TENSION IN ONDO AS KIDNAPPERS GO ON RAMPAGE, ABDUCTS MORE UNSUSPECTING TRAVELLERS

The tension among residents of Ondo State over rising insecurity got to a worrisome level at the weekend when most travellers from and to Akure and Akoko areas of the state including lecturers of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, RUGIPO escaped abduction while some were not lucky as they fell the victims of gunmen who flooded the highways yesterday.

The apprehension among the residents and travellers got to a worrisome level due to recent dismantling of the military checkpoints across the state which they believe had given criminals free hands to operate in the last one week.

An eyewitness account summarized that several people escaped at Ogbese/Iluabo area on Owo-Akure road around 5:20 pm on Saturday evening, “I narrowly escaped kidnapping after Iluabo on my way to Akure after a wedding ceremony I attended at Omuo Ekiti. Nigerians are under siege. I saw these guys shooting sporadically from a distance. Unfortunately, some kids and those who were unlucky to get out of their vehicles were taken away by the kidnappers”.

Our correspondent gathered that three different cases of kidnapping and armed robbery were recorded on the routes on Saturday’s evening specifically at Oba Akoko axis where three persons fell victims of kidnappers on Friday’s night, while that of Ogbese/Ilu Abo axis areas of Akure occured simultaneously on Saturday’s evening.

Only last week four persons including a lecturer Taiwo Akinyemi abducted at Amurin Village, near Owo, but Taiwo later died in the kidnappers’ den while three weeks ago, six chieftains of African Democratic Congress (ADC) including the state chairman and senatorial candidate for Ondo north were kidnapped on Ikare Akoko- Owo road and were later released after paying ransome.

Three victims were also said to be members of staff of the Federal Medical Centre, Owo were kidnapped but they were later released by the suspected kidnappers recently after huge ransoms had been collected from their families.

Narrating his ordeal on Owo-Akure road, a lecturer from RUGIPO, Dr. Rahman Abubakri who escaped being kidnapped by the gunmen at Ilu Abo area of Akure on Saturday lamented that he narrowly escaped with other travellers but another lecturer from the department of Marketing at the Polytechnic was not lucky as he was picked by the kidnappers yesterday.

Abubakri said, “Around 5:20 pm this evening( Saturday), I narrowly escaped kidnapping around Iluabo on my way to Akure after a wedding ceremony I attended at Omuo Ekiti.

Nigerians are under siege. I saw the fulanis shooting sporadically from a distance. The bushes and tick forests we don’t care to go into have been well studied by the Fulanis. Unfortunately, some kids were taken away by the kidnappers”.

He opined that, “almost the same time, a lecturer of the Department of Marketing, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo was kidnapped by the same Fulani herdsmen between Ipele and Owo Road. Another kidnapping took place at Oba Akoko. Three persons fell victim as they were taken away into the Bush. My colleagues missed being kidnapped on Friday evening”.

The lecturer who expressed worries over the increasing rate of insecurity in Ondo state in recent time, said the upsurge in kidnapping cases must be tackled by the police and government at all levels.

Another traveller who escaped, Mrs Nike Oyetade alleged that the kidnappers use the forests near their operation points as detention camps, stressing that children in secondary schools and tertiary institutions far away from their various places of residents are not safe anymore.

Another traveller’s family member sent a message to our reporter around 7pm Saturday, “Info from one of our members who just passed through Ogbese now has it that just before Ogbese from Akure the men of the underworld has struck again kidnapped some people and presently in a gun shoot out with the police.Kindly avoid the route now”.

Speaking on the security situation, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident, said men of the state police command had been on the trail of the kidnappers.

The PPRO said “we have resolved to increase our manpower on our roads with more patrol to reduce the activities of these criminals to the barest minimum. I can assure you that justice will be done and the search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts, to find those responsible and bring them to justice”.

VETERAN NOLLYWOOD ACTOR, IFEANYI IKENGA GBULIE IS DEAD - DIES AFTER A PROLONGED BATTLE WITH STROKE (PHOTO)

Late Ifeanyi

The Nollywood actor dies after a prolonged battle with stroke

Veteran Nollywood actor, Ifeanyi Ikenga Gbulie, is dead.
The actor who has been bedridden for several months, as a result of stroke, passed away in the early hours of December, 13, 2018, in Enugu.

