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Abia Assembly To Probe Alarming School Fees At Government College Umuahia
Abia Assembly To Probe Alarming School Fees At Government College Umuahia
Abia Assembly to probe alarming school fees at government college Umuahia. An aggrieved Nigerian from Emede community within Ibeku Area of Abia State, Mr. Chukwudi Onwudinanti, has petitioned the Abia State House of Assembly over the mismanagement of the Government College Umuahia (GCU).
The deputy speaker of the House, Hon Austin Okezie, who read the petition on the floor of the House, said the House would investigate it.
Onwudinanti, a former student lamented that the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association (GCUOBA), which is currently managing the school, has deviated from its original purpose.
The petition addressed to the Speaker, Rt Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa signed on behalf of Onwudinanti by Ugochukwu Zik, a lawyer noted that the Abia State government handed over the school to GCUOBA in July 2014 after signing a Memorandum of Understanding.
According to him, the college is now being run like a private school for the elites contrary to the purpose the state government envisioned when handling the school over to the new management.
He pointed out that the conservative school uniform, pink and brown had been changed while some iconic school blocks such as the AD block had been left to deteriorate to the point of ruins.
“The speedy vandalisation of these archival assets runs contrary to the charge given by the Abia State Government to the Old boys to upgrade the school and not destroy it,” he stated.
Hon Okezie who represents Umuahia East State Constituency, where the college is located, disclosed that he has been bombarded with calls from his constituents over the situation the college has found itself.
Umuahia
“The standard of running the Government College Umuahia should be returned to what it used to be. It is more or less an elitist school now, which was not what it used to be during our time as students,” Okezie noted.
The Speaker, Emeruwa confirmed on his X Handle that the House of Assembly was already probing the petition.
He confirmed that the petition had been sent to a Joint Committee on Education and Public Petitions with the mandate to report back in three weeks.
ICYMI: Governor Fubara Orders Immediate Employment For Children Of Fallen Servicemen
ICYMI: Governor Fubara orders immediate employment for children of fallen servicemen. Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has directed the immediate employment of children of fallen servicemen in the state.
He gave the order on Thursday during the 2026 Armed Forces Remembrance Day ceremony at Government House, Port Harcourt, instructing the Secretary to the State Government to ensure swift implementation.
Fubara
Fubara said the move reflects the state’s commitment to supporting security agencies and families of personnel who died in active service, as he also pledged continued welfare and logistical support for the military.
My Son’s Decision To Join APC Entirely Personal, Nothing Alarming About It Says Atiku
My son’s decision to join APC entirely personal, nothing alarming about it says Atiku. Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says the decision of his son, Abba, to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was entirely personal.
Abubakar added that as a democrat, he does not coerce his children on matters of conscience.
Atiku
On January 15, Abba announced that he was pitching tent with the APC in a bid to help re-elect President Bola Tinubu, who was his dad’s opponent in the 2023 election.
He also announced the renaming of his political group, originally established in 2022 as the Atiku Haske Organisation, to the Haske Bola Tinubu Organisation.
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EFCC Tenders More Fresh Bank Records In Yahaya Bello’s ‘N110.4bn Fraud’ Trial
EFCC tenders more fresh bank records in Yahaya Bello’s ‘N110.4bn fraud’ trial. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday tendered fresh bank records in the ongoing trial of Yahaya Bello, former governor of Kogi state, before a federal high court in Abuja.
Bello is standing trial alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu on a 16-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving about N110.4 billion.
At the resumed hearing before Maryanne Anineh, the presiding judge, the prosecution team, led by Kemi Pinheiro, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), presented prosecution witness six (PW6), Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, for further cross-examination.
During cross-examination, Joseph Daudu, counsel to the first and second defendants, questioned the witness on exhibit S1—a statement of account earlier tendered by the prosecution.
Daudu asked the witness to clarify his earlier testimony that the statement of account contained eight columns, particularly the meaning of the “description” column. Bata explained that the column reflected the narration of transactions.
He drew the court’s attention to an entry dated January 20, 2016, which reads: “Cq 158 Abdulsalami Hudu for N10,000,000.”
Bata also pointed out another entry stating, “ZB chq 155 paid Halims Hotels and Tours, Lokoja, N2,454,400.”
When asked whether he knew the purpose for which the N10 million paid to Hudu or the sum paid to Halims Hotels and Tours was used, the witness said he could not determine how the funds were spent or their intended purpose.
Daudu further referred the witness to exhibit X1 and asked him to identify it.
Responding, Bata said it was the account-opening package for a company with account number 1014878995, domiciled at Zenith Bank’s Lokoja branch.
The defence counsel then asked the witness about the number of transactions recorded within specific dates.
While Daudu suggested there were 21 transactions between March 10 and March 12, 2016, the witness said the entries he was working with began from November 14, 2016.
Directing the witness to entries dated December 6, 2016, Daudu asked him to read them out.
Bata told the court that the first entry was a transfer from the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service, credited with N74,378,483.20, adding that another entry on the same day showed a cheque payment of N10 million to Mohammed Jami’u Sallau.
Yahaya Bello
Asked whether the statement indicated the purpose of the payment, the witness said the narration did not indicate the reason for the transaction, adding that the same applied to another N10 million credit in favour of Sallau.
The witness was also cross-examined by Z.B. Abbas, counsel to the third defendant, Abdulsalami Hudu, who asked whether all withdrawals made by the third defendant were by cheque, to which the witness replied in the affirmative, adding that authorised signatories duly signed the cheques.
Abbas also confirmed from the witness that exhibit X1 was the statement of account of the government house account.
On exhibit X2, the witness said the third defendant was introduced to the bank as a civil servant and accountant.
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