The official website of the National Broadcasting Commission NBC) is now running following a lengthy period of inactivity as reported by FIJ last week.

As of July 18, when an internet user clicked on the official web address of NBC, https://nbc.gov.ng, a 500 error message welcomed such user, making it impossible for the user to carry out any action on the website.

With the website back up and running, users can now access information about the commission from the comfort of their homes. However, FIJ observed another irregularity: contact information of retired staff were listed as those of staff currently in service.

For example, Mrs. Gloria Makinde, the Head of Public Affairs, was given the phone of number Olufemi Ayeni, a worker who retired three years ago.

Olufemi confirmed this when FIJ called his number with the intention of speaking with Makinde.

“Sorry, I’m an ex-staff of NBC; I left three years ago. This is not her phone number,” he said.

“This is the phone number of somebody who has retired three years ago. As far as I’m concerned, I retired three year ago. If my number is still there, that’s not my business.”

FIJ dialed Makinde’s ‘second number’, but it was unreachable. We also called other numbers on the website but none was reachable.

Established in August 1992, the National Broadcasting Commission is an agency of the Nigerian government saddled with the responsibility of regulating and managing the broadcasting ecosystem in the country. The commission also serves as advisors to the government on broadcasting issues.

"Our attention has been drawn to an announcement made by the Ministry of Education in Akwa Ibom State to the effect that the ongoing SSII promotion examinations will continue today, Tuesday, 20th July, 2021 despite the public holiday declared by the Federal Government.

“A brief statement issued by the Ministry of Education, Akwa Ibom State, reads, ‘Please note that the JSS2 promotion exams will continue on Tuesday despite the public holidays. SS2 students, parents and principals of schools should adhere strictly. Thanks. All senior secondary two (SS2) and junior secondary three (JSS3) students are expected to be in school on Tuesday, July 20, 2021 to continue their examinations. For Management.’

“We are shocked to our marrows at the level of acrobatic religiousity which some state governments are manifesting towards Muslims. The government of Akwa Ibom State is fully aware that there is a remarkable percentage of Muslim population made up of both indigenes and non-indigenes in the state. The children of these Muslims are in Akwa Ibom schools.

“The fact that the state’s Ministry of Education ignored these people and insisted on continuing examinations on Salah days prove that it is not prepared to coexist with any other religion. It is also impunity of the highest order for the state government to ignore the declaration of today and tomorrow by the Federal Government as public holidays and to insist on holding examinations on public holidays. This is Bohemian, arrogant, insensitive and intolerant.

“We strongly condemn the state government’s decision to hold examinations during a Muslim festival and on a public holiday. We wonder what the reactions and comments will be if a core Northern state should do something similar on Christmas day.

Professor Ishaq Akintola,

Director,

Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)

For those that are wondering, Obi Cubana has a traceable and verifiable business journey starting from little. I will get him on my podcast soon.

I wan do my papa burial again.

Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen was unstoppable with two goals and an assist as Napoli flattened Spezia 4-1 away from home on Saturday, but lost Dries Mertens to injury.

Victor Osimhen scored four times as Napoli thrashed local side Bassa Anaunia 12- 0 in a pre-season friendly on Sunday.

Elfis Elmas put Napoli ahead on four minutes.

Osimhen conjured a sublime dink over the goalkeeper to double Napoli’s lead four minutes later.

Kosta Manolas then nodded home Matteo Politano’s corner in the 15th minute.

Osimhen then scored Napoli’s fourth and his second of the game with a shot from the edge of the box in the 20th minute.

The Nigeria international rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into an empty net to make 5-0 in the 35th minute.

He scored his fourth of the game four minutes later.

The 22-year-old was replaced at half-time.

Napoli will intensify their preparations for the 2021-22 Serie A campaign with fixtures against Serie C club Pro Vercelli and Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on July 24 and 31 respectively.

The Parthenopeans will begin their new season with a date against Venezia at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on August 21.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT:
Our attention has been drawn to an article published in This Day Newspaper on Wednesday July 14th 2021 titled: 'Synagogue: Succession Battle Begins as THISDAY Interview is Cited as Evidence.'

