Anambra INEC withholds guber adhoc staff allowances over missing materials

Anambra State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); has siad that it withheld the allowances of over 630 Adhoc staff of the November 6, 2021 governorship election over alleged missing materials.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday in Awka, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, said INEC took the decision following failure of the officers to return some of the devices and materials given to them for the exercise.

Giving a breakdown of the missing materials, Orji said they comprised mostly components of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), like scanners, power packs, cables and other accessories.

He decried the act and urged members of the public, especially the adhoc staff to see the commission’s property as national asset and treat them with care and sense of responsibility

To Sustain Subsidy, FG Proposes 18 Months Delay For PIA

THE Federal Government on Tuesday proposed an 18-month delay in implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to enable it to continue with the payment of petroleum subsidy.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, announced the initiative while briefing correspondents in Abuja, saying that the decision was reached as a result of President Mohammadu Buhari’s insistence that all the necessary structures must be put in place to caution the effect of the subsidy removal.

The government had made subsidy provision in the 2022 budget only up till June with the hope that the PIA will become fully operational by then, as the government would continue to engage the leadership of the organized Labour who had insisted that the proposed nationwide protest on January 27 against the subsidy removal would still go ahead.

Anambra court orders Obiano, police to remove roadblocks

Anambra High Court has ordered Governor Willie Obiano and the police commissioner to remove roadblocks.

The judgment was delivered on Tuesday by Justice Ike Ogu in the case of Francis Moneke v. Anambra State Govt.

The judge held that the government and police had no legal justification to erect roadblocks on major roads in the guise of checking insecurity, as such illegal blockage violated the applicant’s right to freedom of movement.

The respondents were ordered to pay some amount of money to the applicant as compensation for the violation of his right to freedom of movement.

Ebonyi Govt. Raises the Alarm Over Prison Congestion

The Ebonyi State Security Council on Tuesday, raised the alarm over the congestion of Correctional Service Centres across the state.

The council has directed the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Cletus Ofoke, to liaise with the state comptroller of corrections to get the full lists of inmates awaiting trial with a view to decongesting the cor­rectional centers by way of either releasing them based on opinions from the Ministry of Justice or by granting of bail by the court.#

AFCON 2021: Eguavoen admits he made a mistake with Ejuke in Nigeria’s loss to Tunisia

Super Eagles interim coach Austin Eguavoen has admitted that he was wrong to leave Chidera Ejuke out of the squad that lost to Tunisia in the second round of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria’s attacking threat in the group stages came from the wings, but the lively Moses Simon was kept quiet while Samuel Chukwueze struggled throughout the minutes he played.

Although Eguavoen made a couple of changes from the bench, he could not bring on Ejuke, who was one of the creative players in the squad.

Ejuke made a cameo against Egypt in the opening match, while he started against Guinea-Bissau, but he was not on the bench against Tunisia.

Eguavoen has now admitted it was a mistake to leave him out as he could have solved Nigeria’s problems in the attacking third.