Paul Okah

A Policeman, Inspector Monday Gabriel, went berserk, in Ikoyi area of Lagos,  opening fire on his colleagues, killing one of them in the process, while others sustained bullet wounds. The Police officer, Gabriel, attached to Squadron 21 of the  Police Mobile Force, Abuja, was on Special duty at the Federal Inland Revenue Service in Ikoyi area of the state with other colleagues. There was reportedly a disagreement between him and his colleagues, over an unknown reason, when he suddenly opened fire on them, killing one of them, Sergeant Felix Okago, on the spot, while others managed to escape with bullet wounds. Thereafter, he hijacked the team’s escort van, shooting as he zoomed off. But the white van reportedly got stuck, at Akoka, Yaba. Unable to move further, he came out and attempted to force his way into a building but could not. He was said to have released several shots which perforated the metallic door of the building, in his attempt to go in, causing frighte...

A 22-year-old lady, identified as Uwaila Omozuwa, has died at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Edo State, after she was beaten and raped inside her local church. It was gathered that Uwaila, who was an 100-level Microbiology student of UNIBEN, goes to read everyday at The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Edo Province 10, Ikpoba Hill, Benin, but was unfortunately beaten, raped and hit with a fire extinguisher by unknown men on Wednesday ,27th May, 2020. According to a source, “The church’s security officer had gone to collect the keys to the church from its keeper when he was told that there was someone in the church already. He got to the church only to find Uwaila in a pool of blood  and next to her was the fire extinguisher which was used to bash her face. He ran back to inform the key keeper and his wife, who went to the church to meet her lifeless, thinking she was dead. After careful observation, they noticed she moved her hand and quickly rushed he...

The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Chief Oluchukwu Ukie Ezeali (P. Noble), has said that the state governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has dedicated five years in office to employ hitherto unemployed youths, lift the state out of recession, by using the direct labour policy he emulated from China. In a statement he personally signed and made available to  Paulokahblog  Sunday, Ezeali said that Ebonyi State has never had it this good under any government since the creation of the state, saying that Umahi met the state in recession shortly after assumption of office, but quickly went to work in turning the fortune of the state around. He said: "Shortly after Engr David Umahi assumed office as the Governor of Ebonyi State on May 29, 2015, the economy contracted and eventually went into recession in 2016.  The oil dollars had stopped flowing and most states had to grapple with the pressures of managing diminishing res...

The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) has distributed various personal protective equipment (PPE) and food items to refugees in Ogoja, Cross River state, in order to effectively combat the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a statement signed by the Head Press and Public Relations of NCFRMI ,  Abdul A. Onu and made available to  Paulokahblog  on Saturday, the items distributed for the benefit of persons at the refugees settlement in Adagum,  Adagum 3 and Ukende all in Ogoja, include facemasks, hand sanitisers, soap and buckets. Making the donations to 18,891 refugees, the Federal Commissioner of NCFRMI, Senator Basheer Garba Mohammed, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Planning, Research and Development, Mrs Mama Edet, said the items were meant to help the refugees improve their personal hygiene and to protect them from the ravaging coronavirus, adding that "as the refugees...

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Thursday raised the alarm over increasing deaths caused by rejection of patients in   the country’s hospitals. The PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha,  at the task force  press conference in Abuja, lamented that despite the admonition of the Federal Ministry of Health,  hospitals were still rejecting non-COVID-19 patients. Also at  the press conference, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Director General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, raised the alarm over growing rapid test kits black market in the country. According to him, some organisations are selling “what they call antibody tests.” He, therefore  warned that  such “antibody tests” could not give valid COVID-19 results. Nigeria currently  has  8,733 COVID-19 patients and  112 isolation centres in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory. There are 29 laboratories, where COVID-19 is bein...

NO fewer than ten members of Government House Press Corps, Akwa Ibom state have reportedly tested positive for the dreaded COVID-19 disease that has continued to ravage the world. It was reliably gathered on Sunday that the positive cases which were among the 19 new active cases recorded in the state are currently receiving treatment at the isolation centre. According to findings, when one of the cameramen showed symptoms of COVID-19 last week, all the reporters and cameramen as well as other workers at the Government House press center were asked to go for compulsory testing. A reliable source, simply said, “They are about 38 in the Government House press corps and I learned that about only 9 of them have tested positive for COVID-19. I think others returned negative. “Also it is not only members of reporters and Cameramen were tested. Everybody at the press centre all did the testing.” It was learned that apart from the Cameraman that showed symptoms of COVID-19, other pe...

