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Former Abia Governor Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has been released from Kuje Custodial Centre, Abuja where he was serving a 12-year sentence following an order to that effect by the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Justice Mohammad Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the release of Kalu on Tuesday following his conviction last December for alleged looting of N7.65b belonging to Abia. He was released around 7:30pm Wednesday.
Elder statesman and former governor of old Ondo State (comprising Ondo and Ekiti States), Bamidele Olumilua, is dead.
Olumilua, a diplomat, who was born in 1940, died in the early hours of Thursday in his Ikere Ekiti hometown, Ekiti State.
The Daybreak reports that the former governor died after a brief illness.
Evangelist Bamidele Isola Olumilua, a former governor of Ondo State, is dead.
A family source confirmed his death in a chat with our correspondent on Thursday morning.
Olumilua is said to have died at his country home in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State. 
“Baba died this morning (Thursday) about few hours ago and we are all in sorrowful mood,” the source said.
His body has been moved to the morgue of Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.
Olumilua died two months after his 80th birthday.
He was governor of Ondo State from January 1992 to November 1993.
The House of Representatives has taken steps to strip the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the power to appoint and deploy state commissioners of police (CPs).
It has vested the power in the Police Service Commission (PSC), which is to ensure that such appointment and deployment is done in line with Federal Character principle.
The Green Chamber of the National Assembly thus put to rest the controversy about who has the power to recruit police constables and cadets as it vested the power in the Police Recruitment Committee, headed by the IGP.
The House made it mandatory for the IGP to submit a quarterly report of arrests to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) while CPs are to submit same to the Attorney General of their states.
Read Also: Is Gbajabiamila’s House for or against Nigerians?
This formed part of the new Police Act passed by the lawmakers to reform the police and make it responsive to human rights of Nigerians.
Section 21 of the new Police Act, as passed by the House, gives the IGP the responsibility of recruiting constables and cadets into the force and establishing the Police Recruitment Committee whose decision on recruitment into the force shall be final.
A close examination of the law indicates that several sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 were reproduced in the new Police Act, while the document has been increased from 101 sections to about 151.
Section 28 of the law prohibits the arrest of another person in place of a suspect who may not be available for arrest at the time of visit by the police, while a new Section 29 states that an arrested suspect must be accorded humane treatment, having regards to his right to the dignity of his person.
A former Abia State Governor, Orji Kalu, yesterday regained his freedom following his release from Kuje Custodial Centre by the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS).
This was in obedience to the Tuesday order of a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The NCoS spokesman, DCC Austin Njoku, who confirmed the development, said the senator was freed at 5:05 pm.
He said, “Ex-governor Orji Kalu was released from custody at exactly 5:05 pm on Wednesday. He was discharged after we received the court warrant on his release.”
Kalu was jailed for 12 years on December 5, 2019, after he was convicted of N7.1 billion fraud alongside his firm, Slok Nigeria Ltd.
Nigeria has recorded 348 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 11166.
Lagos-163 FCT-76 Ebonyi-23 Rivers-21 Delta-8 Nasarawa-8 Niger-8 Enugu-6 Bauchi-5 Edo-5 Ekiti-5 Ondo-5 Gombe-5 Benue-4 Ogun-2 Osun-1 Plateau-1 Kogi-1 Anambra-1 11166 cases of #COVID19Nigeria
Discharged: 3329
Deaths: 315
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC), confirmed this in a tweet on Wednesday.
… Mulls 200,000 jobs In Environment Ministry
Williams Anuku
Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen Bashir Magashi (rtd) has complained that the nation’s armed forces are currently grappling with shortage of personnel, including inadequate funding.
Magashi raised these concerns while presenting his ministry’s memo at the virtual Federal Executive Council, meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.
He said, “we spoke about our short comings. We talked about man power shortage, inadequate funding for the ministry of Defence. We talked about all the operations we have been conducting, the successes and failures of each of the operations right from Operation Lafia Dole to Operation Tawase.
“The short comings of each of the operations were discussed and God so kind contributions were made by members of the Council and I think in no distant time there will be a change in the conduct of our affairs in the Ministry of Defence.”
The Minister of Environment, Mohammad Abubakar, said he also presented the ministerial performance of report.
He said on Ogoni cleanup, the ministry is currently cleaning up 21 plus 36 sites impacted with hydrocarbon.
The minister explained that 775 jobs have been created in Ogoni clean with more on the way.
He said there is a Programme to train 400 women in the agriculture sector, especially Aqua culture and poultry as a way to improve the living standard of the people.
He said planting of 25 million trees is at the forefront in collaboration with the state governments.
Abubakar said out of 774,000 jobs that President Buhari approved to be created, the ministry of environment as one of the implementing agencies is to employ 200,000 skilled and unskilled labour, another 2000 through the erosion department.
According to the Minister, government is also expected to create jobs in the area of waste recycling, that is reduce, reuse, repair and recover waste. According to him, “it is no longer fashionable to just produce, use and dispose because the planet is getting too choked up with pollutants. We are very big in recycling.
“Finally, we are big in erosion control which you all know is a big problem in the South East. As you know South East is more prone to erosion because of the geographic nature of the area.”
He said post COVID, the ministry is working to reduce the emission from carbon dioxide from generators and other gaseous emissions behind climate change.
He noted that about 4,000 jobs will be created in this area, and their main mandate will be to keep tab on emissions including vehicular emissions.
The minister said the ministry is also targeting to create 32 jobs from recycling of engine oil from motorcycles and other vehicles to produce diesel, which can in turn be reused.
On the green bond project, which is to produce clean energy, he said the proceeds will be used to produce solar energy for tertiary institutions. He said already 20,000 jobs have been created.
Warri-Itakpe standard Gauge Railway fully ready for commercial service to be commissioned when lockdown eases.
The rail line will reduce travel time by half and passes through Kogi, Edo and terminates in Delta state. The project was completed in record time by CCECC a Chinese construction giant
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, surprised stakeholders on Wednesday, by approving a total sum of
N148,141,987,161.25 as reimbursement of funds expended on federal roads by some state governments.
Among states shortlisted to benefit includes, Cross River N18,394,737,608.85, Ondo N7,822,147,577.08, Osun N2,468,938,876.78, Bayelsa N38,040,564,783.40 and Rivers N78,953,067,518.29.
The memo was presented by the Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola at the third virtual council meeting, which held at the Council Chambers of the State House, Abuja.
Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who briefed State House Correspondents of the development, explained that Council has exceeded its limits, warning that there will be no reimbursement in future, should any state government venture into such projects without the nod of the federal government.
Mohammed who briefed on behalf of Fashola said, “You will recall that in 2016, 36 states of the federation sent a very huge bill to the federal government, asking fo compensation for money that they have expended on federal roads.
” This prompted Mr. President to set up a committee to go and verify the claims of these 36 states, whether indeed these projects were actually constructed, were they completed, in line with the federal government standards.
“At the end of that exercise by an inter-ministerial committee, chaired by the honorable minister of works and housing but also had ministers of education, transportation, finance, minister of state go works, DG BPP and permanent secretary cabinet office as members.
“At the end of that exercise, the committee recommended that the federal government should refund N550,364,297.31 billion to 31 of the 36 states, after they were convinced that, yes indeed, the projects were completed and they were federal government roads.
“But the claims of five other states Cross River, Rivers, Ondo, Bayelsa and Osun failed on the grounds that they did not do proper documentation and they committee felt they needed proper documentation.
“So the committee went back with a new terms of reference to ensure that the claims of the five states were in order, that is why the BPP is on the committee. So at the end of the exercise, the committee now reported that the five states – Cross River with 20 roads and one bridge will get a refund of N18,394,737,608.85, Ondo with six roads to get a refund of N7,822,147,577.08, and Osun with two roads and one bridge to get a refund of N2,468,938,876.78.
“Others are Bayelsa with five roads and one bridge is to get a refund of N38,040,564,783.40 and Rivers with three roads and three flyovers bridges is to get a refund of N78,953,067,518.29.”
While explaining further, Mohammed said the committees confirmed the roads and the bridges, that not only were they completed, they are in substantial good form, adding that some of the bridges and roads were built about 10 years ago.
He said: However, there is a caveat, the federal government will pay the states but however, henceforth, if any state takes on federal government road, it will not be paid, they will not get any refund. Even if you want to pay from your own pocket, you will still need the permission of the federal government and it will be supervised by the federal ministry of works and housing.”
He said the modalities of refund is being worked out quad payment will be made over a period of time.
The Information Minister noted that 31 states were earlier paid the sum of over N500 billion.”
Recall that a number of states making up the federation had been accusing the federal government of bias in refunding them monies used in maintaining such roads.
But the government at the centre had also had course to accuse some of the states of over-bloating the cost of construction, a development that had made some states ignore such roads to their fate.
By Richard Emmanuel Benjamin
Tension has griped people living in Southern Taraba following killing of a pastor and his wife by suspected Tiv militia. The latest killing, occurred few days after six Fulani and two Jukun were ambushed and killed by suspected militia along Wukari-RafinKada road in southern part of state.
Pastor Emanuel Beliya of CRCN Maraban Baissa and his wife Juliana Emanuel were killed while working on their farm on Monday at Maraban Baissa in Donga local government area of the state by suspected Tiv militia.
The area which was engulfed by violent clashes between Tiv and Ichen ethnic groups recently had claimed lives of dozens of people.
#Daybreaknews gathered that the killing of the Jukun pastor has heightened tension in the area as Jukun accused Tiv militia of killing of the pastor and his wife. The killing came when efforts were being made to reconcile Tiv and Jukun by Taraba state government.
It was also gathered that Jukun and other ethnic groups in Southern Taraba are accusing the Tiv of causing the crisis in southern Taraba as part of their expansionist agenda.
Reacting over the incident, Governor Darius Ishaku condemned the killing of the pastor and his wife by suspected militia, calling it wicked and inhuman. He said this through his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Hon. Bala Dan Habu, that killings of this nature have happened too often recently in southern Taraba communities and he stand to condemned it in totality.
Ishaku, also described the killing as unhelpful to the ongoing efforts of the state government to achieve lasting peace among communities in southern Taraba.
Reacting to the accusations against the tiv, onbehalf of the tiv communities in Taraba State, the president Tiv cultural Association in the state, Mr. Goodman Dahida, said it is unfortunate that Tiv people are always point at to any killing that accure in southern Taraba.
He said even though Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups are in crisis but it is unfortunate that the Tiv are always accused of all the killings in the area.
“Let everyone open his eyes in southern Taraba because there could be some people behind the killings in order to prolong the crisis,” Dahida said.
Meanwhile the police spokesperson DSP David Misal has confirmed the incident and has lauched an investigation towards the killing.
He advised the people not to live in fair as the police and the government are working round the clock to restore peace and coexistence in the area.