The Lumine News

Author: The Lumine News

  • 23-Year-Old Cross Riverian In Police Net For Faking His Abduction To Extort Parents

    23-Year-Old Cross Riverian In Police Net For Faking His Abduction To Extort Parents

    By Ishola Oludare, Daily Post

    Edward Okache, a Cross Riverian is currently in the custody of the Ogun State Command of the Nigerian Police Force after he was arrested alongside four others for faking his kidnap in order to extort N10 million from his parents.

    Okache, 23, a native of Yala Local Government Area was arrested alongside a Ghananian, Asamoah Ernest, two other Yala indigenes – Ephraim Anyijor and Charity Lukpata as well as one Isiah Uti.

    The Daily Post reports that the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi said one Comfort Okache had earlier reported at the Mowe divisional headquarters via a phone call that his younger brother, traveling from Calabar to Lagos, had been kidnapped around the Mowe area of Ogun State.

    According to the Police spokesman in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the kidnappers were demanding N10 million if the relatives wanted to see the boy alive which forced the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Mowe division, SP Folake Afeniforo, to mobilize the division’s tactical teams to the area.

    “Upon painstaking and enduring combing of the surrounding bush at Orimerunmu area, the victim was sighted in an uncompleted building with the duo of Asamoah Ernest, a Ghanaian, and Isiah Uti, where he was tied in both hands and legs,” Oyeyemi said.

    Police rescued the acclaimed victim and arrested the two suspects found with him.

    “But on getting to the station, the two arrested suspects made a shocking revelation that the so-called victim was the person who planned with them to kidnap him in order for him to extort money from his parents to invest in an online business,” it was explained.

    They had confessed further that the said Okache was introduced to them by Anyijor and Lukpata, and that they all were part of the planned kidnap of Edward Okache.

    Their confession, Oyeyemi stated, led to the arrest of Anyijor and Lukpata, adding that “they have all confessed to the commission of the crime.”

    The Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, has directed that the case be referred to the anti-kidnapping unit of the State CIID for further investigation and possible prosecution.

  • Wike Commissions Multi-Chain Supermarket, Says Rivers More Attractive To Investors

    Wike Commissions Multi-Chain Supermarket, Says Rivers More Attractive To Investors

    Rivers State governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike says he is delighted that measures taken by his administration to make the State an investment destination have continued to yield results.

    One of such recent evidence is the formal opening of the HyperCity Supermarket that is located at the Eastern Bye-pass Junction, Ogbu-nu-abali community in Port Harcourt Local Government Area.

    Governor Wike was on hand to formally inaugurates the supermarket on Wednesday and opened it for daily business.

    The governor said the land on which the supermarket is sited used to be a mangrove forest from where criminals terrorise the adjoining Ogbu-nu-abali community and motorists.

    With his administration sand-filling the area, governor Wike noted how attractive it became to the owner of HyperCity Supermarket who has today established his venture there.

    Concerning growing the business stakes of the state, Governor Wike said his administration is more interested in anything that will attract investment and create jobs for Rivers people.

    “But government took it upon itself to make sure that criminals don’t continue to thrive here. We owe the economy of the State to grow. We owe to provide security for businessmen and women, and security of communities.

    “You have seen how beautiful it looks, it cost us money to sand-filled this area. Just like people are approaching us now at the other site that they want to establish this and that. We feel happy and encouraged

    “The duty of government is to provide enabling environment. I want investors to come to the State. When investors come to the state, our people will be employed. When our people are employed, government will collect taxes and use those taxes and do other things for the State.”

    Governor Wike commended the management of HyperCity Supermarket for keeping to the agreed business timeline concerning the use of the land they secured from government.

    The governor said since his administration was ending soon, any investors that has secured land for use for business must begin to actualise that purpose or lose the land.

    “Just like we said that anybody that wants land from Rivers State government, you’ll tell us the duration.

    “Because in previous administration, people come and tell government they want to do this, they want to do that. And then, government will give them the land, and then you’ll find out that in five or six years, nothing has happened.

    “Before you know it, they take government land and sell and make more money or use the government land as collateral for loan.

    Governor Wike recalled how the land on which Silverbird Cinema is located along the Abonnema Whaff Road was also secured by an investor from the State government but instead of concentrating on the business purposes, used it to borrow money.

    Today, the governor expressed the regret that State government is struggling to regain the land from Amcon that seized it from Silverbird for defaulting in repaying the loan it took from the bank.

    “Today, you know where you have Silverbird Cinema, that is government landed property. You know that was where Obi Wali cultural centre used to be. But somebody came and told government they’re going to build something underground and this and that, and government gave the land.