The contents of the article regarding an alleged 'succession battle' are completely false and should therefore be disregarded. We want to inform the general public that there is no succession battle at The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN). We are sons and daughters of love and shall continue to let love lead as we follow the instructions laid down by Prophet TB Joshua.

Thank you for your prayers and support as we continue to honour the life and legacy of Prophet TB Joshua.

In the early hours of Tuesday July 13, 2021 a team of operatives from the Lagos Zonal Office of the Commission, acting on verified intelligence on the activities of a suspected syndicate of internet fraudsters carried out an operation at Parktonian Hotel in the Lekki area of Lagos.

During the sting operation which was the culmination of weeks of surveillance during which the rooms occupied by the suspects were identified, 30 suspects were arrested with 24 of them already confessing involvement in cybercrimes and related activities.

There was no incident as the hotel management served with the relevant Warrant offered access to the operatives, to carry out their lawful duties.

However, in the course of the operation, the operatives encountered women in some of the rooms who pleaded nudity to stop them from arresting their targets. This has lately become the antics of cyber fraudsters who procure ladies to plead nudity as a decoy, to allow their consort destroy incriminating items in their devices before arrest.

The Commission will not fall for such gimmick which is intended to prevent it from carrying out its lawful duties.

It must however be stated for emphasis, that there was no break in, no molestation and no violence of any kind during the operation.

Yet a section of the media, especially the online publication, People Gazette and the Punch Newspaper, which lapped up People Gazette’s report hook line and sinker, presented a narrative of gestapo operation, with forceful break in and the violation of the privacy of nude guests.

Interestingly, a common thread to the report is attribution to faceless sources. It is curious that citizens whose right to privacy had been so blatantly violated as claimed, would be hesitant to publicly speak about their ordeal. Even more worrisome is the fact that a responsible publication like the Punch Newspaper did not bother to carry out a fact-check on the allegations of break in and violence but simply regurgitated the false narrative of People Gazette.

Also, from the two reports, both the hotel owner and his manager were quoted as refusing to speak on the operation. But the claim is obviously a game of ostrich as their involvement in pushing out the false narrative is discernible. The hotel owner perhaps is ignorant of the fact that he could become an accomplice and liable for allowing his premises to be used for cybercrime, in contravention of section 3 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act. The section provides that, a “person who, being the occupier or is concerned in the management of any premises, causes or knowingly permits the premises to be used for any purpose which constitutes an offence under this Act is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than 5 years without the option of a fine”.

The Commission warns hoteliers from allowing their premises and facilities to become havens for cybercrime.

Adherence to the rule of law remains a core principle moderating the activities of the EFCC and the Executive Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa has repeatedly said the agency under his watch will not deviate from the norm.

The Ogun State House of Assembly has told traditional rulers in the state that it will not allow the use of human beings for rituals during the installation or burial of a monarch.

The Speaker of the Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, said this on Wednesday while declaring open, a public hearing on the traditional council law of Ogun State 2021 at the Assembly Complex, Oke- Mosan, Abeokuta.

Oluomo stated that the lawmakers are not against traditional rites for installation and burial of Obas in the state, saying, however, that the use of humans for the purpose is barbaric and no longer allowed.

“Nobody is saying they should not do traditional rites for installation and burial of Obas, but we are not going to support the usage of human being for rituals, as the world has moved away from that barbaric practice, which is even against the right to life and human dignity as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, the speaker declared.

The speaker clarified that the bill does not set out to specifically tinker with the burial rites as being speculated.

Rather, Oluomo explained that the legislation was initiated to correct many existing anomalies in the traditional institution, especially the conduct of installation without following due process including absence of declaration for some traditional stools, which, he said, has been creating difficulty on how to determine those entitled to the throne.

The speaker submitted that such “unethical practice” had made it easy for unqualified persons and strangers to lay unmerited claims to the stool, thereby creating distortions in historical records in recent times.

Oluomo mentioned that the Assembly would pass a bill that would put a stop to the attendance of political rallies by monarchs, thereby returning the institution to its pride of place and honour.

“We have equally seen where a town or village is in existence (as orile) and the Baale is there, but in their developed area, where plots of land were sold to strangers to erect residential structure, such strangers were later allotted a traditional stool illegally, instead of promoting the existing Baale to the status of a coronet Oba. It has been the new norm of short-changing the original inhabitants of the area in the selection of monarchs to the advantage of strangers which must stop.

