News
VGN Solicits Wike, Other Govs’ Support …Wants Buhari To Assent To Outfit’s Bill

A grassroots security outfit and paramilitary organisation, Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) in the South-South geopolitical zone, has solicited the support of Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike and other governors in the region to enable the body discharge its responsibilities more effectively in order to check criminality in the area. This is even as the body has equally stressed the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the VGN Bill passed by the National Assembly to give the outfit full operational backing in the country.
The Acting Commandant of VGN in the South-South, Mr Tolumobofa Jonathan Akpoebibo, who made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt last Saturday while reviewing the operations of the Rivers State Command, said the body was in dire need of logistic support in the zone going by the sensitive nature and size of the area.
According to hum, apart from lagging behind in the area of manpower, VGN in the zone needs vehicles to help its personnel’s mobility as well as stipends to enable it fund its activities.
Akpoebibo said the outfit needs more support from the Governors just as the state Governors in the North, the South-West and South-East are supporting their people.
He further indicated that the VGN Bill which the National Assembly recently passed into law, and currently awaiting the President’s assent, if given the final nod, would go a long way to reposition the body for greater efficiency, stressing that the body was currently training its personnel and ungrading their capacity to make them more result-oriented in the discharge of their functions.
The Zonal Commandant also gave an insight into what makes the work of the outfit different from that of the police and other security agencies, stressing that the work of VGN is to gather information which its personnel disseminate to the conventional security bodies for prompt actions, among other responsibilities.
According to him, “We assist the efforts of the police, the Military and the rest of them. We work with all conventional security bodies. We have the right to arrest and hand over. We also have the right to report any criminal activities to the government, the conventional security bodies and this body is recognised by the Federal Government and the 36 State Governors.”
Akpoebibo said this explains why VGN personnel are deployed to all communities in the country.
He said members of the body equally beam their searchlight on the creeks where some hoodlums may gather before executing their evil plots, saying, “We want to follow them up even in the creeks, to the smallest community, to know what they are really doing. And then give the conventional security bodies feedback”.
On how the personnel are able to discharge their functions successfully without being armed, Akpoebibo said, “Security is not all about arms. If you want to gather information, you don’t need to carry arms. You don’t need to carry gun. It is all about gathering vital information”.
In a related development, the Acting Commander of VGN in Rivers State, Mr Chuks Osumah, says the security outfit has been on ground in the state, particularly in ensuring that criminality is reduced to the barest minimum in the state.
According to him, the body has played significant roles in the arrest of some hardened criminals in the state.
Osumah, who spoke in an interview, assured that the body would continue to work with the state government to achieve set goals, but hinted that it needs the support of the government and well-meaning Nigerians to surmount its current office accommodation and other logistic challenges.
“Knowing the kind of Governor we have, he said he was confident that Governor Wike would do the needful by supporting the outfit.
On his part, the Assistant Commander, Legal, Boate Ayebaemi said VGN is held in high esteem in the country, as members of the body are effectively playing their roles across the country, and debunked insinuations that there are cracks within its ranks.
Ayebaemi, therefore, affirmed that Dr. Mohammed Usman Jahun remains the Commandant General of VGN in the country, and advised those parading themselves to desist forthwith, following a recent Court of Appeal ruling recognising him (Jahun) as such.
He equally authenticated the fact that Mr Chuks Osumah is the Acting Commander of the body in Rivers State, and solicited the support and cooperation of members to the leadership of the body in the state.
Donatus Ebi
News
I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
News
RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
News
Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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