    “You know what the person did? He took our land and went and took loan from the bank without building what is supposed to be there. AMCON now came to seize the property that the person did not pay the loan. And today, we are struggling to take it back.”

    Governor Wike enjoined the management to provide employment to members of the host community and Rivers youths.

    He also insisted that such indigenous staff must be offered requisite training that will enable them grow to become management staff of the company.

    In his speech, managing director of HyperCity Supermarket, Mr. Sunny Chuwla said HyperCITY is a modern retail store based on Hypermarket store format l.

    He stated that they offer unparallel choice of local and international products cutting across the entire spectrum of consumable needs of a family under One Roof.

    “HyperCITY story started a year ago. When we were given the opportunity to invest here, it came with a condition that we need to open the store before Dec. 2022, or the land will be revoked without excuses

    “Today, we are glad that we have opened the 1st Store much before the deadline. Our second store is also lined up for opening very soon.

    “We all know that retail is one of the largest employment sectors in the world and as at today, HyperCITY has generated over 200 direct and indirect jobs to the Rivers people in this single store.”

  • Ayu Must Go, Nobody Will Make Me Change My Stance – Wike

    Ayu Must Go, Nobody Will Make Me Change My Stance – Wike

    Culled From Vanguard

    GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike says he is committed to leading the charge to compel Sen Iyorcha Ayu to give up his national chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to a Southern Nigeria that no one can make him change his stance.

    Wike who asserted this while hosting Cross River State PDP governorship and all state and national assembly candidates along with local government chairmen of his private residence in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Wednesday night, also said genuine efforts to amicably resolve the impasse in the PDP were being frustrated by rent-seekers in the party.

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    Addressing his guests with South-South National Vice Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, present, Wike fingered perceived “hyenas and rent seekers,” as remaining obstinate and averse to justice, fairness and equity in the party.

    He said, “We’ve finished presidential primaries. We have a presidential candidate. Is Wike saying to remove the presidential candidate? Is Wike saying to remove the vice presidential candidate? So, what are you begging me for?

    “All I am saying will continue to say is you have taken president, give us national chairman. Nobody wants to speak the truth. If I am saying remove the presidential candidate, remove the vice presidential candidate, then you will say why is he doing this.”

    “He (Ayu) said, if the presidential candidate comes from the north, he will resign, which means he has had this in mind. Now, the thing has come to reality, now resign, he says no. And people are saying go and talk to Wike.

    “I’ve accepted the presidential candidate, accepted the vice presidential candidate, what’s the problem again. You, fulfil your part. Let the South have something, that is all I’m preaching. You cannot have presidential candidate, national chairman, director general of the campaign.”

    The governor described as hypocritical, PDP members criticising APC Muslim/Muslim ticket while supporting a particular region of the country to retain the presidency for another eight years.

  • Wike Hosts Cross River PDP Candidates, Donates 25 Buses For Campaign

    Wike Hosts Cross River PDP Candidates, Donates 25 Buses For Campaign

    Channels Television

    Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday night, hosted Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates for the State and National Assembly elections in Cross Rivers State.

    The delegation which includes chairmen of the party in the various local government areas was led by the Cross River Governorship Candidate of the party, Senator Sandy Onor.

    In his speech, Onor said, “Today is historic. Wike is a trailblazer for justice and equity. He speaks the truth fearlessly.”

    He said the candidates were in Rivers to “thank Wike for being a good friend when Governor Ben Ayade defected to the All Progressives Congress”.

    “Wike has defended us and protected us from intimidation. He has made PDP a party to beat in Cross River.

    “There is nothing that Wike is asking for that is personal. All he seeks is justice,” he noted.

    Onor also announced that Wike donated 25 brand new buses for the campaigns in Cross River State.

  • School Of Nursing Itigidi, Releases 360 Successful Candidates For Admission Into ND, HND And B.Sc. Nursing Programmes

    School Of Nursing Itigidi, Releases 360 Successful Candidates For Admission Into ND, HND And B.Sc. Nursing Programmes

  • Ekpenyong Celebrates Salah With Muslim Community, Advocates For Continuous Uptake Of Health Services And Prioritization Of the Girl Child

    Ekpenyong Celebrates Salah With Muslim Community, Advocates For Continuous Uptake Of Health Services And Prioritization Of the Girl Child

     

    In ensuring inclusiveness, quality health and socio-economic advancements, the Cross River State Government have reached out to the Muslims in Nassarawa Community in Calabar Municipal Area Council to provide medical, food and other essential materials to residents of the area.

    Director General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Janet Ekpenyong who led the team and accompanied by some staff of the State’s Primary Healthcare Development Agency said, it was part of the Salah religious celebration and a way of promoting cultural and religious tolerance in the state.

