News

15-yr-old Girl Dies In Akwa Ibom School

Published

2 years ago

May 25, 2023

Editor

The parents of late Miss Edima Umoh, an SSS3 student of Full Life Academy, on Airport Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, who died in the school hostel have asked the school authority to furnish them with full detail of events that led to their daughter’s untimely death.

The 15-year-old student of the school, who was writing her West African Examinations Council, reportedly died last Friday in her hostel at 4 p.m., after complaining of a headache.

But the parents in a letter through their lawyer, Edikan Lawrence, regretted that the school authority was yet to furnish them with a detailed account of what led to their daughter’s death.

The letter addressed to Proprietor, Full Life Academy, and copied the state Commissioner for Education and Commissioner of Police, read: “The saddest part of the entire story is that up to this moment, the school has not been able to give a full and detailed account of what transpired within your school campus that culminated into such a regrettable, untimely painful and unfortunate loss of an exceptionally bright, lively and intelligent girl of 15 years old in your custody and care, who died of ‘unnatural causes’.

“Predicated on the foregoing, we have our client’s instruction and indeed that of the entire Richard Umoh family, to demand a full disclosure and formal statement of all events, including the minutest details, leading to the death of Miss Edima Umoh, addressed to the family through our office within 48 hours of the service of this letter.

“Take notice that where you fail or refuse to act in terms of this demand within the time stated above, we have our client’s instruction to resort to other legal measures to ensure that justice is not only done but seen to be done in this case and this will be without further recourse to you.”

But while addressing newsmen, yesterday, on the matter, the management of Full Life Academy, through the Principal of the academy, Aniefonteabasi Victor-Williams, said: “We are fully aware of the demise of our student, Edima Umoh. She was in SS3, currently writing her final exams. She has been in this school from creche and was the only pioneer student remaining to graduate before the sad event took place.

“Everything happened quickly because by the time that I was called, I was already ministering in my husband’s church as I’m also a pastor. Shortly before we left school, she was healthy. We even sent her to call us another student from the hostel.

“We were told that she earlier complained of a headache and the nurse gave her paracetamol, during lunchtime, 2:30 p.m., and she was fine. She went to eat and even requested more because we run a very homely facility here. If a child is not satisfied, she has the right to get more meals.

“At the time I and the day-students left the school, the matron said Edima complained again that she was having a headache, the nurse wanted to initiate a malaria treatment, ‘Coaterm,’ so that the headache does not result in fever, but she rejected, saying she preferred her mother to come to the school with ‘Amatem’ drug.

“She asked the matron to call her mother, which she did immediately. She spoke with her mother and asked the mother to come to the school with Amatem and pepper soup.

“She also asked that the mother should pray for her three times but the mother felt like the daughter was over-panicking and kept responding that she should calm down, and that she would bring everything she mentioned.

“Shortly after speaking with her mother, she became calm, and asked the hostel parents and hostel prefect, who were there to allow her rest, and they felt it was proper to let her rest. The hostel parents assigned the school senior prefect, who is her classmate to stay with her.

“When we asked the head girl, she responded that Edima was calm and had slept, so she left her room to also sleep upstairs. Not long after, she started snoring, being that they knew her not to be snoring while sleeping.

“Another classmate came to ask who was snoring, and when her name was mentioned, she allowed her to rest because of her health.

“The hostel parents came back to check those on Prep if they were reading. That was when they saw a white substance mixed with blood coming out from Edima’s nose.

“That was when they raised the alarm and there was panic everywhere. By the time they carried her out of the bed, she had messed herself up, they cleaned her up and the nurse tried resuscitating her until the doctor arrived, we affiliate with Premier Clinic.

“My boss and other school leaders were called and they all ran down to the school immediately. I met them at the Premier Clinic, where the girl was on oxygen and we prayed, hoping she will respond. We also reached out to Jeconiah Specialist Hospital, the consultant said we should bring her, it was when we got there that she was confirmed dead.”

Asked whether the deceased had underlying health issues, the Principal responded: “The mother never told us. What we observed was that earlier this year, she had a headache that made her abstain from school for two weeks after which she started wearing glasses.

“She was a day student, so, the mother told the school that it was optical issues that led to the migraine headache and that it calmed after she was given the glasses.”

VANGUARD

News

Bumper Harvest: Foundation Distributes 6,000 Fertilizers To Farmers In Bauchi

Published

20 hours ago

August 14, 2025

Editor

A group, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation has donated 6,000 50kg bags of fertilizer to farmers in Bauchi state in order to have a bumper harvest.

Speaking during the flag off ceremony of the distribution of the fertilizers on Thursday, Mr Abubakar Mohammed, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Wunti Al-Khair Foundation, said the distribution was only for the indigent farmers in the state.

