News
UN Committee To Visit Nigeria Over Torture
A dawn raid carried out yesterday by combined team of Kano Joint Task Force and the Directorate of State Security Services at Taiyawa in Remin Kebi in Ungogo local goverment area of the state has resulted in the killing of four terrorists.
The operation, sources said lasted for several hours as residents wThe United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has listed Nigeria as one of the countries to visit next year. This was contained in a news release signed by Oluseyi Soremekun, the National Information Officer, United Nations Information Centre, Lagos, yesterday.
According to the release, the SPT will also conduct missions next year to Ecuador, Malta, Netherlands and Togo, and plans a follow-up visit to a previously visited country. The rights body will also visit Nicaragua.
Following previous practice, some of the SPT’s visits will focus on providing advice and assistance to national preventive mechanisms, which are bodies that themselves monitor places of detention.
In addition, the SPT will also conduct a broad range of visits to places of detention, as well as short missions that will focus on advising the national authorities on how to best to comply with their OPCAT obligations.
The SPT’s role is to prevent and eliminate torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment of detainees.
The UN organ works with national governments that have ratified the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
The Chairperson Malcolm Evans was quoted to have said: “For the SPT, the key to preventing torture and ill-treatment lies in building constructive relations between national and international bodies within the OPCAT framework,”, after the SPT’s latest session held in Geneva from 11 to 15 November.
“We have seen many real, positive developments as a result of this approach, and we are committed to bringing the benefits of becoming partners in prevention to all States parties as soon as we can,” he said.
Evans explained further that this is why the SPT is devising more ways of fulfilling its convention mandate, which not only grants it unrestricted access to all kinds of places of detention in countries that have ratified the OPCAT, but also calls on it to work closely with national, regional and other international mechanisms involved in the prevention of torture.
“As a result of the OPCAT and the work of the SPT, systems for regular visits to places of detention as part of international efforts to prevent torture are now a reality in more than 50 states,” he added.
“The SPT is at the centre of this international framework of independent torture prevention mechanisms and we need to become ever more closely involved in encouraging and supporting all those involved in this work, at whatever level,” Mr Evans said.ere gripped in fear when they heard sound of explosion and gunshots.
It was learnt that the operation was a continuation of the last operation carried out by the two agencies last month when two soldiers and five terrorists were killed.
Sources also said that dangerous weapons were also recovered at the terrorists’ hideout in the area.
Residents said two soldiers appeared dead in the gun duel, while the family members of the owner of the building, believed to be the terrorists’ hideout were apprehended.
However, the Spokesman of the JTF in Kano State, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, could not confirm the report, but said “anytime I get something, I will keep you informed”.
Also, four persons, including a police corporal, died when gunmen attacked the Bojude Police Station in Kwami local government area of Gombe State yesterday.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Fwaje Atajiri, confirmed that the gunmen attacked the station at about 2am.
He said that three of the gunmen were killed while one police corporal also died during gun duel with the hoodlums.
Atajiri explained that some of the gunmen escaped with bullet wounds while another policeman, who sustained injuries, was treated and discharged.
He called on health workers in clinics and hospitals in the state to report to the police, any persons with bullet wounds who might visit their facilities for treatment.
He said that the situation was calm and that more policemen had been deployed to the area.
Meanwhile, at least eight people were feared dead yesterday in Lagos as a truck veered off its lane and crashed into stationary vehicles at Oshodi.
Five vehicles were involved in the accident which occurred at the Oshodi `Isale’ Bus Stop on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.
The lorry was coming from the Apapa end of the highway when the accident occurred. The stationary vehicles involved in the accident included three commercial buses and a jeep.
Our correspondent, who was at the scene shortly after the accident, reports that blood stained some portions of the road while luggage of the victims scattered. Transport managers pulled off the affected vehicles off the road to prevent a gridlock.
The Oshodi Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Samuel Ogundayo said that 19 people were involved in the accident.
“A tipper had a break failure; 19 people were involved but eight died instantly. “They have been taken to the General Hospital, Ikeja and the Health Centre, Oshodi,” Ogundayo said.
However, an official of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, who pleaded anonymity, said that five people died in the accident and five injured.
He said that the bodies of the dead had been taken to the General Hospital, Ikeja, while the wounded were taken to the Trauma Centre Oshodi.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 1.63 million pills of tramadol concealed in two long trailers heading for Kano as it intensified efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria corridor.
The agency also arrested an 80-year-old suspected drug dealer in Rivers State, a businesswoman linked to cannabis shipments from Canada, a Chadian woman, a couple and other suspects in coordinated operations across Lagos, Edo, Kogi and Rivers states.
The NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement, yesterday.
According to the statement, the latest intelligence-led operation came barely one week after NDLEA operatives recovered 558,900 pills of tramadol concealed in the false-bottom compartment of a truck that entered Lagos through the Togo-Benin Republic route.
Babafemi said, “Ongoing efforts to dismantle a transnational drug trafficking syndicate smuggling tramadol from Togo, through Benin Republic into Nigeria have yielded another success with the interception of two long trailers used to move One Million Six Hundred and Thirty (1,630,000) pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in fabricated compartments of the trucks across multiple borders into Lagos.”
