Ifeanyi Ubah

An unspecified number of police officers have been killed at the Enugwu-Ukwu community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State as yet-to-be-identified assailants opened fire on the convoy of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.

Sources said the gunmen opened fire on the convoy, and police operatives in the convoy responded and about six policemen were gunned down in the shoot-out.

The incident happened late on Sunday.

Although details of the incident were still sketchy, according to various sources, it might be an assassination

attempt on the senator.

A source said, “Senator Ifeanyi Ubah was attacked today by some hoodlums in Enugwu Ukwu. It was a calculated attempt. It wasn’t an impromptu action.

“The policemen were about four in the convoy and they were attacked.

“All their arms were collected. The boys that spearheaded that attack were about nine in numbers.”

Another source said six policemen were killed in the attack.

Although Senator Ubah could not be reached for confirmation as his line remained unreachable all through.

But a close ally of the senator said it was an “attempted assassination on the distinguished Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah.

“He survived it but there are casualties. Some policemen in his convoy were killed. I just spoke with him. He’s okay but told me there are casualties.”

The spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident and said there was an attack on the men of the command at Enugwu-Ukwu, but insisted that the casualty figure were still unknown.

He said, “The Commissioner of Police Anambra State Command, CP Echeng Echeng, has today(Sunday), led police operatives to the scene where sporadic shootings took place in Enug-Ukwu.

“Though the details of the incident are still sketchy, operatives are on the ground there as operations are going on and the situation is being monitored. Further details shall be communicated please.”

Culled from The Punch

Prime Minister Gaston Browne                    ( Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty images)

CNN reports - The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda said the Caribbean country will hold a referendum on whether to become a republic and remove King Charles III as the head of state within the next few years.

The former British colony gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1981 but is one of 14 countries in addition to the UK where the British monarch is head of state. It is also a part of the Commonwealth, a 56-member organization of mostly former British territories.

After confirming King Charles III as the King of Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne told ITV News that he planned on holding a referendum on whether the country becomes a republic in the next three years.

“This is a matter that has to be taken to a referendum for the people to decide,” he said, adding that it is not mean to “represent any form of disrespect to the monarch. This is not an act of hostility, or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy.”

He explained that it would be “a final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation.”

Questions were raised in March about the monarchy’s continued role in the region after the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine, visited three Commonwealth realms – Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas – on a trip aimed at celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne.

The trip was beset with issues, where they were told by Jamaica’s prime minister that the country was “moving on” and will attain its “true ambition” to be “independent.”

Last year, Barbados severed its final imperial links to Britain by declaring itself a republic.

Barbados’s decision marked the first time in nearly three decades that a realm opted to remove the British monarch as head of state. The last nation to do so was the island of Mauritius in 1992. Like that country, Barbados has remained part of the Commonwealth.

Culled from CNN

SDK

Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has called on the Department of State Services (DSS) to either release Tukur Mamu or charge him to court.

Citing the law, Gumi said anybody arrested over an alleged crime needs to be taken to court within 24 hours.

Daily Trust had reported how Mamu, who negotiated the release of some of the victims of the Kaduna -Abuja train attack, was arrested at Cairo International Airport on his way to Saudi Arabia for Lesser Hajj.

He was deported back and picked up by the DSS at Kano International Airport.

The DSS subsequently said Mamu has questions to answer on the rising insecurity in the country.

During his weekly preaching at Sultan Bello Mosque, Gumi said Mamu was arrested because of his role in assisting victims of terrorist attacks.

The cleric, who said God has a way of testing a believer, added that the arrest of Mamu was God’s way of testing his faith, praying that Mamu would overcome it.

“Take him to court to face trial. Keeping him in custody despite being a family man was just to intimidate him. This intimidation is also terrorism. Arresting people unjustly is also terrorism; just like the terrorists do by going to somebody’s house to kidnap him.

“How can we continue in this situation under a government that is about to wind up? Our hope is for them to finish successfully not in a bad light. It’s not about Tukur Mamu, you all know that whenever they arrest innocent people, I always talk, not to talk of someone that I know and I’m only advising the government to release him so that we can apologize to him to forget what happened.”

Culled from Daily Trust

The President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), Prof. Taiwo Obindo, has said that more than 60 million Nigerians suffer from mental illnesses.