Author: straightnewsng.com

No fewer than 19 persons were on Sunday killed at Malari village, Borno State by Boko Haram insurgents. An aid worker at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, in Monguno, a town in Borno, said hundreds of survivors from villages in the area have fled to the IDP camp. This is even as the Army denied reports that 50 soldiers were lost to Boko Haram insurgents. Abatcha Umar, a witness, who noted that the attack took place in the early hours of Sunday, said he counted 19 bodies, including that of his younger brother. He added that the militants were…

Worried by the precaurious situation, President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday, directed security heads in the country to step up their game to ensure safety in all nooks and crannies. This is even as the Federal Government described the security situation in the North East geopolitical zone of the country as worrisome. Buhari had presided over security meeting held behind closed-doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, which had all security heads in attendance, including the new Acting Director-General of Department of State Services, DSS, Matthew Seiyefa, which was his first meeting with the President. Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting,…

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court Monday restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from conducting further investigations into the finances of Benue State. The court directed the anti-agency to suspend action pending the determination of the suit that was lodged before it by the Benue State Government. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba who sat as a vacation Judge, gave the preservative order on a day EFCC honoured summon the court issued to it on August 9, following allegation that it froze Benue State accounts. Recall that the former vacation Judge, Justice Babatunde Quadri, had after he listened to…

 President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to jail more of those who brought the nation into its present economic situation. Buhari who stated this on Saturday at the Aso Villa in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, said “We are going to jail more of the thieves, you know, that brought the economic problem to the country. I think this is really expected of me and I will do it.” He spoke in an interview shortly after he returned to the country from his 10-day vacation in London. The remarks were part of the Federal Government’s anti-corruption drive and in line with…

‘’I have not taken my bath, shaven nor trimmed my hair since I was taken and this is the only clothes that I put since I was captured,’’ says a freed official of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC abducted more than two months ago in Akwa Ibom community. Otobong Sylvester Ukpong, the INEC official seized on June 5, 2018 was said to have been blindfolded and taken by two gunmen on motorbikes into an untended bush in Ikot Akpan Eyara in Ukanafun local government area. Narrating his ordeals in the hands of his abductors, Ukpong kidnapped while he was going…

Racket-smashing Novak Djokovic closed in on the one title that has eluded him, reaching the final of the Western & Southern Open on Saturday with a three-set victory over Marin Cilic. His 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win moved him one victory away from the only ATP Masters 1000 title he’s never claimed. Djokovic is trying to become the first to win all nine events since the series started in 1990. One big hurdle: a rematch with Roger Federer, who defeated David Goffin in the other semifinal. Federer has won an unprecedented seven Cincinnati titles, beating Djokovic three times in championship matches.…

Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, Saturday, declared a one-week mourning to pay homage to former UN Secretary-General and Nobel laureate, Kofi Annan. In a statement, Akuffo-Addo described Annan as a “consummate” diplomat, and noted that Ghana was “deeply saddened” by news of his death in Switzerland on Saturday after a short illness. Born in Kumasi, the capital city of Ghana’s Ashanti region, Annan became the first black head of the United Nations. “I have directed that, in his honour, Ghana’s national flag will fly at half-mast across the country and in all of Ghana’s diplomatic missions across the world” for one…

The request by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for N189 billion to prosecute the 2019 general elections hit a rock Friday following disagreement among the members compelling the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters to adjourn indefinitely. This is coming on the heels of the disclosure by Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that Nigeria now has 82 million registered voters. Members of the National Assembly Joint Committee toed their respective political party lines in their debate on the amount that should be approved by the committee for INEC. Whereas the Peoples Democratic Party…

Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel has attributed the political persecution of Bukola Saraki, the Senate President by the Nigerian government to his worth and capacity to positively turn things around in the country. Emmanuel said “If you don’t have anything to offer, nobody will attack you. You are being attacked because you are about scoring goal. So, don’t take that for granted, count it all joy and blessing. We really love the way you protect project Nigeria”. The governor who spoke this on Friday when Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the Senate President paid him a solidarity visit at Government House, Uyo,…

Nine persons from Etim Ekpo and Ukanafun local government areas in Akwa Ibom State abducted by unknown gunmen have been rescued by men of Akwa Ibom Police Command. Among those rescued are Otobong Sylvester Ukpong, a staff of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC attached to Ukanafun; seven women from Ikot Inyang Abia in Ukanafun and one man from Ikot Esop in Etim Ekpo local government area. Straightnews had reported in its edition of June 6, 2018 that unknown gunmen had abducted an official of INEC, serving in Ukanafun local government area also an indigene of Iwukem in Etim Ekpo, Otobong…