“These are part of the things we are trying to correct and if you look at the number of petitions before the House and litigations going on in the various courts of law in the State, over 70% of such court cases are based on Obaship issues because of the lacuna and errors of application of the existing traditional council laws”, the speaker stated.

In their contributions, other stakeholders including the representatives of Egba Traditional Council and Towulade of Akinale Kingdom, Oba Olufemi Ogunleye; National Secretary, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Comrade Yinka Folarin; Chief Imam of Gbagura, Prof. Kamaldeen Balogun; harped on the essence of peaceful co-existence among religious groups and commended the Assembly on the proposed bill with an assurance of conveying their positions through memoranda in due course.

Also, the representatives of the traditional worshipers’ group, Fagbemi Ifakorede from Ota and the State Secretary of Ifa worshippers, Faniyi Awoyemi, noted that the traditional belief remained essential in the running of traditional institution, stating that monarchs were to be buried in line with the traditions and customs of their people.

The insistence by the British government that it was not aware of the arrest of Biafra agitator and IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, may be inaccurate.

The world power had refuted speculations that Kanu was arrested in Britain during a sting operation in conjunction with Nigeria.

A source close to federal authorities told DAILY POST Tuesday night that the United Kingdom denied knowledge for bilateral reasons.

“Yes, Kanu was not apprehended in the UK. He was apprehended in an African nation but they know about it.

“What did you expect their officials to say? The British government and Nigeria are allies; you think they will support one individual over a long-time partner?

“I’m going to be sincere with you, it got to a point where Britain was not comfortable about Kanu’s utterances.”

The informant added that the IPOB founder was reckless about his movements and actions.

“You expect that someone with his influence would move about in a heavy way. I mean, he should go to places with bodyguards since he controls thousands of Eastern Security Network (ESN) operatives.

“But he did not. Kanu was going to clubs and lounges freely. No protection, no armed boys around him! He likes women and was sighted severally around them having fun.

“Intelligence experts figured since this appeared to be his weakness, they should use a female operative to initiate a parley with him.

“On the day of his arrest, Kanu thought he was going for a meeting to collect a huge donation to support the Biafra agitation. That didn’t happen, he simply walked into a trap.”

The secessionist will return to court on July 26 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. He faces treason charges for leading a movement to make Nigeria ungovernable.

The government and security agencies blame Kanu for the murder of dozens of security personnel and destruction of government infrastructure in South-East and South-South.

Two links intelligence told DAILY POST that the crimes were perpetrated by the ESN, IPOB militia wing, also known as “unknown gunmen”.

“ESN has committed terrible atrocities. You will be shocked when you hear things to be revealed during Kanu’s trial”, one said.

The House of Representatives has opposed the plan to allow men of the fire service to carry arms, asking that security agencies should deploy operatives to accompany firefighters when on duty.

The opposition followed the unanimous adoption of a motion at the plenary on Tuesday, titled ‘Call to Discourage Arming of Personnel of the Federal Fire Service.’

Moving the motion, Thomas Ereyitomi, called the attention of the House to an announcement by the Federal Government to present before the National Assembly, a bill to repeal the Fire Service Act and grant firefighters the power to bear arms to protect firemen from mob attacks while carrying out their duties and responding to emergencies.

Ereyitomi noted that the announcement had caused anxiety to the public due to reckless use of firearms by those who have been licensed to use the same by their position as security agents, resulting in death or grave injuries to citizens.

The lawmaker stated that the Federal Fire Service is a civil outfit and not a security agency and, therefore, “not logical to allow personnel of the outfit to bear firearms, as they do not require such arms to carry out their duties.”

He argued that some mob attacks on firefighters are usually due to frustration on the part of victims when firefighters arrive late and ill-prepared to avert emergencies.

Ereyitomi said, “The House believes that instead of creating an arms squad of the Federal Fire Service, adequate resources be channelled into improving the service delivery of the Federal Fire Service, including the provision of Fire hydrants in every local government area and updating the Global Positioning System service of the Federal Fire Service to locate emergency scenes swiftly.

“The House is worried that arming the Federal Fire Service would add to the growing concerns about the reckless use of arms by the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, as doing so would be unnecessary and insensitive to the current pensive state of the nation.”

