The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration has directed the closure of all places of worship and drinking establishments that are causing environmental disturbances in the state. The state government gave the directive on Tuesday in a statement issued by the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab. Speaking during a management meeting with the newly appointed General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Dr Babatunde Ajayi, and the agency’s directors, Wahab made this declaration. He cautioned the LASEPA management team to update their operational approaches in line with global standards. “I charged them to review their operations strategies following accepted international best practices. “I have also directed the zonal directors, monitoring and enforcement units to begin advocacy and strict enforcement by closing any public place (bars, churches, clubs, mosques, companies, among others) causing environmental nuisance across the state. “This is in compliance with the Lagos State Environmental Management Protection Law,” Wahab said.

  A man in Enugu State has narrated how police officers allegedly seized his mobile phones and forced him to pay them N100, 000 for being in possession of a laptop and two SIM cards. The victim, Ejike Uchenna, in a series of posts on his X handle (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday afternoon, said the incident happened along Enugu-Nsukka Road in Enugu State. Mr Uchenna is a data analyst and an IT expert, according to details on his X and LinkedIn handles. How it happened Mr Uchenna said he was journeying to Nsukka from Enugu Metropolis on Monday morning when police officers flagged down the bus he boarded and asked him to come out of the vehicle. When he came out of the bus, the officers instructed the bus driver to leave him behind, he said. He said the officers subsequently searched all his luggage and two phones and checked all his chats on social media, but did not find anything “incriminating.” The man said the officers later found a laptop in his bag and requested for its receipt, prompting him to tell them that the laptop receipt was at home. “I asked for my phones to call (my family members) for the receipt, but they already seized the two phones,” he said. “They saw two SIM cards which I normally use for WIFI, they said that in Enugu State it is illegal to have multiple SIM cards in my bag. They said I must be using them (the SIM cards) for something fishy.” Mr Uchenna said the officers consequently announced that he would be taken to their station which he agreed, but on the way to the station, the officers demanded for “settlement” from him or they would level allegations of cybercrime against him. “They also left the road and started moving through a bushy area. I was scared because the amount of threats I received from them on how they will pin accusations to me had me thinking of my life and how bad things could go from good to worse. “They said they will beat me first and starve me for a full day before they start entertaining any calls or whatever for me, I had to give into their demands because they all had guns,” he narrated. “At first, they said I should bring N800, 000. But we dragged it till they agreed for me to pay N100, 000. They parked and asked me to withdraw the money and return, which I did and then they stopped another bus for me to enter (and continue the journey),” Mr Uchenna added. He said the officers waited until he withdrew the money from a Point on Sale (PoS) operator. A screen grab of his debit alert which he uploaded on the microblogging platform showed that he withdrew the sum of N101,000 from his bank account at exactly 10:32 a.m. on Monday through PoS. Daniel Ndukwe, the police spokesperson in Enugu State, declined to speak when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday morning. Mr Ndukwe, a deputy superintendent of police, subsequently requested to be contacted via a text message. But he was yet to respond to a text message seeking his comments, several hours later. No such law An Enugu-based lawyer, Olu Omotayo told PREMIUM TIMES that there was no law in the state and Nigeria in general prohibiting residents from possessing multiple SIM cards. Mr Omotayo, who is the president of Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, said the claim by the police officers was wrong. “There is no such law in the state or country. Even if there is going to be such a law, it should have been a national law because the issue of telecommunication is regulated by the NCC. No state has power to enact any law in that regard,” he said. (Premium Times)

  Nigeria is the second country in the world with the lowest voter turnout, worse than war-ravaged Afghanistan and Libya, a new ranking by Picodi has shown. The ranking placed Nigeria in 186th position, only after Haiti, among 187 countries of the world. Nigeria also ranked worst in Africa. Nigeria’s low voter turnout PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Nigeria recorded a new low in voter turnout during the last general elections. With a national turnout of 29 per cent, a Premium Times analysis showed that the last election had the lowest participation rate in the country’s six decades of independence. It further revealed that of the 93.4 million registered voters this year, 87.2 million people collected their Permanent Voters Card and the total number of actual voters on election day was only 24.9 million. The winner of the election, Bola Tinubu, had less than nine million votes, roughly 10 per cent of the total eligible voters. Another analysis by this newspaper revealed that all the 18 candidates in Nigeria’s February elections received only 27.55 per cent of the total eligible votes. The new ranking Meanwhile, the new ranking by Picodi revealed that Nigeria’s average voter turnout in the last three election cycles is 29.15 per cent, slightly lower than 21.58 per cent recorded in Haiti, which got the worst record in the ranking. Other countries in the last five but which did better than Nigeria, according to the rankings, are Afghanistan (32.71 per cent), Egypt (32.80 per cent), Algeria (33.33 per cent) and Tunisia (35.00 per cent). Libya has a 39.79 per cent voter turnout average, according to the ranking. Eight of the last 10 countries in the bottom of the list are in African. The two non-African countries are Romania, with 40.92 per cent average turn out and world’s lowest record holder, Haiti. Top-record holders Conversely, Vietnam, Lao and Rwanda hold the highest voter turnout in the world, all of them with more than 95 per cent voter turnout rate in the last three election cycles. Vietnam has a 99.10 per cent average voter turnout, Laos has 98.55 per cent and Rwanda records 96.55 per cent. Other countries in the top spot include: Singapore (94.35 per cent), Ethiopia (93.43 per cent), Turkmenistan (93.33 per cent) Equatorial Guinea (91.71 per cent) and Nauru (91.57 per cent). Kogi AD In Africa, Rwanda (96.65 per cent), Ethiopia (93.43 per cent) and Equatorial Guinea (91.71 per cent) boast the highest average scores. Methodology Picodi said its analysts calculated the average voter turnout using data from the last three presidential and/or parliamentary elections held in the listed countries. “Turnout data comes from International IDEA, IFES Election Guide and local election commissions,” it stated. “In situations where elections had two rounds, we calculated the average based on the turnout in both rounds.” The organisation, however, stated that high voter turnout does not necessarily mean high social engagement and trust in the local government in those countries as there may be local legislations that could have influenced the voter turnout. “Some countries, such as Luxembourg, Belgium, Bolivia and Uruguay, introduced compulsory voting law, according to which sanctions such as a financial penalty can be imposed on citizens who fail to participate in the elections. Some governments may also abuse their power to manipulate the elections, including the voter turnout,” the organisation added.

  Tension is reportedly mounting in Ayilamo town after suspected herdsmen shot and killed five persons in a night attack on Tuesday, October 18. Ayilamo and Mahanga settlements are located in Tombo ward, Logo local government area in Benue state The Nation learnt that the armed herdsmen launched the attacks on the farming communities at about 10.20 pm on Tuesday after people settled in their houses. It was gathered that apart from the five persons who were killed at the spot, many others sustained various degrees of injuries and were referred to Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi, from Ayilamo Health Center, which was overwhelmed with the number of casualties. An eyewitness Tersoo Apera told The Nation on the phone that the killer herdsmen launched attacks on Mobile Barracks, Located on Anyiin- Ayilamo road, in Mahanga settlement, and killed two persons in a thatch house. The victims were thereafter moved to Ayilamo, Headquarters of Tombo ward, and shot three persons dead while others escaped by whiskers but with bullet wounds. On Wednesday, October 18, Ayilamo Comprehensive Health Center, where the bodies of those killed and the wounded were brought was overcrowded with sympathisers, who besieged the clinic to identify their loved ones. The monarch of the area, Enoch Ikyumen, who visited the Health Centre, for first-hand information, and to see the condition of the survivors appealed to the state and Federal governments to order security agencies to protect his subjects. Ikyumen, who was accompanied by other traditional rulers decried the sustained attacks and killing of his people and also asked other security agencies deployed to the area to protect the lives and property of his subjects. He said their life wire of economy is farming, yet his people can’t access their farmland as herdsmen have occupied both houses and the land. There was weeping, wailing, and tears from relations as the bodies of their loved ones were moved out of Ayilamo Health Centre for burial. Ayilamo town, headquarters of Tombo ward, in Gaambetiev, is a farming and fishing community located near Anyiin, on the Abinse- Wukari federal highway in Benue state, and has been under sustained herdsmen attack since 2016. Security adviser to the governor, Joe Har confirmed the attack and killings. The names of those killed during the blistering attacks are

