Ozubulu church killing – One year after
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EACTIONS to the 6 August 2017 shooting at Ofufe Amakwa, Ozubulu, in Ekwusigo Local Government of Anambra State, proved that Nigerians could still be shocked. The contrary narrative is that they have “seen it all”, so nothing shocks them. Nigerians remain human, and mostly humane. IT is almost one year after that shooting. More have died. More
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have been killed with brutalities that cannot be imagined. Yet the shocks of people being slaughtered, as is becoming common, or being shot, took a new dimension with Ozubulu. It was different, it was alien to these parts, but hap-
The
VOX POPULI SACRUM
pened, making the point that nothing is impossible. AS if to prove that there was a newness to all the killings, people rose in condemning it. They asked that something should be done to avert what could be a trend. They
WEDNESDAY August 1, 2018
wanted the killers to be unveiled and punished. They wanted to be sure that everyone agreed that the killings in Ozubulu went a step beyond the expected even in a setting where absurdity was becoming normal.
TO many of them, it was unthinkable that criminals could invade a church, shooting worshippers. Many consider places of worship sacred, hallowed, and deserving respect due the Almighty at all times. Many violations of places of worship in Nigeria have not changed the opinion of most Nigerians about reverence for the
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Today
VOL.3 No.30 N200
Declare AIDS drug National project, Ezeibe urges FG From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia
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he inventor of the Nigerian medicine for the cure of HIV/ AIDS, Prof. Maduike Ezeibe, has called on the federal government to cast doubt aside and take over his invention as a national project with a view to commercialis-
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•Asks govt. to fund research, commercialise drug •Describes N300k grant as ‘important validation’ of his work •Patients from Jamaica, Malaysia, Cameroon, Nigerians flood clinic
NASS crisis: Defections may cripple APC From CHIDI UGWU, Abuja
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T was expected, yet when the defections in the Nation’s Assembly handed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the majority that the All Progressives Congress (APC), has held since the 2015 general election, the subtlety belied the various dramas. The two leaders of the National Assembly best applied different ploys to achieve their push to tilt the political games that have been in the works for weeks, to their advantage. Although practically everyone was playing the game, no one seemed to know the other’s joke. It emerged Tuesday morning that the police had blocked access to the residences of the Senate President Dr. Olubukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Dr. Ike Ekweremadu.
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Both were wanted by security agencies for immediate interrogations over pending cases with the police--Saraki for the Otta robbery incident and Ekweremadu for alleged money laundering. Why Tuesday? News had been swelling that at Tuesday’s session, Saraki would admit defecting members of APC to PDP or, in his absence, Ekweremadu would perform the role. A security siege to their homes and the National Assembly was to ensure that the session did not hold. It didn’t work. The police were to discover that Saraki was not home, but proceedings had commenced at the Senate, with Majority Leader, Senator Lawan elected to preside. There were moves to impeach Saraki who gained the senate presidency against the wish of APC leaders.
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•New Senate majority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio (right), Senator Dino Melaye and others jubilate shortly after Melaye and 13 other Senators defected from APC to PDP at the Senate plenary on Tuesday
UNIZIK students protest Pg 47 over deaths at medical centre
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