The House of Representatives on Thursday, declined to take presentations from representatives of Nigeria’s Service Chiefs who were billed to appear in the chamber for the commencement of a policy brief series aimed at redefining the concept of governance in the country. The PUNCH reports that the series tagged “Sectoral debate” is part of initiatives by the Speaker Tajudeen Abbas -led House to improve its constitutional oversight of the executive arm of government, in line with the Legislative Agenda for the 10th Assembly launched on Monday. Invited to take the floor on Thursday, were the Service Chiefs which is made up of the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff and the Inspector General of Police. However, rather than appearing in person, the Service Chiefs sent representatives; a development that infuriated the lawmakers who arrived at the Chambers in the early hours of the day for the exercise. Shortly after introducing themselves, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, via a Point of Order, drew the attention of the lawmakers to the fact that the Service Chiefs were invited to appear in person and not in proxy. Addressing his colleagues at the plenary session which had representatives of the Service Chiefs in attendance, Kalu who represents Bende Federal Constituency, Abia State said, “I rise on a Constitutional Point of Order! Sections 88 and 89 of the Nigerian Constitution empower the House to invite anybody in person. “The House extended invitations to Heads of Security agencies not for the purposes of investigations but for dialogue and establishing the things around security. It behoves the agencies to send their number one officers because the parliament is the number one parliament of government. “The gentlemen they have sent have great profiles. They have served the nation in various capacities and are competent to discuss with us but the mistake based on the provisions of Sections 88 and 89, has not been satisfied. One may ask why their number one officers have not appeared before the House. “It has been the tradition of the House that when leaders are invited, be they from public or private sectors, they must appear in persons. I want to say that we should not create separate traditions for our House. “I therefore move that this sectoral engagement be suspended until the leaders of the security agencies that we invited who are our friends, who are working for Nigeria, who we are proud of, come to address us personally.” Speaking after the plenary, House spokesman and Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Akin Rotimi said, “Members unanimously agreed that we cannot be taking presentations from persons who are not heads of security agencies at a time we are finding solutions to the security challenges affecting all of us.” Sustaining both the order and the motion, Abbas sent the guests away and urged them to inform their principals to appear before the House on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, for the commencement of the debates. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar, Chief of Defence Staff, Maj Gen Christopher Musa as well as the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun are expected to appear on Tuesday during the plenary session of the House.

  Vote counting was under way in Liberia on Wednesday, the day after a presidential run-off between football legend George Weah and ex-vice president Joseph Boakai, with the challenger taking a narrow early lead. The balloting passed peacefully on Tuesday, with more than 2.4 million voters called to choose between incumbent Weah, 57, who is seeking a second term, and 78-year-old Boakai. Observers expect the result to be tight after the two candidates came roughly neck-and-neck in the first-round vote last month. With results counted from 1,315 of the 5,890 polling stations across the country, Boakai was ahead with 50.7 percent of the votes, Davidetta Browne Lansanah, chairwoman of the electoral commission, told reporters. She did not specify what proportion of the total number of voters these polling stations represented. They accounted for just over 386,000 votes. In the first-round vote, held last month, Weah led his old rival by just 7,126 votes nationally. But in 2017’s presidential race, he easily beat Boakai in the second round, taking more than 61 percent. The electoral commission has 15 days from the polls to publish the results but could do so sooner. The electoral commission is expected to report daily on the state of the count, which began shortly after the polling stations closed on Tuesday evening. – ‘No major incident’ – The elections are the first since the UN in 2018 ended its peacekeeping mission, created after more than 250,000 people died in two civil wars in Liberia between 1989 and 2003. Fears the polls could be marred by violence or voting irregularities and over the acceptance of the results loomed large. Both national and foreign observers followed the balloting and only a few minor incidents have so far been reported. “From our observation, the process went well,” Oscar Bloh, head of the Election Coordinating Committee, a civil society group, told AFP. “Overall the process was peaceful, there was no major incident that we observed, though we didn’t cover all the polling centres.” He declined to comment on voter turnout. The electoral commission chief reported “isolated incidents” during the collection of the votes and the counting process, including an assault on an election supervisor, who was injured. The Economic Community of West African States, which sent observers, welcomed “the generally peaceful conduct of the elections so far”. In its statement, however, ECOWAS voiced “deep concern over provocative statements and alleged planned conferences by political actors to prematurely declare victory”. But the West African bloc did not specify to whom it was referring. It also warned “individuals or groups that they would be held solely accountable for any acts that may lead to violence and undermine the hard-earned peace and stability of Liberia”. ECOWAS, of which Liberia is a member, can impose sanctions. Clashes during election campaigning left several dead and had raised fears of post-election violence. The campaigning was also marked by the propagation of disinformation. Weah — the only African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or — is popular among young people but must defend his record in office, while Boakai is an old hand who has worked in both the public and private sectors.