  The Lagos State Police Command says it has identified the person in a viral video shown shooting an AK47 rifle at the Ladipo Market as Inspector Istifanus Kwanchi, serving in a Lagos squadron of the Mobile Police (MOPOL). Inspector Kwanchi was seen in viral videos celebrating the reopening of the popular Ladipo Market in Lagos State with AK-47 shots to which the Force Spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, ordered an immediate probe. The spokesperson of the Lagos Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Wednesday. confirmed the inspector’s arrest in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The police officer in this video, Inspector Istifanus Kwanchi, serving with the Mobile Police (MOPOL), has been brought in for appropriate disciplinary actions. @LagosPoliceNG condemns in its entirety all forms of unprofessional and unethical behaviour on the part of its… pic.twitter.com/IiXrXoaNVN — SP Benjamin Hundeyin (@BenHundeyin) October 18, 2023 He said that the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Idowu Owohunwa, has ordered the immediate commencement of disciplinary proceedings against the officer for his unprofessional, unethical and dangerous behaviour The police assured members of the public that the Command will not tolerate any form of deviant behaviour from its officers and men, while those found culpable will be dealt with by laid down rules. The police had on Tuesday vowed to probe the viral video, with the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, saying “We will identify the man with AK47 and do the needful. Thanks.”

  The rising human cost of the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine has continued to be a cause for concern as thousands of children and women have become casualties. According to reports, no fewer than 3,308 Palestinians, including over 1,000 children and 1,417 women, have been so far killed in Gaza. This figure included about 500 people who were killed by an Israeli airstrike at a Gaza hospital, the Palestinian Health Ministry said yesterday The ministry said the number of casualties at the Gaza City hospital, where many civilians had sought shelter, is expected to rise. Reports say about 10,859 people have been injured in Gaza; while another 1,200 were reported missing in the occupied West Bank. This is even as Israel’s strikes and blockade are pushing Gaza’s essential services and resources to the brink of collapse, with attendant humanitarian crisis. The relentless bombings of Gaza by Israel have caused widespread destruction to schools and hospitals and displaced nearly a million people, with aid agencies warning of a “catastrophic” shortage of medical supplies in the besieged enclave. Justifying its brutal assault in the wake of Hamas attacks on October 7 that left at least 1,300 Israelis dead, Israel has since cut off water, power and fuel supplies and trapped 2.3 million people. Similarly, 59 people were reportedly killed in the occupied West Bank and 1,000 others, including minors, missing under rubble. The Gaza Strip is home to 2.3 million people and the United Nations has put the figure of the displaced so far at 1 million, including 84,000 pregnant women, 10 per cent of whom are expected to give birth in a few months’ time. On the flip side, 1,400 Israelis have been reportedly killed with 3,500 injured; while 70 are being detained. Also, 250 victims are said to have been abducted by Hamas, among them 10 UK citizens and 20 US citizens.

  The Rivers State Police Command said its operatives have arrested a 42-year-old man simply identified as Kolawale for allegedly defiling his 13-year-old female house help in Ejekwu Street, Eneka in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state. It was gathered that the suspect, a father of three, was nabbed by the human rights desk of the state police on Monday, following a complaint by concerned neighbours whom the teenage girl ran to after the former allegedly defiled her. A source who pleaded anonymity said that Kolawale is a rig worker and has been sleeping with the girl whenever he was in town unknown to his wife. The source stated, “The man is married with three children and the girl has been staying with them. He is a rig worker and not usually around. He comes on break and goes back to work where he spends weeks “Whenever he is in town and when his wife is not around, he usually has his way with his house help who is 13 years old. The girl has been staying with them for some months. “I think the girl has been tired of the whole thing but didn’t know how to escape or avoid him. So, this time around, when he returned from work, he wanted to sleep with her, but the girl refused. “She resisted him, ran out of the compound and informed some residents of what has been going through. So the women amongst them took her in for check and confirmed that there had been penetration in her private part.” He further said the women were shocked at the level of damage following regular penetration of the minor and peeved by the discovery, they took the girl to the state Ministry of Justice where they lodged a formal complaint. “So, it was actually the Ministry of Justice that now reported to the human rights desk at the police headquarters at Moscow Road. After receiving the report, the police have been monitoring the man since he was not steady. “On receiving information that he came back on Sunday, they (police) moved in and arrested him on Monday morning,” the source disclosed It was also gathered that the result of a medical examination conducted on the teenage girl showed that her private part was penetrated. When contacted, the spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident, and the arrest of the man, saying investigation was ongoing. Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, stated, “Yes, I can confirm the incident. The suspect has been arrested and in our custody. Investigation is ongoing.”