Adopting the motion, the House urged the Executive arm of government to increase the budgetary allocation of the Federal Fire Service to ensure that adequate infrastructure is put in place for efficient service delivery by the Service.

The House also urged the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps to “assign officers to the Federal Fire Service to accompany firefighters on emergency duties,” while mandating its Committee on Interior to liaise with the Committee on Appropriations to ensure adequate allocation to the Service in the 2022 budget and ensure proper oversight.

The Federal Government had said it would create an arm bearing unit to be known as ‘Fire Police’ to provide an armed outer cordon during operations, as part of the efforts to address the challenge often faced by firefighters during operations, through mob action and vandalism of firefighting assets in the country.

The Director of Press, Ministry of Interior, Mrs Blessing Lere-Adams, had in a statement issued on July 4, 2021, quoted the Minister of Interior and Chairman of Council, Rauf Aregbesola, as disclosing this during the opening ceremony of the National Council on Fire in Jos.

Aregbesola, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Shuaib Belgore, had said the ministry would initiate the process of repealing the 1963 obsolete Fire Service Act and enact a new contemporary, vibrant and enforceable law, through the instrument of an Executive Bill.

The bill, he said, would be forwarded to the National Assembly for deliberation and eventual passage into law.

Operatives of the EFCC on Tuesday violently seized access cards and broke into hotel rooms in an overnight raid in Lagos, Peoples Gazette has learnt.

Dozens of hotel guests were left traumatised after anti-graft agents breached their privacy at Parktonian Hotel in Lagos affluent Lekki neighbourhood, witnesses said.

Many of the guests, including couples, were passing the night at the mid-size hotel when EFCC agents broke in at about 4:00 a.m. Some of them said they were naked under the duvet when agents broke in and were not even allowed to dress up before being interrogated by the officers, who said they were on a manhunt for suspected Internet fraudsters.

“The officers broke into my hotel room as I was sleeping,” a victim told The Gazette on Tuesday afternoon. “The incident that played out was just too traumatic for me to narrate.”

The witness said the officers started breaking into rooms after collecting the master access card to open all rooms from the management at gunpoint.

“They broke into the hotel and threatened to shoot the receptionists and management if they didn’t immediately release the master access card to them,” a witness said. “So the hotel workers had to comply immediately.”

Another witness who narrated his ordeal described it as “embarrassing and traumatising,” as he was unclad when operatives barged into the room.

Many foreigners, including some potential investors who came into the country to carry out preliminary studies on a cable manufacturing project, were caught in what witnesses described as “violent and uncivilised conduct” of the operatives, who were about two dozen.

The victim pleaded strict anonymity to avoid being victimised by EFCC agents. Some witnesses had previously reported being physically attacked by EFCC operatives for providing information about illegal and corrupt raids to the media.

“They continued to search other rooms. They went away with about 13 occupants,” he said. “I was naked, and I had to beg them (for me) to put something on. I am actually hypertensive, but I put myself together because I am not a criminal in any way.”

He described the experience as “embarrassing and traumatic,” noting that “nobody wants to sleep in a hotel where their privacy and security cannot be guaranteed.”

The witness added, “I am not going back to that hotel. They won’t go to Transcorp where people who are looting Nigeria’s money are staying.”

The hotel owner, Obinna Obiora, told The Gazette that he would comment on the matter later. The Gazette could not immediately confirm whether or not the officers had a warrant to invade the hotel.

When contacted by The Gazette, the spokesperson for the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, claimed he was unaware of the raid.

“I haven’t got any report of such, but I’ll confirm from the Lagos office if there was any raid,” Mr Uwujaren told The Gazette over the telephone.

Controversial raids of public and private spaces have become increasingly common amongst EFCC officers in recent months. The department was established to fight economic crimes, but it has recently retooled itself towards a relentless crackdown on suspected Internet thieves, widely known as Yahoo Boys.

Earlier this year, an unidentified man jumped from the seventh floor of a storey building located at 1004 estate at Victoria Island, Lagos, during a raid by EFCC officials.

Last week, a similar incident played out at Oasis Park Estate, Osapa London, Lagos, where EFCC operatives frightened residents when they broke into homes in search of a purported Internet crook, who was not even around at the time of the raid, The Gazette learnt.

