Adamawa
National President, Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka
Ike, on Saturday called on the Federal Government to probe the utilisation of the N3 billion Nollywood Intervention Fund.
Ike alleged that the money had been “hijacked by a cabal” to the detriment of the film industry.
The AGN president told newsmen in Yola that the film industry had not benefited from the grant.
Ike further claimed that most of the 247 actors said to have been trained at the cost of N899 million abroad from the fund, could not be traced.
Ike advised the government to always relate directly with associations in the film industry such as AGN, ANTP and Kannywood, instead of individual actors.

Benue
Benue State Government on Saturday condemned Friday
night’s attack on a social media activist, Mr Armstrong Chir, by unknown hoodlums suspected to be political thugs.
This is contained in a press statement issued by Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Information and Communication Technology, Mr Tahav Agerzua, in Makurdi
Agerzua said the governor had already directed security agents to track and apprehend those responsible for the act, which he described as reprehensible and condemnable.
He said that the governor was determined to eliminate thuggery and violence and their use to achieve political objectives in the state.

Borno
The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), yester
day launched skills acquisition training for 1,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State as part of its empowerment programme for victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The UNHCR Country Representative, Ms Angele Atangana, opened the training at a ceremony in Maiduguri.
Atangana, who doubled at the UNHCR Representative at the Economic Commission for the West African States (ECOWAS), said that the programme was targeted at IDPs residing in Maiduguri and Jere Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno.
She said that the objective was to impact skills on the beneficiaries so they could be self reliant when they return home, and commended the trainees zeal to learn.
The Coordinator of the programme, Malam Idris Alooma, said that the training was in collaboration with the Borno and the Federal Government toward preparing the IDPs for their eventual return to their homes following the liberation of commodities by the military from the Boko Haram terrorists.

Ekiti
Armed men have kidnapped the wife of a chieftain of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Mr. Ajibola Oyedele.
The kidnappers  have since demanded a ransom of N40million from Oyedele.
Oyedele, popularly called 50-50 by his political fans,  revealed on Saturday night that he was able to speak with his wife at about 5:45pm.
She was abducted late Friday at about 8:30pm  at the family home in Omuo Oke, a town in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State. The woman did not resist her abductors.
According to Oyedele, the kidnappers claimed that he was their actual target.
Oyedele, who defected to the APC in July this year, was the only PDP  member of the last  Ekiti State House of Assembly.
But he resigned from the government on May 31, 2016, citing  poor remuneration.

Gombe
The Paramount Ruler of Kaltungo in Kaltungo Local Gov
ernment Area of Gombe State, Alhaji Sale Muhammad, on Saturday appealed to the state government for more health centres in Garin Bako and Garin Korom.
Muhammad made appeal when the President of Imperative Initiative for Motivation of Global Care (IIMGC), and officials of the state Ministry of Environment and Forest Resources, visited him in Kaltungo.
According to him, the only health centre in the community is located in Garin Korom, a mountainous area without a good road for vehicles.
Besides, he said “there is no school in Garin Bako with 1,429 households, and appealed to the NGO to come to their aid.
The Commissioner for Environment and Forest Resources, Hajiya Sa’adatu Sa’ad, said the NGO was in Gombe to address the challenges of the citizens, particularly in the rural areas.
Ibadan
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Lateef Fagbemi,
on Saturday canvassed for the creation of state police in Nigeria, to effectively tackle insecurity challenges.
Fagbemi said in an interview with newsmen in Ibadan that current security challenges warrant the decentralisation of policing in the country.
He stressed that stemming crime was the collective responsibility of local, state and federal governments, as such it was necessary to allow people to monitor and secure their areas by devolving policing duties to states.
According to the senior lawyer, the country can no longer afford to run away from the issue in spite of the misgivings expressed by opponents of the idea.
Fagbemi said that any step in life involved risks, as such the country should explore the benefits inherent in the establishment of state police.

