News
Wabba’s Outburst Spurious, Malicious -RSG
…Warns Labour Against Contempt Of Court
…Says Interim Injunction Properly Served On NLC, TUC
The Rivers State Government has dismissed the outburst by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, on the court proceedings in relation to the ongoing labour dispute between the state government and organized labour in the state, describing it as spurious, unfounded and malicious.
A statement signed by the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Zacheaus Adangor, in Port Harcourt, yesterday, reads, “The attention of the Rivers State Government has been drawn to an audio message being circulated on the social media and credited to Comrade Ayuba P. Wabba, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
“For the records, the said Comrade Ayuba P. Wabba is the 3rd defendant in Suit No. NICN/LA/305/2020 (Attorney-General, Rivers State v. Nigeria Labour Congress and 5 Others) now pending before the National Industrial Court, Lagos (sitting as a vacation court).
“In the said audio message, Comrade Ayuba P. Wabba made a number of spurious, unfounded and malicious allegations against me and the Office of the Honourable Attorney-General of Rivers State in relation to the proceedings in the aforesaid Suit No. NICN/LA/305/2020 with a view to ridiculing the judicial process and impugning the authority and integrity of the court.
“It must be emphasized that ordinarily, it would not have been necessary to honour Comrade Ayuba Wabba with a response.
“However, given the seriousness of the issues raised in his putrid audio message as they appertain to our court of law and the administration of justice, it has become absolutely necessary to set the records straight.
“Contrary to the offensive assertion in the audio message that the Honourable Attorney-General of Rivers State ‘claimed’ to have obtained an Order of Interim Injunction from the National Industrial Court, the truth of the matter is that the National Industrial Court, Lagos Division (coram Hon. Justice N. C. S. Ogbuanya, J.) sitting as a vacation Judge, actually granted an Order of Interim Injunction in favour of the claimant/applicant and against the defendants on 1st September, 2020, in the following terms:
“An Order of Interim Injunction is hereby granted restraining the Defendants herein either by themselves or through their servants, agents, privies, officers or otherwise howsoever called from embarking on a strike action in Rivers State on 5th, 6th or 7th September, 2020 or any other date whether earlier or later, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory Injunction filed contemporaneously herewith;
“An Order of Interim Injunction is hereby granted restraining the Defendants either by themselves or through their servants, agents, privies, officers or otherwise howsoever from stopping, hindering, preventing, disrupting and/or interfering in any manner whatsoever with the provision of service and other works by their members in the civil and public service of the claimant/applicant pending the hearing and determination of the substantive Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction already filed.
“Given the urgency, and in line with Order 7 Rule 1 (9) of the Rules of this Court, leave is hereby granted the claimant/applicant to serve the Originating Summons, Motion on Notice and all other processes in this Suit on the Defendants along with the Interim Order herein granted, by publication in two national newspapers circulating in Nigeria, in the event that prompt service of the court processes and the Interim Order, herein, cannot be effected on the trade unions herein, as prescribed under Order 7 Rule 1 (1) (h) (ii) of the Rules of this court before the return date of further proceedings.
“To be sure, the enrolled Order of Interim Injunction has been duly served on all the defendants in accordance with the provisions of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2017, and in compliance with paragraph 3 of the enrolled Order of the Honourable Court.
“The allegation made by Comrade Ayuba Wabba that the enrolled Order of Interim Injunction has not been served on the defendants, is therefore, not only mendacious but also laughable.
“Comrade Ayuba Wabba claims that the organized labour is not embarking on a strike action but rather a “national protest in Rivers State. The word ‘protest’ is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Edition, 2010) page 601 to mean inter alia: ‘an organized public demonstration objecting to an official policy’.
“The adjective ‘national’ which qualifies the protest being threatened by the organized labour in Rivers State, underscores the fact that protesters will be drawn from across the Federation of Nigeria. Clearly, a national protest, will invariably occasion or involve the stoppage, disruption and/or interference with the provision of service and other works by members of the organized labour in the civil and public service of the Government of Rivers State contrary to the terms of the subsisting Order of Interim Injunction granted against the defendants, including Comrade Wabba. Nothing could be more contemptuous of the Honourable Court!
“Comrade Wabba has further claimed that the Honourable Attorney-General of Rivers State has ‘boasted that he can procure any order of the court at will’. This allegation which is the product of a warped mind, shows that Comrade Wabba has no scintilla of respect for the judicial process in our courts.
