News

Again, Obama Snubs Nigeria, On African Tour

Published

13 years ago

May 22, 2013

United States President, Barack Obama has once again snubbed Nigeria as he visits select African nations on his second trip to the black continent since his election as President of the United States of America.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 – July 3, a statement from the White House said Monday.

President Obama’s boycott of Nigeria on his African tour is a big slap on the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, which has come under severe criticism from the US over its violation of human rights as security forces combat the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

The White House was, however, silent on why the US President snubbed Africa’s most populous state with one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Part of the White House statement reads: “President Obama and the First Lady look forward to traveling to Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania from June 26 – July 3. The President will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders.

“The President will meet with a wide array of leaders from government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues. The trip will underscore the President’s commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity,” it added.

Meanwhile, emergency crews searched the broken remnants of an Oklahoma City suburb yesterday for survivors of a massive tornado that flattened homes and demolished an elementary school.

Authorities lowered the death toll to 24, down from 51, but warned those numbers were expected to climb back up.

Some victims are believed to have been counted twice in the early chaos of the storm, said Amy Elliot, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner’s office. Downed communication lines and problems sharing information with officers exacerbated the problem, she said.

The death toll included at least nine children. Governor Mary Fallin said authorities did not know how many people were still missing, but they vowed to account for every resident.

The ferocious storm, clocking winds of up to 200 mph (320 kph), ripped through the town of Moore in a central U.S. region known as Tornado Alley, reducing homes to piles of splintered wood. Less than 1 per cent of all tornadoes reach such wind speed.

In Washington, President Barack Obama pledged urgent government help.

“In an instant, neighbourhoods were destroyed, dozens of people lost their lives, many more were injured,” Obama said. “Among the victims were young children trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew — their school.”

The storm left scores of blocks barren and dark in Moore, a community of 41,000 people 10 miles (16 kilometres) south of Oklahoma City.

New search-and-rescue teams moved at dawn yesterday, taking over from the 200 or so emergency responders who worked all night. A helicopter shined a spotlight from above to aid in the search.

Fire Chief Gary Bird said fresh teams would search the whole community at least two more times to ensure that no survivors — or any of the dead — were overlooked. Crews painted an ‘X’ on each structure to note it had been checked.

More than 200 people had been treated at area hospitals.

Other search-and-rescue teams focused their efforts at Plaza Towers Elementary, where the storm ripped off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal as students and teachers huddled in hallways and bathrooms.

Seven of the nine dead children were killed at the school, but several students were pulled alive from under a collapsed wall and other heaps of mangled debris. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain of parents and neighbourhood volunteers. Parents carried children in their arms to a triage centre in the parking lot. Some students looked dazed, others terrified.

Officials were still trying to account for a handful of children not found at the school who may have gone home early with their parents, Bird said Tuesday.

After hearing that the tornado was headed toward another school called Briarwood Elementary, David Wheeler left work and drove 100 mph (160 kph) through blinding rain and gusting wind to find his 8-year-old son, Gabriel. When he got there, “it was like the earth was wiped clean, like the grass was just sheared off,” Wheeler said.

Eventually, he found Gabriel, sitting with the teacher who had protected him. His back was cut and bruised and gravel was embedded in his head — but he was alive.

As the tornado approached, students at Briarwood were initially sent to the halls, but a third-grade teacher — whom Wheeler identified as Julie Simon — thought it didn’t look safe and so ushered the children into a closet, he said.

The teacher shielded Gabriel with her arms and held him down as the tornado collapsed the roof and starting lifting students upward with a pull so strong that it sucked the glasses off their faces, Wheeler said.

“She saved their lives by putting them in a closet and holding their heads down,” Wheeler said.

Authorities were still trying to determine the full scope of the damage.

Roofs were torn off houses, exposing metal rods left twisted like pretzels. Cars sat in heaps, crumpled and sprayed with caked-on mud. Insulation and siding was smashed up against the sides of any walls that remained standing. Yards were littered with pieces of wood, nails and pieces of electric poles.

The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most powerful type of twister. It estimated that the twister was at least half a mile (nearly a kilometre) wide.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, forecast more stormy weather Tuesday, predicting golf ball-sized hail, powerful winds and isolated, strong tornadoes in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The area at risk does not include Moore.

Monday’s twister also came almost exactly two years after an enormous twister ripped through the city of Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people.

That May 22, 2011, tornado was the deadliest in the United States since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

News

NDLEA Alerts Parents After Uncovering Drugs In Cookies, Gummies

Published

3 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has cautioned parents to closely monitor their children’s craving for cookies and gummies, warning that some of the products may contain illicit substances being smuggled into the country.

In a statement posted yesterday, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said recent seizures by the agency’s officers had revealed attempts by criminal elements to introduce prohibited substances under the guise of everyday snacks.

“As parents, if your kids and young ones always crave for cookies and gummies, you may have to pay a little more attention. There may be more to it than ordinary cookies and gummies,” Babafemi wrote, sharing images of seized packages.

