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Robbers Attackmms Another bank in Ekiti State
Armed robbers on Friday attacked a second generation bank in Iyin-Ekiti, Irepodun/Ifelodun local government area of the state and made away with unspecified millions of naira.

Tribune Online gathered that the gunmen who arrived the town around 3 pm, started shooting sporadically into the air to scare residents and robbed the bank, which is the only bank in the community for almost 40 minutes without any hindrance.

A source in the community who spoke with our correspondent said the robbers, numbering about six, gained access into the bank by destroying the security door of the bank with dynamite.

He added that no one was killed or sustained any form of injury in the robbery incident.

The residents were said to have run in different directions due to the severity of the gunshots, which the source said had sent jitters through the spines of the people.

Vehicles travelling across Ado-Iyin-Aramoko-Efon road had to take a detour to prevent being caught in the web of gunshots.

According to him, “In fact, the police disappointed us. They disappointed the people of Iyin today. The robbers robbed for over 40 minutes without any challenge.

“They came in two vehicles, shot into the air and scared the people around away. In fact, those in the nearby market left their commodities and ran for their lives.

“The police station along Igede Ekiti was not up to 500 metres while the police patrol point along Ado Ekiti should be a kilometre away, but none of them responded for over 40 minutes the robbers operated.

“But we thank God nobody was killed, but the agony of the gunshots was too much on the locals.”

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, ASP Sunday Abutu, said the police, upon receiving the information, immediately visited the troubled spot.

He added that men of the command gave the men a hot chase,” that made the robbers abandon their two vehicles and escape into the forest.”

The PPRO said, “We got a distress call from Iyin Ekiti about the robbery and we immediately dispatched our men and officers to the place.

“I want to confirm to you that the robbers are being chased as I speak with you and the determination is to effect their arrest.

“We are assuring the people that the hoodlums shall be arrested and brought to justice. Ekiti is not a safe haven for robbers and that we shall continue to sustain.”

The police had on Thursday raised the alarm that some gunmen were planning to invade the state and wreak havoc on the people.

#nairaland

The National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) has confirmed the appointment of Ojo Amos Olatunde as the substantive clerk of the legislative arm of government.

Olatunde assumed office in July after the commission queried Mohammed Sani-Omolori, the former clerk, for refusing to proceed on retirement after 35 years in service.

Sani-Omolori had argued that the eighth assembly had approved an extension of his tenure.

The conditions of service of the staff had been amended by the previous assembly, and the retirement age had been increased to 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.

However, Olatunde was appointed as acting clerk.

In a statement on Friday, Ahmed Amshi, chairman of the commission, said Ojo’s appointment was confirmed at a meeting held on Wednesday.

“The National Assembly Service Commission at its 506th Meeting held on Wednesday 30th September, 2020, approved the confirmation of appointments of top management staff of the national assembly service with effect from 30th September, 2020,” Amshi said.

“The commission had on 17th and 20th July, 2020, appointed Mr. Ojo and the other management staff to their different positions on acting capacity.”

The commission also confirmed Bala Yabani as deputy clerk of the national assembly; Ibrahim El-Ladan as senate clerk, and Francis Akubueze as clerk of the house of representatives.

Others confirmed are: Yusuf Danbatta as secretary to the commission; Orunwase Osaze as secretary of human development; Ademola Adebanjo as secretary, legal services, and Ramatu Ahmed as secretary, human resources and staff development

#thecableng

New Abia NSCDC Commandant Assumes Office In Umuahia

Mr Vincent Ogu the newly posted Commandant of the Abia Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has assumed duty in Umuahia.

DSC Ndukwe Agu, the spokesman for the command said this in a statement on Friday in Umuahia.

Agu said that the commandant at his maiden meeting with officers and men of the command charged them to redouble their efforts towards delivering quality and efficient security service to the state.

According to him, the new commandant pledged to work with the state government as well as collaborate with sister-security agencies to fight crime in the state.
He warned pipeline vandals and oil thieves in the state to desist from their criminal activities or be prepared to face the full wrath of the law.

He appealed to residents to assist with timely and useful information that would help in nipping crime and criminality in the bud.
Ogu took over from Mr Nnamdi Nwannukwu, who has been posted to the zonal command of the corps in Owerri. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

Court Remands Teenager For Killing His 40-Year-Old Father

A Makurdi Chief Magistrates’ Court on Friday ordered that ThankGod Joseph, 18, be remanded in a correctional centre for allegedly killing his 40-year old father.

The police charged Joseph, who lives in Ikwokwu-Ito, Obi Local Government Area of Benue with culpable homicide punishable under Section 222 of the Penal Code Laws of Benue, 2004.