“First, orders of court are not ‘procured’ but issued, made or granted by the court as the circumstances of each case may justify. Second, the Honourable Attorney-General of Rivers State has never met Comrade Wabba in his life and could not have boasted to him about his capacity to obtain court orders at will.
“The statement is thus a figment of Comrade Wabba’s imagination contrived to give colour to his threatened act of brazen illegality. Finally, the Hon. Attorney-General of Rivers State has never boasted before any official or member of the organized labour in Rivers State that he could ‘procure any order of the court at will’ either as alleged or at all.
“That irresponsible statement is not only an underserved attack on the office of the Honourable Attorney- General of Rivers State but also a veiled attack on our Judiciary. This is unfortunate.
“Finally, it is utterly false that the Honourable Attorney-General of Rivers State abducted and/or held any labour leader in Rivers State captive at the Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt.
“Comrade Wabba should inform Nigerians whether any complaint has been lodged with the police against the Honourable Attorney-General in respect of the alleged abduction.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the organized labour is not a state within a state. On the contrary, it is a body created by law and is bound by the same law that gives its existence legal validity.
“The case of the Government of Rivers State before the National Industrial Court is that the organized labour cannot declare a strike action in Rivers State without strict compliance with the conditions precedent prescribed in the Trade Disputes Act, Cap, T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and the Trade Unions Act, Cap. T14 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
“Our commitment to the enthronement of the rule of law in our state rather than rule by force, informed our decision to seek judicial redress against the organized labour.
“The Government of Rivers State will not engage in any act of illegality in confronting the monster of lawlessness which the organized labour now appears to epitomize”, Adangor added.
However, the Rivers State Government says the organised labour in Rivers State would be charged with contempt of court, if they proceeded with their planned protest and strike, tomorrow.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Pastor Paulinus Nsirim, who said this at a media briefing in his office in Port Harcourt, said the organised labour would be going against the law in view of an injunction restraining it from going ahead with the planned protest.
It would be recalled that the two umbrella unions had said in Abuja, last Thursday, that they would lead the leaderships of all affiliate unions to storm Rivers State from September 8, 2020, on a protest march against what they described as “despotic rule and development of violence against workers by the Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration”.
The commissioner described the plan by the organised labour as unfortunate, as according to him, the administration of Governor Nyesom Wike was not lawless.
Nsirim pointed out that, there was an interim injunction from the National Industrial Court, Lagos Division, restraining labour from any form of protest or strike, adding that since the matter was already in court, the state government would not join issues with labour.
“You are all aware of some recent developments in the state where the NLC is threatening to go on strike. The Rivers State Government, under the able leadership of Chief Nyesom Wike, believes strongly in the rule of law.
“On the 1st of September, 2020, the Rivers State Government obtained an order of interim injunction from the National Industrial Court presided over by Hon. Justice N.C.S. Ogbuanya, in Suit No: NICN/LA/305/2020.
“The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State, Prof Zacchaeus Adangor obtained this injunction on behalf of the Rivers State Government”, Nsirim explained.
He listed those joined in the suit pending at the Lagos court, a copy of which was made available to The Tide, as the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and his counterpart in the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Quandri Olaleye; Rivers State NLC Chairman, Comrade Beatrice Itubo; and the state TUC Chairman, Comrade Austin Jonah.
Nsirim further said the interim injunction has been served to the defendants as well as the originating summons ahead of the hearing scheduled for September 8; adding that in obedience to the court order, the state government had published the order of injunction in two national dallies on Thursday, September 3, 2020; warning the unions to be ready to face the law, if they go ahead with the protest.
Similarly, the Rivers State Government has reiterated its readiness to move the court to issue Form 48 conveying Notice of Consequence of Disobedience to Court Order on the leaderships of organized labour in Rivers State, if they insist on embarking on protest as a result of not being served, in-person, the court injunction restraining the unions from the protest billed for tomorrow.
Briefing journalists in Government House, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, said every disobedience of an order of court constitutes Contempt of Court, adding that the court that issued the order possesses both statutory and inherent powers to punish the culprits for disobedience of its order by committing the party (s) in default to prison until they purge themselves of the contempt.
He warned the organized labour against any act of overt or subtle disobedience of the subsisting orders of the National Industrial Court, adding that there shall be consequences for disobedience.
