News

Ending Land Grabbing In Edo State: A Justice Cleaning The Augean Stables

Published

3 years ago

November 21, 2022

Hon. Justice Alero Edodo-Eruaga(retired)

By Ijeoma Umeh

From Monday, November 14, to Monday, November 21, 2022 alone, the Edo State Private Property Protection Committee headed by its Chairman, the Hon. Justice Alero Edodo-Eruaga(retired) had heard 91 cases, all bordering on issues relating to land grabbing and communal boundary disputes.

In this business, there is no social class culture. The elitists are crying as much as the ‘commoners’ over issues of land grabbing. The state government is not smiling, being a victim of land grabbing itself.

Recently, the Hon.Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Mr Chris Nekhikhare said that land grabbing in Edo State had cost Edo residents whopping #1.5bn.

The Retired Justice Eruaga sits over a Committee that is quasi-judicial in nature, with the full appurtenances of any such constituted setting anywhere in the world, and replete with members who grind as hard as they can pound in order to restore peace and harmonious living in Edo communities.

The Committee Chairman is imbued with the capacity, if the burden of evidences are heavy against them, to declare land grabbers fit to be charged to court or taken into custody.

Both petitioners and respondents, and their witnesses are daily being quizzed by this 8-member Committee, people who love humanity, yearn for peace in Edo communities, but are ready to be stern where absolutely necessary in reaching far reaching resolutions.

The Edo State Government had set up the Committee on Protection of Private Property in February 2022 to resolve issues of land disputes, particularly land grabbing, through the instrumentality of the Edo State Private Properties Protection Law 2017, a Law to prohibit forcible entry and illegal occupation of landed properties, violent and fraudulent conduct in relation to landed properties, to proscribe the collection of land based community levies , etc.

For the state government, there is a palpable mess, and here is a veritable instrument to clean up the mess.

The Government House premises where the Committee sits daily teem with people from communities all over Edo State, both petitioners and respondents, heirs of persons who died intestate and of course, scheming land grabbers.

Their countenances only exude their anxieties, and behind that facade lies the hope of the common people to get justice, hope and anticipation for resolution of lingering land disputes as each clutch in the crook of their arms documents to be tendered as evidence, by which, they hoped, their prayers would be answered and their land tussles finally resolved.

For most of the Edo indigenous people and non indigenes alike, so much depended on the mien and disposition of the Justice Chairman, Hon. Eruaga and other sound members of her Committee.

Here is a woman of sterling reputation and professional clout whom many have come to identify as “the mouthpiece of the gods,” and the face of Justice at the end of each legitimate process to reclaim their estate or inheritance.

A widow, Kudirat Idemudia, who accompanied another widow whose case was among the 25 cases listed for Monday November 14 to be heard by the Private Property Protection Committee headed by Justice Eruaga(Retd), spoke to this writer about the confidence she has in the capacity of the Committee to resolve land disputes and in facilitating express recovery of people’s property.

“I am a widow with five children. My friend’s son is appearing before the Committee today. Some months ago, I brought a petition before this our great Justice Eruaga. The first time I appeared before her Committee, I was emotional and jittery, but surprisingly, she kept encouraging me, asking me to calm down and narrate my story. She was patient, and she took down every detail, she calmly asked me to sit down and respond to her questions and by the end of that first session, I knew I was on my way to recovering my children’s property which they inherited from my husband, their late father. Although the case was adjourned for hearing to a later date, I was happy I had taken the bold step by bringing forward a petition, without meaning to turn our family into a battle ground for household enemies. The Justice always told us that peaceful resolution of conflicts was the bases around which her Committee was set up.

“So by the time the case came up for hearing again, the Committee was clear in the resolutions reached which was signed by me and my in-laws. While both sides had nothing to lose, my children maintained their title over their inheritance. My immediate family members were happy, so also my in-laws who honestly desired to know who genuinely owned the property between two siblings, my late husband and his late elder brother. It was the methodical manner of interpretation of the wordings of the documents tendered in evidence before the Honourable Justice and members of her Committee that finally resolved the family dispute which had lingered for three years until I brought the petition before Justice Eruaga’s Committee.

I brought my friend here now because I am also very confident that her matter will be amicably resolved since it is similar to mine, the issue of land grabbing.” The Retired school Principal stated.

The testimonies of hope continue to resonate all around.

The sitting continues, so also the cleaning.

News

PAP Sends Additional 34 Foreign Post-graduate Scholarship Beneficiaries To UK Varsities

Published

9 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Editor

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has deployed an additional 34 foreign post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries to various universities in the United Kingdom for the 2025-2026 academic year.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri by Mr Igoniko Oduma, Special Assistant on Media to Dr. Dennis Otuaro, the Administrator, PAP.

According to the statement, the scholars’ programmes include data science, fintech analytics, cyber security, international energy law and policy, construction project management, public health, agri-food technology, electrical and petroleum engineering, among others.

The statement added that more foreign post-graduate scholars will be sent to UK universities in the current academic session.

“In December 2025, nine students, who were the first set of offshore post-graduate scholarship developments by the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Otuaro, for the 2024-2025 academic year, graduated from their various programmes in UK universities.

“Otuaro has deployed over 9000 students to universities within and outside Nigeria for different industry-relevant programmes since he assumed office in March 2024,” the statement partly reads.

