13042021 - Many feared dead, injured, 3 villages sacked in Ebonyi

26 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 2021
SOKOTO—THE Sultan of
Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad
Abubakar III, has declared
today, April 13, as the first day
of Ramadan 1442 AH in Nigeria.
Abubakar announced the
sighting of the new moon in a
radio and television broadcast
in Sokoto yesterday.
He said the new moon was
sighted in different parts of
Nigeria and that report of the
crescent sighting were received
from Muslim leaders
and organisations across the
country.
:Vanguard News
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Wike plotted to discredit Amaechi
from beginning ----Ugboma
PORT
HARCOURT—
GOVERNOR Nyesom
Wike of Rivers State has been
accused of setting an agenda
to discredit his predecessor
and Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi from the
onset of his (Wike) administration.
Speaking on a TV programme,
yesterday, a member
of Wike's transition committee,
now Chief Medical Director of
the University of Port Harcourt
Teaching Hospital, UPTH,
Prof Henry Ugboma, said tarnishing
Amaechi's image was
Wike's number one agenda
even before his inauguration
as governor of Rivers State.
Ugboma said, "I can rightly
tell you that the Governor Wike
has this paranoid issue against
the Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi. I noticed this
as a member of the Peoples'
Democratic Party, PDP, and that
was one of the reasons I left the
party. I was a member of the
transition committee set up by
Wike immediately after the
election to marshall out and
put together things that will
destroy the Minister of Transportation,
and Governor Wike
immediately set us to task, that
we must derive and contrived
things that will mess up Amaechi
and destroy him politically,
and make sure that he
doesn't take up any political
position in the country. That
was the mandate given to the
transition committee.
"Directors, Permanent Secretaries
and people in MDAs of
the state were invited, some of
them threatened, some of them
encouraged that they will be
given positions if they come up
with issues that will give them
the report that they will give to
the Judicial Panel of Inquiry
that the governor, Wike will
setup to immediately indict
Amaechi.
"We immediately went to
task. But when I saw what was
happening, the reports they
were issuing out, lies, immediately
on the floor there, we were
asked to start with the RSSDA
(Rivers State Sustainable Development
Agency) a scholarship
unit that was setup by
Amaechi, that sent a lot of our
children from Rivers State to
overseas for higher education.
"They were immediately written
to, to come back and continue
their academics in the
country or forget about their
education. Some of them have
gone into depression overseas
because they couldn't continue,
and staff of RSSDA were
not paid salaries for months
and years, till date, I don't even
know if that department still
exists. This was what Wike
started with as he came in."
Ugboma detailed how Wike
planned to make a public spectacle
of Amaechi to deny him
the chance of serving in President
Muhammadu Buhari's
cabinet, including the Judicial
Panel of Inquiry setup to indict
him (Amaechi) using false,
cooked up reports.
"They came up with plans to
destroy one after the other, all
the laudable projects that
Amaechi did, all were setup,
accusing him that he stole so
much money from even the
institutions that he dealt with,
but all were Lies. And they
brought out a young man, one
Wechie Livingstone who came
Edo Assembly approves
appointment of SAs by Obaseki
By Ozioruva Aliu
BENIN CITY—THE Edo
State House of Assembly,
yesterday, approved the appointment
of 15 Special Advisers
by Governor Godwin
Obaseki.
The governor had in a letter
dated March 31, 2021, by
Secretary to State Government,
SSG, Osarodion Ogie,
requested the House to approve
the appointment.
The letter reads, "I write at
the instance of Governor
Obaseki to inform the House
of the need to appoint Special
Advisers for the governor.
"Accordingly, Mr Governor
has directed me to seek the
kind approval of the House
Oil/Gas: Analyst sets agenda
for local content development
By Udeme Akpan
AS NIGERIA'S oil and gas
industry continues to experience
many challenges,
mainly as a result of the prolonged
Covid-19 pandemic,
an expert, Dr. Wisdom Enang,
has proposed measures targeted
at taking the industry to
the next level.
Enang articulated his ideas
at the just-concluded 4th Lawyers
in Oil and Gas Conference
and Awards, which had
Nigeria's Oil and Gas Future:
Law, Policy and Regulation as
its theme, in Lagos.