At least 70 persons, mostly children and elderly people, were killed in an attack on Zaongo, a village north of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, earlier this month. The killing which happened on November 5 was only announced on Monday by a state prosecutor who added that the assailants set property on fire afterwards. In a statement on Wednesday, Save the Children International (SCI), the charity organisation, called for an urgent investigation into the massacre. Benoit Delsarte, SCI country director in Burkina Faso, said the incident is a grave reminder that children bear the brunt of conflict and insecurity in the country. “Children only ask to live in a safe environment, where they can learn and live to their full potential,” the statement reads. “In this horrific attack, they were denied this simple request. And, for the children who survived, they will have witnessed their peers lose their lives, and their suffering may last for years. “The perpetrators of these crimes against children must be held to account and brought to justice. Impunity for violations of children’s rights feed into the narrative that these crimes are acceptable and can create cycles of violence. “Save the Children calls on the government of Burkina Faso to respond to all forms of violence, in all contexts, as this is essential to ensure children’s rights to survival, development and well-being. “The seriousness of this incident requires that the competent authorities carry out investigations thoroughly with a view to identifying and bringing those responsible to justice.” Burkina Faso is one of several West African countries battling a jihadist insurgency that took root in neighbouring Mali in 2012. Violence has spread across the Sahel region and more recently to coastal countries as militants seize territory despite military operations to push them back. Thousands have been killed and more than six million have fled their homes. Save the Children began working in Burkina Faso in 1982 and implement programmes in child health, education and protection. These programmes focus on improving maternal and child health, addressing malnutrition and food insecurity, promoting school enrollment particularly for girls, ending child marriage and keeping children safe, as well as raising awareness of children’s rights.

  Kidnappers have reportedly abducted a clergyman, pastor of Evangelical Church Winning All, (ECWA) at Obajana, Kogi State, Pastor David Musa and killed him after collecting a ransom. Pastor Musa was said to have been abducted while tending to his crops on his farm at Obajana in Lokoja Local Government on Monday. According to the statement from the church, the kidnappers demanded the sum of N20m on Monday shortly after he was kidnapped. “It is with a heavy heart, but in total submission to the will of God, I write to inform you that the abductors of our brother, Pastor Musa David, have killed him after collecting a ransom of one million naira last night. Let our prayers be with the family, church, and the DCC in this trying moment”, said the statement from the church.   However, a source from the family said the pastor was killed on Tuesday night, but his corpse was seen on Wednesday after the assailants had collected N1m ransom from them, after intensive negotiation. “ECWA Lokoja DCC lost a gallant soldier, a compatriot and pastor of ECWA Obajana, Pastor David Musa in the hands of wicked kidnappers last night after payment of ransom”, said Mazi, a church member.   According to another member of the church, Joseph Adebayo, “They collected ransom and still went ahead to kill him, God will judge. Those involved are the people he knows, may his soul rest in peace, condolences to the family”. The Kogi state police command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) said the command is aware of the incident. He added that the commissioner of police, CP Onuoha Benthrand has ordered the anti-riot squad to move in immediately to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to face the law.

