News
Plateau Govt. cultivates 6,000 hectares of land for displaced communities
Plateau State Government says it has commenced the cultivation of 6,000 hectares of land, ahead of the upcoming farming season to help in resettling communities displaced by crisis.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Samson Bugama, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Jos.
According to Bugama, the “Mechanisation Service Provision Intervention”, is targeted at communities affected by series of unrest.
He further said that the move also aimed to provide seeds and similar services to cluster of farmers across the state.
Bugama said that the effort would help to improve the state’s agricultural yield and reduce hunger to the barest minimum.
“The strategy is to see how we can provide mechanisation services to communities that have been displaced in our quest to return people to their livelihoods that insecurity has denied them.
“Gov. Caleb Mutfwang in his magnanimity has decided that we cultivate 6,000 hectares of land; we will see how we exceed this in the nearest future.
“We are using the tractors and manpower from our Agricultural Training Service Centre (ATSC), and Marketing Ltd.
“And we will be providing seeds for those places that have been cultivated, so as to bring bumper harvest as we return people to their livelihoods,” he said.
The commissioner further stated that the initiative would be replicated in all troubled areas of the state.
On the measures put in place to ensure the safety of farmers and their crops, Bugama said the Agro-Rangers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), had been deployed to the farmlands for that purpose.
“We have deployed the Agro-Rangers to protect the farmers and in those communities they have self-help groups that they setup, which have been providing early warning signals and we are utilising them.
“This time around, we are going to ensure that government’s intervention is not wasted, we are setting up a monitoring system.
“We will use modern technology to check incursions into such communities, and we will see how we improve on the system moving forward.
“But I must tell you that the governor is bent on ensuring that our people return to their livelihoods.
“Government is providing all these services and even the seeds for free,” Bugama said.
The commissioner also disclosed that the government had purchased and distributed more than 200 trailer loads of fertiliser to farmers in the state.
He added that in that regard, 350 youths from all parts of the state were also recently trained and empowered with modern farming skills to improve food production.
Aides, Allies Disown Him, Say You’re a Traitor, We’re not Leaving PDP
Barely two weeks after his defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), crisis has enveloped the political camp of a member of the House of Representatives for Obokun/Oriade federal constituency in Osun State, Oluwole Oke.
Indeed, these are not the best of times for him as his defection to the APC is eliciting rejection from his close circles and constituency.
His key allies who he groomed into politics and government positions have rejected his calls on them to join him to defect to the APC.
A source said that in the last few days, key aides and allies of the lawmaker have rejected his movement to the APC, describing it as a political tragedy.
“With the way he betrayed PDP, Oluwole Oke is like the proverbial Leopard that can never change the spots on its body. He will also betray the APC. We are staying back in PDP while severing political links with him”, one of his allies, Bamidele Johnson said.
Some of his allies were said to have openly declared that the defection marks a political waterloo for the 6th term legislator.
For instance, some of Oke’s allies in his Local Government scorned his move as “a decision borne out of greed and selfishness.”
One of them described him as “an ingrate who betrayed a party on whose platform he got married in life as a lawmaker and on whose platform he gained all his material riches.”
The Northern Youths Consultative Forum for Justice (NYCJ) has urged Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State, citing a complete breakdown of governance, law, and order.
In a statement issued on Monday in Kano, NYCJ President Dr Sanusi Rano described the situation in Zamfara as “organised abandonment of duty” by elected officials.
“What we are witnessing in Zamfara is not governance. It is betrayal of the people,” Rano said, pointing to the absence of a functional state House of Assembly and allegations linking officials to criminal activities.
The group highlighted the suspension of 10 lawmakers who spoke out against the deteriorating security situation, arguing that their removal has left Zamfara without a legally recognised legislative body.
“This is a dictatorship of silence,” said Rano, adding that the lack of checks and balances has deepened the state’s crisis.
“The same hands that should protect Zamfara are profiting from its destruction,” Rano stated.
Calling for decisive action, the group demanded the appointment of a non-partisan administrator to rebuild the state’s institutions.
“If this is not done now, Zamfara risks becoming a permanent state of anarchy, which threatens our democracy,” Rano warned.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme of a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on Monday, sentenced the husband of late gospel singer, Osinachi, Peter Nwachukwu, to death by hanging.
Nwachukwu was found guilty of culpable homicide resulting in the death of the deceased ( his wife) on April 8, 2022.
The judge held that the prosecution had proven the burden of proof placed on it by the law and subsequently found the defendant guilty.
Nwachukwu was arraigned on June 3, 2022 by the Office of Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF), on behalf of the Federal Government, on a 23-count charge .
The charge was on culpable homicide punishable with death, criminal intimidation, cruelty to children, criminal intimidation of children, spousal battery, among others.
In the course of trial, the prosecution called 17 witnesses, including two children of the late Osinachi, who testified as fourth prosecution and fifth prosecution witnesses, PW4 and PW5 respectively.
The prosecution also tendered 25 documents as exhibits before the court.
The defendant testified for the defence and further called four other witnesses and tendered four exhibits in his defence.
Shortly before sentencing, the defendant, counsel , Reginald Nwali, in his allocutus pleaded with the court to be lenient in its judgment.
Similarly, the prosecution counsel, Mrs Aderonke Imala, urged the court to give force to the law as stipulated.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme subsequently sentenced Nwachukwu to death by hanging on Count 1, while he was sentenced to two years imprisonment each on Counts 2, 3, 8,9, 12, 13, and 18.
The court sentenced the defendant to six months imprisonment on Count 10, three years imprisonment in Count 11, while he was fined the sum of N500,000 and N200,000 respectively on Counts 6 and 7 respectively. (NAN)