Ahead of the consummation of a state-sponsored mass wedding in Kano, the Hisbah Board has uncovered health conditions among intended couples, including HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, as well as those carrying an early pregnancy. Hisbah’s spokesperson, Lawan Ibrahim Fagge told The Guardian that majority of those found with the conditions came to realize their status for the first time after they were subjected to medical tests. The NNPP government re-introduce the mass wedding initiative with 3,600 men and women selected to benefit government funding to set up their matrimonial home. The state government has approved N800 million budgeted for the mass wedding as part of palliatives The Director General of the Board, Barrister Abba Sufi, had told journalists plans to sponsor a bill that mandates pre-marital screening to determine the health status of couples. According to him, the laws will allow anyone found with diseases like HIV and other conditions will be advised appropriately, while those with other ailments that could be treated will be placed on medication immediately. “The discovery has proven the importance of the pre-marital screening, and this has made it important for us not to take things for granted. For instance, what we discovered during the screen is because we mandated it,” Sufi said. “Only God knows the number of children that are going to be born as sickle cell patients, and so many diseases will also be transmitted among people.” Sufi added that in Islam, it was haram (forbidden) for pregnant women to get married, adding that so far the board had completed the screening of 1,600 people from the 44 LGAs of the state.

  The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has in response to an appeal by his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, to join in the legal battle challenging President Tinubu’s credentials said he was focused on reclaiming his stolen mandate at the Supreme Court. Obi’s response was contained in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, on Thursday. He said the LP standard bearer is currently in the “Supreme Court seeking to reclaim his stolen mandate and he is focused on that.” Ifoh further said, “He has been in the vanguard of ensuring a just nation where justice must be the watchword, and he will not stop until Nigeria achieves the leadership it truly deserves. “Obi has pontificated severally on the need for leaders to be good role models and to live a life worthy of emulation. This he has done by publicly putting his credentials in the open for verification. Nigeria will get better when men of integrity and honour drive the affairs of the nation. “We therefore welcome every other interest willing to join us in our pursuit of a nation where justice shall reign. “

  The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Yobe has confirmed the arrest of a 65-year-old man, Mohammed Baburam, who allegedly chained and starved his wife for one year in Potiskum. The Command’s Spokesman, DSC Bala Garba, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu on Friday. NAN reports that images of the chained 40-year-old woman, who is a mother of four, went viral in the state, prompting residents and civil society groups to demand the immediate arrest of Baburam.   Garba said Baburam was arrested on Wednesday following a tip-off from Dabo-Aliyu Stadium area, where the suspect and his victim reside. “ Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect only feeds his wife once every day. ”The suspect also said that he chained his wife because she has some mental health issues,” he said. The spokesman said the command had drafted forensic experts and a doctor to ascertain the health status of the victim. He said that the suspect would be charged to court after investigation.(NAN)

