Price Of Garri Drops By 60% In Enugu

Price of garri, a staple in the country, has dropped by more than 60 per cent in Enugu within four months.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who conducted a market survey on the staple on Monday, observed that the price has gone down from as high as N1, 250 to between N450 and N500 per paint bucket.

The paint bucket of four-litre is usually the standard measure for cereals in South East.

Many buyers, who came to purchase the staple in markets in Enugu, said they were happy as they could get white garri for N450 and yellow garri for N500.

A buyer, who spoke to NAN, said that they prayed the price could crash further, while another said it should continue at its current price.

The traders attributed the price crash to the current bumper harvest of cassava after many Nigerians had yielded the call to return to the farm.

A garri seller at Garki Market, Mrs Obioma Ukoh, said that many people went into cassava farming since last year and for that its price had drastically dropped.

“I pray that people will continue to plant cassava, this way there will be no reason to buy it as high as N1, 250 again,’’ she said.

Mr James Ugwu, a teacher in one of the secondary schools in Enugu, also said that the low price was as a result of bumper harvest of cassava this year.

Ugwu, who NAN met at Kenyatta Market, said that the price would not get higher anymore as everyone had learnt a lesson and many had gone back to farming.

A corps member, Miss Ifeoma Ogbologu, who came for shopping at Akwata Market, said she was happy buying garri at the rate of N450, explaining that it was not easy when the price was N1, 250.

 NAN

UN Condemns Arrests Of Congo Opposition Members

                               Headquarters of the UN in New York City. By Neptuul – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,                         

UN on Monday condemned the arrest of about 30 opposition members amid a crackdown on dissent by President Joseph Kabila’s government.

The arrests occurred in the eastern city of Lubumbashi on Sunday when police broke up a meeting by the Union for Democracy and Social Progress party on the eve of a return to the city of opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi after a long absence, party members told Reuters.

Congo is struggling to deal with high political tension and security concerns are threatening to spiral out of control in Africa’s largest copper producer because of Kabila’s refusal to hold elections when his presidential mandate expired nearly a year ago.

The election commission said that an election to replace Kabila, who came to power after his father’s assassination in 2001, will not be possible before April 2019 at the earliest, raising the prospect of long-term unrest.

“I urge the Congolese authorities to release immediately and unconditionally those arbitrarily arrested yesterday in Lubumbashi,” said Maman Sidikou, head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in a statement.

MONUSCO also demanded an end to restrictions imposed on Kyungu wa Kumwanza, president of the National Union of Federalists of the Congo party, who has been under de facto house arrest for several months without being charged with a crime.

Congo’s government has banned opposition demonstrations since 2016, when security forces killed dozens of protesters demanding Kabila’s departure.

Kabila’s political opponents are weak and divided.

Many joined a power-sharing government earlier this year following the death of opposition icon, Tshisekedi’s father Etienne, and they enjoy limited credibility with the population.

However, an economic crisis that has seen inflation spike to over 50 per cent, increased militia activity, and a series of prison breaks have highlighted Kabila’s tenuous hold on power.

Vanguard.

Court Awards N2m Against Police For Arresting Evans’ Brother-In-Law

For arresting the brother-in-law of billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday entered judgment against the Nigeria Police Force.

In the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Mr. Okwuchukwu Obiechina, said to be Evans’ brother-in-law, Justice Mohammed Idris, on Monday, declared Obiechina’s arrest and detention unconstitutional.

The judge ruled that the remand order which the police claimed to have obtained from a magistrates’ court was invalid.

Apart from ordering the police to immediately release Obiechina unconditionally or charge him to court if they have any case against him, the court also awarded N2m damages in his favour against the police.

Justice Idris also ordered the police to tender a public apology to Obiechina to be published in two national dailies.

Punch

Police Arrest Man For Allegedly Killing Commercial Sex Worker

The police in Enugu State have arrested a man who allegedly stabbed a commercial sex worker to death on Sunday, following a disagreement he had with the woman.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) SP Ebere Amaraizu, in a statement he issued on Monday, said that the incident happened at about 3:30 a.m. at Onuato Street, Enugu.

Amaraizu said that the victim accompanied the suspect to his apartment where they had a disagreement which resulted in a scuffle that led to her death.

He said that the suspect, who picked up the sex worker at Rangers Avenue on Oct. 22, had agreed with her that he would pay her N4,000 after passing the night with him.

The PPRO quoted the suspect as disclosing that he had drunk to his fill and that on arrival, because it was already getting late, he demanded that they had sex immediately.

“His request did not influence anything as the deceased allegedly requested to finish what she was inhaling in order to be in the mood for the business of the day.

“The accused maintained that after several hours of pressuring her and without any answer, he slept off and woke up before 3 a.m.,” Amarizu stated.

The police spokesman said that the accused immediately ordered the sex wrker to leave the apartment since the aim of bringing her appeared to have been defeated.

“The accused said that the deceased resisted the order and allegedly warned him to beware as she would not succumb to any person’s threat whatsoever.

“She later headed for a kitchen knife that was seen in the kitchen spot of the suspect’s room after allegedly biting him.

“The accused further revealed that a fight suddenly broke out between them and as the deceased tried to stab him to death with the kitchen knife, he overpowered her,” he said.

Amarizu quoted the suspect as saying that the kitchen knife went straight to the stomach of the deceased and he finally stabbed her on the neck region and she died.

The police spokesman said that the accused later wrapped her body and hurriedly arranged to travel to Lagos.

According to him, the suspect was nabbed, following a tip off from members of a local vigilante.

He said that the body was recovered from the apartment and deposited at the mortuary of the Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre, Enugu, as investigations into the incident had commenced.

pm news

I Never Dated Nadia Buhari- Jim Iyke

Nigerian actor, James Ikechukwu Esomugha popularly known as Jim Iyke in an interview revealed that the romance report between him and Ghanaian actress, Nadia Buhari, was never true.

According to Punch, Jim Iyke said they had something they wanted to achieve with the relationship rumour, as he further disclosed that dating and even getting engaged on their reality TV show was part of the script for the show.

“Things didn’t get messy as people thought. Two people met in the entertainment industry and there was a reality show at a time that kept us together. So, we did a smart thing anybody who found himself or herself in such situation would have done. And when the entertainment was over, we moved on to our normal lives.”
“For anyone who thought anything extraordinary happened, it was a live show except that it played into our personal lives too.

I got what I wanted, which was followership and I appreciate the audience for watching. She understood what she was coming into and I understood as well. We got the mileage we both wanted and we moved on with our lives. Five years down the lane, people are still talking about it.”

 pm news