    Addressing the beneficiaries who were in their Hundreds, Dr Ekpenyong appreciated them for always advancing the state government’s health policies by granting access to health workers into their communities during health outreaches.

    She said, such tolerance and acceptability has over the years, contributed to Cross River’s impressive performance in national health interventions targeted at children, women and the vulnerable especially.

    While also speaking in commemoration of the day of the girl child, the DG encouraged them to ensure their daughters have same privileges given to their male children and they should not be deprived of their rights to education and quality health care.
    She informed them that the wife ot the Governor, Dr Linda Ayade Is committed to promoting and providing opportunities for women to thrive, because when a girl child is empowered , the whole community gets empowered.

    She thanked the leaders of the community and their religious heads for always keying into the advocacy and plans of the Senator Ben Ayade’s Government towards total eradication of Vaccine preventable Diseases in the state.

    She further called for the complete neglect of old barbaric practices like the patronage of Traditional Birth Attendance in the community and patronage of quacks and unqualified health workers which she said is top among factors contributing to high mortality rate in the state.

    In her response, One of the Community leaders, Mrs Amina Muhammed appreciated the Director General for finding out time to always associate with them and practically advance healthcare interventions in the Nasarawa community which is predominately occupied by the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group.

    She promised to further mobilize her people to continually patronize the available health facility which she said, meets required standard while applauding the efforts of the health workers posted to the area.

    Top of the activities were the distribution of welfare materials, provision of health services including covid-19 vaccination and sensitization of the people on some basic health care needs.

    Among the team who accompanied the DG were Mrs Felicitas Boco, who encouraged the women to always patronize the facility, Mrs Blessing Omachi , Mrs Bassey Henshaw amongst others.

  • Dear Thief, Kindly Steal With A Human Face BY AGBA JALINGO

    Dear Thief, Kindly Steal With A Human Face BY AGBA JALINGO

     

    Regardless of how scary it may sound, it is axiomatic that life was longer when it was slower, and as life gets faster with technological leaps, life will continue to get shorter. I don’t know the calendar or the lunar cycle that was in place at the time, but we are told in the Bible for instance that one Methuselah lived for 969 years. Clearly that was a time when there was no knowledge of life beyond the precincts of where people found themselves.

    There were no roads. No transportation other than foot. No telephone. No internet. No satellites. No letter writing or post office. Nothing that has today given our lives a juicy turn existed then. Life was slow, so life was longer. As life got faster, when man began to impact on his environment to improve the quality of his life, and make it faster by building roads, airports, telephones, internet and the likes, life has consequently become shorter on the calendar and shall continue to, as long as it gets faster.

    But whether this life gets shorter or longer, the bottom line is that life will eventually come to an end here one of these days. And no matter the length of time God allots to each one of us here, how much money do we really need to survive for that time and even stockpile for our generations, if we must?

    It is a very important question that we need to ruminate on because our inability to interrogate this reality has led us to seeing some of the most humongous stealing in the history of politicking and public sector assignments in world’s history. Mindless stealing that when the figures are broken down, you conclude that those who do these things are not humans like the rest of us.

    No matter how much money you amass, if you spend 1million everyday from the day you are born non-stop, and live for 100years, you will only have spent thirty-six billion five hundred million. And if you spend 5million everyday from the day you are born non-stop, and live for 100years, you will spend: One hundred and eighty-two billion five hundred million Naira.

    Yet with all those bogus calculations, we only need a tiny percentage of that money to live comfortably here because we can’t start spending from the day we are born till the day we die for so many reasons and how many of us will even get to 100 years?

    So when you hear that public officials are stealing and sharing hundreds of billions of Naira from public coffers, the first question that comes to mind is, “what do they need all these numbers for? How long are you going to stay here? Why deny others the chance to taste a good life? That biggest mansion you are excited about buying or building, even your children will not sleep inside unless the ones that fail and are unable to build theirs.

    In taking it home, let me assume that there are not many people in this country who spend 5million daily nor desire to. For tens of millions of Nigerians, their desire is to have a system that can work and secure their daily bread for them. There is no man in Nigeria today that needs money to the tune of the embarrassing and mind boggling figures we read they are pilfering from government at all levels. None!

    It is sheer wickedness and a debilitating mental condition for our public officials to continue to neglect public needs and steal monies they really don’t need. The simmering anguish in the country is almost bursting. It is trite that stealing public money in Nigeria has been democratized and corruption now has a tribe amongst us, but when that endemic compulsive desire to steal has come over you and you must steal, please kindly steal with a human face.

