Less than a week after losing two of his elder siblings, a former Military Governor of Rivers State, Brigadier-General Anthony Ukpo, has been confirmed dead.
Ukpo, also, a former Information Minister during General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida’s regime, died in early hours of Monday, September 6, 2021.
Breaking the news of the demise of the former Military officer is Constitutional lawyer, Leonard Anyogu.
He said, “I can confirm that the former Military Governor died this morning as a result of lingering sickness. It is very sad. Cross River State has lost an asset.”
His two older siblings that were reported to have died last week are; Madam Lydia Ukpo, who died in the USA, and Archbishop Joseph Edra Ukpo.
Ukpo was the Military Governor of Rivers State, Nigeria from August 1986 until July 1988.
Born in Okpoma, Yala, Cross River State on 16 July 1947 he enlisted into the army, and was appointed Company Commander (1968), Battalion Commander (1969 and 1971 – 1973), Brigade Major (1970) and Instructor, Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna (1973–1974).
He was a member of the inner circle of army officers who arranged the bloodless coup on 27 August 1985, when General Muhammadu Buhari was succeeded by General Ibrahim Babangida. After the coup he was appointed a member of the AFRC.
He was appointed deputy director, Defence Intelligence Agency (1985). On 12, September 1985, he was sworn-in as Minister of Information and Culture.
He was appointed Military Governor of Rivers State on 26 August 1986. In this postion, he inaugurated the Provisional Council of the Rivers State Polytechnic.
He was reassigned to become Principal Staff officer to President Ibrahim Babangida in July 1988. In this role in April 1990 Ukpo told reporters that 10 officers and more than 150 soldiers from the lower ranks had been arrested in an attempted coup attempt against Babangida. He retired as a Brigadier-General.
After retirement, he became a member of the Board of Directors of Skye Bank.
When former Cross River state Governor, Donald Duke, put up the Metropolitan Hotel for sale, Ukpo was said to have made the highest bid of N600 Million. His offer was turned down, and the hotel later, allegedly, sold for N200 Million. He is, however, the main brain behind Ogie Meriden Hotel, PH.
In September 2008, he presented the results of a feasibility study for a mono-rail system of transportation in Port Harcourt. Ukpo was the leader of a partnership to construct the railway.
In October 2009 the Rivers State government signed an agreement with TSI Property and Investment Holdings to undertake the project at a cost of $318 million. Ukpo said that the mono-rail would be the first of its kind in Africa.
In an interview in July 2009, Ukpo protested strongly against the recent transfer of 76 oil wells from Cross River State to Akwa Ibom State, and expressed hope that a committee set up by President Umaru Yar’Adua would find a politically reasonable solution.
He was a vocal voice in politics from the grass root to the Federal level.
After 39 years in coma, and on the verge of celebrating his 74th birthday, Senegalese born French footballer, Jean Pierre Adams, has died.
The former Nimes football Club and France defender died Monday, September 6th, 2021, after spending close to four decades in an Intensive Care Unit in France.
Adams made 22 international appearances in the 1970s, slipping into a coma after a mistake by his anaesthetist during routine knee surgery in 1982.
Born in Dakar in 1948, he was one of the first men born in West Africa to play for France.
His centre-back partnership with Marius Tresor for France was nicknamed “the black guard”.
“We learned this morning of the death of Jean-Pierre Adams,” Nimes wrote on Twitter, extending their “sincere condolences to his family”.
He also played for Nice and Paris Saint-Germain.
Adams was born and raised in Dakar until the age of 10, when he left his native Senegal on a pilgrimage to Montargis in the Loiret department alongside his grandmother, who was a devout Catholic. When they arrived, she enlisted him at a local Catholic school, Saint-Louis de Montargis. He was adopted by a French couple shortly after his arrival in the country.
During his studies, Adams worked at a local rubber manufacturer and he started playing football at several local clubs in the Loiret area.
Adams started playing with Entente BFN in 1967 as a striker, with whom he was runner-up in the Championnat de France Amateur twice.In 1970, he signed a contract with Nîmes, going on to remain in Division 1 for the following nine seasons, also representing Nice and Paris Saint-Germain.
In the 1971–72 campaign, Adams contributed four goals in all 38 games to help Nîmes to a best-ever second place, also winning the Cup of the Alps. He added a career-best nine for Nice in 1973–74, for a final fifth position.
After one year in Division 2 with Mulhouse, Adams retired in 1981 at the age of 33, following a spell with amateurs Chalon.
