Abducted Sole Administrator of the Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State, Chris Ohizu, has been behe@ded.

Ohizu was kidnapped alongside two others on Friday, January 20, from his country home at Imoko community in Arondizuogu area by gunmen who also razed down his building.

He was then beheaded on Sunday, January 22, after the collection of N6m ransom.

In videos shared online, the abducted chairman was seen kneeling while his abductors warned Governor Hope Uzodimma that a similar fate awaits him.

After beheading him on Sunday, they posted the video with his phone on his WhatsApp status.

Imo Police Command spokesperson, ASP Henry Okoye, who confirmed the incident said that police had commenced investigation into the incident.

The Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, SKB Ogbuagu, has died.

Ogbuagu collapsed on Thursday evening, January 19, 2023, during a town hall meeting of the governorship candidate of the party held at the Ezeagu Local Government Area headquarters.

It was gathered that the meeting had ended and everyone was moving to reception venue, when he fell sick.

Ogbuagu, who was said to be an asthmatic, was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where he passed away.

The United States has announced a massive new package of arms and munitions for Ukraine on Thursday as the country’s Western supporters seek to boost its armored forces.

The package does not feature Western battle tanks requested by Kyiv, but includes 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers, an additional 59 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Avenger air defense systems, and large and small munitions, according to a Pentagon statement.

“The 59 Bradley IFVs included in this package, together with the 50 Bradleys previously committed on January 6, and the 90 Stryker APCs will provide Ukraine with two brigades of armored capability,” it said.

An initial 50 Bradleys were included in a more than $3 billion package announced last week.

The United States and other countries have made several large donations of armored vehicles to Ukraine, but with the exception of Britain have not pledged to provide modern Western tanks.

Britain promised last weekend that it would send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, while Germany said last week that it would provide Marder armored vehicles, and France has promised to supply AMX-10 RC light tanks.

The United States has said it is reluctant to provide its Abrams tanks to Ukraine due to difficulties with maintenance and training.

According to a senior US lawmaker, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told US congressmen that Germany would supply heavy tanks to Ukraine if the United States did likewise.

Although Germany has been cautious about providing heavy weapons for Ukraine, Scholz is facing mounting pressure within Europe to authorize exports of German-made Leopard tanks.

Berlin left the door open to letting allies supply Ukraine with the tanks, saying late Thursday it would “become clear in the next few hours or tomorrow morning.”

Asked about the thinking behind the rise in the number of armored vehicles being promised to Kyiv, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told journalists on Wednesday that they are needed to help Ukrainian forces defeat increasingly heavy Russian defenses.

Moscow’s troops are “digging in, they’re digging trenches, they’re putting these Dragon’s Teeth, laying mines. They’re really trying to fortify that FLOT, that forward line of troops,” he said.

The aim is to “enable them to change that dynamic with these kind of static defenses by being able to fire and maneuver through the use of more mechanized forces,” Kahl said.

The latest US package — which was announced the day before a major aid meeting in Germany — brings Washington’s total military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion to more than $26.7 billion.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Professor Yakubu Mahmud, says the commission will not be shifting the February 25 and March 11 dates for the 2023 General elections and that the commission is also prepared for a run-off election if the need arises.

Yakubu stated this at a lecture at Chatham House in London on Tuesday, January 17. Yakubu who decried the spate of attacks on its facilities in form of arson said 50 facilities of the commission had been attacked in four years.

He, however, vowed that the 2023 general election would hold in spite of the attacks explaining that the commission would need to continue to rebuild the burnt facilities and replace materials.

“We are going ahead to conduct the election as scheduled. There are no plans to postpone. Even though there are tremendous challenges and expectations of INEC, the Commission is a beneficiary of enormous goodwill in Nigeria and beyond. We can surmount the challenges and ensure elections continue to get better,” he said.

Yakubu said the turnout for new registration was very high and that at the moment, Nigerian voters were 16.7million more than the rest of West Africa.

He revealed that over 600, 000 PVCs were collected in Lagos in the last month, but lamented that the state had the largest number of uncollected cards.

He also stated that most of the collected PVC’s were from newly registered votes, while uncollected PVC’s dates to 2015.

Speaking on voters who have been displaced as a result of insecurity in the North East and North West, he said the Commission would conduct polls in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps to ensure that no one in disenfranchised.

He also said the commission would conduct mock elections in some select states to test the use of the technology to be deployed.

The Kogi State Government has rejected the response of the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr Ado Ibrahim, to the query issued to him on why he failed to welcome the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to the state when he visited in December, to unveil Governor Yahaya Bello’s projects.

The letter dated January 16th, 2023 stated that the response was rejected because the monarch did not comply with the appropriate title of his stool.

Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, on Friday, hailed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for signing the Electoral Act, which he said paved the way for free and fair elections.

Adeleke said this at his first meeting with Buhari at the State House, in Abuja.The governor told journalists;

“Since my election, I feel like I should come and say hello to Mr. President and thank him for signing that Electoral Act because I benefited from it.

That paved way for free and fair elections and the international community is applauding Nigeria, that Nigeria is set for democracy.

“So that is why I’m here today; to see him, thank him and wish him well in his remaining time in office.”