On suspicion of cyberstalking, a doctor named Kadev Kenneth Kelvin has been held to the federal prison in Makurdi.

A Benue state magistrate court, located in Makurdi, the capital of Benue State, ordered his remand.

According to reports, the accused posted on Facebook on March 12, 2023, confessing to stitching the lacerated anus of Bemgba Iortyom, the Peoples Democratic Party’s publicity secretary for Benue State, after the latter was sodomized in an Abuja prison in 2017.

The first information report by the police reads that “On the 13/03/2023, a criminal petition was received by the Commissioner of Police written by D.K Iorhemba and Co as Barrister and Solicitors on behalf of Bemgba Iortyom, the PDP Publicity Secretary, Benue State, stating that one Kadev Kenneth Kelvin, a medical doctor who works at Kadev Health Systems Services of No.9 opposite Holy Covenant, Otukpo Road, Makurdi.

The report further revealed that the named doctor had made damaging comments about Bemgba on 12/03/2023 at about 11pm while chatting with one Gabriel Terungwa Shange. He was reported to have said ‘my brother, if Bemgba Iortyom wants to go dirty, just inform me, the day he found out that, I was the medical doctor that stitched his lacerated anus when he was sodomized in Abuja prison in 2017 he blocked me.’

During their investigation, the police claimed that the doctor was detained, the Facebook statement was screenshot as proof, and the doctor admitted to committing the alleged offense.

The Cyber Crimes Prohibition and Prevention Act of 2015’s provision 24(1)(a)(b)(i) is violated, according to the police. No plea was accepted when the case was brought up due to lack of jurisdiction.

The police prosecutor, Inspector S. O. Itodo informed the court that investigation into the matter was still in progress. He asked the court for another date to enable the prosecution to prove its case.

Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is currently in power, have denounced efforts by some factions to install an interim national government (ING) rather than oath President-elect Asiwaj Bola Tinubu on May 29.

The governors urged the Department of State Services DSS to start an investigation into and prosecute individuals responsible for such agitations, claiming that the development was not only treasonous but also intended to stifle Nigeria’s democracy.

The claim was made on Friday in a statement released on behalf of his colleagues by Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, the chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum PGF and the governor of Kebbi state.

He said; “The Progressive Governors’ Forum notes the press statement issued by the Department of State Services DSS on the unfortunate, condemnable and treasonable conduct of some undemocratic elements who are agitating for an interim government.

“We condemn such agitations. It is commendable, however, that the Department of State Services exposed the plot, and we call upon them to arrest and prosecute anyone involved.

“It is ironic that after the Presidential, National Assembly, Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections in which all the major parties recorded varying successes and disappointments in different constituencies, and with our country being appreciated around the globe, some self-serving individuals are unfortunately seeking to sabotage our democratic progress”.

The governors noted that after a democratic contest, parties are free to exercise their legal rights of going to court.

“Indeed, it was widely reported that the PDP and LP had chosen to go to the Presidential Election Tribunal to challenge the outcome of the presidential election, which was won by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC.

“Furthermore, in all the 36 states of the Federation, tribunals have also been established to provide opportunity to those who participated in the various elections but otherwise feeling dissatisfied, to challenge the results”, Bagudu added.

The statement urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and resist any undemocratic conduct that is capable of undermining our democracy, noting that Nigeria has done well in promoting democracy both internally and elsewhere in the Africa.

“It is sad that some unpatriotic elements are nursing the evil plot for interim government, which will amount to subverting our national democratic progress.

“It is commendable however, that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Transitional Council issued a statement restating the Federal Government’s commitment towards a successful inauguration of a new President on May 29th, 2023.

“Equally, we appreciate the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to the transition as well as the support of all security agencies.

“We therefore call on all citizens to remain vigilant and continue to support Nigeria’s democratic development, which the campaign for interim government is meant to truncate”, the governors added.

Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, national leader of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has claimed that the administration of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano state was a charade because Ganduje allegedly sold public properties, including cemeteries and schools, among other things.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service monitored by our correspondent on Friday, Kwankwaso, a former Nigeria Minister of Defence and two-term Governor of Kano state in Northwest Nigeria, assured that the incoming administration of NNPP’s Governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf, would soon right the wrongs allegedly committed by the Ganduje administration so that the good people of Kano would have some respite. 

He said the tape was played where the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate who was defeated in the state, ex-Deputy Governor Gawuna, conceded defeat and congratulated the NNPP’s Governor-elect. 

“That’s what’s expected. He has shown good example in the spirit of sportsmanship,” Kwankwaso said.

