Following reports of deteriorating conditions and the deaths of some inmates, President Bola Tinubu has issued an urgent diplomatic request to return hundreds of Nigerians serving jail sentences in Ethiopia. A high-level Nigerian delegation is anticipated to visit Addis Ababa in order to reach a deal that will permit the inmates to be moved back to Nigeria to finish their prison sentences. Senior government officials, such as Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, comprise the delegation. The President instructed the officials to expedite the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ethiopian authorities in order to facilitate the transfer of the prisoners, according to Presidency sources acquainted with the process.

The Federal High Court in Abuja sitting on Wednesday has convicted and sentenced four to death by hanging for their roles in the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

Seven alleged gunmakers have been detained by the Yobe State Police Command after they discovered an illicit gun-manufacturing facility in Potiskum Local Government Area. According to the command, the suspects were taken into custody on Monday during a raid on a blacksmith shop in Tasha Adua, along Danchuwa Road in Potiskum.

The State Security Service (SSS) has refuted claims that it arrested or detained renowned writer and academic Okey Ndibe at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, describing its engagement with him as part of a routine process aimed at removing his name from a long-standing security watch list.

Following an order from the Federal High Court in Abuja mandating the start of his 75-year jail sentence, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday moved former Minister of Power Saleh Mamman to the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Kuje, Abuja. After Mamman was brought before the court for his conviction and subsequent arrest for allegedly escaping Abuja, Justice James Omotosho ordered the anti-graft agency to turn the prisoner over to the prison authorities. The EFCC's subsequent application seeking the confiscation of five additional properties linked to the former minister was also considered by the court.

The Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin, yesterday convicted the General Overseer of Mission House of Divine Land of Joy and Prayer Ministry, Prophet Ajiboye Abayomi Olayinka, to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping three underage members of his congregation inside the church premises. According to the ruling, the life imprisonment penalty was slammed for three different offences bordering on illegal sexual intercourse with 13-year-old minors.