NEWS
Ooni Meets VP Osinbajo, 24hrs After Meeting with Buhari

By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
There is an indication that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi II, may have been summoned by the presidency on Friday after he had met with President Muhammadu Buhari a day earlier, and granted an interview which was widely published in the media, condemning the havoc being perpetrated by some miscreants disguising as fulani herdsmen in the southern part of the country.
The royal father’s visit to the Presidential Villa just a day after he met with the President indicated that all was not well as some people had criticised his “drums of war” comment.
The Ooni who arrived at Osinbajo’s office at about 1:35pm, went straight into the office of the Vice President.
The meeting is the second in two days, which may not be unconnected with his earlier comments over growing insecurity in Nigeria
It was not immediately clear why he had to meet with the Vice President, but the traditional ruler had on Thursday, after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari told journalists that “the drums of war were sounding across the nation.”
Although the closed door meeting with the Vice President lasted for about one hour, the traditional ruler declined comments on reason for the visit.
There were, however, insinuations that he may have been summoned over the statements credited to him in the media as he simply smiled and waved at State House Correspondents who had wanted to know his mission.
Unlike the Thursday visit which took him to the President, the revered traditional ruler only stopped at the Vice President’s wing.
The Ooni had while speaking with State House correspondents on Thursday, after meeting Buhari, said that the drums of war were sounding loud across the country.
The royal father also warned politicians in the country not to encourage anarchy by blowing issues out of proportion.
According to the traditional ruler, “I came to speak on behalf of other traditional rulers. The issue at hand in the south west is real. The issue of insecurity, we that live in the remote and rural areas of the south western part of the country, most of the bushes are occupied by strange people and we decided to work with the government to fish them out.
“Everybody is beating the drums of war, we don’t want war, who can stand war, we want something better for our youths.
“We should better use them for something good other than shouting war and anarchy. We don’t want that.
“We told the President that he is on the same page with us. Politicians should be careful not to blow things out of proportion.
“We should make sure things are right and the President has given good directives to security chiefs including the IG to visit all traditional institutions in the south west.” he said.
Oba Ogunlusi II pointed out that everything must be done to put all security agencies to good use as well as work with the locals to separate the bad eggs.
His words: “We shouldn’t keep over hyping war and we still want to keep the peace in the south west. We don’t want anarchy.” he said.
The Ooni had also asked the President to fish out the perpetrators of the various crimes, including kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of attacks going on across the country.
NEWS
Gunmen Kill two NSCDC Personnel, Two others in Imo

Unidentified Gunmen have killed two personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Imo and two persons working on a telecommunications mast.
Commandant of the NSCDC in Imo, Mr Matthew Ovye who confirmed this to newsmen in Owerri on Monday said that the incident occured at Umulolo community, Ngor Okpala council area of the state.
He gave the names of the NSCDC personnel to include Sixtus Onwusirike, an Assistant Superintendent 2 and Simon Simon, a Corps Assistant.
He said that the four men were gunned down in what appeared to be a surprise attack at the Eke Isu market of the Umulolo community adding that security operatives had taken over the area.
He also said that the NSCDC personnel were riding in a vehicle when they were ambushed and killed by their attackers “without any form of provocation “.
“ It’s a black Monday for us but we are on it. It’s rather unfortunate. Relevant security agencies have swung into action and the culprits will soon be brought to book,” he said.
He however, advised residents of the area to avoid taking laws into their hands as security agencies were already on the top of their game.
When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer in Imo, Mr Henry Okoye also confirmed the incident and promised that security operatives would fish out the culprits in no time . (NAN)
CRIME
Police Arrest 781 Offenders over Electoral Infractions

By Gom Mirian, Abuja
The Inspector General of Police(IGP),Usman Alkali Baba, has said a total of 781 electoral offenders were arrested in the just concluded 2023 general elections across the country from a total of 489 major electoral infractions.
He disclosed this on Monday, at the meeting with Strategic Police Managers of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja.
The meeting aimed at evaluating Police performance during the 2023 General elections, highlight lessons and strengths, and dissect complex dynamics for subsequent optimal performance drew participants from across the country.
The participants present at the meeting comprised of the Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs) and members of the Force Management Team, Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs), Commissioners of Police (CPs) and other Tactical Commanders.
Baba at the accession, tasked all commands to submit casefiles centrally at the Electoral Offences Desk located at the Office of the IGP at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, for coordinated processing to INEC Legal Section.
According to him, the Police Force would effectively collaborate with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to expeditiously and transparently prosecute the 781 electoral offenders apprehended.
The Police boss, also charged the Strategic Police Managers to readjust strategies and operations towards ensuring a stable post-election security order and refocus policing attention on routine law enforcement duties.
“I firmly admonish all political actors and their supporters to submit to democratic norms, peaceful means, and legal procedures in advancing their interests as the Police and other security agencies shall not tolerate the resort to incitement or any act designed to threaten our national security”, he said.
NEWS
Plateau Guber: Tribunal Grant Nentawe, Mutfwang Permission to Inspect Election Materials

From Jude Dangwam, Jos
The All Progressive Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate in Plateau State, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda has gotten the approval of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal setting in Jos the Plateau State Capital to inspect materials used in the 18 March, 2023 governorship election in Plateau State.
The Media Officer of the Generation Next, Shittu Bamaiyi in a statement signed and made available to Journalists yesterday in Jos said “the governorship Election petition tribunal sitting in Jos gave ruling this morning, after hearing the two applications moved by Nentawe’s Counsel.
”In a motion exparte and motion on notice; the Counsel, Jim Gotom told the tribunal that his motion is supported by a six paragraph affidavit he placed reliance on all of them.
And further hinted that a written address was attached to the affidavit with legal arguments and decided cases to back his application.Counsel to the applicant applied for leave and order of the Tribunal to permit Nentawe, his lawyers and agents to inspect election materials such as “Tendered voters list, Electoral material Receipt, Ballot Paper Account and Verification Statement.”
Other materials demanded to be inspected include, “statement of Invalid, Rejected and Cancelled Ballot Papers, Statement of Unused and Spoilt Ballot Papers,Tendered Ballot statement, Results of Poll from Polling units, Summary of Results for Local government areas, Summary of Results for the State and Summary/Declaration of Results for candidates.”
Gotom also requested that his client be permitted to inspect the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Back End Server Report from the BVAS for all the polling Units and other relevant documents used by the Commission.
Meanwhile the Governor-Elect Barr. Caleb Mutfwang has also filled a similar motion and application for leave of the Tribunal to also carry out similar exercise as requested by the APC on his emergence which has been granted concurrently.
Mutfwang through his Counsel, Kingsley Mallan sought the Tribunal to allowed his client inspect materials used for the March 18th governorship election also as requested by the APC.
Counsel to INEC, Elekwa Oyemauche in his submission stressed that the prayers contained in all the applicants applications are the same and therefore should be consolidated to save the Tribunal’s time.
The Tribunal in her ruling granted the application and prayers of the parties and ordered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should give them access to jointly inspect the materials.