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The immediate past FCT Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Tpl. Lami A. Ayuba, made several attempts beginning from April 26, 2024 to get approval for a courtesy visit to the FCT Minister, but was not granted. On February 3, 2025, when all attempts failed, she submitted a formal letter to the FCT Minister, detailing the dire consequences of conversions and redesign of green areas to mixed use/ estate/ residential and commercial uses.

Accordingly, she stressed that, most places designed as green areas may have certain physical, natural or man-made encumbrances that determine their designation to be reserved as green areas. These include serving as district storm drainage waterways. Any permanent development will block the storm ways and cause flooding with time. Some serve as paths for underground sewer lines. Any heavy construction over, will damage them underneath.

Some serve as paths for national grid power lines. Development cannot take place under power lines, due to the hazards and risks associated with them. Some of these areas have heavy rocks outcrops that are part of larger underground basement complex. Construction work on them can cause pseudo earth tremor around the area and expose other residents to the risks of building collapse. This was exactly what is already experienced in the Mpape area as we have previously discussed.

Other economic consequences of these conversions would be the refusal to grant building plan approvals as a result of the violations of development control standard and regulations. Certainly, the allottees are liable to losing the allocations in the event of change or reversal of government policies, and will be a colossal waste to the investors, who spent billions in the inappropriate land purchase. She ended the submission with the request for the reversal of these conversions in order to protect the environment, protect investors and assure the integrity of land tenure and administration in the FCT.

As previously discussed, the three principles of ‘environmental conservation’, ‘city beautiful’ and ‘functional city’ were adequately factored in the formulation of the Abuja Master Plan, in order to ensure the production of a new city much better by far than Lagos. What it means is that the violations of the plan would take us back to where we earlier belonged or even worst. This exactly is what we must avoid.

It was due to the significance of the landscaping components in city management and functionality that informed the master planners to devote 33 per cent of the total land budget of Abuja City for greening. Unfortunately, the wanton greed for land acquisition for material benefit overshadowed the minds of the people in authority to convert most of these provisions for other uses. The results are the dire consequences of the environmental challenges being unfolded, and could dramatically deteriorate if not addressed.

The repercussion of the violations can only emerge when the developments were effected. Already, even before the advanced implementation of the violated areas, the floods have started, in less than two years. Guzafe and Asokoro are neighbouring districts and are the epicenter of the latest waves of land use violations perpetrated by the current FCT Administration. They never experienced any floods similar to the one during the last heavy downpour about two weeks ago. The truth is more and more should be expected as the developments continue, if the violations are not reviewed.

It could be recalled that Trademore Estate along the Airport Road is notoriously known for constant floods recurrence with devastating consequences every year. If not addressed, the backlash of land use violations at Asokoro and Guzafe has the tendency of rendering the Trademore situation a child play.

Recounting the experience, areas along the airport road, running along Lokogoma District and Galadimawa, to areas constituting the Trademore estate and the other surrounding developments were bunch of violations of land uses with impunity. Due to the surrounding higher grounds, runoff as a result of torrential rainfall increase in speed and volume as it races along the smaller streams with humongous expansion in no time, with high speed to the lower grounds. Loss of lives and property are constant recurrence every raining season.

The natural ground has its in-built capacity for the absorption of the rain water through infiltration. This capacity is lost due to surface pavements, hence the astronomical increase in the surface runoffs. The natural solution is, no developments at all in areas constituting natural runways for precipitation. Hence the designations of such areas for green developments only. The wisdom was for the plants to aid absorption thereby minimising runoffs. And, in the absence of human residences no life is threatened in case of any emergency.

It is instructive to note that in almost all the areas where lives and property were lost as a result of floods, development were made in violations of the rules and regulations. In some instances some of the culprits with so-called high profile, would have the temerity to take legal actions against the Authority, to prevent enforcements. According to Gilbert White, ‘Floods are acts of God, but flood losses are largely acts of man.’