He said the fertilizers would be distributed to farmers in underserved communities across the three Senatorial Districts of the state.

“We are gathered here to flag off the free distribution of fertilizers to farmers, especially the indigent farmers that don’t have the means to buy fertilizer for their farms.

“That is the reason why the founder of this foundation bought the fertilizers and distributed them to the low income farmers in the state.

“We have gone round the nooks and crannies of the state to identify the underserved communities and those that deserve this particular gesture.

“We planned to distribute about 6,000 bags of fertilizer and due to the populous nature of the Bauchi LGA, they have the largest share but some other local governments too have hundreds of beneficiaries which we divided into Senatorial zones,” he said.

According to him, today was the flagging off of the Bauchi South Senatorial District, adding that the extension of the gesture would commence in Bauchi North and Bauchi Central Senatorial Districts tomorrow.

Mohammed explained that the only criteria used in selecting the beneficiaries were underserved communities and low income farmers, adding that “we know that a large number of the farmers in Bauchi state are low income farmers.

“Those are the people that we identified, verified and they are our beneficiaries and we have warned the general public about the activities of some unscrupulous elements that go round to impersonate our foundation.

“Wunti Al-Khair Foundation is not charging a kobo for every part of its activities, be it education, healthcare, economic empowerment and community development”.

Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Samson, described the support as a timely intervention that would greatly enhance his farming activities and appreciated the foundation for the intervention.

Another beneficiary, Salisu Maidawa, who was short of words for the gesture, said the gesture came at a time when he was in dire need of it.

News

IYC Urges Tinubu To Sack NCDMB Boss

Published

20 hours ago

August 14, 2025

Editor

Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Western Zone, has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for allegedly not “keeping up to the fundamental mandate,” upon which the agency was established.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Nicholas Igarama, Comrade Ebi Joshua Olowolayemo, and Comrade Tare Magbei, Western Zone
Chairman, Secretary, and Information Officer respectively, and made available to newsmen in Warri on Thursday, August 14, 2015.

According to the IYC, the call for Ogbe’s sack becomes necessary following his incompetence and ethnic bias, adding that Ogbe has turned the agency meant for the whole Niger Delta to his Itsekiri ethnic group alone.

The IYC, while noting that efforts to meet the NCDMB Executive Secretary to discuss critical issues as they affect the region and its people have proved abortive, said it can no longer fold it arms and watch while things go from bad to worse.

“As Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Ogbe has consistently failed to input his supposed industry track record in the advancement of the mandate upon which the agency was founded.

“He has continually had a sectional engagement with his fellow Itsekiri Kits and Kin, thereby shutting all other ethnic nationalites in the Niger Delta region out.

“Repeatedly, he avoided critical youth engagement in the region while sponsoring that of his Itsekiri ethnicity through different human capacity development initiatives, while other ethnic nationalites are left unattended.

“As Ijaw, mostly from the western flank where Engr. Ogbe also hails from, we will not sit and watch others benefit from the resources that we produce without our practical involvement to better the lives of our people as well.

“It is on record that the leadership of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Western Zone has tried to establish communication with Engr. Ogbe, for the last ten months, but every medium of communication to get his attention has fundamentally proven to be abortive.

“As youths, we can no longer have leaders in office who have now equated themselves to demi-god and have refused to attend to most significantly youthful issues in the Niger Delta Region.

“To this end, we therefore call on President Bola Ahmed Tinibu to immediately sack Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, who has consistently displayed disregard for critical actors in the Niger Delta and has also exhibited the highest level of gross inefficiency by not keeping up to the fundamental mandate upon which NCDMB was founded,” the statement reads.

The IYC also called for the probe Ogbe as Executive Secretary after his sack.

Efforts to reach Dr. Obinna Ezeobi, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, NCDMB, for reaction proved abortive.

News

I’m Being Impersonated – Goodluck Jonathan Disowns Social Media Account

Published

23 hours ago

August 14, 2025

Editor

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday said he is being impersonated by fraudsters.

Jonathan alleged that a fraudulent Instagram handle has been impersonating him.

In a statement by his Media Aide,
Ikechukwu Eze, the former President insisted that he does not operate any Instagram handle.

The statement is titled ‘Beware of fake Instagram account impersonating H.E. Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’.

“Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent Instagram account operating under the handle goodluck_ebelejonathan, which is falsely impersonating former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

“This impostor account has been deceitfully posting content, some copied from Dr. Jonathan’s Facebook page, while pretending to represent the former President.

“We wish to emphasise that Dr. Jonathan does not operate any Instagram account.

“The media and members of the public are strongly advised to disregard, avoid sharing, or promoting any content originating from this fake profile,” the statement read.