The Lagos State Police Command have exhumed the body of the singer Ilerioluwa Aloba widely known as Mohbad.
The police said an autopsy would follow after the exhumation was accomplished.
Mohbad’s death last Tuesday has raised concerns, as an accusing finger was pointed at the Marlian Record Label’s owner Afeez Fashola professionally known as Naira Marley.
Also, there have been allegations and counter-allegations from his distant relatives over his estate in the early days of his demise.
Nigerians queried why he was buried at Ikorodu in Lagos, immediately after the following day he died, but his father provided an explanation that the family Yoruba custom.
Nigerian youths have staged peaceful protests to demand justice for him.
Both Nigeria police and Lagos police command vowed to probe his death, as the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also asked that the Department of State Service (DSS) will join in the investigation.
Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, Lagos police spokesperson, Ben Hundeyin said Mohbad’s body had been exhumed. He said the autopsy will follow.
Hundeying made this known on X, saying, “Exhumation completed. Autopsy to commence.”
The Kano Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has sacked Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, declaring the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March 18 election.
Yusuf, who contested on the platform of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While Nasir Gawuna, his APC rival congratulated him, the party proceeded to court.
The Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has gone on recess ahead of its verdict on the election.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had filed a petition to challenge the victory of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).
Daily Trust had reported how the judges stayed away from the court on Wednesday and commenced proceedings virtually.
Access to the court was only limited to 50 persons, according to the Kano Commissioner of Police, Usaini Muhammed Gumel.
The tribunal had dismissed the Preliminary Objection challenging the petition on grounds that the language used did not comply with the Electoral Act.
It also agreed with APC that there was substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. On the second Preliminary Objection, the Tribunal ruled in favour of INEC that the issue of sponsorship and membership of Gov Yusuf is a party internal affair
But the tribunal dismissed the third Preliminary Objection by INEC which challenged the petition on the grounds that Yusuf Gawuna, APC candidate, was not joined.
The tribunal is expected to give its verdict later.
The Federal Government has disclosed plans to provide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) infrastructure to 20 university campuses across the country.
Speaking at the signing ceremony between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and FEMADEC Energy Limited in Abuja, Authority Chief Executive (ACE), Engr Farouk Ahmed emphasized that NMDPRA will provide the enabling environment and support for the projects towards actualising the aspirations of the Federal Government of adopting gas as the transition fuel.
On his part, the Executive Director, Midstream and Downstream Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF), Mansur Kuliya said the initiative is in line with the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI).
Kuliya explained that the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Femadec Energy Limited will accelerate the deployment of compressed Natural Gas (CNG) infrastructure as a special palliative to lessen transportation cost for tertiary institutions and to introduce clean energy towards net zero agenda.
The Chief Executive Officer of FEMADEC Energy Limited, Fola Akinnola revealed that the recent subsidy removal in the country necessitated changing policy from traditional fossil fuel (petrol and diesel) to gas
He said; “The objective is to lessen the transportation costs for the students and lecturers, on the one hand, reduce carbon emissions to meet the Federal Government net zero emissions target, and bring awareness to students in terms of gas technology and its various uses.”
Candidate of the Labour Party, Presidential Election Petition Court, r. Peter Obi, has filed 51 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court to invalidate the election of President Bola Tinubu.
Obi, in his appeal, maintained that the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, erred in law and thereby reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed the petition he lodged to challenge the outcome of the presidential poll that was held on February 25.
Among other things, he contended that Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the Court of Appeal, wrongly occassioned a grave miscarriage of justice against him, when it held that he did not specify polling units where irregularities occurred during the election.
He further faulted the PEPC for dismissing his case on the premise that he did not specify the figures of votes or scores that were allegedly suppressed of inflated in favour of President Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Obi equally accused the Justice Tsammani-led panel of erring in law when it relied on paragraph 4(1) (d) (2) and 54 of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022 to strike out paragraphs of his petition.
While accusing the lower court of breaching his right to fair hearing, Obi, insisted that evidence of his witnesses were wrongly dismissed as incompetent.
He told the apex court that the panel unjustly dismissed his allegation that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, uploaded 18, 088 blurred results on its IReV portal.
More so, he alleged that the lower court ignored his allegation that certified true copies of documents that INEC issued to his legal team, comprised of 8, 123 blurred results that contained blank A4 papers, pictures and images of unknown persons, purporting same to be the CTC of polling units results of the presidential election.
