A fire broke out Monday night and razed a section of Gombe timber market – destroying goods worth millions of naira.
While details are still sketchy, an eyewitness told Channels Television that the fire service truck that was coming to put out the fire hit a tree and crashed, unable to reach the fire spot.
READ ALSO: UPS Underpaid Thousands At Christmas, US Lawsuit Alleges
The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has dismissed a suit seeking to declare the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) and the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) Acts as unconstitutional.
This decision affirms the legality of government-established religious commissions in the country.
Justice Akintayo Aluko held that the Applicant, Human Rights and Empowerment Project Ltd/Gte, failed to provide credible evidence that the statutes violated Sections 10 and 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
On October 17, 2024, the Applicant had approached the court, seeking a series of declarations and orders.
These included a declaration that the NCPC and NAHCON Acts were inconsistent with the Constitution, and an order restraining the Federal Government from funding or subsidising religious pilgrimages for Christians and Muslims.
The suit argued that such sponsorship was discriminatory against adherents of other faiths and amounted to an unconstitutional adoption of state religion.
READ ALSO: Supreme Court Upholds President’s Power To Declare Emergency Rule, Suspend Elected Officials
In its affidavit, the Applicant relied largely on newspaper reports and argued that government allocations for pilgrimages amounted to misuse of taxpayers’ funds.
The Applicant also sought to highlight alleged breaches of the fundamental right to freedom from discrimination under Section 42 of the Constitution.
During the hearing on October 9, 2025, counsel for the Applicant urged the court to hold that government sponsorship of pilgrimages breached constitutional provisions, noting that restricting funding to only Christian and Muslim pilgrims was discriminatory.
However, the 4th Respondent, NAHCON, countered that all Hajj payments were made directly by intending pilgrims through state-level Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards, not from public funds.
Counsel for NAHCON further submitted that the existence of the religious commissions did not amount to adopting a state religion, and that the Applicant had not shown any identifiable group of citizens whose rights were violated.
In resolving the first issue, Justice Aluko examined the provisions of Sections 10 and 42 of the Constitution. Section 10 prohibits any government from adopting a religion as a state religion, while Section 42 protects citizens from discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, or other grounds.
The court held that there was no credible evidence that either Act led to the adoption of a state religion or violated the right to freedom from discrimination.
On the second issue regarding the alleged misuse of taxpayers’ funds, the court noted that the Applicant’s own evidence indicated that the Lagos State Government had saved N4.5 billion over three years by ceasing the sponsorship of pilgrimages, redirecting the funds to infrastructure projects.
Justice Aluko emphasised that the Applicant’s reliance on newspaper publications was inadequate, describing such evidence as hearsay unless properly certified under the law.
The judgment also highlighted that declaratory reliefs require strong and convincing proof, which the Applicant failed to provide.
The court stressed that allegations without concrete evidence, particularly those relying on speculation or media reports, could not sustain a constitutional claim.
Mohamed Salah heads for Morocco this week to captain Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) amid uncertainty over his future at Liverpool.
Salah came off the bench midway through the first half and set up the second goal in a 2-0 Premier League win over Brighton at the weekend.
After the match, manager Arne Slot said there was “no issue to resolve” with his star forward, but speculation continues to rumble over the Egyptian’s future after his outburst last weekend.
AFP Sport highlights African headline-makers in the major European leagues:
READ ALSO: Mane v Mbemba: An AFCON Cameo To Relish In Morocco
MOHAMED SALAH (Liverpool)
The 33-year-old came on as a substitute and seized his chance by setting up Liverpool’s second goal for Hugo Ekitike. Salah had been left out of Liverpool’s squad for Tuesday’s Champions League victory at Inter Milan after his explosive rant about Slot following the recent draw at Leeds. That was the third successive game that Salah had been left on the bench and his furious claim that he had been “thrown under the bus” hinted at a potential departure from the troubled Premier League champions during the January transfer window.
CALVIN BASSEY (Fulham)
The Nigeria defender scored in his side’s 3-2 win at Burnley. Bassey grabbed Fulham’s second goal to put them 2-1 up in the 31st minute en route to their first victory at Turf Moor since 1951. The 25-year-old’s close-range header from Harry Wilson’s cross was his first goal since an FA Cup tie against Manchester United in March.
