As the prolonged petrol shortage continues to hit some parts of Nigeria, especially Lagos and its environs, four vessels arrived, over the weekend, to discharge the product at the Ijegun-Egba Tankfarm in Lagos. A visit to the facility showed that the vessels carrying a total of about 80 million litres were still discharging the product to tank farm owners. The tank farm owners including A.A. RANO Nigeria Limited, JGold Nigeria Limited, Chipet International Limited, Emadeb Energy Services Limited, First Royal Oil Nigeria Limited, MAO Petroleum Company Limited, Menj Oil Limited, Ocean Pride Energy Services Limited, Stallionaire Nigeria Limited, Wosbab Energy Solutions Limited and Rainoil Limited would take the product to their outlets as well as sell to independent marketers at the government N172 per litre regulated price. Independent marketers lift at N172 per litre In a telephone interview with Vanguard, yesterday, the Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, lPMAN, Mr Mike Osatuyi, said members of the association have started lifting petrol from the facility at the government-regulated price. He said: “I can confirm that our members have started lifting at the N172 per litre government-regulated price. If the supply is sustained, we look forward to achieving stability in the sector.” Marketers should sell at N184 per litre — Minister Similarly, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timpre Sylva, who was in Lagos to inspect some filling stallions, said the government has taken steps toward enhancing the supply of the product nationwide. He said: “I observed the availability of the product in the state. Petrol is everywhere both in Lagos and Abuja. I visited many stations in Ikeja and the mainland and from every indication, there is a product everywhere. I want to assure Nigerians that the queues will disappear in a matter of days. “The situation which we witness in Lagos has been achieved in 15 states across the country. The President has ordered that queues must be cleared immediately.”

  The management of Chrisland Schools has exonerated themselves of any culpability around the death of 12-year-old Miss Whitney Adediran who allegedly slumped during a sporting event on the school premises. While consoling the parents of the student, the school noted that the said student had last month complained of being sick, and was taken home by the father, before the recent event that saw her faint and slump in the presence of people at the event. “The management and staff of Chrisland Schools limited are heartbroken and distressed over the death of our precious student, Whitney Adeniran whose painful exit occurred on Thursday, February 9, 2023. “Whitney was one of our day students who opted not to participate in the inter-house sports march past for reasons we were not very sure about. However, on discretion, we respected her decision to err on the side of caution because, on the 20th of January, it is in our records that she complained about not-too-buoyant health and we immediately contacted her parents. Her father, Mr Michael Adeniran came to the school to take her home. We emphasized to her parents to take a critical look at her. “It is instructive to state that Whitney slumped in public view and not under any hidden circumstances whatsoever. Our immediate response was to take advantage of proximity by identifying the nearest medical facility to take her to, where the doctor on duty administered oxygen and every aid possible to her. “Even as her family made funeral plans for an immediate burial, we differed politely and reiterated the need to establish a scientific verification of the underlying cause of death as required in circumstances like this. We immediately notified regulatory stakeholders and agencies to allow for a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the developments. “In spite of the compelling imperatives to fill any information gaps in public space, we stopped short of making any media sensation out of this because the deceased in question was minor and deserving of our unqualified respect. We also prioritized respect for the privacy of the family and were with them consistently to mourn together. “As parents, We feel the deep pain of this loss and our thoughts are with the family and friends of this wonderful girl. As we continue to uphold the sobriety of this moment. We resist any urge to join issues or trend her treasured memory on media traffic. “As we eagerly await the outcome of an independent post-mortem process, we remain unwaveringly committed to supporting the family at this critical moment and pray fervently for the fortitude to bear this painful loss. ” said the management. Meanwhile, the father of Miss Whitney Adediran, 12, a student of Chrisland International High School, Opebi, Lagos, Dr Michael Adediran, has demanded a probe into the death of his daughter during the school’s sporting competition last Thursday. Adediran, in a message shared on social media at the weekend, said the call became necessary because of the circumstances surrounding the death of the girl. He said he gave the school a healthy child and was surprised that the girl was returned dead. He said, “Good day Nigerians. This is a call to all well-meaning Nigerians to come to my aid. All bloggers, all media and all government agencies. Ministry of Justice, DSS and every intelligence agency. All human rights activists. This is a call to all of you. If you are reading this information kindly come to my aid. “My name is Dr Micheal Adeyemi Adeniran, I am the father of 12-year-old Whitney Adeniran who died at Chrisland International High School, Opebi, Lagos inter-house sport at