Straight From The Headlines! What Everyone Was Talking About This Week

Hello Bellanaijarians! It’s the second day of another beautiful month and we are so glad to see you here at the Straight From The Headlines slot where we recap major stories that made headlines across the country this week.

This week’s headlines, as usual, has been filled with several interesting topics.

We hope you have an interesting time reading through the news summary we’ve prepared specially for you and wish you the very best in all your endeavours.

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The government of Akwa Ibom State has confirmed that Godswill Akpabio like his Rivers State counterpart, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, also owns a brand new jet.  Akpabio took possession of the $45 million jet in July 2012. SaharaReporters, this week, reported that the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Ummanah, confirmed that Mr. Akpabio bought the Gulfstream jet manufactured in 2011, but insisted that that it is Akwa Ibom State property. Governor Akpabio’s state of the art jet, which carries FAA registration number N224BH, was interestingly purchased by the same Bank of Utah Trust account used by the Rivers state government.

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A former councillor of Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, Onimole Babatunde, is currently being detained at the Area E Police Command, Festac, Lagos for allegedly stabbing an 18-year-old girl in the neck after she refused his advances at a night club. The incident happened on October 26 when Mariam Abubakar went to Pearl Habour Night Club in Rochester Garden Hotel, Festac to “catch weekend fun.” Babatunde, who was obviously drunk, started to make advances to Abubakar and when she refused and insisted he should leave her alone, he went to a corner, took a bottle, broke it and stabbed Mariam in the neck.

Some policemen reportedly took the enforcement of the Lagos Traffic Law to the extreme on Wednesday as they allegedly beat an unidentified Okada rider and stripped him in Akoka, Lagos. An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, said the victim was caught while riding at the junction of University Road and St. Finbarr’s College Road in Akoka. He stated that the man was plying the route oblivious that plain-clothes policemen had laid ambush in a van with registration number NPF9544B, in the area. The eyewitness said immediately the policemen saw the okada rider, they pounced on him, beat him up and later asked him to take all his clothes off.

 

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The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has directed all telecoms operators to provide instant SMS service to all phone users at the end of every call. Such SMS service is expected to provide full details of the cost of each call, and available balance to the subscriber. The directive followed complaints from telecoms subscribers over irregular billings. A statement issued by the Head, Media and Public Relations, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said the service must be free to all subscribers. The statement also specified heavy penalty for any operator that failed to comply with the new directive, aimed at checking dubious charges on phone calls made by subscribers.

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The Dangote Group has said that PhD and MBA Holders were among the over 13,000 applicants who applied for the recent Graduate Executive Truck Driver vacancy. The company said it was satisfied with the quality and quantity of applications they have received, stating that its plan was to empower its Graduate Executive Truck Drivers. Chairman of the company and Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote revealed this on Thursday in Abuja at a World Bank Youth Forum.

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Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has ordered the immediate closure of nudity clubs in the state, describing their existence as “strange and devilish”. Okorocha, who gave the order in Owerri on Wednesday at the end of the meeting of the state Security Council, said that the operation of nudity clubs debased Igbo culture. He said that such clubs had compounded the eroding morality of the youths and warned that the government would no longer condone their destructive activities.

 

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been appointed as the Country Representative for Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. In a congratulatory message from President Goodluck Jonathan  issued on Thursday in Abuja by Dr Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, the President expressed confidence in Obasanjo on the “new honorific position”. He added that Obasanjo would ensure that the trust generated the resources required to fund legacy projects in the name of Queen Elizabeth through his wide network of contacts across the Commonwealth.

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Sometime this week, PM News reported that the Oyo State First Lady, Mrs Florence Ajumobi was arrested by London’s Metropolitan police in the UK for being in possession of £400, 000 (100 million). However, after the London MET denied that any such arrest took place, the PM News had to retract their statement and apologise to the First Lady.