The police in Lagos have arrested  a man simply identified as Chima for allegedly setting his elder sister ablaze. Victoria was alleged to be two months pregnant at the time the incident occurred at their residence in Okokomaiko area of the state on May 14. The Nation gathered that Chima had picked up a keg in the kitchen to hit his sister, Victoria, 20, for allegedly slapping their mother, not knowing that the keg contained petrol. It was learnt that the family members were in the kitchen of their restaurant when an argument ensued between mother and daughter, during which the woman chided Victoria for leaving their residence to cohabit with men. Angry Victoria, it was gathered,  raised her hand against her mother which forced Chima to grab a nearby keg to hit her. But the content reportedly poured out with some of it touching Victoria  which ignited fire leaving her with severe burns. It was learnt that the girl was initially taken to a nearby hospital on Ke...

Following the recent ranking by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which rated Ebonyi State as the fourth poorest state in Nigeria and first in the South-east, with regards to economic development, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Chief Oluchukwu Ukie Ezeali, has said that the state Governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has been doing his best to make sure that Ebonyians are lifted out of poverty since assumption of office in 2015, using Chinese Model. Reeling out statistics in a statement made available to the media Sunday, which the Commissioner signed himself, Ezeali said that Urban Migration is one of the reasons Ebonyi State has struggled to get out of poverty, but that, using the Chinese model, the state governor embarked on an urbanization drive across Ebonyi State “not just to create an enabling environment for business and productivity, but also to make the entire State habitable”. The statement reads in part: “Recently, the National ...

African Students Education Support Initiatives (ASESI) has lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing a renowned educationist, Prof. Godswill Obioma, as the new Registrar of the National Examination Council (NECO). The group described the appointment as putting a square peg in a square hole, adding that Prof. Obioma's impressive track records in the nation's education sector, as well as his well known anti- corruption lifestyle, would help the Buhari government to overhaul and revamp NECO for optimum service to the nation. ASESI, in a statement on Sunday signed by its Executive Director, Mr. Chinonso Obasi, and made available to newsmen in Abakaliki, noted that the former Ebonyi Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who is a celebrated Professor of Mathematics and a Specialist in Monitoring, Evaluation, Curriculum Development and Education Management, had performed creditably well in all his previous appointments, stressing that his choice as NECO boss was one of Buh...

...Exhibits signs of insanity in utterances, behaviour A behavioural psychologist at the Obafemi Awolowo University, IIe Ife, Dr. O. S. Peter has said that leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnmadi Kanu, requires urgent medical and mental assistance. Peter explained that a person is described as insane if the person’s state of mind or behaviour is different from normal perception as discovered in Kanu’ s public statements. He stated this position in an interview with selected journalists. According to him, Kanu by some of his public statements over a prolonged period of time clearly shows signs of mental disorder and serious illness. He said: “When he says things like the VP was forcefully Injected COVID19 or that the VP and Femi Adesina were kidnapped or under house arrest or that Aso Rock is empty, these are signs of insanity because they are a fabrication of his imagination.” Mr Peter explained that another trait of insanity found in Kanu’s con...

This is not the best of times for Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, as residents of the state have accused  him of being responsible for the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state “due to neglect of the welfare of political appointees and taskforce members”. On Friday, May 22, the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) announced that Ebonyi now has the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the South East, with 22 confirmed cases, overtaking Enugu (16), Abia (7), Imo (7) and Anambra (5). Speaking with Paulokahblog, a resident, Francis Ndukwe Enyinnia, alleged that ”Umahi is owing salaries to his appointees and the COVID-19 taskforce members responsible for manning the borders and entry points into the state”, hence the decision of many of them to accept bribes; in order to let in any motorist coming into the state “regardless of the person’s COVID-19 status”. He said: “Umahi has not seen anything yet. Why shouldn’t we record the highest number of COVID-19 ca...

Irked by their threat that they would go on strike pending when the state government would adjust their salaries and other requests, the Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Friday warned resident doctors in the state to desist from such idea, noting that anyone who goes on strike would lose his/her job. Disclosing this in a statement, Muyiwa Adekeye, special adviser on media to the governor, quoted el-Rufai as saying every health worker willing to do their job will be required to sign registers at their duty posts. Read the statement bellow: “The government rejects the strike threat and will regard persons who fail to show up at their assigned places of work as having forfeited their employment. “Every health worker that is willing to work is required to sign the register at the Ministry of Health and the health institutions to which they are deployed. “The ministry of health has the mandate of the government to ensure that residents of Kaduna state are not deprived of pu...

