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Soldiers Escort Herdsmen To Ogun Villages, Flogged Obas, Others For Rejecting Herders

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Residents, Obas, and some monarchs of Ketu-speaking villages in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State have lamented that they were brutalized by soldiers who escorted herdsmen to graze in their communities.

In separate interviews with The Nation, the residents narrated that the soldiers, numbering about 10, flogged them for daring to prevent the herders from grazing.

It was learnt that one of the residents, identified simply as Mulero, was beaten mercilessly, leaving him with serious injuries, for insisting that the herdsmen would not be allowed to graze.

It was also gathered that traditional rulers were beaten after they were forced to convoke a meeting.

According to them, the herdsmen, who had departed the village after their continued presence was rejected suddenly resurfaced about 2 pm on December 19, 2020, with the soldiers from the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta.

The soldiers headed straight to the palace of the traditional ruler of the community, Chief Olaleye Adigun, calling out the villagers and warning them against preventing the evicted herdsmen from returning to the village.

It was in the middle of this strange encounter that the soldiers were told that the herders would not be allowed to remain in the community because of their brutal killing of residents and the destruction of their farmlands in recent times.

One of the residents, identified simply as Mulero, said, “Everyone was frightened by the action and utterances of the soldiers but I summoned the courage to tell them how a Geography teacher Mr. Yomi Akinola and two students of Community High School, Ibeku, among others, were killed by the herdsmen while our women were raped and killed on their ways to the farm.

“Before I knew it, the herdsmen had motioned to the soldiers who immediately pulled me out of the audience and flogged me mercilessly with a wire whip. It was as if I stole something valuable.

“As I speak, my body still aches because of the wounds, even after I had been treated in a hospital.

“Numerous other villagers were subjected to the brutal act as the soldiers escorted the herdsmen from one village to another all in a bid to intimidate us into allowing them to graze on our farms.”

Also, indigenes of Iselu, Ibeku, Agbon-Ojodu, Asa, and other villages were also harassed and assaulted by the soldiers at the instance of the herdsmen.

One of them, Mulero’s brother, Gabriel, was said to be given deafening slaps after he was identified as one of those who resisted the herdsmen’s attempt to graze.

Narrating their experience in a petition, the traditional rulers said the herdsmen confirmed that they invited the soldiers to intimidate, harass, and beat them.

The traditional rulers are the Oniggua of Iggualand, Oba Micheal Dosumu; the Eselu of Iseluland, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi; and the Alademeso of Igan Alade, Oba Gabriel Olalowo.

The monarchs in a petition addressed to the Brigade Commander, 35 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army, Alamala, Abeokuta, titled, ‘matter of urgency,’ dated January 7, 2020, said, “The Baale was asked to gather his subjects and people from nearby villages which he did. The suspected soldiers told the people that the purpose of their visit was to inform them that the Fulani herders would be coming into their communities to graze cows.

“After their address, they asked if anyone had a question or comment to make in reaction to the information. Expectedly, one Mr Seye Mulero responded by calling the attention of the soldiers to the inherent challenges of allowing the herders in their communities based on the sad previous experiences in the community.

“That the said Seye Mulero further cited past killings, maiming, and destruction of farms to buttress his point. Sadly, at this point, the soldiers seized him and mercilessly beat him up.

“In the same manner, the Fulani herders in the company of the suspected soldiers left Ibeku for Asa, the adjoining village to address the Baale of Asa and his subjects as they had earlier done at Ibeku, the people refused to respond, having heard what transpired at Ibeku.

“However, one of the Fulani herders sighted some of the people in the audience and picked on them as those that purportedly shouted on them at Ibeku while brutalizing their victim (Seye Mulero). The herders asked the soldiers to also deal with them.”

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Naira Depreciates Because I Was Out Of The Country — Odumeje

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The Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry’s Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanemere, popularly known as Odumeje, declared that he had returned to Nigeria in an effort to halt the dollar’s appreciation relative to the Nigerian Naira.

Odumeje, in a video recorded at the airport while returning from London, boasted: “This is Indaboski Bahose. The war and the battle. A man full of power and activities. The only man who tells you, “I will bring down a dollar,” and he gets it done. When I left the country, dollar began to rise; now, I am back, I will continue where I stopped.”

