AWKA, the capital of Anambra State stood still, yesterday, as the body of the literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe arrived the state for its final journey to Ogidi, his home town, in Idemili North Local Government Area. His remains will be interred later today.
The troops deployed to flush out Boko Haram insurgents from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, yesterday, encountered intense resistance from sect members who were armed with sophisticated weapons from Libya
The curfew imposed on Yobe and Borno states were relaxed, yesterday, just as the military made progress in the campaign against the Boko Haram insurgency in the two states.
Indications emerged, last night, that President Goodluck Jonathan might have concluded plans to offload four ministers from his cabinet in a reshuffle that is about to take place this month.
The military, yesterday, extended the curfew in some parts of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, to 24 hours, in continuation of the emergency rule imposed on the state alongside Yobe and Adamawa States, on Tuesday, to curb Boko Haram insurgent activities.
The curfew extension came on a day President Goodluck Jonathan told the insurgents to surrender and embrace the amnesty proposed for them by the Federal Government.
Troops yesterday used jets and attack helicopters to bombard Boko Haram Islamic camps in Sambisa Game Reserve, in Borno State, which is one of their strongholds killing a number of the insurgents. The Sambisa Camps are believed to be harbouring their training and enrolment base.
Following the declaration of state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by President Goodluck Jonathan last Tuesday, and the deployment of over 3000 troops and Counter Terrorists Squad (CTS) within 24 hours of the declaration, the military, yesterday, launched air and ground offensive in the thick forests of Sambisa, Borno State, an area which the Boko Haram sect was reported to have used as a recruiting and training base.
Troops, yesterday, moved into Yola, Adamawa State capital and Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, barely 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in response to Boko Haram insurgency which has claimed several lives and destroyed many property.
President Goodluck Jonathan, last night, declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states with an order to the military high command to use extra-ordinary measures to quell the insurgency that has bedeviled the states.
Following the massacre of Police officers and officers of the Department of State Service, DSS, in Alakyo village, near Lafia in Nasarawa State, 103 widows of the slain officers were, yesterday, given N2m compensation each by the State government and Police authorities.
Robust support came for President Goodluck Jonathan from South-South and South-East governors, who yesterday, gave a strong endorsement of his leadership and charged him to confront terror wherever it may be found in the land.
Northern elders have pointedly said President Goodluck Jonathan will not be re-elected in 2015.
They, therefore, said a segment of the Niger Delta people, particularly erstwhile militant leader, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, who said there would be war in Nigeria if their kinsman, Jonathan, is not re-elected, may start their action now.
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday met with heads of all the security agencies in the country to review the murder of over 80 policemen in Nasarawa and Bama in Borno states between last Monday and Tuesday.
The Nasarawa State Police Command has said that only 17 out of the 90 Police officers, excluding other security officers, who were on a mission to arrest the chief priest of Ombatse Shrine, located at Assakyo village, about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital, returned so far with various degrees of wounds.
Northern Elders Forum (NEF), yesterday, examined the rift between President Jonathan and governors under the aegis of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, and passed a verdict on the matter: Jonathan should concentrate on the enormous task of solving Nigeria’s problems and stop dissipating energy on needless war with governors.
Boko Haram militants, yesterday, launched series of coordinated attacks on Police, Army and Prison formations in Bama town, Borno State, leaving no fewer thatn 55 persons dead.
The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, yesterday, dismissed as an empty outburst, the threat by former Niger Delta warlord, Asari Dokubo, that there would be no peace in Nigeria if President Goodluck Jonathan was not returned for a second term in 2015.
There were indications, yesterday, that the National Assembly (NASS) might have decided to distance itself from further deliberation and approval of the supplementary budget sent to the lawmakers by President Goodluck Jonathan last March.
24 hours after the abduction of 87-year old statesman, Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, Sunday Vanguard learnt that the 26-man committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan to explore the possibility of resolving the insurgency in the northern part of the country will be meeting tomorrow for crucial talks.
Ninety-two year old elder statesman and first Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Shettima Ali Monguno, CFR, was yesterday kidnapped in Borno State by suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect shortly after performing the Juma’at Congregational prayers at a Mosque in Mafoni ward in Maiduguri metropolis.
The six-year single term for President, Vice President, governors and their deputies being proposed by the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, has been rejected by the Arewa Consultative Forum and the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere.
ORGANISED Labour, yesterday in Abuja, warned that unemployment, corruption and insecurity were undermining Nigeria’s stability and continued existence as a nation and demanded decisive and immediate action towards addressing these challenges.
A Report of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, presented to the Senate, yesterday, revealed how the Federal Government under three successive administrations from 2002 to 2012, grossly abused funds from the nation’s Special Funds Accounts to the tune of N1.2 trillion.
The political forces against Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State cut sharper, yesterday, after 27 lawmakers loyal to the governor out of 32 in the State House of Assembly were suspended by the new leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PPD in the state. Their seats were immediately declared vacant.
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Senator Jubril Aminu, yesterday, pleaded with the Presidency and patriotic Nigerians to restrain governors from ruining the country.
Aminu, who spoke in an exclusive interview with Sunday Vanguard, accused the governors of arrogating to themselves roles that were not in the Constitution thereby conferring illegal advantage on themselves to the detriment of majority of Nigerians.
Acclaimed leader of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, Ibn Abubakar Shekau is a virtual personality whose real existence remains a doubt, the presidency has declared. This was even as it claimed that the case for amnesty for members of the group was influenced by pressure by Northern religious leaders and elites.
Governors of the 19 Northern states, yesterday regretted that President Goodluck Jonathan has not punished those who allegedly stole the nation’s oil money, warning that the situation portends danger for the country.
President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, expressed the determination of his government to put an end to the excesses of the Boko Haram sect.
Following the outrage that greeted the alleged killing of about 185 persons including women and children in a shoot out between soldiers and Boko Haram insurgents in Baga, a fishing community in Borno State, last Friday, the military yesterday explained that six civilians, one soldier and 30 terrorists died, while 15 others were injured in an operation that was carried out by a multinational force comprising troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger Republic.
No fewer than 185 persons, including women and children, have been killed and more than 2000 houses destroyed in an intense fighting between the military and suspected members of Boko Haram sect in Baga, a fishing community in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.
President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday reacted to criticism of his government by opposition leaders during the national convention of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, last week in Lagos, dismissing them as people who do not have what it takes to move the nation forward.
Prof. Kamene Okonjo, the mother of Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was abducted from her palace in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State by a gang of kidnappers, last December, may have been lucky to leave the kidnappers den alive. Sunday Vanguard gathered, last week, that her abductors had wanted to keep her longer than they did, even after receiving N13million ransom. Findings revealed that her abductors had planned to collect the entire N200million they demanded before changing their mind, to free her following a disagreement in the kidnappers camp.
AMIDST a wave of enthusiasm, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, yesterday, resolved to collapse into the proposed mega opposition political party – All Progressive Congress, APC.
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