JUVENTUS STAR, CRISTIANO RONALDO LIKELY TO RECEIVE TWO-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE

C. Ronaldo

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo will appear before a court in Madrid on January over a £14.7m tax evasion fraud.

The five time Ballon D'or Winner was charged by Spanish authorities in 2017 over money owed from image rights.

MySportDab report this was after a shell company British Virgin Islands  was used to hide parts of his income between 2011 and 2014.

“The accused made use of a corporate structure created in 2010 to hide from the tax authority income generated in Spain through image rights,” said a statement by prosecutors at the time the charges were first brought.

According to AS, Ronaldo who signed for Juventus in the summer will now be sanctioned to appear before the court to hear the verdict - which a be a two-year prison sentence.

He has applied to the courts to appear by video-link.

Spanish law dictates that jail sentences of two years and under are to be suspended for first-time offenders, pending the accused not committing any further crimes in Spain during that period.

Ronaldo's lawyer, José Antonio Choclán, had lobbied the courts for the sentence to be commuted to a €375,000 fine - the same outcome as was negotiated for another of his clients, former Real defender Fábio Coentrão, for similar offences.

That deal was rejected by presecutors.

Ronaldo has already paid up the bulk of the €14.7million which was outstanding in order to smooth over his move to Turin, and January's court appearance will bring a close to the matter.

The final bill for the Portugal forward will ultimately top €18.9million once fines and interest are factored in.

While in Spain Ronaldo became Real Madrid's highest ever goalscorer, netting 451 times after joining from Manchester United for a then-record £80million in 2009.

Ronaldo is also Portugal's most-capped player, with 154 appearances, and record goalscorer, with 85.

SPAIN TO INCREASE MINIMUM WAGE TO OVER N429,000

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday his cabinet would approve next week a 22 percent increase in the monthly minimum wage to 1,050 euros ($1,192) r over N429,000 in 2019.

The increase, “the biggest since 1977”, will be submitted to a cabinet meeting in Barcelona on December 21, he told parliament.

“A rich country can’t have poor workers,” said Sanchez, who is widely expected to call an early general election next year.

The measure was part of his minority Socialist government’s draft 2019 budget unveiled in October but which he is struggling to pass in parliament so it will now be approved by decree.

The announcement comes after French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled Monday a 100-euro ($113) per month increase in the minimum wage from next year in a major concession to “yellow vest” protests which have roiled the country.

After years of austerity policies imposed to cope with the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, governments are under increasing pressure to ease the purse strings, especially for the lower paid.

Sanchez’s Socialists control just 84 seats in the 350-seat parliament, the smallest number for a government since the country returned to democracy following dictator Francisco Franco’s death in 1975.

He negotiated the draft 2019 budget with far-left party Podemos, which controls 67 seats, but would still need the support of Catalan separatist parties to pass the spending plan and they have steadfastly refused.

The government estimated the minimum wage hike will cost the state 340 million euros per year.

Employers groups and the conservative opposition parties, the Popular Party (PP) and Ciudadanos, oppose the wage hike, saying it will hurt job creation.

PP leader Pablo Casado has said the 2019 budget, which also includes tax hikes, is “economically suicidal”.

HAVING SEX IN CAR NOT A CRIME, NIGERIA POLICE AFFIRM

The Nigeria Police Force says it is not a crime to have sex in one’s car.

The police, however, said it could be considered a crime if one has sex with underage person; or if the car is parked in a religious institution when the act takes place.

The Police also say car sex is unlawful if both persons are of the same sex.

The Police, therefore, asked that anybody who is harassed for having sex in a car should report the incident immediately.

The Head of the Police Public Complaints Rapid Response Unit, Mr. Abayomi Shogunle, said this while responding to a question on Twitter.

The question had been raging on social media following an incident that occurred last week wherein a couple was harassed by a mob for having sex in a car.

Responding to a question, however, Shogunle said, “No. Sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria, provided the location is not a place of worship; both persons are 18 years and above; the act is consensual (agreed to by parties); parties are of opposite sex.

“If threatened with an arrest over above, please report to the Police.”

See the tweet:

Abayomi Shogunle

✔@YomiShogunle

NO.
Sex in a car in a public place is not a crime in Nigeria provided;
1. Location is not a place of worship
2. Parties are 18 yrs+
3. The act is consensual (agreed to by parties)
4. Parties are of opposite sex
If threatened with an arrest over above, pls contact @PoliceNG_PCRRU.

stan d man@Stanley_Moses13

Oga @YomiShogunle please is it a crime to have sex in your car?