The leader of the red cap Kwankwasiya movement, however, assured that he would not interfere in the incoming administration of Abba Yusuf, but as a bona fide indigene of the state, it was his duty to guide and give advice where necessary. 

Bello Matawalle, the governor of Zamfara State, has cited his resistance to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign strategy as the reason he was denied a second term in office.

In the Zamfara State governor’s race on March 18, Dauda Lawal of the People’s Democratic Party defeated Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress.

Speaking  in an interview with DW Hausa, the governor said,  “What’s being said is that we went to the court over new naira notes redesign. They said myself, Ganduje and El-Rufai would be punished accordingly.”

Furthermore, he fumed that more military personnel were deployed to Zamfara State during the elections than when bandits held the state by the jugular.

“We have had security challenges in Zamfara State, and we’ve been asking them to send soldiers to us, but they didn’t.

“But three days to the (governorship) election, they sent over 300 vehicles conveying soldiers into Zamfara. Such a high number of soldiers! If they could send them to us to fight insecurity, it would be better. But they only sent them during elections.”

The governor accused the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), of bullying the Zamfara electorate into voting for the opposition party, PDP through heavy military presence.

“There were over 50 soldiers in our polling unit in Zamfara. They were even straight about it that those voting for APC would not be allowed to vote.

“When I saw that (the heavy deployment of soldiers), I knew they were up to something. That was why it didn’t bother me because I received intelligence report on what they were going to do against me. Not only myself but other governors that did something that is considered wrong.

“People were harassed and beaten because they wanted to vote for the APC. We all have this evidence on video. When we called soldiers to come to our aid, they didn’t come. But I have left everything to God,” Matawalle said.

He, however, said despite his loss at the poll, the victory of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, was enough consolation for him.

“We delivered Zamfara State for the APC during the presidential election. But we lost the governorship.  Nevertheless, we are happy about his emergence. If he didn’t win it would have been more painful for us. But I am not worried at all,” he said.

As of the time of filing this report, the President’s Special Adviser and Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, respectively, could not be reached.

Musiliu Akinsaya, also known as Mc Oluomo, the chairman of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Association, has stepped in to mediate a dispute between highway tax collectors and commercial drivers, often known as “agberos” in the state.

In some areas of the state, he has also outlawed the collecting of agberos’ illicit taxes, according to FIJ.

Recall commercial bus driver had taken to the streets of the state to protest extortion by the agberos on Thursday.

“Mc Oluomo told us when we held a meeting with him at the state council that no driver from Oshodi to Tollgate must be compelled to pay illegal agbero taxes anymore.

“We are only to buy two tickets in a day, after which we will not pay anything aside from loading fees.

“The normal ticket sold and approved by the Lagos State Park Management is just N800.

“He said those extra taxes imposed at Iyana Ipaja and Agbado Ijaiye were no longer valid. We can either buy our daily tickets in Oshodi or Tollgate, and either will be recognised.

“Afterwards, we will buy the council ticket and booking for security, which is about N500,” a driver disclosed to FIJ.

He added that MC Oluomo has said the drivers would no longer pay for tickets on Saturdays and Sundays.

“For weekend jobs, Mc Oluomo has mandated that no driver should be made to buy tickets on Saturdays and Sundays,” he said.

“The union should only compel us to buy tickets from Monday to Friday. We should be given the chance to take something home to our families.”

He added that MC Oluomo also donated N1 million to those who were injured during the attack on protesting drivers

He expressed gladness as dreivers resume work today “with minimal agbero disturbances.”

“There are no more unbearable taxes. All we have to pay in a day is a little below N2,500 compared to the N20,000 we paid previously,” he added.

According to Gogan Tv report yesterday, Nollywood actor, Yul Edochie, lost his first son, Kambilichukwu Edochie.

Confirming the sad news to Vanguard, yesterday, Pete Edochie said his son, Yul, called him on the telephone, Wednesday, informing him that Kambilichukwu fell down while playing football with his school mates and developed a seizure. 

According to him, the deceased was rushed to the Mother and Child Hospital, Lagos, where he died hours later. 

The legendary actor said his family started praying for the child immediately Yul called him on the telephone about the sad incident. 

Edochie said: “Kambilinachukwu is a very quiet, brilliant and talented child. He’s not somebody you can ride easily. He doesn’t get angry no matter the situation.

He may change his composure, but he was definitely a very unusual person in so many respects. 

“He was so accomplished. I always tell my son that I don’t like people excelling like this in any thing they are involved in. Experience has taught me that such people don’t last long.” 

Edochie expressed regret that his grandchild passed away when he had so much promise.