Adangor pointed out that in the circumstance, the defendants in Suit Nos. NICN/PH/41/2020 and NICN/LA/305/2020, were bound to comply strictly with the terms of the subsisting orders of interim injunction issued by the courts, insisting that they were bound to refrain from carrying out or purporting to carry out, embark upon or proceed with the strike action in Rivers State whether on September 8, 2020, or on any earlier or later date.
The address read at the briefing, titled, “Text Of A Press Conference Held By The Hon. Attorney-General And Commissioner For Justice, Rivers State, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor At Government House, Port Harcourt, On Saturday, September 5, 2020, On The Legal Aspects Of The Threatened Strike Action By Organized Labour In Rivers State”, states: “Sometime on or about the 16th day of March, 2020, the Rivers State Councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria issued a ‘Notice of Seven (7) Days Ultimatum for the Commencement of an Indefinite Strike Action in Rivers State by the Organized Labour’. See Annexure ‘A’.
“From the Notice of Seven (7) Days Ultimatum (Annexure ‘A’), the indefinite strike action was scheduled to commence midnight of Monday, 23rd March, 2020.
“It is important to mention that in issuing the Notice of Seven Days Ultimatum for the Commencement of Strike Action in Rivers State, the Rivers State Councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, failed, refused and/or neglected to fulfil the condition precedent for the declaration of strike action as prescribed in Sections 4, 6 and 18 (1) (a) of the Trade Disputes Act, Cap. T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
“Consequently, the Government of Rivers State through the Honourable Attorney-General instituted Suit No. NICN/PH/41/2020 (Attorney-General Rivers State v. Comrade Beatrice Itubo, JP) at the National Industrial Court, Port Harcourt, by way of Originating Summons seeking the interpretation of the provisions of the Trade Disputes Act, Cap. T8 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004 and the Trade Unions Act, Cap. T14 LFN 2004 in relation to the threatened strike action by the defendants. The Honourable Attorney, as claimant, seeks declaratory and injunctive reliefs against the defendants on records.
“Given the extreme urgency of the matter, the Attorney-General also filed an Ex-parte Application for interim injunction restraining the defendants in Suit No. NICN/PH/41/2020, from commencing, embarking on or proceeding with the strike action.
By: John Bibor & Enoch Epelle
The Federal Government has honoured 12 teachers from across the country with national awards, reaffirming its commitment to strengthening the education sector through improved welfare, incentives, and professional development for teachers.
The awards were presented yesterday at the Nigeria Teachers’ Summit 2026, held in Abuja, where the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated that the government would sustain reforms aimed at empowering teachers and restoring dignity to the profession.
Alausa explained that the selection process was transparent and merit-based, with three teachers nominated from each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory at both the basic and senior secondary school levels.
From the pool of nominees, 12 teachers; six from basic education and six from senior secondary education, emerged as national award recipients.
Each of the 12 awardees received a cheque of N25m.
The Overall Best Teacher of the Year, Solanke Taiwo from the South-West category, received an additional N25m, bringing his total prize to N50m.
In addition to the cash prize, Taiwo is to receive a brand new car from the Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, as well as a fully furnished two-bedroom flat from the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun.
Also, the Governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris, pledged to give each of the award winners an additional N5 million.
The minister described the awardees as exemplifying professionalism, integrity, innovation and dedication to learners, noting that they represent the best of the teaching profession in the country.
“This is more than a reward. It is a national signal that teaching is a noble, respected, and valued profession in Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking at the summit themed ‘Empowering Teachers, Strengthening the System: A National Agenda for Education Transformation and Sustainability,’ the minister said the recognition of the teachers reflected the FG’s broader education reform agenda under Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“Teachers are the foundation of education, and education is the foundation of national development. No nation can rise above the quality of its teachers.
“No reform, no matter how well designed, can succeed unless teachers are empowered, motivated, supported, and respected,” Alausa said.
He pledged that the government would continue to invest in teachers through structured training, improved career pathways and fair rewards, noting that education remained central to national development.
Under the Renewed Hope Agenda, he said, “sustainable development, economic growth, innovation, and social cohesion depend on a strong and responsive education system and that system depends on teachers.”
As part of this commitment, the minister announced the launch of EduRevamp, a nationally coordinated Continuous Professional Development programme designed to modernise teacher training and improve classroom outcomes.