Agege Stadium. “it happened that my daughter attended Chrisland High School, and it was their inter-house sports event on Thursday, February 9th 2023 and she dressed up from home, healthy with no health conditions or sickness at all, the school bus came to pick her up to the venue of the event at Agege Stadium. “To the biggest shock of my life by 1 pm in the afternoon I got a call from my wife that she was informed that our daughter slumped at the inter-house sport and she was rushed to the clinic. My wife was at the venue even before she started. “She was never informed or called until they conveyed our child out of the venue before they informed her. Upon the arrival of my wife at the health centre where they took my daughter. l, my daughter was lying dead with her lips black and her tongue black. “My wife called me urgently, I left my office to the place and found my daughter lying dead on the ground. I asked questions about what happened to my daughter and the school authority could not get me any information as to what happened to my child in their care. “I gave Chrisland School a healthy vibrant young girl what Chrisland returned to me is a dead child. My entire family is in deep sorrow but the school authority claimed they know nothing about my daughter’s death and all they know is that my daughter slumped and died. “For the general information of the public Chrisland School held such a magnificent event without a simple fully equipped ambulance, no paramedics, medical personnel or no safety corps, no paramedic except a school quack nurse. Who later confessed to me that the child died even at the stadium but she can not pronounce her dead because she is not a doctor. “My question is what happened to my daughter at Agege Stadium? As a father, I demand answers from Chrisland International High School. I am in deep pain and sorrow right now. If you are a father you will understand my pain. My daughter is highly loved by us. We cherished her existence and we can never allow any institution to gloss over the death of our daughter. ” I am calling on the Pathology Department of Lagos State University Teacher Hospital, LASUTH, so

  Kano state government, through the Consumer Protection Council, on Sunday, shut popular supermarket, Wellcare, over refusal to accept old Naira notes. According to the Acting chairman of the council, Baffa Babba Danagundi, the supermarket was shut shortly after Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje gave the order. He said the order of the closure follows the refusal of WellCare Supermarket to accept the old naira notes from customers as against the instruction of the state government. He warned other marketers in Kano to be aware that the state government has not banned the use of old Naira notes, therefore, any shop caught not receiving the old notes will be dealt with decisively. Shortly after the closure, Wellcare Alliance Limited wrote a letter of apology to the government, seeking an immediate intervention to re-open the supermarket. Kano is among the states that challenged the naira redesign policy in court. In a Suit Number: SC/CS/200/2023, the Kano State Attorney General, through his Counsel, Sunusi Musa (SAN) asked the Apex court to declare that the President of Nigeria, cannot unilaterally direct the Central Bank of Nigeria to recall the new N200, N500 and N500 old Bank notes without recourse to the Federal Executive Council and National Economic Council, respectively. Kano state Government prayed a mandatory order seeking for a reversal of the Federal Government policy to recall the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes from circulation, for affecting the economic wellbeing of over 20 million of its citizens. The Applicant also sought mandatory order, compelling the Federal Government to reverse the Naira redesign policy for alleged failure to comply with 1999 (as amended) constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  Ikenga Ugochinyere, spokesperson of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), says President Muhammadu Buhari should order the release of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Terrorism charges are levelled against Kanu by the federal government. In October 2022, the court of appeal in Abuja struck out the terrorism charge filed against Kanu. The appellate court held that Kanu’s extradition from Kenya to Nigeria to stand trial was illegal. The federal government later filed an appeal before the supreme court challenging the judgment — and subsequently filed an amended charge before a federal high court. In a statement on Sunday, Ugochinyere said Buhari has more pressing security issues to worry about than keeping Kanu in custody. “Nigeria presently is contending with terrorism in the north-east; farmers-herders clashes and banditry in the north-central; abductions and armed attacks in the south-west; restiveness and attacks by unknown gunmen in the south-east, and abductions, cult wars, vandalisation of oil installations and oil theft in the south-south region,” he said. “The president has more pressing issues to worry about. He should know that the nation cannot enjoy peace so long as any part thereof is troubled. “Kanu can help tackle insecurity in the southeast, that’s why those who want the confusion in the region and Imo state in particular to continue will always oppose any move for the federal government to obey the court order for Kanu’s release. “I, therefore, renew my call, appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to show statesmanship and fatherly introspection by ensuring the release of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, from detention.”

