The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has formally reached out to the Inspector General of Police, IGP and filed a request for a legal order to prevent Speaker Abdulmalik Sarkindaji of the Niger State Assembly from overseeing the marriage of 100 orphaned girls.

The speaker had revealed his intention to provide marriage support for the orphaned girls who tragically lost their parents in bandit attacks in the Mariga local government area, as part of his constituency project, scheduled for May 24th.

During a press conference in Abuja, Kennedy-Ohanenye expressed her disapproval of the plans, highlighting that a thorough investigation has been initiated into the matter.

She said, “I want to let the honourable speaker of the house in Niger state know that this is totally unacceptable by the Federal Minister of Women Affairs and by the government.

“Because there is something called the Child’s Rights Act and I said it from the onset, that it is no more business as usual.

“These children must be considered, their future must be considered, the future of the children to come out of their marriage must be considered.

“So I have gone to court. I have written him a letter and written a petition to the IG of Police.

”And I have filed for an injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do on the 24th, until a thorough investigation is carried out on those girls, find out whether they gave their consent, their ages, find out the people marrying them,”

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has vowed to ensure that Russian troops have no single safe location on Ukrainian soil amid the ongoing war.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian soldiers are improving in the war against Russia as soldiers are destroying their enemy’s infantry and armoured vehicles.

The president spoke in a statement he posted on his X page.

According to Zelenskyy: “Our forces continue to counter Russian attacks in the Kharkiv region. This direction has been reinforced, particularly in Vovchansk and border areas in general.

“Brigadier General Mykhailo Drapatyi is in charge of this direction and is currently on the ground. He is being provided with all of the necessary firepower and forces.

“Our results are improving. We are destroying the enemy’s infantry and armoured vehicles. I appreciate all of our warriors who strictly adhere to orders, hold their positions, and make every effort to stabilize the situation.

“At the same time, we can clearly see how the enemy acts and their intent to stretch our forces thin. Clearly, we do not divert the necessary assistance and provision from Donetsk directions, particularly Kramatorsk and Pokrovsk directions.

“We remain vigilant in the Kupyansk direction as well. We can also see enemy activity in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, including subversion groups and shelling. We respond properly with fire.

“Our task is crystal clear: to thwart Russia’s attempt to expand the war. It is up to everyone in positions from Chernihiv to Vovchansk, Kharkiv to Donetsk, to fulfil it.

“The occupiers must not have a single safe location on Ukrainian soil. And in the Ukrainian skies.

“We must do everything possible to ensure that the occupier loses, not the Ukrainians.”

Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State on Tuesday received Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

DAILY POST sighted a video of Otti arriving at the Rivers State government house in Port Harcourt.

Fubara and Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT, have been embroiled in a face-off that has polarised the state House of Assembly into two camps.

It is not clear yet if Otti’s visit to Fubara is connected with the ongoing political crisis in the state.

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The Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Sam Amadi, on Tuesday, said it looks like a tragedy to be a citizen of Rivers State.

Amadi said it would be resurrection if sanity returned to Rivers State.

Posting on X, the public affairs analyst wrote: “It looks like a tragedy to be a citizen of Rivers State for at least the last 10 years. The clowning is heartbreaking. Everyday thanksgiving service, rally & press conference.

“The day sanity is restored in Rivers will be a resurrection day. Cry for the beleaguered state.”

This is coming amid the continued cold war between Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike.

Since October 30, 2023, Rivers State has been embroiled in a political crisis. The crisis became public knowledge following an explosion that shook the hallowed chamber of the State Assembly complex on the night of October 29, 2023.

Following the fire incident, the state lawmakers initiated an impeachment process against Fubara and suspended four lawmakers.

This incident has left the state Assembly deeply divided, with 27 lawmakers aligning with Wike while three remained loyal to Governor Fubara, after the resignation of one, Edison Ehie, who now serves as the Chief-of-Staff to him.

In an attempt to quell the crisis, President Bola Tinubu had in December 2023, intervened in the crisis, leading to the formulation of an eight-point resolution signed by Fubara and Wike.

As the peace pact had failed to quell the unrest in the state, Fubara noted that there might be no end in sight over the continued face-off in the state.

On Monday, the governor hinted that the political disagreement in the state might not be resolved amicably because there was evidence of a deliberate attempt to sabotage his administration.

The Kogi State House of Assembly has urged Governor Usman Ododo to beef up security around all Tertiary Institutions in the state to avert the kidnap of students by gunmen.

The lawmakers gave the charge during plenary on Tuesday, in Lokoja.

