Category Nigeria News

Human rights lawyer and activist, Inibehe Effiong, on Thursday, asked the Nigerian Police Force to pay ₦100 million as compensation to Alabi Quadri.

Quadri is a 17-year-old minor who went viral ahead of the 2023 general elections for standing in front of the convoy of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

The minor had spent months in Kirikiri prison after been arrested for armed robbery, an offence his family vehemently rejected.

He was however, freed on Thursday by Magistrate Adetola Olorunfemi, following the legal advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr. Babajide Martins.

READ ALSO: Court Frees Boy Who Stood Before Obi’s Convoy Months After Detention

Briefing journalists after the ruling in the Apapa area of Lagos, Effiong commended the DPP for standing by the truth in this matter.

He also demanded that the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, and the Inspector General of Police, should as a matter of urgency, remove the Divisional Police Officer of Amukoko Divisional Headquarters and subject him to orderly room trial along with the IPO, one Inspector Odigbe Samuel, and other officers who participated in what he called the “evil, sinister, oppressive, and corrupt scheme of framing-up a teenager for armed robbery at the behest of rogue ‘Area Boys’”.

The lawyer also demanded that the police authorities should tender a public apology to his client.

Inibehe said if the above three remedial demands are not fully complied with immediately, he and the team of lawyers will initiate legal actions to seek redress.

For him, Quadri’s case is a painful example of the putrefying corruption, monstrous impunity, and pervasive injustice in the Nigeria Police Force.

At least three Nigeria Customs Service agents were killed and their patrol vehicles were set on fire in a deadly attack in Kebbi State by terrorists.

According to Persecondnews, the incident highlights the region’s ongoing security issues.

The officers were ambushed by the Terorists who had opened fire on them in the Bashaka region of the state.

“Three of our officers recently perished in Bashaka, Kebbi State,” according to the statement. The Comptroller General of Customs, Mr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this during a working visit to the Niger/Kogi Area Command of the Service, “They were taken by surprise as the attackers shelled them, burnt their vehicles, and opened fire on all of them.”

Adeniyi, who expressed concern over the Islamic State’s activities at the Babanna border in the Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, described their presence as a serious threat to national security and effective border operations.

The Assistant Comptroller General, Mr. Hussein Kehinde Ejibunu, the customs boss, also disclosed that after seizing 500 jerricans of the smuggled Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at the Babanna border, customs operatives had also escaped yet another ambush by ISWAP militants.

The smugglers were suspected of providing armed bandits and terrorists with fuel.

In light of the rising threats, Adeniyi urged police to remain vigilant and stressed the need for enhanced collaboration with other security agencies.

He noted that border patrol operations were supported by the purchase of aircraft and aerial surveillance equipment.

According to him, “It would interest you to know that the majority of these bandits who are attacking us get their fuel from smugglers,” he said.

He warned that ISWAP, Boko Haram, and Lakurawa, which he claimed are connected to local communities, are now a part of the terrorist networks operating in the border regions of Niger, Kebbi, and Borno. He urged people to report any suspicious activity to security agencies.

The seized PMS and two drums of fuel were intercepted at various flashpoints along the Babanna-Gidan Zana Road and Kabe/Tunga Madugu Road, according to Pascal Chibuoke, the customs area controller for the Niger/Kogi Command.

He claimed that inter-agency collaboration and community engagement contributed to the total duty paid value of the seized fuel and the vehicle used for its transportation at N25.9 million.

President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has called on African nations to put an end to the export of raw materials if the continent is to overcome poverty and underdevelopment.

According to data from the Office of US Trade Representative and other multilateral institutions, Africa accounts for less than 2% of global manufacturing.

In a post shared on Thursday via his official X handle, Adesina stressed need for Africa to shift from being a supplier of unprocessed commodities to a producer of value-added goods.

“Africa must end the exports of its raw materials. The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. The export of value-added products is the highway to wealth. And Africa is tired of being poor,” he wrote.

Despite Africa being home to the world’s most sought-after raw materials, its share of global trade remains under 3%. Efforts to change this narrative have gained momentum in recent years. Initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are designed to enhance intra-African trade, boost manufacturing, and encourage value addition across sectors.

READ ALSO: EU To Invest In Nigeria’s Solid Minerals To Diversify Trade

Adesina has consistently advocated for policies that promote agro-industrialisation, energy expansion, and improved infrastructure as a foundation for transforming Africa’s economies.

Last week, Adesina criticised the disproportionate allocation of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), revealing that Africa received just $33 billion, only 4.5% of the $650 billion issued globally.

The AfDB president stressed that the distribution model of the SDRs failed to reflect the urgent financial needs of Africa, which bore some of the deepest economic scars from the pandemic, with limited fiscal capacity to implement a robust recovery plan.

A lawmaker, Daniel Asama, says security agencies are aware of the whereabouts of the masterminds of the recent killings in Plateau, describing the attacks as genocidal.

Over 100 people have been killed in the last two weeks in Plateau, a situation, Asama said, is devastating.

“The security agencies know where these attacks have been coming from. They know the direction from which these attacks have been coming. The people in the community can show them the routes,” the lawmaker representing Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives said on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

“I am saying that the security operatives, if they talk to the people, will know where the attackers are coming from. I don’t believe exactly that they do not know where these people are coming from,” he said.

READ ALSO: Obi Asks Tinubu To End France Trip, Address Insecurity

The Labour Party (LP) chieftain said the killings have led to the displacement of communities and likened it to land grabbing. 

Watch him speak on the issue below: 

The Ad-Hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on Rivers State has rescheduled its interactive session with the Administrator of the state, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.).

In a statement signed by Reps spokesman, Akin Rotimi, on Thursday, the meeting earlier scheduled for today, April 17, 2025, at 4:00 PM, has been postponed.

However, the Reps Committee is yet to fix a new date for the meeting, saying that the public will be notified of the rescheduled date as soon as it is fixed.

According to the statement, the change in time followed a formal request from Ibas.

READ ALSO: Reps Committee Summons Rivers Administrator Ibas

“The Ad-Hoc Committee on Rivers State Oversight has received a formal request from the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.), to reschedule the interactive session initially set for today, April 17, 2025, at 4:00 PM.

“The Committee has acknowledged the request and is in the process of coordinating a new date for the session, and will, in the spirit of transparent and effective oversight, promptly inform the public once the rescheduled date is confirmed,” the statement read.

On March 18, 2025, President Bola Tinubu imposed an emergency rule on oil-rich Rivers State and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara; his deputy Ngozi Odu; and all the members of the House of Assembly for six months.

The President immediately nominated Ibas as administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state for the first six months.

The President relied on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to make the proclamation. The section interprets a state of emergency as a situation of national danger, disaster or terrorist attacks in which a government suspends normal constitutional procedures to regain control.

In about 48 hours, the National Assembly ratified the president’s emergency rule decision despite stiff opposition to the move.

The suspension of Fubara and other democratically elected representatives was expressly rejected and condemned by many eminent Nigerians, legal luminaries, and groups including a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar; the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, and a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Others are the founder of Stanbic IBTC bank, Atedo Peterside; a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai; a senior advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana; the LP, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Nigerian Bar Association, and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), among others.