  After waiting to hear from his brother for eight years without information, a Lagos resident, Mr. Sunday Joseph Isiabor, has sought President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in unraveling the mystery surrounding his brother’s disappearance in Belgium. The 43-year-old Anthony Isiabor, had gone missing after arriving in Belgium eight years ago. Narrating the incident, Isiabor, accused his Belgium-based cousin, Doris Usiagwu, of kidnapping and enslaving his brother in the guise of rendering help to the family. He told The Guardian that his missing brother was last heard from on March 5, 2015, shortly after his arrival in Belgium. He said: “Doris had offered to help my brother to elevate my family from the shackles of poverty, which she fulfilled. “Anthony, alongside Doris’s sister, Peace Usiagwu, travelled on March 5, 2015, and she confirmed their arrival through phone calls. That was the last time we heard of him. Doris, on the other hand, had stopped answering our calls regarding Anthony.” Isiabor, who came to The Guardian office, added: “My family, especially my mother, has been worried over the situation, and has been in and out of hospital as a result. “In 2020, when Doris came back to Nigeria for a burial, I arranged with the Department of State Service (DSS) for her arrest, but was prevented by my kinsmen from doing so. I was told the matter would be handled traditionally without public escalation, but sadly, nothing has been done. “Going forward, I have written to several agencies and bodies, like the National Human Right Commission, Abuja and Lagos Branch, Ministry of Foreign affairs, Director General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Belgium Embassy, Chairman Nigeria in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), and the Nigeria ambassador to Belgium, for possible intervention, yet nothing has happened. “When I approached NAPTIP, at Ikeja Zonal Command, for proper investigation and repatriation of Doris over my missing brother, the matter was transferred to Abuja and assigned to one Mr. George to investigate, while Mr. Daniel Atokolo stood as the Director of Investigation. “Although the preliminary level of the investigation looked positive, later it became fruitless as nothing useful came out of it. “I was told that NAPTIP lacks the power to arrest anyone living outside the shores of the country. I feel that Doris had collaborated with the investigator to truncate the matter.” Isiabor called on Tinubu, Foreign affairs Minister, Yusuf Mataima Tuggar, Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, as well as all traditional rulers in Edo State, and other stakeholders, to help end his family predicament. He expressed fears that his missing brother is being used for human enslavement and other exploitative means. When The Guardian visited NAPTIP, Lagos zonal office, an official, who identified himself simply as Taiwo, said the matter requires meticulous investigation. “Cases outside the shores of the country require enough time to be investigated. However, the complainant can always send a reminder to NAPTIP headquarters and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for progress reports,” he added. As at press time, Doris and Peace Usiagwu were not picking calls through to their Belgian lines.

  The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has cautioned the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nyesome Wike, against a deal to partner with Israeli security experts for the improvement of security in Abuja. Executive Director of the organization, Prof Ishaq Akintola, said on Thursday in a statement that Wike’s comment was worrisome. He argued that the state of Israel should not be trusted with Nigeria’s security because Israel itself is a security threat to many countries in the world. “Israel commits wanton human rights violations. It has no respect for people of other faiths. Nor does it believe in the comity of nations. We like to warn that such collaboration with the state of Israel will exacerbate Nigeria’s security problem by escalating it from a local crisis to an international fracas engineered by MOSSAD (Israel’s secret spies) with the likelihood of Nigeria becoming the center of rivalry for global espionage outfits like the American CIA and the Russian SVR and FSB,” Akintola said. He recalled that Wike when he was Rivers State governor exhibited far right Christianity and declared Rivers a Christian state. “We believe that Wike is now courting the Israelis because, like most Nigerian Christians, he holds the wrong notion that Israel is a Christian state whereas the reverse is the case. Several instances confirm that the only religion Israel recognizes and respects is Judaism,” Akintola said. He noted that recently, some Jews in Israel spit on Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem, while a TikTok video clip that appeared a few weeks ago showed Jews calling Christians idol worshippers, apart from other forms of attacks against Christians

