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AMEBO Breaking News, ESUT, Agbani (2025)

31/03/2022

20 Niger residents fleeing bandits attack in overloaded boat drown

ABOUT 20 people were said to have drowned in Guni-Zumba River while escaping attacks by bandits in Niger State.

The victims, including women and children from Guni in Munyan Local Government Area, were said to have lost their lives on Wednesday morning.

According to a resident of the community, Shehu Abubakar, the incident occurred when bandits simultaneously invaded the two communities, forcing the locals to flee.

The victims were said to be crossing to the other side of the river in a boat when the boat they were in capsized.

Abubakar said the boat was loaded beyond capacity, forcing it to capsize.

He said, “Bandits invaded our communities this (Wednesday) morning, and in an attempt to flee, some people drowned in Guni-Zumba River.

“Due to overloading, the boat capsized in the middle of the water. “For now, we don’t know the number of casualties because we have not been able to rescue anybody.

“But I can tell you that over 20 people, including women and children, were involved.”

The Public Relations Officer of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abubakar Hussaini, did not respond to calls and a message sent to him.

21/03/2022

Ukrainians told to shelter after ‘leak’ at ammonia plant

A Ukrainian official has told residents of the northern town of Novoselytsya to seek shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, as intense fighting with Russian forces in the area continues.

Ammonia is a highly corrosive, toxic and hazardous gas, and can be fatal to humans if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Sumy regional governor, Dmytro Zhyvytsky, said on Monday there had been an “ammonia leakage” at the Sumykhimprom facility, affecting an area within 2.5km (1.5 miles) of the plant, which produces fertilisers. He said the leak was the result of Russian shelling and that an employee at the plant was wounded.

There was no immediate comment by Russian officials.

Residents were told to seek refuge in basements or on lower levels of buildings to avoid exposure, and if ammonia is detected, to breathe through gauze bandages soaked in citric acid.

“Ammonia is lighter than air, therefore shelters, basements and lower floors should be used for protection,” Zhyvytsky said in a Telegram message.

He added that emergency crews were at the scene and prevailing winds meant the nearby city of Sumy – with a prewar population of about 250,000 – was not under immediate threat.

According to Sumykhimprom’s website, the facility produces a range of chemical fertilisers.
Sumy, about 350km (220 miles) east of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has experienced weeks of heavy fighting.

18/03/2022

Who Is Volodymyr Zelensky? What to Know About Ukraine’s President

press the fight during videos he posts to Telegram, Facebook and Instagram from the center of Kyiv. At other times, the 44-year-old has harangued Western leaders to step up efforts to defeat Mr. Putin. Frustrated with the West’s unwillingness to intervene militarily, Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly pressed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to enforce a “no fly” zone over Ukraine, an idea NATO has rejected, saying it would put the alliance into a war with Russia.

Mr. Zelensky says he knows he is at the head of the Kremlin’s kill-or-capture list, but insists that neither he nor his family will leave as he tries to keep his battered country together.

How long has Volodymyr Zelensky been president of Ukraine?

Mr. Zelensky was elected president in 2019, defeating the incumbent Petro Poroshenko by casting himself as an antiestablishment outsider bent on cleaning up corruption and securing better relations with Moscow. His pitch was largely based on the role he played on his TV show, where he portrayed an ordinary man thrown into the presidency to clean up the country. Even his political party was named after the show.

Where is Zelensky now?

Mr. Zelensky has spoken from his Kyiv office in recent days, but his exact location is a security matter. In a recent ABC interview, he said he had been offered safe passage out of the country if the situation further deteriorated but said he would remain. Mr. Zelensky was shown visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital in an undisclosed location in a video released Sunday by the presidential press service.

What did Zelensky say in his speech to Congress?

Mr. Zelensky pressed members of U.S. Congress for further military assistance, invoking the attacks of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, and showing graphic video of the invasion’s human toll.