  A Lagos resident has been reportedly killed during a fight with a school bus driver who allegedly sexually assaulted his seven-year-old daughter. The man, identified simply as Fredrick, was said to have visited the school to demand urgent action on the issue. He also reportedly confronted the driver which led to a fight. During the fight, the driver, identified as Jacob, pushed the father of the girl who fell down in the process. “On Wednesday, February 1, my daughter told me that her school bus driver had been taking her to his house at Ajuwon, on the pretext that he needed to drop something at home and that she should follow him,” NAN quoted the the wife of the deceased as saying. “When they entered the house, the driver would ask my daughter to sit on his lap, to raise her school uniform and to kiss him on his mouth. “I told my husband what our daughter said on Monday, February 6, and he immediately called the school to lodge a complaint and said he was also reporting the allegation to the police. “He was told to come to the school first. So, we went there on Tuesday, February 7, and we met the school owner, the driver, and some of the teachers. “The school owner, after listening to us; confronted the driver, saying that he had returned late with the school bus the previous week and when asked, he said he had gone to drop something at home. “He was later asked about the allegations levelled against him, but he denied. My daughter was then asked and she narrated the same experience she told us at home. “The driver couldn’t say anything other than to query ‘me?’, ‘me?’, ‘me?’. “My husband, who was visibly angry, went to the driver and shouted at him to question why he had molested his daughter. “My husband angrily slapped the driver and they started fighting during which he pushed my husband on his chest. He fell and efforts to revive him were abortive. “We rushed him to a hospital, where he was confirmed dead.” She said the school driver fled the area after the fight, adding that the she reported the case at the Iju police station. Benjamin Hundeyin, police spokesperson in the state, confirmed the incident, adding that the command is on the trail of the driver.

  Rescuers pulled a seven-month-old baby and a teenage girl from the rubble on Sunday, nearly a week after an earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria and killed more than 28,000. UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said he expected the death toll to at least double after he arrived in southern Turkey on Saturday to assess the quake’s damage. Tens of thousands of rescue workers are scouring flattened neighbourhoods despite freezing weather that has deepened the misery of millions now in desperate need of aid. Security concerns led some aid operations to be suspended, and dozens of people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake in Turkey, according to state media. But miraculous tales of survival still emerged from the destruction and despair. “Is the world there?” asked 70-year-old Menekse Tabak as she was pulled out from the concrete in the southern city of Kahramanmaras — the epicentre of Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor — to applause and cries praising God, according to a video on state broadcaster TRT Haber. A seven-month-old baby named Hamza was also rescued in southern Hatay more than 140 hours after the quake, while Esma Sultan, 13, was also saved in Gaziantep, state media reported. Families were racing against time to find their missing relatives’ bodies in southern Turkey. “We hear (the authorities) will no longer keep the bodies waiting after a certain period of time, they say they will take them and bury them,” Tuba Yolcu said in Kahramanmaras. Another family clutched each other in grief at a cotton field transformed into a cemetery, with a seemingly endless stream of bodies arriving for swift burial. 26 million people affected Griffiths toured quake-hit areas of Kahramanmaras on Saturday, telling Sky News he expected the death toll to “double or more”. “Soon, the search and rescue people will make way for the humanitarian agencies whose job it is to look after the extraordinary numbers of those affected for the next months,” he said in a video posted to Twitter. The United Nations has warned that at least 870,000 people urgently need hot meals across Turkey and Syria. In Syria alone, up to 5.3 million people may have been made homeless. Almost 26 million people have been affected by the earthquake, the World Health Organization (WHO) said as it launched a flash appeal on Saturday for $42.8 million to cope with immediate, towering health needs. It warned that dozens of hospitals had been damaged. Turkey’s disaster agency said more than 32,000 people from