News
Femi Falana gives FG two-week ultimatum to compensate victims of military airstrike mishaps
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has given a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to compensate victims of military airstrikes in the past seven years or face legal action.
The senior lawyer gave this warning in a statement on Sunday, adding that the government will be sued before a Federal High Court if the demand is not met.
Over 300 civilians, including children and women, have died in accidental bombings by the Nigerian military in the past few years.
There was an erroneous drone bombing in Tudun Biri, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State last week, leading to an outcry across the country.
At least 120 innocent residents who were celebrating an Islamic festival were killed in the deadly attack.
And following the sad incident, all the 109 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria donated their December salaries to the victims of the bombing.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, made the announcement on Sunday at the Kaduna State Government House when he led a high-power delegation of the Senate to the state.
Reacting to the incident, Falana, who is the chairman of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), said there has been no justice for victims of these bombings across the years.
Falana said after the Rann bombing of January 2017, the government set up a commission “mandated to review extant rules of engagement applicable in the armed forces of Nigeria as well as the extent of compliance with the rules. Part of the mandate of the commission was to also prefer means of preventing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law”.
The senior lawyer wondered why the FG has neither published the report nor implemented the recommendations of the commission headed by Justice Biobell Georgewill of the court of appeal.
Finnish prosecutors on Friday said they had charged a man with inciting terrorism online who a media report identified as Nigerian separatist leader Simon Ekpa.
According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.
AFP reports that Finland’s National Prosecution Authority said in a statement that it had charged “a Finnish individual in a case involving suspected public incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent and participation in the activities of a terrorist group.”
It added that the alleged crimes had been committed in the city of Lahti between 2021 and 2024 and were related to the suspect’s efforts to establish Nigeria’s Biafra region as an independent state.
The prosecution authority did not name the accused but Finnish public broadcaster YLE identified him as separatist leader Simon Ekpa.Ekpa — who claims to lead the Biafra Republic’s government in exile — was detained in November.
According to the prosecution authority, the accused remained in custody and denied the charges.
News
Tinubu to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration May 18
The inauguration marks the formal beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja on Saturday for Rome, Italy, to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV as the new head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The President will be accompanied by a delegation that includes the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja; Archbishop Alfred Martins of Lagos; and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, confirmed in a statement via X.
‘Tinubu is travelling at the invitation of the Vatican and will lead Nigeria’s delegation to the solemn installation mass scheduled for Sunday, May 18, at St. Peter’s Square.
The inauguration marks the formal beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, the 267th Bishop of Rome.”
A fire broke out on Thursday at the General Hospital in Ifako-Ijaiye, Lagos, engulfing parts of the three-storey building and causing panic among residents and patients.
Videos from the scene showed thick smoke pouring from the hospital building as onlookers gathered in distress. Firefighters later arrived to battle the blaze.
An eyewitness, Modinat Melemuku, who shared footage of the incident on Facebook, called for urgent help.
She said: “Happening now at General Hospital Ifako-Ijaiye, College Road. Please repost.
Help is needed,” she wrote.
An eyewitness also told reporters the fire began in one part of the hospital before spreading to other sections.
“The fire then spread to the prenatal and postnatal rooms, after which it affected the pediatric ward,” the eyewitness said.
There were concerns that nursing mothers and infants might have been trapped inside, although no casualties were confirmed as of the time of filing this report.
Emergency responders were still on the ground trying to bring the situation under control.
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