The Niger State Council of Imams has given the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy- Ohannaya, a one-week ultimatum to withdraw her comments condemning the plan by the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, to sponsor the mass weddings of 100 girls of marriage age in his constituency, who are either orphans or their parents are too poor to fund their weddings. The Secretary of the Imam Council in the state, Umar Abdullahi, made this known at a press conference on Wednesday, where he warned the minister not to overstep her bounds. Abdullahi said the Niger Imam Council viewed the minister’s utterances as capable of causing a crisis in the state and the country in general. The minister had on Tuesday in Abuja condemned the planned mass weddings, saying it was a violation of the Child Rights Act.   Kennedy-Ohanenye disclosed that she had petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to stop the weddings, adding that she had also filed a suit, seeking a restraining injunction against the Niger Speake. “The actions proposed by the Speaker are utterly unacceptable to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and the government at large. We are duty-bound to uphold the Child’s Rights Act and ensure the welfare and future prospects of these girls,” Kennedy-Ohanenye declared at a press conference. Reacting, however, on Tuesday, the Niger Speaker lambasted the minister, saying she was dabbling into an issue she had no understanding of. Sarkindaji, while addressing journalists in his chamber in Minna, said he had withdrawn his support for the wedding but would not withdraw the monetary donations made to the parents of the girls to facilitate the wedding. He lambasted the minister for her alleged ignorance, saying she did not know anything about the circumstances that confronted the girls, which made it necessary for their weddings to be sponsored. Sarkindaji described as unfortunate and embarrassing the minister’s actions of blowing the whole matter out of proportion without first finding out from him the motive behind his gesture. Backing the Speaker on Wednesday, the Niger Council of Imams warned the minister to steer clear of religious and cultural matters and face her ministerial assignment. The Imams insisted that no amount of court action would stop the wedding from taking place as planned for May 24. The council secretary said, “The planned weddings have the blessing of all the religious and traditional leaders from the area. The sponsor of the wedding consulted widely before accepting to take the responsibility and we are strongly behind him. “The girls are not underage and they are not being forced into the marriage as the minister has made the public to believe. This is what the minister failed to investigate.” The Imam council urged all other well-meaning individuals in the society to emulate the kind gesture of the Speaker and render similar assistance to other intending couples in the area. Similarly, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Jonathan Vatsa, advised the Minister of Women Affairs to steer clear of the planned wedding of 100 orphans in the state. Vatsa, a former Commissioner for Information and Tourism in Niger State, speaking at a media parley on Wednesday, said the minister was fighting a lost battle. “The parents of these girls will go ahead and marry out their daughters as planned, whether the speaker is involved or not. The parents have the right to do so under the Islamic and Hausa traditions. “No amount of threat of court action can stop these parents from giving out their daughters in marriage, after receiving the necessary support. “Instead of sitting in Abuja and issuing threats of court action, the minister should have done her investigation first to know if these girls have attained the age of marriage by law, or if they were being forced into the marriage, before going on air to threaten the speaker who is merely offering assistance. “You cannot just sit in an air-conditioned office in Abuja and be threatening people without knowing what these orphans are going through, after losing their parents to insecurity and for those whose parents cannot afford their marriage expenses though they have attained the age of marriage. Sponsored Stories Begin Your Property Wealth Journey In The Bahamas With 2024 Real Estate Courses! Begin Your Property Wealth Journey In The Bahamas With 2024 Real Estate Courses! Sponsored | Real Estate Investments | Search Ads “Does the minister have any plans for people who she has never seen or known their plight or is she trying to encourage prostitution in the North? You don’t play politics by interfering with the people’s culture and tradition. More so, these girls have suitors who want to marry them,” he said. He further said, “As members of the same political party, I had expected the minister to get in touch with the speaker and get firsthand information about the whole thing and offer her advice where necessary, instead of playing to the gallery and going to the media and issuing threats of court action. “I am sure the speaker, being a trained lawyer, is not afraid of going to court. The speaker is not giving the girls out in marriage but just rendering support to the families and no law in Nigeria forbids someone assisting for marriage. That is why I said the minister is fighting a lost battle.” Vatsa pointed out that the banditry across 12 local government areas of the state had produced over 5,000 orphans, widows and widowers and, therefore, urged the minister to come to Niger State and see the suffering of the orphans, mostly girls. He also noted that as Special Adviser on Private Public Partnership to the Governor, he would be happy to see the minister going beyond issuing a threat of court action over the marriage of these girls, and come and partner with the state government on how to empower these groups of people and other vulnerable children in the state.