Former Secretary to the State Government of Ebonyi State, Professor Benard Odoh, has implored the Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, to desist from inflicting economic hardship on Ebonyians. In an open letter he made available to Paulokahblog Friday morning, Odoh said that, "as a way of cushioning the devastating effects of the covid-19 pandemic on Ebonyi’s struggling economy, there is urgent need to jettison the collection of tenement rates/ground rents from landlords, excessive/forceful drive for quarry haulage levies and waiving of personal income taxes".  Odoh regretted that, despite the efforts of the state government in policing its borders against the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebonyi State, as of May 21, has recorded 13 cases and expressed hope that the situation would not get worse in the state in particular and Nigeria in general, even as he pledged support for the state government in ensuring that the active cases are managed successfully "to t...

Controversy has surrounded the death of a pregnant woman (name withheld) in Ibiade, the headquarters of Ogun Waterside local government area of Ogun State, as youths of the community alleged that policemen delayed the pregnant woman for hours while she was being taken to hospital for delivery. But police denied the allegation, saying that they only stopped the woman to ascertain that she was not being kidnapped. The youths alleged that the policemen at checkpoint reportedly delayed a motorcycle carrying the pregnant woman to the hospital for hours because the motorcyclist refused to give them money. It was further learnt that the police officers allegedly hit the pregnant woman on the head with torchlight when she was being taken to a hospital where she was supposed to deliver her baby. The death of the pregnant woman led to protest by youths of the community who threatened to burn down a police station in the community, but it took the intervention of the traditional ruler o...

The Chairman, Kogi State Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, Kabir Zubair, has said testing for COVID-19 remained a challenge in the state. He said the state has recorded a number of suspected cases but without tests, such cases could not be ascertained to be positive or negative. Zubair stated this on Thursday while reacting to the report by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control that only one test sample has been sent in by the state since the start of the pandemic which returned negative. He explained that the challenge of inadequate testing led to agitation from members of the Association of Resident Doctors, who said they have been receiving suspected cases of the virus at the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja. He said, “Although no confirmed case has been reported in Kogi State till date, a number of suspected cases have been attended to at FMC Lokoja and members of ARD are among the first to attend to these patients and as such, they might be exposed to the hig...

The federal government, through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has Thursday flagged off the distribution of palliatives to orphanage homes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The event, which took place at the Anawim Home (Poorest of the Poor) had five orphanage home as index beneficiaries, including the Halal Children's Home, Lugbe; Shinning Star Orphanage, Lugbe; Good Shepherd Orphanage, Kwali and Alansar Home, Kuje. The items distributed include bags of rice, spaghetti, gallons of groundnut oil, cartons of sachet milk, packets of face masks, bags of salt, bags of sugar, among others. Handing over the palliatives to the beneficiaries, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, represented by the Special Adviser on Humanitarian Affairs, Alhaji Musa Bungudu, said that the distribution will also be replicated in all the states across the federation, s...

Private school owners and teachers have cried out to the government for help, as their means of livelihood is being seriously threatened by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, the owners, under the aegis of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, are seeking stimulus funding to turn around their businesses, tax relief, technical support to embark on online teaching among others. The teachers are also asking the government to consider them in the sharing of palliatives. Speaking for the schóol owners, the Lagos State President of NAPPS, Chief Amusa Olawale, said his association had written to the Lagos State Government on the issues and expressed the hope that something positive would come out of the effort. He said: “We deserve being supported. The government generates funds through us as we pay taxes, levies, and other revenues. Our sector should not be forgotten. The number of learners in private schools is far more than those in public...

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has told religious leaders in the territory why worship houses are still closed, saying it was based on medical advice regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. He gave this explanation during a meeting between the FCTA and representatives of the FCT Christian and Muslim communities led by the FCT Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman, Dr Samson Jonah and the FCT League of Imams Initiative, Dr Tajudeen Mohammed Bello Adigun. Bello, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Anthony Ogunleye, noted that the FCT is guided by advice from medical experts and guidelines from the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, which had directed that all measures approved two weeks earlier be extended for another two weeks, including the restriction on religious gatherings. He further explained that all actions on the re-opening of the society is hinged on the advice of medical experts who at the moment do not...

