Headline

Open Grazing: CSO Writes Obaseki, States Position

Published

4 years ago

October 12, 2021

The Edo Civil Society Organisations, EDOCSO, has called on governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, to promulgate a law prohibiting open grazing of cattle in the state and that there should be stiff punishment for violators.

The civil society organistion further called on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, facilitate training on cattle husbandry with startup capital for the teeming unemployed youths, graduates and non graduates respectively, advising that such trained youths should be formed into clusters to operate the ranches that will be built in all the local government councils.

An open letter addressed to the Edo State Governor, which was jointly signed by EDOCSO’s Interim TEC Chairman, Bishop Osadolor Ochei, Interim Deputy TEC Secretary, Comrade Keshi Lawrence, said cattle business is a private business hence government is not expected to provide land for cattle owners.

The letter which states that all cattle owners must ranch their cattle, noted that provision of colony to cattle owners should be discouraged, and that “every cattle owner should purchase/lease land for the purpose of ranching and/or any other farming operations.”

The letter reads in part: “Our positions and recommendations are contained herein under:

1. Edo state should promulgate a law to prohibit open grazing of cattle with stiff punishment for violators.

2. All cattle owners must ranch their cattle.

3. It is not the business of government to provide lands for cattle owners.

4. The Edo state vigilante network should be duly trained, paid and deployed in the enforcement of the law with support from the Nigeria Police Force.

5. Any cattle owner that allows his cattle to graze on a farmer’s land or destroy any property should be made to serve a jail term not less than six months and pay compensation to the farmer whose farm is destroyed. He should stand the chance of forfeiting the cattle to the state government.

6. The provision of colony to cattle owners should be discouraged. Every cattle owner should purchase/lease land for the purpose of ranching and/or any other farming operations.

7. Edo state government as a matter of urgency facilitates training on cattle husbandry with startup capital for our teeming unemployed youths, graduates and non graduates respectively. The trained youths should be formed into clusters to operate the ranches that will be built in all the local government councils.

8. Implementation of number 7 above will create chains of employment which will lead to drastic reduction in crime, tax generation increment with a projection of 16 months of consistency will cover for the high demands for beef by our people.

9. There is also need for the government to seek for security assistance with countries with technology to combat crimes like kidnapping and banditry that has crept into Edo state.

We believe the adoption of the above recommendations would address the worries and challenges open grazing has brought to our dear state. The issue of food security would be addressed and government should also make deliberate efforts in investing in the agricultural sector.

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

16 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

16 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

16 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP