John Dramani Mahama to storm Upper East with Thanksgiving
The former President John Dramani Mahama will be in the Upper East Region on Monday 16 day of August 2021. According to the information gathered by Apexnewsgh.com, the former President is visiting the region for the first time since after the 2020 general elections to thank the people of the Region for voting massively for him and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). No wonder, the Upper East Region has been described as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) World Bank for over period now. The NDC in the last elections won 14 seats out of the 15 constituencies in the Upper East Region. However, as part of the tour arrangement, the former president John Dramani Mahama will be meeting with the Party members, the Upper East Regional House of Chief, and a visit to the Catholic Bishop at his residence. Members of the party across the Upper East Region have vowed to welcome him in the region in a ground style. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Gunmen kill 3, kidnap 20 from Nigeria college: school officials
Gunmen have killed three people at an agricultural college in Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara state and kidnapped 20 others, including 15 students, the school said Monday, in the latest in a wave of mass abductions. Armed kidnappings for ransom now make almost daily headlines in Africa’s most populous country, seven years after Boko Haram extremists shocked the world by taking 276 girls from Chibok. Schools targeted by criminal gangs in the north and centre of the West African country are usually in remote areas where students stay in dormitories with only watchmen for security. On Sunday at the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Bakura, “unknown gunmen attacked the school around 10 pm (2100 GMT),” registrar Aminu Khalid Maradun told AFP. They killed a policeman and two security officers, “and abducted 20, including 15 students,” he said. The five other abductees are staff and family members. Another school official confirmed the attack. “The gunmen forced themselves into the school through the pedestrian gate and took away the hostages,” Abdullahi Aminu, in charge of accommodation at the school, told AFP. “They killed three security personnel in a shootout.” The official said the school received a phone call early Monday from the kidnappers, saying they were holding 20 hostages. 950 abducted since December A recent school graduate, Usman Usman, also confirmed the incident. “I left the school on Sunday around 5:30 pm… This morning my friend called me and said that some bandits attacked the school in the night. They killed people and kidnapped many,” said Usman, 22. Police and government officials in Zamfara did not immediately respond to calls or messages about the incident. The UN estimates that at least 950 students have been abducted across Nigeria since December. Most have been released after negotiations with local officials, although some are still being held. The latest mass abduction was in July, when gunmen kidnapped 121 students from the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna state. Heavily armed criminal gangs known locally as bandits have terrorised communities in the region for years. They usually attack villages to loot, kill and steal cattle. Military deployments and peace deals have failed to end the violence, and bandits who hide in camps in the Rugu forest straddling Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger states continue to launch attacks. Since late last year, the gangs have increasingly targeted schools and colleges to squeeze out ransom cash. Bandits chase financial gain and have no known ideological leanings, but there has been growing concern among security experts and officials over potential ties with jihadists in the northeast of the country. Kidnappings are just one of the challenges facing Nigeria’s security forces who are battling a grinding Islamist insurgency in the northeast and separatist tensions in parts of the south. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Court to hear NLC’s contempt case against UTAG today
A Labour Court in Accra will later this [Monday] morning hear a contempt case brought against leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), by the National Labour Commission (NLC). The Commission on Friday August 6 secured an interlocutory injunction from the court to compel UTAG to call off their strike which started on Monday August 2, 2021. UTAG has however refused to comply with order, indicating that the premise is false. While the NLC says that UTAG cannot remain on strike while negotiations with government is ongoing, UTAG insists that there is currently no active negotiation between them and the government. The President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana, Prof. Charles Marfo in a Citi Newsinterview said they have also filed processes to set aside the injunction. “[Our] legal team also filed [an application]. NLC urged the court to set aside the injunction. We think that the injunction was not properly served and so it is now a matter for the court to determine. The NLC says that we cannot be negotiating while on strike, but our position is that given what has transpired between us and government, there is no negotiation ongoing unless they want to now call us to begin negotiation.” He said the leadership of UTAG will avail itself should the government invite them to the negotiation table. “If the government wants to engage us, we are willing and ready to engage government,” he noted. UTAG members have been on strike since the beginning of August because they want the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012 which they said was far better than the current situation. The 2012 Single Spine package put entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2,084 while the current level puts lecturers’ salaries around $900. The strike by UTAG has severely affected academic and some non-academic work at the various tertiary campuses. —Citinews Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093