News

Land Grapping: Community Wants Edo Govt Intervention

Published

5 years ago

November 1, 2020

Elders of Illushi in Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State, Sunday, called on the state government to prevail on Management of Skaff International Agro Farms Limited to vacate their land for the interest of peace, alleging that it was illegally acquired.

Spokesperson for the community, Pa Richard Enye, while making the allegation in an interview with newsmen in Illushi, said there was an urgent need for the state government to wade in the land crisis before it snowballs into a major crisis.

He said if the state government folds its arms and watch the land crisis could lead to the loss of lives and property in the community, adding that the youths might be tempted to result to self-help just to get their lands back.

Pa Enye alleged that the management of Skaff International Agro Farms Limited connived with the executive chairman of the local government and some few individuals in the community to acquire the land in question without their knowledge and as a result, they have no place to carry out their farming activities.

“This very land in question, before the sales or the lease of this land, the elders are not aware. They did it on their own illegally.

” When the news reached the elders forum, they now called and asked, before the sales or the lease of this land, the elders of this land are not aware and where is it done and how can this be? They did it without their knowledge. The signing and the sales was done in the bush.

“In the ancient times, the agriculturalist who came to this land, they came here, called the elders before they commenced their work.

“Nowhere in this country where you will go and take land without the community’s elders knowledge, no agreement, no survey, no lawyer and whatsoever and they now did it on their own even in the bush.

“This has been a pain and we are all crying. With what you are seeing, erosion has taken over the land we have. The only hope we have if the erosion continues, where we will relocate to is sold or lease to this very Lebanese man and now, the pain is now very deep in us.

“Now, the youth, the elders, we now resolved that if the Lebanese wants to kill everybody in the land, let him go ahead if he can.

“We beg you that you should help us tell the government, the only hope we have, the Lebanese has taken it away from us and now the erosion is eating the land. We don’t have where to go and now we are frustrated. And may God not allow us get frustrated,” he said.

Reacting, the local government chairman, Peter Aguele said their allegations of him conniving with the Skaff Construction company to take over their lands was baseless, stressing that the chairman of a council does not have the right to cede land to anybody neither has he also teamed up with the state government to do so.

“It is always good to have two sides of a story. If I am to answer you directly, they have been economical with the truth.

“It is totally untrue. If you see the land documentation of the sales of the land, you will know that it was transacted even over a year I became chairman of the council and there is no way I would have been the one who gave coverage to somebody I did not know how he got his land but the truth is that the community in question is not even Ulushi but Uro”, he said.

Also reacting, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Skaff International Agro Farms Limited, Engr Skaff denied acquiring the land illegally, saying that he did everything he needed to do to get the land in the community.

“When I intended to go into agriculture for Rice farming and Rubber plantation. At the early stage, first I wrote to the Agricultural Development Authority (ADP) to seek for their approval and advise who in return write me back and well come the idea.

“After my findings I met with the community, their Highness and over 200 youths from the community and 14 elderly chiefs who then gave their consent and approved with a lot of incentives such as Borehole, Hospital, Schools, Scholarship etc before I finally met with the government approval”, he said.

News

Gombe Wins Northeast Quiz Competition On Legislature, Democracy

Published

7 hours ago

October 31, 2025

Editor

Gombe State has emerged as the winner at the 2025 North East Zonal Quiz Competition on legislature and democracy organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) for senior secondary schools across Northeast on Friday.

Speaking before the commencement of the 2025 edition of the zonal debate which focuses on the legislature, democracy and governance, the Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said the exercise was to deepen the knowledge of legislative and democratic governance among secondary school students and youth.

According to him, it was also to broaden their knowledge on the history, practice and procedure of the legislature and encourage deeper understanding of civic and democratic governance.

The competition, he added, would stimulate the interest of the young students in politics and make them more proactive in matters relating to the legislature and democracy.

He explained that enhancing the knowledge of young Nigerians in the legislature would not only foster an inclusive and participatory legislature in Nigeria but would also serve as an avenue for citizen engagement in the legislative process.

Represented by Mr Jeremiah Agada, NILDS Northeast Zonal Quiz Coordinator, Sulaiman added that the quiz competition would take place in all the six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“It is also to inspire young Nigerians to cultivate the interest to participate in legislative governance.