“The learned justices of the court below erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice when they held and concluded that he failed to establish the allegation of corrupt practices and over-voting,” Obi added.
Online platform X could introduce a monthly fee for all users, its owner Elon Musk said Monday, citing the need to cut down on bots.
The tech tycoon has made multiple changes since taking over the site for $44 billion in October last year when it was known as Twitter.
He has fired thousands of employees, introduced a paid premium option, cut content moderation and reinstated formerly banned accounts including that of former US president Donald Trump.
He said in July the platform had lost roughly half its advertising revenue.
Bots — accounts run by computer programs rather than humans — are common on X, where they can be used to artificially amplify political messages or racial hatred.
During a talk with Musk on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the question of online anti-Semitism, and how X could “prevent the use of bots — armies of bots — to replicate and amplify it.”
Musk replied that the company was “moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the X system.”
“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” he said.
“It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” he said.
“Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny — call it a tenth of a penny — but if somebody even has to pay a few dollars, some minor amount, the effective cost of bots is very high.
“And then you also have to get a new payment method every time you have a new bot.”
The conversation, which was broadcast on X, came as the Tesla tycoon is mired in a row with the Anti-Defamation League, a US-based Jewish organization.
Musk has accused the ADL of making unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism that have scared away advertisers and hurt his company’s revenue, and has threatened to sue for billions of dollars.
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Osun state have threatened to shut down the campus if the management fails to reverse the school fees.
The school management had in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju announced an increment of fees payable by both new and old students by over 300 per cent.
Addressing newsmen at the Ken Saro Wiwa Students’ Union Building on Monday, the President of Great Ife Students Union, Abbas Akinremi said the students will after Tuesday, (tomorrow) commence the process of shutting down the campus of the management’s failure to start negotiation on the issue.
“We’ve also written to all respective banks to halt the acceptance of fee payments from any student until a better resolution has been achieved. As much as we don’t want to, we are currently running out of options and might have to shut down all activities on campus and progressively on all other federal institutions campuses in Nigeria because we are carrying the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) along which they backed.
“The student leadership had met with the management in August when we learnt about plans to increase school fees and we started negotiating. Unfortunately, they shut us out and announced the new fee. The claimed that the Federal Government has stopped funding OAU, meanwhile, the recent release on September 15th 2023 listed OAU as number 9 of the top funded universities with a budget allocation of N13.4B.”
Also, the Chairman, National Association of University Students, NAUS, Osun chapter, Olayinka Popoola described the increment as wicked, and unfortunate as parents are presently going through difficult economic situation as their salaries are stagnant despite subsidy removal.
He warned other universities planning to increase to desist, saying, “Universities must source funds elsewhere to meet their needs.”
Popoola also expressed worry over the safety of lives of the students of institutions in Ilesa, therefore, calling on security agencies to halt killings in the community.
The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNUs) has made it clear that it is no longer possible for any federal university in Nigeria to sustain operation again without increasing its obligatory and some other fees being charged to students.
The Secretary-General of the committee, Prof Yakubu Ochefu, shared this position in an exclusive interview with the Tribune Online at the weekend, maintaining that the old fees regime in any of the federal universities is no longer relevant in the current economic reality in the country.
According to him, it is expensive to run universities. They hardly shut down a day. They run an almost 24-hour service. Even when the students are on holiday, the universities keep their doors open.
“So, the cost of running universities just like every other educational institution in the country is huge and now the situation has become almost unbearable, especially since the removal of fuel subsidy which is continuously pushing up the cost of goods and services in the country on daily basis,” he pointed out.
While explaining that it’s not that the administrators of various federal universities and their management teams are wicked as some people made to believe for increasing their obligatory fees, Ochefu said they have to do that because they have no better option if they want to sustain operation and provide quality services.
He said even at that, they still heavily subsidized their services to students as if they should charge commensurable fees, they would have charged up to four times or more of their new fees.
According to him, universities charging lower fees as some had done already is because the Federal Government is still responsible for the payment of salaries of workers and also providing some running costs even though grossly inadequate and still gives other supports through TETFund and some other intervention agencies.
He said if not for all these, public universities would have been charging high fees like the private universities do because tuition fees would have been where the salaries of workers would come from and that would have been passed on to parents and students.
He explained that the universities are the ones responsible for major running costs, which are huge such as electricity, sanitation, water supply, maintenance of infrastructures, cutting of grass, conduct of examinations, travelling and several others.
