Ekwutosblog has reliably gathered that the Nigerian Police Force, Imo State Police Command has reinforced its long-standing prohibition on the sale, use, and distribution of pyrotechnics, commonly referred to as “knockouts” or “bangers,” as part of efforts to ensure public safety during the upcoming Yuletide celebrations. The Command has emphasized that this ban, crucial for preventing accidents, injuries, and fire outbreaks, remains in full force across the state.

In a Press Release issued earlier today, Sunday, December 1, 2024, the Commissioner of Police, CP Aboki Danjuma, warned that individuals or groups found violating this directive will face arrest and prosecution. The Command has pledged to carry out rigorous patrols and enforcement operations to ensure strict adherence to the ban.

CP Danjuma called on residents, event organizers, and business operators to cooperate with the directive and urged the public to report any unauthorized sale or use of pyrotechnics to the nearest police station. The Command expressed gratitude for the continued support and vigilance of citizens in upholding law and order.

In addition to the pyrotechnics ban, the Command assured the public of heightened security measures throughout the festive period. These measures are designed to safeguard lives and property while creating a peaceful environment for holiday celebrations.

The Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Okoye Henry, reiterated the commitment of the Imo State Police Command to maintaining a secure and harmonious atmosphere, urging everyone to prioritize safety during the season.

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President Joe Bidenannounced Sunday that he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month on gun crime and tax convictions, marking a reversal as he prepares to leave office.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement. It is a “full and unconditional pardon,” according to a copy of the executive grant of clemency.

This official grant of clemency cannot be rescinded by President-elect Donald Trump.

By pardoning his son, Joe Biden has reneged on a public promise that he made repeatedly before and after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The president and his top White House spokesperson have said unequivocally, including after Trump won the 2024 election, that he would not pardon Hunter Biden or commute his sentence.

The pardon means Hunter Biden won’t be sentenced for his crimes, and it eliminates any chance of his being sent to prison, which was a possibility. The judges overseeing his cases will likely cancel the sentencing hearings, which were slated for December 12 in the gun case and December 16 in the tax case.

The pardon covers any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden committed “from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” which, importantly, covers his entire tenure on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. He had faced scrutiny for his controversial foreign business dealings, and Trump has repeatedly said he should be prosecuted for his activities in Ukraine.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers on Sunday night formally notified the judges in his criminal cases about the pardon — and said in a sworn affidavit that he has accepted the pardon from his father.

In new court filings, Hunter Biden’s lawyers told the judges in both of his cases that the pardon “requires dismissal of the Indictment against him with prejudice and adjournment of all future proceedings in this matter.”

Joe Biden said in the statement that he decided to issue the pardon because his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” saying that “Hunter was treated differently” from people who commit similar crimes.

The president said his political opponents in Congress “instigated” the charges “to attack me and oppose my election.”

He said in his statement, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. … I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

Hunter Biden was convicted by a jury in June of illegally buying and possessing a gun, after a gut-wrenching trial that delved into his drug abuse and family dysfunction. He then pleaded guilty in September to nine tax offenses, stemming from $1.4 million in taxes that he didn’t pay while spending lavishly on escorts, strippers, cars and drugs.

Special counsel David Weiss, who was the Trump-appointed US attorney for Delaware, began investigating Hunter Biden in 2018 and filed both indictments in 2023. As president, Joe Biden had the authority to shut down the probe or direct the Justice Department to dismiss the charges — but he kept his pledge to stay out of the matter.

Both criminal cases revolved around Hunter Biden’s decadeslong struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, which he discussed openly, including in his 2021 memoir. From the start, Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued that he was being targeted by overzealous prosecutors who caved to public pressure from Trump and congressional Republicans.

“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter Biden said in a statement Sunday night.

“In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded,” he added. “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”

As much as Joe Biden had hoped to remain deferent to the judicial system, the president came to believe that “raw politics had infected the process,” one White House official familiar with the decision told CNN on Sunday.

“He feels Hunter was targeted in order for his political opponents to hurt him and that was cruel and he endured enough,” the official said. “Once he made it, there was no sense in delaying it further.”

One thing that particularly swayed the president: a belief that his political opponents were trying to “break Hunter,” as he said in his statement, as Hunter Biden was recovering from addiction. The president pointed to his son’s five and a half years of sobriety “even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.”

He said he “wrestled” with the decision and came to his conclusion this weekend. The Bidens spent the Thanksgiving holiday together in Nantucket, where the president and his son were seen having lunch, attending a tree lighting and going to Mass.

