By Adoga Michael Oyi


The Kano State Hisbah Board , on Thursday , said it arrested 98 beggars in the Kano metropolis for allegedly contravening the law on street begging .
Officer in charge of the board , Dahiru Nuhu , who made the disclosure in Kano , disclosed that the beggars were arrested at about 12. 15 pm in different parts of the city , including Bompai , Lodge Road and Danshaba motor ark .
According to Nuhu , 68 of those arrested were street urchins , popularly called almajiri , aged between nine and 17 years .
Furthermore , he disclosed that majority of the beggars were from Bauchi , Katsina , Gombe and Yobe states .
However , he explained that those who were not from Kano would be sent back to their respective states of origin , urging them to find something profitable to do .

By Adoga Michael Oyi

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, on Thursday took a subtle swipe at former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, over his letter criticizing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
Speaking during the colloquium in honour of his 66th birthday in Lagos, Tinubu insinuated the letter from Obasanjo to Buhari is “bad belle” letter.
According to the former Lagos governor, “Somebody who’s writing a letter these days, a letter of politics. As if they’ve never been there before. Bad belle letters, don’t worry. I don’t want to address that today.”
Recall that Obasanjo had, in a special press statement entitled, “The Way Out: A Clarion Call for Coalition for Nigeria Movement”, came hard on the Buhari’s administration.
Obasanjo had faulted Buhari for been nepotic in his dealings as the nation’s president and dividing the country.
The former president, in the letter, advised Buhari against seeking re-election in 2019 because he lacks what it takes to move the country forward.

By Adoga Michael Oyi


It is currently gathered that Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in Katsina State have arrested a 19-year-old girl, Zakiya Abdukarim, with illicit drugs stocked in her brassiere and other parts of her body.
Also a Geophysics graduate , Mr. Iredia Austin, was arrested by officials of the Edo State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for being in possession of 82 bags of Indian hemp weighing over 762kgs.
The Katsina State Commander, NDLEA, Mrs. Maryam Sani, who confirmed the arrest of the 19-year-old girl, said she was arrested in Sokoto Rima River Basin area of the state with the drugs meant for sale to her clients.
Sani added that the girl ran away from her village to stay with her boyfriend under the pretext that her step-father and mother wanted to give her out in marriage without her consent.
The NDLEA boss gave the quantity of illicit drugs found in possession of the teenage girl to be 14.4grams of Tramadol, 14.8grams of Exol-5 and 2.4grams of D5.
Interacting with the teenage girl, she said her boyfriend, Abdulsalam, asked her to keep the drugs in her possession that he forgot something at home and he needed to pick it up.
“The drugs are for my boyfriend, Abdulsalam. I met him around the motor park here in Katsina where he sells the drugs.
“I am from Tantagaria village on your way to Bakiya. I sell rice and beans.
“On that day, he (my boyfriend) told me to keep the drugs that he forgot something that he needed to pick up at home. He fled the house after I was arrested. They found three drugs with me. I don’t know the names of the drugs. I don’t take it,” the teenage girl, Zakiya Abdulkarim stated.
On the arrest of the graduate, Edo State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr. Buba Wakawa, in a statement in Benin, disclosed that the hard drug was discovered inside the ceiling of his house at Ohiomah Street, Iyeu Otuo in Owan East Local Government Area of the state.
Meanwhile, the suspect in his statement said that he bought the drugs for sale in order to get enough money to sponsor his Master’s Degree programme.
The suspect during interrogation claimed ownership of the drugs saying that this is the largest quantity of drugs he has purchased in a single transaction.
He said: “I studied Geophysics at Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma and completed my National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in January 2018. I started selling cannabis in 2011 when I gained admission into the university. This is because I have no one to help me financially.
“After my graduation, I stopped selling cannabis but the temptation arose when I purchased form for my Master’s Degree programme at the University of Port Harcourt.”

By Adoga Michael Oyi

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State, has said President Muhammadu Buhari saved the party from impending doom.
Chairman of the State chapter, Anslem Ojezua, said this yesterday, noting that the proposed tenure elongation for the John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee would have brought about constitutional crisis.
He said the party would not have survived the crisis if Buhari had allowed the one year extension.
“It was a statement that was timely and justified. Because despite what anybody has to say, one of the changes that APC professed is the promotion of internal democracy, he told reporters.
“So, by that statement alone, the President has enhanced the profile of our party and saved us the disgrace that was imminent in implementation of that unconstitutional proposal,” he said.
He continued, “It is very good for the party. Let me even give you another aspect of it. In the past two years, we have had a number of people from other parties joining us.
“Now, these people are joining with the hope that they will be fully integrated in the party. One of the ways that this integration takes place is in participation in these congresses.
“And in some cases, some of them are free to aspire and hold offices. By implementing the tenure elongation proposal, you would have shut those ones out at least for another one year and perhaps another four years.
“The most important thing which is fundamental is that our constitution as a party does not permit it.
“But the President has even taken it beyond that to the constitution of the country, which is the most important law of our land and that law expressly forbids any body holding an office in a political party for more than four years without an election.”

