Author: Chronicle Editor

Senator Nelson Effiong, who represented Akwa Ibom South Constituency in the 8th assembly has been abducted by gunmen on Monday. It was also reported that at least eight persons were injured in a stampede that followed the sporadic shooting by the gunmen. It was gathered the Oron-born Senator was abducted by three gunmen at his lounge, a popular sit-out along Oron Road, Uyo, the state capital late Sunday night. Eight of the customers, it was learnt, were injured in a resulting stampede as the patrons scampered for safety amid hails of bullets randomly fired by the hoodlums. “I have just…

Former Paris St Germain (PSG) defender Jean-Pierre Adams, who had been in a coma for 39 years, has passed at the age of 73. Adams, a France international was admitted to hospital for knee surgery in March 1982 but never regained consciousness after an error with his supply of anaesthetic. Born in Senegal, the defender made more than 140 appearances for Nice and also played for PSG. In a statement, PSG said Adams’ “joie de vivre, charisma and experience commanded respect”. Nice said the club would pay tribute to Adams – who won 22 caps for France between 1972-1976 – before…

Saadi Gaddafi, son of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been released after seven years in prison. The latest development was confirmed by a Libyan official source and a unity government source on Sunday. Muammar Gaddafi was outsted and killed during the 2011 NATO-backed uprising. During the fallout of  uprsing, Saadi Gaddafi fled for Niger but was extradited to Libya in 2014 and has been imprisoned since then in Tripoli. Reports say that he immediately departed on a plane to Istanbul after his release. Saadi, now 47, was known for his extravagant lifestyle during his father’s dictatorship. The former professional…

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today condemned the September 3 directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to telecommunications companies to immediately shutdown all telecommunications services in Zamfara State, ostensibly as a result of the “pervading security situation” in the State, describing the measure as an unwarranted and unjustifiable interference with the rights to freedom of expression and access to information. In a statement issued in Lagos, MRA’s communications officer, Mr. Idowu Adewale, noted that the NCC, which is supposed to be a regulatory agency, has increasingly become a tool in the hands of the Federal Government for the indiscriminate violation…

The Taliban claimed victory on Monday over opposition forces in the Panjshir valley northeast of Kabul, declaring that it completed the Islamist group’s takeover of Afghanistan and promising to announce a new government soon. Pictures on social media showed Taliban members standing in front of the gate of the Panjshir provincial governor’s compound after fighting over the weekend with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), led by Panjshiri leader Ahmad Massoud. “Panjshir, which was the last hideout of the escapee enemy, is captured,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference. Earlier, he had said: “With this victory and…

Six Palestinian terrorists have escaped from a high-security Israeli prison on Monday, in what the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called a ‘grave incident’. Israeli police and the military had started a search after the escape from Gilboa prison in northern Israel. Five of the fugitives belong to the Islamic Jihad movement and one is a former commander of an armed group affiliated with the mainstream Fatah party, the Prisons Service said. Arik Yaacov, the service’s northern commander, said the escapees appeared to have opened an hole from their cell toilet floor to access passages formed by the prison’s…

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control has announced four hundred and fifty-nine, 459, new cases of COVID-19 and 30 deaths within the last 24 hours. Statistics from the NCDC indicated that Lagos has 185 of the new cases, Abia and Oyo recorded 38, Akwa Ibom and Cross River- 33, Osun-24, Ekiti-23, Benue-15, Kwara-14 and Kano 12 new cases. Delta and the FCT recorded 10 new cases, Edo-9, Kaduna-5, Ogun-3, Katsina, Nasarawa and Rivers recorded 2 cases, while Bayelsa recorded just one case. COVID-19: NCDC records 93 deaths in 24 hours This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to…

By Peter Afunanya Abimbola, I have read your piece, titled, What Does The DSS Really Do?, published on the back page of 2nd September, 2021 edition of the Punch Newspaper. By my nature, I do not like joining issues and I know the Department of State Services that I represent and speak for does not like same. The reason is not farfetched. For me, I believe that people who have made up their minds about certain issues will hardly see the other side of the matter even in the face of glaring facts. While you may hold tenaciously to your…

The Federal Government of Nigeria has denounced the suspension of the Guinean constitution and arrest of President Alpha Conde in a coup d’état on Sunday. The position of the Nigerian government was made known in a statement by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Esther Sunsuwa. According to the statement, the hostile takeover of the government by the military was a clear violation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. The statement read: “The Government of Nigeria strongly condemns and rejects any unconstitutional change of government and therefore calls on those behind this coup to…

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced the hostile takeover of the Guinean government by the military, which has seen the dissolution of the constitution and the detainment of the President Alpha Conde. Guterres urged the military, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, to release the President for peace to reign. The UN chief said this in a tweet on Sunday; “I am personally following the situation in Guinea very closely. I strongly condemn any takeover of the government by force of the gun and call for the immediate release of President Alpha Conde,” Guterres tweeted. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4vVaXRvuWw] Guinea Coup: Special…