News

Communal Clash: Osun Govt Imposes 24-hour Curfew On 2 LGAs

Published

2 months ago

October 6, 2023

Editor

The Osun Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Ifon and Ilobu, in Orolu and Irepodun Local Government Areas of the state respectively over ongoing communal clash in the area.

This is contained in a statement in Osogbo on Friday, by Mr Kolapo Alimi, the State’s Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that both communities in the two local government areas have been clashing over a parcel of land.

Alimi said that the curfew was to forestall further breakdown of law and order in the hitherto two peaceful and law abiding communities.

He said that Gov. Ademola Adeleke directed that the 24-hour curfew on the communities should take immediate effect.

“To maintain a lasting peace and order, pending when the issues at hand will be amicably resolved, Gov. Adeleke, in his executive capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the state, has ordered the immediate takeover of the disputed lands/areas by his administration.

“In the same vein, government has ordered that anyone or group of persons found or seen doing one thing or the other on the disputed lands/areas will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“Therefore, in strict compliance with the 24-hour curfew now imposed, there will be strict restriction of both human and vehicular movements in the affected areas and communities until otherwise directed by the governor,” he said.

The commissioner also said that officers of the Joint Security Task Force, comprising the Nigerian Army, Police, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, have been directed to be on a 24-hour surveillance on the communities with a view to ensuring lasting peace.

“As a government, the present administration has the obligation as conferred on it by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to protect the lives and property of the people of Orolu and Irepodun local governments and by extension, Osun state.

“The present administration will not in any way be a party to compromising any action or utterances that will mortgage the peace and order currently holding sway in the state.

“While commiserating with the families of those who lost their lives in the wake of the recent crisis, the present administration is still reiterating the need for peace and order to be restored in the two concerned local governments.

“Maintaining peace and order is our collective responsibility in Osun state,” he added.

NAN also reports that the state government had earlier on Sept. 17 imposed an indefinite dusk-to-dawn curfew on both communities.

The measure came in the wake of a communal clash between the two communities, resulting in a total breakdown of law and order.

News

World Anti-Corruption Day: Group Decries DSS Impunity, Govt’s Borrowing Habit

Published

25 mins ago

December 11, 2023

Editor

The Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy, and Development, FENRAD, has raised concerns about the impunity of the Department of State Security, DSS, and its disregard for the rule of law in the last eight years.

FENRAD’s executive director, Nelson Nnanna Nwafor, made the observation in Umuahia on Monday on the occasion of the 2023 World Anti-Corruption Day.

According to him, how DSS personnel go about re-arresting people freed by the court has been worrisome.

“Most lamentable is that in the last eight years, the state security service has become an agent of lawlessness. We have witnessed attempts to rearrest someone the court had freed right there inside the courtroom or also instances of inter-agency rivalry,” he said.

The group also condemned the purchase of N160 million worth of vehicles for 469 lawmakers and the purchase of a yacht by the Federal Government. It also decried the nation’s habit of borrowing money to fund its budget and turning around to mismanage such funds on frivolities, to the detriment of poor Nigerians.

The group further cited contradictory judgements from courts in post-election cases as another worrying trend in the country.

FENRAD noted that for corruption to be defeated in Nigeria, the federal and state governments must be genuinely resolved to fight the monster.

News

NECO Awards Scholarships To Best Performing Candidates In 2022, 2023 Exams

Published

49 mins ago

December 11, 2023

Editor

The National Examinations Council, NECO, has awarded scholarships to a total of 14 best performing candidates in the 2022 and 2023 examinations at all levels across the country.

The Registrar/ CEO of NECO, Prof Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi made the disclosure during the Council’s Productivity Award ceremony held in Minna, Niger State.

According to him, the best performing male and female candidates in SSCE 2022 are Asiru Ahmed Opeyemi from Crescent International High School, Sango-Ota, Ogun State, and Obidibo Chioma Blessing.

Okafor Chima Christian from Saint Paul Academy, Jos, and Benson Ifebube Chelsea, from Renaissance Garden Secondary School, Ago-Okota, Lagos, are the best performing students for the 2023.

In the Basic Education Certificate Examination category, for 2022, Akintola Samuel Oluwadaresimi of Apostolic Church College, Sango, Ibadan, and Onochie Chiamada Francis of Igbenedion Educational Centre, Benin, topped the chart as the best performing students while Ekwueme Ikechukwu Excellent from Kimota Science College, Gboko, and Owuye Faheeza Oluwakemi of Maryland Comprehensive School (Junior), Lagos, emerged the best in 2023.

Similarly, the best performing candidates for the National Common Entrance Examination are Bokare Lemuel Ogheneyobre of Kingskidies Nursery and Primary School, Warri, and Chika Ugu Anastasia from Nana Primary School, Warri.

Winners in the gifted children category include Njoku Obinna Adrian of Rosai Kid Montessori School, New Owerri, and Anikwu Princess Kamsiyochukwu from Springfield Academy, Awka.

Also, some staff of the Council, who distinguished themselves in their various areas of duty, were also honoured and given awards by the organization.

News

144, 910 Cases Pending Before Federal High Court In New Legal Year

Published

54 mins ago

December 11, 2023

Editor

The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice John Tsoho has revealed that a total of 144, 910 cases are pending before the court in new legal year.

The Court in the last legal year had 15, 025 cases filed before it by litigants out of which 12, 870 were effectively disposed off leaving a balance of 2, 155 suits.

At the opening of the legal year of the Court in Abuja on Monday, the Chief Judge explained that the court carried over 142, 755 cases from 2021 to the 2022 legal year, adding that in the 2023 legal year, 15, 025 fresh cases were filed by various categories of litigants.

He noted that the Court would be going into the new legal year with the 144, 910 suits but expressed optimism that judges would rise up to the challenge of disposing the cases as quickly as possible.

The breakdown of the carried over cases showed that 42, 784 are civil cases, 36, 061 criminal matters, 41, 447 are motions while 24, 618 are fundamental rights enforcement suits.

Justice Tsoho who put the current number of judges on the bench of the Court at 95, thanked them for the speedy manner pre-election cases of the 2023 general elections were handled within the time allowed by law.

“We must dispense justice with integrity and without bias, we must display utmost competence and courage as well as dispose cases speedily.

“The Federal High Court will surely rise to the challenges of the future with the same tenacity and commitment that have defined its path thus far,” he said.