Armed men suspected to be bandits have abducted the provost of the College of Arts and Animal Science Bakura, Habibu Mainasara, in Zamfara State.

DAILY POST gathered that the incident occured in the early hours of Sunday when the assailants invaded his official residence within Government Science Secondary School, Bakura.

The incident, which has sparked tension in the area, comes barely two days after the bandits raided some communities in Maradun Local Government Area of the state, killing at least 42 persons.

When contacted on phone by DAILY POST correspondent, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Mohammed Shehu, said he would call back to comment on the incident.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to change the name of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to “Ministry of Foreign Loans Collection.”

HURIWA made the call while lamenting the continuous loan applications by the ministry.

The frontline rights group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko said: “Vexed by the unrelenting applications by the Federal Ministry of Finance and Budget for foreign loans since the assumption of office of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government in 2015, a call has gone to the President to rename the ministry of finance and Budget to Ministry for foreign loans collection.

“We honestly think that the President should table before his weak Federal Executive Council the proposal for a change of name of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National planning to the Federal Ministry for Foreign Loans and Debts accumulation.

“This is because Nigerians have come to see that the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed does nothing else than inundating Nigerians with the bad news of the constant requests from all kinds of places around the world for external loans which are actually not been utilised to grow the economy or advance the living conditions of Nigerians but these huge loans are used to service the ballooning costs of running government and paying juicy allowances to Federal government officials”.

HURIWA also dismissed as puerile and distasteful, the opinion credited to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan for saying that Nigeria will continue to apply for foreign loans because the nation is poor.

The Rights group said it “made no sense to accept such a fallacy from the Senate President because in the first place, Nigeria is not poor but resource rich but has poor and corruption infested political leadership and importantly, poor nations without resources aren’t given or granted loans by creditors unless such debtors have collateral by way of resources that the creditors like China can fall back on if Nigeria fails to meet her repayment conditionality.”

HURIWA said: “If Nigeria was such a poor country, creditors like IMF, World Bank, China, Paris Club and London Club won’t be falling on each other to extend loans and credit facilities to a poor nation which is why China for instance has a proviso for sovereign guarantee before awarding those frivolous loans because China is aware of the resource rich nature of Nigeria.”

The right group frowned against the backdrops of the latest approval by the National Assembly of a further $6.18 billion foreign loan by Buhari, stressing that the essence of setting up a ministry of finance is to fashion out and effectively implement sustainable and viable financial mechanisms for aggressively boosting the economy of Nigeria and Nigerians and for promotion of the principles of transparency, accountability and good governance through good policies.

HURIWA also lamented that whereas most nations of the world are concentrating her economic and national planning efforts towards boosting the productivity of the citizens and Gross Domestic Products of their countries through industralisation and the administration and maintenance of public works and social infrastructures to create enabling environment for private sector businesses to thrive and drive economic growth, the federal and state governments in Nigeria are in the bonanza of collecting foreign credit facilities and loans so as to finance the ostentatious political lifestyles of the politicians in the corridors of power.

Some bandits on Wednesday stormed a village in Jibiya LGA of Katsina State around 11pm, killing two Immigration officers and rustling hundreds of cattle.

DAILY POST gathered from a reliable source, that the bandits surrounded Kadobe village, close to Immigration checkpoint, after they got information that many cows were sited in the village.

The bandits, the source said, decided to engage the immigration officers at the Kadobe checkpoint in a gun duel and succeeded in killing two officers while trying to escape with the rustled cows.

The immigration officers, sensing their large numbers and the likelihood of being overpowered, called for reinforcement from the military.

The reinforcement team equally ran into an ambush setup by the bandits but were able to repel them. One soldier was injured in the incident.

However, the source said many bandits were also killed in the gun duel but the bandits took their remains along with the rustled cows back to their hideouts.

“The bandits got information that some people brought cows to the village yesterday and you know that the immigration checkpoint is there. So they came in the night and started exchanging fire with the immigration officers. They succeeded in killing two immigration officers and injured one soldier.

“Many of the bandits too were killed but they took away the corpse with the cows,” the source said.

DAILY POST reliably gathered that the corpse of the immigration officers killed in the incident have been deposited in the mortuary while the injured soldier is receiving attention at the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina.

