• Cautions against ethnic profiling, slurs

The United Kingdom has cautioned against divisive statements and ethnic slurs in relations to Lagos and other major cities in Nigeria.

British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, said on Sunday that such ethnic profiling and attacks on people living in major cities like would only impede the growth of the area.

Indeed, he said the strength and beauty of Lagos lie in its blend of culture and religion and should be recognised as a cosmopolitan city.

He spoke in an interview with Nigeria Info FM, a Lagos-based radio station.

A few days to the Lagos governorship election, divisive statements and ethnic slurs were rife on and off social media.

Llewellyn-Jones noted that the growth of Lagos as many mega cities around the world had recorded huge strides because of their diversity of human capital.

He said, “If you live in London, you are a Londoner, a British-Pakistan, is a Londoner. The British Prime Minister lives in London. My boss, the British foreign Secretary is clearly British-Sierra Leone and lives in London, they are Londoners.

“Why is it that people who pay taxes, who work, who provide teachers, who built businesses, who create jobs, who live in Lagos, who happen to be from a different ethnicity to some other people are not Lagosians? Of course, they are. The strength of Lagos is its diversity, and if Lagos can’t be that kind of cosmopolitan melting pot of culture and language and all the things it should be, then really how is Lagos going to succeed?”

He also said, “People chanting anti-Igbo messages and walking on the streets by polling units on elections day is totally unacceptable. Not just in Lagos, but also in Enugu and Rivers were we had our teams as well and many other places.

“It was a very much tougher day for voters which shouldn’t be. But we saw people vote in spite of that, which is truly impressive about the elections.”

“I think the right question to people who have been driving these ethnic kind of languages would be, when you go to cities around the world like London, what do you see when you see the success of those places? Because the success of those places are not built upon division but upon unity.

“I think that people who are still using that kind of language should stop, and the party they represent should be saying to them ‘stop now, this is not in our name and you are wrong’.”

Special Operation by troops of ‘Operation Hadin Kai’ North East in collaboration with Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) has stormed the hideout of ISWAP terrorists in Dikwa Local Government Area of Borno State, killing 41 of the terrorists including a Commander, Abu Zahra while others flee for their lives.

This is coming less than 24 hours when Troops of 222 Battalion, Operation Hadin Kai succeeded and killed several members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the North East of Konduga local government area in Borno state, which triggered wild jubilations by residents.

An Intelligence Source has said, which has also been confirmed by a counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama on Sunday morning.

The Ogun state Police Command has arrested a man, 43, Abiodun Oladapo, for allegedly impregnating his 19 years old daughter.

The suspect was arrested following a complaint lodged at Mowe Divisional Headquarters by one Oluwatoyin Idowu, who reported that her son Michael Idowu was wrongly accused of impregnating the victim, and that she has properly interrogated her son and discovered that the victim was not saying the truth.

According to Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) SP Abimbola Oyeyemi,” upon the report, the victim, who is five months pregnant was invited, and when she got to the station, she confided in the police that though Michael Idowu slept with her in December 2022, it was her father Abiodun Oladapo, who is responsible for her pregnancy.

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“She stated further that her father had been sleeping with her since February 2022 with threat to kill her if she informed anybody about it.

“According to the victim, when it was discovered that she is pregnant, her father asked her to lie against Michael Idowu, of being responsible for the pregnancy.

“Upon her confession, DPO Mowe division, SP Folake Afeniforo, detailed detectives to go after the randy father, and he was subsequently arrested.

On interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime but blamed it on the devil.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect who had long separated with the victim’s mother took custody of the girl when her mother remarried and they have been living together since then”.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police, CP Frank Mba, has directed that the suspect be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments for further investigation and possible prosecution.