By Adoga Michael Oyi


“There is no hell where the souls of sinners suffer in eternity”,
Pope Francis was quoted as saying in a Thursday interview with Italian daily La Repubblica.
Francis said: “after death, the souls of people who repent are pardoned by God and join in his contemplation,
“but those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be pardoned, disappear.”
“Hell does not exist – what exists is the disappearance of sinful souls,” he added.
The pope was interviewed by Eugenio Scalfari, a veteran Italian journalist and atheist who regularly muses about
faith and religion, and enjoys access to the leader of the Catholic Church.
In the past, the veracity of quotes he attributed to the pope has been called into question, especially after
the 93-year-old Scalfari admitted to never using a tape recorder during interviews.
However, the Vatican has never complained about Scalfari’s work, and Francis has continued giving interviews
to him. (dpa/NAN)

By Adoga Michael Oyi

There was a mild drama, Thursday, at the State Command of the Nigeria Police headquarters, Lokoja, as the incoming Commissioner of Police, Esa Sunday Ogbu, was not available for handover.
The outgoing CP, Ali Jaga came to the office in company of AIG of Police Zone 8, expecting to see the new CP.
The new CP had earlier been threatened a day to his resumption.
The Kogi Governor, Bello, reportedly told him to leave the state.
The new CP, as a result of the intimidation, left for Abuja Thursday morning.
Efforts to speak with the Force PPRO, Jimoh Moshood was not successful as he did not pick calls put across in his two lines.
The Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris, had ordered the immediate removal of Kogi State Commissioner of Police, CP Ali Janga over questionable circumstances that led to escape of two key suspects in a matter involving Senator Dino Melaye.
The new CP, Ogbu was Commissioner of Police, Federal Operations, Force Headquarters, Abuja before his posting to Kogi State.

By Adoga Michael Oyilichi

The Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday, March 28, 2018, took an exception to the manner in which his close ally, Senator Dino Melaye, dramatizes issues on the floor of the Senate.
Saraki, while reacting to Melaye’s account of new developments in the case of his alleged involvement with two criminal suspects whom he said had reportedly escaped from police custody in Lokoja, frowned at how Melaye quickly digressed from presenting his argument to singing.
Senator Melaye, who told the Senate that while he sent legal representations to the state High Court, despite not being served any summon started that the police instead of presenting the suspects in court were asking for a bench warrant to arrest him.
“Mr President, the social media this morning was awash – and I have made confirmation that the suspects in my case who said I gave them guns and money – there is a reported case in Lokoja that there was a jailbreak at 5:00am this morning and the two suspects have escaped.”

“Mr President we were all suppose to appear before the Lokoja high court this morning. My lawyers were in court at 9:00am and the case was called up and the prosecutor of the Nigerian police could not produce the two persons.”
“Instead of producing the two persons they asked the judge to a bench warrant for an arrest but the judge refused to grant their prayers and the judge said despite the fact that I have not been served I sent representation to the court. And the main accused persons are absent in court,” Melaye said.
He however, continued in a dramatic manner with a song: “dis kain God oo, I never see your type ooo, dis kain God ooo blessed be your holy name…”
According to The Independent, at this point, the Senate president who yielded the floor to him said: please, Senator Melaye, you are an elder statesman and we expect that you conduct yourself as such”.
“The Senate chamber is not a place for drama, and I urge you to stick to the issue to underscore its seriousness,” Saraki said.
Continuing, Senator Melaye said: “Rumours have it that this people were moved from detention, and rumours have it that they may have been killed because yesterday two international organisations were in Kogi based on my petition to find out what is happening.”
“Surprisingly these two people have now been declared escapees. Mr President I want to use the opportunity and on the principle of justice to call on the inspector-general of police that within 48 hours he must produce these accused persons because they are presumed innocent until proven guilty they also have right to life.”
“So police must as a matter urgency produce these two accused persons. Failure to do so I will sue the IG for mental assault. Nigeria is not a banana republic,”, he said.
The senate therefore directed the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to as a matter of urgency produce the suspects within 48 hours.
However, in a related development, the Kogi State police command in Lokoja has declared Senator Melaye wanted.
In a statement issued and signed by the Commissioner, Mr Ali Janga, the police said that 6 suspects who were in custody, out of whom two had confessed to crimes at the instance of the lawmaker and one Mohammed Audu, have broken out of jail.
“Consequently, all the six suspects, Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu were sent for watch listing and red notice by the INTERPOL for immediate arrest any where we see them.
“The Command hereby appealed to members of the public to assist the Police with useful information on the whereabouts of the suspects by reporting to the nearest police station,” the statement read.
The police authority also said investigation into the incident is ongoing and 13 officers who were on duty when the incident occurred have been detained for interrogation.