Armed bandits have reportedly abducted a mother and her two children in Egbe, Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The incident occurred at 2am on Friday when the gunmen invaded the house of one Tokpe Gody at Bareke-Egbe, and took away his wife and two of their children after sporadic shooting in the town.

It was gathered that the man sustained serious gunshot injuries while trying to escape.

Gody, a farmer, was said to be critically ill and on admission at Egbe hospital where he is receiving treatment. Locals said the family and the entire community members are gripped with fear as the kidnappers have not made any contact.

According to a resident of the community, Samuel Adeyemi, ‘Tokpe Gody escaped by whiskers from the invading bandits who struck his resident around 2am today Friday. But his wife and two of his children were not so lucky as the bandits forcibly carried them away to their hideout in the community.

‘He received gun wound in his body and legs in the process of trying to escape from his assailants. His condition is not stable as at this morning. He is an ordinary farmer who struggles to keep his family afloat amid the current challenges of today’s Nigeria.’

The incident came on the heels of another attack in the area, where a commercial motorcyclist, popularly known as Okada rider, was killed by bandits on Thursday in Ejiba community.

The Okada rider, whose identity was yet to be established, and with serial number 256 on his motorbike, was said to have been ambushed while riding along the Isanlu road.

According to a resident of Ejiba, Musliu Agabi, the bandits opened fire on the victim for refusing to stop after being flagged down.

Agabi said, ‘He was on a high speed when he rode into the ambush of his killers around 12 pm. For his inability to stop immediately, when he was flagged down, the bandits shot and killed him instantly.’

In a separate incident, a pastor and his wife were kidnapped by bandits on Wednesday along Egbe-Eruku Road on Wednesday while travelling to Illorin from Mopa.

It would be recalled that on September 10th 2025, gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in Egbe, killing three police officers. The same day, the bandits invaded a vigilante post located along Egbe-Eruku road towards Kwara State, killing two vigilante members.

The Kogi State police command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP William Aya, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.

A police officer, Mr Ezra John, attached to the Lade Division in the Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State, has been abducted.

The incident happened on Thursday morning while he was returning from night duty at the Patigi General Hospital to his base in Lade.

Residents, who came across his motorcycle abandoned by the roadside without any trace of him, immediately raised the alarm.

Police spokesperson in Kwara, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, confirmed the incident in a chat with Daily Trust.

She said, ‘We are aware of the incident, and effort is ongoing to unravel it and rescue him. He closed from night duty and was on his way back to his division when the incident happened.

‘According to the information we have, his motorcycle was seen by the roadside with no traces of him or his whereabouts. It happened around 6:20 am,’ she added.

Malam Garba Shehu, who served as spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari till he died in July, has countered ex-President Goodluck Jonathan who said the insurgents nominated Buhari as a mediator.

Speaking at the launch of ‘Scars: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum’, a book authored by former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor (rtd), Jonathan had said Boko Haram insurgents once chose Buhari to represent them in negotiations with the Federal Government.

Reflecting on the insurgency that defined much of his presidency, Jonathan said his administration had established several committees to explore options for peace with Boko Haram.

But responding after the story went viral, Shehu dismissed Jonathan’s claim, accusing the former President of targeting 2027 votes.

‘We are compelled to make a response to a terrible statement made on the late President Muhammadu Buhari by his predecessor in office, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to the effect that Boko Haram had nominated him to represent them in a dialogue with government.

‘If this is a campaign statement towards his bid for the presidency in 2027, we want to say to him that ‘Mr. Jonathan, you are making a false start.’

‘Muhammed Yusuf or Abubakar Shekau, the deceased leaders of the Boko Haram terrorist group, never nominated Muhammadu Buhari for any such role. In fact, Shekau routinely denounced and threatened Buhari, and their ideologies were in direct opposition.

