President Bola Tinubu departed Lagos at 11:06 a.m. on Tuesday for Pretoria, South Africa, where he will attend the re-election inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Before his departure, Tinubu was seen off at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and other dignitaries.

Traveling in style aboard a Dassault Falcon 8X aircraft with registration number 9H-GRC, President Tinubu is expected to return to Nigeria after the ceremony concludes.

Allwell Ihunda, Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers State, who is also overseeing Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, hastily retreated when confronted by protesting youths at the council’s headquarters on Tuesday.

Accompanied by aides and security personnel, Ihunda was en route to the council premises when aggrieved youths obstructed his path, forcing him to disembark from his vehicle.

The situation quickly escalated as the youths advanced towards him, prompting his security team to fire warning shots into the air to disperse the crowd.

In a bid to evade the growing confrontation, Ihunda swiftly boarded a black SUV with his aides and departed the scene, while disgruntled youths chased after his convoy.

Vehicles purportedly belonging to his aides also hurriedly followed suit.

Throughout the incident, some of the protesting youths vocally expressed their frustrations, shouting remarks like, “That’s him, Allwell. Chase him. Who is he? Look at him! Mayor is running. Chase him!  Don’t run, come you will see pressure. We are not afraid of you.”

Despite efforts by his security team to calm the situation and quell the unrest, the youths persisted, questioning, “Why is he running?”

Amid a legislative dispute, the State Chairman of the ALGON had refused to vacate office following the expiration of his tenure on June 17th.

The LG chairmen, elected during Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration, cited the local government amendment law passed by the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly as justification for their decision.

This law extended their tenure by six months due to Governor Siminlayi Fubara’s failure to conduct local government elections.

See video below:

The Rivers State Police Command has rebutted allegations of its officers being involved in a shooting incident during a protest in Port Harcourt.

Viral video clips circulating online captured moments of sporadic gunfire as Ijaw youths gathered at the Port Harcourt City Council secretariat to demonstrate against arbitrary tenure elongation by local government chairmen.

Ichemanti, a prominent leader among the Port Harcourt City youths, claimed that the Police shot at one of the protesters during the demonstration.

However, Rivers Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko refuted the accusations.

She clarified that the Police presence was solely to maintain peace and asserted that the video evidence did not show officers discharging firearms.

Iringe-Koko stated, “If you can see clearly in that video, there is no policeman shooting there. You can see them peacefully moving around there because they are there to forestall the breakdown of law and order. So there is no shooting.

“Let’s stop circulating false stories. That you heard gunshots doesn’t mean the police are shooting. If there was any shooting, you would have seen casualties.”

Addressing queries about the source of the gunfire, the PPRO remarked, “Neither you nor I were present, but I can assure you that the Police deployed to the area did not fire any shots.”