• Gunmen kill Nollywood Osita Iheme’s brother, policeman in Owerri
• Judge reveals how NDLEA allegedly concealed assets seized from jailed drug barons
• INEC decries low collection of PVC’s in Borno
• Nigerian Army commences fresh recruitment
• Nigeria, Mexico sign $3bn plant export deal

Across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, these are the five top Nigerian news stories you shouldn’t miss:

Gunmen kill Nollywood Osita Iheme’s brother, policeman in Owerri

Prince Iheme, the older brother of Nollywood celebrity Osita Iheme, was shot and killed by gunmen in Imo State on Friday.

Iheme was reportedly traveling in the same vehicle as Martins Eke, the state’s commissioner for solid minerals when the assailants came upon them and started shooting in the Ubomiri, Mbaitoli council area of the state.

According to reports, the gunmen cut the commissioner severely with a machete.

One police officer was slain at a police checkpoint in Orji, Owerri North council area, according to an eyewitness, who also saw the gunmen ordering drivers and bystanders to go home and observe a sit-at-home protest.

“They ran into police checkpoint at Orji and opened fire on them, and killed one police man.

“Some of them were shouting – ‘Go home, today is sit-at-home’; people ran helter-skelter and they drove towards Okigwe road”, the source stated.

The Simon Ekpa led IPOB had declared five days sit-at-home which was countered by Director of Media and Publicity of IPOB, Emma Powerful.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Michael Abattam had yet to respond to an inquiry as at press time.

Judge reveals how NDLEA allegedly concealed assets seized from jailed drug barons

The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), according to a judge of the Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, reportedly failed to fully disclose the assets it had confiscated from some drug lords who were imprisoned.

But the NDLEA denied concealing any assets confiscated from the inmates in an interview on Friday.

According to reports, on Tuesday, Judge Okon Abang sentenced nine drug lords to ten years in prison and censured the agency for opposing harsher punishment for them.

The defendants include four globally wanted Mexican conspirators and five Nigerians: Anthony Umolu, Chibi Aruh, Izuchukwu Anieto, Williams Agusi, and Augustine Koisochukwu Umolu.

Cervantos Bruno, Rivas Pstiano, Castillo Cristobal, and Patida Pedro are the Mexicans.

They were all apprehended in March 2016 at a “clandestine” lab in Asaba, Delta State, where they were making methamphetamine, a narcotic that resembles cocaine. Evidence also indicated that they were running a drug trafficking organization.

Mr. Abang criticized NDLEA for agreeing to a plea deal with the drug lords at a point in the six-year trial when it was already clear that they were guilty.

The plea bargain only specified a small number of the drug traffickers’ assets for permanent forfeiture.

The items include a Mercedes ML4 350 automobile, a Toyota Tundra Hilux van, and the N20 million and N894,463.43 in cash that were taken from the prisoners.

On Tuesday, Mr. Abang issued an order declaring them permanently forfeit to the federal government.

The judge mandated that the funds be transferred into the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) federal account within 30 days.

INEC decries low collection of PVC’s in Borno

Mohammed Magaji, the Borno State Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has bemoaned the poor PVC collection since distribution started in September of this year.

The REC advised all registered voters in the region who have not yet picked up their PVC to do so immediately while speaking at a press conference on Friday in Maiduguri.

Magaji highlighted that during the upcoming general elections, there will be no accreditation, voting without PVCs, or electronic results transmission; instead, there will be a Biomodel Voter Accreditation System.

According to him, there are currently 11,4531 old PVCs, 13,715 new PVCs that haven’t been collected, and 54,949 replacements and transfers of PVCs that haven’t been collected.

“Presently, there are 114531 Old PVCs that have not been collected. 13,715 New PVCs have also not been collected. We have just received 54949 replacements/transfers,” he said.

According to Magaji, the commission has approved rigorous collections which will start at the Local Government offices on 12 December, 2022 to 15th January, 2023.

“From the 6th January, 2023 the distribution will be shifted to registration area/wards level.

“The exercise will be reverted to Local Government Area offices on the 16th to 22 January, 2023 when it will be suspended until after the the general elections”.

“The PVCs billed for collection include the Uncollected PVCs for the 2019 general elections and PVCs for continuous voter registration held between June 2021 and July 2022.

“We have just collected PVCs for the January 2022 to July which have been issued to Electoral Officers for collection by rightful owners”.

“The old PVCs in the LGA offices have all been scanned to facilitate their collections under the new guidelines for the collections of PVCs”.

“Owner will be contacted to come and collect their PVCs at definite locations and the period for the collection of the PVCs will be from 9am to 3pm daily including Saturdays and Sundays” he added

Nigerian Army commences fresh recruitment

The Nigerian Army has announced the commencement of the recruitment of qualified Nigerians into the army for its 84 regular recruit intakes across the country.

This was said in a statement released on Friday in Abuja by Mustapha Garba, Director of the Army Headquarters Department of Recruitment, Resettlement, and Reserve.

The operation, which started on 5 December, aimed to choose qualified Nigerians from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory based on federal character, according to Mr. Garba, a brigadier general.

While on an evaluation tour at 23 Brigade Yola, Adamawa, the director gave the recruitment officers instructions to ensure they chose the best candidates for the Nigerian Army.

Additionally, they asked applicants to present themselves well in order to be considered for shortlisting for the Nigerian army.

Documentation, pre-medical, and physical phases are only a few of the screening procedures.

Nigeria, Mexico sign $3bn plant export deal

The Federal Government said on Thursday that it has reached a deal with its Mexican counterpart to enhance the export of hibiscus from Nigeria to Mexico through the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service.

It claimed that the agreement would bring $3 billion in annual revenue to Nigeria.

However, it turned out that two containers of hibiscus exported from Nigeria were turned down by the US because the exporter had neglected to secure the necessary export licenses from the NAQS.

The NAQS’s Comptroller General, Dr. Vincent Isegbe, noted in his keynote speech at the organization’s 4th Summit and Management Retreat that, despite the difficulties involved in exporting agricultural products, agro-export intensification would aid Nigeria in increasing its overall agricultural productivity.

“It will help to generate sustainable wealth, and improve household incomes among the large swath of the 70 per cent of our population that are engaged in agriculture and agro-allied industries,” he stated.

On the deal with Mexico, he said, “Last month, on November 4, to be precise, NAQS and its Mexican counterpart body, SENASICA, signed a phytosanitary protocol to stabilise and grow the export of Nigerian hibiscus flowers (zobo) to Mexico.

“The framework is designed to future-proof bilateral trade in hibiscus between Nigeria and the largest importer of Nigerian hibiscus against avoidable disruptions. With the signing of the hibiscus work plan, Nigeria will earn $3bn annually from exporting hibiscus to Mexico.”

Asked if there had been any rejection of agro-exports from Nigeria recently while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the summit, Isegbe replied, “Yes. In fact, the one that happened last week was because somebody exported hibiscus to the US and there was no certification.

“He did not carry any document, did not pass through the quarantine service and those consignments have been returned. We have intercepted the consignments; we are looking for who the owner is and the person is yet to report.”

He said the agency recently met with the freight forwarders association to urge the council to ensure that all agents who deal with the quarantine service are registered by the council.

He added, “This is to avoid fake clearing and forwarding agents, who may not necessarily inform the original owners or exporters of those products.”

Isegbe said the agency was currently investigating how the exporter was able to ship the consignments without the customs and quarantine services knowing.