CRITICISMS GREET FAYOSE’S COMMENT ON CHIBOK GIRLS
Criticisms have trailed the outburst of Governor Ayodele Fayose on the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Fayose had said the abduction was not true, but a political instrument to vote out former President Goodluck Jonathan. While the Boko Haram group had shown the video of the over 200 girls in captivity, a global outrage had trailed the abduction. In a recent interview, a former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock, said US and UK intelligence surveillance located the missing girls at the Boko Haram Forest but could not do anything as Nigerian authorities did not ask for help.
But Fayose, on Wednesday, added a twist to the abduction saga when he said that the abduction was a political strategy employed by some people. He spoke in Ado Ekiti while declaring open a two-day workshop on capacity building among female political aspirants from Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states.
WE’LL DELIVER 10,000 MW TARGET, FASHOLA SAYS
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has given an assurance that the 10,000 megawatts of electricity in three years promised by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in the month will be actualised. He added that the energy crisis facing the country would soon be a thing of the past, saying one of the country’s power plants located at Gbarain in Bayelsa State, which was close to completion, was fired the previous night for pre- commissioning tests.
POLICE DETAIN TWO FOR RECORDING EXTORTION
The police in Obudu, northern part of Cross River State, have arrested two men, Stephen Apebende and his unidentified friend, for allegedly photographing police officers via their cell phones while extorting road users. This came just as the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, had during his visit to Calabar berated some commissioners of police for being responsible for extortions from road users. The detained men, who spent their Easter Sunday and Monday holidays at the police cell in Obudu Police Station, were arrested along the Obudu Ranch Resort Road at the police checkpoint just before the residence of the Chief of Staff to Governor Ben Ayade, Mr. Martins Orim.
SUBEB UNCOVERS OVER 248 FAKE TEACHERS IN CROSS RIVER
The Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board has uncovered over 248 fake teachers in nine local government areas of the state. Following the ongoing personal audit of teachers in the state by SUBEB, it was discovered that the bulk of the exposed teachers were in the nine LGAs out of the 18 council areas where the audit of teachers had been completed. Those found culpable had fake certificates while others were ghost teachers, dead teachers whose salaries were still being drawn on monthly basis, amongst others.
NO NEGOTIATION, NO SURRENDER, BOKO HARAM TELLS FG
A new video was released on Friday by the Boko Haram jihadist group, denying any suggestion that it might negotiate with the Federal Government. This is coming just about a week after its leader, Abubakar Shekau, said in March that his time as the head of the group might be coming to an end. The previous video showed Shekau, who appeared thin and spiritless, delivering his message without his usual fiery manner. This had prompted speculation from the Army that the Islamist group was on the verge of collapse in the face of a sustained military counter-insurgency.
However, in a Friday video posted on YouTube, which showed men holding AK-47s and posing in front of Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks and a lorry mounted with a military cannon, Boko Haram maintained that it was still a potent fighting force and would not surrender.