  The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has restrained all commercial banks in Nigeria from releasing funds totalling N20.7 billion to an Oil company, Danium Energy Services Limited, and its Chairman, Kehinde Ogbor, over their alleged indebtedness to Union Bank of Nigeria Plc. Justice Nicholas Oweibo also granted an order of Mareva injunction restraining Danium Energy Services Limited and Ogbor from accessing funds totalling N20,732,299,999.21 in their accounts pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice brought against them by Union Bank. Other respondents in the suit are Ajibola Bankole Adetutu, Garba Mohammed and Lolag-Sons Nigeria Company. The judge further granted an order restraining the defendants from selling, transferring, assigning and dealing with the properties used as collateral to secure the loan. The court also granted Leave to the applicant to take over the ‘possession of the properties’ with the assistance of the court’s Sheriffs without evicting the occupants, being properties used as security for repayment of the loan arising from the offer letters and the Memorandum of Settlement dated March 6, 2018, pending the hearing and final determination of the Originating Summons. The judge granted the order freezing the assets following an exparte application filed by Union Bank through its lawyer, Adetunji Adedoyin-Adeniyi of AAA Chambers. Justice Oweibo directed the Inspector-General of Police, Deputy Inspector General of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 2, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, their Deputies, Assistants and all other officers under their command, control and supervision; the Commandant — General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, their Assistants and all other officers under their power to assist the applicant and its agents take over possession of the listed properties. He further ordered that all the processes filed by the applicant in the suit and the orders should be served on the defendants through substituted means by pasting on their last known addresses. In an affidavit attached to the exparte application, the bank had claimed that the defendants had developed a penchant for frustrating the applicant from recovering debt by filing frivolous suits. The applicant also alleged that the first and second defendants have failed to comply with the Memorandum of Settlement dated March 6, 2018, which has increased their indebtedness that they have not attempted to liquidate. The Bank also averred that the defendants have started taking steps towards the disposal of the properties used as security to the several loan facilities granted to the first defendant without due recourse to the applicant. It’s also stated that the defendants allegedly refused to come for any meeting with the applicant to discuss the liquidation of their debt or liquidate their indebtedness. As such, their deafening silence has become suspicious. “That the Plaintiff/Applicant reasonably believes that the defendants are on the verge of unbundling their assets to an unknown destination without contacting the Plaintiff/Applicant. “Except this Honourable Court grants this application, the first defendants would dissipate their assets and transfer all the proceeds out of the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court. Thus, it will be impracticable for the Plaintiff/Applicant to recover the depositors’ funds availed to the 1st Defendant as credit facilities.” Justice Oweibo has fixed October 13 for the hearing of the motion on notice.

  US President Joe Biden defended on Thursday plans to extend the border wall with Mexico, saying he didn’t think such barriers worked but he was bound by laws introduced under Donald Trump. Democrat Biden pledged during his White House race with Trump in 2020 that he would abandon the hard-right Republican’s signature policy and would not build any more of the wall. But his own Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced the building of a new section in southern Texas to tackle an “acute and immediate need”, as numbers of migrant crossings surge. In a further development, the White House announced that it would restart deportation flights to Venezuela, one of the main countries of origin for the migrants. Biden, who is polling neck-and-neck with rival Trump ahead of a likely 2024 rematch, insisted his predecessor had tied his hands on the wall-building. “They have to use the money for what it was appropriated for. I can’t stop that,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. He said the cash was earmarked for the border wall by the US Congress under Trump in 2019, and that lawmakers had since rejected his appeals to reassign the funds. Asked if he thought the border wall was effective, Biden replied simply: “No.” Absolutely false’ Illegal immigration has become a major political headache for Biden, with opposition Republicans accusing him of lax border policies. The border issue has even added to uncertainty over US aid for Ukraine, with some Republicans refusing to approve funds until Biden acts on migrants. The new section of wall will be built in the “high illegal entry” Rio Grande Valley Sector of the US-Mexico border, where there have been more than 245,000 attempted illegal entries this fiscal year. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a notice in the Federal Register there was “an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads… in order to prevent unlawful entries.” Mayorkas said the funding for the “additional physical barriers” would come from an appropriation made by Congress for that purpose in 2019, when Trump was still in office. Officials said the money needed to be spent this year. Some Democrats criticized Biden, who had announced in a proclamation on the day he took office in January 2021 that no more taxpayer funds would be allocated for a wall. The White House said it was “absolutely false” that there had been a reversal by the president. “We have to comply by law and that’s what we’re doing,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. ‘I was Right’ Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said the Biden administration move showed “I was right when I built 560 miles… of brand new, beautiful border wall.” “Will Joe Biden appolgize (sic) to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals immigrants, from places unknown,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador criticized the US plan, calling it a “setback” ahead of talks with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The meeting came after a spike in the number of people — mostly from Central America and Venezuela — seeking to cross from Mexico into the United States. The Biden administration announced later Thursday that it would resume direct deportation flights to Venezuela, which is still under US sanctions for rights abuses. “This comes following a decision from the authorities of Venezuela to accept back their nationals,” said a senior administration official. AFP