On 15 June 1972, Adams made his debut for the France national team in an unofficial exhibition game against an African XI selected by the Confederation of African Football. His first competitive cap came on 13 October of that year, in a 1–0 home win over the Soviet Union for the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Adams’ last appearance occurred on 1 September 1976, in a friendly with Denmark. During his tenure with Les Bleus, he formed a stopper partnership with Marius Trésor which was dubbed La garde noire (black guard).
Adams and his wife Bernadette were married in April 1969 and had two sons, Laurent (born 1969) and Frédéric (1976). Following a ligament rupture injury, he was hospitalised for surgery on 17 March 1982 at the Édouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon. After an error made by his anesthesiologist, he suffered a bronchospasm which starved his brain of oxygen and he slipped into a coma.
In the mid 1990s, when a court of law adjudicated on the case, both the anaesthetist and trainee were given one-month suspended sentences and fines that translated to a $815 fine. His wife continued to tend to his needs, refusing to consider euthanasia.
Reactions to lthe controversial forensic audit report of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) are still continuing. This time, after some groups called for the resignation of the Minister for Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, a counter group in the oil rich region has hailed him for a job well done.
Leaders under the auspices of the Niger Delta Movement for Development (NDMD), flayed the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide for what they described as unwarranted and irresponsible attacks on the Minister over the forensic audit report.
The Convener, NDMD, Mr Victor Mathew, in a statement commended President Muhammadu Buhari and Akpabio for concluding the forensic audit of NDDC.
Mathew described the audit report submitted to the President by Akpabio as thorough and far-reaching, saying the recommendations, when implemented, would reposition the Commission to actualise its mandate.
He described Akpabio as a Niger Delta hero and a true son of the soil, saying the Minister had made history for mustering the political will to see the audit to its end despite all obstacles by mischief makers.
He dissociated the youths of the region from a statement signed by the President of IYC, Peter Timothy Igbifa, calling for the sack of Akpabio, saying Igbifa lacked the moral rights to comment on the forensic audit report.
He recalled that Igbifa had earlier mobilised the youths for a protest to thwart the audit, a situation he said divided the IYC.
“President Muhammadu Buhari and his Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, deserve our commendation for mustering the political will to begin the audit process and see it through despite opposition by persons, who don’t mean well for our region.
“We recall how the IYC President, Timothy Igbifa, mobilised youths to derail the audit process. But he was resisted and later suspended by the council.
“Igbifa has no right to speak on the forensic audit report and that is why we are calling on members of the public to disregard his latest statement against Akpabio.”
Mr Mathew called on Buhari to ensure full implementation of the audit report and prosecute persons, such as contractors and politicians indicted for diverting our commonwealth.
“All those named in that report who had in way or the other contributed to the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta, by diverting funds meant for projects for personal use should not be spared by the Presidency.
“All of them must be prosecuted no matter their tribes even if they are from the Ijaw extraction.
“They must pay for impoverishing our region. We are asking the President to publish the names of these individuals and contractors involved in looting our commonwealth.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of farm estates in 108 senatorial districts across the country that will benefit over 4000 youths, women and Internal Displaced Persons, IDPs.
The Director General of the the National Agricultural Land Development Authority, NALDA Paul Ikonne made this known on Sunday, adding that the program is part of efforts by the government to make food sufficient in the country.
NALSA said the administration is poised to ensuring food security despite seeming challenges.
To make the program take off smoothly, Ikonne called on the state government to key into it, by making land available for the project.
Already, the agency said some state governments have donated massive land as part of their own contribution to the project. Kogi state, he said, for instance has donated 700 hectares of land, while Ogun state has donated 100 hectares of land. The land donated by the Ogun state government, he explained has been cleared.
According to him, “What you see is that agriculture is one of Mr. President’s heartbeat projects and he wants to see that we achieve food security in the country and NALDA is purely under the supervision of Mr. President and that is why you can see the progress that we’re making.
“I believe that the commissioning of the Daura Integrated Farm Estate in Katsina state which has the capacity to take in 1500 young farmers, is a stepping stone or an eye opener to Nigerians towards Mr. President’s passion in achieving food security.”
The NALDA boss said the project is multi-facetted, meant to help mostly women and internally displaced persons to get their lives back
He explained that “Now, we didn’t stop at the Daura project, as we speak, the Integrated Farm Estate in Borno is 75 percent completed and we are also doing, in 40 locations, fish villages to engage women to take in those people who are coming, the Internally Displaced Persons, in order to get them reintegrated and get them engaged, thereby providing job opportunity for them.
