NASS Ready To Create New States - Mark

by Our Reporter

TSenate President David Mark says the present National Assembly is ready to make history by being the first legislature to create states outside the military regime.
``We are hoping to make history as the first democratic government to create states outside the military government,'' he said.

Speaking when he received a delegation agitating for the creation of Gurara out of the present Kaduna state recently in Abuja, Mark said the Assembly would break the jinx that states could only be created by the military.
He assured Nigerians that the committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution would be fair to all in the consideration of states to be created.

Mark, who described their demand as genuine, said it was a clear demonstration of their desire to bring the people closer to the government.
He urged them to unite and eschew religious or ethnic sentiments.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Mr Bawa Magaji, said the creation of the proposed Gurara State was approved by the Kaduna State House of Assembly in its resolution on Nov. 18, 2009.
``The proposed Gurara state, with headquarters in Kachia, has a population of 3,383,207 and a land mass area of about 28,393 square kilometres,'' he said.

by Our Reporter

A 30-year-old businessman, Chinedu Sabastien, was recently arraigned for allegedly stealing a blackberry phone belonging to Mrs Idris Kutigi of Wuse II.
The police prosecution, Mr Francis Tanko, said that Sabastien stole the phone from the plaintiff's car while they were on their way to his (accused) shop.

Kutigi told an Abuja Magistrate's Court that the accused was assigned by his boss, Daniel, to go with her to her apartment to take the measurement of her daughter's bedroom for the purpose of purchasing a carpet.
While in the apartment, Kutigi said the accused asked for a calculator to calculate the measurement of the room and she gave him her blackberry handset.

``On our way back to his shop, I put my phone in the grill compartment of my car, I heard the phone beep along the way, but when I got to the shop and wanted to use it, it was no longer there,'' she said.
Mr Obidike Ikechukwu, counsel to the accused, applied for bail for his client, saying he would not jump bail as Daniel had accepted to be his surety.

``Moreover, the accused is being involved in a crime for the first time and we are confident that he will not be involved in any other offence,'' Ikechukwu said.

Magistrate Fatima Muktar granted the accused bail in the sum of N80,000 and a surety in like sum.
She said the surety must have a fix address within the jurisdiction of the court, and adjourned the case till Aug. 2 for further hearing.