Speaking at the pre-departure orientation programme for the scholars at the PAP headquarters in Abuja, on Thursday, Otuaro said that the large-scale deployment was aimed at making the Niger Delta a knowledge-driven region.

He said that his leadership reinvigorated the programme to give it a new momentum in service delivery to the people of the region based on the mandate of President Bola Tinubu.

Otuaro said, “We are sending all of you for post-graduate studies in various universities in the United Kingdom.

“The PAP now has a new momentum and direction because of the repositioning and broad reforms that we carried out in line with the mandate of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR.

“The objective behind the huge scholarships deployment is to ensure that we develop the needed human capital to transform the Niger Delta and generate knowledge-wealth.

“We want to develop relevant manpower in critical disciplines for our region and by extension, the country, because you are expected to contribute your quota to national development after successful graduation.”

The PAP boss, who was represented at the event by his Technical Assistant, Mr Edgar Biu, advised the scholars to study hard to achieve academic excellence in their various fields of research.

According to him, the scholars have an obligation to justify the Federal Government’s investment in their education and future.

He reiterated his warning that beneficiaries should not take for granted the opportunity to further their academic pursuits in the interest of the Niger Delta and indeed the country.

Otuaro expressed appreciation to President Tinubu for his “enormous interest and support for the Programme”, particularly the approval of an upward review of the programme’s budget from N65billion to N150billion.

He also expressed gratitude to the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, for his impeccable guidance and supervision of the programme’s initiatives.

Otuaro, therefore, cautioned the scholars to obey their host country’s laws and the rules and regulations of their various institutions, stressing that they are ambassadors of Nigeria, the Niger Delta and their communities and families.

Highpoint of the orientation programme was the presentation of laptops to the scholars to help them in their studies.

News

Industrial Court Bars Resident Doctors From Strike

Published

10 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Editor

The National Industrial Court in Abuja has issued an interim injunction restraining the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and its agents from embarking on any form of industrial action, including strikes, go-slows, picketing, or preparatory steps for protest, from Monday, January 12, 2026.

Justice E.D. Subilim ordered that the injunction remain in force pending the hearing of the motion on January 21. The suit was filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Federal Government against NARD, its president, Dr Mohammad Suleiman, and Dr Shuaibu Ibrahim.

The court order comes days after resident doctors at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, declared their full support for the nationwide strike announced by NARD over the government’s alleged failure to honour critical welfare and training agreements.

UDUTH doctors cited the non-reinstatement of five disengaged resident doctors at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Lokoja, unpaid promotion and salary arrears, and incomplete implementation of the Professional Allowance Table as key grievances. Other unresolved issues include withheld specialist allowances, delayed house officers’ salaries, postgraduate training certification delays, and deteriorating hospital infrastructure.

However, NARD had on Tuesday noted that there was no going back on the industrial action, insisting that the strike is necessary and not politically motivated. Speaking in Abuja, Dr Suleiman said the withdrawal of services from midnight on Monday is a response to “unmet commitments, shifting government positions and worsening working conditions for resident doctors, not partisan considerations.”

He argued that none of the demands outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Federal Government on November 27, 2025, have been implemented.

“Every issue is either at the same point where it was when we signed the MoU or we have even gone backwards,” Dr Suleiman said, adding that claims by the Ministry of Health that some issues had been resolved were misleading.
He further challenged the government to show where N90 billion, allegedly allocated in the 2026 budget for health workers’ professional allowances, has been provided.

The association also demanded the immediate reinstatement of the five disengaged resident doctors at FTH Lokoja with full back pay and rejected plans to redeploy them elsewhere.

Other grievances include delayed promotion arrears across 62 tertiary institutions, non-recognition of specialist certificates, and outstanding salary and allowance payments affecting nearly 40 percent of resident doctors.

While NARD remains open to dialogue and has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for decisive intervention, it warned that unless concrete action is taken, the planned industrial action will go ahead, potentially disrupting healthcare services nationwide. Dr Mujitaba Umar, President of the UDUTH chapter, described the situation as “difficult but unavoidable,” while the chapter’s General Secretary, Dr Muhammad Abdulrahman Hassan, urged the Federal Government to act swiftly “in the interest of the Nigerian populace and the healthcare system.”

News

Nigeria To Get Fresh $9.5m Abacha Loot From UK’s Jersey

Published

11 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Editor

Nigeria to receive fresh $9.5 million (£7 million), believed to be stolen funds linked to former military Head of State, Sani Abacha, from the United Kingdom’s Jersey.

According to the BBC, Jersey has agreed to repatriate the fund to the Nigerian government.

The money, described as proceeds of “tainted property,” is said to be part of the vast fortune stolen by Abacha, who ruled Nigeria between 1993 and 1998.

The funds were kept in a bank account in Jersey and had been tied up in legal proceedings for several years.

Although the assets were first recovered during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, court challenges stalled their return to Nigeria. Progress was made in December 2025 when Jersey’s Attorney-General, Mark Temple, signed a memorandum of understanding, MoU, with Nigerian authorities to enable the repatriation.

The latest agreement builds on two earlier arrangements between Jersey and Nigeria that led to the return of more than $300 million (£230m) in recovered assets.