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Ikem’s Employer to be Charged with his Murder in Philippines- Dabiri-Erewa

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Ikem’s Employer to be Charged with his Murder in Philippines- Dabiri-Erewa

By: Michael Mike

Chairman/ CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has informed the Senate Joint Committees on Diaspora and Inter Governmental Affairs and Foreign Affairs that the employer of Ikem, a Nigerian student beaten to death in Philliphines, has been charged with murder, along with five others.

She also said that a viral video by a man posted on social media recently alleging that 250 Nigerians are slated for killing in Ethiopia was totally false and untrue.

This was the highlight of the investigative hearing of the Joint Senate Committees presided over in Abuja on Monday by Sen. Victor Umeh, saying on the case of Ikem, who was brutally murdered, the Philliphines authorities have declared the employer, who has since been on the run, wanted.

Dabiri-Erewa said that Nigeria Embassy had informed the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines and also reported the case to the Inspector General of the Philippines National Police.

The Embassy, she added, had maintains regular contact with the line police station at the location; with a strong directive to go for the investigation.

Dabiri-Erewa said the investigating police team on the case are done with evidence building and presented the case to the Mandaue city prosecuting Department for action; who has evaluated it and deemed it fit for murder case filing.

“They have filed the case and issued a warrant of arrest to the boy’s employee and five other suspects; they are charged for murder, human trafficking and operation of illegal business in the Philippines”, she said.

The NiDCOM boss who gave the committee, a copy of the pictures of the suspects, said the pictures have been forwarded to all exits in the Philippines to prevent them from leaving the country.

She stressed that the case will be held as soon as the major suspect, still at large, is arrested.

On Nigerians in Ethiopian prisons, she said the official information received is that 160 Nigerians were serving various jail terms under very poor conditions and that over 90 per cent of them were for drug related offences.

She told the Committees that in order to decongest the prisons, amnesty was granted to them but majority of them went back and still committed the same crime.

She said that a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into awaiting Ministry of Justice in Nigeria to sign its own side of the deal to enable prisoners swap or to continue their jail term in their respective country.

In addition, she explained that most of those caught are those transiting from Addis Ababa to other countries of the world

Other stakeholders who appeared before the Committees were Hon. Amb. Enya Francis , Director, Consular representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the sister of the deceased, Blessing Essien, President National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) Mr John Ogar and Country Representative Commonwealth Students Association (CSA), Mr Nwanba Chidubem.

Speaking in the same vein, the Director Consular in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Enya Francis said they are in close contact with Embassy and on top of the matter.

Francis said the corpse is yet to be buried as it will cost between N31million to N35 million to repatriate and bury the corpse in Nigeria as against N10 million to N15 million to cremate it in the Philippines.

He said the cost of keeping the corpse at the funeral home is accruing N30,000 on daily basis, hence the need to expedite action on the investigation and take appropriate action.

Speaking on behalf of the family of the deceased, Blessings Essien, Ikem elder sister, said he was the only son of the family and in-line with Igbo tradition, it would be an honour to bring the body back to Nigeria for burial.

She therefore appealed to the Federal Government through the Senate Committees to assist the family in repatriating the body back to Nigeria for a befitting burial.

The President of National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) in the Diaspora, Mr John Ogar said the group was troubled by the dastardly and wicked act in which late Ikem was killed and seeking for justice.

He and Mr Nwanba Chiduben, Country Representative of Commonwealth Students Association (CSA) said apart from protest they have done to seek justice for the death of Ikem, they have written to Gov. Charles Soludo of Anambra state to assist the family in bringing back the corpse home for burial while appealing to some foreign airlines plying the route to see it as Corporate Social Responsibility in flying the corpse home.

Senator Umeh thanked all the stakeholders for all their efforts, saying the investigative hearing was sequel to a motion he moved on the floor of the Senate and the joint committees were mandated to investigate the matter.

He assured that the Committees will ensure that all those involved will be prosecuted and face the music, saying the matter would never be swept under the carpet.

Ikem, a Nigerian student based in Philippines, was on October 22, 2023 tortured by a group of Chinese co-workers over a minor disagreement with his supervisor.

“They tied his hands up, covered and tied his mouth and beat him until he gave up the ghost”, an eye witness said in a statement.

Ikem’s Employer to be Charged with his Murder in Philippines- Dabiri-Erewa

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Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council

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Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council

By: Our Reporter

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has approved the immediate dissolution of the State Executive Council.

The decision is to provide an enabling environment for any member of the council who may wish to contest elective positions in the forthcoming general elections.

The Governor has therefore directed all Commissioners to hand over the affairs of their respective ministries to the Permanent Secretaries on or before Friday, April 3, 2026.

Governor Zulum expressed his profound appreciation to the outgoing Commissioners for their dedication, commitment, and invaluable contributions to the development and service of the people of Borno State.

Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council

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How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy

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Late Sam Orji before his demise

How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Corp member Samuel Orji is not new to Monday market because he was raised in a restaurant right in front of the place as a kid because his mother used to be a food vendor to the traders within the vicinity.

