NEWS
2027: I’ve Started Campaign for Tinubu’s Re-election, Says Okpebholo

From Joseph Ebi Kanjo, Benin
Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo said he has kick-started the campaign for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
The governor spoke when he received another member of the Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA), who had defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The defector and member, House Committee on Budget and Appropriation, Hon.
Kaycee Osamwonyi represents Uhunmwonde State Constituency.The lawmaker had earlier been received into the party by the Chairman of APC Edo State chapter, Jarrett Tenebe, who consequently presented him to the Governor at the Government House, Benin City.
Okpebholo, who commended Osamwonyi and his colleagues for deciding to join the APC, assured them that his administration would create a conducive atmosphere for all of them to operate and collaborate to develop the State.
He noted that his administration has embarked on developmental strides to develop all sectors of the Edo economy and will make life better for Edo people.
“We congratulate you for returning home. Your coming is a plus for the party as we have five of you who have joined, and you have made our party stronger.
“A lot of people from other political parties are ready to join our party, and soon there will be a carnival. I seek your help to drive development, and together, we will develop the State and make life better for our people.
“Uhunmwonde Local Government is very special to me, and together we can develop the area and open it for growth and development.
“The next election, especially the 2027 presidential election, we are ready in Edo State. We have kick-started our own campaigns for the President in 2027. We have to mobilize the youths in our State, and you are part of the youth. I promise you that you will enjoy our party as you have chosen to join us,” he said.
community
Court Remands Septuagenarian in Kirikiri Correctional Centre For Alleged Defilement

An Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday remanded a 74- year-old man, Aderinsola Addiths, in Kirikiri Correctional Centre for allegedly defiling his neighbours ‘s teenage daughter.
Addiths a retiree, who resides at No. 1, Rafatu St., Balogun area, Iju Ishaga, Lagos is standing trial for defilement.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs O.
O Kushanu refused to listen to the accused plea, and ordered him to be remanded in the Kirikiri Correctional Centre until May 20 pending advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).The Prosecutor, ASP Adegoke Ademigbuji told the court that the offence was committed sometimes in 2024 and February 2025 at the accused residence.
Ademigbuji said that the victim, a 13-year-old girl was sent to buy sachet water by the accused and upon her arrival, he shut the door after her.
The prosecutor said that the septuagenarian defiled the girl.
The offence according to the prosecutor contravened section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Foreign News
WHO: Social Factors Outweigh Genetics In Shaping Global Health

Housing, income, education, and other social conditions have a greater impact on health than genetics or the quality of health-care systems, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) study.
The research, set to be presented and live-streamed from Geneva on Tuesday, found that social determinants such as poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to resources account for more than 50 per cent of health outcomes.
These “social determinants of health equity” include the environments in which people are born, live, work, and age, as well as their access to power, money, and opportunity.
“These factors create unjust and avoidable health gaps,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Billions of people face higher risks of illness and death simply because of the conditions they’re born into or the social groups they belong to.”
Tedros emphasised that much of the global disease and mortality burden was preventable, calling health inequity a result of political and social decisions that global leaders had the power to change
CRIME
NDLEA Arrests 62,595 Drug Suspects, Convicts 11,628 Offenders Nationwide

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), has arrested 62,595 drug suspects and convicted 11,628 offenders between January 2021 to March 2025 across the 36 states and the FCT.
The NDLEA Chairman, retired, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa said this during the opening ceremony of a conference for Nigeria Governors Spouses on Tuesday in Abuja.
The event was organized by the NDLEA in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors Spouses’ Forum.
The theme is “Advanced Training on Drug Prevention Treatment and Care (DPTC) Stage 3 and Effective Management of the State Drug Control Committee.
Marwa said that over the past four years, the NDLEA had pursued this mission with renewed and unwavering zeal.
This, he said, was ensuring that Nigeria’s hard-won global and regional drug control successes were not merely preserved but expanded.
“Permit me to inform this distinguished gathering that over the four years, the NDLEA has deployed substantial resources towards a comprehensive assault on the drug problem, yielding significant outcomes.
“Under the drug supply reduction mandate, encompassing drug seizures, arrests, prosecutions, and convictions, we recorded the arrest of 62,595 drug suspects (Including 68 drug barons).
“We have seized 10,317,137.55 kilograms of assorted drugs, and secured the conviction of 11,628 offenders. Furthermore, 1,330.56553 hectares of cannabis farms were identified and destroyed,” he said.
Marwa said that equal emphasis had been placed on drug demand reduction to ensure a balanced approach in accordance with international best practices.
“Between January 2021 and March 2025, a total of 24,375 drug users received counselling and treatment at NDLEA facilities, primarily through brief interventions.
“Concurrently, 10,501 drug sensitisation programmes were conducted nationwide under the auspices of the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy campaign, reaching diverse target groups within communities.
“In parallel, a remarkable 3, 843, 789 participants were mobilised to partake in these enlightenment initiatives undertaken across the nation,” he said.
The NDLEA boss said that the agency had made intentional investments in the implementation of Drug Use Prevention strategies in recognising that prevention was invariably better than cure.
He said that those targeted interventions were vital in reducing risk factors and strengthening protective factors against substance abuse especially amongst vulnerable and marginalised populations, including our youth.
“However dark the hour, we must not surrender to despair.
“As patriots and vanguards of our nation’s well-being, it falls on us to strengthen our resolve, to move with deliberate speed towards practical and lasting resolutions that will, God willing, break the vicious cycle of drug abuse.
“This capacity building event represents a stride, small though it may seem, in the proper direction.
“Since it is at the community level that the burden of the drug menace is most acutely felt, it is vital that stakeholders, including all of us gathered here today, address the different dimensions of the problem from a community-centred perspective.
“This gathering must strive for common ground, developing indigenous and pragmatic solutions that go beyond mere statistics and harrowing headlines, addressing instead the real and harrowing human toll of drug abuse, ” he said