“Being the leader of the world means being the leader of peace,” he said. “We are fighting for the values of Europe and the world.”

Mr. Zelensky spoke via a translator for most of the speech but closed in English with a personal plea to Congress and the president. He focused his requests on bolstering Ukraine’s air-defense systems.

The video address was one in a series by the Ukrainian president to Western governments this week.

“You all need to do more to stop Russia and protect Ukraine and protect Europe. They are destroying everything,” he told Canadian lawmakers on Tuesday. He pressed German lawmakers on Thursday to set up an airlift for humanitarian aid to Ukraine, among other initiatives.

How has Zelensky handled the invasion?

Early on, Mr. Zelensky directed much of his energy toward projecting a sense of calm as Russian forces steadily built along Ukraine’s borders to eventually total as many as 190,000 troops. He said U.S. warnings of an imminent invasion were overblown and were damaging Ukraine’s economy. Mr. Zelensky pointed to an even larger Russian buildup last spring that was eventually withdrawn.

But after the first Russian strikes began to hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Feb. 24, he pivoted hard toward shoring up Ukraine’s defense, securing as much Western assistance as he could obtain. With Russian propaganda claiming he had already fled the country, he made a hand-shot video of himself out on the street in front of the presidential palace in Kyiv to urge on Ukrainians in their defense of the country. It drew millions of views on Telegram and Facebook. Gone were the suits and ties, in came military sweatshirts.

Mr. Zelensky spoke frequently with Western leaders, urging them to increase sanctions on Moscow in the hope of breaking the Russian advance. As he pleaded with European leaders in a video call to take tougher action, he warned them that this might be the last time they saw him alive, according to several diplomats.

“The silence in the room was impressive,” a senior European Union official said. Shortly after, the 27-nation bloc moved to significantly expand the range of measures as the West hardened its response to Moscow’s aggression.

How has Zelensky’s stance against Russia evolved?

Mr. Zelensky initially sought a rapprochement with Russia when he was elected president in 2019. Ukraine had been at loggerheads with the Kremlin since 2014, when Russian forces annexed the Black Sea port of Crimea and stirred up a rebellion that led to two pro-Russian regions breaking away from Kyiv’s control. Mr. Zelensky pledged to improve relations with Mr. Putin, and had some early successes. He secured a prisoner exchange with Russia and moved toward a deal on how to build on a 2015 cease-fire agreement.

Street protests against his plans forced him to change tack. Western diplomats warned him that Mr. Putin was trying to get him to sign an agreement that would provide him with long-term influence over Ukraine’s future via Russia’s proxies in the breakaway regions, with the goal of barring the country from joining the EU or NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Mr. Zelensky instead turned toward persuading NATO to engage in a closer relationship with Ukraine while launching a popular campaign to win back control of Crimea. A person close to him said Russia had begun to see him as being too similar to Mr. Poroshenko, whom he succeeded as president, and someone Moscow saw as intent on pushing Ukraine closer to the West.

Political analysts said the prospect of Ukraine aligning itself more closely with the West had enraged Mr. Putin, who has long been trying to restore Russia’s sphere of influence, which had been curtailed severely since the end of the Cold War more than 30 years earlier.

On the fifth day of the invasion, Mr. Zelensky said the Ukrainian people were now fighting to become equal members of the EU—with many paying the ultimate price. “We are giving our lives for the right to be equal,” he said, unshaven and wearing a green army T-shirt. “Prove that you are with us and will not let us go.”
How did Zelensky rise from television comedian to president?

Mr. Zelensky studied law at university but after graduating entered the entertainment business, founding a television-production company. He became famous for his skits, including one where he and some accomplices dropped their trousers and pretended to play a piano with something other than their hands. Later, he won the Ukrainian version of “Dancing with the Stars” in 2006 and voiced the role of Paddington in the eponymous movie about a young bear who visits London.