Till the day of his death, he had friends and associates along the popular Ahmadu Bello way right down to Ali Kotoko Street where traders used to patronize his mother’s buka food.

But his mother have since left the town for Abuja leaving him and his brother Steve because he was still a student attending Ramat Polytechnic where he studied Electrical engineering when she left.

Having grown up in Maiduguri, he already knew that Improvised explosive devices IED could explode at any time during the day but never knew a semblance of the worse days could return to the city of yerwa.

For people who grew up in Maiduguri, the worse days are really over when everyone goes home before six pm so he was obviously rounding off his hustling that night when the explosion went off on Ahmadu Bello way which hit his legs and brought him down.

Though we all share a common humanity, living in the north east war theatre of hadin kai, we all go out each day for our daily bread not knowing what the end of the day will be like but taking each day as it comes.

Likewise, when corp member Samuel Orji left the house of his next of kin in Maduganari that fateful black Monday, he never planned not to return home, but as fate would have it, he was one of the victims that got hit by the suicide bomb explosion in front of the Monday market.

After being called up to the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) with number NYSC/RPM/25/185709, the young Orji was still serving at the engineering department of the Nigerian television authority (NTA) Potiskum in Yobe state when he lost his life.

Orji with YB/25B/1003 now serving in Damaturu found himself in Maiduguri the weekend before that black Monday because he had taken a pass to spend the public holiday with his brother and next of kin Stephen Orji who lives in Maduganari a suburban area of Maiduguri.

Speaking with this reporter after the tragedy, Borno State coordinator of the NYSC Bashir Nasir said the entire tragedy was a shock to him after a long spell of calmness in the city.

As soon as the incident happened, he was contacted by his headquarters (HQ) in Abuja to conduct a census of his Corp members to ensure all was well and report back to them.

It was in the process that he realized that his team was fine and that the fellow that died was indeed a Corp member but was serving the nation from Damaturu and that he had died as a result of the Monday blast on Ahmadu Bello way at the entrance of the market place.

“I quickly went into action by visiting all the places I know my corp members are based. And I was sure the fellow was not serving here in Borno after the roll call.

” Later a call came from his next of kin Steve to one of our staff in Yobe who indeed linked up with us here and that was when it was ascertained that Samuel Orji was a corp member serving in Yobe.

” I then went to the home of his next of kin Stephen Orji at Maduganari and that was how we took charge by handling all the preliminary expenses to ensure he is taken home for burial.

” The Yobe axis arranged for an ambulance and staff to convey his corpse to Enugu on Monday last week for burial.

” As a result of that triple blast I had to halt routine activities of corp members in the state except the medical officers among them who were released to assist in the hospitals on the condition that management will release ambulances from them to go and return safely to their bases. ” Said the state coordinator.

Challenges of the Corp in Borno state

The main challenge is obviously tied to their security which is why they are using the Arabic Teachers secondary school as a temporary location for now.

The original location has been tendered not usable after idps used it from 2012 to 3021

However, the governor in his magnanimity has given them a new camp of one km by one Km at Auno in the outskirts of the city.

Meanwhile the coordinator who would be one year next month since he assumed duty hinted that 506 Corp members of the batch A stream one of 2005 will pass out this week on the 31st of March.

Another bold set of Corp members of the batch A stream one of 2026 will however be sworn in on the 22nd April.

How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy

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Tension in jos north council area as government slams curfew over sunday’s killings in Plateau

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Tension in jos north council area as government slams curfew over sunday’s killings in Plateau

By: Bodunrin Kayode

Reports coming from Jos North council area of plateau State indicates that there is palpable tension in the city as suspected gunmen on motorcycle allegedly opened fire on some residents of Angwan Rukubu area Sunday evening.

The unprovoked shooting of innocent citizens caused serious pandemonium in the area forcing many residents to flee from the scene and avoided the general area until late at night when the government resultantly slammed a curfew in the area.

Residents were advised to avoid wandering around the general area from tomorrow in view of the incident so as not to fall victim of possible reprisals by young residents of the area.

‎PLATEAU STATE GOVERNMENT ORDERS 48 HOURS CURFEW IN JOS NORTH COUNCIL AREA

‎Reacting to the situation, the government has placed a 48 hour curfew on the area which is highly tensed according to eye witnesses for now.

A release signed by the Commissioner of information Joyce Ramnap stated that “‎Following the tragic security incident that occurred at Gari Ya Waye community Angwan Rukuba today Sunday 29th March 2028 resulting in the loss of lives, while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries.

‎”The Plateau State Government in conjunction with security agencies wishes to inform the general public of the imposition of a 48 hour curfew within Jos North Local government Area with immediate effect, commencing from 12 midnight of 29th March, to 1st April, 2026.


“‎The government under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang strongly condemns this barbaric and unprovoked attack on innocent citizens and assures the public that all necessary measures are being taken to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.


“‎Citizens are urged to remain calm, stay vigilant, and cooperate fully with security agencies by providing any useful information that may aid ongoing investigations.” Noted the release.

Tension in jos north council area as government slams curfew over sunday’s killings in Plateau

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