Former Nigerian Ambassador to Zambia/Malawi, Folake-Marcus-Bello has lost farm products running into millions of naira, following a mysterious fire which gutted her farmland located on Onipepe axis of Obafemi-Owode local government area of Ogun State. The fire incident which occurred in the early hours of Tuesday ravaged the 10-hectare farmland known as Folake B Farm, destroying over 500 palm oil trees among other assets. The source of the fire at the farmland located along Siun-Sagamu-Abeokuta expressway was unknown as at the time of filing this report, and was said to have lasted for about four hours, before it was extinguished.…

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine says its forces hold out against Russia in battle for Soledar Ukraine said its troops were holding out against pro-Moscow forces in the eastern salt mining town of Soledar as more than 500 civilians including children were trapped there. In a video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday thanked two units in Soledar that he said "are holding their positions and inflicting significant losses on the enemy." He did not give more details. Zelenskiy said he and senior Ukrainian commanders analysed the need for reinforcements in Soledar and nearby towns in the eastern industrial area known…

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed into law the Mental Health Bill 2021 after two failed attempts at overhaul in 2003 and 2013. The bill, which was harmonised by both the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly in 2021, is the first legislative reform adopted in the field since the country’s independence, and will also replace the Lunacy Act of 1958. Chairman of Senate Committee on Health, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, confirmed the development in a post on his Twitter handle. Oloriegbe, who defeated the former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, during the 2019 general election, is a first-timer in the…

National industrial court has struck down a regulation of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), which forbids unmarried officers from getting pregnant. Pursuant to Regulation 127 of the Nigeria Police Force Regulation, a female officer who gets pregnant outside wedlock will be dismissed. BACKGROUND Omolola Olajide, an unmarried police corporal attached to Iye-Ekiti station, was sacked in 2021 for getting pregnant. Babatunde Mobayo, the state commissioner of police, had justified Olajide’s sack, saying the officer contravened section 127 of the police regulations. Following the sack, Olawale Fapohunda, Ekiti state attorney-general and commissioner for justice, instituted a lawsuit had before a federal…