He added that one of the two trailers was intercepted on July 2 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where operatives recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor.
Babafemi said, “One of the two trucks already heading to Kano was tracked and located on 2nd July 2026 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway where NDLEA officers recovered 853,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the trailer and arrested the 22-year-old driver Jabir Kabiru.”
He further disclosed that another trailer was intercepted two days later on the same route.
“Two days later, 4th July, NDLEA operatives acting on processed intelligence successfully tracked and recovered the second trailer from the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while heading to Kano. A total of 777,000 pills of tramadol 250mg concealed in a fabricated compartment beneath the cargo floor of the truck were evacuated and the 22-year-old driver Muhammed Nuhu arrested,” the statement read.
According to Babafemi, investigations established a link between the three intercepted consignments.
He said, “Investigations revealed that all three trucks and consignments intercepted on 21st June, 2nd July and 4th July belong to the same transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria axis.”
The agency also intercepted 4.70 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Babafemi said, “Two consignments of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, with a combined weight of 4.70 kilograms have been intercepted at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. The cargoes, which arrived the Lagos airport from Canada in cartons with ‘Odugwu’ boldly written on them, came aboard British Airways and Ethiopian Airlines flights on 24th June and 3rd July respectively.”
He said two cargo agents, Ali Rotimi Samson and Orimolade Oluwagbenga, were initially arrested in connection with the shipments, while another suspect, Edeh Onyeamachi Stanislus, was apprehended after arriving at a logistics company to take delivery of the consignments.
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction has denied claims that it has commenced registration for a purported ?50,000 National Support Allowance.
The ministry, in a public notice posted on its official X handle, yesterday, described messages, links and websites advertising the alleged programme as fraudulent.
It urged Nigerians to disregard such claims and verify information only through official government channels.
“The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction has NOT commenced registration for any ?50,000 National Support Allowance,” the ministry said.
It added, “Disregard fraudulent messages, links and websites claiming otherwise. Verify any info only through official govt channels.”
The alert is in response to a circulating scam flyer that falsely claims the program is ongoing under President Bola Tinubu’s directives.
The fake advertisement, which includes text in Hausa and English, directs victims to a suspicious website (kluspz.com) for applications.
The ministry’s warning comes amid heightened concerns over digital fraud targeting vulnerable populations seeking social support.
Similar scams have previously surfaced around programs like N-Power, prompting questions from citizens in replies to the official post.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed its preparedness for a major national struggle for a comprehensive review of the national minimum wage.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, hinted at this while making his remarks at the commissioning of the Comrade Godwin Abumisi Pensioners Legacy House and Multipurpose Hall in Abuja.
Ajaero said it is no longer acceptable to discuss the welfare of workers without also discussing the welfare of those who have completed their active years of service.
He advised workers and pensioners to get prepared for the ideological and economic battles that lie ahead.
According to the NLC president, “The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) is one of the proud affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress. Therefore, your struggle is our struggle, and your welfare remains a priority for the organised labour movement.
“We are currently in the preparatory stages for a major national struggle for a comprehensive review of the national minimum wage.
“However, let me state unequivocally that it is no longer acceptable to discuss the welfare of workers without also discussing the welfare of those who have completed their active years of service.
“Accordingly, the Nigeria Labour Congress will not only push for a new national minimum wage but will also demand the establishment of a national minimum pension. It is a historical injustice that men and women who devoted their youth, strength and productive years to the service of this nation should be condemned to live below the poverty line after retirement.”
Ajaero noted that the cost of living has risen astronomically as food, healthcare and transportation have become increasingly unaffordable.
“We cannot continue to allow our senior citizens to survive on pensions that have become poverty wages. Every retiree deserves to live with dignity after decades of faithful service to the nation,” he said.
He urged pensioners across the country to remain united and prepared as the process begins, adding: “This Legacy House should not merely be seen as a physical structure; it should become a centre for mobilisation, strategic engagement and solidarity as we prepare for the struggles ahead.”
The NLC president pointed out that the working class has always understood that “those who exploit workers are united in advancing their interests. We too must remain united in defending our collective interests and ensuring that government fulfils its obligations to both serving workers and retirees.”
He urged pensioners across the country to remain united and prepared as the process begins, adding: “This Legacy House should not merely be seen as a physical structure; it should become a centre for mobilisation, strategic engagement and solidarity as we prepare for the struggles ahead.”
The NLC president pointed out that the working class has always understood that “those who exploit workers are united in advancing their interests. We too must remain united in defending our collective interests and ensuring that government fulfils its obligations to both serving workers and retirees.”
He said the completion of the project should serve as a clarion call to all workers and lovers of the masses.
“We must not only build physical structures but also build a strong movement capable of compelling government to honour its commitments,” he said.
Ajaero further stated: “We will continue to demand the immediate payment of all outstanding pension arrears and the implementation of a pension regime that guarantees every retiree a life of dignity and security.
“Together, we shall continue to fight until every Nigerian worker and pensioner receives the justice, respect and welfare they deserve.”
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