It was his TV show “Servant of the People” that captured the mood of the country when the program first aired in 2015, however. Mr. Zelensky played a humble schoolteacher who candidly ranted on a video about the everyday corruption many Ukrainians need to contend with. The clip went viral, launching a political career that ultimately propelled his character into the presidential palace.

The success of the show convinced Mr. Zelensky that he should try his hand at politics for real. His campaign echoed many of the themes he explored in the TV show and his political party carried the same name, “Servant of the People.” He won the second-round runoff against the incumbent, Mr. Poroshenko, with about 73% of the vote.

What is Zelensky’s family background?

Born on Jan. 25, 1978, Mr. Zelensky grew up in a gritty, Russian-speaking region in southeast Ukraine. His background was Jewish; several family members died in the Holocaust while his grandfather served in World War II as an officer in the Soviet army. His father, a mathematician, and his mother, an engineer, chose to stay in Ukraine while many other Jews departed for the U.S. or Israel when the former Soviet Union permitted them to emigrate. Childhood friends recall how he stood out for his earring and his good grades in school. He later obtained a law degree at Kyiv National Economic University.

Mr. Zelensky himself has made little of his Jewish identity, saying in 2020 that he came from an ordinary Soviet Jewish family and that most such families weren’t religious. This appears to ignore how Jews in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, largely had to suppress their religious identity and were viewed as outsiders. Some commentators have suggested this has informed Mr. Zelensky’s own self-image as an outsider, reflected in both his TV work and his presidential campaign in 2019.

Ukrainians appear more favorably disposed toward Jews than do the people of other countries that were in the Soviet bloc. A Pew Research Center poll in 2019 found that 5% of Ukrainians were unwilling to accept Jewish people as fellow citizens, compared with 18% in Poland, 19% of Czechs and 22% in Romania. And Ukraine’s prime minister when Mr. Zelensky became president, Volodymyr Groysman, is also Jewish.

When Mr. Putin said Russia’s invasion was designed to “denazify” Ukraine’s leadership—a potent slur in Russia, referring to World War II—Mr. Zelensky was quick to ridicule the Russian leader’s claims.

What happened between Zelensky and Donald Trump?

Shortly after becoming Ukraine’s president, Mr. Zelensky was thrust into the center of U.S. politics after President Donald Trump was accused of pressuring him in a telephone call to investigate his chief rival at the time, Joe Biden. An impeachment resolution in the House of Representatives alleged that Mr. Trump had made the provision of $391 million in U.S. security aid contingent on Mr. Zelensky publicly announcing a probe. After Mr. Trump’s actions came to light, the resolution charges, he released the aid, which was meant to strengthen Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country.

Mr. Trump rejected allegations of wrongdoing and, while he was impeached in the House, he was acquitted by the Senate.

Mr. Biden went on to be elected president.

18/03/2022

Putin's speech hailing Ukraine war cut off mid-way by Russian state broadcaster

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech at a pro-war rally in a Moscow stadium was cut-off mysteriously on Friday when he was talking on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea.

According to reports, Russian state television suddenly cut away from Putin hailing its “special operation in Ukraine” and the bravery of its soldiers to patriotic songs – prompting confusion among audiences.

The incident took place when was speaking in front of 100,000 supporters at Luzhniki Stadium when his speech was interrupted mid-way to play a concert by singer and composer Oleg Gazmanov.

A woman translating his speech could be heard saying: “The beginning of the operation coincided by accident with the birthday of one of our military leaders…” before the feed cut out.

Such interruptions are highly unusual considering that Russian media is tightly controlled by the government.

Around 10 minutes later, Putin’s speech, which lasted about five minutes, was re-aired from the start soon afterwards, following which he walked off the stage.

Before anyone could speculate the reasons, the Kremlin quickly issued a statement saying that it was a “technical glitch” that interrupted Putin's speech.

According to RIA news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a server glitch had caused the interruption.

