Stray bullets have killed a-13-year old boy, as well as injured many others in Sapele, Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State.

The incident occurred at about 10pm on Thursday Night.

According to DAILY POST, sporadical shots from security men on guard duty at a popular hotel killed the boy by Mopol Zone junction in Tropical area.

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The incident caused serious tension in the area.

The reasons for the sporadic shootings by the security men were still sketchy as of the time of this report.

Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe is yet to comment on the matter.

The Lagos State Government has ordered the immediate eviction of squatters and traders who have converted the space beneath the yet-to-be-commissioned Opebi–Mende Bridge into makeshift homes and shops.

The directive followed an unscheduled inspection of the bridge on Thursday by the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, alongside the Special Adviser to the Governor on Infrastructure, Olufemi Daramola, and the Permanent Secretary, Olatokunbo Oyenuga.

According to a statement signed and released by the Director of Public Affairs, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Kunle Adeshina, Wahab directed security agencies to immediately move in and dislodge all squatters and demolish illegal structures erected beneath the bridge.

“The Lagos State Government has given a marching order for the immediate dislodgement of all types of squatters who have converted the underbelly of the new but yet-to-be-commissioned Opebi–Mende Bridge into homes and stores,” the statement read.

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Wahab said the state government would not allow any part of the newly built infrastructure to become a haven for miscreants, stressing that protecting lives and property remained a core duty of the administration.

“It is disheartening that an iconic project which is almost ready for commissioning, has suddenly been taken over by different shades of miscreants and squatters.

“Even some people from the Cane Village have come to the underbelly of the bridge to create an illegal settlement. We will not only dislodge them but also permanently monitor the location to ensure they do not return,” Wahab was quoted as saying in the statement.

Reinforcing his stance in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Wahab wrote that the Sanwo-Olu administration “will not tolerate lawlessness,” warning mechanics who have turned the adjoining open space into workshops to vacate immediately or risk having their vehicles impounded.

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“Security agencies will move in immediately, and we will sustain monitoring to ensure squatters do not return. The Opebi–Mende Bridge is a huge investment by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu–led administration, and we will protect it for the benefit of law-abiding citizens,” he wrote.

The Special Adviser on Infrastructure, Engr. Daramola, noted that the state had invested heavily in the project and warned that failure to act swiftly could turn the area into a slum. He pledged to collaborate with the Ministry of the Environment to clean up and maintain the site.

The Opebi–Mende-Ojota Link Bridge, initiated by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was flagged off on 26 January 2022.

It is approximately 3.9 km long and is designed to connect Opebi in Ikeja through Mende to Maryland and Ojota, offering relief to motorists in the Ikeja-Ojota axis by easing congestion on roads such as Mobolaji Bank-Anthony and Kudirat Abiola Way.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Government has intensified enforcement operations to remove illegal structures under bridges and drainage channels in places like Ijora, Apongbon, Obalende, and Adeniji-Adele, as part of efforts to reclaim public space and address environmental, safety, and traffic concerns.

An oil spill from an 8-inch crude delivery pipeline at Oil Mining Lease 29 has polluted Nembe communities around the Santa Barbara River in Bayelsa.

The OML 29 asset is operated by Nembe Exploration and Production Company Limited, formerly Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Limited.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the leak at Tora area in Nembe occurred on October 1, discharging a yet to be ascertained volume of Crude stress into the Santa Barbara River and surrounding areas.

According to a letter to the operator of OML 29 by the legal counsel to the Opu Nembe Kingdom, signed by Mr Iniruo Wills, Managing Partner of Ntephe Smith and Wills, the spill has adversely impacted the people who depend on the Santa Barbara River.

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The letter sighted by a NAN Correspondent was in response to an invitation to a Joint Investigation Visit to the spill site to ascertain the cause and volume of the spill.

The oil firm had confirmed the oil spill in a letter Ref: NEPCo/HSE-JIV/2025/04 dated October 5, which proposed a JIV for October 6.

The Nembe communities, in response to the letter, kicked against the October 6 date and opted for October 9.

“We remind you, as you are quite aware of already, that the Community requires and deserves decent notice to assemble a competent JIV team, some of whom usually come from Lagos, Port Harcourt and/or Yenagoa, in order to ensure due diligence and avoid or countervail the perennial practice of manipulating the JIV process and suppressing critical information.

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“Please note that our clients demand a thorough and competent investigation of this spill, and adequate management (including swift post-spill assessment and remediation).

“Beyond this spill, for the records, we demand on behalf of our clients again for a top-level engagement (Company, Community Technical Team, and Regulators) for a lasting overall framework to put a stop to this unbearable and continual burden,” the letter read in part.

Numerous oil spills in Bayelsa communities such as in the Obololi community and the Ogboinbiri area had been reported, leading to environmental contamination, loss of livelihoods from fish farms and farmlands, and health concerns, including water scarcity and potential outbreaks.

These recurring incidents, often attributed to equipment failure on pipelines operated by companies like Oando and Shell, have resulted in resident frustration over inadequate cleanup, lack of relief, and the spread of pollution into streams, creeks, and farmlands.

NAN