IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

President Muhammadu Buhari was among prominent Nigerians who sent their condolences on Friday as the remains of the State House correspondent of Channels Television, Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi, were buried in his hometown, Akabo, in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State. Onuekwusi aged 55 died on May 23 at a private hospital in Abuja. Buhari’s condolence message to the deceased’s family was signed by the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr. Jalal Arabi. He urged Onuekwusi’s family to take solace in the fact that the deceased was a respected journalist and a pride to the profession and the nation.

The message read, “I write on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari and the entire staff of the State House to console you and members of Onuekwusi family on the transition of your father, Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi. “It is on record that for the 10 years that Chukwuma served as a correspondent of Channels Television reporting Nigerian Presidents, he exhibited uncommon dedication, professionalism and patriotism to work, and was not found wanting in any respect. Onuekwusi’s remains had earlier arrived his family compound for a brief lying-in-state after which a funeral service was held at the St. Andrews Anglican Church, Akabo.

His remains were later buried in his family compound. Dignitaries who witnessed the funeral included the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; and the Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, among others. Onuekwusi was survived by his wife and three children.

The Police Command in Borno on Wednesday confirmed that 19 people were killed in the latest deadly Boko Haram attacks in Maiduguri in Nigeria’s troubled North East. The attacks, which occurred late on Tuesday, claimed the lives of 12 Civilian Joint Task Force members and seven civilians, according to the Borno State Commissioner of Police Borno, Mr Damian Chukwu. No fewer than 860 CJTF members have lost their lives to the insurgency in Borno since 2014.

Chukwu told reporters in Maiduguri on Wednesday that at least 23 people sustained injuries in the latest attacks. The commissioner, who had since visited the scenes of the attacks, said that four female suicide bombers attacked Moloi, Judumeri and Polo-Sabongari areas of Maiduguri. He said the attackers targeted a CJTF checkpoint and detonated their explosives, killing seven of the task force members.

Chukwu said that another suicide bomber denoted an explosive strapped to her body when she was intercepted by a CJTF member, killing herself and the CJTF member.

Deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, says he has pity for the people of Kogi state over their stance to recall Senator Dino Melaye who represents Kogi West in the senate.

Ekweremadu said this on the floor of the senate while he was reacting to an advertorial on a National daily in which the Attorney General of the state, Ibrahim Muhammad, called him out for a comment he made on the floor of the senate regarding Dino's recall.

Ekweremadu last week said the recall process was dead on arrival and that the senate would have to certify the recall process carried out by INEC before Dino can be shown the door out of the house. In the newspaper publication, Muhammad faulted Ekweremadu's position
“I must put on record that legal opinion of senator Ekweremadu on the role of the senate in the recall process, the senate has no role whatsoever in the recall exercise than to receive the certificate under the hand of the chairman of INEC stating that the provision of section 69 of the constitution has been complied with see 68 h of the 1999 constitution as amended,” Muhammad wrote.

Reacting to the publication, Ekweremadu during plenary this morning, said the Attorney general forgot section 68 (2) of the constitution where it said the senate would still deliberate on whether Melaye should be recalled or not. He said he had pity for the people of Kogi state for appointing such an individual as their Attorney General.

“This morning my attention was drawn to a three-page advertorial, pages 20, 21 and 22 of the Leadership Newspaper by Ibrahim Muhammmad, attorney-general of Kogi, who was responding to my contribution on the floor of the senate when Senator Dino Melaye informed this senate of the efforts of the people of his constituency to recall him. I want to advise the people of Kogi state and indeed his constituents to apply their time to more useful venture in view of the very difficult conditions of recall of parliamentarians and in reference to the attorney-general, I did say that my learned friend may not have advised the people or indeed the government appropriately. So, this morning, Kogi state government took an advertorial to respond to me and I understand that every page costs about N700,000. For this alone, they spent about N2 million and I understand that it is an about five other papers so we are looking at about N12 million spent to responding to my comment. I pity the people of Kogi state that hired this kind of attorney-general and this is unfortunate that are paying a public servant and he is unable to do a simple work looking at the constitution. We must emphasise that 68 (2) is not part of the amendment since 1999. This has been the original provision of the constitution. It has nothing to do with Dino or whoever. It has been there since 1999 for him not to know about it – I don’t know where he went to law school anyway. If he has been properly educated, I believe he should have been conversant with the basic provisions of the constitution. I’m even his senior at the bar, he ought to show some respect because that is what we were taught at the law school, to respect our senior. But for the avoidance of doubt, I want to believe I have better credentials in the legal profession and my interest was constitutional law, I have a doctorate degree in law and my area is constitutional law. I have been chairman of the constitutional review committee in this national assembly since 2010. I expect the attorney-general instead of displaying his ignorance to call and I educate him on the correct position of the law. So, I take exception to this and I believe that he needs to refund the amount spent on this to the people of Kogi. I call on the house of assembly to institute an inquiry on who paid for this and find a way of receiving the money back to pay salaries of Kogi state.”he said

By a unanimous voice vote, members of the House of Representatives at plenary on Tuesday jettisoned the government policy which subsumed Christian Religious Knowledge, CRK in Civic Education as a compulsory subject in the Secondary School curriculum. This followed a motion titled “Call to make Civic Education an optional instead of a compulsory subject for Senior Certificate Examination”, filed by Hon. Beni Lar from Plateau State.

The members after an exhaustive debate on the motion agreed that the policy was incongruent with the spirit and letters of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on the provision of religious liberties. The members agreed that students with the inputs of their parents at formative years should be taught the religious subjects of their choice in school.

Essentially, the House while pointing out that the policy makers erred ab initio also agreed Islamic Studies and CRK should be taught independently and separately in the spirit of the constitution. It will be recalled that the issue recently became a subject of controversy whereupon tempers flared.

The Senate on Tuesday passed the Compulsory Treatment and Care of Victims of Gunshots Bill, which seeks to compel hospitals to treat persons with gunshot wounds before obtaining police report. The bill, which was sent to the Senate by the House of Representatives for concurrence, seeks to establish a law that ensures that victims of gunshot wounds receive necessary treatment from medical workers and assistance from security agencies.

The bill also seeks to ensure that every person, including security agents, assist any person with gunshot wounds and ensure that the person is taken to the nearest hospital for treatment. Additionally, the legislation mandates that no person with gunshot wounds shall be refused immediate and adequate treatment by any hospital in Nigeria, whether or not initial monetary deposit is paid. President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, in his remarks, noted that not every person shot was a criminal. He said it was important that a legal framework be put into place to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.

Saraki said, “By the passage of this bill, the Senate has moved to ensure that every hospital in Nigeria, both public and private, must accept to treat victims of gunshot wounds without any clearance from the police.