During his speech, Putin sought to justify his actions by claiming that Ukraine was committing genocide in the Donbas region.

“This really was genocide. Stopping that was the goal of the special operation,” Putin said, adding – contrary to evidence Ukrainian civilians had welcomed Moscow’s invading troops.

18/03/2022

Bank documents expose how Governor Obiano took N4 billion from Anambra treasury on same day

It is unclear how the funds were utilised. But the commissioner for information Don Adinuba described the record as “ridiculous” despite bank documents showing the governor withdrew the funds.

“I had not joined the government by the time in question,” he noted, adding that “the document you are referring to doesn’t appear genuine. The figures you quote look extremely ridiculous. N4bn withdrawn in one day? Simply an unintelligent allegation.”

In the past years, there have been allegations of misappropriation of security votes by public officeholders under the guise of enhancing the security of lives and properties.

Security votes are monthly funds allocated to each state for the sole aim of funding security services. The allocations, however, differ depending on the level of insecurity in each state.

A 2018 report by Transparency International in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) described the security vote as ” one of the most durable forms of corruption in Nigeria.”

Their estimates established that the security vote in Nigeria totalled around $670 million annually and argued that the misappropriation of funds further heightens insecurity.

“The security vote is one of the most durable forms of corruption operating in Nigeria today. Yet instead of addressing its many urgent threats, the ever-increasing use of security votes is providing corrupt officials with an easy-to-use and entirely hidden slush fund,” Katherine Dixon, Director of Transparency International Defence & Security, said in the report.

In a Freedom of Information (FoI) request sent to President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2020, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) asked all states of the federation to disclose details of their proposed “security votes” spending in the 2021 appropriation bills.

“The time has come to demonstrate transparency and accountability in the spending of public funds meant to secure life and property,” SERAP had said in reaction to the abduction of over 300 students in Kankara, Katsina state, and security challenges across the country.

18/03/2022

Russia threatens Bosnia and Herzegovina over NATO membership

A Russian ambassador on Thursday said Bosnia and Herzegovina could face the same military aggression unleashed on Ukraine if the country joins NATO.
Igor Kalbukhov made the remarks during an interview with broadcaster FTV on Thursday. He noted that the country is free to join the 30-member alliance but that Moscow would respond, Euractiv reported.

"If (Bosnia and Herzegovina) decides to be a member of any alliance, that is an internal matter," he said. "Our response is a different matter. Ukraine’s example shows what we expect. Should there be any threat, we will respond."

Kalbukhov then accused the West of stoking division and tensions by claiming Russia is preparing "a plan."

"We do not have any plans. We will respond having analyzed the strategic and geopolitical situation," the ambassador said. NATO membership is not a reality for BiH given the current lack of consensus on the matter in the country, he added.

Moscow has vehemently opposed a NATO expansion, particularly with nations it shares borders with. A day after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine, Russianforeign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova issued a warning to Finland and Sweden.

"Finland and Sweden should not base their security on damaging the security of other countries and their accession to NATO can have detrimental consequences and face some military and political consequences," she said in a video clip.

Finnish Ambassador to the United States, Mikko Hautala, told Fox News that Russia has always voiced opposition to his nation's membership in NATO.

I think we are really well prepared. We have one of the best armies in Europe. We have a really strong defense. We have really good international partners," he said. "We are not in a position that we would get scared because of one statement. There's nothing new. That's the old Russian position."

17/03/2022

Russia warns United States: we have the might to put you in your place

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Russia warned the United States on Thursday that Moscow had the might to put the world's pre-eminent superpower in its place and accused the West of stoking a wild Russophobic plot to tear Russia apart.

Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012 and is now deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, said the United States had stoked "disgusting" Russophobia in an attempt to force Russia to its knees.

"It will not work - Russia has the might to put all of our brash enemies in their place," Medvedev said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United States and its European and Asian allies have slapped sanctions on Russian leaders, companies and businessmen, cutting off Russia from much of the world economy.