For example, he said, the cost of papers for examinations alone has gone up from N18,000 to N45,000 a carton within two years and that will be a lot of money for universities with a student population of about 30,000 or more. And that is just one issue as many also spend several millions of naira on electricity and so forth, every month.
“So, the cost of all these items are going up each day and so the universities have to push part of the costs to students and their parents.”
Ochefu therefore called on students, especially those who are still carrying placards and protesting fee hikes and parents to understand the financial burden the universities are contending with and cooperate with them to provide quality education that the country will be proud of.
He also urged the various state and local governments across the country to adopt a bursary award policy on a yearly basis for students who are their indigenes, saying such effort would equally go a long way to cushion the financial burden on parents.
The federal government, as well as alumni associations, corporate bodies and philanthropists, he added, can also give scholarship awards to indigent but brilliant students as the provision of a well-rounded education to the citizenry is a shared responsibility by all.
The Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has been denied access to his old office at the Government House in Benin, the state capital.
Shaibu arrived at the Government House on Monday morning but met the gate leading to his office under lock and key.
He says is yet to receive a formal letter from the governor’s office and that according to him is the proper channel to transmit a directive pertaining to the relocation to a new office.
“Up till now, I don’t have any official communication that I should relocate. The only people that have official communication are my civil servants. The civil servants have official communication but I don’t. As I am speaking to you now, I am standing by the gate,” he said while on a phone call to a yet-to-be-identified person.
Last week, a letter said to be from the office of the Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa, was reported to have been sent to the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Deputy Governor directing Shuaibu to relocate to a new office situated at No 7, Dennis Osadebey Avenue, GRA, Benin City.
However, sources close to Edo’s number two citizen claimed that the new office is abandoned and in dire need of rehabilitation.
‘Absolute’ Loyalty
The development is the latest in the tussle between Governor Obaseki and his deputy. While there have been speculations about plans to impeach Shaibu, the Edo Assembly has denied such.
Obaseki had also accused his deputy of plotting a coup against him. But at a recent gathering to mark the anniversary of the state’s creation, Shaibu described his principal as a brother, saying he remains loyal to him despite their political differences.
“As for the issues that are around town when I was away, I really would not want to talk. Issues that concern my governor are not things I like to speak about on camera. No, no, no! He is my elder brother and boss and I don’t think I should talk about anything. And if I have issues with him, I think it is better settled at home and not in the media. I am well brought up,” he said on the sidelines of a thanksgiving service in Benin to mark the 32nd anniversary of Edo State.
“I can tell you that from my Christian background if you make a vow with God that you want to do something, you must fulfill it. And the vow I have taken with God is that I will continue to support Godwin Obaseki as the governor of Edo State from the beginning to the end.
“But that does not stop anything that has to do with ambition. Ambition is personal and it does not affect loyalty. My loyalty to the governor remains absolute. I see that everybody is doing solidarity. I am also in solidarity with the governor. I am also declaring my unalloyed solidarity and loyalty to the governor and nothing more.”
Bella Shmurda, a close friend of late singer Mohbad, has vowed to seek justice over the death of the former Marlian signee.
In statement posted on his X account, Shmurda, a musician, declared that there would be no rest for those who made Mohbad live in fear while alive.
He also called on the police to arrest Marlian Record CEO, Naira Marley, and another of his associates, Sam Larry.
Shmurda wrote: “In the past few days have tried my best not to carry phone nd type anything.
“But Mohbad spirit won’t let me rest knowing I’m the only one make his spirit calm, by making those of them who make him live in fear and almost with nothing to feed on never also get rest.
“And he don start. Yes, I mean wahaLa just wan start like this. I NO GO GREE. And I mean it Samlarry and whole Marlians music must be arrested. Make all of us Dey police and if the Nigerian police are too weak as body to fish these people out, we (will) do it street, legal or illegal.
“Any which way like this war don start. If they all ran out the country which shows that they’re actually guilt of whatever crime were said to have committed by them and they all know they should never come back nd they should ban from entering the country for life.”
“Pounds for pounds, flesh for flesh. Whether u be aiye oo,eiye oo,or sealords whatever it may be this boy sang for make us happy, jubilate, think, rejoice supported even while is in pains nd living in fear now it’s our time to do our part for him I want everyone with one voice let get him justice all hands on deck #justice for Mohbad fish dem out legal or illegal.”
