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Tag: Nasarawa State

  • BREAKING: Kidnapped Nasarawa APC Chairman found dead

    BREAKING: Kidnapped Nasarawa APC Chairman found dead

    Mr Philip Shekwo, the Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been found dead.

    The Police Command in Nasarawa State confirmed the abduction of Shekwo by gunmen on Saturday.

    A member of the APC in Nasarawa State, who asked not to be named, confirmed the death of Shekwo.

    The APC chairman was abducted from his residence in Bukan-Sidi, Lafia around 11 p.m. on Saturday.

    The police had been deployed to comb the various forests and flashpoints in the state.

    The body of the APC chairman was found lifeless.

    Shekwo hails from Yelwa Chiefdom, Toto LGA of Nasarawa State.

  • Police confirm abduction of Nasarawa APC chairman

    Police confirm abduction of Nasarawa APC chairman

    The Police Command in Nasarawa State has confirmed the abduction of the state chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr Philip Shekwo, by gunmen on Saturday.

    Mr Bola Longe, Commissioner of Police in the state, confirmed the incident to newsmen on Sunday in Lafia.

    Longe said that the APC chairman was abducted from his residence in Bukan-Sidi, Lafia around 11 p.m. on Saturday.

    Longe said the police had been deployed to comb the various forests and flashpoints in the state to ensure the rescue of the APC chieftain.

  • PDP lawmaker recovers from sickness, defects to APC

    PDP lawmaker recovers from sickness, defects to APC

    Mr John Osewu ( PDP-Doma South) of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, on Tuesday defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC).

    Osewu, who has just recovered from sickness, announced his defection to the APC shortly after he assumed duty at the assembly.

    “The issue surrounding my health condition was a terrible experience for me. It makes me uncomfortable, some people even said that I had died.

    “Some even said that the Speaker hid me, but I thank God, I am here now, together with my colleagues, staff and you people, gentlemen of the Press,” he said.

    He thanked God, Gov. Abdullahi Sule, the Speaker of the House, Balarabe Abdullahi, and other legislators, as well as the people of his constituency and well wishers for their prayers, support and understanding.

    Osewu, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, also commended the development strides and leadership style of Gov. Sule and the Speaker, which he said, encouraged him to leave his party, the PDP, and join the APC.

    ” So that together we will provide the much-needed dividends of democracy to the people.

    “I want to formally and officially inform you that after consultations with my people, I have left the PDP for the APC.

    “This is to enable me to fully support the good things Gov. Abdullahi Sule is doing for the people, that is the kind of leadership we want,”he said.

    The Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Ibrahim Alkali, who is the Deputy Chairman of the Judiciary committee and Member, representing Lafia North, welcomed Osewu to the APC.

    He thanked God for his recovery, saying that the House had missed his contributions.

    The lawmaker who fell sick seven months after his inauguration, was moved out of the state for medical treatment on Jan.6.

  • New born baby wrapped in polythene bag found inside gutter in Nasarawa

    New born baby wrapped in polythene bag found inside gutter in Nasarawa

    A new born baby wrapped in a polythene bag was found dead in a gutter near Aku Village, Mararaba, in Karu area of Nasarawa state.

    Residents were shocked to discover the baby in the gutter.

    The incident which happened on Tuesday, drew a large crowd to the scene after a young man entered the gutter filled with water and refuse.

    Mr Anthony Ignatius told a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that a similar incident happened in 2019 on the other side of the same gutter.

    ”I think the mother must have given birth to the baby in the night and dumped her in the gutter.

    ”I wonder why a mother, who carried a baby fro nine months, would behave in such a wicked manner.

    ”The woman should have taken the child to the motherless babies home. This is sad,” hesaid.

    Another resident, Amina Abubukar, said:” I have read about these kind of acts. But I have never seen it.

    ”I am very shocked and angry with the woman who did this. Women are supposed to caring.

    ”I don’t think I can sleep tonight after seeing this.

    ”My advice to women is that do not allow yourselves to get pregnant if you are going to dump your baby.

    ”This baby did not ask for you to bring it to the world. This woman should seek the face of God when faced with such challenges,” she said.

    Another resident, Umar Bello, said:”whoever did this, should search her conscience and go to the police.

    ”What will push a woman to dump an innocent soul in a gutter? People are wicked”.

    NAN reports that other passers-by, rained curses on the mother.

    When contacted, the Police Public Relation Officer of Nasarawa State, ASP Ramhan Nansel said the matter has not reached the command.

    Nansel said the police will look into the matter.

  • APC wins Nasarawa Central state constituency bye-election

    APC wins Nasarawa Central state constituency bye-election

    All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Ismail Danbaba, has won the bye-election for the Nasarawa Central State Constituency in the state House of Assembly.

    Mr Iiyasu Umar, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, announced the result of the bye-election conducted on Saturday in Nasarawa.

    Announcing the result, Umar said the APC candidate scored 7,475 to defeat Mr Bage Nuhu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who got 4,608 votes.

    He said that during the bye-election, 12,217 votes were cast, while 12,083 valid votes were recorded with 134 rejected votes.

    “By the power conferred on me as the Returning Officer of this election, I hereby declared the APC candidate the winner, having scored the highest number of votes cast,’’ he declared.

    The INEC scheduled the Nasarawa Central bye-election following the death of the member representing Nasarawa Central constituency at the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu (APC), on April 30.

  • BREAKING: Nasarawa former Information Commissioner dies at 62

    BREAKING: Nasarawa former Information Commissioner dies at 62

    Mrs Titi-Victoria Monde, the former Information Commissioner in Nasarawa State, died in the early hours of Thursday at the age of 62, her family announced on Thursday.

    Mr Paul Abuga, the younger brother to Monde disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Akwanga, Akwanga Local Government Area of the State.