In a video recording of one of his church programmes a few weeks ago, the self-acclaimed prophet had claimed that the exchange rate of dollar to naira came down because of one of his powers, which he dubbed ‘Abidoshaker.’

His claims came on the heels of the Nigerian currency’s significant gains after exchanging at N1,920 per dollar.

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Two Brothers In Police Net For Alleged Gang-Rape In Ogun

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Olamijuwon Noibi and Lukman Olatunbosun, two brothers, have been taken into custody by the Ogun State Police Command on charges of gang rape at Oke Eri, Atan Ijebu Area, Ogun.

A trustworthy law enforcement source, on Thursday, revealed that Noibi had tricked Aminat Yakub into coming to his flat, where he then allegedly sexually abused her while plotting with Olatunbosun, his younger sibling.

Yakub was allegedly invited by Noibi to visit his mother on Saturday, but when she got to his residence, she didn’t get to see her.

After making her consume an alcoholic beverage called “Bullet,” he allegedly physically attacked her before raping her.

According to The Punch, Noibi was also coerced his younger brother, Olatunbosun, with a knife so he could join him in the act, and filmed both of them while they were having sex.

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Ogun Police Command, Omolola Odutola, confirmed the incident and said that the suspects had been arrested and would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for a discreet investigation.

“On the 24/4/2024, at about 13:00hrs, one Aminat Yakub ‘F’, Aged 21 years, of Main Estate Oke Eri Area, came to the station and reported that on the 21/4/2024, at about 12:30hrs, she went to the house of one Olamijuwon Noibi ‘M’ at Oke Eri on invitation to come and greet his mother. When she got there, she discovered that his mother was not at home.

“Juwon forcefully pushed her into his room, then forced her to drink Black Bullet and forcefully had sex with her twice after a serious beating. He later invited his younger brother, Lukman, to come and have sex with her but when his younger brother refused, he took a knife threatening to kill both of them. In the end, his younger brother ended up having sex with her after a serious beating and equally took a video of them.

“Upon the receipt of the complaint, the team of patrol led by Asp Ayoola Alidu at the station and went to the scene of incident. The two alleged suspect was arrested one Olamijuwon Noibi, ‘M’, Age 27 Yrs and one Lukman Olatunbosun, ‘M’, Age 20 yrs,” a police statement.

The PPRO noted that both brothers confessed to the alleged crime, and the victim was taken to the General Hospital Ijebu-Ode for examination, saying that the suspects would soon be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for “discreet investigation and further development will be communicated.”

Earlier report had it that the operatives of the Rivers State Police Command had arrested a 30-year-old man identified as Jeffrey for allegedly defiling the teenage daughter of his landlady in an estate in Abuloma, Port Harcourt Local government Area of the state.

It was learnt that the suspect, who had a tailoring shop at the estate, lured the 13-year-old girl to his business place one evening under the guise of showing her clothes.

But Jeffrey ended up locking the shop, overpowered the girl, and allegedly had his way with her.

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Lagos Government Pays N1.5bn WASSCE Fees For 58,000 Students

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58,000 pupils will be registered for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination this year, with the state government spending N1.5 billion, according to Tolani Alli-Balogun, Commissioner of the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.

In announcing the ministry’s efforts to mark the first year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office, the commissioner made this statement on Thursday.

On May 29, 2023, Sanwo-Olu took the oath of office for a second term as governor, vowing in his inauguration speech to disappoint the people of Lagos.

The commissioner, who spoke at the state secretariat, said, “The administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu has never defaulted on the payment of WASCCE fees of all public school SS3 students in the four years of Governor Sanwo-Olus’s first term in office. The state government paid over N4.2bn between 2020 and 2023 to keep our promise of full payment of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination fees.

“In the current school year (2024), the governor has approved the sum of N1,571,076,000 as registration fees and other cost for 58,188 SS3 students writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.”

Last year, the West African Examination Council, which conducts WASSCE, noted that it had concluded plans to begin computer-based examinations in 2024.

It released the results of the first-ever CBT exam, 2024–First Series, in March this year.

The analysis of candidates’ performance showed that out of the 8,139 candidates that sat the examination, 3,424 candidates representing 42.07 percent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English Language and/or Mathematics).

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