya Village, Gujba Loc...

FLAG-OFF — From left: Abiodun Tobun, Chairman, House Committee on Works & Infrastructure; Las Richter, MD, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.; Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Dep Gov, Lagos State; Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos; Mrs. Aramide Adeyoye, Special Adviser to the governor on Works and Infrastructure; Fredrick Oladehinde, Commissioner for Transport, and James Faleke, member, House of Reps, during the flagging off of Ojota/Opebi Link Bridges and approach roads, at Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos.  Photo: Vanguarfd *I'm in love with my father, 14-yr-old girl declares A 14-year-old girl, who is a Junior Secondary School 3 student, allegedly impregnated by her father reportedly told the police that she is in love with him. The 38-year-old father, Baridap Needman, was arrested by police operatives in Bayelsa State at the Yenizue-Gene suburb of Yenagoa, the state capital following a formal complaint from the state Gender Advocacy group, Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT) led by Dise Ogbise. According...

; . FORMER chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Mr. Bisi Kolawole, yesterday, emerged as the party’s candidate for the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State. Kolawole defeated former governor, Segun Oni, and a former deputy governor of the state, Kolapo Olusola. The lawmaker, representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, Senator Biodun Olujimi, had pulled out of the race, accusing the party of disenfranchising her. The primary election took place in Ado-Ekiti. The delegates first converged at the Pastoral Centre, in Ado-Ekiti, to get accredited, after which they moved to Great Eagle Hall for the voting exercise. Chairman of the primary election committee, Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State, declared Kolawole the winner of the contest. According to the results, Kolawole scored 671 votes, while Kayode Adaramodu scored 10 votes, Kazeem Ayodeji, 6, Olusola Kolapo, 93, Deborah Ali, 1, Ojo, 1, Makanjuola, 1, Biodun Olujimi, 2, Aderemi Adewumi, 1, Adew...

THE Federal Government has said it was set to amend its relevant statutes and code to enforce the operational conditions of Twitter in Nigeria on other social media platforms. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this  at a meeting with his counterpart, Egypt Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Dr Amir Talaat, in Cairo. Accoding to report from the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the meeting was on the sidelines of a bilateral discussion with Africa Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) on how Nigeria can access funding to support its growing creative industry. Mohammed had led some private sector stakeholders involved in Digital Switch Over, DSO, to Afreximbank to assist them on how to source fund to complete the wholly-private sector financially-driven project. In his interaction with Talaat, the minister disclosed that Nigeria was amending its National Broadcasting Act and Broadcasting Code to ensure that all online platforms operating ...

National President of NAPPS, Chief Yomi Otubela . /. THE nation was jolted last week with the news of the murder of the kidnapped five-year-old Hanifa Abubakar by Abdulmalik Tanko, 37, the owner of the school where the innocent girl was enrolled by her parents for primary school education. Though he named his school Noble Kids Academy, there was nothing noble in Tanko’s criminal behaviour. While the nation is contending with a number of challenges facing the education sector such as incessant attacks on schools, kidnapping of students, teachers and others, adding the situation whereby those entrusted with kids would now turn out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing, is too much to bear. Speaking on the incident, the National President, National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said it was very unfortunate and touching.   “The suspect is not only callous but has betrayed the confidence reposed in him by parents who entrusted their children in hi...

Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo. THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifer e , has expressed worry over the worsening state of insecurity in the country, saying no part of the country is safe anymore. Afenifere added that Nigeria can't get out of its preent predicament unless there is restructuring. Afenifere also faulted the continued detention of Messrs Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu, urging the Federal Government to release the two activists. Speaking after its general meeting, held in Ijebu-Ogbo, Ogun State, Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, x-rayed the state of the nation and lamented the various challenges facing Nigeria. Adebanjo, however, insisted that restructuring the country will bring about the desired change in Nigeria. He said: “Before and after Independence, various efforts have been made to have a country, Nigeria, that everyone would be proud of; a country in which everyone lives a happy life and there is life more abundant for all. “Afenifere, howe...

HANDING OVER — From left: Fayode Adegoke, DCP Panti; new Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi; outgoing commissioner, AIG Hakeem Odumosu, with Ahmed Katagora, DCP Operations, Lagos, during the handing over ceremony, in Lagos. FAREWELL : Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu flanked by the immediate past Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Hakeem Odumosu (right) and his wife (left), during a Farewell/Pull-out Parade in his honour at Police College, Ikeja, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 .  Photos: Vanguard. •We’ll suspend operations in Lagos — National body •Police arrest petitioner Lagos State Government, has suspended activities of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, at Eyin-Eyo, Church Street, and Idumota Bridge indefinitely, following incessant and recent violence in those areas. This came as the national leadership of the union, threatened to impose an indefinite suspension on NURTW activities in Lagos State. Meanw...

