1. State governors are seeking greater constitutional authority over security operations within their domains and guaranteed funding arrangements for the proposed State Police Services, according to a report of a high-level strategic meeting involving state Attorneys-General, legal experts and senior security officials convened by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat in Abuja last week.
The report, contained in the NGF bulletin obtained by The PUNCH, provides one of the clearest frameworks yet for the establishment of state police in Nigeria, detailing proposals on operational powers, funding mechanisms, personnel management, oversight structures, and the relationship between federal and state policing institutions.
2. The Ondo State Police Command has begun an investigation into the death of a senior member of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Elder Omotayo Fajana, whose lifeless body was discovered in a hotel room in Akungba-Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of the state.
Fajana, 71, was in Akungba-Akoko for a church programme where he was scheduled to be installed as the Head Prayer Warrior Father (Baba Aladura) of Ogo Orimolade C&S Church, Okerigbo
3. The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr Fatai Tijani, has assured residents that a commercial area in Lagos, remains safe following a bomb explosion suspected to be an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, which triggered brief panic in the area. Tijani gave the assurance on Monday while addressing journalists at the scene of the incident at the Shoe Materials Market in Mushin, after security operatives carried out a comprehensive sweep of the environment.
4. The Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Southwest zone, DIG Adegoke Fayoade, on Monday assured that all security agencies are working to secure the release of schoolchildren and their teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State last month. He said their freedom was imminent.
5. A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday heard that former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai admitted, in a television interview, that he intercepted the phone conversations of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu. The second prosecution witness in El-Rufai’s ongoing trial, Deji Adeyanju, told the court that he was at the same television station, awaiting his turn to be interviewed on February 16, the day El-Rufai allegedly made the administration on the same station.
6. The Joint Task Force (North East), Operation HADIN KAI, OPHK, has recorded yet another significant humanitarian success with the rescue of 47 persons, mostly women and children who were held captive by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Kangarwa village, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Acting Media Information Officer Headquarters Joint Task Force North East Operation HADIN KAI, Captain Mohammed Goni stated this on Monday night.
7. The Ogun State Police Command has recovered the missing vehicle belonging to the former Ogun State Television broadcaster, Kitan Oyesiku, who was found dead alongside her security guard at her residence in Iyana Agodo Village, Ogun State.
The command disclosed this in a statement on Monday by its spokesperson, Oluseyi Babaseyi, noting that the vehicle, a Lexus RX300, was recovered by police operatives during a night operation as investigations into the deaths intensified
8. Nigerians living in the United Kingdom have praised the Federal Government over reforms in the country’s passport application process, saying the introduction of the contactless renewal system has dramatically cut waiting times from several months to as few as five days.
Speaking from different cities across the UK, diaspora Nigerians described the new system as a significant departure from what they called years of frustrating delays, long-distance travel, and bureaucratic bottlenecks that once defined the passport renewal experience abroad
9. The Federal Government has ordered a clampdown on marketers engaged in hoarding or diversion of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas following the recent surge in the price. The government directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, and other regulators to intensify market surveillance, investigate product hoarding and diversion, and sanction operators found manipulating the market.
10. The Naira opened the week stronger at the official market, trading at the N1,369.10 to a dollar on Monday. Data from the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that the Naira gained N1.34. This represents 0.09 per cent gain against the dollar when compared to the trading figure of N1,370.45 on Friday.
