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Don’t Panic, LG Boss, Army, Police Assure Oyigbo Residents
Residents of Oyigbo Local Government Area, which has been infiltrated by criminal elements under the guise of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Rivers State have been asked not to panic over military presence in the area.
The Chairman of Oyigbo LGA, Hon Gerald Oforji, made the appeal in a statement he personally signed, and made available to newsmen, yesterday.
Oforji also urged residents not to panic over military exercise going on in the area as it was aimed at recovery of stolen arms.
“People living and doing businesses in Oyigbo should strictly obey the 24hrs curfew imposed by Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike.
“Total compliance to the governor’s directive will ease the lifting of the curfew,” he stated.
Oforji’s appeal comes amidst reports of alleged ‘mass killings’ in Oyigbo by security agencies.
While the media space is totally blank of pictures and videos from Oyigbo, residents have been raising alarm on social media and local radio in Port Harcourt.
However, a resident of the area, Ndu Amaike said that the alleged killing started since Governor Wike’s declaration about the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in all parts of the state.
Amaike said the essence of the military action is extra-judicial, adding that, “I have personally lost two people that are close to me. The Army just shoots at will and bullet will just touch people.
“The soldiers mounted roadblocks on the major roads but we now hear that they are about to move into the streets. So, those that have gates have started to lock their gates. People are just scared really.”
Meanwhile, a group known as the Indigenous Youth Forum (IYF) has alleged that 33 people were missing, and 17 others, including women and children, were shot and wounded during a military operation in Oyigbo.
In a statement, spokesperson for IYF, Ebube Nwagbara, also alleged that the ongoing military operation in Oyigbo has claimed the lives of 28 Igbo sons and daughters in four days.
He said, “We are using this medium to draw the attention of well-meaning Nigerians and members of the international community to the ongoing massacre of Ndigbo in Rivers State by Nigerian soldiers”.
“According to our record so far, this war against Ndigbo in Rivers State has claimed the lives of 28 Igbo sons and daughters in four days, 33 people are missing and 17, including women and children, are shot and wounded”.
However, spokesman for the state Police Command, SP Nnamdi Omoni, while responding to claims by the group, said, “There is no such thing as massacre in Oyigbo.”
Similarly, the Nigerian Army has said that its ongoing operation in Oyigbo was not targeted at innocent persons but criminals who killed innocent citizens, including six soldiers and carted away their weapons.
This was made known by the Public Relations Officer of 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major Charles Ekeocha, while speaking on a live radio programme monitored by The Tide in Port Harcourt.
According to him, the Army operatives are doing stop-and-search to see if they could recover the rifles carted away by the so-called members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), saying that the soldiers were very professional in their engagement with the civilians.
He said that the locations the soldiers were clearing were possible hideouts for criminals and weapons, adding that if the Army failed to retrieve the weapons, the criminals could use them against innocent people.
It would be recalled that the proscribed IPOB under the guise of#EndSARS protests had killed four policemen and six soldiers while carting away weapons and setting police stations and vehicles on fire.
By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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