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Lagos Assembly Passed 300 Bills, 2000 Resolutions In 25 years – Speaker

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The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed 300 bills and 2,000 resolutions since the return of democratic dispensation in 1999.

The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa stated this at a programme to commemorate 25 years of democratic governance on Wednesday in the state.

The programme, organised by the Lagos State House of Assembly was themed “Building a Brighter Future: A Journey of Hope and Aspirations”.

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Obasa revealed that some of the bills and resolutions were historic.
He added that many of the bills eventually became laws which had impacted residents greatly as well as people outside of the state.

“Particularly worthy of mention are the Financial Autonomy law, Neighbourhood Safety Agency law, Regulation Approval law, and the Local Government Administration law, which created 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAS).

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“This is in addition to the existing 20 local government areas in the state for the purpose of bringing government closer to the teeming Lagosians. The law also creates a four-year tenure for elected officials of the local government councils, making Lagos the first state in Nigeria to do so.

“Also, there is the Traffic Sector Reform law which created the Bus Rapid Transportation (BRT) system and the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) law.”

Our BRT law became a prototype design for many other states in Nigeria and some West African countries like Ghana and the Gambia.

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“As a matter of fact, most of our laws, including our House Rules, have become models for other State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria,” he said.

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Speaking on education, he stated that the Assembly had enacted the Lagos State University of Science and Technology law which converted the old Lagos State Polytechnic to a full university.

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He noted that one of the beauties of law was that it would eliminate the discrimination against polytechnic graduates in the labour market.

Obasa added that the Lagos State College of Education was upgraded to the Lagos State University of Education through an enabling law, thereby increasing the number of universities established by the state to three.

The Speaker said in a bid to proffer solutions to the security challenges facing the country, the Assembly pioneered the agitation for the creation of state police.

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He said due to constitutional constraints, an abridged form of security outfit called the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency was created to assist the police in maintaining law and order and enhance community policing in the state.

Obasa recalled that the very first session of the Assembly was headed by Mr Oladosu Osinowo (Ikorodu Urban II constituency) between October 1979 and September 1983.

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He said Osinowo laid the foundation for the vibrancy of the House as well as the brilliant leadership for which the Assembly was revered.

He said at the time Osinowo was Speaker, Lateef Jakande was the state governor and that his administration built the Assembly complex.

He said the second Lagos Legislative Assembly was headed by Mr Oladimeji Longe (itire-Ikate constituency) between October 1983 and December 1983 while Shakirudeen Kinyomi (Ojo I constituency) was the Speaker in the third Legislative Assembly.

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The speaker said that the Fourth Legislative Assembly, led by Dr Olorunnibe Mamora (Kosofe I constituency), was inaugurated by the then governor of the state and now President Bola Tinubu on June 2, 1999.

The Assembly has enjoyed relative stability in its leadership with only four Presiding Officers in 25 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria.

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“This has, in no doubt, enhanced innovation, competence and capacity. Mamora led the House between June 1999 and June 2003, followed by Mr Jokotola Pelumi (Epe II), who led between June 2003 and December 2005.

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“Then, Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji (Epe I) took the mantle and led between December 2005 and June 2015. In addition, I am the current and longest serving legislator and Speaker in Nigeria, I was first elected Speaker in June 2015, I was re-elected in 2019 and again returned in 2023,” he said.

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He added that the Assembly’s avowed commitment to excellence in all its ramifications had made the state the bride of all since 1999.

Obasa said the Assembly had lived by its creed, reflecting positively on the constituents who had put their hopes on it as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for prompt, fair and effective dispensation of justice.
NAN

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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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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.”

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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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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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