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Court Gives INEC 90 Days Ultimatum To Remove Minors From Voter Register, Handover Culprits For Prosecution

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been given a 90-day deadline by a federal high court located in Abuja to identify the individuals responsible for the registration of minors as voters nationwide.

Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, also ordered that the culprits be handed over to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.

The judge ordered the commission to immediately remove all of the names of the minor voters from every polling place in the federation that were posted on its website from its national voters’ register.

He further made an order compelling the commission to furnish the plaintiff with a certified true copy (CTC) of the cleaned-up national voters’ register of all the persons eligible to vote in Nigeria within 90 days.

Alternatively, he ordered the electoral umpire to publish the cleaned-up national voters’ register of all the persons eligible to vote in the country on its website within 90 days from the date of the judgment.

Recall that Mike Agbon, a cleric, had sued INEC in the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2023 filed on March 17.

In the suit, the plaintiff, through his lawyer, Desmond Yamah, submitted that the lack of credibility in Nigeria’s electoral process has caused great distress in the political space.

Agbon said before the 2023 general election, the electoral umpire conducted Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) nationwide and displayed the national register of voters on its website between November 12, 2022 and November 25, 2022.

He said after looking through the national voter registration database, he realised that the commission registered voters who were underage, in violation of the Electoral Act, which specified the requirements for registration in detail.

The plaintiff backed his argument with compiled copies from the INEC website of the underage registered and marked it as “Exhibit A.”

He told the court that on November 23, 2022, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, at a national stakeholders’ forum on elections organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR), assured Nigerians that the commission would clean up the register ahead of the elections.

Agbon said through his lawyer, he formally requested the commission to furnish him with the list and names of the underage and ineligible voters, but it vehemently refused and ignored the said application.

However, despite being served with court processes and hearing notices, INEC was neither represented in court nor filed any defence.

Delivering judgment on November 28, Egwuatu ruled in favour of the plaintiff.

“As I have found earlier in this judgment, the voters registered by the defendant in Exhibit ‘A’ are underage, that is, they have not attained the age of 18 years,” he said.

“What this translates into is that the registration officers and an update officers of the defendant failed in their duties to carry out the registration of voters in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.”

Citing provisions of Section 120(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, he said any officer who acted in breach of his or her official duty committed an offence and would be liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500, 000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.

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Family Raises Alarm As 27-Yr-Old UK Varsity Student Goes Missing In Nigeria

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The family of Daniel Ogoh, a 27-year-old postgraduate student in a foreign university, has raised concerns about his whereabouts after his recent visit to Nigeria.

Daniel’s uncle, Mr. Imade Osamede, revealed that Daniel arrived at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on May 5th, standing at 6.1 feet tall. His name was listed on the arrival manifest and cleared by relevant agencies, with no criminal records against him.

However, Daniel failed to reunite with family and friends upon arrival and has remained unaccounted for. Despite efforts to contact him through his phone numbers, all attempts have been unsuccessful.

Confronted with the alarming possibilities, the family initiated a desperate search and notified law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, ongoing investigations have yet to provide clarity on Daniel’s disappearance.

“This is really strange and unfortunate. I don’t understand how somebody will arrive all the way from Europe and disappear into the thin air in his country. This has thrown the parents and other family members into emotional trauma. This is a very dark and agonising moment for us.” Imade Osamede his uncle said in a tearful tone.

The source pleaded with anyone with useful information on the issue to report at the nearest police station or contact the family through the following telephone lines +2349035440301, and +2348167082786.

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Dangote Refinery Will Sell Petrol To Only NNPC, Distribution Starts Sunday — Federal Government

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The Federal Government has confirmed that Dangote Petroleum Refinery will start distributing premium motor spirit (PMS), or petrol, on Sunday.

Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, made the announcement Friday at a press conference in Abuja.

Represented by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Executive Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, Edun stated that all necessary agreements are in place for the loading of the initial petrol batch.

“I am glad to announce that all agreements have been completed and loading of the first batch of PMS from the Dangote Refinery will commence on Sunday, September 15,” Edun said.

The minister said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited will supply about 385,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to the Dangote refinery starting next month.

“From October 1, NNPC Ltd. will commence the supply of about 385,000 bpd of crude oil to the Dangote refinery, to be paid for in naira,” he said.

“In return, the Dangote refinery will supply PMS and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market, to be paid in naira.”

 

  • ‘Dangote Refinery Will Sell Pms To Only NNPC’

Edun also said the Dangote refinery will sell petrol to only the NNPC, noting that interested marketers would have to buy the product from the national oil firm.

However, the minister said the Dangote refinery can sell diesel to any off-taker.

“Diesel will be sold in naira by the Dangote refinery to any interested off-taker. PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now,” he said.

Edun’s statement contradicts NNPC’s claim on September 7 that it does not intend to be the sole distributor of petrol produced by the Dangote refinery.

In addition, the minister said all associated regulatory costs pertaining to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and others would also be paid for in naira.

“We are also setting up a one-stop shop that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory, and security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative. This will be located in Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Lagos,” Edun said.

“The technical committee that worked to flesh out this initiative will transition to an implementation execution and monitoring committee that will be working out of Lagos for the next three to six months.”

 

  • ‘Crude Oil Sale In Naira Will Reduce Cost, Pressure On Local Currency’

Speaking on the approval to sell crude oil to local refineries in naira and purchase petrol from the refiners in the local currency, Edun said the decision would reduce pressure on the local currency.

On July 29, the federal executive council (FEC) approved a proposal by President Bola Tinubu directing the NNPC to sell crude oil to the Dangote refinery and other refineries in naira.

The minister said the move would also eliminate unnecessary transaction costs, and improve the availability of petroleum products in the country.

According to Edun, the implementation committee chaired by him, and the other technical committee had worked intensely with the NNPC and Dangote refinery to fashion out the details of the modalities for the implementation of the approval by the FEC.

Edun thanked Tinubu for championing the initiative and assured the president that he could count on the committee to implement his vision.

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I Met Native Doctor On TikTok; He Asked Me To Remove My Girlfriend’s Tongue, Eyes, Lungs — 21-Yr-Old Suspect Narrates Murder Of 100-Level Kogi Student

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The Kogi State Police Command has apprehended and paraded four suspects linked to the gruesome murder of 19-year-old Damilola Olowoyo, a first-year student at Federal University Lokoja.

The main suspect, Jeremiah Paul (20), was arrested alongside accomplices Emmanuel Otitoju, Banabas Olugbenga, and Ajayi Basit Ayomide.

Jeremiah Paul, from Chikun Local Government in Kaduna State, confessed to masterminding the killing as part of a money ritual scheme initiated through a native doctor he contacted on TikTok.

Paul shockingly revealed that he befriended Damilola with the intention of using her for ritual purposes.

“I met Damilola last Sunday and we started chatting. I already had it in mind that I wanted to use her for rituals,” Paul stated.

He lured her to his home after drugging her with a mixture of codeine and Sprite. Once she became weak, he led her to an uncompleted building where he strangled her to death.

Paul explained how he was instructed by the native doctor, based in Ibadan, to remove specific body parts.

“I removed her eyes, tongue, lungs, and other parts, placed them in a calabash, and sent them back to the native doctor via a driver,” he said.

Paul said the arrangement was facilitated entirely online, with the ritualist sending back a soap purported to grant wealth after receiving the body parts.

Parading the suspects at the Police headquarters, in Lokoja, on Friday, the Police spokesperson, William Aya, stated that Paul lured the deceased into the bush and killed her for a money ritual.

The image maker disclosed how the suspects were arrested, and said there was a complaint made to the Commissioner of Police (CP), over the disappearance of Olowoyo, a student in the Department of Biological Science, Federal University Lokoja.

He said, “The Commissioner of Police swung into action and assigned the matter to the State Intelligence Department. The operatives swung into action immediately and started working on the phone of the deceased since it could not be reached. With the help of the technical unit at the force headquarters, we were able to apprehend Jeremiah Paul in connection with the case.

“The suspect actually confessed to us that on 4th of September, 2024, that he met the deceased Olowoyo and lured her to the bush. At first, he pretended that he liked her. When she accepted, he took her to an apartment. Before then, he gave the deceased a drink. Unknown to her, inside the drink, he had put some codeine.

According to him, “This worked in her system which made her weak for the suspect to carry out his heinous crime. He took the deceased to an uncompleted building before strangling her to death and dismembered her body. He removed her eyes, lungs, liver, tongue and fleshy part of her buttocks with the purpose of performing some rituals.

“Initially, he called the parents of the deceased that he had kidnapped the lady and demanded for ransom, in which he was paid, before killing the girl. He collected a ransom of N400,000 from the parents.

It said, “Further investigation also revealed that one of the suspects here was the first person that approached the girl, but because he couldn’t provide what was being demanded from him, he withdrew. The main suspect, Jeremiah Paul decided to step in. He came with his friend from Kaduna State to commit this crime.”

“You may be seeing somebody as a human being but he is not. This act that Jeremiah Paul and his gang have carried out is an inhuman act. Imagine a 20-year old boy going this far; killing an innocent lady and removing her sensitive body parts, in the name of carrying out rituals.

“It shows that in the society we are living in, people need to be very careful. I am calling on students across the various institutions to be very careful with their friends, course mates and neighbours they are mingling with. Some people will be within the school environment but they are not students.

“Some may have admission and they are in school, but they have their own aim of being there. Students should be contented with what they have. Because of little things, this girl lost her life.”

He appealed to parents and students to be conscious of people they are moving with.

He added that the command will arraign the four suspects as soon as the investigation is concluded.

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