  Many petroleum products depots are currently deserted due to lack of products caused by foreign exchange rate volatility, as the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has increased to N720/litre, oil marketers said on Thursday. Petroleum products’ dealers also stated that filling stations were shutting down daily in large numbers, as it was becoming increasingly tough to run the business. They said this could lead to widespread fuel scarcity in coming months. It was further gathered that the landing cost of PMS into Nigeria had increased to N720/litre, up from N651/litre in August this year. Speaking at the National Executive Council meeting of the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, in Abuja on Thursday, the National President, NOGASA, Benneth Korie, said a lot of depots were presently dried up or out of stock. He said, “Depot owners are so terribly affected by the increasing cost of crude oil and exchange rate, to the extent that many depots are practically deserted as their owners are unable to secure bank loans to fund their business due to high-interest rates. Banks are not willing to guarantee funds release to stakeholders as a result of the difficulty, instability and galloping rates of foreign exchange and high cost of the dollar. Many depots are presently dried up or out of stock, and this is no gainsaying as it is evidently verifiable.” He added, “Worst hit are filling stations whose owners find it extremely difficult to secure funds to procure products for their retail outlets. Both the independent and major marketers are so terribly affected. As of today, filling stations are shutting down in great numbers on a daily basis and dealers are going out of business, with many more on the verge of bankruptcy because of their inability to secure funds to facilitate orders for their stations.” Korie said the government must therefore urgently come to the aid of the industry as quickly as possible to save it from an impending colossal collapse, which would result in a more devastating blow to the economy at large. The PUNCH further gathered that the landing cost of petrol has risen to N720/litre from N651 in August. The Chief Executive Officer, PETROCAM Trading (Nig) Ltd., Patrick Ilo, during an interview session with The PUNCH, said 52,000 metric tonnes of petrol imported by the company on Tuesday was already N720/litre without subsidies. According to him, if the landing cost was already N720, the pump price should be around N729/litre in Lagos State if the Federal Government had truly stopped subsidising the product. This is the second time I am bringing in my vessel. But after bringing it in, I am trapped. I can’t sell it because I landed my own product at N720. And if you add transportation from depot to station, the value today should be N729/litre at the pump.” He blamed the price hike on high foreign exchange rate, adding that the Federal Government was still subsidising petrol through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. The foreign exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria as of Wednesday was around N766/$1, while it hovered around N990/$ at the parallel market. He said.”Yes, PETROCAM has an import license, and we have products in Nigeria. I want to say this out loud that I brought (in product) 52,000 metric tonnes of PMS today, which I borrowed about sixty-something million dollars to import. “But I cannot sell. Why? Because of the price NNPC is selling. NNPC to my mind, they are still subsidising. NNPC is quietly subsidising the market. And I don’t blame the government. It is when we have a stable government that there could be prosperity.” Ilo added, “As of today, NNPC is subsidising these products. And I’m talking about a subsidy of more than N100/litre. Because if you need to sell today, I landed my own product at N720. So how do you look at it? You look at it from the perspective of how much is diesel”

  The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has written to the Chief Judge of the state, Ayedun Odusola, to stop the state House of Assembly from going ahead with the proceedings seeking to remove him from office. He reminded the CJ of a subsisting court order that restrained the House from embarking on such an exercise. Ayetidawa urged the CJ to disregard any process of law, letter, or application to set up a panel for the purpose of his removal from office. The embattled deputy governor stated this through his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), in a letter dated October 5, 2023, addressed to the Ondo State CJ. In line with the valid and subsisting order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and in the best traditions of due regard for due process of law and respect for the authority of the court, we humbly urge My Lord to disregard any motion, letter, application, or request from the Ondo State House of Assembly for the constitution of any panel of investigation in respect of the deputy governor until the two pending cases are fully decided by the various courts with jurisdiction over them,” it read partly. He reminded the CJ that the House of Assembly had succumbed to the jurisdiction of the court with some of its actions. Aiyedatiwa said, “The House of Assembly, having submitted to the jurisdiction of the court by filing processes in Suit No. AK/348/2023 pending before the High Court in Akure and also purporting to file a complaint before the National Judicial Council in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1249/2023 before the Federal High Court Abuja, is fully aware of and cognizant of the authority of the court over the subject matter of the removal proceedings against our client.”