News

Terrorism: Why Nigeria’s Insecurity Will Never End Soon — Unionist

Published

3 years ago

July 28, 2022

Veteran trade unionist, Peter Esele has warned the Federal Government that the pervading insecurity in the country will never end unless public universities are re-opened.

Mr Esele, a former President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, gave the warning while commenting on the solidarity protest embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

He was speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Benin.

The NLC called up the protest on July 26 to show solidarity with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has been on strike for over five months.

The academic body has been at loggerheads with the Federal Government over the years for the apparent inability of the government to meet the terms of its agreements with the union.

According to Esele, the NLC ought to have staged the protest a long time ago to show its displeasure but “better late than never.’’

He pointed out that the current strike could hurt the upcoming general elections, advising the government to take steps to resolve the issues with ASUU, to save the future of democracy in the country.

The former TUC chief noted that the latest ASUU strike could have been avoided if the Federal Government had kept faith and respected the terms of agreements reached with ASUU.

“If you ask why ASUU is on strike right now, it is because they had negotiations with the Federal Government in 2009 and there was an agreement.

“That agreement was supposed to have been implemented by the government but they didn’t implement it.

“In 2014, the government paid N200 billion out of the N1.2 trillion ASUU demanded and in 2019, the government paid only N20 billion.

“So when the government has gone ahead not to fulfil the terms of agreements reached, what you have naturally is for ASUU to go on strike to press its demands,” he said.

Esele said that the solidarity protest by the NLC nationwide was to make everybody know that the continuous closure of public universities in the country was dangerous for the nation and the education sector in particular.

He pointed out that from 1999 till date, the nation’s universities had been shut cumulatively for about six years.

“Yet, we express surprise over the current insecurity. You have millions of Nigerian youths sitting at home and doing nothing.

“More so, infrastructure in the universities are decaying because nobody is there to manage them. You have an economy around universities, right now that economy is nil.

“Workers in that environment, real estate and even parents in the universities’ environment are all at home, so why are you surprised about insecurity.

“An idle mind, they say, is the devil’s workshop,” he warned.

Esele stressed that if the government had been committed to honouring agreements reached with ASUU and paid N200 billion yearly since the agreement was reached, it would have long completed the payment and forestalled the strike by ASUU.

News

JUST IN: Court Orders IGP To Arrest Mahmood Yakubu, Ex-INEC Chairman

Published

36 minutes ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

Despite his exit as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has again ordered the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest the former INEC chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, for an offence relating to contempt of court.

The Court order came a few hours after Yakubu left office as the INEC chairman.

The Action Alliance, AA, had instituted a case before the court challenging INEC and its former chairman, Prof Yakubu, over their non-compliance with the judgment of the Court delivered by Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi in suit number FHC/OS/CS/194/2024.

In the said judgment, the court ordered INEC to put the names of the National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, and other members of the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, on the INEC portal.

The Court also held that the names of all the state chairmen of the party be uploaded on the INEC portal.

The court held that the elective convention of the party held on the 7th of October, 2023 which produced Omoaje as the national chairman of the party and other NEC members of the party was authentic as it was properly monitored and supervised by officials of INEC in accordance with the party’s constitution and the electoral acts.

However, INEC claimed to have complied with the court judgment, but the party disagreed with the commission, as the name of Omoaje was yet to be uploaded on the commission’s website despite the orders of the Court.

Although the names of the state chairmen of the party under the leadership of Omoaje and those of the NEC members are already on the INEC portal, Omoaje’s name is yet to be uploaded as of press time, a development that the court frowned at.

The court order obtained by our correspondent dated 7th October, 2025, and signed by Mr O.M. Kilani on behalf of the Court Registrar reads in part, “it is hereby ordered that the Inspector General of Police shall cause the arrest and shall charge the defendant/judgment debtors for contempt and committal proceedings within seven days of this ruling.”

The court also awarded a cost of #100,000 against the judgment creditors.

News

Lagos Closes Adeniji Adele–CMS Lane For Six Weeks Of Repairs

Published

2 hours ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Lagos State Government has announced a partial closure of the Adeniji Adele Interchange Junction to CMS for six weeks to allow for rehabilitation works by the Federal Government.

According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, the repair works will run daily between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., starting Sunday, October 12, and ending Sunday, November 23, 2025.

Osiyemi explained that only one lane of the road will be closed during the period, while the remaining lanes will remain open to traffic to minimize disruptions.

He assured motorists that traffic management officers will be stationed along the corridor to ensure smooth vehicular movement and reduce inconvenience during the rehabilitation.

“Motorists are implored to be patient, as the lane diversion is part of the traffic management plan for the rehabilitation of the road by the Federal Ministry of Works,” the commissioner said.

He also urged drivers to comply with the directives of traffic officials on duty to ensure safety and efficient traffic flow throughout the repair period.

News

JUST IN: Tinted Permit Enforcement Placed On Hold Due To Court Order – Police

Published

2 hours ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Nigeria Police Force said on Wednesday that the enforcement of the vehicle tinted glass permit has been suspended following a court order halting the exercise.

Spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, disclosed this during an interview on Africa Independent Television, AIT.

She said the decision to halt the enforcement came after the police officially received the court order.

Adeh said, “Information reaching me from the office of the PRO is that the order has been received and the enforcement of the tinted permit is now on hold pending the court’s verdict”.

Disclosing that the directive to suspend enforcement would remain in place pending the outcome of the ongoing legal process, Adeh said, “We are waiting for the verdict. We are not against the courts, and we will continue to wait until we get a verdict”.

Speaking on public concerns about the purpose of the tinted glass regulation, Adeh explained that it was introduced for security reasons, noting that some criminal activities had been carried out using vehicles with darkened windows.

“The law was not made by us. We are enforcers. The policy was purely security-driven. Some criminals were using tinted vehicles to commit offences, making it difficult for law enforcement to identify suspects,” she said.

She dismissed claims that the policy was designed for financial gain, noting that all payments related to tinted permits are made directly into the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA), not to the police.