Category: General News

 

Flowerbudnews

Endurance Amagbein, a former “freedom fighter” and the self-styled General on Friday, denied involvement in militant activities in any part of Bayelsa or Niger Delta region.

This is contained in a statement issued by his media aide, Funkepere Oweifagha, on Friday in Abuja.

The reaction came following a media report on March 18, alleging that some pipeline surveillance workers were attacked by a group of sea pirates loyal to Amagbein.

The ex-agitator, however, said that militancy in the Niger Delta ended in 2009 when late President Umaru Yar’Adua came up with the amnesty programme to restore peace and economic stability to the region.

He said he had since been doing his private business and philanthropic works, stressing that he did not know where these allegations came from.

He alleged that some powerful pipeline contractors from Delta and Bayelsa had teamed up with some persons in government to bring him down for failure to support them in the 2023 governorship election.

He said he had since been raising the alarm that some persons were planning to resume hostility in the state and implicate him in order to pitch the armed forces against him, “but no one cares to listen.”

He explained that “he is living his private life peacefully and does not have any boys engaging in militancy in the creeks of Bayelsa or anywhere in the Niger Delta.”

He said anyone caught in the criminal ventures should be arrested and dealt with accordingly, warning that nobody should link him with such criminality.

 

By Samuel Tanimowo

Lagos (FLOWERBUDNEWS);

The Deputy India High Commissioner in  Nigeria, Vatika Rawat,  has disclosed that India remains the second largest employer of labour in Nigeria after the Federal Government, indicating the depth of Indian contribution in the Nigerian economy.

The Indian Envoy, who made the disclosure at a media pally with Journalist in Lagos on Wednesday, stressed that both counties have come a long way in terms of trade relation and deplomatic ties.

According to her: ” I must tell you India
and Nigeria enjoy a strong bilateral ties in the area of economy, Politics, culture trade and most importantly a warm friendly ties between India and Nigerian people”

She then advocated for a more deliberate steps by both counties to deepen the deplomatic ties between them which according to her is dated back “to 1958 two years before Nigeria gained independence”

“Over 50, 000 expatriates, with more than 200 companies are domicile in Nigeria thereby contributing to the country’s GDP”

She praised president Bola Tinubu for his deliberate polices aimed at strengthening the bilateral ties. (FLOWERBUDNEWS)

Governor Ademola Adeleke has directed immediate security operations to restore peace between Ifon and Ilobu communities, urging the peace committee to revive the peace deal.

 

In a statement issued on Friday by the state government over the renewed crisis, Governor Adeleke enjoined the joint security task force to step in immediately and stop the clashes.

 

The Governor who decried the politicization of the crisis tasked the task force to go after the ring leaders and ensure they face the full wrath of the law.

He further urged the peace committee to ensure immediate cessation of hostility to preserve lives and properties.

 

The Governor who lamented the repeated breach of peace deals among the warring communities warned that his administration will take stringent action on the buffer zone between the two communities unless hostility stopped immediately.

 

The Governor is currently holding security and political engagements to find a lasting solution to the crisis which predates the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke.

 

 

 

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused Adeleke University in Osun State of disrupting Ramadan activities and forcing Muslim students to attend church programmes.

 

Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the Executive Director of MURIC, stated that Muslim students are compelled to attend church services on certain days and that practices of any faith other than Christianity are banned on campus.

 

He described these actions as signs of religious intolerance and urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to investigate the university’s policies, which he claims infringe on the religious rights of Muslim students.

 

Akintola highlighted that previous complaints about religious persecution at Adeleke University have gone unaddressed, and he called for greater transparency from private universities regarding their religious orientations. He emphasized the need for oversight to protect the rights of Muslim students in educational institutions.

The supererogatory prayer held in Ramadan evenings (tarawih) was reportedly disrupted two days ago and the students were warned never to try it again.

 

 

 

– Daily Trust.