    Abuga, who is the Secretary of Nassarawa Eggon Local Government Council, said that Monde, who also served as the Provost College of Education, Akwanga, died at the General Hospital, Akwanga, after a brief illness.

    “May the soul of my sister and the souls of other departed souls rest in peace with the lord, Amen,” he said.

    NAN reports that Monde served in 2011 during the administration of former Gov. Tanko Al-Makura as the Commissioner of Information.

  • BREAKING: Gov. Sule sacks SSG

    BREAKING: Gov. Sule sacks SSG

    Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has sacked the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed-Tijani.

    Ahmed-Tijjani was Commissioner for Education in the administration of Sen. Umaru Al-Makura, immediate past governor of the state.

    The announcement is contained in a statement issued by Alhaji Hamza Gayam, the Permanent Secretary (PS), Government House Administration, on Monday in Lafia.

    The statement said the governor had directed Ahmed-Tijani to immediately handover all government property in his possession to Mr Muazu Adamu-Gosho, the Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Affairs in the Office of the SSG.

    It said that the governor thanked the former SSG for his services and support to the administration and wished him well in his future endeavour.

    Recall that the State House of Assembly ad-hoc committee investigating the release of N1 billion for the renovation/fencing of public secondary schools in the state in 2018, had indicted the former SSG.

    Following the indictment, the state legislators asked Ahmed-Tijani to refund over N248.5 million as unaccounted funds to the state government.

    The house said the former commissioner displayed blatant inefficiency, incompetency and ineffectiveness in the performance of his official duties and urged the governor to relief him of his appointment.

  • 3 doctors test positive to COVID-19 in Nasarawa State

    3 doctors test positive to COVID-19 in Nasarawa State

    The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) says three doctors have tested positive for the COVID-19 in Nasarawa State.

    NMA Chairman, Dr Bulus Umaru, made this known in Lafia.

    He said, “three gynaecologists and two auxiliary staff have contracted the coronavirus in the course of their work of dealing with patients.

    “The doctors are now on admission at an isolation centre at the Federal Medical Centre and are responding to treatment.”

    He urged the NMA members and other health workers to observe personal and environmental hygiene and guard against contracting the disease.

    Umaru advised health workers in the state to be properly kitted with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) whenever on duty attending to patients.

    “You may not know which patients have the virus, hence the need for proper protection to avoid being infected,” he said.

    He also appealed to the Nasarawa State Government to pay hazard allowances to health workers battling the Coronavirus pandemic to ensure industrial harmony at this critical time.

    Umaru urged the state government to also introduce insurance schemes for health workers.

  • Nasarawa SSG indicted in projects scam, to refund over N248.5m

    The Nasarawa State House of Assembly’s ad-hoc Committee, investigating alleged projects scam of N1 billion for the renovation/fencing of secondary schools, has indicted the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Aliyu Tijani.

    Tijjani has, therefore, been ordered to refund the government N248.5 million of the unaccounted funds, released in 2018.

    The Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Mr Daniel Ogazi, (APC- Kokona East), who made this known on Monday in Lafia, while presenting the committee’s report during the House’s proceedings, noted that the SSG was the State’s Commissioner for Education when the alleged fraud occurred.

    Ogazi said that the former commissioner displayed blatant inefficiency, incompetence and ineffectiveness in the performance of his official duties.

    He said based on the committee’s recommendations, N873, 233,942.60 was expended as discovered from the Payment Vouchers (PVs), excluding 5 per cent deductions for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), as payments for the completed and uncompleted projects.

    “During our investigation, we summoned the Commissioner for Education, her principal officers and management staff, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, the former Commissioner for Education now SSG, Commissioner for Works, his principal officers, as well as the contractors that handled various projects.

    “And during our investigation, the SSG agreed that he will take responsibility for his action.

    “The total released contract sum was N1. 084 billion only, and if N873, 233,942.60 is deducted from the total contract sum, this will amount to N210, 766, 057.40.

    “Then add 5 per cent Monitoring and Evaluation which is N37, 718, 499.19. The total sum of unaccounted funds will amount to N248, 484,556.60,” he said.

    Ogazi urged the government to declare a state of emergency on all abandoned projects to ensure its completion.

    “All contractors who completed their work should be paid immediately by the ministry and all payments made to the unknown contractors should be refunded to government coffers immediately.

    “Funds should be released to contractors who have the capacity and ability to carry out the work,” he said.

    He also called on contractors who collected money and refused to carry out the renovation/fencing to do so within one month or face the consequences.

    The committee’s chairman urged the ministry of education to take on the spot assessment of all uncompleted projects to see the level of work done and to make funds available for the completion of the same in the interest of development.

    Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Speaker of the House, after receiving the report, said it would be deliberated upon on Tuesday.

    The Speaker had on March 17, constituted the ad-hoc committee to carry out thorough investigation on the alleged misuse of the funds.

  • BREAKING: Sergeant at Arm of Nasarawa State Assembly is dead

    Alhaji Aliyu Bako, the Sergeant at Arm of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly has died at the age of 69.

    Mr Jibrin Gwamna, Press Secretary to the Speaker of the House disclosed this in a statement in Keffi on Sunday.

    Gwamna said that the Speaker, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi described Bako’s death as painful and colossal loss to the state.

    “On behalf of the principal officers, members and staff of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, I, Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Speaker has condole with the family of the late Sergeant at Arm and Kwandere emirate council over the death of our dedicated and committed Sergeant at Arm, who is the Makongiji Kwandare.

    “He was a committed staff and has contributed his quota to the development of the House and the State at large while alive.

    “His death is painful but God gives life and take at his own will. May his soul and the souls of other departed rest in peace,” he stated.