Turkish organisations are working on search-and-rescue efforts. There are also 8,294 international rescuers. Restaurants are working hard in Gaziantep city, Turkey’s gourmet capital, among tens of thousands of volunteers to help and feed families. “Our co-workers are in a bad situation. Their families are victims and their houses are destroyed,” said Burhan Cagdas, the owner of a local diner that has served up to 4,000 free meals a day outdoors since the tragedy struck. His own family has been sleeping in cars since Monday in the city where at least 2,000 have died and tens of thousands have been forced out of unsafe homes. Clashes have also been reported and the UN rights office on Friday urged all sides in the affected area — where Kurdish militants and Syrian rebels operate — to allow humanitarian access. Austrian soldiers and German rescue workers called off their searches for several hours on Saturday in Hatay, citing difficult security amid firing between local groups. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, considered a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, has announced a temporary halt in fighting to ease recovery work. A border crossing between Armenia and Turkey also opened for the first time in 35 years on Saturday to allow five trucks carrying food and water into the quake-hit region. Medical aid for Aleppo Aid has been slow to arrive in Syria, where years of conflict have ravaged the healthcare system and parts of the country remain under the control of rebels. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took a flight full of emergency medical equipment into the quake-stricken city of Aleppo on Saturday. Tedros toured damaged areas of the city and met two children who lost their parents in the earthquake. “There are no words to express the pain they are going through,” he tweeted. Damascus said it had approved the delivery of humanitarian assistance to quake-hit areas outside its control in Idlib province and a convoy was expected to leave on Sunday. The delivery was later postponed without explanation. The transport ministry said 57 aid planes had landed in Syria this week. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorise the opening of new cross-border aid points between Turkey and Syria. The council will meet to discuss Syria, possibly early next week. Turkey said it was working on opening two new routes into rebel-held parts of Syria. Anger builds Five days of grief and anguish have been slowly building into rage at the poor quality of buildings as well as the government’s response to Turkey’s worst disaster in nearly a century. Officials say 12,141 buildings were either destroyed or seriously damaged in the earthquake. Turkish police reportedly detained 12 people on Saturday, including contractors, over collapsed buildings in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. Officials and medics said 24,617 people had died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria. The confirmed total now stands at 28,191. AFP

  The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “promptly seek authorisation from the ICC Chamber to commence an investigation into the situation in Nigeria in relation to the growing cases of pre-election violence.” In a statement on Sunday, SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare warned that if cases of pre-election violence were not addressed, it may escalate and lead to post-election violence in the country. The rights group wrote a petition dated February 11 and sent to the ICC Prosecutor, Mr Karim Khan. It urged Khan to “urgently send the ICC legal team to Nigeria to promote free and fair elections in the country, and gather potential proof of election-related violence before, during and after the general elections.”   The petition followed reports of election-related violence in several states including Lagos, Rivers, and Kaduna states. Over 4,000 cases of violent attacks and 11,000 fatalities were reported across the country between 1 January 2022 and 3 February 2023 alone. “These cases reflect the gravest election-related crimes in several states ahead of the general elections,” the group said. “Based on these cases and other similar cases and trends of election violence, we believe that opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria will be in the interests of justice.” “SERAP urges you to seek authorisation from the ICC Chamber to commence an investigation into the situation in Nigeria in relation to election-related violence that may be committed during and after the elections scheduled for February and March 2023. SERAP also urges you to identify the suspected perpetrators of election-related violence and those individuals who bear the greatest responsibility for