Metro

[UPDATED] Edo Guber: APC Youths, Women Take Over Secretariat, Demand Sack Of SWC

Published

3 months ago

February 19, 2024

Editor

Some angry youths and women on Monday took over the All Progressives Congress Secretariat along Airport Road in Benin City, demanding sack of the State Working Committee (SWC) led by acting Chairman, Jarret Tenebe.

They alleged that some of them were bribed by an aspirant to deliver him but since they could not deliver the aspirant, they are now discrediting the exercise.

They also alleged that some of them have been bribed by some opposition parties to cause confusion in the party.

Led by the Youth Leader of the party, Tony Adun popularly known as Kabaka, the angry protesters forced their way into the offices and brought the furniture, bags of rice and other equipment and vowed to stay at the building for seven days.

The Youth Leader said: “We heard that some people collected money from the opposition and some aspirants and want to use that opportunity to destroy the party. The information that reached us is that they went to collect money from the opposition to destroy our party. They did it before, they sabotaged and betrayed us in the election.

“What we are hearing now is that because their preferred aspirant did not win, they want to destroy the party. Even if 100 persons contest in an election, only one person will emerge as the winner and one person has emerged.

“The election was conducted peacefully even when they tried to hold a parallel congress, they did not succeed. We the youths and women are saying that this is our time and a youth has emerged as the candidate of the party. We will resist any attempt to change it.

“I want to send a message to the NWC that since the SWC can disobey what the NWC wanted, they need to be suspended from the party and if that is not done, nobody will enter this secretariat again.

“We all voted with our membership cards on the day of the election and we all voted for Hon Dennis Idahosa, they are trying to sabotage our efforts but we will not allow it. It is ‘Youth o’ clock’ and that is what we have been crying for, God almighty has done it and anybody who wants to change it, we will resist it because we constitute 75 percent of the voting population here.”

Also speaking on behalf of the women, a woman leader from Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area, Mrs Esther Okpera said they were supporting the actions of the youths because it is the youths and women that participate in elections.

She said: “On election day, you will see women carrying their children under the sun and rain, while the men are nowhere to be found. Now, we are saying no. Look at our state secretariat, you will see bags of rice yet our women are buying one cup of rice for N400, and we are seeing the rice.

“It is the youth and women that own the election.

“Politics is about openness, when you are open to your people, they will follow you. We want to win this election in September.

“For all those that have collected dollars, they don’t care whether we win or we don’t win. We have not collected anything. All we want is to win the election.”

Contacted on the allegation, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Uwadia Igbinigie said an official reaction of the party would be made on the development at the appropriate time.

Metro

Okuama/Okoloba Impasse: Women Protest In Black Attire, Raise Issues [PHOTOS]

Published

4 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

The protesting women of Okoloba community

Protesters who are majorly women from Okoloba community, Delta State, on Saturday, May 18, 2024, took to the street to protest what they called the return of armed youths of Okuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area of the state.

INFO DAILY reports that Okoloba community in Bomadi Local Government Area and Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, all in Delta State have been at loggerhead over land dispute and others.

The protesting Okoloba women in black attire staged the peaceful protest along the coastal fringe of Koloba community, chanting against violence and bloodbath.

The placard carrying women, led by the chairlady of Okoloba Community, Mrs Timipakebi Goodwin, and secretary, Mrs Mary Koibi, alleged that the armed youths of Okuama were threatening the peace of the riverine area.

Some of the protesting Women

Some inscriptions on the placards read: ‘We say no to violence’; ‘enough of the killings on our land;’ ‘armed Okuama youths returning in a commando style;’ ‘we say no to the return of armed youths of Okuama;’ ‘resettle Okuama people among their Ewu brothers in Ughelli South LGA;’ ‘we mourn the killing of the 17 soldiers,’ among others.’

Reading a letter to newsmen, a copy of each she said was submitted to the police, DSS, NSCDC, JTF as well as the acting chairman of Bomadi Local local Government Council, Mrs Goodwin noted that the latest killing by the youths of Okuama showed that they could kill human beings at the slightest provocation.

The letter which contained an S.O.S. to the Federal Government, further reads: “First, we the women of Okoloba Community sympathize with the killing of 17 soldiers and officers of the Nigerian army on peace and rescue mission to Okuama, following the kidnap of our son. We sincerely mourn their untimely death and pray for the repose of their souls. We also pray for their families.

The protesting women

“However, less than 24 hours after the exit of the troops from Okuama, a fresh crisis erupted with another neighbouring community, culminating in the killing of one person while three other persons were seriously injured. The person who was killed and those sustaining machete wounds were alleged to have gone there to loot.

“The latest killing showed that the people of Okuama can kill a human at the slightest provocation; the sanctity of human life means nothing to them. It also shows that neighbouring Ijaw communities like Okoloba are not safe.

“So, resetting the people of Okuama in their present location, which is in-between communities in Bomadi Local Government Area, is an attempt to encourage further communal clashes and bloodbaths.

“Just last week, youths of Okuama Community came out of the Mein-toruabubor creek, which leads to Ewu, on three speedboats and all of them on camouflage. They shot sporadically in the air before proceeding to OKuama. They moved to and fro the creek three times, and at every time they shot their guns in the air at the entrance of the creek.

“We are calling on the federal government to come to our aid, and the panacea to these incessant clashes and killings is for the government to relocate Okuama to Ewu clan in Ughelli South Local Government Area, where they truly and rightly belong.

“Resettling them among their own people in Ewu clan of Urhobo land will foster mutual trust among themselves as they are of the same ancestry and speak the same dialect”.

Metro

JUST IN: Truck Rams Into BRT On Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Published

8 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A truck has rammed into a Lagos State BRT bus at Ibafo bus-stop along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway.

The PUNCH correspondent who went to the scene gathered that the accident occurred around some minutes to 6am on Saturday.

Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Police on response call at the accident scene insisted that only their Public Relations Officers were authorised to speak.

However, unconfirmed reports from onlookers noted that several people on the BRT bus were injured.

Onlookers accounts noted that the BRT was parked loading its passengers at the bus stop before the truck loaded with cows heading to Lagos rammed into it, taking it off the road to destroy shops and kiosks by the roadside.

The cow truck had been towed a little away from the scene so as not to hinder traffic.

Details later

Metro

Court Jails Social Media Influencer For Celebrity Scam

Published

17 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, has sentenced Aluko Tunmise to one year in prison for his involvement in a celebrity scam.

Tunmise was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a cybercrime-related charge.

This was disclosed in a post on X by EFCC on Friday, May 17.

The post reads: “Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Aluko Tunmise, a self-acclaimed social media influencer and model, to one year imprisonment for celebrity scam.

He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrimes.”

“One of the counts reads: “That you, ALUKO TUNMISE JUWONLO (A.K.A. KEANU REEVES), sometime between January and March, 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, directly made a false statement, wherein you held yourself out as a white man by name “KEANU REEVES” on your Telegram Account, knowing same to be false and with intent that the representation is relied upon for the purpose of procuring the issuance of financial instrument to yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015′.

He pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C.Okezie, sought to present an operative of the EFCC, Vincent Sunday Kwambuge, to review the facts of the matter.

Kwanbuge told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in March, 2024 at Lekki County Estate, Lagos, following credible intelligence received by the Commission on the activities of some internet fraudsters operating in the area.”