The pain is raw. The sorrow is deep.

Senator Dr George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation , arrived his homestead – Benue, and shares on his X:

” I returned home, ahead of @officialABAT ’s condolence visit to Benue, weighed down by the grief of the Yelewata killings.

I was at the sites of the attack, met survivors who spoke through tears, & visited those fighting for their lives at BSUTH.

The pain is raw. The sorrow is deep.

I brought Mr. President’s heartfelt condolences to the people & the FG’s commitment to end this pogrom.

But I also bring my personal vow too- I will not abandon my own.

I will stand with you- and we will not rest till our homesteads are secure & peace returns to our lands.

At the Market IDP camp, I met families still reeling from loss — displaced, grieving, and living in difficult conditions. Their resilience moved me deeply.

This crisis has gone on too long. No one deserves to live in fear or uncertainty in their own homeland.This really hurts.”

∆ Ohibaba.com

Few hours before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s scheduled visit to Benue State, the Makurdi–Lafia–Abuja road has been rendered impassable due to heavy flooding.

It was observed that intense floodwater has overtaken the highway, leaving motorists and passengers stranded.

The affected route, a major corridor into Makurdi, has forced commuters to either postpone their journeys or seek shelter in safer areas.

The timing of the flood has raised concerns as it coincides with heightened security and logistical movements in preparation for the President’s one-day visit to commiserate with the people of Benue over the recent massacre in Yelewata.

More to come…..

…..The 17 nominees were all presented before the Senate committee by the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Basheer Lado, who divided them into three categories.

The 17 candidates nominated by President Bola Tinubu to oversee the affairs of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, Rivers State Civil Service Commission and Rivers State Local Government Service Commission have officially declared their assets before the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The assets declaration came on the heel of security clearance by the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police.

The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, disclosed this during the screening exercise by the Senate ad hoc committee to oversee the activities of the Rivers Sole Administrator, Vice Adm Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd).

The development comes barely one week after President Tinubu transmitted the names of nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

The five nominees for the Rivers State Civil Service Commission are Dr Barikor Baribuma (Chairman), Lot Egopija, Ms Maeve Ere-Bestman, Mrs Joy Obiaju and Mrs Charity Lloyd Harry.

Rivers State Electoral Commission has seven nominees – Dr Michael Ekpai Odey (Chairman), Mr Lezaasi Torbira, Prof Arthur Nwafor, Prof Godfrey Mbudiogha, Prof Joyce Akaniwor, Dr (Mrs) Olive A. Bruce and Prof Chidi Halliday.

The category of Rivers State Local Government Service Commission also has seven appointees namely Israel N. Amadi (Chairman), Linus Nwandem, Lady Christabel George-Didia, Dr Tonye Willie Pepple, Richard Ewoh, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ofik (retd) and Sammy Apiafi.

The 17 nominees were all presented before the Senate committee by the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Basheer Lado, who divided them into three categories.

The nominees for the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board are expected to take place on Wednesday at the Senate.

Bamidele who doubles as the chairman of the 18-member committee, however, reaffirmed the Senate’s commitment to upholding democratic processes in the oil-rich state.

He said, “Let me quickly inform distinguished colleagues and members of the public that the nominees who are seated before us have gone through security screening by the various security agencies, including the Department of State Security as well as the Nigerian Police.

“And none of them had had any issue with security clearance, which is germane to what we are doing here. We will just be speaking to your CV because I will have no issues with security clearance.

“Members of the public are also to be told that we have also insisted that they should go through the constitutional requirement of going to do their assets declaration by the Code of Conduct Bureau, which they have also complied with.

”The Ekiti lawmaker also disclosed that once they finished the screening exercise, the results and recommendations would be presented to the Senate leadership at the next plenary.

“Finally, it is also for me to report that as a committee we did not have any petition against any of the nominees who are here. So there is no inhibiting factor that would really prevent us from screening any of the nominees.

“The screening exercise itself is a process and all of these individual steps that I have mentioned are part of the process.“

Once we are done with this, we then make our recommendations to the Senate in plenary for the confirmation or otherwise based on our findings and recommendations,” he said.