The Police in Ebonyi state says it has arrested 10 persons in connection with the alleged torture of a cleric, Oko Chukwu Obeni. The Pastor was allegedly tried and punished by the Traditional Council of his Amasiri community known as the Essa and Isi Oru. In a video which has since gone viral, his hands were tied to his back and he was flogged and beaten. Following outcries and condemnations that greeted the incident, the Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of Julius Amadi Nyerere and 9 others for the alleged assault. Police Spokesman in the state, Loveth Odah stated this in a statement. “On 14th of May at about 5:pm one Pastor Oko Chukwu Obeni ‘m’ age 30yrs of Ndukwe Amasiri village in Afikpo North LGA of Ebonyi State reported at Afikpo North Division that Isi Oru Age Grade led by one Julius Amadi Nyerere and deputized by one Eze Ogbonna ‘m’ all of the same address dragged him to the Ogo Play ground in the area, tired his both hands to back and flogged him ...

Governor Nasiru Ahmad El-Rufai of Kaduna State has accused security agents of sabotaging efforts put in place to stop the influx of travelers in Kaduna state. He said the level of traffic in and out of Kaduna state despite a Presidential directive that bans interstate travels, was disappointing. He spoke in a live chat radio program on Tuesday, adding that almost all those who tested positive to coronavirus in Kaduna had travel history. According to him, the influx of people into the state was because of corrupt security agents on the highway. “They are sabotaging the state government’s efforts for monetary gain,” he alleged. “We have tried everything but the security agents have not been cooperating. We have heard of instances where commercial drivers and others pay them to come into Kaduna,” he said. El-Rufa’i said that on Sallah day, he would personally patrol the Kaduna -Kano border so as to ensure that no one from Kano comes into Kaduna state as part of strategy to c...

Twenty-year-old Margaret Ikumu, has come out of hiding after her family petitioned the Lagos State Police Command over her alleged death. The family had on May 15, 2020, petitioned the police after the news of her death was announced on Facebook by her friends, Marvellous Mary and Nneka Buddy, whom Margaret allegedly connived with over her disappearance. The family, who urged the police to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged death of Margaret, stated that she ‘died’ under controversial circumstances and accused her friends of burying her without their consent. According to one Tony Iji, who signed the petition on behalf of the family, Marvellous and Nneka were contacted by the family through Facebook and they told them that Margaret had instructed them not to allow members of her family to know anything about her death; hence she was buried without the family’s consent. The petition read in part, “Since then, all efforts by our family and our commun...

Two thirteen year old secondary school girls have committed suicide in Delta and Cross River States, respectively, using similar methods, but for varying reasons. According to a  Punch  report Monday, a 13-year-old Junior Secondary School 2 student in Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State, Josephine Wonah, allegedly committed suicide following a fallout with her mother. A blogger based in the area, Matthew Okache, stated that, following a misunderstanding with her mother, Wonah drank herbicide and died in a hospital. Okache stated, “Josephine had a misunderstanding with her mother and the mother scolded her and she became offended, went inside the house and drank the herbicide used by her mother to kill grass in the farm. “After drinking the herbicide, she went to her bed and lay down with nobody knowing until she started passing faeces and vomiting; that was when people realised what had happened. She was rushed to the Santa Maria Clinic along Imaje...

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Team on Monday arrived Cross River State for an on the ground assessment/tour of the facility, following the state’s zero COVID-19 status. Briefing the team in her officer, Cross River Commissioner for Health, Dr. Beta Edu said they have been proactive before the first case was recorded on February 27th, 2020. Dr. Edu appealed to Federal Government and NCDC to support the state at various levels where it needs supports especially at the international borders and it’s a laboratory at Infectious Disease Hospital, IDH. According to her, Cross River started very early in terms of proactive measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic. “It should be noted that Cross River was the first state to start the no mask, no movement policy, we blocked all borders too, very early and we were carrying out drills twice a day and later reduced it to once a day as part of proactive measures. “We want to make it known that we are not ...

A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), has advocated total opening of the economy in order to save small businesses, service-oriented and entertainment industries from extinction due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Executive Director of Leadership Entrepreneurship and Advocacy Network (LEAD Network), Mr Chukwuma Okenwa, made the call while speaking in Enugu on Monday. Okenwa also advocated for Nigerians to take personal responsibility by compulsory and regular wearing of face mask and use of alcohol-based sanitisers as recommended by WHO, Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). According to him, if the current lockdown or partial lockdown continuous through the end of the second quarter, which means a complete quarter of the year, the adverse effect will be so devastating on the economy. He said that the reality presently was that most entrepreneurs in small businesses and service-oriented and entertainment industries found it extremely hard ...