NEWS
Independence Day attack on Ukraine train station kills at least 22
Russian shelling of the Chaplyne train station in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region killed at least 22 people on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Five of the dead were recovered from a car on the railway track and search and rescue operations are ongoing, Zelensky said in an evening video address.
More than 50 people were injured in the shelling, according to earlier information. It is not possible to independently verify the details.
“Chaplyne is our pain today,” Zelensky said.
The attack came on the same day Ukraine marked 31 years of independence and the six-month mark since Russia began its invasion.
“It’s almost night, our main day, Independence Day of Ukraine, is coming to an end. But our independence does not end and will never end,” he said.
Train stations and rail infrastructure have been repeatedly hit during the war. In April, at least 57 died in an attack on the Kramatorsk station in the eastern Donbass region.
Russia attacked neighbouring Ukraine on Feb. 24 but after failing to make advances on the capital Kiev, Moscow pulled back to concentrate on taking the separatist-dominated areas in the east and the south of the country.
The war is not leaving any part of Ukraine untouched. Elsewhere in Dnipropetrovsk, an 11-year-old child was killed by Russian shelling on Wednesday, according to local officials.
READ ALSO: I remain APC `disciplined soldier’ – Buhari
On the day Ukrainians celebrate breaking free of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukrainian authorities reported attacks in several locations across the country, including the Khmelnytskyi region in the west and Zhytomyr region in the north.
While air raid sirens wailed throughout the day in Ukraine, leaders around the world demanded Russia halt the war and reiterated calls for a monitoring mission to be allowed to access a major nuclear plant.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said he had little hope for an early end to the war.
“Despite progress on the humanitarian front, fighting in Ukraine shows no signs of ending – with new potential areas of dangerous escalation appearing,” he told the UN Security Council in New York.
“Today marks a sad and tragic milestone,” he said. “Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, including hundreds of children.”
“The world has seen grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed with little to no accountability,” he said.
He also warned of the potential for catastrophe at the embattled Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and urged an expert mission to the site, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhya plant, the largest nuclear site in Europe, since March, but attacks near the facility have escalated in recent weeks.
Several others echoed these concerns at the UN meeting.
“The past months we have seen an emerging risk of nuclear calamity in Europe.
“It is deplorable that we even need to say that a nuclear power plant should never be used as a military base,” the European Union’s UN ambassador Silvio Gonzato said.
Gonzato called on Moscow to allow an international team of experts onto the site.
An IAEA mission to check on the sprawling plant’s critical safety and control systems is supported in principle by all sides but it has not yet received the final approval from the warring parties amid disagreement over its details, including the route the experts would take.
Zelensky proposed that Russia transfer control of the Zaporizhzhya plant to the IAEA, in his address to the UN Security Council via video link.
Russia must unconditionally cease its “nuclear blackmail” and completely withdraw from the plant in southern Ukraine, he added, as he also stressed the importance of fighting off Russia’s invasion in a global context.
If Russia is not stopped now, Zelensky said, “Russian killers will probably end up in other countries – in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America.”
He added: “Russia must be held accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.”
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden announced it would provide 2.98 billion dollars of weapons and equipment.
The U.S. has now committed more than 13.5 billion billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Biden took office.
Washington’s representative at the UN meanwhile expressed the U.S. determination to maintain Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“Let’s be clear: the international community will never recognize Russia’s attempts to change Ukraine’s borders by force,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council.
With the commencement of the rainy season, the Osun State Government has issued modalities for the operations of tractors across farmlands in Osun State.
The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon Tola Faseru, according to a government house statement on Monday in Osogbo, confirmed the development.
Faseru said interested farmers should reach out to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry or the General Manager of Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEC) through virtual or physical applications.
He noted that the government was subsidizing the operational rate per acre to lower the cost of farm operations, explaining further that the tractors will be domiciled at the OSSADEC farm centre located across the state.
ALSO READ: Edo Considers Arresting Sponsors Of Armed PDP Thugs
Faseru pointed out that some of the tractors were already in operation in some farmlands, and noted that the ministry was working to set up technical centres at designated locations for maintenance of the tractors.
He narrated further that tractor drivers are being assembled, trained and retrained for seamless operation even as he explained that the administration adopted a public private partnership approach for the management of the tractors.
“We are happy to inform the public that the tractors are out for the rainy season. We are conscious of the question of sustainability, hence the careful approach to inject private sector practices.
“In 14 or so years, this is the first time Osun is having new fleet of tractors. We have learnt from what caused the failure of the past efforts. We won’t repeat the same mistakes.
“We know we are not there yet. But Governor Adeleke has blazed the trail by procuring the first set of tractors. We innovated also because of ongoing issues at the local government level.
