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Disco’s Offices Sealed As Oyo Govt, IBEDC Exchange Words

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The Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue has explained that it sealed offices of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company over a tax default in excess of N400m.

In a statement by the revenue board on Wednesday, its Chairman, Femi Awakan, said that the state government duly obtained a distraining order of the Oyo State High Court before sealing some of the offices of the distribution company.

Some of the offices affected by Wednesday’s action include the company’s headquarters in Ring Road, Ibadan and its offices at Mobil, off Ring Road, Dugbe, Ojoo/Iwo Road office as well as Monatan, all in Ibadan.

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The disco had alleged that the Governor Seyi Makinde government illegally sealed off its offices following the disconnection of electricity supply to the State Secretariat which also houses the Governor’s Office.

“Oyo State Government is owing IBEDC a whooping consumption outstanding of N450 million for over a period of three years.

“No business in this country can run successfully with such a huge outstanding,” IBEDC had claimed.

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However, the state’s internal revenue board in its reaction, said it took the decision to seal off the offices of the distribution company over a tax default in excess of N400m.

The state government also said it had applied for the warrant to enforce the payment through suit No. M/122/2022, which has the governor, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and the Board of Internal Revenue Service of Oyo State as applicants, while IBEDC is the respondent.

According to the statement, the state government had, in line with its avowed commitment to the observance of the rule of law, filed an application before Justice O.M Olagunju, seeking the issuance of a warrant authorising its officers to “distrain upon any land, premises or places of which the respondent (IBEDC) is the owner.”

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The revenue agency said the court order was to enable the state government to enforce the payment of arrears of taxes to the tune of N400,546,111,41k, being taxes accumulated by the IBEDC in respect of Harmonised bills, Infrastructure bills, Tax Audit bills and Signage bills, and which the company has failed to pay in the last two years.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Commercial Activities Disrupted As Group Protests Against NDDC

“It is to be noted that the IBEDC has a statutory obligation to deduct and remit revenue bills to the government of Oyo State through the Board of Internal Revenue.

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“It is also to be noted that the distribution company failed and neglected to remit any such personal income tax of its employees within the period under review and that the Board of Internal Revenue several times served requisite demand notices calling attention to the company’s tax liabilities/obligations,” the statement said.

Relying on section 45 of the Revenue Law of Oyo State, the presiding judge, Justice O.M Olagunju, issued the warrant to seal up IBEDC offices.

Consequently, the Board of Internal Revenue, acting on the valid court order, put effect to the warrant and sealed off some of the offices of the IBEDC in order to enforce the payment of the outstanding bills,” the revenue board boss added.

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Afghanistan’s Taliban Release US Citizen

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Afghanistan’s Taliban government released an American citizen from detention on Sunday, a week after freeing an elderly British couple.

In a statement, the ministry identified the detainee as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, Washington’s special envoy on hostages.

Boehler made a rare visit to Kabul earlier this month to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Taliban government.

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan released an American citizen named Amir Amiri from prison today,” the Foreign Ministry on X, using the official name for the government.

“The Afghan government does not view the issues of citizens from a political angle and makes it clear that ways can be found to resolve issues through diplomacy.”

READ ALSO:Taliban Detains 14 For Playing Music, Singing At Afghanistan Private Gathering

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Little is known about Amiri’s case, as it has not been widely reported.

An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri, who is 36, “had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024”.

The official added that Amiri would stop briefly in Doha, Qatar for medical checks before continuing back to the United States.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release of Amiri, said he had been “wrongfully detained” in Afghanistan, and thanked Qatar for helping to get him freed.

President Donald Trump “has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home,” Rubio wrote on X.

In January two Americans were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the United States.

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READ ALSO:Taliban Court Publicly Flogs Woman For Illicit Relationship, Running Away From Home

Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler.

At least one other US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is being held in Afghanistan. The United States is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

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The Taliban authorities deny any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.

Just a week ago, Britons Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, were released from a Kabul prison after almost eight months in detention. The Taliban authorities did not say why they were detained.

The couple was arrested in February and first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN experts have said.

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READ ALSO:1.4 Million Girls Banned From Afghan Schools Since Taliban Return – UNESCO

The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.

All the releases have been mediated by Qatar.

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Both the US and the UK, like many other Western nations, warn against all travel to Afghanistan.

Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government, which has imposed a strict version of Islamic law and been accused of sweeping human rights violations.

Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the group returned to power in August 2021, when most embassies withdrew their diplomatic presence.

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The Taliban government says it wants to have good relations with other countries, notably the United States, despite the 20-year war against US-led forces.

 

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One Dead, Several Injured After US Shooting, Fire At Mormon Church

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One person was killed and several others injured Sunday after a shooter targeted a Mormon church in the US state of Michigan, where the building was also set on fire, authorities said.

The suspect, a 40-year-old man from a nearby town, was shot dead by law enforcement after the attack, police said, without specifying any possible motive.

President Donald Trump called the shooting “horrendous” and said on his Truth Social platform it “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.”

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Images from the scene showed emergency services escorting people on stretchers and a large plume of dark smoke at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.

READ ALSO:Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

Local police chief William Renye told reporters the suspect drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church and then began firing at people inside with an assault rifle.

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He said the service was active with “hundreds of people within the church.”

Authorities believe the gunman also deliberately set fire to the church before he was killed by responding police officers, Renye said.

Ten gunshot victims were transported to hospital, including one who has died, the official said.

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He added that the fire had been extinguished but that “we do believe that we will find additional victims once we have that scene secure.”

A woman who lives near the church told AFP: “My husband heard people screaming, one lady yelling for help.”

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FBI agents are on the scene to assist the investigation, chief Kash Patel said on X.

Violence in a place of worship is a cowardly and criminal act. Our prayers are with the victims and their families during this terrible tragedy,” he wrote.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also said she had been briefed on the incident.

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Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

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Russell Nelson, who headed the Mormon church since 2018, died on Saturday night at age 101, the church announced.

“With sorrow we announce that Russell M. Nelson, beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away peacefully… at his home in Salt Lake City,” it said in a statement, using the church’s official name.

The former heart surgeon was “the oldest president in the history of the Church,” the statement added, without specifying a cause of death.

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Utah Republican senator Mike Lee lauded Nelson as a “bold, visionary leader prepared by God to testify of Jesus Christ in the very times in which we now live.”

READ ALSO:Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

Nelson became the 17th president of the Church in January 2018 at age 93, succeeding Thomas Monson.

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Before becoming president, Nelson successfully pushed for the church to label same-sex married couples as “apostates” and bar their children under the age of 18 from religious rites, including baptisms — though that policy was scrapped after he took on the role.

He also broke with his predecessors and cautioned against using shorthands “LDS” or “Mormons” to refer to the church.

Nelson’s successor will be chosen after his funeral by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who like the church’s president are considered prophets by believers.

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READ ALSO:Brazilian Jazz Legend, Hermeto Pascoal, Is Dead

The religious leader is survived by his wife, eight of his children, 57 grandchildren and more than 167 great-grandchildren, according to the church.

Founded in 1830, the Mormon church considers itself a Christian body, but bases its doctrines on the Book of Mormon, a text purporting to contain a fuller version of the words of Jesus Christ than that recorded in the Bible.

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims a total membership of more than 17.5 million people.

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