IBRAHIM SANGARE (Nottingham Forest)
The Ivory Coast midfielder capped his side’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham with the final goal. Sangare netted in the 79th minute at the City Ground, bending a superb strike in off the post with the outside of his foot. The 28-year-old’s second goal this season — and his first in seven matches — helped boost Forest’s bid to avoid relegation.
AKOR ADAMS, CHIDERA EJUKE (Sevilla)
Nigerians Adams and Ejuke celebrated AFCON call-ups with a goal each as Sevilla hammered Real Oviedo 4-0 in La Liga. Adams opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Ejuke completed the rout with one minute of regular time remaining.
MOHAMED AMOURA (Wolfsburg)
Amoura scored for the second straight match in Wolfsburg’s 3-1 Bundesliga win at Borussia Moenchengladbach. With the team’s level after 34 minutes, Amoura was on the spot to blast in a deflected Christian Eriksen cross, putting the visitors back in front. The 25-year-old has six goals and two assists for Wolfsburg in the league this season.
RAMY BENSEBAINI (Borussia Dortmund)
Borussia defender Bensebaini scored his side’s only goal in a disappointing 1-1 draw at Freiburg. With Dortmund teammate and Guinea international Serhou Guirassy struggling in front of goal and missing chances, Bensebaini took matters into his own hands with 31 minutes gone. The Algerian latched onto a Yan Couto free-kick and blasted home from close range.
HIMAD ABDELLI, HAROUNA DJIBIRIN (Angers)
Founder and President/Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has raised concerns over alleged sabotage in Nigeria’s downstream oil sector.
Dangote, who spoke to journalists at a briefing on Sunday, recounted multiple ‘sabotage’ incidents at both his facility and public refineries.
The billionaire businessman lamented that organised cartels pose a “bigger threat than drug mafias.”
He cited examples at his refinery in Lekki, including the removal of spare parts from a 400-ton boiler, which he described as the largest ever built.
“If I tell you the sabotages that we went through, including some of the machine manufacturers that were on the verge of going to court, you will know what I’m saying.
“Drug mafias are actually smaller than the people who are in oil and gas. They have robbed so many people in this sector,” he added.
READ ALSO: Dangote Accuses NMDPRA CEO Farouk Of Corruption, Seeks CCB Probe
Dangote also highlighted the destruction of pipeline infrastructure across the country.
He alleged that depots from Kano to other states had been deliberately sabotaged, not damaged by natural causes.
“You are talking about sabotage, and I’m happy that you are also here in Nigeria. I don’t know if Mele Kyari [former NNPCL GCEO] is still in town, but I think you should go to his house in Maitama and ask him how many sabotages the Port Harcourt refinery repairs went through.
“He told me many times that they have had more than 100 sabotages at the refinery. You can ask him, and he will tell you. How come now, for example, all the pipelines that were built, right from the military base to date, none of them are functioning?
“The one that we have, which is from where I am from, Kano, that depot, we were not using trucks. The depots were only going to the trucks to load. Everything was piped up to that. 22 depots were built. They are all piped, all 22 depots.
“Actually, even the sediments don’t have it anymore. They have destroyed the pipes, all of them. So, if it is not sabotage, is that an earthquake? It’s not an earthquake now, because it’s sabotage. Sabotage is sabotage. So, that is what it is,” Dangote stated.
The billionaire quantified losses at his refinery to theft and sabotage.
“In this refinery, we have lost maybe $82 million of stolen items. They were actually trying to make us put massive claims on insurance. Continuously, our insurance premiums will just keep going up. Yes, there is sabotage”, he said.
Dangote described the extreme security measures at the refinery, explaining that over 2,000 security personnel were employed, more than the number of operational workers.
“People will come here with long pieces of cord cables and put [them] on their bodies to try and see how they can take it out. And we answer, ‘Okay, fine, what are you doing with it?’ It’s just sabotage,” he said.
The group CEO warned that the scale of sabotage and organised theft in the oil sector represents a serious threat to production and national economic security.
“You should ask all the people who have ever built modular refineries. I challenge any one of them to say that nothing was stolen. That’s why we have more security people than actual workers,” he said.
In October 2025, Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, disclosed that the refinery had experienced 22 attempted physical sabotage incidents since commencing operations.