A motion of urgent public importance by t

The member representing Adavi State constituency and the Chief whip of the House, Asema Baba Haruna, under motions of urgent public importance, condemned the kidnapping of scores of students at the Confluence University of Science and Technology, CUSTECH.

Osara also sympathized with the families of the kidnapped victims while noting that the abducted students were preparing for their first-semester examination before they were ambushed by the gunmen.

“It is high time we beefed up security around our schools to avert a repetition of what happened in Osara. The government should as a matter of urgency construct perimeter fencing in all our schools to stop these hoodlums from kidnapping our students. The Governor should also motivate our security agencies for their good work in combating insecurities in our dare state.” he stated.

Supporting the motion, the minority leader of the house and member representing Yagba East State Constituency, Idowu Ibikunle, decried the number of students who are still in captivity.

He hinted that a business tycoon was recently kidnapped in his constituency and had not regained his freedom as of the time of the plenary session.

His words, “We are appealing to the Kogi State Government to make stiffer laws against kidnapping. By doing this, whoever is caught in kidnapping will dance to the music”

On their parts, lawmakers representing Dekina/Biraidu, Ochidi Usman Shehu, Lokoja I, Bin-Ebaiya Shehu Sanni, Okene II, Yusuf Zakari Eneve, Ajaokuta, Abu Onoru-Oiza Jibrin, all argued that security agencies change their strategies in tackling insecurity in Kogi State.

They, however, revealed that seven more students aside from the 14 released on Monday have also been rescued from their abductors.

In his ruling, the Speaker and member representing Lokoja II Rt. Aliyu Yusuf urged the state government to support the creation of state police in a bid to address the spate of insecurities in the state.

“We want all the kidnappers to be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law. Kogi State can never be a breeding place for these criminal elements who are enemies of the state” he added.

A former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi, has said the proposed mega party would be a movement of values and not a typical political party.

Utomi made this statement while speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Tuesday, monitored by DAILY POST.

“My first point of call is to create this new tribe and the new tribe is not a political party. It is a movement focused on values that shape human progress. In this, we understand, look, this politician settles against one another by talking about ethnicity, religion, and all of that.

“Nobody has become richer because of the ethnic group he comes from or has had a better life because of the religion he comes from. So they use it, and in this age, it’s very easy to play propaganda politics and put people against one another. In the end, everybody loses.

“We play a zero-sum game. So let’s accept certain fundamental values: the dignity of the human, human solidarity, and work ethic—all of those things,” he said.

According to the Professor of Political Economy, “As people begin to walk their talk and live in this domain, you can say to these people that the only way that you can change the world is through a political party.

“So we have an initiative to then say, Here is a political platform in development that’s values-driven, that has to have an ideology and goals that people can be held accountable for. All of this must be in place and tested before the people.

“It can happen fairly quickly—more than people realize. Look at what happened in Senegal. It can become more challenging, depending on how the young people in Senegal manage it.”

Uromi noted that the people are so fed up with the political class in Nigeria, adding, “I mean, somebody gave me an analysis and said, ‘Nigeria will be in popular insurrection within the next four months,’ the way things are going. Somebody sent me this analysis from Nigeria just two weeks ago, and I’m saying to myself, “we have got to stop our country.”

The eldest son of Mamman Nur, founder of the Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP), Mahmud Mamman Nur Albarnawy, has surrendered to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Maiduguri.

Mahmud, 22, surrendered to the NSCDC on Sunday and has been handed over to Bulunkutu rehabilitation facility for further documentation and custody.

This was made known on Tuesday by Zagazola Makama, Lake Chad Basin counterterrorism and insurgency expert, in a post on his X handle.

The security expert wrote Mahmud confessed to having taken part in attacks in Bama, Banki, Gwoza and several other places as a middle rank fighter under the Boko Haram group.

Makama said intelligence sources told him that Mahmud was confirmed to be the senior son of the late ISWAP founder after undergoing profiling at the Command Headquarters of NSCDC in Maiduguri.

The security expert said that men of the command had facilitated his surrendering through his uncle in Gamborun Ngala after receiving information that he was willing to formally surrender to the Nigerian government.

Makama further disclosed that a reliable agent was sent to convey him to Maiduguri.

“Mahmud was later debriefed and profiled by an intelligence officer of the command where he confessed to having sneaked out of the Ali Ngulde camp in Mandara Mountain, Gwoza LGA, into Maiduguri and stayed for about a month at Gwange in the city capital before relocating to Gamboru Ngala without any alarm or distress signs from communities.

“During his stay in Gamboru Ngala, some of his late father’s loyalists were persuading him to return to the Lake Chad general area to pay allegiance to ISWAP but he refused, citing the betrayal and eventual execution of his late father,” he added.