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NDDC: Akpabio Has Caused Huge Damage To N’Delta, He Should Be Sacked – Monarch

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Agitation heightened in the Niger Delta, weekend, over the Federal Government inability to constitute a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

This is as the traditional ruler of Idjerhe kingdom, Delta State, HRM Obukowho Monday Whiskey, demanded the immediate sack of Godswill Akpabio, Minister of the Niger Delta

The monarch who hinged his call for the sack of the minister to what he described as the none performance of the intervention agency the in region, also decried the litany of abandoned NDDC projects in the region.

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He told newsmen that all efforts to speak out against the ills of the commission against the region and to draw the attention of President Mohammedu Buhari to their plight has not yielded any result.

He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue the Niger Delta, adding that all multi-national organisations operating in the region should relocate their headquarters to where the resources is sourced.

He said: “I believe the happenings in the NDDC are not new to anybody in this region. President Muhammadu Buhari must come to the rescue of the Niger Delta people at this critical time. If giving agencies to ministries is to make it more effective, then the intention to domicile NDDC with the ministry of Niger Delta has failed completely.

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“Because we have come to notice that it was domiciled in the Ministry of Niger Delta for political reasons, so that one individual can dictate the pace of development or economic empowerment of individuals and organisations in the entire oil and gas producing states of the country.

READ ALSO: Rivers: Women Protest Delay In Constitution Of NDDC Board

“The honourable minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, has done a lot of damage to the region of the oil producing communities, and as a result of that I have no hesitation to tell Mr.President to sack the minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio now.

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“Looking into what he has done in the past three years, we have a enough reasons to believe that the common wealth of the people of the Niger Delta is what individuals are squandering and we cannot continue on that path.

“If you recall, the NDDC Act 2000 have no place for sole administrator or interim management committee. We left the stage of interim management committee to the stage of Sole Administrator. You are all aware that Distinguished Nigerians, notable sons and daughters of the oil producing communities were nominated by Mr.President.

“They were screened and confirmed by the National Assembly. It behoves on Mr. President to live up to his constitutional responsibilities by inaugurating the already screened and confirmed board of the NDDC under the chairmanship of His Excellency, Dr. Pius Odubu and Olorogun Bernard Okumagba.

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“What is happening here in the NDDC is a shame. As I speak ,there are notable projects that are supposed to be ongoing in the Idjerhe kingdom, a notable oil and gas kingdom in the Niger Delta region and nothing is happening.

“Some many NDDC projects scattered all over the kingdom that are abandoned. In the face of this, I cannot preside over a kingdom where all projects are abandoned and I go to one corner and be clapping for one individual,” he concluded.

READ ALSO: Akpabio’s Attitude On NDDC May Fuel Fresh Crisis In N’Delta, Group Warns

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12 Feared Dead In Kenya Light Aircraft Crash

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A small plane travelling from Kenya’s coast crashed on Tuesday, according to the country’s aviation authority, with the 12 people on board feared dead.

The small plane was en route to Kichwa Tembo — a private airstrip located in the Maasai Mara National Park — from the tourist hotspot of Diani when it came down at around 5:30am local time (0230 GMT).

“The aircraft had 12 persons on board,” a statement from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said.

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It gave no further details, but said that government agencies were already on site to establish the cause of the accident.

READ ALSO:Putin Admits Russia Caused Azerbaijani Plane Crash

The Guardian reports that plane crashes are fairly common in Kenya in the last 18 months. On March 5, 2024, a mid-air collision between a Safarilink Aviation commercial flight and a 99 Flying School training aircraft occurred over the Nairobi National Park, resulting in two fatalities.

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The incident took place shortly after both aircraft had departed Wilson Airport. The collision involved Safarilink Aviation Flight 053, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 carrying 39 passengers and five crew members, and a 99 Flying School Cessna 172M.

AMREF Aircraft Crash

In August, a light aircraft belonging to the AMREF Flying Doctors crashed into a residential area in Mwihoko, Ruiru, Kiambu County, killing six people and injuring at least two others.

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The aircraft, a Cessna Citation XLS (registration 5Y-FDM), had taken off from Wilson Airport and was en route to Hargeisa, Somalia, when it went down under unclear circumstances.

READ ALSO:Fire On Board Forces Lagos-Atlanta-bound Aircraft Diversion To Ghana

AMREF Flying Doctors CEO Stephen Gitau issued a statement confirming the incident. Mr Gitau noted that the aircraft departed Wilson Airport at 2.17 PM before crashing in Mwihoko. He stated that the organisation is “cooperating fully with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation.”

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Foreign Couple Killed in Kenyan Plane Crash, Earlier in January, a light aircraft crash killed a foreign couple aboard. The accident involved a Cessna 185 aircraft that departed from Nairobi and was en route to Mbaruk in Nakuru County. It went down in the lakeside town of Naivasha at approximately 5:14 p.m. local time (1414 GMT).

At the time, Naivasha Police Deputy Chief Charles Mwai suggested that poor visibility due to fog in the area might have been a contributing factor. Aviation experts have been called to the scene to conduct an investigation.

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UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

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The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

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His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

READ ALSO:UK Police Hunt Asylum Seeker Mistakenly Freed For Sex Offence

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

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He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

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The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

READ ALSO:Alleged Misappropriation: MFM Accuses UK Agency Of Discrimination

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

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A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

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READ ALSO:UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

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He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

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Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

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Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

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READ ALSO:Madagascar’s President Denounces ‘Coup Attempt’ As Gen Z Protests Escalate

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

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Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

READ ALSO:Madagascar Passes Bill To Castrate Child R*pists

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

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The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.

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