President Bola Tinubu is currently meeting all 36 state governors under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum at the Council Chamber of the Aso Rock Village, Abuja. The meeting began after the President arrived at the chamber at 11:34am. Thursday’s gathering is Tinubu’s second meeting with the state executives since he inaugurated the National Economic Council on June 15, 2023. It follows the recent hike in food prices and economic hardship and pockets of insecurity recorded nationwide.   Days earlier, governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party compared Nigeria’s economic situation to that of Venezuela, a South American country in the throes of hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime, and high mortality rates. But the Presidency criticised the performance of the governors, pointing out their failure to pay salaries, pensions, and the N30,000 minimum wage. Protests had broken out in different parts of the country in reaction to the high cost of living with citizens in Niger, Kano, Kogi, Ondo, and other states demanding solutions to the economic crisis. The organised Labour had also complained about the situation in the country, threatening to go on strike by February 23 if the Federal Government failed to release the promised palliatives and other assistance to mitigate the economic pains on workers. Seated are Vice President Kashim Shettima, Director-General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume; the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila. Governors attending are those of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Imo, Hope Uzodinma; Borno, Prof. Babagana Zulum, Edo, Godwin Obaseki; Rivers, Sim Fubara; Ekiti, Biodun Oyebanji, Nasarawa, Abdullahi Sule and Anambra Prof. Charles Soludo. Also present are the Governors of Plateau, Caleb Mutfwang; Kaduna, Uba Sani; Adamawa, Ahmadu Fintiri; Jigawa, Umar Namadi; Kogi, Ahmed Ododo; Yobe, Mai Mala Buni; Niger, Mohammed Bago; Abia, Alex Otti; Enugu, Peter Mbah; Benue, Hyacinth Alia and Babajide Sandi-Olu of Lagos. Meanwhile, the Governors of Delta, Bauchi, Oyo, Zamfara, Sokoto are Kano are represented by their deputies. Ministers of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari; and Information, Mohammed Idris, were also seated. Top on the agenda would be solutions to the economic and security crisis in the country.

  The Federal Government has declared its intention to discontinue the treasonable felony case instituted against the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore. The development was made known in a document by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi. The document dated February 15, 2024, was addressed to the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division. In the document, the government disclosed its intention to also discontinue the case against Sowore’s co-defendant, Olawale Bakare aka Mandate. The document read, “Between Federal Republic of Nigeria – (complainant) and Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare aka Mandate (defendants). “Notice of discontinuance. By virtue of the power conferred on me under Section 174 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Section 107 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Aet 2015 and all other powers enabling me on that behalf, I, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN intend to discontinue Charge No FHC/ABI/CR/235/2019. “Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.” Meanwhile, the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, had on Wednesday, February 14, threatened to strike out the over four-year-long treasonable felony case. The judge also urged the Federal Government’s prosecution team to get its acts together following the inability of the FG’s counsel to make clear their arguments in court on Wednesday and in November 2023. Sowore was arrested by DSS operatives at midnight on August 3, 2019, two days before a planned #RevolutionNow protest tagged “Days of Rage,” convened by the pro-democracy activist and slated for August 5, 2019. Following his arrest, he was arraigned by the DSS on several occasions and was later released following sustained pressure. Sowore was being legally represented in court by the law firm of pro-democracy and human rights activist, Femi Falana, SAN. Meanwhile, Sowore has vowed to sue the Federal Government and the Department of State Services to the tune of ₦1billion, for the cost of time and resources, mental and financial trauma caused his person, businesses, wife and children, and extended family, and the alleged assassination of his younger brother, Olajide Sowore in 2021. He made the development known on Thursday in an exclusive telephone interview with our correspondent. The pro-democracy activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress noted that he would sue the FG both in Nigeria and the United States for all the trauma and pains that were inflicted on him while he was detained and later confined within Nigeria for about five years. Sowore said, “I’m not supposed to be congratulated because the Federal Government had now decided to discontinue the treasonable felony case against me. I didn’t commit any crime, they only decided to waste my time and the resources of the country. “But we’re not giving up. I will sue the Federal Government of Nigeria and the DSS for ₦1billion as compensation for the cost of time and resources, mental and financial trauma that they caused my person, my businesses, my wife and children, and my extended family, and also for the assassination of my brother, Olajide Sowore during this five-year period that I was abducted, detained, and now confined to Nigeria while they seized my passport.”