Calls put through to the NIS PRO and the Police were yet to be responded to at the time of filing this report.

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the National Assembly have thrown their weights behind the recent resolutions of the Southern governors.

The governors had met in Lagos on Monday and demanded the inclusion of the electronic transfer of results in the 2010 Electoral Act amendment Bill 2021 and the inclusion of the state police in the ongoing 1999 constitution review.

The governors also rejected the 3 per cent oil equity share for the host communities, among others.

Addressing journalists in the Abuja the PDP Senators led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and Hon.Ndudi Elumelu, commended the governors for the courage they displayed in taking their bold steps notwithstanding their political party differences.

The opposition lawmakers also pledged to remain actively committed in their legislative activities to ensure that all the demands of the governors were met in the various legislation pending before the National Assembly.

A Kano High Court on Tuesday ordered the governor of Kano State Abdullahi Ganduje to pay N400,000 each to the publisher of DAILY NIGERIAN Jaafar Jaafar and the company, Penlight Media Ltd for wasting their time and attempting to damage their reputations.

In an application, dated June 28, 2021, Mr Ganduje’s lawyers, led by E.O.B Offiong, had sought the discontinuation of the case, without stating their clear reasons.

In his submission on Tuesday, the counsel to Daily Nigerian, Muhammad Dan’Azumi, filed a counter-claim, seeking the court to declare that Mr Ganduje’s claims against the defendant were baseless, gold digging and of no substance whatsoever.

Mr Dan’Azumi also sought the court to order Mr Ganduje to pay him the sum of N300 million as damages for soiling his reputation and accusing him of defamation.

The lawyer also asked the court to direct the plaintiff to issue a public apology to the defendant in at least two national daily newspapers.

The lawyer described the deployment of thugs by the plaintiff to harass the defendant at the grounds of the Kano State House of Assembly as unwarranted, uncalled for, immoral and defamatory.

While praying the court to restrain the plaintiff and his associates from further filing any case against the defendant on the subject matter, Mr Jaafar’s lawyer described the governor’s action of deployment of thugs, political stalwarts and primary school pupils by the plaintiff at the grounds of the Kano State House of Assembly chanting slogans and insults on the person of the defendant is unwarranted, uncalled for, immoral and defamatory.

In his ruling, Justice S. B. Namalam granted Mr Ganduje’s prayer to discontinue the case.

He, however, ordered the governor to pay Mr Jaafar and DAILY NIGERIAN the sum of N400,000 each as damages.

In October 2018, DAILY NIGERIAN had published video clips of the governor stuffing bundles of dollars, suspected to be a bribe from a contractor, in his pockets.

The governor, subsequently, sued the newspaper publisher, asking the court to declare that “the act of publishing and circulating libellous statements, false video clips on online media, attacking and impugning the character and integrity of the Plaintiff amounts to defamation of character of the Plaintiff by the Defendants”.

Following the attack on the Bethel Baptist High School on Monday, the Kaduna State government has ordered the immediate closure of 13 schools located in areas identified as vulnerable to attacks by bandits.

The school located in Chikun Local Government Area of the state had an unspecified number of students abducted.

The directive which was issued by the Director-General of Quality Assurance Authority in the state Ministry of Education, Umma Ahmed, to proprietors of private schools, says the closure was with immediate effect.

The statement warned against failure to comply.

Ahmed listed the names of the affected schools to include, Faith Academy, along Kachia Road adjacent to Jakaranda; Deeper Life Academy, Maraban Rido; Ecwa Secondary school, Ungwar Maje and Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi.

Others are St. Peters Minor Seminary, Katari; Prelude Secondary School, Kujama; Ibiso Secondary school, Tashar Iche; Tulip International (Boys) School and Tulip International (Girls) School.

Also on the list are Goodnews Secondary School, St. Augustine, Kujama; Comprehensive Development Institution (CDI), Tudun Mare and Adventist College, Kujama.

“You are hereby advised to adhere to the contents of this letter as appropriate sanctions shall be meted out to schools that are found wanting for non-compliance, please,” it stated.

Pope Francis is undergoing surgery for "colon diverticulitis," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told CNN on Sunday.