Chief Magistrate Vincent Kor, did not take the plea of Joseph for want of jurisdiction.




Kor ordered the police to return the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.He adjourned the case until Nov. 25, for further mention.Earlier, the prosecution counsel, ASP Hyacinth Gbakor told the court that the case was transferred from the Divisional Police Headquarters, Obi via a letter dated Sept 21, 2020 to the State CID, Makurdi for proper investigation.

He alleged that the complainant, Philip Agbo, reported the matter at the police Station, Obarike-Ito, Obi on Sept 14.

Gbakor said that Joseph hit his father, Igiri, after he accused his son of stealing his cell phone.

He said that Igiri, fell down and died on the spot. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

Education Ministry Perm Sec, Others Fingered In N6bn Contract Fraud

A multi-billion naira case of corruption has been uncovered in the National Examinations Council, documents seen by SaharaReporters have shown.

The case involved the award of contracts without following due process by the past management of the examination council.

Those specifically accused of involvement in the corruption saga are the immediate past Acting Registrar of NECO, Abubakar Gana, his Special Assistant, one Ibrahim Peter Alih, as well as Chairman of the Governing Board of council, Dr Abubakar Sadeeq.


Also accused of having a hand in the corruption matter is the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arc. Sonny T. Echono.(

Echono is precisely accused of providing tacit support for the officials of NECO to perpetrate corruption using his position as a very senior officer in the Ministry charged with the responsibility of supervising NECO.

A source told SaharaReporters that the indefinite suspension of the former Registrar, Prof Charles Uwakwe on May 10, 2018 provided Echono the opportunity to closely interfere in the procurement process of the examination council using Alih as his proxy.

The source said the Permanent Secretary and Sadeeq facilitated the appointment of Alih as the Special Assistant to Gana.

“The staff of NECO are now expressing disappointment with the fact that Echono and the Chairman of the Governing Board have equally imposed Alih on the new Registrar, Prof Godswill Obioma, thereby making it practically impossible for him to operate freely as the Chief Executive Officer of the council.

“Following series of petitions by some staff of NECO on the monumental act of corruption perpetrated by the Acting Registrar, the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit and the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation have launched massive investigations into the corruption in NECO, and Echono is also said to have been making overtures to the Auditor-General of the Federation and the Permanent Secretary (Special Duties) in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, who are his contemporaries/colleagues in the federal civil service and members of the Service Wide, to suppress the investigations. PICA is under the supervision of the Permanent Secretary (Special Duties).

“In the two years that he held sway as the Acting Registrar, Gana awarded contracts to companies recommended to him by the Permanent Secretary and Chairman of the governing board as well as those close to him in a blatant abuse of due process and all known extant laws and financial regulations.

“For instance, with the active support of the permanent secretary and the NECO Board Chairman, Gana refused to set up a Procurement Planning Committee after the dissolution of the one he inherited,” the source said.

SaharaReporters gathered that the former Acting Registrar also refused to advertise contracts in the Federal Tenders Journal and two national newspapers for competitive biddings to take place, as stipulated by the Public Procurement Act 2007.

Rather, he opted for Direct Procurement Method and Emergency Procurement Method, practices which NECO was not entitled to engage in.

This fact was stated by the Bureau of Public Procurement in its letter to NECO, dated July 30, 2019, with reference number BPP/S.1/SP/19/Vol.I/375.

In the letter, the BPE stated that by virtue of the preconditions listed in Sections 42 and 43 of the Public Procurement Act 2007, NECO has not been exempted from ensuring that the practice of bidding takes place before awarding contracts.

Gana, it was gathered single-handedly, approved contracts for the printing of sensitive, non-sensitive and ancillary materials, running into billions of naira, using the ‘Direct Procurement Method’ without regards to approval thresholds and without getting approvals from the Parastatal Tenders Board, Ministerial Tenders Board or the Federal Executive Council/Bureau of Public Procurement in a flagrant violation of the provisions of Sections 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

Consequently, these aberrations engaged in by NECO in its awards of contracts to the cost of projects executed by NECO from May 10, 2018, to May 21, 2020, have not met the requisite conditions, failed, in almost all cases, to fall in line with needs of the nation’s economy and did not provide value for money.