“As Mr. President is pursuing achieving food security, at the same time also creating job opportunities for Nigerians is on the front burner and that is what we are achieving, or we are doing using the NALDA platform.”
He said the project will benefit thousands of youths across the country as “clearing is about to commence and we believe that the first phase of that project, which will engage over 4,000 youths into the entire agricultural process, thereby creating employment and reducing herders-farmers clash.
“That farm in Kogi will go a long way in addressing the issues between herders/farmers because we are going to cluster the herdsmen, provide them with pastures and the facilities they need like water and, and other facilities that will help to support their business in cattle rearing.
“Again, in Ogun State, we have finished land clearing, 100 hectares has been completely cleared and the access road has been provided in that place and that farm will take in 2500 youths.
“The President gave directives that we must make agriculture attractive to young Nigerians so that they will be engaged and I’m glad to inform us that that directive is not being taken with levity, that’s why we’re not sleeping because when the President speaks, it’s a command and you can’t wait when you have a command from Mr. President, knowing fully well that agriculture is his heartbeat and he wants to achieve food security,” the NAFDAC boss said.
Recall that the federal government, last month, stated that it has commenced the reactivation of the 35 hectares farm estate in Imo State that was abandoned for more than 30 years.
The management of the Innocent C. Ike-led Polaris Bank Plc is still trying to recover from the embarrassment caused by one of its employees working at its Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos Branch, after he stole a whopping N20 million from a customer within seven days.
While the dust raised by the theft is still trying to settle, the bank has emerged top among commercial banks in the country which lost huge sums of money to various fraudulent practices according to the 2020 Nigerian banking reports. The bank, according to checks by the magazine, lost close to N900 million to fraud perpetrated by hackers and those committed through insider jobs by employees of the deposit money bank.
According to the bank’s 2020 financial reports submitted to regulators such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Nigerian Stock Exchange, NGX the figure represents over 90 per cent of the N2 billion stolen by fraudsters from commercial banks in the country within the period under review.
There are 22 commercial banks in Nigeria.
“This is an indication that the bank is still very prone to electronic and other proximate frauds despite its claim of investing huge funds in fire walls that can prevent funds from being stolen easily from the bank,” Adeyemi Joshua, a forensic expert in Lagos said.
What this tells us, the expert explained, is that “the bank has inadvertently opened its vaults to dangerous fraudsters and employees at the press of the button”.
Joshua’s admonition came amidst recent revelation that an employee of the bank stole N20 million from a customer’s account through wire transfer.
According to the details of the theft, the employee who doubles as the Account Officer of the customer, had within one week, sliced the huge amount from the account without thinking of the consequence.
Bubble, however, burst after the customer, who had been away from the country, returned to expose the fraud.
Details of the scam showed that within seven days, July 5 and 12, the amount was moved from the customer’s account, and shared into different accounts belonging to the thieving employee and his friends.
What makes the matter worse is that the bank’s management refused to act after the customer had made a formal complaint, leaving him dejected and agitated.
The bank on its part has been so embarrassed over the fraud that the management is still in shock and worried about a possible chain of reactions from other customers.
“No customer would allow himself to be made a guinea pig. Of course, the fraud would trigger negative feedbacks from other depositors. The theft does portend well for the image of the bank, particularly the new management. Customers do not want to feel that their deposit is not safe,” Folawari Divine, a customer relationship expert, told the magazine.
How did it happen, according to the testimony of the victim of the fraud?
He had travelled out of the country for three months and within this period did not receive the usual email report tracking his account. So, he decided to take the bull by the horn.
Innocent Ike
According to him, ‘I decided to come to Nigeria last week and found out my savings account had been tampered with by the staff of Polaris Bank, Computer Village branch, Ikeja, Lagos. Over N20 million was stolen from me.
“For the three months, I realised I stopped receiving my monthly email alerts, which bothered me. On June 18, 2021, I received an alert of a debited sum of N50, so I called the customer service (number) immediately and the lady asked if I was familiar with the name Ismail Bello and I responded that it sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember.
“She said the person was my account officer, so I asked her what would my account officer want to do with N50?
“She said he might do that to track my balance, so I asked how much is my balance at the moment and she told me the exact amount I was expecting to hear.
“So I told her to please block my account and that no one is authorised to make any withdrawal except me and that it has to be me coming physically and she claimed she did it.
“So arriving in Nigeria on Saturday, 17th of July at about 11:45am, I got to my branch where I opened the account and was told I didn’t have enough balance in my account.
“At first, I thought it was a joke, so one of their staff members came to me and showed me a fake Nigerian passport that was used to create an online banking.