The photos showed colourful pouches of “Cookies Delta 8 Gummies” in flavours such as Hawaiian Rain Pineapple Guava and Thai Mango, labelled as vegan and hemp-derived, alongside the actual gummy products.

The warning comes amid a major interception by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.

Officers seized two 40-foot containers containing large quantities of cannabis-infused products concealed among legitimate imports such as used vehicles, generators, batteries and fabrics.

The consignment included thousands of Delta-8 cannabis pre-roll cookies, packs of cannabis-infused gummies and other cannabis-infused cookies, with a combined estimated street value of about ?373.8m.

The items were subsequently handed over to the NDLEA.

NDLEA officials described the products, which originated from the United States and were packaged to resemble ordinary vegan snacks with appealing flavours, as an emerging public health threat.

They noted that the attractive packaging could appeal especially to children, students and young people, raising the risk of accidental consumption of concentrated cannabis.

News

RIWAMA, PCRC Join Forces To Curb Illegal Waste Dumping In Rivers

Published

3 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) has announced plans to partner with the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) to strengthen efforts at combating illegal waste dumping and improving environmental sanitation across the state.

The partnership was unveiled during a meeting between officials of RIWAMA and the leadership of the Rivers State chapter of the PCRC in Port Harcourt, recently, where both organisations pledged to work together to restore the Garden City status of the state capital.

In his speech, the Supervisor of Market and Community Sanitation in RIWAMA, Mr. Omereji Ukoha, said the collaboration was in line with the vision of the agency’s Managing Director, Dr. Ibimina Wokoma, and the Board Chairman, Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, to promote a cleaner and healthier environment.

Ukoha described the PCRC as a strategic grassroots partner capable of mobilising communities and driving behavioural change through sustained public enlightenment on proper waste disposal.

He expressed concern over the increasing rate of indiscriminate refuse dumping in parts of Port Harcourt, particularly in New GRA, where blocked drainage channels and illegal shanties have continued to contribute to flooding and environmental degradation.

According to him, the agency is determined to intensify enforcement against environmental offenders, warning that unregistered cart pushers and residents who patronise them would be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the RIWAMA Act, 2014.

The RIWAMA official urged residents to embrace proper waste disposal practices and patronise only government-approved waste operators in order to safeguard public health and protect the environment.

Responding, the Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee in Rivers State, Dr. Voke Emore, commended RIWAMA for seeking collaboration with the committee in addressing environmental challenges confronting the state.

Emore said the PCRC would deploy its community-based structures across the state to support public sensitisation and encourage residents to comply with environmental sanitation regulations.

He also called on local government councils to play more active roles in waste management, noting that they collect sanitation levies and should complement the efforts of the state government in maintaining a clean environment.

The PCRC chairman described indiscriminate refuse disposal as a serious environmental and public health concern, stressing that sustained collaboration among government agencies, community leaders and residents remained critical to achieving lasting sanitation goals.

Both organisations expressed optimism that the partnership would promote cleaner communities, reduce environmental hazards and strengthen public participation in efforts to ensure a healthier and more sustainable environment for the people of Rivers State.

King Onunwor

News

Police Nab Kidnap Syndicate, Arrest Five In Rivers

Published

3 days ago

August 10, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Police Command has arrested five suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate allegedly terrorising communities in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the State.

The State Police Command disclosed this in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, ASP Blessing Agabe, in Port Harcourt, recently.

The suspects were arrested during a coordinated operation at Oyigbo, following directives by the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, CP Olugbenga Adewole Adepoju.

Those arrested were Ezekiel Emmanuel, 44, from Benue State; Chukwuma Mbanefor, 51, from Anambra State; Nicholas Diala, 65, from Imo State; Ndubuisi Uwakwe, 49, from Abia State; and Ifeanyi Nwakwo, 51, from Imo State.

The Command said the arrest represented another significant operational success in its ongoing efforts to dismantle criminal networks operating in the State.

According to the Police, preliminary investigation indicated that the suspects were allegedly involved in kidnapping operations within Rivers State.

The suspects, during interrogation, allegedly confessed to their involvement in kidnapping and further admitted participating in several operations carried out in Kom-Kom, Railway, Obeama and Afam communities.

The Command said investigation was ongoing, with efforts intensified to identify and apprehend other members of the suspected syndicate who may be connected with the criminal activities.

The Police boss said the operation reflected the implementation of operational directives and the intelligence-driven policing strategy of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, psc, NPM.

Adepoju reaffirmed the Command’s determination to sustain aggressive intelligence-led operations against kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and other violent crimes across Rivers State.

He warned kidnappers and other criminal elements operating in the State that there would be no safe haven for them, stressing that the Command would relentlessly pursue, arrest and ensure that those found culpable were brought to justice.

The Commissioner further assured residents of the Command’s commitment to protecting lives and property, urging members of the public to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies in the fight against crime.

He appealed to residents to provide the Police with credible and timely information capable of assisting security operatives in preventing criminal activities and apprehending suspected criminals.

The Command urged members of the public who may have useful information on the activities of the suspected kidnapping syndicate or other criminal elements to contact the Police through its emergency lines, assuring that such information would assist ongoing investigations.

King Onunwor