Author: straightnewsng.com

Unknown gunmen have kidnapped the Village Head of Ikot Edet in Etim Ekpo local government area of Akwa Ibom State. He is Chief Mfon Udoessien who was said to have been abducted from his palace, Monday, after a fierce gun battle between the gunmen and the security agents drafted to provide security in the volatile village. It was learned that the monarch is a brother-in-law to a former Head of Civil Service in Akwa Ibom State, Mrs Cecilia Udoessien. A resident of the area, who is simply identified as Eno, told newsmen that the monarch, a retired primary school headmaster and…

A Nigerian university has developed new drugs to treat diabetes and cancer. Fatima Batul Muktar, Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, who stated this at a press briefing to mark the third convocation of the university Monday, said the anti-diabetic drug has successfully passed pre-clinical stage and has gotten ”ethical approval for clinical trials by Kano State Hospital Management Board.” Salihu Ibrahim Isma’il, who is the researcher of the school’s Biochemistry department, developed the drugs, also confirmed this in an interview. Isma’il said the prevalence of diabetes and cancers motivated him into going into the research. He said he…

Analysts and callers in a private radio station in Uyo, Akwa Ibom capital have loathed Senator Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Senate) on National Assembly Matters (Senate) for denying that the All Progressives Party-led Federal Government has no plan to re-introduce the abolished onshore/offshore dichotomy in revenue allocation or derivation. It was alleged that from the APC report on proposed restructuring, its recommendation intended to deprive the littoral states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and Lagos, among others of the derivation content of revenue allocation. The analysts and callers who spoke Tuesday on Inspiration FM,…

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Reconciliation Committee headed by Senator Bola Tinubu may be reconstituted by National Executive Committee (NEC) members of the party to include two new members at a meeting billed to hold few hours from now in Abuja. Last night, the National caucus of the party held a meeting in Abuja and endorsed the decision to appoint two persons- one from North and another from South- into the committee. It is speculated that Chief Don Dick Etiebet from the South and Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko from the North are being considered for the committee. The NEC meeting…

Bukola Saraki, Senate President, Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State, and other stakeholders have vowed to end irregular migration and human trafficking across the country. They spoke separately Monday in Benin during the Senate Roundtable on Migration and Human Trafficking in Benin City. The stakeholders include Abduraman Dambazzau, the Minister of Interior, the European Union (EU), United Kingdom, International Organization on Migration, the National Agency for the Prohibition on Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and Civil Society Organisations. In his remarks, Governor Obaseki who hailed Saraki and the Senate for the initiative of holding the sensitisation session in the Edo State,…

Col. Joseph Achuzia (rtd), civil war veteran and Biafran warlord, is dead. Achuzia died Monday morning at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Asaba, Delta State after a brief illness at the age of  90. One of his sons, Mr. Benedict Onyeka Achuzia, who spoke to newsmen, said 21-gun salute has been shot to traditionally announce the demise of the Ikemba of Asaba to indigenes of the town. He said his father passed on at about 8 a.m, adding that “it was something we never expected but it has happened.  It’s a sad incident. “My father was the best dad ever. I…

The National Executive Committee, NEC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was held Monday with state chairmen of the party canvassing an extension of the tenure of the party executives at all levels. The campaign of the state chairmen came ahead of speculations that the NEC would dissolve the John Odigie-Oyegun led national executive of the party. That move, Vanguard learnt is, however, being strongly opposed by the majority of the governors despite the alleged support of the dissolution by President Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s lead trouble shooter, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Today’s NEC meeting is expected to set…

No fewer than seven persons were Monday killed, while 15 others were injured as Christian and Muslim youths clashed at Kasuwa Magari local government area of Kaduna State over forcible conversion and dating of girls of opposite faith. Several houses were also set ablaze in the bloody clash. There were conflicting reports on what triggered the crisis but one account said some Christian youths in the town went about beating girls for allegedly dating Muslim boys. Another account claimed that some youths in the area went berserk when report filtered into town that there was an attempt to forcibly convert…

Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation has summoned the Cadiocare Management Team that was in-charge of the Ibom Specialist Hospital, Uyo, to appear before it or risk further legislative or legal actions. The House Committee’s reactions followed alleged vandalisation of the hospital’s equipment worth half a billion naira by the recently disengaged Cadiocare Management team. Speaking with newsmen in Uyo on Monday, Dr. Usoro Akpanusoh, the committee Chairman, said the committee has sent an invitation to the Cadiocare management team to appear with a list of items they took over on resumption, so as to ascertain…

-Akanimo Sampson Prospects for an enduring truce between the Ogoni people and the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major, Shell, are still not appearing bright. Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) on Monday took on the oil company again, claiming that a toxic dump site belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited has been uncovered in K-Dere community. Speaking in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Fegalo Nsuke, MOSOP Publicity Secretary said samples from the site had been tested in a United Kingdom laboratory and the results have confirmed the toxicity…