TheNewsGuru

Tag: Cross River

  • APC to sanction Cross River chapter crisis suspects

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said it would investigate and prosecute suspected perpetrators of recent undisciplined acts and illegality in its Cross River chapter.

    The party made this known in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Bolaji Abudullahi, on Wednesday in Abuja.

    It said that the development had caused undue disaffection among party faithful in the state.

    “We condemn in totality the recent activities in which some party members allegedly broke in, vandalised and occupied the state secretariat and allegedly claimed that there is a change in leadership of the State Executive Committee.

    “All perpetrators of this illegality and acts of gross indiscipline causing undue disaffection among party faithful shall be investigated and prosecuted in line with the party`s constitution.

    “It is imperative to state that our great party has laid down procedures of resolving any internal dispute,’’ the statement said.

    It maintained that the Mr John Ochalla-led executive of the party in Cross River was the only one duly recognised by its national leadership.

    The statement, however, appealed to party members in the state to be calm, law-abiding and to remain loyal to the Ochalla-led executive committee.

    It assured that the party’s leadership was poised to resolve all contending issues in Cross Rivers and any of its other chapters across the federation.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, appointed Alhaji Bola Tinubu, one of APC`s founding fathers, to lead its consultation, reconciliation and confidence-building team to resolve all crises within the party.

    The measure was to improve cohesion within the party ahead of 2019 general elections.

    Tinubu’s assignment would involve resolving disagreements among party members and leadership across the federation.

    It would also involve reconciling political office holders in some APC states and addressing the crises in its chapters in Kano, Kogi and Bauchi States.

     

  • Gov. Ayade hails Buhari, says Cross River owes him debt of gratitude

    Gov. Ayade hails Buhari, says Cross River owes him debt of gratitude

    Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, says never in the history of Nigerian politics has the state been as favoured as it is with the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Ayade stated this at the state executive chamber in Calabar, when the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita led the body of federal permanent secretaries who are on a retreat in the state on a courtesy call on the governor.

    “Never in the history of Nigeria politics has Cross River State benefited this much from the gale of appointments that have come to us.

    “Head of Service of the Federation, Auditor General of the Federation, federal permanent secretary (Information), Chairman NDDC, we also have Minister of Niger Delta, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief Justice of Nigeria, the list is endless.

    “We have never had it this good,” Ayade stated.

    Ayade said this was in spite of the fact that “this man (Buhari) is from the northern part of Nigeria while Cross River is in the south. This is a President who is an All Progressives Congress (APC) member while Cross River is a Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) state; a President who by faith is Muslim and Cross River State is predominantly Christian, a man who did not look at all of these biases and made a choice of Cross River State as the first state to perform his first working visit. This is unprecedented”.

    The governor maintained that for all the love, appointments and timely approvals including that of the Bakassi deep seaport project by President Buhari, there was no other way to show appreciation than to thank him while praying God to grant him good health so that he will continue to do good to the state and nation in general.

    Urging the federal permanent secretaries to work in tandem with President Buhari’s deep vision for the citizenry, Ayade said: “Work with full loyalty and support for Mr President to continue to do the good job he is doing. You have an opportunity to reduce hunger, we cannot leave it for the President alone. The pressure he’s come under is occasioned by the poverty in the land”.

    Explaining that the procurement retreat for federal permanent secretaries was timely considering its challenges to humanity as well as egalitarian distribution of opportunities, Ayade charged the body to find unorthodox method within the confines of law to provide a direction and focus that can create the sense of unity and equality.

    “I task you to make sure that the retreat goes beyond the boundaries of just an intercourse. Take it truly to heart and show kindness to your fellowmen.

    “Your position is to serve humanity, not to serve self or state and so I entreat you to put God and the fear of God first in all your considerations,” the governor advised.

    Oyo-Ita, commended Governor Ayade for his vision and industrialization drive.

    “We must place on record that Your Excellency’s vision and drive for the progress of Cross River State is already bearing fruits, not just through hearsay but what we have already witnessed in the last couple of days in Calabar. well-done my big brother,” she said.

    She disclosed that the team was in the state to attend a procurement retreat for the federal permanent secretaries hosted jointly by the Bureau of Public Procurement and the office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

    The Head of civil service of the federation who was accompanied by 21 permanent secretaries, Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris; the Auditor General of the Federation, Anthony Mkpe Ayine as well as the DG BPP, remarked that adherence to public procurement practice remains important for effective service delivery and in line with the change vision of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Oyo-Ita added that “it is very important for permanent secretaries to have a deeper understanding of the knowledge and practice of procurement process while ensuring that they do not find themselves as guests at the public accounts committee of the National Assembly and maybe the EFCC”.

