By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja

Three middle-aged men have been arraigned before a Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court for allegedly impersonating Kogi State Internal Revenue Service staff and mounting road blocks on the Lokoja-Abuja highway for illegal revenue collection.

The trio of Abba Emmanuel, Umar Abubakar and Kingsley Dan’sebe were arraigned before Lokoja Chief Magistrate Court 1 on Wednesday charged with Criminal Conspiracy, Causing Obstruction of Public Highway and Extortion.

The suspects were alleged to have been arrested by the Vigilante Group of Lokoja Local Government area on Illegal Tax Activity.

The prosecuting Police Officer, Gabriel Otowu Esq. who is also the Officer-In-Charge, Legal matters (OC-Legal) at Kogi Police Command while reading the First Information Report (FIR).

Otowu told the court that on 13th November, the vigilante group of Lokoja LGA brought the suspects to the police having caught them impersonating the Kogi State Internal Revenue Services.

He said the suspects erected a roadblock on Lokoja-Abuja road for their illegal revenue collections operation adding that the offences ran contrary to various sections of the law.

The three accused persons however pleaded not guilty to the charges as they denied the allegations leveled against them.

Counsel to the defendants, Mu’azu Abbas urged the court to grant his clients to bail citing Section 36 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 As Amended.

Citing relevant sections of Kogi Criminal Justice Law, Abbas said the offences were triable by the Magistrate Court,

He said that the accused had been in Police custody since November 13, 2024 and urged the court to consider the bail application.

“The defendants will furnish the court with reasonable and reliable sureties to prove they will be available for trial. The court in the overall interest of justice should approve the defendant to bail.”

The Prosecuting Police Officer did not oppose the bail application but urged the court to thread with caution and to “Judicially and Judiciously” look into the case before considering the bail application.

The Chief Magistrate, Abdullahi Musa Mopa, after considering the counsel’s application for bail and the response of the prosecution, granted bail to the three defendants,

Chief Magistrate Mopa said, “Without much ado, that on the circumstances of this application, the interest of justice tilt towards the applicant.

“I hereby grant the defendants bail in the sum of N400,000 and a surety each in like sum. The surety must have a traceable address in Lokoja, and must not be less than a level 14 officer either at the Federal or State parastatal.

Mopa subsequently adjourned the case to December 11, 2024, for further mention. (Ends)

In a significant move to enhance healthcare accessibility, Kogi State Governor Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo has approved the state government’s takeover of the Ogidi Cottage Hospital.
The announcement was conveyed by the Permanent Secretary of the Kogi State Ministry of Health, Mrs. Enehe Dorcas Omeneke, who affirmed the directive for the Ministry to assume full management of the facility.
The government, in the letter expressed appreciation to the community for its contributions to health care delivery to its people and those from neighbouring communities.

It also urged the community to sustain its commitment to improving healthcare delivery to its people.
The construction of the hospital began with a donation of the sum of N5,000,000 million to the community by an illustrious son of Ijumu.
As the community began to face daunting challenges in completing the structure, it approached the Kogi State Community and Social Development Agency which asked the community to pay a counterpart fund to which the agency added funds to complete the facility which was then commissioned by the governor of the state, Captain Idris Wada.

All the ultra modern medical equipment in the hospital were shipped free of charge from the United Kingdom by a non-governmental organisation, Ripples, founded and headed by a daughter of Ogidi, Ms Anne Toba.

The organisation later provided a surgical theatre and matching equipment to enable the facility to handle surgeries.

The hospital was at some point closed down following a dearth of manpower and financial resources to keep it going.

The Ogidi Development Union (ODU) then set up the Ogidi Health Team to raise funds and renovate the hospital ahead of its re-opening.

At an online fundraising event which attracted Ogidi indigenes from Africa, Europe, the United States of America, Canada and Asia, about N11 million was raised with which the structure was renovated and critical paramedical staff hired in addition to part time doctors who visited twice a week.

In his response to the government take over, His Royal Majesty, the Ologidi of Ogidi, Oba Rabiu Oladimeji Sule expressed his and the community’s appreciation to Governor Ododo for this timely intervention in the health of the people of Ogidi.

On his part, the President of the Ogidi Development Union, Mr. Raphael Kayode Eniolorunda said the people of Ogidi were indebted to Governor Ododo for his demonstrable love for the community.

By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja

SALEM University, Lokoja is to graduate 499 students with 41 of them bagging First Class Honours Degree across its seven colleges at the 6th Combined Convocation ceremony of the University taking place this week.

Prof. Alewo Johnson Akubo, Vice Chancellor of the University who disclosed this at the Convocation Press Briefing on Monday in Lokoja described the Convocation Ceremony as epoch-making.

He said that a renowned academic, Sam Egwu, a Professor of Political Economy, as a convocation lecturer, was slated to deliver the convocation lecture at the Chapel of Peace.

“We have a total of 499 graduating students, across seven colleges including: College of Management and Social Sciences, College of Natural and Applied Science, College of Humanity, College of Education, College of Information and Communication Technology, College of Law and the Post Graduate school.

“We have a total of 41 First Class across the the seven programmes in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 sets.

“We also have a new college that is about to hit the ground running now, and that is the College of Basic Medicine, Medical Science. We just got the approval from the National University’s Commission about two months ago”, he said.

The Vice Chancellor hinted that that University had successfully passed the accreditation process for all its programmes, achieving full accreditation status.

Prof. Akubo said that the institution recorded a notable achievement when its College of Law received full accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC), a significant accomplishment for a private university.

He stressed that the university had seen three sets of law graduates sent to the Nigerian Law School, with the first two batches already graduated and the third set in preparation.

He further said that the first set of law graduates has been officially called to Nigerian Bar, marking a milestone in producing qualified lawyers.

The Vice Chancellor noted that the University expanded its Postgraduate Programmes initially offering limited postgraduate programs, primarily an M.sc, MBA and Business Administration.

According to Prof. Akubo following a successful Resource Verification, Salem University has expanded its postgraduate offerings from Postgraduate Diplomas (PGD) to Doctorate levels (PhD) across the seven programs.

He revealed that there were plans in the pipeline to submit additional programmes for verification in the bid to expand and enhance their postgraduate education.

Akubo pointed out that students’ enrollment remained that major challenge facing the institution in spite of its successes and achievements saying, “students’ enrollment remains a persistent challenge for the university.”

This issue, according to him, underscores the need for ongoing efforts to attract and retain students in order to sustain and build upon the university’s achievements. (Ends)