But, since the occurrence, neither Yul nor his first wife, May, have spoken out.

As police allegedly fired gunshots and tear gas canisters to disperse protesters on Thursday near the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, three members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, also known as Shi’ites, suffered injuries.

Whether the victims were hurt by gunfire or other objects could not be immediately confirmed by newsmen.

As police came, the demonstrators, who had started their protest march from the Federal High Court on Tigris Crescent in Maitama, were calling for the release of the travel documents of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat.

The procession ended abruptly at the Eagle Square junction as the protesters, commuters and commercial motorists scampered to safety.

An eyewitness said the injured Shi’ite members were quickly taken to an undisclosed hospital for treatment, adding that the “sudden and unexpected”.

A Shi’ite leader, Abdulaziz Mustafa, confirmed the development, saying he had received reports that three sect members were shot by police in the leg “while on a peaceful protest at the Federal Secretariat”.

He condemned the attack, insisting that they had the right to engage in a peaceful assembly.

Recall that the Shi’ites had clashed with security forces several times when El-Zakzaky and his wife were incarcerated, resulting in the arrest and prosecution of many of them over a three-and-half year period.

To put an end to the conflict in the Northeast, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has given the Joint Task Force’s Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) troops the mission of clearing out any remaining Boko Haram militants.

On Thursday in Maiduguri, Irabor made the order while speaking to the troops at the Theatre Command, Maimalari Cantonment.

The Islamic State of the West African Province (ISWAP) has been decisively defeated in Mafa village’s Ajiri Local Government Area of Borno State by Nigerian forces stationed there.

Irabor said, “You must ensure that the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists are smoked out from their hideouts,” stating that there are remnants of criminals in Sambisa Forest and the Lake Chad region.

While assessing troops in the ongoing counter-insurgency operations, he said: “Huge progress is being made in our joint military operations to restore peace in the insurgency affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.”

He, therefore, noted that with the troops’ resilience and commitments in the counter-insurgency operations the war could end to restore peace in the region.

In another development, troops deployed in Mafa have successfully repelled  attacks by the Islamic State of the West African Province(ISWAP), in Ajiri village of Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State.

It was gathered that the failed  attack was coordinated by one Abou  Mubammed in response to the killing of 41 fighters and a Commander after the troops of Operation Hadin Kai stormed their enclaves in Mukdolo and Bone on March 26th 2023.

Zagazola Makama, counter insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad region, had reported that in their meetings at Kajeri Dogumba, Bula Yagana Aliye in Mafa, ISWAP fighters vowed to revenge the mass killing of their members.

Sources said, the terrorists were said to have stormed the town on Wednesday night, March 29th  2023 and attempted an attack on the military base which resulted to a heavy gun battle with the troops.

The Source added that the forces later engaged the terrorists in a gun duel, outgunned them, and repulsed the attack while seriously killing the outmatched attackers.

The militants then set up another ambush against a party of reinforced troops sent from Mafa.

Thankfully, the forces foiled the ambush, sending the terrorists running in confusion.

The spokesman of the Labour Party (LP), Yunusa Tanko, on Thursday, said the party is not part of any insurrection plan.

The Department of State Services (DSS) had, on Wednesday, raised the alarm over a plot to scuttle the democratic process and install an interim government.

The agency’s spokesman, Peter Afunanya, in a statement said that the secret police has identified some key players in the plan.

However, in his reaction to the development, the Labour Party’s spokesman said the party is not plotting any insurrection, describing the development as a conspiracy against the state.

“We are not part of any insurrection plans whatsoever,” he said on Channels TV Lunch Time Politics on Thursday.

“But what I am saying is that we would protect the interest of Nigerians based on the provisions of the law, which provides that where you are hurting, you have the right to protest and that you would do so with the defence and protection of the Nigerian security apparatus.

“That is what we would do but we would not support any insurrection in any way.”

Shi’ite protesters stormed Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to overturn the travel ban imposed on Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, the head of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.

An international passport release for El-Zakzaky and his wife, Malama Zeenah, for a medical vacation was asked by the demonstrators, who were reportedly devotees of the Shi’ite leader.

An application Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky submitted to the Department of State Services requesting the release of his and his wife’s passports was denied earlier on Thursday by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, ruled that the Islamic cleric failed to prove that his passport was missing, despite the 10 exhibits provided by his lawyers, to prove that the DSS took the passports away, after his return from India in 2018.

The protesters were seen holding banners and placards that read, “Buhari must remove the travel ban on Sheikh El-Zakzaky.”

There have also been unconfirmed reports of shootings at the protests.