  In bid to prohibit the mixing of males and females during events, the Kano State Hisbah Board has banned male Disc Jockeys (DJs) from officiating at female-dominated events across the state. The Commander General of the board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, disclosed this at a recent meeting with representatives of DJs in the state. “As an Islamic state, it is unacceptable for us to allow the indiscriminate mixing of males and females at the same event. This can promote and spread immorality,” Daurawa said.   Reacting to the development, the representative of the DJs, Ibrahim Abdullahi, also known as DJ Farawa, commended the board for inviting and advising them on the new guidelines introduced to guide their business. “We are happy with the invitation from the Hisbah Board to our union of DJs. They have given us guidelines on the sanctity of prayer times during events and the need to prevent the mixing of males and females during those events,” he said. Ibrahim noted that all DJs performing in the state must adhere to the new guidelines issued by the board to avoid being sanctioned. He further warned that non-registered DJs performing in the state would not be protected by the union if they were found to have violated the Hisbah guidelines.

  A compliance office with Zenith Bank, Clement Mgbolu has told a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos how Mr Abiodun Agbele, an aide to the former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose collected the sum of N1.2bn from Musiliu Obanikoro at the Akure airport. While being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Wahab Shittu, the witness told Justice Nnamdi Dimgba that after the money was flown to Akure via an aircraft, Fayose’s aide, Agbele was waiting with some Zenith Bank officials and a bullion van at the tarmac to take custody of the money. The witness testified that after Agbele took custody of the funds, totalling about N1,219,000,000, the money was moved to the Zenith Bank Branch in the state with the bullion van. He said when they arrived at the bank, Agbele instructed that the money be distributed into three designated bank accounts – those of De-Privateer, (a corporate account linked to Agbele) Spotless Investment (a corporate account linked to Ayo Fayose) and to the account of Ayodele Fayose himself. The banker also said the sum of 260m was taken to Ado Ekiti in cash. Under cross-examination by the defence counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olalekan Ojo, the witness was asked whether he was present when the transactions took place and he replied that he was relying on the records of the bank. Ojo also asked the witness about who had custody of the funds when it was loaded into the bullion van at the Akure airport en route the Zenith bank branch and whether it could not be said that the funds were in the custody of the bank at the time. The witness replied that until money is taken to the bank and processed, the bank cannot be said to have custody. Earlier in the proceedings, the court also took the evidence of the chartered pilot who flew the money from Lagos to Akure. Justice Dimgba has adjourned further proceedings in the matter to May 24th for the testimony of another prosecution witness.

  A Forensic Scientist and Pathologist from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof. Sunday Osiyemi has told the coroner inquiring into the cause of death of late Nigerian singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba popularly known as Mohbad that the results of an autopsy conducted on the deceased body has failed to ascertain the cause of death. Prof. Osiyemi told the coroner, Magistrate Adedayo Shotobi that this conclusion can be attributed to several reasons, one of which is that it took a long time, about 21 days before the autopsy was conducted by which time, the body had decomposed. While giving further clarifications on the proceedings, counsel to Mohbad’s family, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Wahab Shittu said, “The Pathologist said the body ought to have been exhumed within 12 hours after it was buried to avoid decomposition. So the summary he is saying is that the cause of death cannot be ascertained and when you say the cause of death cannot be ascertained, it means it is suspicious, it is not clear, no particular reason.”   The lawyer also said the pathologist referred to certain drugs administered on the late Mohbad before he died which could have caused a reaction that made it difficult to ascertain the cause of death. Shittu said, “He also went further to say that it may be attributed to reactions to certain drugs administered on him before he died. Again he then qualified that to say he does not know whether it is those drugs that actually led to his death”. The Coroner has adjourned to June 11th for the cross-examination of the Pathologist.