President Vladimir Putin says that what he calls the special military operation in Ukraine was necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Russia had to defend against the "genocide" of Russian-speaking people by Ukraine.

Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and that Putin's claims of genocide are nonsense. The West says claims it wants to rip Russia apart are fiction.

Russia says that despite sanctions it can fare well without what it casts as a deceitful and decadent West led by the United States. It says its bid to forge ties with the West after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union is now over and that it will develop ties with other powers such as China.

15/03/2022

The Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria has appealed to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to as a matter of urgency resolve the issues leading to ASUU’s strike so that students can go back to school.

Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, the National President, PTA, Danjuma Haruna, said an additional two months strike would have devastating implications on the education sector.

He said, “It will have devastating implications on the education sector in the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory. We call on both ASUU and representatives of the Federal Government to go back to the dialogue table and resolve their problems.

“Not every parent in the country can afford taking his child abroad or to a private university for studies, hence, the need for both the Federal Government and ASUU to help towards going back to the dialogue table so as to save the situation and keep our students and teacher in school.

“The strike comes amid an increase in the price of foodstuff, high cost of petroleum and general insecurity challenges bedeviling the peace, stability in the country. We don’t want our children to spend three months at home because of the strike. We are begging the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency go back and resolve their problems with ASUU”

ASUU warns Ngige, Adamu against salary suspension, legal action

Meanwhile, ASUU has cautioned the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige and his ministry of education counterpart, Adamu Adamu against taking trade union actions against university lecturers.
Though the ministers had not announced plans of taking actions against the union, ASUU said it was necessary to caution the ministers against taking a “hopeless step” in a bid to get the striking lecturers back to work.

ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH in Abuja on Monday.

The PUNCH reports that ASUU on Monday had announced a two months extension of its initial four weeks warning strike which it declared on Monday, February 14, 2022 at the University of Lagos.

According to a statement released by the union and made available to our correspondents, the union said it made the decision to extend the strike so as to give the Federal Government and its agencies enough time to meet the lingering demands of the union.

The statement read in part, “NEC acknowledged the intervention efforts, in various ways, by patriots and friends of genuine national development (students, parents, journalists, trade union leaders, civil society activists etc.) to expeditiously resolve the crisis which the government’s disposition had allowed to fester.

“However, ASUU, as a union of intellectuals, has obligations to make the government honour agreements. NEC, having taken reports on the engagements of the trustees and principal officers with the government, concluded that government had failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action within the four-week roll-over strike period and resolved that the strike be rolled over for another eight weeks to give Government more time to address all the issues in concrete terms so that our students will resume as soon as possible.”

Speaking with The PUNCH, Osodeke noted that the union was ready to suspend the strike immediately the government does the needful. The Professor of soil science at the Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, however, warned the government against taking actions against the union.

He said, “We expect that in the next one or two weeks, the Federal Government would solve all the issues. If they solve them next week, students will resume. If after eight weeks, they remain nonchalant, then the NEC will meet again and take action.

“Now, if they say they will apply the no-work-no-pay directive or take us to the industrial court like they did with the doctors last year, they should know that it is a hopeless step, we will also go the same way with them.

ASUU extends strike to May, parents beg, FG says demands met

The Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria has appealed to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to as a matter of urgency resolve the issues leading to ASUU’s strike so that students can go back to school.

Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, the National President, PTA, Danjuma Haruna, said an additional two months strike would have devastating implications on the education sector.

He said, “It will have devastating implications on the education sector in the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory. We call on both ASUU and representatives of the Federal Government to go back to the dialogue table and resolve their problems.

“Not every parent in the country can afford taking his child abroad or to a private university for studies, hence, the need for both the Federal Government and ASUU to help towards going back to the dialogue table so as to save the situation and keep our students and teacher in school.

