IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

The Super Falcons are to face England in the round of 16 at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Nigeria finished runners-up in Group B with five points after a goalless draw with Ireland on Monday.

A day after that, the Lionesses trounced China 1-6 to confirm the matchup with Coach Randy Waldrum’s girls. England, the European champions, finished winners of Group D with nine points while Denmark got six points to come second on the log. The Danes play co-hosts Australia in the next game.

Nigeria’s round of 16 game against the Lionesses is billed for Monday, August 7th, 2023 by 8:30 am.

In a robust operation aimed at curbing the enforcement of the unlawful sit-at-home order declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), combined troops from the 82 Division Nigerian Army, sister security services, Nigeria Police and other security agencies have successfully raided and destroyed hideouts and training camps of the IPOB/ESN in the Orsomoghu forest which spans across Anambra and Imo States.

This operation, executed on Monday 31 July 2023, was prompted by alerts of the group’s disruptive activities in several regions including Onitsha, Nnewi, and Iheme Obosi in Anambra State, as well as the New Market in Enugu state. Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu in a statement on Tuesday disclosed that during the operation, troops cleared Ekeututu, Orsomoghu, Lilu, and Mother Valley camps, belonging to the separatist group. Encounters with armed fighters from the group led to exchanges of fire.

Despite the group’s deployment of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and locally fabricated mortar tubes, the valiant troops overcame the resistance, causing the militants to flee their positions with gunshot wounds. The subsequent search operation by the troops led to the arrest of five fleeing group members and the recovery of an IPOB flag, a CCTV camera, two detonated IED bombs, and a fabricated mortar tube. Unfortunately, five soldiers and two Nigeria Police operatives sustained various degrees of injuries from the IEDs detonated by the criminals.

The Nigerian Army urged all law-abiding citizens of the South East to continue their normal daily activities and businesses, disregarding the unlawful two-week sit-at-home order. They also encouraged citizens to support ongoing operations with actionable information. The Army, in synergy with sister services and security agencies, vows to persistently protect and safeguard lives and property within the framework of the law.

The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee probing employment racketeering and gross mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) by agencies of the Federal Government has directed that directed that the Nigerian Army, Navy, Airforce and the Police as well the intelligence agencies, among others, to appear before it on Wednesday. Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, who handed down the directive during a hearing of the Ad hoc Committee on Tuesday expressed displeasure over their absence even though they were duly invited. 

According to Hon. Gagdi "Let me say this to all agencies we have invited, I think we need to read their names clearly here. They are the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, the Nigerian Communication Commission, the Nigerian Post Services, the Nigerian frequency management Council, Galaxy backbone, National Identity management Commission, Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Fire Service, Nigerian Police Force, Defence Intelligence Agency, State Security Service, national Intelligence Agency, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Airforce, Nigerian Navy must appear tomorrow since they have failed to appear today. This is the ruling of the committee,"

Also appearing at the hearing, the Accountant General of the Federation has said her office is working hard to fish out ghost workers who existed in the system before the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). She also denied allegations that her office was engaging in the enrolment of ghost workers for personal gains as her office was working hard to address problems with the IPPIS.

According to her “As of today we have 640 MDAs registered on the IPPIS, enrolled on the IPPIS, because there are some that are not on the IPPIS like all the security agencies, federal government owned enterprises that generate revenue, they are not on IPPIS. Then self-funding agencies are not on IPPIS. Some parastatals that have different arrangements for the payment of their salaries like those that are receiving first line transfers like the National Assembly are not on the IPPIS and so many others like that. So if we put the number of those outside IPPIS, it may get to over 900. Except if an Act of the National Assembly makes it compulsory that all government agencies must be on IPPIS.”

In a related development, Director of the IPPIS, Emma Deko, accused some universities of sending more names than required to be captured on the system.

The Senate, on Wednesday, set up a committee to dialogue with protesting unions who broke down the National Assembly Complex first gate. The protesters in their hundreds had marched from the Unity Fountain in Abuja to the NASS Complex in demonstration against the “anti-poor” people policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration. Upon their arrival at the NASS Complex, the protesters pull down the first gate of the Complex and marched to the premises.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio immediately entered into a closed-door session with the lawmakers and upon his emergence from the meeting said the red chamber has set up a three-man committee to meet with the protesters at the National Assembly. The committee was led by Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, from Borno South Senatorial District. The Senate also resolved that it will in the shortest possible time meet with the NLC and TUC leadership to find an amicable resolution to the current impasse.

Ndume alongside two other lawmakers — Senator Ireti Kingibe and Senator Tony Nwonye — later met with the protesters at the National Assembly. The Senators were seen engaging Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero; and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo. The Organised Labour including the NLC, the TUC and their affiliate unions, today, kicked off a protest in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and other states of the Federation including Lagos, Abia, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Rivers, Zamfara, Katsina, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kwara, Ogun, Imo, Ondo, and Edo. 

Tinubu had removed subsidy on petrol during his epic inauguration speech on May 29, 2023, with a litre of the petrol jumping from N184 to over N620 and food prices and general inflation galloping at an unprecedented rate.

West African military chiefs were to meet Wednesday to frame a response to the crisis in Niger, a week after the fragile country was shaken by a coup that alarmed its neighbours and prompted France, the former colonial power, to evacuate its citizens.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions and gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president or face potential use of force. ECOWAS military chiefs were to launch a three-day meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja, coinciding with a visit to Niamey by a delegation led by former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar, sources said.

The current chair of ECOWAS is Nigeria, West Africa’s military and economic superpower. It has vowed to take a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020, most of them the outcome of a bloody jihadist insurgency. “We are ready, and as soon as we receive the order to intervene, we will do so,” Nigeria’s chief of staff Christopher Musa said in an interview on RFI Hausa on Monday.

But junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso warned that any military intervention in their neighbour would be tantamount to a “declaration of war” against them. General Salifou Mody, one of the Nigerien coup leaders, arrived with a delegation in the Malian capital Bamakou on Wednesday, a senior Nigerien official and a Malian security official told AFP. They did not give further details.

Mody is a former army chief of staff who was fired by President Mohamed Bazoum in April.

Former Italy goalkeeper and World Cup winner Gianluigi Buffon has retired from football aged 45. He wrote on social media: "That's all folks. You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together."

Buffon brings an end to a 28-year career that saw him lift the World Cup in 2006 along with 10 Serie A titles with Juventus and Ligue 1 with Paris St-Germain. He ends his career where it began in 1995, at Parma, now a Serie B club. Buffon, who had a deal with Parma until 2024, made 19 appearances last season as he struggled with injuries.

He began his career at Parma's academy and made his Serie A debut for the club in November 1995 before joining Juventus in 2001, where he spent most of his career, despite a stint at PSG in 2018-19.

He made a record 657 appearances in the Italian top flight and is the most-capped goalkeeper of all time with 176 appearances for Italy.