It comes just hours after the 84-year-old pontiff, attended the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square.

The Holy See press office said in a statement: "This afternoon his Holiness Pope Francis went to the Gemelli hospital -- Rome -- for a scheduled surgical intervention for a symptomatic stenotic diverticulitis. Surgery will be carried out by professor Sergio Alfieri. At the end of the surgery a medical bulletin will be issued."

Diverticulitis is an inflammation caused when people develop small sacs in the walls of the colon.

The sacs or pouches are called diverticuli. It's usually symptomless, but can cause discomfort and, sometimes, bleeding.

It's a common condition affecting more than half of adults in the US, according to the US National Institutes of Health, and is more common as people age.

Social media platform Instagram, has yet again deleted the backup account of controversial blogger Tunde Ednut.

Tunde Ednut had on July 2 urged his followers to follow his backup account after Instagram stripped him of his recently created second account, Peoples Gazette reported.

Yet, Instagram has now deleted his backup account barely a day after.

Ednut’s initial verified account with over 2.6 million followers was deleted for violating the platform rules and regulation in December, 2020.

The Nigerian blogger made an unforgettable comeback to the platform on January 10, 2021 with a second account that attained over a million followers three days after it was created but was later suspended and eventually deleted on July 2.

According to reports, the blogger used his initial humongous account to body shame women and cyber bully other celebrities which led to the deletion of the account.

However, the reason the platform deleted Mr Ednut’s second account and backup account is yet to be confirmed.

Three children in Badarawa community, Kaduna North Local Government Area have sustained injuries in an explosion.

Daily Trust gathered that the incident happened when the victims were playing with objects.

While two of the victims are battling for their lives in the hospital, the two hands of one of them have reportedly been ripped off.

“It was terrible because one of them has his two hands cut off, with one of his eyes affected while the other victim is seriously injured.”

“The other one is a bit stable. They said someone gave them a bobo container to play with it,” he said.

TENSION is mounting in Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State as suspected herdsmen, who have been dislodging farmers and dispossessing them of their property, chopped off the two hands of a farmer in the area on Friday.

The incident, which happened at about 10a.m., occurred when the attackers used machetes on the victim at Ome community in Obi council.

According to an eyewitness, the victim, Gambo Ambi, was at his farm when the suspected attackers invaded his farm with cows, destroying his crops.

The eyewitness told Vanguard that in the process of telling the herdsmen to leave his farm, they descended on the farmer and cut off his two hands.

The eyewitness, whose wished to remain anonymous, claimed that he narrowly escaped the attack.

Narrating his ordeal, “We were in the farm when we saw herdsmen grazing on the victim’s farm.

“While asking them to leave the farm, we saw them making calls and their men came with cutlasses and started chasing us.

“Ambi fell. And that was when the herdsmen severed his two hands.”

Meanwhile, when contacted for confirmation, the Public Relations Officer of Nasarawa State Police Command, ASP Ramhan Nansel, confirmed the incident, but said only one of the hands of the farmer, and not two, was severed.

He said: “The left hand of the victim was severed from his wrist, while a finger was severed from his right hand.

“The victim has been taken to the hospital for treatment. Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the crime and investigation is ongoing.”

The Federal Government has projected to spend N900 billion on subsidy payout to oil marketers in 2022.

Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning made this disclosure on Thursday at presentation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2022-2024 in Abuja.

She also disclosed the Federal Government will spend N13.98trillion in the 2022 fiscal year.

In 2022, the government said it will slash capital expenditure to N3.61trillion in 2022, from the N4.37trillion approved for 2021.

The Senate on Wednesday approved the sum of N74,773,601,916.30 as the 2021 budget of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.

The approval followed the presentation of the harmonised report of the Senate and the House of Representatives Committees on Police Affairs at plenary.

Chairman Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Haliru Dauda Jika, presented the report.

N988,279,006.05 out of the amount was earmarked for personnel cost; N10,027,610,310.25 for overhead expenditure; and N63,757,712,600.00 as capital expenditure.

Three Senators, including a principal officer, elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, on Wednesday, notified the Senate of their decision to join the ruling All Progressives Congress.

The senators are: the Minority Whip, Sahabi Ya’u (Zamfara North); Peter Nwaoboshi (Delta North); and Lawal Anka (Zamfara West).

