Following the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy, implementation seemed to have hit a brick wall with some state governors explicitly warning their council chairmen against opening an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN, for the direct payment of their allocations from the Federation Account.
The Northern Youth Council of Nigeria has distanced itself from the planned nationwide protest tagged ‘Take-It-Back’, caution that similar protest in the past had inflamed tensions in the country. President of the group, Isah Abubakar, in a statement issued yesterday in Kaduna, saying while the council acknowledges the current hardship and frustrations young Nigerians are passing through, the group believes that the current atmosphere calls for restraint, dialogue, and national unity, not street protests.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said it had deployed its personnel to strategic locations ahead of a nationwide protest slated for Monday (today) by the Take-It-Back Movement and other civil society groups, citing several issues such as alleged worsening hardship in the country, the crisis in Rivers state amongst other issues.
Not less than ten persons have been killed in a fresh attack on five communities in the Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State. The attack occurred six days after a similar attack on Ruwi community, where more than 10 persons were shot dead and three others injured during a Christian wake ceremony. A statement released by the Bokkos Cultural Development Council (BCDC) and signed by its chairman, Farmasum Fuddang, condemned the persistent attacks.
The flouting of the Department of State Security, DSS, security advisory on arms control and guidance in community policing by members of a vigilante group in Uromi, Edo State, may have contributed to the lynching of 16 hunters of northern extraction in the town last week, security sources have disclosed.
Kogi State government through its Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, has denied allegations that former governor; Yahaya Bello, Governor Usman Ododo and Senate President Godswill Akpabio are plotting to assassinate Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. Fanwo insisted that at any point in time, there was never any discussion suggesting neutralizing Natasha for whatever reason.
