Comrade Uzo Nwosu has a bachelor’s degree in engineering, as well as master’s degrees in information technology and business administration.
He has 24 years of experience working for two multinational oil companies, Texaco Overseas Petroleum Company Unlimited and Chevron Nigeria Limited, in Nigeria, the United States, Angola, and Congo Brazzaville, respectively.
From 1987 to 1988, Comrade Uzo Nwosu was Vice President of the Nnewi Undergraduate Congress.
From 1988 to 1989, he was the president of the Anambra State National Union.
Texaco Overseas Multipurpose Cooperative Society General Secretary 2000-2002, Chairman of Chevy View Estate 2015-2017
From 2010 to 2013, he served as Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior State Association.
Residents of Abuja’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are currently protesting by setting fire to the Gwagwalada-Abuja expressway, obstructing human and vehicular movement.
The situation has caused commotion and tension in the area, resulting in traffic gridlock.
Some protesters have also blocked the Minister’s office in Area 11 in protest of a federal high court decision that granted the incumbent six Area Council Chairmen a one-year tenure extension.
The protesters want the Chairmen-elect to be sworn in today, Friday 20th, instead of tomorrow.
They also criticized Minister Bello Mohammad’s decision to postpone the elected chairmen’s inauguration and swearing-in ceremony.
According to the ruling, based on the recently signed Electoral Act 2022, which stipulates that the term of office of chairmen of Area Councils in the FCT will now be four years instead of three, the current chairmen, whose term was set to expire on Thursday, will be given another year to serve.
In the popular Itam Market in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, a fire has destroyed eight lockup shops with goods worth millions of naira.
The fire, the cause of which was unknown, was said to have started in a section of the market where there was no electrical connection.
On Thursday, a visit to the market revealed that two of the eight affected shops had been demolished before the state fire department arrived.
The fire, which began around 9 p.m., did not spread throughout the market because youths mobilized and evacuated goods from many shops before the fire was put out.
Mr John, who sells stationery, was one of the victims who said he lost everything in the fire.
“I left the market around 7 p.m., and by nine p.m., one of the security men called to tell me that my shop had burned down,” he said. When I returned, I was devastated to see that everything in my shop had been destroyed.
“The fire department was here when I arrived, but I couldn’t even remove a pin from the shop,” she said, adding, “Honestly, I don’t know where to begin.”
Another victim, Aniekpeno Akra, said he learned about the fire from a phone call, but when he arrived at his shop, he discovered the damage had already been done.
Elder Godwin Ebong, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the market’s Traders Forum Association, said that when the union learned of the fire, it immediately contacted men from the fire service, who arrived within 45 minutes of the blaze breaking out.
He went on to say that the union had reached out to both the local and state governments for assistance for the affected shop owners because of their quick response.
He also stated that preliminary investigations had not revealed the cause of the fire, despite the fact that no electrical wiring was present in the affected area.
“We cannot determine the cause of the fire outbreak until now,” he said. We conducted an internal investigation but were unable to locate the source. We’re still hoping to learn more about what happened in a few days.”
“I called the fire service personnel,” said Mr Idorenyin Raphael, Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Special Assistant on Trade and Investment. They were on the ground in 20 minutes to put an end to the situation.”
Basil Omiyi has been named as the new independent non-executive chairman of Seplat Energy Plc. Mr. Omiyi takes over from A.B.C. Orjiakor, whose term ended on Wednesday.
Seplat also appointed Charles Okeantalam as the firm’s senior independent non-executive director, a role previously held by Mr Omiyi, according to a notice published by the Nigerian Exchange on Thursday.
The oil and gas firm said the appointment was approved following a unanimous vote by all its directors in compliance with the Companies and Allied Matters Act in Nigeria (“CAMA”).
The appointments are effective right away.
Omiyi Basil
Since March 2013, Mr. Omiyi has served on the board of directors of Seplat Energy, rising to the position of senior independent non-executive director in February 2021.
He has held senior positions in the energy industry in Nigeria and Europe, including becoming the managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria in 2004.
Until his retirement in 2009, he was also the country chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria.
Since 2015, he has served as the independent non-executive chairman of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, the local unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group. For pioneering leadership in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, he was awarded the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger in 2011.
Charles Okeahalam
Charles Okeahalam, an independent non-executive director who joined the board in March 2013 as chair of Seplat Energy’s finance committee and a member of the Energy Transition, Remuneration, and Nominations & Governance committees.
He has extensive experience in corporate finance and capital markets, as well as a broad understanding of African financial markets, economies, and the investment industry.
“He was a co-founder of AGH Capital Group, a Johannesburg-based private equity and diversified investment holding company with assets in several African countries,” according to the document.
He was a professor of Financial Economics and Banking at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg before co-founding AGH Capital Group in 2002.
Previously, he advised several African central banks and government ministries, as well as the World Bank and the United Nations.
He has served on several boards and is the former non-executive chairman of Nigeria’s Heritage Bank Limited.
Okeahalam has served as the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company’s non-executive chairman.