 

By Dianabasi Effiong

Port Harcourt (FLOWERBUDNEWS):  The Chairman of the All Progressives Party (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, has written to President Bola Tinubu to express party members’ “Painful Satisfaction” with the declaration of a State of Emergency in the State.

Okocha’s letter, availed journalists in the State, also described the Federal Government’s measures as “the best of all possible decisions to checkmate the brewing circumstances of economic sabotage and general anomie that were trickling and bedeviling the peace in Rivers State.”

The text of the letter reads:

HIS EXCELLENCY, BOLA AHMED TINUBU, GCFR,
PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.

Sir.

*DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY IN RIVERS STATE.*

On behalf of the teeming membership of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State l write to express our Painful Satisfaction with the declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State

It was clearly the best of all possible decisions to checkmate the brewing circumstances of economic sabotage and general anomie that were trickling and bedeviling the peace in Rivers State.

I recall that in your very tight schedules, you took time to meet with critical Stakeholders in Rivers State in the most serene environment in the State House, Abuja.

That meeting was advisory and produced 8-Points Resolution as backup, which was read before the full glare of attendees by former Governor, Peter Odili.

I recall also that after every paragraph was read, you paused to ask if it was acceptable to all, and everyone responded bellowing a thunderous, affirmation

Thereafter, we signed the 8-Points Resolution on your table, beginning with HE Governor Fubara as he then was.

In his speech before Your Excellency and attendees, the then Governor swore to follow through with the 8-point resolution, which was intended to bring relative peace to Rivers State.

Alas, we returned to a thespian drama where some Elders who should have drummed for peace latching on the veritable ground provided by the meeting in the State House.

Instead, they counseled the Governor never to accept your wise counsel as you lacked the powers under the constitution to so intervene.

Worse still, they went to court to seek a declaration that Mr. President’s decision was Political, not Constitutional.

In all this route, the Governor was the mastermind and financier.

He watched through the sordid path of denigration and abuse of Mr. President with his snide comments which enlivened his cronies in the garb of Elders.

As a Party, we took out airtimes in both traditional and new media to urge the Governor and his hatchet men to refrain from the ceaseless obnoxious attacks on Mr. President, whose only offense was the intention to return peace and tranquility in Rivers State.

We failed because of the deep-seated penchant of Governor Fubara, whose deliberate intention was to show off Mr. President as weak and inconsequential.

*GROSS DISREGARD FOR THE RULE OF LAW:*

The Governor as he then was, utterly disregarded and disrespected
the Rule of Law and carried on with impunity under the guise of immunity clause section 308.

He chose the orders of the Court/judicial pronouncements to obey.

Fast forward to the judgment in FHC/Abj/CS/1613/2023 delivered on the 23rd of January, 2024.
The learned Jurist, James Omotosho made far~reaching decisions – including the crux of the matter, namely;
Presentation of the 2024 budget to the Rivers State House of Assembly under the Speakership of Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule.

***that on no account should the Governor meddle in the affairs of the Assembly vis a vis, their carrying out of constitutional functions.

***The learned Jurist estopped the Governor from withholding the finances of the Assembly howsoever.

Governor Fubara disregarded all these and publicly boasted that he holds the ace, and would decide the faith of 27 Assembly members who in his thoughts, are appendages to the Executive Arm and under the hard nose of his whims and caprices.

The Court of Appeal, in the case before them, scolded and tongue lashed Governor Fubara as he then was and hammered that ” it was a joke taken too far” for the Governor to conduct the affairs of the State with just 3 law~makers in an Assembly of 32.

*Did he budge?*

Instead, he (Suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara) runs to the Rivers State Judiciary to get a midnight judgment, which overrules the judgement of the Federal High Court and even the Court of Appeal.

See appeal number CA/Abj/cv/133/2024 which emanated from suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023

*MINDLESS DESPERATION OF GOVERNOR SIMINALAYE FUBARA:*

Rivers State people woke up to raging flames on the iconic structure of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
A structure comparable to none in any State in Nigeria.

