Metro

ASUU Strike: Varsity Students Protest, Barricade Roads In Benin

Published

3 years ago

May 4, 2022

Barely 79 days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embar on industrial action, students from the university of Benin (UNIBEN), Ambrose Alli University, (AAU) Ekpoma, Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, all in Edo State, Wednesday, barricaded the ever busy Ring Road, Benin City, to protest the prolong strike.

Addressing newsmen at the rally, the Students Union President, UNIBEN, Comrade Foster Amadin said the strike has made them stayed in their various institutions of learning more than necessary.

“The truth is, we are not for ASUU neither are we fighting against anybody, all we know and all we want is going back to our classes.

“You know as it stands now, we have been stagnated in our academy, we have been at home for 71 days and nobody is saying anything about it.

“The government is going about their electoral processes while the even ASUU are going about their individual businesses but forgetting that we are the young Nigerians, we are students and we want to graduate”, he said.

Amadin said their parents might not be wealthy enough to have sent them to school abroad just like some senators and house of representatives members do but that they are glad that they are peace loving Nigerians who want to go back to their classes respectively to learn and graduate at the nick of time.

Also speaking, the National Vice President, Special Duty of National Association of Nigerians Students (NASS), Comrade Thomas Ikine, said it is shameful that students are at home due to ASUU strike while those who are to front the course of the students and the ASUU are busy purchasing forms for millions of naira yet they are saying they have no funds to meet the ASUU’s demands.

“The educational sector of this country is faulty. Our leaders have bastardized it. And as it is, Nigerian students are at home and yet they are busy purchasing forms for over a hundred million naira to an amount that a president of other countries constitutionally cannot even earn throughout his own tenure.

“That is an insult to us. Imagine the Minister of Education for state coming out boldly to purchase a form of hundred million whereas he has been quite and voiceless ever since ASUU went on strike.

“Now, we are hearing from him and he is lashing out at ASUU whereas all this while we have not heard from him”, he said.

Ikine said the students will not leave the streets pending when the government listen to the cry of the students.

“So as it is, we are calling on Muhammadu Buhari who from all ramifications he has failed Nigerians.

“So we are calling on the federal government to do the needful. We are here, this is called “Unistreet”.

“Few months ago we admitted new students and today, we are here to start receiving lectures.

“This is our first day. So all the courses we are taking here is introductory.

“And as it is, we are here and we are not leaving here. Today is just the beginning.

“More of our colleagues who are not here will be here to join us as from tomorrow. If they want us to leave the street, they know what to do”, he said.

Metro

Kidnappers Abduct 20-year-old Lady Hawking Cooked Rice, Demand Ransom

Published

3 hours ago

June 9, 2025

Editor

Suspected kidnappers have abducted a 20-year-old petty trader, identified as Ajuma Simon, a native of Ukpotume, a village after Ugwolawo in Odolu/ Igalamela Local Government Area of Kogi State and demanded a huge sum of money.

The incident was said to have happened on Friday when the gunmen invaded her house around 1am and whisked her away.

The locals said the lady was popular in the community and mostly known for hawking cooked rice and okpa, a local delicacy made from Barbara nuts.

A resident and youth leader in Ugwolawo community, Ameh Adams said, “The gunmen, in their number, stormed her house at Ukpotume, a town after Ugwolawo around 1am and whisked her away.

“She hawks cooked rice and okpa for a living. Her abductors are demanding a huge amount of money for her release.

“It is being rumoured in the community that she just collected a contribution.”

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, SP William Aya, did not respond to text messages and calls put across to him on the incident.

However, the police in the area confirmed the incident but declined further comments.

Metro

NDLEA Intercepts IIlicit Drug Consignment Packaged As Green Tea At Lagos Airport

Published

17 hours ago

June 8, 2025

Editor

….arrests 2 young ladies with over 108kg Skunk, Loud, Colorado, Meth in Edo

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted not less than 66 parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis and other illicit drugs packaged as green tea at the import shed of the Lagos International Airport.

The seizure made on Thursday was based on credible intelligence received ahead of the arrival of the consignment at the cargo wing of the airport on 11th May.

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi said in a statement on Sunday that the Agency had watch-listed the illicit drug shipment and sustained surveillance around it for over three weeks before inviting other stakeholders for a joint examination last Thursday.

The Loud consignment weighing 62.20kg was concealed inside wraps of green tea that came from Thailand via UAE on an Emirate Airlines flight.

In another operation in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on 2nd June intercepted a consignment of 1,665kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, along Lekki-Ajah expressway. Two suspects, Gidado Abdulrasaq Ayinde and Obanla Oluwafemi, were promptly arrested in connection with the seizure.

In Kaduna state, the statement said, operatives of the state command of NDLEA on patrol along Abuja-Kaduna expressway on 3rd June arrested 29-year-old Goodluck Nnaemeka with 612 bottles of codeine-based syrup and 2,970 pills of flunitrazepam.

In another operation same day, a 52-year-old wanted drug dealer Kabiru Musa (a.k.a KB) was arrested at Kurmin Mashi. A total of 25.7kg skunk was earlier recovered from his base.

While a total of 9kg Loud was recovered from the spare tyre compartment of an Audi station wagon car marked AAA 975 XU driven by Atari Israel along Auchi road, Edo state, two young ladies: Favour Joy and Joy Igwe were, on 3rd June nabbed at Ikpoba hill area of Benin city. Recovered from them include: 106.57kg skunk; 1kg Loud; 800 grams Colorado and 302 grams of methamphetamine.

Babafemi said the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA Commands equally continued across the country in the past week.

While commending the officers and men of Lagos International Airport, Kaduna and Edo Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of thry NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd) also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

Metro

Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals For Economic Sabotage, Orders Repatriation

Published

21 hours ago

June 8, 2025

Editor

A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced nine Chinese nationals, including two women, to one year’s imprisonment each for offences bordering on economic sabotage and financial terrorism.

Justice Daniel Osiagor delivered the judgment on Wednesday, following the defendants’ guilty plea under a plea bargain agreement with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The convicts — Zhao Xiang Hui, Liu Hai Rong, Liu Gang, Du Ji Geng, Li Dong, Huang Bo, Xhiong Zhen, Lai Rui Feng, and Deng Wei Qiang — were each fined N1 million in addition to their custodial sentences.

The court further ordered their repatriation to China upon completion of their prison terms.

The EFCC had arrested the convicts on December 10, 2024, during a massive raid on a building on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Lagos.

Over 700 suspects were apprehended during the operation, which targeted a suspected cybercrime and economic sabotage syndicate.

During proceedings, counsel for the EFCC, Nnemeka Omewa, informed the court that the defendants had opted for a plea bargain, which the commission found acceptable.

Counsel for the defence, Folarin Damela, also confirmed the arrangement and urged the court to adopt it.

Justice Osiagor thereafter read the amended one-count charge to the defendants, to which they all pleaded guilty

The charge accused them of accessing computer systems in December 2024 with the intent to destabilise Nigeria’s economic and social structure.

It further stated that they employed Nigerian youths to commit identity theft and impersonation for financial gain.

The court ruled that their prison terms should commence from December 10, 2024, the day of their arrest.

Additionally, the judge ordered the forfeiture of all items recovered from the convicts — including furniture, laptops, and other computer gadgets — to the Federal Government.

Justice Osiagor also mandated the Nigerian Immigration Service to deport the convicts after they serve their sentences.