“According to what one of their staff members showed to me, I could see they have a record. I called in on June 18 requesting that they should block my account.
“I requested for a printout copy of the statements and I saw how my money was being transferred on a daily basis to different accounts.”
What surprised the customer the most, is that the money was moved out of his account after he had instructed that the account be blocked.
According to him, “They transferred the money after I had blocked the account, I think the so-called Ismail Bello removed the N50 intentionally to see if I would visit the bank. Maybe because he didn’t see me, he and others thought something bad had happened to me and stole my money”.
Chris Adegbe another financial expert said “There are many questions to be asked concerning this particular case. The customer had demanded that his account be blocked after he noticed that the same had been debited without making a withdrawal.
“Did the bank actually block the account? It is very obvious they did not from the customer’s testimony. Two things will suffice here: it calls to account the functionality of the bank’s customers’ service whether it’s working or not. Another possibility is that a ring exist in the bank that cuts across various departments working together for a determined purpose.
“Part of what the bank should be doing right now is to interrogate its system to determine whether it has been breached at a certain point. Who are the employees involved, and to what extent the involvement of the ‘sections’ that are supposed to play a role in blocking the account when infractions were noticed,” he said.
He explained further that “another possibility is that the bank does not have the capacity to block any account as being claimed.
“What that means is that customers’ deposits are not safe in their accounts. Take for instance, that a customer’s account is tampered with, like this one, and he discovers hoping that the bank will block the account on his instruction. That customer may just find out that his account will be emptied by the time he eventually visits the bank to register a formal complaint,” he added.
“The most important issue in all of this is that, If you can no longer trust your Account Officer, who is supposed to ensure that your account is not tampered with, who then can you trust?” he said.
According to the bank’s annual report obtained by The Source, the Innocent-led bank recorded a total of 134 cases of fraud in 2020 which comprise seven fraud categories.
The report indicates 43 Automated Teller Machines, ATM fraud; three Internet bank fraud; 46 mobile fraud; three impersonation fraud, one cheque theft, 25 outright theft and 113 general fraud cases.
A further breakdown of the fraud indicates that ATM theft cost the bank over N830 million, Internet bank N37 million, while mobile and impersonation fraud cost the bank N16 million and N989,700 respectively.
Additionally, the bank lost N30 million to outright theft, N21 million to general fraud and N1 million to cheque theft.
Meanwhile, a critical look at some banks indicates a fall in the number of fraud cases, compared to the 2019 Financial year. For instance, Access Bank lost N138 million, N197 million lower than what it suffered in the previous year; Fidelity Bank Plc, according to its financial report, is also lucky this time around as its fraud cases within the year fell by N315 million.
Rasheed Bolarinwa, the spokesman of the bank did not take his calls when the magazine reached out to him to respond to the issue.
It has been revealed that the former Chief Judge of Abia State, the Hon. Justice Nnenna Oti, rtd, was not on a visit to Imo State when she was abducted by heavily armed gunmen. She was just passing through the State.
And, contrary to the earlier story that she was kidnapped on Sunday, the Hon. Judge was kidnapped on Saturday.
These were disclosed on Sunday by His Lordship, the Rt. Revd. Chidi Oparajiaku, the Bishop of Ohaji/Egbema Diocese, (Anglican Communion). Justice Oti is the Lord Chancellor of the Diocese.
Bishop Oparajiaku, while asking the Church to pray for her immediate and safe release from her abductors, disclosed that she was on her way to Anambra State when she was abducted along Orlu road, Imo State.
The sad news of Justice Oti’s abduction was first made public by the Publicity Secretary of the Old Bende Lawyers, Mazi K.C okoro.
There has been no reaction, so far, from the Imo State Police Command.
The Federal Government of Nigeria will not recognize the new Military Government of the Republic of Guinea.
The Guinean Military, on Sunday, staged a Coup d’etat, overthrew the Government, seized power, and arrested the President, Alpha Conde.
Conde was seen wearing a pair of jeans trousers, looking calm but deeply worried and disheveled. He was surrounded by heavily armed soldiers who shoved him into a vehicle. It is believed that he is being detained in a Military facility.
The Coupists, in a recorded broadcast by Col. Mamadi Doumboua, suspended the country’s Constitution, and dissolved the Parliament. They also closed the country’s borders and airspace.
But reacting to the situation, the Federal Government of Nigeria called it illegal, and said it breached everything the Economic Council of West African States, ECOWAS, stand for.
