News
APC elders press for Meranda’s resignation! *Obasa-led clerk, chased out of complex
The mild drama, which reportedly ensued at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Wednesday when Olalekan Onafeko, suspended Clerk attempted to resume duty but was denied access to his office, has opened another page in the crisis rocking that arm of government.
Onafeko, who was removed on January 13, in the heat of the impeachment proceedings of Mudashiru Obasa, was said to have arrived at the Assembly Complex around 9 a.m., accompanied by his lawyer, security personnel, and individuals said to be DSS operatives.
The move was seen as a precursor to the return of the “impeached” former Speaker to his seat, following underground moves by some elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including, Bisi Akande, and Olusegun Osoba, former Governor of Ogun State, to broker a truce in the protracted crisis, in the Assembly, currently on indefinite recess.
It was gathered that intervention could lead to the resignation of Mojisola Meranda, elected Speaker last month in place of Obasa, to pave the way for the lawmaker representing Agege constituency as the head of the legislature, a position he has held for the past 10 years.
The meeting held at the Lagos State House, Marina, where the APC elders were said to have applied pressure, was reportedly attended by Sanwo-Olu, Governor of the state Obafemi Hamzat, his deputy.
An eyewitness, who observed the drama at the Assembly, spoke of how the embattled Clerk was reportedly turned back, saying: “The suspended clerk was advised by the Assembly’s lawyer to leave the premises peacefully, as the matter is already before the court.”
A viral video captured Assembly staff jeering and booing as Onafeko was escorted out, chanting slogans expressing discontent over his presence.
Kushoro Idowu, Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the Assembly in a statement, titled: Unauthorized Entry into the Lagos State House of Assembly Premises by Suspended Clerk, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko,” berated the officer for the action.
The statement, read: “The Lagos State House of Assembly condemns the unauthorised and forceful entry of suspended Clerk, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, into the premises following his suspension by a two-thirds majority of House members.
“It was on record that he arrived with unknown individuals, blocked the Assembly staff gate with his car at approximately 9 a.m., and attempted to break into the Clerk’s office.
“This act of defiance disregards legislative protocols and security regulations. The House leadership views this as an affront to the integrity of the institution and will take necessary steps to uphold discipline and order.
“Since Olalekan Onafeko has already filed a lawsuit against the Assembly, the Acting Clerk, and the Lagos State Government, he should focus on the legal process instead of disrupting activities in the Assembly.
“The appropriate authorities have been informed, and necessary measures are being taken to prevent further security breaches.”
Justice M. N. Esowe of the National Industrial Court in Lagos had earlier ruled in Onafeko’s favor, ordering the removal of Ottun Babatunde as Acting Clerk while reinstating Onafeko.
Specifically Esowe, while granting an ex parte application filed by Onafeko through Yusuf Nurudeen, his lawyer directed the order against the Lagos State Government, Lagos State Civil Service Commission, Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission, Speaker of the Assembly, Attorney-General of Lagos State, Acting Clerk, Ottun Babatunde.
The court had restrained the aforementiond from appointing or recognising any individual—including Babatunde—as Clerk, pending the hearing of the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.
Esowe, who scheduled the matter for hearing on March 3, 2024, had in the order of February 20, declared: “That both parties shall maintain peace and the status quo ante bellum until the motion on notice is heard and determined.”
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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