NEWS
Lead by example, upscale efforts in tackling insecurity – Matawalle charges newly promoted Army officers
The Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Matawalle, has charged newly promoted senior officers of the Nigerian Army to show exemplary leadership and intensify efforts in the fight against insecurity, especially in the North West and other troubled parts of the country.
Major General Onyema Nwachukwu,
Director, Army Public Relations, in a statement said the Minister gave the charge at the investiture ceremony of 47 newly promoted Brigadier Generals to the rank of Major General at the Army Headquarters Command Officers’ Mess 1, Asokoro, Abuja.
According to the statement, the defence minister noted that their promotion was a testament to their courage, dedication to duty and hard work, adding that it is a reward for diligence, professional conduct and selfless sacrifices.
He highlighted the need for the newly promoted senior officers to lead by example, inspire their subordinates and collaborate with other security agencies to surmount the security challenges in the country.
The minister acknowledged the rigorous process of selecting the promoted senior officers, reflecting their exceptional leadership skills, strategic thinking and indepth understanding in the course of their careers.
He noted that their contributions to the Army are invaluable and expressed confidence in their continuous service to the nation.
Congratulating the senior officers on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Matawalle assured of the Federal Government’s adequate welfare interventions and continued support to the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
In his remarks at the investiture, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja, felicitated with the newly promoted senior officers on their well-deserved elevation and noted that their competencies, diligence and loyalty earned them their promotion.
He appreciated the spouses and families of the elevated senior officers for their understanding and support, as well as coping with absence of parents, regularly separated by duty to fatherland.
The Army Chief highlighted the need for every personnel to augment his career path and reminded the newly elevated senior officers of the enormous responsibilities that come with their new rank.
He urged them to constantly seek knowledge on diplomatic, economic and political dynamics, to be logical and objective in their contributions to the Army, just as he charged the senior officer to be loyal to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Chairman of Abia State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the recovery of Government Property and Funds, Justice Florence Doruoha-Igwe (Rtd) has issued a Bench Warrant on Anthony Agbazuere and Don Ubani, who served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff, respectively, to former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
This is even as Don Ubani has said that he never received any invitation from the panel.
The Bench Warrant on Agbazuere according to Justice Duruoha-Igwe was because of his alleged failure to appear before the Panel to give evidence in respect to a Toyota Hilux Land Cruiser alleged to be in his possession since he left office.
Justice Doruoha-Igwe (Rtd) who adjourned the matter to January 24, 2024, directed that Agbazuere should be arrested and produced for further cross examination.
The Panel said that the Bench warrant on the former Deputy Chief of Staff to former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Don Ubani, was because of his alleged failure to appear before the Panel and his inability to file a response to a notice served him on 30th of November, 2023.
Speaking before adjourning the matter to 24th of this month, the Chairman Justice Doruoha-Igwe (Rtd) directed that Ubani should be arrested and produced on January 24, 2024, to defend himself.
But reacting to the development, the former Deputy Chief of Staff to former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Don Ubani said he was shocked to read that a Bench Warrant had been issued on him, saying that he was never invited by the Panel.
“I am shocked to read that a Bench Warrant could be issued on me without ever being invited to a Panel either by writing or even through a telephone call,” said Ubani who also described the arrest order as ‘false propaganda and political witch-hunt’.
But the former Deputy Chief of Staff also promised to appear before the Panel of Enquiry if he received an invitation.
The National Judicial Council, NJC, has clarified that no date has yet been fixed for the swearing-in of the newly appointed eleven Justices of the Supreme Court.
The Council said that the purported news by an Abuja based media organization suggesting Monday January 16 for the inauguration of the Justices did not emanate from it.
A statement by the NJC’s Director of Information, Barrister Soji Oye clarified that neither the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who is the NJC Chairman, nor the Council itself authored or endorsed the purported date.
While asking members of the public to disregard the news, the NJC said that the date for the swearing-in of the Justices would be made public at the appropriate time.
NJC’s statement read in part, “The attention of the National Judicial Council has been drawn to a trending story purportedly informing the public that the newly appointed 11 Supreme Court Justices would be sworn in on Monday 16 January 2023.
“The Council by this medium expressly denies the news as it did not emanate from the Council or the Office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.
“The date for the swearing-in of the Justices will be made public at the appropriate time. Members of the public should please disregard the trending news.”
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, Kaduna State, has demanded a probe of alleged extra-judicial killing of their members.
WORLD WIDE GIST recalls that an online report alleged that 11 decomposing corpses of Fulani natives, from Tulde Fulbe, Ladduga Grazing Reserve in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, were on Monday discovered in a forest.
They were alleged to have been killed by the Nigerian Army.
But the Headquarters, 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, in a statement on Thursday night, by Lt. Col Musa Yahaya, Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, denied involvement of the Army in the said killing.
However, in a statement by MACBAN Kaduna chairman, Haruna Usman Tugga, he insisted that the organisation as an umbrella body of Fulbe in Nigeria received with serious concern the information.
The statement condemned what they described as “extra-judicial killing of law-abiding Fulbe youths of Tilde Fulbe community and other areas of Ladduga Grazing Reserve in Kachia Local Government Area of the state by military personnel at Kachia, headquarters of Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State.”
He said they called an emergency executive meeting of the association to get to the root of the matter and find out the remote causes, perpetrators and names of the victims.
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