In a statement signed by Esther Sunsuwa, Spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Nigeria condemned the Coup, saying it violated ECOWAS Protocols on Democracy and Good Government.
The statement reads:
“The Nigerian Government is saddened by the apparent Coup d’etat that has taken place in the Republic of Guinea today (Sunday), in clear violation of the ECOWAS Protocols on Democracy and Good Governance.
“The Government of Nigeria strongly condemns and rejects any unconstitutional change of Government and, therefore, Calls on those behind the Coup to restore constitutional order without delay and protect lives and property.”
President Conde, 83, was elected into office for a third term in after he changed the Constitution of his impoverished, but minerals-rich country.
On Sunday, after his ouster, hundreds of jubilant Guineans celebrated it on the streets, and enthusiastically hailed the soldiers who were driving-by in Military vehicles.
The hemorrhage within the ranks of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Anambra, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, continued this weekend in Anambra State with more high profile defections. The beneficiary is the All Progressives Cogress, APC.
One of the shocking defections from APGA to the APC, is that of the former Speaker of the Anambra House of Assembly, who was, also, a former State Commissioner, Mrs Rita Maduagwu.
From the PDP is, also, another shock-defector, Mr John Emeka. Emeka was a former Federal Cabinet Member – Minister of State, Transport.
Gone to APC, too, are a former PDP Governorship aspirant, Chuma Nzeribe and the Party’s compere, Chris Chikwelu, along with many from Onitsha South and North LGAs, Anyamelu and Anambra East LGAs.
They, and many others, from the Yoruba and Hausa Communities defected to the APC during a grand reception for Senator Joy Emodi, a former PDP BOT member who defected to the APC.
Penultimate week, PDP Senator, Stella Oduah, Anambra North, former Aviation Minister during the Goodluck Jonathan Government, also dumped the PDP for the APC.
Last week, six Anambra APGA House of Assembly members dumped the party, and defected to the APC. More members are, allegedly, on the line to defection.
Everyone of the defectors claim to have done so in order to put Anambra at the centre of things, and to make sure Senator Andy Uba wins the November 6, 2021 Governorship election.
The Governorship election is seen as a straight fight between the candidates of APC, PDP and APGA – Andy Uba, Valentine Ozigbo and Charles Soludo, respectively
A former Chief Judge of Abia State, the Hon. Justice Nnenna Oti, rtd, has been abducted by gunmen.
It is not known what her mission was to Imo State, but she was abducted Sunday afternoon on her way to Orlu from Owerri, Imo State Capital.
The circumstances under which she was abducted are not known, but confirming the incident, Mazi K.C.Okoro, the Publicity Secretary of Old Bende Lawyers, described it as sad an unfortunate.
There has been no statement, so far, from the Police.
A Yoruba Socio-cultural group, the Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, has advised the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, MACBAN, to get their facts right and stop misrepresenting facts.
MACBAN Secretary General, Usman Baba Ngelzerma, was said to have declared on live TV that there are indigenous Fulani in the South West.
“In Ondo and most of the Southern states, we have indigenous pastoralists whose fathers were brought up in those States and those who are there today were also brought up there. So, if you ask them to go, they won’t know where to go because they know these states as their own states”, he was quoted to have said.
But in a statement released by the ARG Publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo, the group said there is no Fulani settlers in Yorubaland that can be remotely described as indigenous.
“There is no Fulani man or woman living in any part of Southwest Nigeria that can own the ancestral history of the community as his or her family’s history. Conversely, there is none among the Fulani families that first settled in Yorubaland whose history of migration cannot be told by the indigenous Yoruba people”, he said.
“The deliberate use of words that confer on the Fulani people a status that is not theirs constitutes a security threat and does not portray MACBAN and its members as peace-loving people. The subtlety in Baba-Ngelzerma’s choice of words is another confirmation of the MACBAN’s alleged surreptitious plan to grab and claim ancestral land for its members through inappropriate means.
“Baba-Ngelzerma’s claim that there are Fulani people who do not know any other place as their ancestry other than their place of birth owes its plot to mischief, deliberate distortion of facts, and a devilish plan to redraw the demography of indigenes of Southwest Nigeria.”
According to the group, migration is a global phenomenon and “anyone should be able to live in any part of the world that suits his or her ambition…the ease of integration of a settler into a society is never determined by the settler’s terms, but by his or her readiness to abide by the laws and norms of the society.
“As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as Romans do. MACBAN members and other Fulani herdsmen want to settle here on their own terms and by employing the most repugnant and vicious strategy, which the Ondo State governor, ArakunPOn Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, has been stood firmly against.”
