Gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday killed a 16-year-old boy when they attacked a police station and residential buildings inside the station in Nnobi, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The gunmen also reportedly gun wounds in a 15-year-old girl.

The gunmen were also said to have bombed Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) office in Ojoto in the same LGA.

The murdered boy was a relative of a serving policeman in the station.

A source said the hoodlums bombed the commission’s headquarters in the area, using improvised explosive devise (IED).

The source said the injured girl had been taken to a hospital.

The state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga, said the attack occured at about 1:45 am on Wednesday.

According to him, the attackers came in large number in four Toyota Sienna vehicles.

He said in a statement that the command has made heavy deployment of security personnel around the state to forestall further attacks in other places.

He said, “Anambra State Police Command today 1/2/2023 has reinforced security deployment in the state, following an attack on the INEC office in idemili south, Ojoto and Nnobi Police Station.

“The hoodlums came in their numbers by 1:45 am today 1/2/2023, with four unmarked Sienna vehicles, armed with IEDs, Petrol bombs and other explosives.

“They invaded the INEC office, the police station and the residential building in the station. Unfortunately, one boy aged 16 years, a relative of a serving policeman in the station was murdered by the armed men, while the other, a female aged 15 years old sustained a gunshot injury. She has been taken to the hospital where she is receiving treatment.”

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of INEC in Anambra State, Dr Kingsley Agu, did not pick up his calls or respond to a text message sent to his mobile on the attack.

There are some “elements” in Aso Rock working against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), according to Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

Speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television breakfast programme, the governor said these persons, whose identities he did not disclose were aggrieved that Tinubu defeated their candidate in the APC presidential primaries.

He said these elements were hiding behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire to do what he thinks is right.

He said, ”I believe there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries.

“They are trying to get us to lose the election, and they are hiding behind the president’s desire to do what he thinks is right. I will give two examples: this petroleum subsidy, which is costing the country trillions of Naira, was something that we all agreed would be removed.

“In fact, I had a discussion with the president and showed him why it had to go. Because how can you have a capital budget of N200b for federal roads and then spend N2 Trillion on petroleum subsidy? This was a conversation I had with the president in 2021 when the subsidy thing started rising. He was convinced. We left. It changed. Everyone in the government agreed, and it changed.

“The second example I will give is this currency redesign. You have to understand the president. People are blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for the currency redesign, but No. You have to go back and look at the first outing of Buhari as president. He did this; the Buhari, Idiagbon regime changed our currency and did it in secrecy with a view to catching those that are stashing away illicit funds. It is a very good intention. The president has his right. But doing it at this time within the allotted time does not make any political or economic sense.”

El-Rufai’s bombshell comes a week after the ruling party’s presidential candidate said there were plans to stop him from winning the election.

Tinubu had said fuel scarcity and naira redesign were targeted at him.

The Registrar of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede has ordered some computer-based JAMB registration centres in Kano, to produce a final year law student and five others for allegedly involved in impersonation and other crimes which were against the rules and regulations of the agency.

Professor Oloyede who gave the order on Wednesday during his inspection of some computer-based registration centres in the State, said that the above six people, engaged in thumbprint for several candidates and would be prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC)

According to him, as far as JAMB is concerned, “we have seen there is little or nothing to be corrected” adding that “though we have discovered some sharp practices that had been done”.

“Almost all of them caught in the act had confessed to committing the offence, because substituting their fingerprints for a candidate, meant that they would go to examination halls and write the examination for such a person.

2023 UTME registration: Provision of personal e-mail compulsory from Jan 31, says JAMB
“We were calling on candidates to be wary of these shady practices and be vigilant, that on no reason any candidate should allow any other person to add his|her own finger to their own finger when doing biometric.”

Prof. Oloyede disclosed that those two were uncovered at Federal College of Education Kano and four discovered at Butale computer centre.

He said they must be brought to Abuja, where they would be handed over to security agencies and the ICPC for proper prosecution.

He added that unknown to many people, the JAMB has introduced a high-tech mechanism capable of not only discovering malpractices but also capable revealed anomalies of thump print for another candidate during registration.

Prof.Oloyede then added that the JAMB have evidence and those who committed such an offence have confessed to committing the offence of conniving with candidates to substitute fingerprints for them adding that “they have questions to answer”.

However, when commenting on the fate of a final law student that was uncovered to have allegedly committed impersonation, he said “law has no respect for anybody”.

“What applied to either a staff, student that committed a crime, equally goes to the final law student adding he is liable for the offence committed and must face the music.

It was another day of rage in Enugu today as Keke tricycle riders in the state came out to register their displeasure over the increasing hardship they go through in their daily life in the recent days.

The Keke tricycle riders block Abakiliki roads, demand end to fuel price hike, CBN monetary policies in recent time.

The tricycle riders who came out in their hundreds blocked popular Otigba junction in the state with their Keke tricycles, leading to heavy gridlock along Abakiliki road.

According to the protesting Keke tricycle riders, they are tired of buying fuel at exorbitant price of between N450-N650 per litre.

They also complained of alleged harsh Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN recent monetary policy of withdrawal limit of N20,000 across the counter even in the face of scarcity of both new and old naira notes.

An eye witness who is a tricycle riders told WITHIN NIGERIA that ” we are very angry. How can we buy fuel at N500 at this moment? We can’t go anywhere because of high cost of petrol. Look at it now, because of hike in petrol price, the price of other goods and services have gone up. We can’t continue like this. It is very unbearable.”

Explaining further, our source who is also a tricycle rider lamented that ” as we are going through this horrible experience, CBN came with their monetary policy of changing what now came to be known as old naira notes. We rushed to banks to deposit our old naira notes.

“Today we don’t see old naira notes and there is no new naira notes. If we go to bank to withdraw your money, they will give you N10,N20, N50 and N100 notes. There is no new naira.”

Lamenting further he said that ” we are suffering. We are dying. We are hungry. We can’t continue like this. We are angry.”

Our reporter gathered that few minutes into the protest, police from the state command invaded the area, asking the protesters to disperse, promising to take their demands to the state government.

The visibly angry youths, after some minutes of persuasion, yielded to the plea of the police and promised to continue the next day if their demands were not addressed.

In a related development, another protest was also said to be going on simultaneously with that of Keke tricycle riders in Enugu.

Some People’s Democratic Party PDP youths besieged the palatial house of a popular businessman and philanthropist, Chief Arthur Eze, demanding the fulfilment of his financial promise.

According the youths, the billionaire businessman promised to give them N20m during Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign visit to the state weeks ago, yet he has not fulfilled the promise.

Many of them were seen chanting profanity against the PDP candidates even as several protesting youths were captured on camera, setting ablaze PDP face caps with ATIKU inscribed on them when they discovered that Chief Arthur Eze was no where to be found.

No property was damaged during the protest, many of them were seen dejected and angry, raining abuses on the presidential candidates for deceiving them.