•Olatunji Disu

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has a special 14-day security operation to flush out criminal elements from identified flashpoints across Benue.

The vulnerable areas include Gbajimba, Agasha, Kwande, Agatu, Naka, Otukpo, Makurdi, Apa and other communities mapped for intensive surveillance.

Disu made the declaration the previous day during a town hall meeting on security in Makurdi, attended by Governor Hyacinth Alia, the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, religious leaders, traditional rulers, security chiefs and other stakeholders.

The IGP described the security situation in Benue as a source of “sleepless nights” for both residents and security agencies.

He decried that the state, once renowned for peace and hospitality, had become engulfed by violence.

According to him, the crisis has evolved beyond farmer-herder clashes, with kidnappers, armed gangs and political interests aggravating the insecurity.

Disu urged youths not to allow themselves to be recruited by influential individuals to perpetrate violence, particularly during elections.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, has demanded that the commission should be funded directly from the federation’s account to guarantee free, fair and credible elections.

Amupitan made the call while speaking in Abuja on Thursday during the public presentation of Shadows: Protest Essays on Africa’s Most Consequential Country (1999-2023), a two-volume book authored by Eniola Bello, managing director of ThisDay Newspaper.

The INEC chairman said that the current budgetary process undermines the commission’s financial independence and operational efficiency.

Amupitan said although the Constitution places the commission on the first-line charge, the existing funding framework does not guarantee genuine financial autonomy.

He said that INEC’s dependence on the annual appropriation process and the federal government’s envelope budgeting system makes it difficult for the electoral body to function independently.

“Experience over the years has shown that as long as INEC is still subject to the normal envelope system and the processes of appropriation, having to go to the national assembly, it is very difficult to operate in such a situation without wasting your time,” Amupitan said.

Petrol price has climbed to as high as N1,400 per litre, across Nigeria cities Oil prices hit $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May, after attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in the Red Sea threatened to squeeze global supplies further and reignite a global inflation shock.

Brent crude, Nigeria’s benchmark, rose more than 6 percent to $100, extending a blistering rebound this month amid fears that the US and Iran are headed for a return to full-blown conflict.

Fresh loading data obtained from petroleum marketers showed an upward movement in ex-depot prices across Lagos, Warri and Calabar.In Lagos, A.A. Rano increased its ex-depot price from N1,275 to N1,279 per litre; while African Terminal, Ascon, Gulf Treasure, Integrated and T.Time hiked their rates to N1,275.

Aiteo, Heyden and Nipco maintained existing prices of N1,275; while Emadeb bucked the trend by reducing its rate from N1,278 to N1,274 per litre.

Dangote Refinery, the dominant fuel supplier, had on Thursday resumed gantry loading of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in naira after a week-long suspension, while raising its ex-depot petrol price to N1,215 per litre.