Governor Fubara visited the scene and thereafter addressed his cronies who were mobilized at the government house gate. Instead of being circumspect and worried by the incident, he told his cronies that the Assembly members would have used the edifice to impeach him that morning.

Again as a political party, the APC craved for the setting up of an inquiry to uncover the reason(s) behind the gory circumstance in whatsoever nomenclature.

The Governor rebuffed and blatantly refused.

He happily followed up with deployment of many equipments and personally supervised the complete demolition of the edifice. An action he thought could foist helplessness to members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

To further frustrate the genuine Assembly members under the Speakership of Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, he elected to seize their salaries and remuneration for a year and many months barefaced and never cared how the Assembly members and their families fared.
(See page 42 of the judgement in SC/CV/1174/2024 as delivered by the eminent jurist Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, JSC) which described Governor Fubara as a civilian despot and rascal hiding under the cloak of section 308 of the constitution (immunity).

Appropriating funds from the consolidated accounts of Rivers State without the appropriation law.

This was frowned at by the Supreme Court who in her judgement directed Governor Siminalaye Fubara to go to the RSHA under the Speakership of Rt Hon Martins Chike Amaewhule to present the appropriation bill as a condition for the release of monies accruable to Rivers State from the CBN, FAAC and/or any other financial house.
(See the lead judgement of Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, JSC, and the concurrence of the justices that sat on the case)

The Supreme Court clearly noted that there was no government in Rivers State within the period under review as there was none existence of the Legislature. In their mathematical calculation, 12.5% of 100% cannot constitute a quorum for legislative business.

*DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY IN RIVERS STATE.*

Your Excellency, we saw the zest in you to have the self-inflicted Rivers State political imbroglio resolved. For the second time, during the visit with you by the PANDEF, you alluded to the Rivers State case and urged the leaders to help in the realization and implementation of the Rule of Law and specifically the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court on the 28th of February, 2025.

Despite the Presidential counsel, Rivers State became a beehive of activities for non-state actors who boasted openly to bomb pipelines and strangulate the Nation’s economy, and engage in lawlessness should Governor Fubara be impeached.

We thought that it was an empty threat. They made good their boast by bombing and destroying crucial pipelines in Rivers State.
Kidnapping, robbery, and blocking of major highways returned in droves.
Governor Fubara did absolutely nothing to restore normalcy to a now fledgling State that he governed.

We noted with ‘Painful Satisfaction’ (oxymoron) as captured in paragraph 1 above.
Painful!

Your Excellency, Mr. President, your decision for a State of Emergency in Rivers State is rather Painful, but critically examining the evolving scenarios, we can’t but welcome the timeous decision.

“An Elder doesn’t sit to watch a goat deliver her baby on tethers” ~ African proverb.

It’s painful to us because we laboured to get electoral victories in Rivers State in both 25th February 2023 (Presidential election), which was an unprecedented political landmark and 18th March, 2023 (Governorship).

We thank you for the numerous appointments gifted Rivers State indigenes, which our Party (APC) members have benefitted from and are still hopeful to benefit from.

Regrettably, not even the inconsequential position was extended to us by Sim Fubara in reciprocation and regard to the rainbow coalition as hemmed up in Rivers State.

*SATISFACTION:*

We are satisfied with Mr. President’s decision for the State of Emergency in Rivers State. It was timeous.
We heard the drumbeat of war and the ethnicisation of a political imbroglio.

The atmosphere in Rivers State became quacky so fast because of the unfortunate turn of events.

*CONGRATULATIONS:*

We congratulate Mr. President for the declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State.

It is utilitarian to the extent that it brought succour and happiness to the greatest amount of Rivers people.