While the programme is open to teachers in both public and private schools, Alausa said performance-based incentives would be reserved for public school teachers who complete certified training.
“Professional growth must never be restricted. Every teacher deserves access to quality training, modern tools, and updated skills,” he said, adding that incentives would be tied to measurable performance.
He also highlighted complementary initiatives, including the Ignite digital platform to reduce teacher workload, the Diaspora Bridge programme to strengthen STEMM education, and the provision of 60,000 tablets for teachers with zero-data access to approved training platforms.
The minister further announced reforms to the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria’s digital platform, the expansion of Communities of Practice, and progress on the Accelerated Teacher Training Programme aimed at fast-tracking professionalisation for in-service teachers.
To provide long-term stability, he said the government had introduced a National Teacher Policy to guide teacher development, welfare and professional standards nationwide.
Addressing the award recipients and other educators at the summit, Alausa described the government’s message as “professional growth, dignity in service, and renewed hope,” urging stakeholders to focus on tangible outcomes in classrooms across the country.
In her welcoming remarks, the Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmad, underscored the central role of teachers in Nigeria’s education reform agenda.
Ahmad said the gathering was both timely and strategic, noting that the quality of any education system is inseparable from the quality, motivation and empowerment of its teachers.
She explained that the theme aligns directly with Nigeria’s current education priorities.
According to her, investing in teachers is the bedrock of sustainable reform and national development.
“Empowering teachers is not an isolated intervention; it is the foundation upon which sustainable education reform is built.
“When teachers are supported, trained, motivated, and valued, the entire system is strengthened, learning outcomes improved, equity expands, and national development is accelerated,” she said.
Describing the summit as a strategic national platform, Ahmad said it was designed to unite key stakeholders to address challenges in the education sector and advance practical reforms.
She noted that the forum brings together teachers, policymakers, education leaders, regulators, unions, development partners and private sector actors to strengthen teaching and learning outcomes nationwide.
In his goodwill message, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Audi Amba, described the summit as a historic milestone in the recognition of teachers’ roles in national development.
Nigeria’s education sector has continued to grapple with longstanding challenges, particularly around teacher welfare, access to regular professional development, classroom capacity and infrastructure.
These issues have raised concerns among stakeholders about the quality of teaching and learning in many public schools. At the same time, industrial actions by education unions in recent years have further highlighted the pressures facing educators nationwide.
The Rivers State Government has declared that it draws its confidence from the assurance that God is more than sufficient to guide its leaders, strengthen its institutions, and sustain its communities in peace and progress.
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?Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, made this declaration during the 2026 Holy Ghost Rally organised by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, Port Harcourt, on Sunday.
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?Speaking through his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, the governor stated that “with the Almighty God on our side, our challenges are surmountable and our future remains hopeful,” noting that the theme of this year’s rally, “The All-Sufficient God,” is both timely and reassuring.
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This was contained in a statement from the office of the Deputy Governor, signed by the Head of Press, ?Owupele Benebo.
?According to Fubara, the theme serves as a powerful reminder that in a world filled with uncertainty, God remains our unfailing source, sufficient in wisdom, strength, provision, and grace.
He stressed that when human ability reaches its limit, God’s sufficiency prevails.
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?The governor commended the Redeemed Christian Church of God for its consistent spiritual impact and unwavering prayers for Rivers State and the nation, expressing appreciation for the Church’s contributions to promoting moral values, unity, and faith in God.
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?In his sermon, drawn from Genesis 17:1, the General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, described the Almighty God, whose name is above every other name, as all-sufficient and capable of meeting every human need.
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?He noted that the God who created all things also has the power to repair and restore them.
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?Adeboye explained that while human effort, including medical intervention, may reach its limits, there comes a point where only God steps in to turn situations around, bringing hope where none seemed possible.
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?In his address, the Pastor in charge of the Rivers Family of the RCCG, Pastor Adesoji Oni, stated that the Port Harcourt Holy Ghost Rally, which began in 2015 and has now become an annual event, has been a tremendous blessing to the people of the State.
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Adesoji noted that the rally has drawn thousands of souls to God while impacting lives spiritually and physically.
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?He further disclosed that the Church has gone beyond preaching the gospel to actively engage in impactful initiatives through its Christian Social Responsibility programmes.
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?These include skills acquisition centres, maternity centres across the State, a rehabilitation centre for persons battling substance abuse, and an Innovative Mind Hub.
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