“The strike comes amid an increase in the price of foodstuff, high cost of petroleum and general insecurity challenges bedeviling the peace, stability in the country. We don’t want our children to spend three months at home because of the strike. We are begging the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency go back and resolve their problems with ASUU”

ASUU warns Ngige, Adamu against salary suspension, legal action

Meanwhile, ASUU has cautioned the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige and his ministry of education counterpart, Adamu Adamu against taking trade union actions against university lecturers.

Though the ministers had not announced plans of taking actions against the union, ASUU said it was necessary to caution the ministers against taking a “hopeless step” in a bid to get the striking lecturers back to work.

ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH in Abuja on Monday.

The PUNCH reports that ASUU on Monday had announced a two months extension of its initial four weeks warning strike which it declared on Monday, February 14, 2022 at the University of Lagos.

According to a statement released by the union and made available to our correspondents, the union said it made the decision to extend the strike so as to give the Federal Government and its agencies enough time to meet the lingering demands of the union.

The statement read in part, “NEC acknowledged the intervention efforts, in various ways, by patriots and friends of genuine national development (students, parents, journalists, trade union leaders, civil society activists etc.) to expeditiously resolve the crisis which the government’s disposition had allowed to fester.

“However, ASUU, as a union of intellectuals, has obligations to make the government honour agreements. NEC, having taken reports on the engagements of the trustees and principal officers with the government, concluded that government had failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action within the four-week roll-over strike period and resolved that the strike be rolled over for another eight weeks to give Government more time to address all the issues in concrete terms so that our students will resume as soon as possible.”

Speaking with The PUNCH, Osodeke noted that the union was ready to suspend the strike immediately the government does the needful. The Professor of soil science at the Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, however, warned the government against taking actions against the union.

He said, “We expect that in the next one or two weeks, the Federal Government would solve all the issues. If they solve them next week, students will resume. If after eight weeks, they remain nonchalant, then the NEC will meet again and take action.

“Now, if they say they will apply the no-work-no-pay directive or take us to the industrial court like they did with the doctors last year, they should know that it is a hopeless step, we will also go the same way with them.

“Option two is that if they choose to drag us to court, remember when Ngige took doctors to court, a very hopeless step and he forced them back to work, what happened? When Saudi Arabia came, the doctors left the country. Who is the loser? Nigeria is the loser. Instead of solving a minor problem, you say you want to charge them to court. That simple action caused this country a lot.

“If he tries it, I can assure you that most of the academics will leave this country because they have jobs waiting for them outside the country. If they want to go the bizarre way, let them go, the country will pay for it. We also have a choice, if they want to force us to call off the strike, he should jail us.”

FG has met ASUU’s demand – Minister

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, while reacting to the extended strike, said the Federal Government had met all of ASUU’s demands.

In an interview with journalists at the end of the commemoration of the 2022 Commonwealth Celebration in Abuja on Monday, Nwajiuba said all earned allowances as well as revitalisation funds had been released.

“ASUU announced and we met and everything that they have demanded, we have done all of them including the earned allowances and the revitalisation fund; they choose to extend it for two months may be,” he said.

Don’t return to work, strike still in force, OAU ASUU tells members

Meanwhile, ASUU at the Obafemi Awolowo Universities, Ile-Ife, on Monday, told its members that the ongoing industrial action by the lecturers was still in force hence, they should not return to their duty posts.

A statement by OAU ASUU Chairman, Dr. Adeola Egbedokun, directed members of the union not to attend postgraduate seminars and oral examinations.

Egbedokun also told ASUU members not to participate in online classes, processing of results, attendance at statutory meetings, among others.

The statement read in parts, “The strike action is still in force and no member, irrespective of office held, should attend postgraduate seminars and oral examinations, online classes, processing of results (graduating and non-graduating)

“Comrades, let us remain resolute. This government has demonstrated that they do not have capacity to conspire to do any good unless forced.

“Let no one cajole or blackmail us with the argument about students being the ones suffering the negative effect of our strike.”

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