We congratulate the square peg Sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (Rtd) whose pedigree in administration and scintillating service to our Nation speak volumes. Who is appointed by Mr. President to temporarily superintend the affairs of Rivers State.

As a Party of decorous and law-abiding citizens of Rivers State/Nigeria, we declare in advance our unalloyed support and determination to work with him towards the realization of Mr. President’s good intentions.

Chief Tony C. Okocha, KSC, DSSRS, JP,
Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State.
March 19, 2025.

 

By Dianabasi Effiong

Port Harcourt (FLOWERBUDNEWS):  The Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Adm Ibok-Ette Ibas, on Thursday, addressed the people of Rivers State after assuming office.

He said he would not be partisan but would ensure adherence to the rule of law.

His address came after a security meeting with the heads of security agencies in the state.

He called for the cooperation of all segments of the state, including politicians, elders, women, and youth groups, adding that he would seek engagements that would facilitate a quick, peaceful, and acceptable resolution of the political impasse.

He said, “One of you, as the son of Niger Delta, will ensure the stability of livelihood for the people and avert disorder.”

According to him, the success of the emergency period will depend on the collective efforts of all the people.(FLOWERBUDNEWS)

Laribikusi Ruling House Protests Adegbola’s Appointment

By Adewale Owoade

The Laribikusi Ruling House is protesting the installation of Prince Adebayo Adegbola from the Akalako Ruling House as the new Eleruwa of Eruwaland.

They claim it’s their turn to produce the monarch, citing the Eruwa tradition and the Eleruwa Chieftaincy Declaration of 1958, which recognizes two ruling houses – Laribikusi and Akalako – that should alternate in producing the Eleruwa .

According to Abolade Ijaola, Secretary of Laribikusi Ruling House, the government didn’t give them a specific timeframe to present their candidate, and the nomination process was unfairly truncated.

They presented Prince Oladejo Akinlade as the eldest person in the Laribikusi royal family, on January 13, but the government secretly planned to return the nomination to Akalako Ruling House.

The Laribikusi Ruling House is demanding that the nomination process be returned to them, and they’re willing to take the matter to court if necessary.

 

“Our request is that the nomination process should be returned to Laribikusi ruling house and we will approach the court if the government thinks nobody can query him.

“We believe that we have the obligation to respond to a statement credited to the Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade that Laribikusi ruling house was unable to present candidates within the fourteen day-notice given to them by the government.

“And that as a result, government had to shift the nomination process back to Akalako ruling house which was the ruling house that produced the last recognised Eleruwa, late Oba Bolanle Olaniyan (Gbajumola II).

“This narrative from the government can be best described with a proverbial saying that ” If you want to hang a dog, you give that dog a bad name.

 

“We are here to tell the whole world that only message we received from the government of Oyo State through Ibarapa East Local government was an invitation sent to each of the section within Laribikusi ruling house for a meeting with the Management of Ibarapa East local government on 4th November, 2024. This letter was dated November 1st, 2024.

“The message was signed by the local government Chairman, Hon. Kazeem Arogundade and the invitation letter did not contain the agenda of that meeting.

“We all reported to the local government secretariat on November 4th, 2024 to honor that invitation. In that meeting, the chairman informed our representatives at the meeting to present the eldest member of Laribikusi as required by the Eleruwa Chieftaincy Declaration (1958) for the nomination process to fill the vacant stool of Eleruwa to kick off.

“Unfortunately, that nomination process never commenced as it was truncated by the same local government before its birth.

“To our shocking surprise, we received a letter dated 30th December, 2024 from the local government on January 7th, 2025 stating that they have compiled a report of the unsuccessful meetings with Laribikusi ruling house and have forwarded same to the state government for further directives which will be communicated back to us.

“No further communication received from the management of Ibarapa East Local government till date.

“Furthermore, management of Ibarapa East local government had not explained to us what they meant by unsuccessful meeting,” he said.

They believe the government’s actions are unfair and violate the town’s chieftaincy tradition.