‘In 2014, Muhammadu Buhari escaped a bomb attack on his life by Boko Haram in Kaduna, in which his personal staff suffered various degrees of injury. Buhari’s campaigns focused on fighting Boko Haram and restoring security to Nigeria whenever he became president, putting him in direct opposition to the terrorist group’s leader.

‘Contrary to the news making the rounds in those years that the radical Islamist extremist -Boko Haram had nominated General Muhammadu Buhari as the mediator between them and the Federal Government of Nigeria in the proposed peace talk, the retired Military General denied knowledge of his nomination.

‘In a statement issued by the then National Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Engr Buba Galadima, Buhari, the national leader of the CPC said he not aware of the appointment: ‘As at 10pm yesterday (Thursday) when I spoke with him, he said he has not even heard about it,’ Galadima said.

‘Continuing, the party secretary told reporters the ‘he (Buhari) said the whole thing to him, is just speculation. And since nobody has contacted him as a person for him to even know who is behind what, and what the motives of the whole exercise are, he would not speak to the press.’ He revealed that Buhari, the 2011 presidential candidate of the CPC, further told him that as an elder statesman and a patriotic Nigerian, he will continue to pray until peace and tranquillity return to Nigeria.’

Shehu explained that the claim which he described as ‘misleading information’ started after a faction of the terrorist group, possibly sponsored by Buhari’s opponents, staged a press conference in Maiduguri, Borno State, through a certain Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, who claimed to be the Boko Haram commander in charge of Southern and Northern Borno.

According to Shehu Abdulaziz had claimed that the sect would prefer Buhari; the late Bukar Abba Ibrahim; first Nigerian Minister of Petroleum; Shettima Ali Monguno, also late, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Insecurity in the North-East, Ambassador Gaji Gatimari, and other prominent members of the Borno Emirate to mediate between them and the federal government.

‘Abdulaziz was roundly condemned by the leaders of Boko Haram who claimed that he had ‘no mandate of their leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau,’ Shehu said.

Shehu ended by saying, ‘To win in 2027, Dr. Jonathan should look for a better story to tell Nigerians.’

Team Brady has declared its determination to defend the title at the sixth series of the second edition of the UIM E1 World Championship, scheduled for Saturday, October 4-5 in Lagos.

The highly anticipated event, presented by FirstBank, marks the first-ever African debut of the championship and will feature nine elite global racing teams, promising a thrilling contest on water.

Going into the Lagos series, Team Brady leads the standings with 135 points, narrowly ahead of Team Rafa (134 points), followed by Team Aoki (125 points) and Team Blue Rising (114 points)-a setup that heightens the intensity at the top of the leaderboard.

In a joint interview with newsmen after the unveiling of the team’s pilots, Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen expressed confidence in maintaining their dominance. The duo vowed to give ‘no breathing space’ to rivals in their quest to stay ahead.

Coleman, however, admitted the pressure of the moment, describing the Lagos contest as a crucial decider before the penultimate series in Miami on November 7, which will ultimately shape their championship ambitions.

‘It’s a challenge. But we are working very hard to just do our own job, take as many points as we can and then hopefully at the end of this race, but especially after the Miami race when the season is over, we hope to be on the top.

‘But, we need to, it’s a team sport, so we have plenty of guys working on the boat, being on the break wall as a strategic team,’ he said.

Kimiläinen added that E1 racing is unpredictable, hoping her and co-pilot plans yield remarkable results.

‘We’re actually not probably doing anything differently, so we trust ourselves, we definitely know what we’re doing, but everything just needs to go as planned and that’s what E1 is all about, it never goes as planned.

‘It’s just super difficult, quite stressful, a lot of things happening, there’s super many other great talents around, we have competitive teams, drivers, and yeah, so it’s always a challenge, but we love it,’ she said.

Rohingya Muslims pleaded with the international community at the first United Nations high-level meeting on the plight of the ethnic minority to prevent the mass killings taking place in Myanmar and to help those in the persecuted group lead normal lives.

