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NDDC Board: IYC Queries Amaechi’s Silence

Published

4 years ago

January 4, 2022

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The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has queried the Minister of Transportation and former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi’s silence on the agitation of stakeholders for a substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The President of IYC, Peter Timothy Igbifa, in a statement on Tuesday to herald the new year, wondered why Amaechi, hitherto known for his boldness in speaking out, had remained unusually quiet since the agitations for justice and fairness started in NDDC.

“The silence of leaders like the Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, on the illegality at the NDDC is no longer golden.

“Why has Amaechi, who is known for his boldness and for withstanding all opposition to support President Muhammadu Buhari, suddenly lost his voice concerning the NDDC? Amaechi and other leaders must explain to us the reason for their silence”, he said.

Igbifa, who reflected on some of the achievements of the council since he took over its leadership, also condemned President Buhari’s silence on the NDDC board during his recent speech to inaugurate the hostel project completed by the commission in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

He said though the extension of Effiong Akwa’s tenure as the Sole Administrator of NDDC expired on December 31, 2021, the Presidency was doing nothing to inaugurate the NDDC Board.

He said: “We condemn the silence of Mr. President on this board matter. President Muhammadu Buhari portrayed himself as an insensitive leader when he failed to speak on the matter during his recent speech to inaugurate the hostel project built by NDDC at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

“It is obvious that persons surrounding the President and who wrote that speech for him are misrepresenting him because the real Buhari that we know would have inaugurated the NDDC board at least as a new year gift to the Niger Delta people who gave him the goodwill of regional peace like no other”.

The IYC boss said the council would continue to demand transparency and accountability in NDDC and called on the President to make the forensic audit report of the commission public.

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

2 days ago

October 13, 2025

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At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP