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Tempers rose on Monday among participants at the ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Transition Inter-Ethnic Peace Dialogue’ organised by Youths Off The Street Initiative when the Middle Belt Forum said it would not go with the North should Nigeria break up. The event, with the theme, ‘Restructuring and 2023 power shift: Nigeria’s make or break factor for political survival’, and convened by the President of YOTSI, Kennedy Iyere, was attended by leaders of ethnic nationalities including the leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; President, Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide, and President of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Jonathan Asake. Others were…

The South East Governors’ forum has urged security agencies to immediately arrest those responsible for the murder of late APC Chieftain, Ahmed Gulak. This was contained in a statement issued by the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Ebonyi, David Umahi, on Tuesday after a virtual meeting on the security situation in the Southeast. The forum described the murder of Mr Gulak, in Owerri, Imo State, as a national catastrophe. The statement said: “It is with a rude shock that we received the news of the unfortunate death of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak in the hands of the senseless gunmen.…

The Registrar of National Examinations Council, NECO, Prof. Godswill Obioma has been reported dead. Obioma, according to sources, died Monday night in his sleep in his Minna residence. The Director, Human resources of the NECO, Abdul Mustapha confirmed the death of the NECO boss, said he died in his sleep as a result of heart failure. Mr Mustapha forwarded communication from Obioma’s second son, Prince Godswill Obioma, informing him of the death of his father thus: “Mustapha K. Abdul (Director Human Resource Management, NECO), “Dear Sir, this is to formally inform you that my father, Prof. Godswill Obioma, the Registrar/Chief…

Governor Bello Matawalle has sacked all his commissioners and other political appointees in Zamfara. The governor also suspended an emir and a district head. A statement released by Zailani Bappa, the governor’s media aide, said the secretary to the state government, the chief of staff, and the deputy chief of staff were relieved of their respective appointments. Also sacked were all chairmen and members of the state commissions and boards of various agencies. The governor, however, said the “dissolution does not affect commissions provided for by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” just as he ordered commissioners to…

Unknown gunmen on Monday night stormed the residence of Professor Godswill Obioma, strangling him in what his wife suspected to be an assassination. “The assassins came in and killed him and left without taking anything,” Elizabeth Obioma told Peoples Gazette by telephone on Tuesday morning. Weeping profusely, Mrs Obioma said her husband had just returned to Minna from a trip to Abuja when the armed men, lurking in his compound, descended on him and strangled him. A police spokesman did not immediately return a request seeking comments about the development. Mr Obioma has been facing attempts to remove him from…

The President also approved the appointment of Ahmed Mustapha Habib as the new Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, to replace AVM Muhammad (rtd). Following his removal, Mr Mohammed is appointed the chairman of the board of National Senior Citizens Centre. In a statement by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, Mr Buhari approved the take-off of the National Senior Citizens Centre and constituted a 12-member board with immediate effect. “This is in line with Section 16 (2) (d) of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution as amended which mandates the State to provide adequate social services and improve the quality…

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has warned Northerners against travelling to the South-East for now in view of the prevailing security situation. It advised that if embarking on the trip become necessary they should employ the services of security agents. This was contained in a statement issued by the National Chairman of ACF, Chief Audu Ogbe, on Monday. The statement said it noticed of late with increasing concern the attacks on/killing of Northerners resident and or visiting the South, particularly the South East. “It was so bad at a point in February this year that the northern traders who normally…

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State says the killing of Ahmed Gulak, a former presidential aide, has political undertone. Addressing a press conference in Owerri, the state capital, on Monday, Uzodinma countered police claim that he was killed by members of the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). Angry residents block major roads in Zamfara over killings 4 killed in police faceoff with IPOB sit-at-home enforcers in Ebonyi He said he could not go to church when he heard about Gulak’s assassination. “Alhaji Ahmed Gulak was in Imo State for a national assignment. He came to Owerri with the Senate…

Arewa Youth for Peace and Security has described the killing of Barrister Ahmed Gulak, former Political Adviser to former President Goodluck and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as political. National President of the group, Alhaji Salisu Magaji, who made this known in an interview with journalists in Bauchi on Monday, cautioned Nigerians against giving Gulak’s murder ethnic colouration. Magaji opined that northern elders and leaders had been going to the south east on daily basis without any problem and Igbos have also been going about their legitimate businesses in the north without any hitch. He advised Nigerians…

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege has explained the mission of late Ahmed Gulak to the Southeast. He said the late Ahmed Gulak who was killed in Imo State on Sunday, was in Imo State as a lobbyist for the constitutional Review Committee which had its public hearing last week. Omo-Agege said the Nigerian Police must fish out the killers of late Ahmed Gulak for the murder, he described the murder as an “assassination that was wicked, dastardly, callous and barbaric.” He said: “As one of the consultants to the panel, he volunteered to go to Owerri for…