     

  • Several injured, properties destroyed as thugs invade APC gathering in Cross River

    Several injured, properties destroyed as thugs invade APC gathering in Cross River

    There was Pandemonium on Friday as thugs allegedly sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) invaded and attacked a gathering of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Obudu, Cross River State.

    A stalwart of the party, Venatius Ikem, was said to be making preparations to announce his intention to run for the governorship of the state in 2019 when the thugs struck.

    Mr. Ikem is from Obudu, where the Governor of the state, Ben Ayade also comes from.

    The thugs vandalised the APC secretariat, which was the venue of the gathering.

    They destroyed the party’s billboards, canopies, chairs, and public address system.

    The APC supporters were chased out of the venue.

    The incident was said to have happened around 12 pm Friday.

    Mr. Ikem told newsmen that the thugs came back a second time when the APC leaders and the party’s supporters went back to continue with the event.

    “Immediately we got there again and entered the secretariat and started chanting the party slogan so that we could start the programme, they came back. Apparently, they were monitoring us. They started attacking us again,” said Mr. Ikem.

    “They broke all the glasses and everything they could see in the party secretariat. They beat up people. Several people were taken to hospital.”

    Mr. Ikem said the police initially refused to grant their request for security, but that the police came and parked their vehicle across the road when the thugs invaded the APC office a second time.

    He said the police clashed with the thugs.

    Mr. Ikem said he eventually retreated to a private residence around the area to declare his governorship ambition.

    “We can identify those who led the attack,” Mr. Ikem said.

    “They were not masked, they are our town’s boys. Many of them are appointees of the governor. We have their names. In fact, we have a video of what happened.”

    The Chairman of APC in Obudu, Ugbelishor Mathias, corroborated Mr. Ikem’s claims. He said he had advised the party supporters not to attack back in order to avoid the escalation of violence.

    The Chairman of APC in Abi Local Government Area, Romanus Egbonyi, was among those wounded in the attack.

    Mr. Egbonyi condemned the attack as being unfair to the APC which he said has been law-abiding in the state.

    “I want to say that this will not deter us at all. We all came here to witness the formal declaration of Barr Venatius Ikem and got attacked as you all have witnessed.

    “If the powers that be in the state are confident of themselves, why do they have to descend so low to attack us in our own premises?” he said.

  • LG retirees give Ayade ultimatum N9bn unpaid gratuities

    Local government retirees in Cross River State on Tuesday gave Governor Ben Ayade a one-month ultimatum to commence the payment of their 11 years’ backlog of gratuities and pension arrears amounting to over N9bn.

    The state Chairman, Association of Local Government Pensioners, Mr. Bassey Okosin, who gave this ultimatum at a press conference in Calabar, said members of the association were being owed gratuities and arrears from 2007 to 2018.

    Okosin expressed displeasure over the neglect of local government retirees in the state, adding that the retirees would occupy all government offices in the state if their demands were not met between now and February 16.

    He said, “Our state governor has received one part of the bailout funds and two tranches of the Paris Club Refund, yet no single local government retiree has been paid.

    “We heard that the Federal Government released the funds for the primary purpose of clearing all outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities; why then are we not paid?

    “As of today, we have an average of 25 local government workers retiring from service monthly. If we don’t receive this money under one month, the 5,600 pensioners in Cross River will occupy all relevant government offices until our entitlements are paid.

    “Some people who are retiring now can no longer be captured on the nominal roll because, from what we heard, the list is full. We are appealing to the state government to allocate some of the money received to us. In addition, we want the state government to allocate 15 per cent of the monthly federal allocation to retirees.”

    Okosin added that the issue of over 600 names of local government pensioners that were omitted by a consultant during the 2016 personal audit exercise was still outstanding.

    “Having exhausted all known means of reaching out to the relevant arms of government without result, we have taken a decision to pack our loads to leave in all the offices that are responsible for the payment of these entitlements until further notice.

    “This is not a threat, but what is likely going to happen in the next one month. All our members have mobilised themselves from all the 18 local government areas of the state for this exercise,” he said.

  • Cross River secures license for 528MW floating power plant

    The National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday granted the Cross River State Government a power generation license for the construction of a 528MW floating power plant in the state.

    The license was handed over to a delegation from Cross River led by the state governor, Professor Ben Ayade in a brief ceremony at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

    The vice chairman of the commission, Mr Sanusi Garba commended Governor Ayade for providing the enabling environment for investors to invest in the state.

