Metro

Vehicular Movement Disrupted As Timber Dealers Protest Closure Of Edo Forests

Published

4 years ago

February 4, 2022

… Lament Untold Hardship

… Accuse Edo Govt Of Giving Chinese Access

Vehicular movement was on Friday disrupted in several roads around Benin City as a result of protests by timber dealers in Edo State.

The protesters who carried placards with several inscriptions against the state government, accused the government of closing down the forests to their operations in the last seven months thereby subjecting the over 8000 people involved in the business and their dependants to hardships.

They alleged that some Chinese who are also into business were being allowed into the forests.

Speaking to journalists at the Edo State Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Secretary of Edo Sawmillers Association, Dr Nosa Abosanmwan said “Our workforce is over 8,000 and all of them are at home, you can imagine the number of people depending on them. Many of these workers have families and you can imagine the ripple effects this is having on us. We supported the governor when he was contesting but we didn’t know he would put us into suffering this way.

“The painful part is that, our forests have been closed to indigenes but opened to the Chinese to be picking woods but we don’t want to take laws into our hands that is why we are staging this march.

“He has made a series of promises and none of these promises have been kept, we are going to continue until our demands are met.”

Also, the Chairman, Edo State Timber Lorry Owners, Walter Osadolor said there are about 2,000 trucks in the state and each has three to four workers.

He appealed to the public to prevail on the state government to allow them to go back to the forest.

Reacting to the development, the state’s Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Adaze Emwanta, Esq said the state was carrying out reforestation and that many of the loggers were carrying out illegal operations in the forests.

On the issue of Chinese operators accessing the forest, Emwanta denied the allegatio, saying it would be investigated.

He added that the government had commenced a meeting with the leadership of the unions to carry them along in the new regulations in Edo forests.

Metro

I Provide Four Square Meals A Day For My Wife, Man Tells Court

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

A commercial mototrcyclist, Malam Isma’il Abubakar, has told a Shari’a Court sitting at Magajin Gari, Kaduna State, that he provides ‘four square meals’ for his wife every day.

Isma’il made this known while responding to his wife, Zainab Saleh’s allegations that he does not provide food for her.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), she also alleged that her husband does not respect her parents.

She said she was done with their 10-year marriage and wanted divorce.

Isma’il, however, prayed the court to give him time to settle the dispute with his wife.

The judge, Malam Malam Anas Khalifa, asked Zainab to provide witnesses who can testify to her claims.

He ordered the couple to present their parents or guardians in court.

Metro

Court Dissolves Marriage, Orders Man To Pay N30,000 Per Month For Kids’ Food

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

An Area Court at Centre-igboro, Ilorin, Kwara State, has dissolved the nine-year-old marriage between a woman, Bilikis Abake and her husband, Kehinde Bintin, over claims of domestic violence.

Delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Mr Idris Etsu, held that the respondent, had sent a letter to the court through the bailiff, releasing his wife.

Etsu, consequently, dissolved the marriage between both parties, but ordered the woman to observe three months iddah (waiting) period, before she could remarry again.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the court awarded custody of the two children of the marriage, who are eight-year-old and six-year-old, to their mother.

The court ordered the respondent to pay the sum of N30,000, as monthly maintenance fee.

He held that the father should be responsible for his children’s school fees, and should be allowed unrestricted access to his children, except at odd hours.

Metro

‘My Husband Kept Coffin Under Our Bed, Planned To Use Our Child For Ritual’

Published

3 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Editor

In a chilling case that shocked Matero Local Court, Zambia, 36-year-old woman from Chisamba has been granted divorce from her husband, whom she accused of attempting to sacrifice their two children.

Bertha Mumbi told the court that her husband, Abel Ngoma, 46, of Chibombo, allegedly plotted to kill their two daughters—aged 11 years and 7 years as part of ritual instructions he received from a witchdoctor in 2021.

According to Zambia Observer, testifying before the magistrate, Lewis Mumba Bertha said that Abel even made a small coffin in preparation for the supposed death of their firstborn and kept it in their bedroom for four consecutive nights after she refused to participate in the scheme.

“By then, he had already made a small coffin in readiness for the death of my firstborn. He never told me about the coffin he made. We slept for four days with it under our bed,” she said.

Bertha said the plan was brought to light by the witchdoctor’s informant, who approached her to demand compensation for cancelling the agreement, since she had refused to consent to the sacrifice.