In the wake of Trump’s election victory last month, White House aides began to sense that a pardon — or a commutation of the younger Biden’s sentences — was a distinct possibility. Some aides believed that Joe Biden would wait to see the sentences his son received in mid-December before making a decision.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on November 7 — the day after the election — that the president had no plans to pardon his son. But in recent weeks, Republicans at varying degrees of proximity to Trump highlighted their belief publicly that Hunter Biden would remain a high-profile investigative target in the next term.

Had Vice President Kamala Harris won the election, sources close to the president say, a pardon would have been less likely — in part because of concerns of the political fallout.

One senior administration official, who requested anonymity to describe private conversations among staff, cited Trump’s late-term pardon of Charles Kushner, his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, and said Biden should take the same liberties, especially considering the bond between father and son.

“How could he not?” the official said of the pardon.

This story has been updated with additional information.

There are strong indications that the planned December 1 strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress may suffer a setback following the declaration by some state chapters of the union that they will not be part of the proposed industrial action.

President Bola Tinubu had in July approved a new minimum wage of N70,000 for Nigerian workers, including civil servants, and pledged to review the wage every three years.

Many states agreed to pay above the N70,000 minimum, with Lagos and Rivers states offering the highest pay of N85,000.

However, 13 states and the Federal Capital Territory have yet to begin the implementation of the new minimum wage.

Some of the affected states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Katsina.

Others are Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Enugu states, and the FCT.

But less than 24 hours to the planned strike, some state chapters of the NLC withdrew and distanced themselves from the industrial action.

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Some of the affected states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Nasarawa, Kaduna, and Katsina.

Others are Oyo, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Enugu states, and the FCT.

But less than 24 hours to the planned strike, some state chapters of the NLC withdrew and distanced themselves from the industrial action.

Imo

In Imo State, the NLC Chairman, Uche Chigaemezu, said on Saturday that there was no plan to embark on any strike.

Speaking in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, Chigaemezu said, “We cannot think of embarking on any strike because we have reached an agreement with the state government led by Governor Hope Uzodimma.

“He has shown commitment to the payment of N70,000 minimum wage to Imo workers. We have communicated our position to the national body, and they are aware of the decision of the government to pay the minimum wage soon.”

A civil servant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that there was no plan to embark on strike in the state.

Sokoto

In Sokoto State, following the approval of N70,000 minimum wage for state workers by Governor Ahmed Aliyu, the NLC opted out of the planned national strike of the union.

Recall that the state governor, while presenting the 2025 appropriation bill to the state House of Assembly on Friday, announced that his administration was ready to adopt N70,000 as the new minimum wage.

The governor, however, disclosed that the implementation of the new wage would commence in January 2025.

Speaking with our correspondent on the next line of action, the secretary of the NLC in the state, on Saturday, said the union had withdrawn from the proposed strike action.

He said, “We are not joining the strike action; representatives of the labour union and the state government have signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of the new minimum wage.”

Oyo

Similarly, organised labour in Oyo State dissociated itself from the strike.

The NLC state chairman and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Kayode Martins and Bosun Olabiyi, respectively, in separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH in Ibadan, the state capital, said labour would not participate in the strike.

Martins said, “We have liaised with the national secretariat, and we let them realise the stage we are. Already, we have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for the conclusion of everything.

“We wrote in our press release that we have a good rapport with the government.”

In his submission, Olabiyi said, “We are dissociating ourselves totally from the strike in the state. We have an understanding with the state government; we are not going on strike because everything is fine in this state.”

Katsina

The NLC Chairman in Katsina State, Hussaini Danduna, was also part of the withdrawal spree, saying workers in the state would not join the planned December 1st industrial action.

He said, “We have signed an agreement with the Katsina State Government, and based on this, we are not going to join the strike action declared by the national executive council of our union.”

Also, the TUC Chairman, Katsina State chapter, Mukhtar Abdu-Ruma, said workers would not join the action following the agreement reached with the state government on Saturday.

“The new minimum wage will be implemented in December, and we have agreed on the minimum wage and consequential adjustment,” he stated.

Akwa Ibom

Meanwhile, the TUC Chairman in Akwa Ibom State, Dominic Abang, said public civil servants would not participate in the planned industrial action by the NLC over the non-implementation of the new minimum wage.

Though the state NLC Chairman, Sunny James, could not be reached on the phone, Abang told one of our correspondents in Uyo, the state capital, that the TUC had gone far at the committee level, hence there was no need to join the strike.

Kaduna, Nasarawa, Zamfara, FCT confirm participation

The Kaduna State chapter of the NLC on Saturday confirmed its participation in the planned nationwide strike scheduled for December 1, 2024.

The Chairman of the Kaduna State NLC, Ayuba Suleiman, confirmed the state’s participation to Sunday PUNCH on Saturday.

When asked if the NLC was prepared to embark on the nationwide strike, Suleiman replied, “Yes, we are set for the strike.”