News In Bits

The Department of State Services, DSS, has filed charges before a Federal High Court in Abuja against nine persons accused of deadly attacks on Benue and Plateau states. The charges were filed on Thursday over the killings in Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, as well as in parts of Plateau State, which left several persons dead and many others injured.

The Group CEO of NNPC Ltd., Engr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, says the company is under attack from people who don’t mean well for Nigeria and who are against the ongoing transformation efforts in the company. Ojulari disclosed this while playing host to a delegation from the national body of the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria at the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Thursday.

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 Former Minister of Transportation and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has declared that there is “no retreat, no surrender” in his quest to contest the presidency in 2027, under the platform of the ADC. Amaechi, former Rivers State governor, stated this during an interaction with journalists in Kano, after a meeting with a coalition of traders in the state

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. Security Agents, including the Army and the Department of State Services, DSS, have neutralized no fewer than fifty bandits in Niger State. The incident occurred in Kumbashi in Mariga local government area of the state earlier this week.

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 The National Leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso, has maintained that he has no plans to defect to another political party. Making the clarification at the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC meeting in Abuja on Thursday, Kwankwaso said the NNPP was performing well in Kano and other states, adding, “we are very happy about that.”

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The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to resolve issues negatively affecting polytechnic education in Nigeria. Mr Monday Ojo, Chairman of ASUP, Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech, announced the ultimatum at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos. He spoke on behalf of the President of ASUP, Mr Shammah Kpanja.

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The Federal Government, through the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, has destroyed more than 13,000 illicit and obsolete firearms in the last four years, in a sustained effort to curb the proliferation of small arms in the country. The Director-General of NCCSALW, retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police Johnson Kokumo, disclosed this.

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 A police officer was killed, while several others sustained some injuries in a deadly clash between operatives of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the Amaeze community, in the Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Confirming the incident, the Chairman of the Ivo Local Government council, Emmanuel Ajah described the incident as unfortunate.

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 The Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has increased the cost of acquiring the Nigerian international passport from N50,000 to N100,000 for a 32-page passport with 5-year validity. According to the NIS, henceforth the 64-page passport with 10-year validity, which goes for N100,000, will now cost N200,000.

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 Police operatives have sealed off the Edo State secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC otherwise known as the Adams Oshiomhole Labour House. Also, the main gate of the University of Benin was beefed up with police personnel. Some suspected thugs were also seen loitering around the secretariat.

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 The initial momentum that came with the announcement of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as the platform for the opposition coalition, appears to be on the decline.

This has been attributed to the reluctance of some presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to officially join the party.

From dailypost