The Lekki Phase I Residents Association (LERA) restricted commercial motorcycle operators from the area just 24 hours after the Lagos State Government announced a total ban on commercial motorcycle riders known as Okada riders.
After the death of a Sound Engineer who was beaten to a pulp and set on fire by suspected Okada riders, there have been a number of reactions.
Mr. Yomi Idowu, Chairman of LERA, briefed reporters and tasked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu with enforcing the total ban on Okada.
The Chairman also expressed concern about hoodlums in some unfinished buildings, urging the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and the New Towns Development Authority (NTDA) to remove them.
“Dastardly, animalistic, and senseless,” Idowu said of the killing of David Imoh, a sound engineer in Lekki.
“According to intelligence reports reaching us, following the raid on Okada riders and subsequent seizure of their bikes by officials of the Lagos State Taskforce in Lekki Phase 1, the riders, believing the action was instigated by Lekki residents, are planning to attack the residents,” he said.
Residents have continued to be harassed and subjected to acts of terrorism by Okada riders, he said.
“This isn’t the first time residents in Lekki Phase I have been terrorized by motorcycle riders; indeed, Okada has been a nuisance to the environment, and many residents have had their fair share of their sheer recklessness. The security situation in Lekki Phase I has obviously deteriorated. It is critical that we all take a united stance and develop joint initiatives to avoid total exposure to imminent security threats to our residents’ lives and property.
“We in Lekki Phase I cannot risk the lives of our people any longer… As a result, we are taking proactive measures by prohibiting Okada riders’ activities with immediate effect.” “On our roads and streets, we choose to live and say no to ‘Okada,'” he said.
Chief Emeka Nweze, a member of the Board of Trustees, said that the Okada riders’ customers are mostly domestic workers and construction workers.
Nweze urged the state government to ensure that those who own undeveloped properties get to work on them or face having them taken away.
Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has criticised some PDP aspirants for betraying the party in 2015, stating that they do not deserve the party’s presidential nomination for 2023.
Wike, referring to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, stated that certain PDP aspirants caused disunity in the party in 2015, created the new-PDP, and sold the party’s goodwill and electoral opportunities.
On Thursday, he met with Oyo PDP leaders and delegates in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, to solicit their support ahead of the party’s presidential primary later this month.
The Governor stated, “The question is, who caused PDP to lose the election in 2015, causing us to suffer today? Today, we are in opposition and attempting to regain control.
On Thursday, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) announced that 25 ships had arrived at the Lagos Port Complex to discharge petrol and other goods.
The ships were discharging bulk wheat, general cargo, frozen fish, bulk salt, bulk fertiliser, base oil, container, steam coal, bulk gypsum, automobile gasoline, and petrol, according to the NPA’s daily Shipping Position.
Between May 19 and May 28, 15 more ships are expected to arrive at the port, according to the authority.
Bulk wheat, general cargo, frozen fish, bulk sugar, butane gas, and containers were among the items expected.
It said 12 more ships had arrived at the port with base oil, bulk sugar, bulk wheat, frozen fish, soya bean meal, and petrol.
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja on Thursday to meet with the new president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to express condolences over the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the former president and ruler of Abu Dhabi.
Buhari will congratulate the new president, renewing Nigeria-UAE ties.
President Buhari will be accompanied by Amb. Zubairu Dada, Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello, and Senator Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Monguno (Ret.) and Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar are also in his delegation.
The President reaffirmed Nigeria’s cordial relationship with the UAE in an earlier congratulatory message, noting that cooperation between both governments has helped Nigeria track down illegal assets and terrorist funds.
President Buhari looks forward to a larger and stronger partnership under the new leadership.
According to the statement, the President will return Saturday.
Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin, a former commissioner for Information and Education in Kwara State and member of the International Press Institute’s (IPI) Executive Board, has been named the Teacher of the Month for the Raise Life Class membership programme.
Raise is a monthly life class on career, leadership, and entrepreneurship held by a high-achiever with Kwara State’s young impact makers.
The organisers of the event released a statement in Ilorin yesterday.
“It is also an initiative to deepen social cohesion and build a network of quality new generation leaders in the public and private sectors in the state and country,” said Mr. Ibraheem Abdullateef, Kwara Central Representative in the Nigerian Youth Parliament (NYP).
“We are very excited to announce Chief Raheem Adedoyin, media executive, accomplished politician, and decorated community leader, as the Teacher for the Raise life class May edition,” Abdullateef said.
According to the statement, Adedoyin is a champion of press vibrancy who has dedicated nearly four decades of his life to it.
“Adedoyin began his journalism career in 1985 at The Guardian, a stable renowned as the flagship of Nigeria’s intellectual journalism,” according to the statement. Reporter, Correspondent, Transport Editor, Acting News Editor, and Deputy Sunday Editor were some of his titles.
“He served as the Governor of Kwara State’s Commissioner for Information, Commissioner for Education, and Special Adviser, Communication Strategy.”
“Adedoyin is a prominent member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), and the Nigerian Association of Journalists (NAJ).”
He has devoted much of his energy and organisational ingenuity to the International Press Institute (IPI).