Alaba and Motunrayo THE owner of Bama Hotel and Suites in Abule Egba area of Lagos, Alaba Olusegun Oladapo Bakare, has been k!lled by his wife for impregnating another woman. The hotelier fondly called Bama after the name of his hotel was killed on Monday, while asleep, by his wife, Motunrayo Oluwatoyin Mulero. The couple have been married for eight years and have three children. According to reports, the couple had just returned to Lagos from a Dubai vacation when the incident happened. The woman reportedly drugged her husband to sleep and while sleeping, she used hot iron to damage his private organ and his face. The police in Lagos have arrested the wife, who is now cooling her feet in the police net, as news of the shocking killing hit relations and his lovely ones. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Ade Ajisebutu, said: “The body has been deposited at the Yaba Mainland Hospital’s morgue for autopsy. The deceased’s wife and three others have been arrested in conn...

…As 20 others arrested LEADERS of the warring factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Messrs Azeez Lawal, popularly known as 'Kunle Poly' and Mustapha Sego, whose groups engaged in a violent clash that left four people dead and several others injured in Idumota, Lagos Island, were, yesterday, invited and detained by the Police. Commercial activities were paralyzed in Idumota, last week, following the renewed clash over argument on which group should collect tolls from commercial bus drivers and motorcyclists at Eyin Eyo unit. Leaders of the warring factions were invited to the office of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, yesterday, from where they were arrested for allegedly fuelling the crisis and their inability to checkmate the excesses of their subordinates. The two were transferred to Zone 2, Onikan, Victoria Island, in Lagos, at about 5pm. It was revealed that more arrests would be made, as  names of those who participated in the clash have been compi...

  MKO Abiola. JAMIU Abiola , son of the late business mogul and winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, MKO Abiola, yesterday, faulted the recent claim by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), that Abiola was not killed but died after falling ill in detention. Abubakar said, recently, in an interview with a national newspaper, that MKO Abiola was not killed but died after falling ill in detention. The former head of State also debunked claims that Abiola took poisoned tea, which led to his death. But Jamiu, in a chat with Vanguard, said his father was killed by Abubakar’s government, adding that Abubakar’s account of the actual death of his father is irrelevant for several reasons. His words: “It is like a final act in a play like the death of Julius Caesar. When we speak of the death of a political opponent the government can be liable in two ways. The person may be killed directly like in the case of my mother who, as you know, was shot by Sergeant R...

Gunmen have assassinated the traditional ruler of Agodo village in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Oba Ayinde Odetola and four of his aides. It was gathered that the tragedy was the second of such acts that happened in the community in the last few months. It was gathered that Oba Odetola and his four aides were assassinated, and burnt to ashes as soon as they entered the town around 11am on Monday 24th January. A reliable source who spoke with press alleged that crisis began in the community as soon as late Ìba Odetola, who was from Ake dynasty, was elected as the traditional ruler of the community, but the Owu people insisted that anybody from Ake cannot be their king. Confirming the incident, one of the late monarch’s sisters, Mrs Adenike Akintade lamented the heartless killing, of the traditional ruler and his aides, adding that the same people recently killed a younger brother of the late monarch. She said: “I had just been discharged from hospital early this morning,...

Eguavoen shouting at the players, when the game is becoming tough . Super Eagles interim coach, Austin Eguavoen said his team made mistakes and they paid for it, after they crashed out in the round of 16 of the tournament to Tunisia on Sunday night. The Carthage Eagles that struggled for points in the group stage came to the Ominisports Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua, to shock the Super Eagles with a 1-0 win, despite the huge support in the City where the Eagles played all their games. “Slight mistake from one of our best players, the timing was wrong and that was the only chance they had to take advantage of it. “We came here with vision and we gave it all. In the Round of 16, we all know what it means, when you lose you go home, when you win you remain in the tournament and that is the song we have been singing. “I can’t really blame these boys, because they gave their all, they fought for it and, it just wasn’t to be.” Tunisia outsmarted us, we had no leader — Okocha  Former Su...