RIVERS 2019: COURT OF APPEAL CONFIRMS RIVERS APC WON’T FIELD ANY CANDIDATES FOR 2019 ELECTIONS

~ •••AFFIRMS DISQUALIFICATION OF TONYE COLE AND ALL OTHER RIVERS APC CANDIDATES

The Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division on Wednesday confirmed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State will not field any candidates during the 2019 General elections when it dismissed the appeal filed by the factional Rivers State APC Governorship Candidate, Mr Tonye Cole.

The Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division also confirmed the judgment of Justice Chinwendu Nwogu that Rivers State has no ward executives, local government executives and State Executives as it dismissed the appeal filed by Sacked Rivers State APC State Chairman, Mr Ojukaye Flag Amachree.

The Court of Appeal Port Harcourt Division Special Panel Chaired by Justice Abubakar Yahaya dismissed the two appeals for lack of merit.

The third appeal which centred on the judgement by Justice Chinwendu Nwogu was dismissed because it was filed out of time and therefore statute barred.

Delivering his judgement Justice Yahaya,said the appeal against the Justice Chinwendu Nwogu High Court judgement on the party Congress crisis lacks merit, adding that the application for joinder failed to observed the 14 days rules of Appeal.

While delivering judgement on the substantive appeal number CA/PH/198 that bothered on Justice Nwogu’s judgement, the panel ruled that the Ojukaye faction failed to seek leave of court before appealing against the judgement.

Justice Yahaya ruled that the judgement delivered at the lower court was a consent judgement, adding that Ojukaye faction should have done the needful legally before approaching the court.

Counsel to Ibrahim Umar and 22 others, Mr Patrick Luke said that the rulings of the Court of Appeal confirm that the judgement by Justice Chinwendu Nwogu remains valid and is still subsisting.

Counsel to Ojukaye Flag Amachree, Emenike Ebete noted that the court heard the three matters and in her wisdom arrived at the rulings confirming the judgment of Justice Chinwendu Nwogu.

He said: “Arguments were taken but the Court in its infinite wisdom held that in appeal 461, that is the substantive appeal, that the consent judgement of the High Court of Rivers state and by provision of the constitution, we ought to have sought leave of court to appeal against that consent judgement. That is their own decision and they struck it out.

“The one for the candidates and the party state excos, we were dismissed on the ground that it was a pre-election matter, that we did not bring the application within 14 days after decision was delivered on October 10. What that means is that, we will approach the Supreme court to contest the judgment “.

It will be recalled that on October 10, 2018, a High Court in Port Harcourt nullified the nomination of Mr Tonye Cole as the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State on the ground that his nomination is a function of illegality and unconstitutional acts.

The Court also nullified the the Rivers State APC Senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly Primaries conducted on the premise of the illegal ward congresses.

The High Court further nullified all the elections of Rivers APC Ward Executives, Local Government Executives and State Executive Committee that arose from the illegal ward congresses.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Chiwendu Nwogu in a suit filed by Ibrahim Imah and twenty-two others against the APC, the Court declared that the ward congresses of Rivers APC were illegal because they were not conducted in line with the APC Guidelines and Constitution.

FG, ASUU REACH PARTIAL AGREEMENT

ASUU

The Federal Government and the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have reached a partial agreement, Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, announced on Monday.

Ngige made the announcement at a reconciliation meeting in Abuja aimed at finding ways of resolving the strike which commenced on Nov. 5.

He said: “we have finished our deliberation for today. I am happy to report that we touched some areas of understanding in implementation from the Memorandum of Action which we agreed to in 2017.

“Some of these areas we have substantial compliance and some other areas have not been fully dealt with.

“Like the issue of shortfall in salaries of some Federal Universities’ workers and lecturers, ASUU has given a list to the Accountant-General’s Office and we have agreed that by Wednesday that list should be cross-checked by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Auditing.

“So, the Accountant-General’s Office is to get back to us by Wednesday.

“We also have the issue of Earned allowances, revitalisation, these are issues of 2009 agreement and partial implementation and we have agreed on the modus operandi to look into the fund situation, this is due to low revenue on the part of government. ”

He noted that the meeting had identified one area to look for the fund for the revalidation that the appropriate government organ would be contacted on the issue.

Ngige said that government was sure to have good information for the striking lecturers.

