Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has recounted how he narrowly escaped an alleged assassination attempt in Abuja while pursuing his ambition to become governor of the state.

Otti said about 12 armed men who came to kill him in July 2015 in Maitama, Abuja, missed him because he had left the location shortly before their arrival.

The governor disclosed this on Thursday during a solemn assembly and covenant renewal service organised by the Abia State Government in Umuahia to rededicate the state to God.

Otti said he was grateful to God for saving him from the alleged attack, adding that the assailants believed he was still inside the building when they arrived.

“They shot two persons. They were looking for me, but God had taken me away.

“They finished; they couldn’t find me. They were about 12.

“They jumped into the next compound and stripped the whole place. They thought I was there, but I had left,” Otti recalled.

The governor said the gathering was organised as part of efforts to rededicate Abia State to God and ensure that its affairs remained guided by God rather than fetish practices and secret societies.

 

Former Commissioner of Police in Niger State, Diseye Desire Nsirim, rtd, has died after a brief illness.

Nsirim died on Monday, September 21, 2026, in a hospital, according to the Niger State Police Command.

The late police officer, who hailed from Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, served as the 27th Commissioner of Police in Niger State between 2012 and 2014.

She was the first and, according to the command, the only female Commissioner of Police to have served in the state.

The command said that during her tenure, Nsirim contributed to crime prevention, public safety and the maintenance of law and order in the state.

It listed the dismantling of the Darul-Salam group in Mokwa and the busting of another terrorist group in Minna among her notable achievements as Commissioner of Police.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, said the command’s current Commissioner of Police, Adamu Abdullahi Elleman, commiserated with Nsirim’s family, relatives, colleagues and associates.

Elleman described the late officer’s contributions to policing in Niger State and national security as significant.

He prayed for strength and fortitude for the family to bear the loss.

A civil servants’ group, the Federal Workers Forum (FWF), has formally written to President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly demanding that the federal minimum wage be raised from N70,000 to N300,000, with a maximum salary of N1.5 million for Level 17 officers.

As reported on Thursday, September 3, by The Punch, the letter, dated September 2, 2026, was signed by National Coordinator Andrew Emelieze and General Secretary Ogundele Ayodele.

It was addressed to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives through the Clerk of the National Assembly, with President Tinubu, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation listed as additional recipients.

The forum argued that the N70,000 minimum wage passed in 2024 had not been properly carried out, saying workers received only a blanket N40,000 addition regardless of grade level.

“The Federal Government has not fully implemented the new national minimum wage since July 2024. We have been in the battle for full consequential adjustment of the new minimum wage,” the group said in the letter.

The FWF insisted that the statutory three-year review cycle should not stop the government from acting urgently, describing the current situation as an emergency.

“It is suicidal for the federal workers to continue in this ugly situation,” the letter read. “Federal workers are dying in instalments; we are suffering in silence; our salary is too poor; it is not taking us home.”

The group also claimed some workers had borrowed from microfinance banks and mobile loan applications just to cover transport to work, while others had resorted to cooking with firewood because they could no longer afford gas.

The forum attached a full pay scale to the letter.

Beyond wages, the FWF demanded payment of all outstanding salaries and promotion arrears, implementation of a 40 per cent peculiar allowance, a permanent Cost of Living Allowance, family support payments, comprehensive health insurance, and housing and car loan schemes for federal workers.

The forum also called for free education for children of federal workers in federal institutions, reduced taxation on allowances, and a broader social security programme for unemployed Nigerians.

On pensions, the group asked the National Assembly to investigate claims that part of workers’ contributory pension savings was being borrowed by the executive, demanding an immediate stop and full refund if confirmed.