The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Gbajabiamila may have distanced himself from the unpopular position of the Senate President as the House of Representatives today clarified that the Speaker did not oppose the southern governors’ calls for restructuring and ban on open grazing.

The House, in a statement issued on Friday by its spokesperson, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, insisted that the online and traditional media’s publication that the speaker is opposed to the southern governors’ call for restructuring is false and misleading.

Kalu, therefore, cautioned the media to be mindful of peddling false news in the bid to misinform the general public, saying this is misleading and detrimental to the country’s democracy.

The statement reads in bits ; “The attention of the House has been drawn to several publications on online and traditional media claiming that the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, is opposed to the southern governors’ call for restructuring.”

The spokesperson, however, restated the accurate reproduction of the statements made by Gbajabiamila.

“This is not a time for name-calling or blaming one person or the other. If truth be told, we all have equal shares in the blame and whatever challenges we have, we all must come together. In the same way we all have equal shares, we must all come together to make sure that we resolve whatever issues there are.

“Like I said earlier, the greatest nations have gone through challenges worse than this and I believe that it is that spirit of oneness and that spirit of togetherness and unity and love that will take us through this. You know sometimes there are many things that people have said here and there and you never know where these things are coming from.

“Sometimes God even puts you through challenges so that you can come out of it stronger, bigger, better, bolder. That’s what I believe is gonna happen to Nigeria. We’re all put together in this one geographical space for a reason. It wasn’t by happenstance or coincidence or by chance.

“It was ordained by Almighty God and He doesn’t make mistakes, He doesn’t go wrong. What He decrees is what will be and I believe He put us all together. No matter your religion, no matter your ethnicity, talking about over 250 ethnic groups in one country, it is that diversity that God had foreseen that I believe we should tap into as Nigerians.

“I have belief in the Nigerian resilience and in the Nigerian spirit; and in the spirit of Ramadan, we must continue to pray,” the Speaker had said.

Kalu stressed that it was clear to objective reason that nothing in the above statement opposes the southern governors’ call for restructuring.

He noted that Indeed, from the beginning of the 9th Assembly, the House under the leadership of Gbajabiamila has reiterated its commitment to a thorough review of the 1999 Constitution as can be seen by the composition and activities of the Constitutional Review Committee of the House.

The House, therefore, urged Nigerians to disregard this news and continue to pray for a peaceful Nigeria.

The Nigerian Army has arrested one of the most notorious bandit leaders terrorising communities in an operation in forests and other hideouts of bandits across three local government areas of Niger State

The bandit leader, popularly known as Jack Bros Yellow, was allegedly arrested from one of the forests between Shiroro and Rafi local government areas.

According to a reliable source , close to one of the communities said after his arrest, some other members of the gangs wreaking havoc on the people have gone into hiding.

The source further stated that , “Jack Bros Yellow is the leader of one of the three groups of bandits that are operating around Shiroro, Rafi and Munya local government areas.

“Jack Bros Yellow is among those who asked some communities to pay N3 million regular levy for peace to reign but when the money was paid, the other gang leaders short-changed him and his boys came and kidnapped about nine women from Galape village after Galkogo, Shiroro local government in January this year.”

“He demanded a ransom of N10 million for the release of those women, and they had been in his custody since that January 5th until his arrest last week, but we are yet to see the women.”

Jack Bros Yellow, it was further learnt has a link with some groups of bandits in Zamfara State where he purportedly keeps victims if ransom is not paid on time.

In another development, a housewife (name withheld) was said to have been kidnapped on Thursday and gang raped by a group of armed bandits in Suna village, Shiroro local government area.

The woman was abducted after leaving the Internally Displaced Persons’ camp in Zumba in search of some foodstuffs, and raped by five bandits in a nearby bush to a point of death and afterward abandoned her.

She was rescued and presently receiving medical treatment at the Minna General Hospital.

The insurgents have sent a demand notice to the village head to either pay a ransom of N28 million or lose the 52 captives in their custody.

Recall that many weeks after Boko Haram terrorists invaded Kwapre community in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State and made away with no fewer than 52 members of the area,

The terrorists, who are said to be emboldened by the proximity of the community to the dreaded Sambisa Forest and its inaccessibility by security agencies, have also threatened to be taking taxes from the community, which they now patrol with ease.

During the deadly attack on the community last month, the terrorists did not only kill 11 members of the village, but they also razed many houses and looted valuables belonging to the besieged community.

Our correspondent  gathered that majority of the captives are women and children whose parents, husbands and relatives are now wondering whether they are alive or dead, having not been seen since they were seized by the terrorists for over five weeks running.

Alarmed by the demand notice by the terrorists, the Village Head of Kwapre, Joel Kulaha, has sent a Save-Our-Soul plea to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Adamawa State Governor, Alhaji Fintiri, to come to the rescue of the people.

The village head lamented that they neither have the huge amount of money demanded by the terrorists nor know how to reach them for any form of negotiation to secure the release of their people from captivity.

The royal fathers called on the Governor to do everything possible towards securing the release of their relations, saying that their situation calls for concern and immediate intervention

The Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) , Prof. Is’aq Oloyede, has hinted that the board will decide if there is a need to extend the registration period and change the date of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Oloyede made this known in Friday at a zoom meeting titled, ‘Briefing session for the committees on 2021 UTME’.

Recall that the UTME had been slated to hold between June 5 and 19.

Oloyede, however, stated that the Mock examination would begin on May 20 as stipulated earlier.

The registrar explained that “Presently, we have 1.2million candidates that have registered but we expect 1.9million. 600,000 candidates had made attempt to register but because of NIN they could not. We want to do an appraisal of all the issues to know if we are extending registration or not.

According to him; “Extending registration may not be the solution if we found out that we can give 80 per cent of those who have made attempt another password, then there will be no need to extend registration.

“We have to determine where the problem is coming before we can say we are extending. After today, we will address the press tomorrow on the outcome of the meeting on the main examination date and registration. We want to assess what is happening.”

The zoom meeting had in attendance stakeholders who all stated their challenges while some others appreciated the innovations and transparency which Oloyede brought to the fore in the yearly conduct of UTME.