Author: Chronicle Editor

A lawyer, Julius Elukpo was on Friday arraigned before a Lokoja Chief Magistrates’ Court on a one-count charge of forgery. Elukpo who is also the Chairman of Kogi State Elders Forum was alleged to have forged the signatures of two persons to write a petition to the Minister of Health on March 22, 2017. When the charge was read to Elukpo, he pleaded not guilty. However, the police prosecutor, Sgt. Obi Ubana told the Chief Magistrate, Mr Seidu Hussein that Elukpo had in the petition alleged corruption, fraud and injustice against some management staff of the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.…

Rural communities in Taraba state, Nigeria, were on Friday on indefinite lockdown as the authorities tried to contain mounting violence between cattle herders and farmers. Police spokesman David Misal said a round-the-clock curfew has been imposed in affected areas “due to the escalation of violence between Fulani and Mambilla ethnic groups”. Nigeria has been gripped since the start of the year with an increase in clashes between the largely nomadic herders and farmers over land, water and grazing rights. At least 10 people were killed in several days of violence in Taraba last week into the weekend, while some 24…

Major mobile phone service providers in Uganda have responded to tough new rules targeting criminal use of unregistered SIM cards by halting sales. The telecomms companies have also been ordered to recall “all SIM cards held in stock by street vendors, agents and hawkers”. Under the new rules, Uganda’s Communications Commission says, mobile phone service providers will have to “validate national identification information” for its customers which will then be “verified against the national database”. Both MTN and Airtel – the biggest of Uganda’s eight mobile service providers – have tweeted the news to their customers: ANNOUNCEMENT Effective immediately, MTN…

Kenya’s president and opposition leader have promised to begin a process of reconciliation following last year’s bitterly contested election. Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga spoke on national TV after holding their first public meeting since the poll. About 150 people were killed in the aftermath of the disputed election. Earlier this year, Mr Odinga swore himself in as the “people’s president” and refused to recognise election winner Mr Kenyatta as head of state. Until now, both had dismissed calls for talks. READ: EU to impose trade measures against US In their joint address, President Kenyatta referred to Mr Odinga as…

The European Union will go to the World Trade Organisation to impose its own measures if the bloc is not excluded from the US steel and aluminum tariffs, EU’s trade chief said on Friday. US President Donald Trump set import tariffs on Thursday of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum but exempted Canada and Mexico and offered the possibility of excluding other allies, backtracking from an earlier stance. EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, who coordinates policy for the world’s biggest trading bloc, said she shared US concerns about overcapacity in the steel sector but did not…

The Police in Enugu State have commenced a full scale investigation into an alleged incident that led to a husband hacking his wife to death in Enugu city. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said in a statement on Friday in Enugu that the incident occurred on March 8. Amaraizu, who did not disclose the location of the incident, said that the deceased, Mrs Nkechi Nnamani, was a mother of four children. “It was gathered that the wife identified as Nkechi Nnamani, has been hale and hearty before the husband, Sunday Nnamani, allegedly hit…

US President Donald Trump made the decision to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un himself, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday, but the talks will take “some weeks” to arrange. Trump has said he was prepared to meet Kim in what would be the first face-to-face encounter between the two countries’ leaders and potentially mark a major breakthrough in nuclear tensions with Pyongyang. “That is a decision the president took himself. I spoke to him very early this morning about that decision and we had a very good conversation,” Tillerson told reporters during a…

Paul Pogba has been getting a lot of criticism recently but, if I am ever negative about him, it is only because he is such a wonderfully gifted player that I want to see him do so much more. Although the £89m Manchester United midfielder has not been making or scoring the goals I would expect from him in the past few weeks, that is partly down to the role he has been asked to play and the players who are around him. United manager Jose Mourinho needs balance in his team and he is still trying to find his…

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc said that arrangements were in top gear for the commissioning of its sugar mill, the Sunti Golden Sugar Estate, in Mokwa, Niger state. The mill which is expected to produce 100,000 metric tons of sugar yearly is to be established at the cost of N50 billion. A statement issued by the company’s Media Officer, Mr Tola Samuel, said that the estate scheduled to be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 15, would set the country on the path to become self-sufficient in sugar production. According to the statement, the farm at peak production will…

Japan and China reacted Thursday to US President Donald Trump steep trade tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium, warning about their dangers to international trade. Japan said the moves “could have a grave impact on the economic relationship of Japan and the US”, the world’s third and top economies respectively. The world’s second-biggest economy, China, was also vocal in its opposition, deriding the tariffs as “a serious attack on normal international trade order.” Top trading partners the European Union and Brazil also launched broadsides against the tariffs, which are worth billions of dollars, drawing sharp protests from allies at home…