NEWS
Imo LG Poll: Ezinihitte APC Leaders Dissociate Selves from Consensus List
Leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ezinihitte Local Government Area, Imo, have dissociated themselves from the circulating list of candidates purportedly from them for the upcoming council poll in the state.The leaders under the aegis of Ezi North Leadership Bloc said this while addressing newsmen, at Ubonukam, Onicha, Ezinihitte on Thursday, ahead of the state’s Sept.
21, 20240 council election. The group’s spokesman, Chief Christian Njoku, urged Gov. Hope Uzodinma and the party’s leadership to ignore the purported list of consensus candidates adding that it did not emanate from them.Njoku, former state chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention, said Ezinihitte LGA has two political blocs, Ezi north and Ezi south, from where consensus candidates are usually selected.He said in line with existing power sharing arrangements in the LGA, Ezi North and Ezi south blocs usually produce one of either the member of the House of Assembly or the LGA chairman as the case may be.He also said this had been the standing arrangement, as each of the political blocs was made up of six wards.According to him all elective positions in the LGA were currently occupied by those from the Ezi south bloc hence the need to ensure that in the spirit of equity, the LGA chairmanship position is zoned to Ezi north.“In the 2023 general election, one of our sons from the Ezi north bloc contested for the House of Assembly seat.“But, in keeping with existing power sharing agreements, both blocs ignored him and voted for the APC candidate from the Ezi south bloc and got our collective support.“The APC Chairman for Ezinihitte LGA, Mr Mark Adindu; the House of Assembly member, Mr Henry Agbasonu; the APC Owerri Zonal Chairman, Mr Justice Ogu are from the Ezi south bloc”, he said.According to him, this is same as the member representing Ezinihitte in the Federal House of Representatives, Mr Emeka Chinedu.“We now wonder why anyone would not support Ezi north for the only remaining elective office, the LGA chairmanship position since we already paid our dues’’, he said.He urged the state chairman of party, Dr McDonald Ebere, and Uzodinma, not to accept the names making the rounds in the media as a consensus candidate from the LGA.“We have six qualified aspirants from Ezi north and the party is at liberty to select anyone of them as its consensus candidate; they all have our trust and support “, he said. (NAN)NEWS
Customs Intercept Contraband Worth N510.92m in Two Conths
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit Zone C, says it intercepted contrabands with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N510.92 million between July 15th and September 15th, 2024.The zone covers the six states in the South-South geopolitical zone and the five states in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
This is contained in a statement signed by Jerry Attah, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Zone C, and made available to journalists on Wednesday. According to the statement, Comptroller Michael Ugbagu, NCS, Zone C, gave the statistics while showcasing the seized contraband to relevant regulatory agencies at the Government Warehouse in Edo.Ugbagu said that the zone also recovered the sum of N25.57 million from demand notices raised based on some infractions noticed, making a cumulative sum of N536.49 million recorded within the months under review.“The DPV was derived from our seized goods, which include 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without an NAFDAC number.“1,015 sacks of dry donkey meat and skin, 75 jumbo bales of second-hand clothing, 463 cartons of foreign spaghetti, 269 pieces of used pneumatic tires, and 56 cartons of smuggled foreign tomato paste.“More worrisome is the interception of 49,699 sachets of various brands of tramadol and 3,350 bottles of various cough syrups with codeine without NAFDAC registration numbers.”He noted that the cough syrup with codeine and tramadol without NAFDAC registration numbers, if not intercepted, could have had adverse effects on youths.He added that the items were mostly intercepted along the Ewu-Okada/Benin expressways based on credible intelligence. (NAN)NEWS
APC Forum Decries Deplorable Condition of Federal Roads
The Forum of Stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) has decried the deplorable condition of some federal roads in Nigeria. Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central Chairman of the forum, said this in an interaction with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos. Zazzaga described some of the federal roads as ”death traps”, particularly those within the north-central region.
He said that some of the deplorable roads in the region include Jos-Akwanga, Makurdi-Oturkpo-Otukpa, Makurdi-Ankpa, and Jos-Saminaka. Other roads that needed urgent attention, he said, included Suleja-Minna, Ejule-Otukpa, Ganawuri-Manchok, Lokoja-Abuja, Lapai-Agaie-Bida, Birnin-Gwari-Bokani-Mokwa, Minna-Zungeru-Tegina-Kontagora. ”Currently, the north-central region has the most deplorable roads and highways in the country. ”These deplorable roads have brought severe hardship on the people and lost lives and property through preventable road traffic crashes. ”We call on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the rehabilitation of these roads because good roads are vital enablers of development,” he said. The chairman also called on governors of states within the region to reconstruct the dilapidated roads and seek refunds from the federal government. ”Though these are largely federal roads, they are located within states, and the beneficiaries are the people of these states. ”So we call on state governments to reconstruct these roads and seek refunds from the federal government,” he added. (NANNEWS
Yuan Strengthens 7. 087 Against Dollar
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 160 pips to 7.087 against the dollar on Wednesday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreigners exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)