‘This is a historic occasion for Myanmar, but this is long overdue,’ Wai Wai Nu, the Rohingya founder and executive director of the Women´s Peace Network-Myanmar, told ministers and ambassadors from many of the U.N.´s 193-member nations in the General Assembly Hall.

The Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar have suffered decades of displacement, oppression and violence, while seeing no action in response to determinations that they are victims of genocide, she said. ‘That cycle must end today,’ Wai Wai Nu said.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya Muslim minority to be ‘Bengalis’ from Bangladesh, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982.

In August 2017, attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel triggered a brutal campaign by the military that drove at least 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. The military is accused of mass rape, killings and burning villages, and the scale of its operation led to accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community, including the U.N.

U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi, who recently visited Myanmar, told the high-level meeting on Tuesday that Bangladesh is now hosting close to 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, and since fighting reignited in Rakhine in 2024 between the military and the Arakan Army, an additional 150,000 have sought safety in the neighbouring country.

(Left Foot Forward)

The Arakan Army, the well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority, which seeks autonomy, now controls almost all of Rakhine state, Grandi said, and the situation of the Rohingya there has not improved.

They still face discrimination, the burning of their villages, exclusion from work, a ban on moving freely, restricted education and health care and the threat of arrest, he said. ‘They are subjected to forced labour and forced recruitment,’ and ‘their lives are defined every day by racism and fear,’ Grandi said.

Rofik Huson, founder of the Arakan Youth Peace Network, told the assembly that despite decades of persecution, the Rohingya´s ‘deepest wish’ is to live in their ancestral homeland, Myanmar, in peace and security.

Maung Sawyeddollah, founder of the Rohingya Student Network, speaking in an impassioned voice, said that without self-determination for the Rohingya and international protection in Rakhine, there can be no lasting peace. ‘The U.N. must mobilize resources to empower Rohingya,’ he told world leaders.

I’m seeing loads of fancy graphics on our Independence all over the internet. 65 years ago, the day the colonial flags came down and ours went up, signalling our independence. But are we truly independent?

With all the American, British, and Chinese curricula used to raise our children, leading to the mass export of our young, are we independent?

With the heavy dependence on Western non-state actors as policy consultants, plugged into our policy development framework, are we independent?

With the constant dependence on Western healthcare systems by the elites who prioritize their health over the citizens who may never know the road to the closest airport, are we independent?

With an economy fully dependent on foreign exchange, are we independent?

With the abandonment of our natural seeds, and an aggressive push for foreign-patented hybrid and GMO seeds that will create a life-long dependency on the West for staple food, are we independent?

With the constant running after international loans, conditioned on the promotion of Western policies and agendas in Nigeria, are we independent?

With the deliberate underfunding of our universities, making foreign schools the inevitable choice for the elite, are we independent?

With local research underfunded and full dependency on international donor funding to advance the trade and policies of the donors – policies that negatively impact our society – are we independent?

With media narratives on Africa largely shaped by Western outlets, while our own journalists are made to echo those same voices, destroying our image home and abroad, are we independent?

With our mineral wealth flowing abroad to power foreign industries, while our youths remain unemployed at home, are we independent?

With our foreign-trained technocrats designing policies to please global institutions rather than serve local realities, are we independent?

With our land turned into experimental fields for Western agribusiness giants, while our farmers lose control of the very seeds of life, are we independent?

With our borders open to import what we can grow, while shutting out what we can create, are we independent?

With a middle class reduced to survival mode through brain drain and economic strangulation, are we independent?

Independent but desiring independence. Sovereign, yet bound by loans and foreign policies injected into our systems ourselves.

Our independence cannot be measured by the lowering of a flag in 1960, but by our ability to stand, to think, to feed, to heal, and to govern ourselves on our own terms. True independence means food sovereignty, policy sovereignty, economic sovereignty, and cultural sovereignty.