    “I would like to commend Governor Ayade for providing the enabling environment for investors like MGIG to invest in power generation. Cross River is endowed with lots of natural resources which enables her to play a central role in the power sector”

    Also speaking during the license issuing ceremony, Governor Ben Ayade commended NERC for its capacity and professionalism while processing the license.

    “I thank the management of NERC for its professionalism while processing this license considering that the last document in the application was submitted last year”

    Governor Ayade also used the opportunity to advocate for proper monitoring of DISCOS to ensure better service delivery.

    He said adequate supply of power is central to the industrialization policy of his administration and promised to assist NERC in carrying out its statutory functions.

    In his vote of thanks, a commissioner in the commission, Mr Dafe Akpeneye thanked Governor Ayade for his dynamism and charged state governments to assist NERC in the areas of safety and removal of buildings under high tension cables.

    According to Akpeneye, other areas his commission needs assistance include Customer enumeration, electricity theft and payment of bills.

     

  • Police rescue abducted woman, kill one suspect in Cross River

    The Police in Cross River say they have rescued one Mrs Comfort Udoenwang, who was abducted on Oct. 2 by some gunmen.

    The state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Hafiz Inuwa, who disclosed to journalist in Calabar said the victim was released early hours of Saturday.

    Inuwa told newsmen that the suspect was whisked away by the gunmen on Oct. 2, from her Jesus Avenue residence in Calabar south on Oct. 2 and taken to Akpap-Okoyong village in Odukpani Local Government Area of the state.

    The commissioner said that the rescue operation was carried out by the newly formed Anti-Kidnapping/Cultism Unit of the command.

    “In the early hours of today, my men swooped on the kidnappers’ hide-out identified to be that of a syndicate that specialises in kidnapping, robbery and assassination as well as that of a group that kidnapped Mrs Udoenwang.

    “On sighting the police, the hoodlums opened fire on our detectives and as a result of the exchange of fire, one of the suspects, Isaac Sabastine was shot dead.

    “His corpse has been deposited in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital mortuary.

    “We recovered one locally made pistol and a live cartridge, an axe, a Nigerian army camouflage uniform, one face mask and one black axe confraternity banner.

    “We also arrested one of the suspects, Elle David, while their kingpin, Ayi Etok, narrowly escaped with gun-shot wounds.

    “A Toyota Highlander jeep with registration number ANA 420 CK belonging to the victim, Mrs Udoenwang, was also recovered.

    “ Investigation is ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects,’’ he said.

    The commissioner warned all persons with criminal intent to desist from the act, saying that the command, under his leadership, would not spare any criminal found culpable.

     

    NAN

     

  • Lagos, Kaduna, Cross River, 21 other states exceeded their borrowing limits – FRC

    The Fiscal Responsibility Commission, FRC, has stated that 23 states of the federation exceeded their borrowing limit in 2015.

    This according to the Commission is contrary to the guidelines highlighted by Debt Management Office, DMO.

    This was revealed in a report on the states and their indebtedness.

    The FRC in the report said Lagos, Kaduna, Cross River, Gombe, Ekiti, Edo, Ondo and Imo states had borrowed more than 50 per cent of their annual statutory allocations by 2015.

    Other states in the same boat are Zamfara, Adamawa, Oyo, Abia, Ogun, Taraba, Kebbi, Enugu, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kano, Benue, Kwara, Katsina and Sokoto.

    The FRC added that when total revenue (gross statutory allocation plus Internally Generated Revenue) was used as the yardstick for measuring the level of indebtedness of the states, a total of 20 states borrowed more than their total revenues in 2015.

    The report read in part, “In the light of the DMO’s Guidelines on Debt Management Framework, particularly as it pertains to debt sustainability, the debt to income ratio of states should not exceed 50 per cent of the statutory revenue for the preceding 12 months.

    “In effect, state governments have a subsisting, though not in line with FRA, 2007, loan policy, which requires states governments not to owe more than 50 per cent of their statutory revenue for the previous 12 months.

    “The Federal Government, on the other hand, is expected not to accumulate debt more than 40 per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product. Bearing this in mind, 23 states exceeded the threshold of 50 per cent of their gross/net statutory allocations during the year 2015.

    “However, out of the 23 states, only 20 states exceeded the threshold of 50 per cent of their total revenue – gross statutory allocation plus Internally Generated Revenue.”