He said the same situation applied to other allowances, adding: “we have agreed on what we are going to do to make sure that the outstanding amount is handled in a way that all parties will be properly accommodated.

” We also discussed the issue of state universities and agreed also that even if education is on the concurrent list, the universities should be properly funded and staffed so that we do not produce half-baked students from those universities.

“In realisation of this the Ministry of Education will set up a committee, that would engage the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and the Minister of Education has taken steps in that direction to formalise the interaction.

” Thus discussion are fruitful and we do hope that in the next adjourned date we would have had the requisite result on the few agreements reached today.”

The minister said he hoped with the agreement reached that the union would call off the strike in order for students to go back to school and those who had exams could go and take their exams.

He said the next meeting would be at 4p.m. on Dec. 17.

On his part, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, ASUU National President, said they had a useful discussion.

“Our own understanding is that we heard promises made on the part of government, we shall await the report on all the issues, which they have made the promises.

“Only after that, we can get back to our members to take a decision,” he said.

WE WILL NAME, SHAME GOVERNORS OWING SALARIES, PENSIONS — NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress is to liase with the International Trade Union Congress to place names of governors in the states where workers are being owed salaries and pensions for several months on a “watch list”.

NAN reports that the ITUC is the world’s largest trade union federation.

It was formed on November 1, 2006, out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour.

Mr. Ayuba Wabba, President of the NLC, made this known while addressing the Nigeria Union of Pensioners at its 17th anniversary on Tuesday Abuja.

He said that aside, “naming and shaming” these governors, the NLC would soon direct Nigeria workers to monitor various airports in the country to stop such governors, who may have completed their term from fleeing the country

“We will instruct workers at the nation’s airports to disallow and disgrace any governors trying to leave the country in order to enjoy themselves overseas.

“We have issued statements to these governors owing salaries, informing them that they cannot go anywhere to enjoy the monies they have carted away.

“They will be disgraced and chased away,” he said.

He said, “Instead of using the money to make lives good and build the country for the good of everybody, a few elites will embezzle what is meant for all for their personal use.”

Wabba however assured pensioners that the NLC would not relent in its effort to ensure the issue of minimum pension alongside the minimum wage, was addressed.

He said that the government must address the welfare of pensioners, this he said would ensure that workers desist from looting.

Wabba commended President Muhammad Buhari for the payment of pensions arrears for the Nigeria Airways workers and the 33 per cent increment the pension.

(NAN) 

TRAGEDY: MAN KILLS HANGS SELF AFTER KILLING HIS FOUR KIDS, IN ELEME, RIVERS STATE (GRAPHIC PHOTOS)

According to reports reaching our news desk, possible frustration may have lead a man to have committed suicide by hanging himself after killing his four children, and subsequently setting his residence ablaze in Eleme local government area of Rivers State.

According to an online news blog, Groovenaija360, the sad incident took place at about 1.00 am this morning in the Alesa community in Eleme.

Further details revealed that the Man is from Ogoja town in Cross River State, but resided in the rented two room apartment in Alesa community in Eleme Town, with his four kids and a wife.

Then at about 1.00am he caught his kids and strangled them to death, set his rooms on fire and hanged himself.

The wife who escaped from the tragic incident was the one who raised alarm that attracted a huge crowd to the scene.

The dead bodies have been removed by the police command in the area as at the time of filing this report.

See Photos.
Photos.

>>> https://grovenaija360.com/man-kills-his-four-kids-hangs-himself-in-eleme-rivers-state-photos/

AWCON: SUPER FALCONS GET JUMBO BONUSES, CAMP CLOSES

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has made good its promises to the newly crowned African Champions, Super Falcons by paying the players, coaches and backroom staff the jumbo bonuses promised them in Ghana ahead of the final match against South Africa.

Nigeria beat South Africa 4-3 on penalties at Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday, December 1 to lift the AWCON trophy for the 9th time.

But before the epic final, the NFF Executive Board President had on behalf of the Federation motivated the players with a promise to double their bonus should they beat South Africa in the final in Accra. The team went ahead to win the match although through a lottery of penalty shootout.

However, the Federation has already redeemed the pledge by paying out the huge dollar amount to the excited players, coaches and backroom staff.

Meanwhile, the camp has been officially closed today (Sunday) although the players and officials have been asked to be on standby for a likely Presidential Reception.

Newsmen report that the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari who was at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja to receive the Champions had hinted that they will be formally received at the appropriate time.