Precious Aroh, a student at Corona School, Gbagada, Lagos, has brought global recognition to Nigeria by being named a Best Finalist in the 18th Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.

Precious was selected from a staggering pool of over 660,000 contestants worldwide and was awarded a prize of $3,000 from Toyota Motor Corporation.

The award was presented to Precious, her parents, and school representatives in Lagos by the Managing Director of Toyota Nigeria Limited (TNL), Mr. Kunle Ade-Ojo.

A Visionary Masterpiece: The ‘Virus Vacuum’

Precious’s winning submission, titled ‘Virus Vacuum,’ is a powerful concept car designed to create a healthier world.

‘My dream car is called Virus Vacuum, the dream car of clean air,’ Precious explained. ‘It has special suction vents on top that pull harmful viruses out of the air. Once inside the car, the viruses are destroyed, leaving clean, safe, and fresh air for people to breathe. The car is my dream for a healthier world, a car that not only carries people but also cares for people and heals the environment.’

Mr. Ade-Ojo praised the young artist’s ingenuity, stating, ‘Precious’s exceptional artistry and vision have once again placed Nigeria on a global stage. Her winning masterpiece is a powerful concept that imagines a world free of illness and viruses like Covid-19. She has shown profound empathy and a brilliant imagination, turning a compelling idea into an outstanding creation. She has made Nigeria, Toyota Nigeria Limited, and her school incredibly proud.’

Precious will use the $3,000 prize money, which is designated for educational pursuits, to buy books, art materials, and digital learning tools that will help her improve her creativity and knowledge.

In addition to the prize money, Precious received a commemorative shield from Toyota Motor Corporation, along with a certificate and a trophy from Toyota Nigeria Limited.

The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is a global Corporate Social Responsibility initiative by Toyota Motor Corporation, aimed at inspiring children to imagine a future car and, in doing so, foster a creative and caring mindset towards the planet.

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has launched the distribution of the ‘Renewed Hope Mother-Baby Kits Initiative’ and the ‘Abuja Breathe Fresh Air Project’, aimed at improving maternal health and household air quality.

FCT Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, inaugurated the two projects on Wednesday at Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja, as part of activities marking Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary.

Mahmoud explained that the initiatives, tagged ‘Wike Renewing Hope: One Baby at a Time, One Home at a Time,’ were being implemented in collaboration with IHS Nigeria.

She described them as a holistic approach to healthcare and environmental sustainability, protecting mothers and newborns during childbirth while reducing the dangers of household air pollution.

‘No woman should face childbirth without the tools and support she needs, and no child should begin life without adequate care,’ she said.

According to her, the free Mother-Baby Kits contain essential medical supplies and consumables to support safe labour, delivery, and neonatal care across the FCT.

Highlighting the environmental aspect, Mahmoud described the Abuja Breathe Fresh Air Project as a ‘bold, forward-looking’ initiative to reduce indoor air pollution in vulnerable households.

Earlier, Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe, Mandate Secretary, FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, decried the country’s persistently high maternal and infant mortality rates.

Critical assessments of Nigeria’s democratic trajectory at 65 have continued, with the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) warning of a deepening decline and insisting that the moment is no cause for celebration.

Delivering a state of the nation address in Abuja on Thursday, CHRICED Executive Director, Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, said the country is ‘haemorrhaging politically, economically, and socially.’

‘Ministers and governors have turned to campaigners, ignoring the crises ravaging the land. INEC, constitutionally mandated to enforce electoral laws, has chosen silence. That silence is complicity,’ he added.

Calling for urgent reforms, he demanded an end to premature campaigning, full implementation of electoral laws, protection of civic space, and transparent investigations of corruption allegations ‘without fear or favour’.

The CHRICED leader also renewed calls for Abuja to be recognised as Nigeria’s 37th state to restore dignity and political representation to its indigenous people.