  The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday in Abuja arrested five persons for selling counterfeit cosmetics. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the arrest was made at the Garki and Wuse axis, during an enforcement to curb substandard goods. Speaking with newsmen after the enforcement, Mr Embugushiki-Musa Godiya, NAFDAC Head of Investigation and Enforcement, Federal Taskforce, said that the arrested persons would be investigated.   Godiya said that NAFDAC would work to ensure that fake cosmetics and other counterfeit product were completely wipe out of the country. He said that the agency had been investigate some of these counterfeit cosmetics, following an intelligence reports, adding that some of these products were illegally imported into the country, in spite security at the border. “NAFDAC is present in all the ports of entry of the country, but with the nature of our borders, these smugglers will always find a way to beat the system that government had put in place. “That is why if they escape from the port or borders, we go to the market and to all the places, gather intelligence report, go after them and confiscate these product for possible prosecution,” Godiya said. He said that the market value of the seized cosmetics is N35 million, adding that NAFDAC would continue investigation into the issue, to unravel the level of involvement of the suspects. Godiya said that after investigation, the management of the agency would take its regulatory action, which probably may be prosecution of those suspects for the crime committed. He called on Nigerians to collaborate with NAFDAC to fight counterfeit products in the country.

  The senate has approved a $500 million loan request by President Bola Tinubu to finance the mass metering programme of the federal government. The president’s request was approved by the upper legislative chamber on Wednesday after Haruna Manu, vice-chair of the committee on local and foreign debt, presented a report on it. The request is part of the $8.6 billion and €100 million loan Tinubu asked the national assembly to approve in November. The red chamber approved the request as part of the 2022-2024 external borrowing rolling plan of the president after it considered a report of the senate committee on local and foreign debt. While presenting the report, Manu said the request ought to have been approved earlier, but it was delayed because the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) did not appear before his committee to defend the request. The senator said the loan would sustain Nigeria’s economic growth and strengthen the independence of Nigeria as a sovereign nation. He said the loan was structured in a way that would prevent anyone from “compromising its disbursement”. “The committee recommends that the senate do approve the ongoing negotiations of the external borrowing in the sum of $500 million for BPE,” he said. “That the terforions of the loan from the funding agency be forwarded to the national assembly before execution.”

  The death toll in the Gezawa Mosque attack in Kano has risen to eight after seven more victims died while receiving treatment at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in Kano. The Police Public Relations Officer of the Kano State Police Command, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, who confirmed this to our reporter, said they died as a result of the injuries they sustained in the incident. According to him, 17 victims are still receiving treatment at the hospital. Channels Television earlier reported that an explosion rocked a mosque in Gadan Village, in the Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State on Wednesday, leaving some individuals dead and others with various injuries. The incident occurred around 5:20am during the Subhi (early morning) prayer.   The principal suspect, identified as 38-year-old Shafi’u Abubakar, has been arrested.

  A former deacon in Umuahia has confessed to strangling to death a 45-year old housewife in Umuahia. In a confessional video played in an Umuahia High Court, presided over by Justice Uchechi Enwereji, the suspect, Mr Salem Chukwunyere, who described himself as a plumber, confessed to killing the woman, by using a sponge to strangle her inside her house in Umuahia, stating that he had come to solicit financial assistance from the woman on the day he killed her. The suspect in the video said that he met the victim alone in her house before committing the crime, stating, “I visited Virginia Nkemdirim Ndife. I used to work for her as a plumber for over six months. I came to ask her for money for my school fees. I owed some people at the Theological Seminary School at Amumara Mbaise. “I asked her to give me some money and she said she had no money, but I said it is not true, but that there is money in the house. I came into the house through the kitchen. I entered into the other room and she decided to give the money, but I decided to follow her to the room where she found the money.” The suspect further confessed to wearing frowned face added the victim said “she said she was not expecting me, and I said, yes, I have come to taste your money. She laughed and seeing me as not laughing, she picked the money and handed it over to me. I insisted that there is more money in the house.” He added that Madam Ndife then informed him that her family will know he was in the house, stating, “I saw a sponge, tied her across her eyes and neck as she was gasping for breath. I now searched the entire house.” Chukwunyere in the video also confessed murdering another victim, one Chioma Nwoke in Obinze, Imo State. An official of the Department of State Services who played the video inside the court room, had told the court that the alleged confession was voluntarily made by the suspect in DSS office after his arrest, pointing out that it was not made under duress. However, following arguments by the counsel to the defendant, Adimchinaka Udochukwu Ngumoha, over the authentication and certification of the video to make it admissible, the presiding judge, Justice Enwereji advised the counsel to the defendant to raise his objection during his presentation of his written address and adjourned the case to July 3, 2024 for continuation of hearing. The widower of Mrs Ndife, Mr Christian Ndife, after the court session, said, “I am pleading with government at all levels to ensure that justice prevails. I need justice, my wife’s life matter, and she should get justice.”