The company linked some of these incidents to a mass reorganisation and dismissal of about 800 workers, which had triggered a temporary strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Former U.S Army officer, Captain Bish Johnson (retd.) says there is foreign support for banditry in Nigeria.
Johnson, who spoke during an interview with Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, however, said some of the sponsors may not necessarily be Nigerians.
READ ALSO: Gunmen Kill One, Abduct Pregnant Woman, Others In Kogi Church Attack
“I also believe that there are some foreign sponsors of this banditry that we see in the country where they kidnap and abduct people just to divert our attention to the abduction while they are abusing, illicitly mining our mineral resources in connivance with highly placed individuals in Nigeria.”
“Some of whom may be in the government, some retired, and some top-level government officials,” he said.
The former officer maintained that most of the security problems were syndicated operations that involved so many components, people, and elements all working together for the same purposes, which are commercial.
Johnson said that banditry, kidnapping had become a commercialised enterprise where people made a lot of fortune over the misfortune of others.
“Nigerians have always had this impression that the insecurity in the country is some kind of complicity from within the government. I have always insisted and maintained that most of the insecurity is syndicated operations that involve so many components, people, and so many elements, all of them working together for the same purposes, which are commercial reasons.
“Banditry, kidnapping has become a commercialized enterprise where people are making a lot of fortunes over the misfortune of others. Some of you are fueled by the unregulated and illicit mining of our mineral resources in the far North, and also fueled by the vulnerabilities in our borders around that sector between Niger, Chad, and northern Cameroon” he added.
He further said information or any allegation about some kind of connivance or complicity from anyone in Nigeria should be a matter of serious concern and should be thoroughly investigated.
However, we should not dismiss such accusations on the basis that it is just a terrorist that is talking or maybe that they are talking under compulsion.
US authorities on Sunday detained a person of interest in a shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and nine others wounded, the latest in a long line of school attacks across the country.
A shooter opened fire on Saturday at the elite Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island in a building where exams were taking place, triggering a campus lockdown and launching an hours-long hunt for the suspect.
During a press conference early Sunday, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said a “person of interest” had been detained and the shelter-in-place order lifted.
READ ALSO: What We Know About The Bondi Beach Attack
“I want to offer my profound thanks to all the hardworking men and women in law enforcement who worked through the night to be able to get us to this point,” Smiley said.
Speaking alongside him, Police Colonel Oscar Perez added authorities were “not at this point” looking for anyone else in relation to the attack.
Of the nine wounded, one is in critical condition, seven are in stable condition and one has been discharged, Smiley said.
Witness Katie Sun told the Brown Daily Herald student newspaper she was studying in a building on campus when she heard gunfire nearby. She ran to her dormitory, leaving all her belongings behind.
“It was honestly quite terrifying. The shots seemed like they were coming from where the classrooms are,” she said.
Brown University student Lydell Dyer was working in the school’s gym at the time, according to CNN.
“We had to go gather everybody, bring them up to the top floor, turn off the lights, and put down the blinds,” he told the broadcaster, saying he hid silently in the dark with 154 others.
Police released 10 seconds of footage of the suspect, seen from behind, walking briskly down a deserted street after opening fire inside a first-floor classroom.
“It is shocking and so terribly sad. I know the students here, many of whom were sheltering for many, many hours last night,” Smiley said later on CNN. “They’re all incredibly shaken up.”
Final exams scheduled for Sunday have been postponed, university officials said.
Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed in a letter to community members that all 11 victims were students.
“Nine members of our community who were transported to local hospitals are all students. And we lost two students to today’s devastating gun violence,” Paxson said in the letter posted to the school’s website.
The attack is the latest incident of mass shooting in a country where attempts to restrict access to firearms face political deadlock.
“This should not be normal,” Smiley said on CNN. “This should not be the case that every community needs to prepare for something like this to happen. And I certainly never thought that it would actually happen in Providence, although we were well prepared for it.”
There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.
Brown, which has a student body of about 11,000, sent an emergency alert at 4:22 pm (2122 GMT) reporting “an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering,” which is home to the engineering and physics departments. Two exams had been scheduled at the time.
“Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice,” the university said.
Law enforcement and first responders swarmed the scene, with local news station WPRI reporting “clothing and blood on the sidewalk.”
US President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and called the incident a “terrible thing.”
“All we can do right now is pray for the victims,” he said.