    The report also stated, “Lagos exceeded the threshold of 50 per cent of its gross statutory allocation by well over 300 per cent; Kaduna, Cross River, Gombe, Ekiti, Edo, Ondo, Oyo, Abia and Ogun exceeded the 50 per cent of their gross statutory allocations by well over 50 per cent but less than 100 per cent.

    “Imo, Zamfara, Adamawa, Taraba, Kebbi, Enugu, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Kano, Benue, Kwara, Katsina, and Sokoto states exceeded the 50 per cent of their gross statutory allocations by less than 50 per cent.

    “On the basis of total revenue rather than gross statutory allocation, 20 states exceeded the threshold of 50 per cent. Of the 23 states that exceeded the threshold of their gross/net statutory allocations, Kwara, Katsina and Sokoto states did not exceed the 50 per cent threshold of their consolidated debt to total revenue.

    “From 2012 to 2015, five states consistently exceeded the threshold of 50 per cent of their gross statutory allocations. The states are Kaduna, Lagos, Ogun, Cross River and Osun.”

  • 2019: Ondo, Cross River, Taraba, 11 others get new RECs

    2019: Ondo, Cross River, Taraba, 11 others get new RECs

    In preparation for the 2019 general elections,the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has approved the posting of 14 newly sworn-in Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to states, according to a statement by its Secretary, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo had last week approved the appointment and deployment of the new RECs to different states of the Federation.

    According to the statement obtained by TheNewsGuru.com on Friday, Prof. James Apam from Benue was posted to Kogi, while Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda from Plateau was posted to Benue.

    It said that Halilu Pai from FCT was posted to Plateau, Umar Ibrahim (Taraba) to Gombe; Ahmad Makama (Bauchi) to Taraba; Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa) to Bauchi; and Prof. Godwill Obioma (Abia) to Ebonyi.

    Dr. Nwachukwu Orji of Ebonyi was posted to Anambra; Dr Iloh Chuks (Enugu) to Abia; Emeka Joseph (Imo) to Enugu State and Francis Ezeonu (Anambra) to Imo.

    The commission also approved the posting of Obo Effanga (Cross River) to Edo; Dr. Briyi Frankland (Bayelsa) to Cross River; and Agboke Olaleke (Ogun) to Ondo.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the posting was released immediately after the new RECs took their oaths of office at the INEC headquarters, Abuja.

    INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu had earlier told the officials that none of them would be posted to his or her state of origin, and urged them to be prepared to serve in any part of the country.

    He advised them to adhere strictly to the provisions of the constitution, electoral act and other legal frameworks in the discharge of their duties.

     

  • Communal clash: Osinbajo orders security reinforcement in Cross River

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday ordered security agencies to take urgent steps to avert further breakdown of law and order in Yala Local Government of Cross River.

    The order followed violence between the Wanikade and Wanihem communities which led to loss of lives and property.

    A statement by the Acting President’s Spokesman, Mr Laolu Akande, also directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to liaise with the state government toward sending relief materials to affected communities.

    Osinbajo condemned the recent communal conflict in the area, and appealed to warring communities to embrace peace to enable government to find lasting solution to the crisis.

    This was not the first time both communities clashed over issues of land ownership.

    The June 27 and June 29 clash appeared to be the most devastating, as it left the community deserted.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Wanikade and Wanihem communities both share boundaries with Benue.

    Displaced persons by the conflict are camped at Efiola-Emokpe community in Oju Local Government Area of Benue.

     

     

     

    NAN

     

  • Cross River Super Highway back on track as FG approves EIA

    The Federal Ministry of Environment has handed the final copy of the approved Environmental Impact Assessment report to the Cross River State government, signaling what the governor said will be immediate return to site to commence work.


    The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Bukar Hassan, handed the approved EIA report to the Deputy Governor of Cross River state, Professor Ivara Esu, who represented his boss, in Abuja with assurances that the federal government will not renege on its promise to support the state in ensuring the succesful completion of the project.

    While reacting to the development, an elated governor Ayade told CrossRiverWatch that he was greatful to his detractors who actually propelled the government to work harder in order to achieve the feat.

    “I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Cross Riverians and indeed all the detractors of the super highway for their opposition to the project, which actually propelled us to work harder to achieve this.

    “For those who have been worried about where the money will come from, I have insisted repeatedly that that has been taken care of. I want to assure Cross Riverians that equipment is returning to site and work will commence immediately as earlier planned.

    “We give all thanks to God and to all Cross Riverians who abided with us in prayer and assure everyone that we will continue to work hard to achieve our set goals regardless of the obstacles.” the governor said.