  The Labour Party candidate in the February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, has challenged the Federal Government to disclose the nation’s incurred deficit by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration. The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday, lamented that the current administration inherited a bankrupt country from the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. According to him, the revenue generated by the Tinubu-led administration is being used to repay what was taken from the country. However, in a series of tweets via his profile on X, the former Anambra State governor said on Thursday that the FG should disclose the deficit inherited from the previous All Progressives Congress administration; a move that will portray its level of transparency and accountability. Obi faulted the Buhari government for failing to disclose the deficit inherited when it claimed the same in 2015 against the preceding Goodluck Jonathan-led government. The tweets read, “I just read yesterday, a widely publicised story from the present APC-led Federal Government saying that they inherited a bankrupt nation from their predecessor APC administration. But the story failed to disclose what they inherited which had qualified us for bankruptcy status. “One major characteristic of responsible governance is transparency and strict accountability. This demands that the government disclose exactly the degree of deficit they inherited. What is inherited should be disclosed to enable the public to know where we are and where we are headed. “Recall that the previous APC government made a similar claim in 2015 against the PDP administration that handed over to them without telling the nation what it actually inherited. “Rather, they took our debt profile from N12.6 trillion in 2015 to N87 trillion in 2023 when they left office without improving on any indices of development: Education, Health, Poverty eradication, and Security.” The LP presidential candidate further stressed the significance of spending public funds on development sectors like education, security and healthcare, among others. “Instead, the condition of the nation on every development index got worse, leading to the present sad state. Nigerians know things are bad, and they experience it daily. What they now want to hear regularly are measurable and verifiable steps to improve the situation. “Also, the alarm raised by the government about the bad state of our finances raises questions about the rationale behind some expenditure items in the supplementary budget recently signed into law,” he stated. Obi also noted that the FG should reduce its cost of governance, as the citizens await “measurable and verifiable steps” to ameliorate the nation’s economy. “The present revelation also goes to buttress the argument that I have made since electioneering season that the cost of governance is too high and must be drastically reduced. “A bankrupt country should channel every available resource into funding critical development sectors like security, healthcare, education, and eradication of poverty by addressing youth unemployment, not spending in non-essential areas. So, what we expect are measurable and verifiable steps to improve the situation,” the tweet concluded.

  The Labour Party (LP) says it has no plan to merge with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections. LP’s spokesman, Obiora Ifoh, in a statement on Thursday, said his party just concluded the 2023 presidential election episode and a post mortem was yet to hold. Ifoh said the way forward for the party has not been discussed and “when we do, Nigerians will be properly informed”. The LP was reacting to a proposal by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was the PDP flag bearer in the February poll, that opposition parties merge to defeat the ruling APC in the next presidential election. Atiku, on Tuesday, had expressed concerns that Nigeria was moving towards a “one-party dictatorship” state and called on other opposition parties to come together to defeat the ruling APC. Reacting in a statement on Thursday, the LP said Atiku’s call “was only a proposal and every Nigerian should be interested in making democracy work in Nigeria and that what we have presently is an autocracy”. “There was no where in the response that the purported merger between LP and PDP was mentioned.” Ifoh emphasised. Also, the ruling APC slammed Atiku, over the proposal, saying the ex-VP and his party failed at the polls since 2015 and have failed to offer credible opposition to Nigerians.