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Jarigbe Agom Hands Over Completed Classroom Block To St Peter’s Primary School Akurinyi-Ugboro, Bekwarra LGA

    Jarigbe Agom Hands Over Completed Classroom Block To St Peter’s Primary School Akurinyi-Ugboro, Bekwarra LGA

     

    The Senator representing Cross River North Senatorial District, Sen Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, has handed over a completed and fully furnished classroom block to St. Peter’s Primary School, Akurinyi – Ugboro, Bekwarra Local Government Area, Cross River State.

    The school which was in a sorry state following the near collapse of the old school block, has received succor courtesy of Senator Jarigbe Agom through his ongoing transformation of the education sector in the Senatorial District.

    Speaking during the handing over, Sen. Jarigbe who was represented by Hon. Charles Eneji, Liason Officer to the Senator, stated that, quality education must be affordable and accessible for every child in Cross River North. He further stated that, education is the most powerful catalyst to speed up a community’s development.

    “Quality Education for all must become accessible, affordable and should lead to a positive transformation in an individual’s outlook, societal cohesion and inclusive national development,” he added.

    Traditional leaders, school management as well as other residents took turns to appreciate Senator Jarigbe Agom for his magnificent approach to leadership. They prayed for him while pledging their unalloyed support to his re-election bid in the 2023 general elections.

    TEAM JARI MEDIA.

  • Gov Ben Ayade And The Challenge Of Politics With Ethics BY DOMINIC KIDZU

    Gov Ben Ayade And The Challenge Of Politics With Ethics BY DOMINIC KIDZU

     

    It will be difficult to count the number of times that Governor Ben Ayade has told the public that he plays politics with ethics. Although the claim has remained largely nebulous, since he has never offered a detailed explanation of what the ramifications and parameters are, the general assumption has been that he was going to level the playing field and allow the voting public to make its choice. With virtually nothing to leave behind as legacy outside the signature nepotism, corruption and under performance in office, one thought that like his senior brother, Buhari, he was going to at least allow Cross Riverians to freely make their choice about who should come and clean the miasma and stench of his ill – fated adventure.

    Unfortunately, it now appears that those hopes were merely a pipe dream seeing as the Governor is pulling all stumps to ensure that the opposition is denied legitimate constitutional liberties that are the bedrock of free and fair elections, which also could have in some manner aggregated to any semblance of ‘politics with ethics’. One hopes that the claim of Politics With Ethics does not go the way of most of the miracle projects which the Governor has began and completed in the air, and which the citizens are not likely to ever see let alone enjoy or benefit from?

    Only yesterday, the Caterpillar Movement, which is the advocacy arm of the People’s Democratic Party Governorship campaign framework wrote an open letter to the Governor outlining the frustrations and denials of their right to place their billboards and other publicity materials in the public space, even after they have made due payments and completed documentation with the public agency responsible for that purpose in the state. Ironically, the same agency has allowed candidates of the ruling party to place their advertisement all over the city with pomp and pageantry.

    The Governor has a responsibility to ensure that all political parties and their candidates enjoy the same rights and privileges as the ruling party if he still remembers that he has always bragged about practicing Politics With Ethics. He has a responsibility to call the government agents at CRISA to order before they make him and his ruling party appear frightened by the momentum of the PDP candidate and lily- livered about the prospects of a fair contest. For CRISA to collect monies and revenues from the PDP and then block the party from enjoying the benefits of that expenditure is shameful to say the least and criminal by all standards.

    The jury on Ben Ayade’s government returned with a guilty verdict since morning and clearly there is no official arm – twisting and village tactics against the opposition that will come anywhere near to changing that verdict. The part to honour open for the Governor is to play according to the rules and attempt to supervise a fair process leading to a credible election in 2023. Let me state here for clarity that the underhand manipulation being implemented right now even if they were to get away with it can still not ensure that Governor Ben Ayade will succeed in putting a cloned administration in his image and form in office in the year 2023.

  • Caterpillar Movement Writes Gov Ben Ayade, Demands Him To Call Effiwat And Other Appointees To Order Over Destruction Of Billboards

    Caterpillar Movement Writes Gov Ben Ayade, Demands Him To Call Effiwat And Other Appointees To Order Over Destruction Of Billboards

    The Caterpillar Movement, the Campaign Organization for Sen.(Prof.) Sandy Onor, the Cross River State People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship candidate, through its Director General, Chief Joe Obi Bisong, in an open letter has called on the Cross River State Governor to caution his overzealous appointees.

    In a letter signed by the DG and made available to TheLumineNews, Obi maintained that the organization had met all the financial obligations and other requirements stipulated for outdoor advertisement in the State by the State Director General of CRISSA, but that Effiwat has continually denied the Opposition party and its candidates access to outdoor advertising in the state’s capital, Calabar.

    The letter further stated that Senator Sandy Onor and other PDP candidate’s billboards were pulled down.