Our investigation revealed that in adopting ‘Direct Procurement Method,’ a government institution is supposed to award the entire contract to a single competent contractor, but Gana awarded and paid for contracts for the printing of May/June 2019 sensitive examination materials to six (six) companies, namely: Ramadan Press Ltd, Binani Printing Press, Yaliam Press Limited, Marvellous Mike Printing Press, Mercy Trust Nigeria Ltd and Aitech Investment Limited, while contracts for non-sensitive materials and ancillary materials were awarded to over 72 others. These contracts were awarded and paid for without obtaining the mandatory Due Process Certificate of ‘No Objection’ from the Bureau of Public Procurement and approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC), thereby flouting the provisions of Section 16 (1), (2), (4), (5), (6) and (7) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

On June 28, 2019, Gana applied to the BPP via a letter backdated to February 5, 2019, with a curious reference number – FME/FTC/PROC/Vol.II/12 – seeking for special consideration to adopt ‘Direct Procurement Method’ and Due Process Certificate of ‘No Objection’ to award some of the May/June 2019 SSCE contracts which he had already awarded, executed and paid for.

Although the letter was said to be from NECO, the reference number (FME/FTC/PROC/Vol.II/12) is that of the Federal Ministry of Education, which gave credence to the allegation that the Permanent Secretary, who is the chief accounting officer of the ministry, was calling the shots as far as the issue of procurement in NECO was concerned.

Also curious is the discovery that from the NECO 2019 June/July SSCE timetable, it can be seen that the examinations were started on Monday, May 20, 2019, and ended on July 12, 2019. However, the contract letters awarded to Ramadan Press Limited (N308,748,642 million), Marvelous Mike Printing Press (N355,916,654 million), Yaliam Press Limited (N358,624,003 million), Binani Printing Press (N408,277,801 million), Mercy Trust Nigeria Ltd (N277,747,492 million), Kwality Printing and Packaging N54,584,705 million), Baumaster Project Ltd (N40,104,00, Descteck Universal Concept (N44,016,000 million), Jengade International Limited (N20,016,000 million), Jidadu Ventures Limted (15,000,00 and Kwality Printing and Packaging (N5,503,821 million) were all dated before and on May 20, 2019.

Expectedly, the BPP refused to grant the Due Process Certificate of ‘No Objection’ to adopt the Direct Procurement Method. Instead, in order not to be seen as frustrating a national examination, the BPP belatedly and strangely too, advised NECO, on July 30, 2019 (two weeks after completion of the exams), to try Emergency Procurement Method, by the provisions of Section 43 of the Public Procurement Act 2007, although NECO was still not qualified for that.

These shenanigans were repeated in the award of contracts for the printing of sensitive, non-sensitive and ancillary materials for conduct of the 2019 November/December SSCE by NECO.

The contracts were awarded to Ramadan Press Limited (N31,028,916 million), Marvelous Mike Printing Press (N40,255,708 million), Yaliam Press Limited (N39,567,717 million), Descteck Universal Concept (N21,600,000 million), Amsy Global Services Limited (N13,272,00 and Edokson Int’l Investment Limited (N36,059,31, among other companies.

#orientdailynews

EEDC Reverts To Old Electricity Tariff.

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), says it has complied fully and reverted to the old electricity tariff as directed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

The Head of Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, said this in a statement on Friday.

Recall that NERC suspended the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) 2020, otherwise known as the cost-reflective electricity tariff regime, for a period of 14 days with effect from Sept. 28, to Oct.11.


Ezeh said with this development, for prepaid customers of EEDC who experienced immediate impact of the reviewed tariff during their recharge between Sept. 28 and 30, the difference between reviewed tariff and old tariff for three days would be credited to their wallets.

He said they could use this to recharge their meters in future; while for the remaining 11 days (1st to 11th October, 202, all vending activities would be at the old tariff.

“In the same vein, for post-paid customers, the difference between the reviewed tariff and the old tariff for the 14 days period will be computed and credit adjustment will be effected for the affected customers (that is crediting their respective accounts with the difference).

“It will, however, be noted that some category of customers were not affected by the reviewed tariff, as their tariff was frozen and they were still paying their bills using the old tariff.

“These are customers that fall under Bands D and E. They will continue paying/vending with the old rate,’’ Ezeh said.

He said that the directive issued by NERC further directed that “all tariffs for end-use customers and market obligations of the distribution companies during the 14-day suspension shall be computed on the basis of rates applicable as at Aug. 31’’.

The EEDC spokesman assured the company’s esteemed customers of its unrelenting commitment toward consistently improving its infrastructure to deliver efficient, reliable and quality services.

NAN reports that the NERC directive was jointly signed by NERC Chairman, James Momoh and Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye.

The directive was in compliance with a joint communiqué issued by the Federal Government and Labour Unions after talks to avert an industrial action by the latter.