In his presentation, the Nigerian
Oil and Gas Local
Content Policy: Gains, Improvement
Opportunities,
and Imperatives for the Future,
Enang noted the various
positive impacts of local content,
including the rise of crude
oil production and exploration
through increased indigenous
participation; the rising
number of fabrication
yards; development of two
Sultan confirms sighting of moon, says Ramadan
fast begins today
“After due verification and
authentication by the national
moon sighting committee
and state committees’ confirmation,
as well as routine scrutiny,
I hereby announce the
sighting of the new moon of
Ramadan which signifies the
end of Sha’aban 1442 AH.
“Consequently, in accordance
with Islamic law, Muslim
Ummah is directed to
commence fasting on Tuesday
accordingly,” he said.“
The Sultan enjoined Muslim
faithful to devote themselves
to the worship of Allah
throughout the Holy month,
urging them to use the period
and said he
had declared for the
party(PDP) then. The young
man later apologized to
Amaechi that he was forced to
say all that he said when he
went to the National Assembly
to tell them that Amaechi
stole this and stole that, that it
was Wike that sent them to do
that. He apologized to the
minister that all the things he
said were lies and deceit. So
all those things were programmed
and planned by
Wike just to falsely indict
Amaechi."
for the appointment of 15
Special Advisers for the governor,"
Ogie said.
Contributing to the debate
on the letter, Majority Leader
of the House, Henry
Okhuarobo urged members
to approve the governor's request,
adding that it was the first
step to constituting the state
executive council.
The House unanimously
in a voice vote approved the
governor's request to appoint
the15 Special Advisers.
The speaker, Marcus Onobun,
thereafter, directed the
Clerk of the House, Yahaya
Omogbai to convey copies of
the approval to the governor
for immediate action.
world-class pipe mills: the
SCC Pipe Mill, with an installed
capacity of 270,000
MT per annum; and the Yulong
Pipe Mill, with the capacity
to manufacture
400,000MT per annum;
growth in the number of service
companies; rise in the
number of rigs and marine
vessels owned by Nigerians
from three per cent to 40 per
cent currently, and establishment
of the Nigerian Content
Development Fund to deepen
and expand investment in
the industry.
"With Nigerians developing
competence in jobs that were
the exclusive preserve of expatriates,
most of the jobs that
were executed outside Nigeria
are now being performed
by Nigerians and in Nigeria.
This has led to the retention
of a large chunk of the industry
expenditure in-country,
with the attendant positive impact
on employment generation
and growth of Gross Domestic
Product, GDP."
to pray for the progress, peace
and prosperity of the nation.
“We further call on Nigerians
to continue to live peacefully
with one another irrespective
of religious and tribal
difference,” he said.“
He urged Muslim faithful
to use the period to pray for
leaders on their commitment
towards addressing all health
related issues and security
challenges in the country.
The Sultan also urged
wealthy individuals to assist
the poor, while stressing the
need for increased religious
tolerance and brotherhood in
Nigeria.
BURIAL: Delta State Head of Service, Mr. Reginald Bayoko, consoling
Mrs. Augustina Obiegba, wife of the late Permanent Secretary, office of the
Head of Service at the funeral ceremony of the late Permanent Secretary,
Mr. Cletus Obiegba, at Ibedeni, weekend.
EMPOWERMENT:From left, Oba Adeniyi Rufai, Olojo of Ojo Kingdom,
Guest of Honour; Tajudeen Obasa, member, House of Representatives, Ojo
federal constituency, and Mr Johnson Adeniyi, a beneficiary, during the
Community Project and Empowerment Programme by Ojo federal
constituency with Obasa Unity Foundation, presentating laptops to
beneficiaries, at Ojo Local Government Secretariat, Lagos, yesterday. Photo:
Kehinde Gbadamosi.
BIRTHDAY: Deacon Peter Igbifa IYC President (middle), flanked by Chief
Ekomiefa Uduboh, Ms. Lucy Akumabor (behind the cake), representative of
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, Jacob Abai, (red cap); Publisher of
Gbaramutu Voice and others cutting the birthday cake on behalf of Niger Delta
activist and ex-militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo (a.k.a Tompolo) during
his 50th birthday yesterday.
Supporters of Tompolo rallying in Warri, during the birthday celebration.
Photos: Akpokona Omafuaire