encouraging or facilitating these crimes, and to ensure their effective prosecution by the ICC. “These are not isolated acts, but part of growing cases of election violence, thus constituting crimes against humanity.” According to SERAP, seeking authorisation from the ICC Chamber to commence an investigation in relation to election-related violence that may be committed after the general elections is consistent with Article 53(1)(a) of the Rome Statute which allows investigation into ‘a crime which has been or is being committed. The group stated that the ICC Prosecutor has consistently relied on the provisions of Article 15 of the Rome Statute and Regulation 49 of the ICC to investigate cases of election-related violence in other countries, including Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya.” It added, “The requested investigation is neither frivolous nor politically motivated. Cases of election-related violence are rarely investigated by the Nigerian authorities. Nigerian authorities are unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution.” “As a result, suspected perpetrators and those who encourage or facilitate their crimes continue to enjoy impunity. Victims continue to be denied access to justice and effective remedies.” “The escalating cases of election-related violence in Nigeria meet the requirements of the Rome Statute and provide reasonable basis for you to promptly commence an investigation, particularly given the gravity of these cases and the interests of victims.”

  Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have protested the alleged disobedience of court orders by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, demanding the sack of the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa. The aggrieved members of the CSOs carried various placards with several inscriptions like ‘Bawa must go,’ ‘EFCC needs a respecter of the law,’ ‘Bawa, obey court orders’ to register their displeasure during a protest in Lagos on Saturday. Leaders of the group said their week-long protest is against the alleged politicisation of the EFCC, disobedience of court orders and the infringment of human rights of Nigerians by the anti-graft agency.   Spokesperson of the anti-corruption group, Ayodeji Ologun, said they cannot watch the country’s legal system be bastardised.   “We are here today because we are beginning to see anti-democratic elements within the democratic process who are daily drawing us back in the fight against corruption. This is a coalition of different civil society organisations against corruption,” Ologun said. “For a while now, we have observed the EFCC Chairman flagrantly disobeying court orders. And we believe that he who will come to equity must come with clean hands. If you are the head of an anti-graft body and you find it difficult to obey court ruling, such a person is a law breaker. You cannot be in charge of arresting people that are drawing the country backward in terms of corruption and you yourself would be a culprit of disobeying court order. “One of the essence of leadership is obeying the tenets of democracy and the rule of law and key to that is court ruling. If Bawa has consistently, in the last few months disobeyed court orders, he is unfit to sit at the helm of that body and we are calling for his sack.” The protest followed Monday’s ruling by Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court sitting, ordering that Bawa should be arrested and sent to the Kuje correctional centre for two weeks without any delay over contempt. He ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba to ensure the committal order is executed, just as he awarded N10 million against the EFCC. But the anti-graft agency said on Thursday that it has appealed the ruling of the Kogi state high court that ordered Bawa’s remand.

  Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni has escaped an attack by thugs at All Progressives Congress (APC) zonal rally at Gashua, the headquarters of Bade Local Government Area. The APC supporters who converged for a zonal rally at Gashua play ground in their thousands chanted “Ba ma son Mai Mala Buni” meaning we do not want Mai Mala Buni. The pandemonium started when the Governor was about hand to over APC flags to candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections and suddenly the thugs started throwing sands and objects. The governor had to be whisked away with the help of his security aides.   Earlier, the Senate President Ahmed Lawan who spoke in Hausa language thanked his Supporters for standing behind him while representing them at the National Assembly. The unhealthy situation forced the Governor and his supporters to un-ceremonially to find their way back to Damaturu the state capital.