Kaduna
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on Saturday said
it would institute a legal action against the Kaduna State Government for declaring the group illegal..
Spokesperson of the movement, Ibraheem Musa, told newmen in Kaduna that the ban announced by the government was illegal.
“Its an infringement on our basic right as citizens of the country.
“We are not going to be intimidated into taking any violence or unlawful activity but will take legal action against the Kaduna State Government for the infringement.”
It would be recalled that the government had on October 7 declared the IMN an unlawful society.
The government, in a statement, said that it took the decision to preserve peace and security in the state.

Kano
The Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN) in
Kano State said it had so far registered no fewer than 5, 000 wheat farmers for the CBN anchor borrower programme in the state.
The state WFAN Chairman, Alhaji Faruk Rabiu disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Kano on Saturday.
He said the number was still far below the target number of 75, 000 farmers expected to participate in the programme in the state.
The chairman said the association had recently established four new offices in addition to the existing 24, to encourage more farmers to register.
Rabiu called on farmers, who have not returned their completed forms to do so, pointing out that the wheat planting season would be flagged off by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on Thursday, October 20.

Niger
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
has blamed the surge in demand for hard drugs in the North-East to insurgency in the area.
The agency’s Commander in Niger state, Mr Joseph Iweajunwa, said this in an interview with newsmen in Minna on Saturday.
He said that operatives in the command had intercepted many suspects in parts of the state, moving illicit drugs to the area in concealed consignments.
The commander said that skunk was a compressed odourless improved cannabis sativa, which currently sold at N1, 000 per rap in the North-East because of the high demand.
Ogun
The Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission
(OGISIEC) adopted simultaneous accreditation and voting system for Saturday’s election into the 20 local government councils and 37 LCDAs to ensure an orderly exercise.
A commissioner in OGISIEC, Mr Mutiu Agboke, told newsmen at the Muslim Model Nursery and Primary School Polling Centre, Abeokuta,  that the system had contributed to the peaceful  and orderly conduct of the ongoing exercise.
“The simultaneous accreditation and voting system adopted by the electoral commission has enhanced a peaceful coordination of the election process.
“Many of the voters left as soon as they voted, and so, there has been peace.”
Senator Lanre Tejuosho (APC-Ogun Central) also commended OGISIEC for adopting the simultaneous accreditation and voting system.
Tejuosho, who addressed newsmen at the Muslim Model Nursery and Primary School Polling Centre, noted that the same system was adopted by INEC in the recent governorship election in Edo.

Plateau
The Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Pla
teau State chapter, Chief Letep Daban, has described the defection of Sen. Joshua Dariye from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC as a welcome development.
He made the remark in an interview with newsmen yesterday in Jos.
Daban, who said that the party was highly delighted to receive Dariye, (former PDP-Plateau Central, added that his defection would make the APC
stronger.
He noted that defection was the best decision to take as a politician at the moment “because it will be unwise for the distinguished senator to continue to be in a party that is enmeshed in crises both at the state and at the national level.
Other PDP defectors into the APC include Pauline Tallen, Hon. Diket Plang and Hon. Abbas Wolgum, former members of Plateau House of Assembly, he said.
The APC chairman added that many former commissioners during Jonah Jang’s tenure have also defected to the APC.

Taraba
The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nige
ria (AMLSN) has said that Nigeria has over two million recorded cases of cancer with 100, 000 new cases annually.
The association made this known in a communiqué issued by its President, Alhaji Toyosi Raheem, at the end of its 52nd Annual Scientific Conference and workshop in Jalingo on Saturday.
Raheem attributed the high rate of tumour and cancer in the country to a shift from the consumption of natural to artificial food and lack of regular physical exercise by citizens.
According to him, indiscriminate, unregulated and over use of herbicides and insecticides on the farms also contribute to development of tumours and cancer in humans.
He commended the Federal Government for the establishment of National Cancer and National Cancer Control Programme.
Raheem also called on the Minister of Health, Prof. Issac Adewale, to integrate Nigerian Medical Laboratory Scientists into the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) and Save 1 Million Lives Initiative of the Federal Government.