  Enugu State High Court has found a man, Okolie Chigozie Michael, 32, guilty of unlawfully killing his son. He committed the offence when he was 28 year-old in 2020. Delivering her judgement on the matter on Wednesday, Hon. Justice C. C. Ani found the accused guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging. The court found him guilty after it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused, Okolie Chigozie Michael, on April 14, 2020 at Emene in Enugu, took his son, Igwilo Chimereucheya, to the bush and strangled him. Regrettably, when the child didn’t die, the convict hit him on chest, which resulted to the child passing out hot faeces and urine before giving up the ghost. The convict was accused of using his fingers to scratch and inflicted bodily injury on his son, making it appear as if the child was involved in a fight, after which the convict took him home, cleaned him up and laid him on the bed, leaving him as though he was asleep and attempted to escape. The mother of the 1 year and seven months old child raised the alarm and attracted neighbours when she noticed that the child was dead. In itself judgment, the court agreed with the Prosecuting Counsel, Barr. Nkechi Ogbodo of the Department of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Justice, Enugu, who had during the trial tendered evidence before the court, including autopsy report to proved that indeed the deceased was strangled to death. It was gathered that the convict is a serial abuser, who constantly beats up the mother of his son. It was further gathered that he was earlier made to sign an undertaken at the police station at the insistence of their landlord and his wife’s employer, due to constant threats that he will kill both the mother and her child. Consequently, he was cautioned at different police stations to desist from his violent acts before the incident that led to the death of his son, Chimereucheya, occurred. It was reported that on certain occasion, the convict inflicted injury on the deceased’s penis because he urinated on the bed. Justice Ani noted in her ruling that it was evident from the confession by the culprit on how he murdered the deceased showed that it was voluntary and premeditated act, not under duress. Therefore, the court found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to death accordingly, haven committed the committed the offence punishable under Section 274(1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 30, Vol. II, Revised Laws of Enugu State of Nigeria 2004. While Okolie Chigozie Michael, the defendant in the case, is a native of Ibeme Obingwa in Abia State, the mother of the child hails from Imezie Owa in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State.

  The Chairman, Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar lll, on Wednesday, decried the deteriorating socio-economic as well as insecurity ravaging the country. Abubakar declared that with the current downturn of the economy which has inflicted untold hardship on on Nigerians, all was not okay with Nigeria, especially the north. He also said the nation was sitting on a keg of gunpowder with millions of Nigerians without jobs and food. Abubakar spoke while addressing his colleagues at the 6th Executive Committee Meeting of the council with the theme: ‘Enhanced Security as a panacea for stability and development of the North,’ held at the Arewa House, Kaduna. “We must find jobs for our teeming youths that are sitting idle and I have said it so many times, we sitting on a keg of gunpowder, having teeming youths millions of them, without jobs, without food, we are looking for trouble,” he said. He lamented that the two monsters confronting the nation at the moment are poverty and insecurity which if not tackled urgently, could spell doom for Nigeria. On insecurity and poverty in the North, the monarch said the traditional leaders being closest to the people have had the onerous task of calming down nerves, assuring the people that things would be okay. He said, “We have entered into a new cycle of leadership, some new Governors have come on board, while some are having their second term and still we at faced with these insecurity issues. “To make matters worse, we are faced with rising levels of poverty of most of our people; lack of normal sources of livelihood by the common man to have even a good meal a day. “But, I believe talking about insecurity and the rising level of poverty are two issues that we cannot fold our arms and think everything is okay. “I have said it so many times and at so many fora that, things are not okay in Nigeria and of course, things are not okay in the North. “What are the real issues bringing about poverty and rising cases of insecurity? I don’t think it is the issue of new government.” Penultimate Monday through Tuesday, angry youths and women took to the streets of Minna, the Niger State capital, and Kano to protest what they described as the rising cost of living in the country. Similar protests also erupted in Ondo State in the Southwestern part of the country. In Niger, a group of women reportedly blocked the ever-busy Minna-Bida Road at the famous Kpakungu Roundabout and called on the Tinubu administration to address the challenge of ‘hunger in the land.’ The mob deflected attempts to quell the protest by security operatives who fired tear gas canisters into the crowd and arrested others. Abubakar insisted that the country is not well, adding that Nigerians’ quietness in the face of these challenges must not be taken for granted. The Sultan added that there should be no pretence that all was well with the country as Nigerians were more than ever before agitated because they “are hungry and angry.” According to him, as a way out, the millions of unemployed youths roaming the nation’s streets and sitting idle must be engaged and taken off the streets by being gainfully employed as a measure to stave off further calamity in the land. He was however quick to exonerate President Bola Tinubu while noting that the current sorry state of the nation was the continuation of the last administration of the All Progressives Congress. He said, “To me, this government is a continuation of the former government; it is the same party. So, what really is the problem? I think that is one of the reasons we are here to talk to ourselves. “We owe it a duty to the teeming millions of people that believe in the traditional institution, to bring solutions to the various problems facing them. We will not fail in doing that. We will do our best. “And let’s not take it for granted; people are quiet, they are quiet for a reason because people have been talking to them; we have been talking to them. We have been trying to tell them things will be okay and they keep on believing. “We have reached that level, people are very agitated, people are hungry, they are angry but they still believe there are people who can talk to them. “So, we have this onerous task of reaching out to everybody, calm them down and assure them things will be okay.” The meeting which later went into closed-door centred on health issues, insecurity and poverty in the region(north). It had in attendance the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Iyerste; and other traditional rulers, prominent members of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Coalition of Northern Groups, as well as the representatives of the Inspector-General of Police and the Direcror-General of the Department of State Services, amongst others.