  The Imo State Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, says officials of the state government were not among suspects arrested in connection with an assault on the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero. The NLC leadership had embarked on strike on Tuesday and accused the Imo State Government of sending some of its officials to supervise the brutalisation of Ajaero. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, on Wednesday, said some suspects were arrested over the assault on Ajaero in Imo State on November 1, 2023. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday, Emelumba said that the suspects arrested were not officials of the state government. The commissioner said, “I will say emphatically that the government has no hands in that attack. The governor has also regretted the attack; he feels bad that he (Ajaero) was treated that way,” he said. “But I think it is also important to note that the NSA has said that they have arrested some of those who attacked him, and the police are investigating. It’s a statement of fact, and I don’t think any government official was among those arrested.” Dismissing claims that one of the governor’s aides was involved, Emelumba stated, “The governor’s aide was not involved. I can tell you categorically. He wasn’t even around Imo State that day; these are figments of imagination. No government official was involved, and this is verifiable.” The NLC has since called off its strike following the intervention of the NSA.

  The Delta State Government has disclosed that a bill already aimed at prohibiting parents from visiting their children’s schools during school hours is currently before the state House of Assembly. The Chief Inspector of Education, Ika South Local Government Area of the state, Mrs O.M. Olushola, disclosed this at a special edition of the Parents and Teachers Association meeting held on Wednesday at Alihame Mixed Secondary School. A teacher of the school, Sunday Ofah, was allegedly killed a few weeks ago by one of the pupils’ parents. The suspect, who is currently in the police net, was said to have stormed the school and allegedly attacked the teacher for disciplining his son. Olushola said the meeting was part of efforts to address parents on the issue of the code of conduct following the death of a teacher of the school allegedly killed by a parent. She said, “Teachers are not monsters but also parents trained to take care of the students under their custody within the hours of 7.30am to 2pm, and teachers train people to become somebody in society. “I want to let you know that a bill is already in the Delta State House of Assembly to prohibit parents from coming to school during school hours. “Even when a parent has a genuine report against a teacher, the report should be directed to the principal of the school as a matter of due process.” She disclosed that the state government is already doing something to help the family of late Ofah, who died in active service, while also urging parents to assist the family in the interim. The Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Issac Arimokwu, noted that teachers are well-trained to take good care of children kept under their custody, advising parents to allow them to do their work. “There is no punitive measure in education that is designed to kill any child but to improve them, calling on parents to be mindful of how they react to reports brought to them by their children about their teachers,” he added. Speaking at the PTA meeting, the principal of the school, Mr Cletus Ujedibie, said with the turn of events that took place, teachers, parents, and students had learnt their lessons. He urged the teachers not to be demoralised in putting in their best in the training of the children under them, describing the death of one of their teachers as an unfortunate event and praying that such will never repeat itself in the school or elsewhere. The high point of the meeting was the signing of an agreement by all parents of the school that any parent found in the act of fighting a teacher would be arrested along with his or her child and handed over to the police or any other law enforcement agency for prosecution.

  A professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Noah Yusuf, has advised parents and guardians to be mindful of the quality of materials, particularly phones, they buy for their children and wards in order not for them to be prone to kidnappers, robbers and other criminals. Professor Yusuf, who is also the vice chancellor of the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, gave this advice recently while addressing a forum in Ilorin. The renowned academic explained that “the kinds and qualities of phones among other materials that are purchased for the youths these days, particularly those who are still in the higher institution, have been found to be enticing criminals, which also spur them to either rob or kidnap such students in order to steal such property from them.” Professor Yusuf added that while the usage of phones is now very essential for students as it aids teaching and learning, he explained that less expensive ones, which would serve the same functions, could be bought for them, thereby protecting them from criminally-minded individuals and groups. He added that “buying phones worth N1 million or higher sums for students is not advisable since such students could make do with phones that are also of good quality but less expensive.” Citing a recent case, the don said that a female student in his university was robbed of her highly expensive phones twice by her boyfriend who believed that he would make much money if he was able to dispossess the girl of her expensive phone. Professor Yusuf explained that following the first case of robbery, “the parents of the girl bought her a better version and a more expensive phone after the first one only for the boyfriend to arrange for how to steal the second one. He advised parents to cultivate the habit of paying unscheduled visits to their children and wards while in school, for them to know the kind of friends they are moving with and to observe and detect the attitudinal changes in them to swiftly correct them.