“We don’t want it to be managed in unsustainable manner. Hence, Mr Governor insisted the tractors be managed like a business although with public subsidy”, the Commissioner posited.
He stated that the ministry is reaching out to stakeholders among the farming community to ensure accelerated access for users within the state.
Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking an order to stop the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from selling off properties confiscated from her.
Alison-Madueke, through her legal team led by Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), also requested the court to compel the EFCC to recover any assets already auctioned.
She accused the anti-graft agency of violating her fundamental right to a fair hearing, arguing that the sales were conducted without due legal process.
READ ALSO: Court Backs Diezani&’s Request To Amend Lawsuit Over EFCC’s Asset Forfeiture
She claimed the EFCC relied on final forfeiture orders obtained from various courts but failed to serve her with any charges, proof of evidence, or court summons regarding the seized properties.
According to her, the forfeiture orders were secured through “misstatements, misrepresentations, non-disclosure, concealment, and suppression of material facts.”
“In many cases, the final forfeiture orders were made against properties which affected the Applicant’s interest, the courts were misled into making the final order of forfeiture against the Applicant, based on suppression or non-disclosure of material facts,” she stated.
The former minister further argued that the courts which issued the forfeiture orders lacked jurisdiction and failed to respect her constitutional right to a fair hearing.
She insisted that she was outside Nigeria for medical treatment since 2015 and had no access to Nigerian newspapers where the forfeiture notices were reportedly published.
Alison-Madueke also maintained that she had not been convicted of any crime, making the forfeiture and subsequent sale of her properties unjustifiable.
“Only a court of law can declare an act as constituting unlawful activities and there was no such order that had declared the alleged conduct of the Applicant to be unlawful,” she argued.
In a counter-affidavit, the EFCC insisted that the properties were lawfully forfeited following extensive investigations into Alison-Madueke’s tenure as a public official.
The agency cited two criminal cases against her, including suit FHC/ABJ/CR/208/2018 filed in November 2018 and HC/ADYL/56c/2017 filed in July 2017.
The EFCC stated that the asset sales were conducted based on final forfeiture orders issued by Justices C.A. Obiozor and I.N. Oweibo in 2019.
It maintained that all necessary legal procedures were followed, including public notices in newspapers inviting interested parties to contest the forfeitures.
“The final forfeiture orders pursuant to which the sale of the properties was conducted are still in force and have not been set aside. The forfeited properties were disposed of in accordance with the due process of law,” the agency stated.
During Monday’s proceedings, Alison-Madueke’s lawyer, Godwin Iyibor, requested additional time to respond to the EFCC’s counter-affidavit, which was served on March 14. EFCC’s counsel, Divine Okoro, acknowledged delays in filing but assured the court of the agency’s commitment to the case.
Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the matter to March 27 for a definite hearing, warning that no further delays would be entertained. “The case has been pending since 2023,” the judge noted.
Alison-Madueke’s legal battle with the EFCC also includes a separate ₦100 billion defamation lawsuit against the agency.
In that suit, she alleged that the EFCC had authored and sponsored publications portraying her as a treasury looter, which she claimed subjected her to “public ridicule, odium, contempt, derision, and obloquy.”
Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, has issued a three-month ultimatum to individuals who purchased houses in Kwankwasiyya, Amana, and Bandirawo cities, warning that failure to either occupy or rent them out will lead to revocation and reallocation.
The directive was announced on Monday during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed Commissioner for Housing Development, Ibrahim Adamu, a former Managing Director of the Kano Urban Property Development Authority.
READ MORE: EFCC Re-Arrests Popular Kano TikToker For Naira Abuse
Governor Yusuf expressed concern over the large number of vacant houses in these estates, which were developed during the administration of former Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso and later sold to private buyers.
Many of the homes, however, remain unoccupied, raising fears of deterioration and potential security threats.
“We are giving all those who purchased houses in these cities, especially Kwankwasiyya and Amana, an ultimatum—either occupy them or rent them out. If not, the government will revoke the allocation and sell them to those willing to live in them,” the governor declared.
He emphasized that his administration would not allow these estates to become hideouts for criminals, stressing the need to maximize available housing to address the state’s accommodation challenges.
Governor Yusuf also tasked the new Commissioner for Housing Development with tackling Kano’s housing deficit, reaffirming that the ministry was created to address both urban and rural housing needs.
Additionally, he commended the Kano State House of Assembly for their support and cooperation in governance.
Osun Issues Guidelines For Tractor Operations
‘You Stole My Asake Post’ – Media Strategist Calls Out Nollywood Actress Dayo Amusa
BREAKING: NNPC Champions Effective Use Of Host Community Funds For Niger Delta’s Sustainable Development
Dangote Revives Olokola Free Trade Zone, Resumes $800m Cement Factory In Ogun
Stop EFCC From Selling My Assets – Diezani Tells Court