The lawmakers made their decision to dump PDP for APC known in separate letters read on the floor of the Red Chamber by Senate President Ahmad Lawan, during plenary.

The senators, in the letter, said they left the PDP due to the divisions at various levels.

Lawan, in a remark, congratulated the new APC senators for their decision to move to the ruling party.

Unknown gunmen on Sunday evening abducted daughter of Alhaji Bayo Fulani at his residence located around Ga- Fulani, Ora-Igbomina area of Ifedayo in Osun state.

The gunmen in their numbers, it was gathered attacked the victim’s father attempting to kill him, but bullets were not penetrating his body.

Findings revealed that the assailants armed with guns having discovered that the father escaped their assault resorted to deal with the girl before they eventually took her away.

Efforts to get Police spokesperson to react proved abortive as she did not pick her calls or reply the text sent to her phone.

The Adamawa State Specialist Hospital, located in the Jimeta district of the state capital, is the biggest state government hospital in Adamawa.

Although, witnesses say no less than three trucks of fire fighting vehicles had gone to put off the fire by afternoon of Sunday, signs of the destructive fire were still evident by the early evening.

Smoke was still oozing from burnt furniture and other items around the building tagged ‘Central Sterile Supply Department’ when our correspondent visited the place.

The cause of the fire outbreak was still unknown at the time of filing this report.

Typical of the hospital, no official would speak on the incident.

The Adamawa State Specialist Hospital, located in Jimeta, Yola North Local Government Area (LGA), was the State’s foremost hospital before the Federal Government built the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), located in Yola Town, Yola South LGA.

The Specialist Hospital, after which a major street along which it is located is named, remains a strategic healthcare centre to which difficult cases are referred from across the 21 LGAs of the state.

The Commander of the Ekiti State Security Network (Amotekun), Brigadier Joe Komolafe, has confirmed the abduction of another traditional ruler and Eleda of Eda Ile, in Ekiti East Local government area of Ekiti State, Oba Benjamin Oso.

The monarch was seized at his Farm in the presence of his wife and whisked to unknown place in the evil forest on Friday evening.

This is coming barely two months the Obaadu of Ilemeso, in Oye local government, Oba David Oyewumi, suffered a similar fate.

DAILY INDEPENDENT learnt that from an anonymous source in the community that “the Oba and the wife went to farm and were accosted by these gunmen. The two would have been kidnapped, but the monarch begged the bandits to free his wife, which they agreed with.”

Akomolafe, however, said that all the security outfits in Ekiti, including police, soldiers, Amotekun Corps, local hunters and vigilante groups, are already in the forests searching for the monarch.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested Kess Theophilus and Sunday Eshiebor Isaiah for alleged conspiracy, impersonation and cryptocurrency-related fraud.

Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesman in a statement said the duo were apprehended after a petition by one Nalim Sharma.

Sharma met the suspects through a LinkedIn account, Sophia Gomez and was lured into a phony bitcoin business.

From January 2021 until June, she allegedly invested a sum of $12,000 in ‘cryptocurrency’.

The suspects, who claimed to be bitcoin experts, used a platform Life Trade Option.

Uwujaren noted that the complainant sensed fraud when the suspects suddenly severed communication.

Theophilus and Isaiah will be charged to court at the end of investigations.

Residents of Olopa Estate, Ofatedo Area, Egbedore local government of Osun State are in a state of fear following a letter by an armed robbery gang.

In the handwritten notice, which was written in both English and Yoruba languages, the suspected armed robbers demanded the sum of N20 million from the residents to avert a likely armed robbery operation in the area.

The notice which reads, “Notice, this is to inform you that, we, thieves are coming to rob every house in your community or you should contribute the sum of N20 million and keep it with your community Chairman for us to pick up when we come.

“We are coming with full force and we will kill any of your securities that intend to disturb us.”

Meanwhile, security outfits in Osun said they were already on top of the situation.

In a message sent to DAILY POST by Yemisi Opalola, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Osun Command, the command assured the residents not to entertain any fear as the police were fully prepared to deal decisively with the threat.

She stated that the Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode had encouraged residents to report any strange movement in their communities to the nearest police formation or access the Osun Police Control Room numbers via 08039537995 and 08123823981.