Highly disturbed by the spate of assault on personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps who are legitimately carrying out their statutory responsibilities, the Corps Marshal has ordered in-depth investigation into the latest assault and immediate prosecution of a motorist who repeatedly assaulted FRSC personnel.

The Corps Marshal also hailed the Unit Commander, Chief Route Commander AM Usman and the entire staff of the Command for exhibiting high level of professionalism and civility amidst the provocative actions of the motorist, saying that there action represents the ideals of the Corps.

The report of the assault case which was recorded on 7 December, 2024 along OKO-ADO Lekki Epe express way within the Lekki Unit Command general operations area, in Lagos State; revealed that at about 1554hrs, the patrol team flagged a Toyota Corolla with vehicle Registration number EPE690HH for seatbelt violation.

At request of the vehicle papers, it was discovered that the papers had expired since December 2022 which prompted the impoundment of the vehicle.

While the driver of the vehicle who contravened the law did not resist arrest, a particular lady who happened to be a passenger in the same vehicle became provocative, verbally assaulted the arresting Marshal and threatened to prosecute them for doing their job.

As if her threat was not enough, the lady went further to create a scene so as to conjure undeserving sympathy from other road users. When all of her antics did not play out, she opted on physical assault as could be seen in the attached video. She assaulted the personnel all the way from the point of arrest and refused to put an end to it even when the vehicle was finally impounded in the Lekki Command.

When all efforts to bring her to calmness did not yield desired results, the Unit Commander engaged the Divisional Police Officer, Ajah Police Station who swiftly deployed a team of men to arrest the lady and the driver for further investigation.

Meanwhile the Corps Marshal has admonished the motoring public to always channel their grievance through proper administrative processes or take appropriate legal actions rather than taking laws into their hands.

He therefore warned the motoring public to put a halt to any form of assault on FRSC personnel henceforth.

The Corps Marshal is also optimistic that Justice will not only be served, but done speedily so as to serve as deterrent to other violent road users.

BY AKUDORO GLORIA 

Again, millions of businesses and homes in the country have been thrown into darkness following a fresh collapse of the national grid today, Wednesday 11, 2024.

This incident marks the 12th time this year the national grid collapses, cutting off electricity supply in most parts of the country.

According to report from the Independent System Operator (ISO), grid collapsed at about 2 PM and all power plants connected to the grid had ceased operations after generating an average of 3,087 megawatts earlier in the day.

The power outage was also confirmed by several Distribution Companies (DisCos) in their respective official X account which include: the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC); Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC); PortHarcourt Electricity Distribution Plc (PHED); Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric (IE) showed that grid failure occurred at 1:33 PM, affecting their franchise areas.

“The current outage being experienced within our franchise states is a result of loss of power supply from the national grid. The loss of power supply from thd national grid occurred this afternoon at about 1333 hours of today Wednesday 11 December 2024, hence, the loss of power supply in all our feeders.

“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the grid supply is restored back to normalcy,” Jos Disco.

Reacting to the power outage over the phone, the General Manager, Public Affairs of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Ndidi Mbah said efforts are underway to ascertain the exact cause and swiftly restore power supply.

By Sonnie Nwosu 

Thumbs up for an Igbo group that has introduced a soccer league with a view to distract the youths from indulging in crimes during the Yuletide.

The overriding objective was to provide entertainment to Ndigbo that returned for Christmas celebrations, address social challenges among youths, empower many youths by providing jobs for them and by so doing, distract them from criminal activities.

Chief Peter Amaechi Iloakasia(Udo Aguleri), emerged as the first President of the league called “The Igbo Confederation League” (ICL) when the organizers sat down and brainstormed in other to dowse the wave of youth restiveness during the Christmas period and prevent them overheating the atmosphere in the name of merriment.

Chief Iloakasia in his Innaugural speech as the chairman stated that football the world over is known to bring love, reduce hatred, in society and destroys enmity, hence he is vigorously pursuing the above agenda from day one of his emerging as the President of the league which is designed to deradicalize the vibrant youths in the whole South East.

He averred that it is being planned to be one of the biggest traditional games in Africa, as prior to this time, Igbo people have been playing football during festival periods in their different home towns as a means of entertaining Igbos who returned from different parts of the world.

Chief Iloakasia told the press in a media briefing the ICL is geared towards bringing the existing Igbo leagues together and upgrade them to international standards because such traditional games are capable of selling in the international market.

Chief Peter A. Iloakasia who hails from Eziagulu, Aguleri in Anambra East local government area is a firm believer in youths empowerment and a lover of sports with a special interest in football.

As a local government chairman in the past, he organized a football tournament which showcased immensely talented players, one of which was Emmanuel Emenike who later played both locally for the Nigerian Super Eagles and internationally for renowned clubs like Fenerbahce F C, Turkey.

He also doubles as the Chairman of Sparkling Stars International F C and married with children and grandchildren.

“The aforementioned league which is focused at engaging and winning the hearts of the youths as well as fostering mutual cooperation will kick off during the Christmas holidays and expected to run till the end of the year, is most salutary, appreciable as it is commendable and worthy of emulation, should be replicated by other zones of the federation”, Chief Iloakasia admonished.