“This 10th edition of the competition is therefore the fourth time the competition has been held at the national level.

“As the 2025 NILDS Zonal quiz competition is declared open, I therefore urge all competing students and their teachers to abide by the rules of the game so that the desired objectives of the competition are achieved,” he said.

Also speaking, the Bauchi State’s Commissioner for Education, Dr Muhammed Lawal, said the exercise was a welcome development in the circle of education, adding that it was a ground where students in the zone could be tested among other students in the country.

“This will enable us to improve the quality of our delivery in our various schools to our teeming students across the zone.

“I want them to take it upon themselves that in an engagement like this, there is no loser. You put in your best, and if at the end of the day, you don’t make it up to the top, your efforts will be crowned.

“I hope this will be well covered because it will stimulate other schools to be part of and perform better so that they can come up to this level as well,” he said.

Mohammed appreciated the commitment of teachers and moderators who coached the students to fully participate in the competition and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to revamping the education sector under Gov. Bala Mohammad’s leadership.

Announcing the winner of the competition, the Quiz Master Mr. Lucky Tongs, announced Gombe State as the overall winner of the debate with 75 points

He also announced Taraba State as the first runner up with 55 points and Yobe State as the third position with 50 points, adding that the winner is expected to represent the Northeast sub-region at the National competition in Abuja.

Other states that participated in the competition included Adamawa and Bauchi.

News

Police Arrest Nollywood Production Manager For Assaulting Crew Member

Published

10 hours ago

October 31, 2025

Editor

The Lagos State Police have arrested a Nollywood production manager, Anierobi Courage, for allegedly assaulting a crew member.

Anierobi Courage, better known as Nwa South, reportedly assaulted the head of makeup, Mary Chizzy Eze, on October 28, 2025, while on the set of the film “Lagos to Opulence.”

A trending video of the physical altercation showed the production manager pressing Mary’s throat after slapping her, an act that has sparked widespread outrage on social media.

Reacting to the public condemnation, the Nigeria Film Crew Community (NFCC), in a statement released on Thursday, described Courage’s actions as “animalistic behaviour.”

Announcing his arrest, NFCC called on Nollywood producers and other stakeholders to blacklist Courage across all productions.

“The production manager violently hit and strangled Mary Chizzy Eze for speaking up against unequal treatment among the crew. While she has received medical care, he has been arrested.

“This level of disregard for human dignity is unacceptable. We stand firmly against all forms of abuse, assault, and crew maltreatment,” the NFCC said.

News

‘EFCC Collected N10m Before They Released Me’ – Oladips Alleges [VIDEO]

Published

11 hours ago

October 31, 2025

Editor

Popular Nigerian singer, Oladips has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of collecting N10 million from him.

The rapper made this known nearly a year after he was arrested by EFCC during a midnight raid in his estate.

Oladips was arrested with some of his neighbors for alleged fraud in November 2024.

He was released after spending five days in detention.

Speaking about his experience with the EFCC, Oladips in his latest interview on Trending podcast, stated that nothing was found on him after the EFCC investigations.

While revealing that the EFCC collected N10 million from him before his release, he lamented that “Nigeria just happened to me”.

“It’s just one smelling place like that. They just packed us there like sardines and they gave us nonsense food. Funny enough it was Zlatan that was sending me food. Zlatan is not even a friend, that’s my blood.

“He was sending someone to buy good food for me because the food there is bad. They just packed us there like sardines. I’m not even supposed to be there first of all. Like, why did I spend four to five days there when you people (EFCC) didn’t find anything on me, not even a single thing. And they still collect N10 million from me before they released me.”

When asked “Is it a thing you can take up against the EFCC later, or you will just allow the sleeping dog lie?”, the singer responded “Who is my father?”

“Who is my father now? At the end of the day, who is my father? It’s just me and my truth. It’s not something I will want to. I don’t just know how the system works. I for dey their page now if to say I dey do Yahoo. They didn’t find anything on me. If they are watching this, they know that I’m saying the truth.

“They collected money from me before they released me. They didn’t find anything on me. So, what was the money for? What was all that stress and suffering for? It’s just Nigeria. Nigeria just happened to me,” he said.

https://x.com/i/status/1983504280972615813