It was agreed that the recently reviewed tariff be suspended by the Commission for 14 days to further consult and finalize negotiations between the parties. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

Electoral Commitee Releases LFC, Board Election Time-Table


Anambra State Football Association (ANSFA) Electoral Committee has made public the election time-table for the Local Football Council (LFC) and Board Elections, Orient Sports reports.


According to the release which was signed by the Chairman, Rev Fr Obinna Dike with the approval of the Caretaker Committee, publication, sale and return Of nomination forms for the ANSFA board and LFC will commence from Friday, 2nd October 2020 and end on 12th October 2020.





Again, the full list of candidates for the elections will be published on the 13th of October, 2020 while screening of candidates for the LFC election will take place on the 15th and 16th of October 2020 with screening of candidates for ANSFA board election billed for 17th October 2020.


The Electoral Committee will publish the full lists of successful candidates for both elections by 2pm on 19th October 2020 with submission of protest letters and hearing of appeals to be attended to, by the committee between 19th and 24th of October 2020.
Also, elections into the ANSFA LFC and board are billed for 29th and 30th of October, 2020 respectively.


Dike, equally revealed that forms for ANSFA Board for Chairmanship and Vice Chairmanship positions goes for N150,000 and N100,000 respectively with the membership form at a price of N70,000.
However, that of theLFC, Chairmanship, Vice-Chairmanship and membership forms goes for N30,000, N15,000 and N5000 respectively.

#orientdailynews

Police Kill 6 Armed Robbers In A’Ibom

The Police Command in Akwa Ibom has confirmed the killing of six suspected armed robbers that specialised in car snatching in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.

The State Commissioner of Police (CP), Amiengheme Andrew, disclosed this while displaying the remains of the suspects in a police Hilux van, at Ikot Akpan-Abia in Uyo on Friday.

He said that the police, acting on credible intelligence, killed the six suspected armed robbers who were operating along Itu/Calabar highway.


“Today, at about 5.30am, acting on a credible intelligence that a six man armed robbery gang whose speciality is car snatching in Akwa Ibom and Cross River were operating along Itu-Calabar highway.

“On receipt of the intel, SARS operatives proceeded to the scene, on sighting the Police Hilux van, the hoodlums opened fire on the operatives. A gun battle ensued and the six armed robbers sustained gun shot wounds.

“They were taken to the Police hospital in Uyo for treatment but they were confirmed dead by the Doctor,” he said.



Andrew, who resumed duty a forthnight ago as the state CP, explained that the robbers were on their way to Abia to sell the car they had earlier snatched from a Calabar based medical doctor.

He said that the deceased had already contacted a buyer for the stolen Toyota Camry car, registered LSR 690 BM, and an unregistered motorcycle.

Andrew said items recovered from them included three locally made pistols, ten live cartridges, four expended cartridges, one pump action gun, one unregistered motorcycle, military camouflage cap and a Toyota Camry belonging to the medical doctor.

Others paraded by the Police were an alleged serial rapist and blackmailer, a man suspected of killing his 11-year-old step son, five cultists and six armed robbery suspects.

Andrew warned hoodlums engaged in cultism, armed robbery, rape and other vices to desist forthwith or leave the state, as the command had no room for tolerance of any form of crime and criminality.

Also speaking, Dr Arinze Obinna, a physiotherapist at the General Hospital, Calabar and owner of the stolen car, said the car was snatched from him at gun point on his way home. (NAN)

#orientdailynews

Truck Rams Into Bus In Anambra, Kills 1

An unidentified pedestrian was confirmed dead in Friday’s accident involving a truck and a bus on the Asaba – Onitsha Expressway, Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra.


Mr Andrew Kumapayi, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Anambra, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka.
He said the accident ocurred at about 6 p.m., adding that it was caused by brake failure and resultant loss of control.




The FRSC boss said that one person died in the mishap, while six male adults sustained injuries.
“The crash involved a brown Mack Truck, with registration number: XX837JJD, and a yellow Daihatsu Hijet bus with no registration number.
“According to eyewitness account, the brake of the truck failed and the driver lost control of the truck.



“It rammed into a bus, which landed into the nearby drain where it fatally hit and killed a pedestrian.
“Four passengers in the bus also sustained some degree of injuries.
“The victims were taken to Toronto Hospital, Onitsha, by FRSC rescue team from Upper Iweka Outpost and the body of the dead was deposited at the hospital mogue” he said.


Kumapayi said that the driver of the truck had been handed over to the police for further investigation.
While condoling with the family of the dead, he advised motorists to always inspect their vehicles before embarking on any trips.
He also urged them to take their routine vehicle maintenance seriously to avoid road mishaps.(NAN)

#orientdailynews