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Gunmen chase away pupils to seal Anambra school over signage fee

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IT was a pitiable sight at Kings Planet International School, Awka last week when the pupils and toddlers cried uncontrollably on sighting guns wielded by security operatives who accompanied officials of the Anambra State Advertising and Signage Agency, ANSAA,  to enforce non payment of signage fee by the school.

During the invasion, the revenue agents dragged the children out of their classrooms in an attempt to seal  the school for allegedly owing the state government N100,000 for mounting the school’s signboard that directs people to the school.Parents who got wind of the development stormed the school and hurriedly evacuated their children. Since then, some of the parents have not brought back their children to the school, citing insecurity.

A teaching staff in the school, Modesta Odo, who narrated their ordeal to Saturday Vanguard described what happened in the school as terrifying.

Odo said: “It was very terrifying to see the armed men move into the compound in a commando manner. Immediately we saw them, our manager got in touch with our director to talk with them, but they were more interested in frightening everyone present.

“They moved into the classrooms and were dragging the children out and telling them that they wanted to close down the school. While I asked the teachers to close the classrooms so that the children would not see the guns, they were busy dragging them out and holding the gun on the other hand.

“All the people that came were men, with some wearing police and civil defence uniforms and on sighting them, the children started crying.

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“In this school, we have four month- old babies and all of them were crying. Despite our plea for them to just seal the school and leave the children alone, they kept on dragging them out. It was a sorry situation seeing the children running and crying.

”They even ensured that our CCTV cameras were disabled and they prevented us from putting on the generating set to power the CCTV. When I tried to record the incident with my phone, they snatched it from me and deleted everything in it. If they were carrying out a legal activity, why were they afraid of being recorded?”

According to Odo, the people who attacked the school came in a bus and insisted that the school must pay what it was owing the state government before they would leave, adding that “one of them even brought his Point of Sale, POS, machine  with which we withdrew money from and paid them. They collected cash of N25,000 while N50,000 was paid into an account they gave us”.

She added: “It was unheard of that people should enter a school premises with arms and physically drag children out of their classes because they wanted to collect government revenue. The question is, will they do this where their own children are schooling?” It was not as if we did not want to pay, but the issue was to know the actual amount the school was to pay”.

The assistant manager of the school, Mr. Emmanuel Emeka explained that ANSAA had earlier slammed N100,000 charge on the school for four billboards, whereas the school has only  one signboard, while another N50,000 was imposed as a penalty.

Emeka said: “What happened was that they came and said that Kings Planet was supposed to pay N100,000 for four signboards. Knowing that we didn’t have up to four signboards, we told them to cross check and they assured us that they would investigate and get back to us.

“Our director even had to place a call to the agency to find out if they had cross checked. The director of ANSAA told him that he would get back to him and that was where the whole thing was.

“We were waiting to hear from them only for officials of the agency to come with some police officers and Civil Defence operatives.”

Reacting on the allegation by the school, the Managing Director/CEO of the agency, Mr. Odili Ujubuo said the school had paid N100,000 into the account of the state government.

“Payment was received by the Anambra Internal Revenue Service, AIRS. ANSAA doesn’t receive payment”, Ujubuonu said.

He also said that there is government POS which the enforcers go with and admitted that payment was made into the POS by officials of the school.

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2027: Excluding NDC from ballot could trigger revolution, anarchy — Dickson Iroegbu warns

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Human rights activist, Dickson Iroegbu, has said that there would be a revolution if anybody stops the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, from being on the ballot in the 2027 general elections.

Iroegbu made this statement in an interview on Mic-On podcast with a media personality, Seun Okinbaloye, on Saturday night.

This comes amid confusion over the status of the NDC following the judgement of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State.

Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had earlier denied the NDC access to its portal for the upload of candidates.

It, however, later rescinded that decision.

But, Iroegbu, who spoke in an interview on Mic-On podcast with a media personality, Seun Okinbaloye, on Saturday night, charged the INEC to be careful if it thinks there would be a glitch in 2027.

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He noted that the electoral body will be shocked because the Nigerian people will keep eternal vigilance this time around because they have had enough.

According to him, the fear of the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is a challenge for the All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Bola Tinubu.

“There will be revolution and anarchy in the land if anybody thinks he can stop the NDC from being on the ballot.

“Anyone who thinks he can push the NDC aside is calling for anarchy.

“Tinubu is overrated. He may have succeeded in grabbing and running with power in 2023. But in 2027, he will be shocked that we will hold him down and ensure the result is counted.

“If Nigerians do not end the APC, then APC may end Nigeria,” he stated.