“The Oloriewe of Oro Kingdom, Chairman of The Herald Newspapers’ Editorial Board and member of the Advisory Board of the London-based African Leadership Magazine, is a lecturer at the University of Ilorin’s Department of Mass Communication.”
“With such dazzling accomplishments in career and public service, we are very much convinced that young men and women will learn tremendously from his wealth of experience and knowledge, helping in grooming better and more responsible young men and women,” the statement continued.
Our society’s young people”
According to the statement, Raise, a youth development and mentorship life class, held three sessions with prominent male and female personalities from January to March, including Amb. Dr. Olufolake AbdulRazaq, the First Lady of Kwara State.
The programme was not held in April, according to Abdullateef, Executive Director of Torchbearers Impact Network (TIN), to save participants from exhaustion due to Ramadan fasting.
He expressed the organising team’s commitment to the project as it was.
It’s already having an effect.
“The program’s impact is being felt in the state.” In February, four of the six candidates we registered for the JAMB examination passed, qualifying them for higher education.
“We are very excited to expand our support for young people in education and business while also facilitating access to learning from the best in their chosen profession or business.”
“The ripple effects of the bridge we are building between generations in the coming years are impossible to predict.”
On Wednesday, hoodlums and sporadic gunshots from police operatives put an end to an ongoing protest by disgruntled members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, alleging denial of participation in a phoney screening exercise for State House of Assembly aspirants.
Members of the placard, mostly supporters of Senator Magnus Abe, accused Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the former Minister of Transportation and Presidential aspirant, of attempting to sway the screening process for his preferred candidates.
The peaceful protest began around 9 a.m. at the party’s state security headquarters on Woji Road in GRA, Port Harcourt, when aggrieved members demanded that the gate to the secretariat halls be opened and a gunshot was fired from within the premises.
Even though security operatives were present to ensure the peaceful conduct of the protest, aggrieved party members could not help but throw stones at the premises to express their displeasure with the gunshots fired by undisclosed security personnel from the party premises.
Following the tumultuous situation that senior police officers were attempting to calm and maintain a peaceful environment, hoodlums suspected of being cultists descended on the scene and began attacking anyone seen in front of the secretariat.
The hoodlums’ actions drew the reinforcement of more tactical security operatives, and there were sporadic gunshots, which caused journalists covering the protest, as well as aggrieved members of the party, including suspected cultists, to flee for their lives.
As of the time of filing this report, the hoodlums injured many people and stole their belongings, no one was killed.
Uloma Onyeche, a female aspirant for the Etche Constituency I seat in the state House of Assembly, had earlier complained that she was denied access to the screening after purchasing her nomination form.
“We’ve come to see a Congress that I don’t understand.” Dr. Adoje Omale, the chairman, has been compromised, and when one of us got his phone number and called him, he was furious. A man who is supposed to be impartial when it comes to conducting congresses.
“The chairman has moved the materials, according to reliable sources.” How come the man who is supposed to be unbiased is biassed? We saw him with Mr. Asita O. Asita, a Senatorial candidate.
“We are Rivers people, and they are doing their master’s bidding; we have had enough suffering.” I am a woman who worked hard to earn the money you took the last time with no results, and now we have paid our money to the APC, and Amaechi thinks that instead of building Rivers State, he should tear it down.”
“We heard that one man named Victor Giadom, under the directive of former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, has asked him to hijack the chairman and secretary that is supposed to be here to attend and address us and tell us their modus operandi and how the elections are supposed to be but until now we have not seen any sign,” said Chikwe Orlu, Obio/Akpor Constituency 2.
Dr. Anosike Oduwa Joseph, a state Assembly candidate, bemoaned the fact that he had to spend money on the forms. “Our party’s national chairman should behave differently than other chairmen, without fear or favour.” APC is a party for all people, not a private property.
“I will resist any injustice, and we will resist it, because I spent my hard-earned money to purchase this form.” You cannot defraud us and take away our rights. We will resist impunity, every power that wants to prevent the majority from contesting elections, and we will resist any power that wants to want.”
Meanwhile, the state APC leadership has stated that they are still trying to figure out who is protesting and why they are protesting at the state party secretariat.
Chris Finebone, the APC’s State Publicity Secretary, said that the party congress is taking place in various wards and local government areas across the state, rather than at the secretariat.
FINEBONE said that materials for the congresses have been sent to the various wards and local government areas where the exercise will be held, but that the party executive will address those gathered at the party secretariat once their leaders have been identified.
“The screening is scheduled for 2 p.m. and is only for State Assembly candidates.” It’s unrelated to the ward or the Local Government Area Congress.
“We were supposed to hold a stakeholders meeting at 2 p.m., which we will do.” The world will not end if they make it impossible for stakeholders meetings to take place.
“If they want to discuss the ward congresses, they will not be held here; materials have been distributed to all 319 wards, and exercise may have begun in some of them as we speak.”
“They have no business with screening, which is a completely different matter.” Many of them have no idea why they’re here because they were hired to come disrupt something here, just like they did in 2018, 2019,” Finebone continued.