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Again, Peter Obi asks Tinubu to resign, cites IMF off-budget spending claim

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Don’t spare anybody involved in alleged N585m fraud involving Betta Edu – Obi tells Tinubu
Peter Obi and President Bola Tinubu
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Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has called on President Bola Tinubu to resign, citing an International Monetary Fund, IMF, report which, according to him, showed that about N8.83 trillion spent by the Federal Government in 2025 was not reflected in the national budget.

The development was disclosed in a statement posted on Obi’s official page on July 5, 2026.

According to the statement, Obi alleged that the reported expenditure was not captured in the 2025 budget and therefore fell outside legislative oversight and administrative scrutiny.

The former Anambra State governor argued that the amount represents about two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and exceeds the combined 2025 budgetary allocations to the education and health sectors.

According to Obi, the funds, if properly utilised, could have improved public education and healthcare, created employment opportunities and supported economic development across the country.

“The IMF now reveals that about N8.83 trillion in expenditure undertaken in 2025 is not reflected in the budget.

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“This expenditure is not budgeted and is therefore not under legislative oversight or administrative scrutiny,” he stated.

Obi further alleged that the reported expenditure reflects what he described as a pattern of corruption and disregard for public finance management under the current administration.

He argued that such practices pose risks to national security, deepen poverty and weaken public institutions.

He also described the Tinubu administration as corrupt, incompetent and insensitive, alleging that the government has failed to utilise available resources to address Nigeria’s infrastructure and social welfare challenges.

Obi maintained that the latest IMF report further reinforced his earlier position on the administration, saying, “The only reasonable action is for President Tinubu to resign from office.”

He urged Nigerians to demand greater accountability from the government through lawful means.

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Xenophobia: Two more Nigerians killed in South Africa

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Two more Nigerians have been killed in South Africa as the violent attacks and harassment of black foreigners continue.

The Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg announced the deaths in a statement issued on Saturday.

The victims, identified as Emeka Iroegbu and Musa Joe, were both killed last Sunday, 28 June, but under different circumstances.

According to the consulate, Mr Joe was killed by “suspected criminals” in Witbank city, Mpumalanga province, while security operatives murdered Mr Iroegbu in Sunnyside, Pretoria.

Mr Iroegbu was reportedly tortured to death by officers of the Tshwane Metro Police in the suburbs of Pretoria. The Nigerian consulate noted that the victim was subjected to gruesome torture techniques at the hands of the Metro police, which led to his death.

The latest deaths raise the total number of Nigerians murdered in South Africa since the latest wave of xenophobic attacks began this year to four. The pattern of the recent deaths mirrors that of the two Nigerians murdered earlier in the country. These are: Amaramiro Emmanuel and Ekpenyong Andrew.

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They were arrested and allegedly beaten to death by personnel of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in Port Elizabeth.

Mr Andrew’s corpse was found days after his arrest on 19 April in the Booysens area of Pretoria.

He was arrested due to an alleged altercation with members of the Tshwane Metro Police, and his body was discovered at the Pretoria Central Mortuary afterwards.

Mr Emmanuel died a day afterwards due to injuries he sustained from an attack by the SANDF.

Following the incident, the Nigerian government summoned the South African High Commissioner and demanded a thorough investigation into the deaths of the two Nigerians.

This investigation is still pending, and no arrests have been made in two months. Nigerian officials have repeatedly condemned the attacks in South Africa but have urged Nigerians to avoid retaliatory attacks on South African interests in Nigeria.

South Africa’s anti-foreigner campaign began in April, with footage of citizens attacking African foreigners circulating online. The arbitrary 30 June deadline announced by anti-immigrant South Africans for African foreigners to leave the country has further intensified tension.

Last Tuesday, many South Africans marched out in droves across cities to protest the presence of African migrants in the country, chanting “Abahambe!” This means “They must go!” in Zulu, the most widely spoken language in the country.

The deaths of at least five Mozambicans and five Ethiopians have also been attributed to xenophobic violence in the country.

The latest announcement by the Nigerian consulate now raises the death toll.

Hundreds of African foreigners in the country have also been displaced.

During the protest last week, shops were looted and properties destroyed, as has become customary in xenophobic attacks in the country.

Several African countries have so far repatriated hundreds of their citizens, including Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.

The Nigerian consulate stated that the continuing pattern of “such terrible incidents raises questions over the safety of Nigerians and other foreigners in South Africa.”

“The death is coming at a time when foreigners are being unduly targeted in South Africa, raising questions about what seems to be a deliberate attempt by some elements to generalise wrongfully and tag well-meaning, hard-working and respectable Nigerians in the country as criminals,” it noted.

The consulate also demanded a thorough and immediate investigation into the murders.

“We expect the authorities to d o the needful and achieve the ultimate prosecution of the perpetrators,” the statement read.

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