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How I was attacked, robbed by Delta shuttle driver – Lagos lawyer
A Lagos-based lawyer and Notary Public, Ifenyinwa Christopher, has narrated how she was almost blinded by a shuttle driver who also robbed her of her possessions, including her mobile phone and money, along the Asaba–Benin Expressway in Delta State.
Christopher recounted her ordeal in an exclusive interview with Ekwutosblog Metro on Sunday.
The lawyer said she had travelled to Asaba to attend a burial ceremony scheduled to be held on Saturday.
She explained that she had gone out to buy some items on Friday when she chartered the shuttle bus in the airport area of the state, unaware that the driver was armed with a gun.
According to her, as the journey progressed and they reached the Ogwashi-Uku area, the driver suddenly brought out a gun, pointed it at her, and ordered her to drop everything she had on her.
She narrated, “On December 19, I chartered a shuttle around 8 p.m. While we were on the road around Ogwashi-Uku, he suddenly stopped and brought out a gun. He also started hitting me and asked me to put my head down. The entire area was dark, and there was nobody in sight.
“After collecting everything I had with me, he threatened to kill me and said that I was not as strong as those he had killed in the past. He also bites my eyelids. I begged him to let me come down, but he refused, so I kicked the door open and jumped down.
“When he realised that I had jumped down, he reversed the vehicle and ran over me twice. When he ran over me the second time, I jumped onto the expressway and he drove away.”
Christopher said she struggled to crawl into a nearby bush and hid there until daybreak on Saturday, when some villagers, alongside policemen from Akwukwu-Igbo, saw her and rescued her to a government hospital in the area.
She added, “I sustained injuries to my back and my eyes, so I crawled into the bush where I hid until daybreak. When day broke, I crawled back to the expressway, where some villagers and policemen took me to the hospital.
“The policemen told me that they had been receiving reports of armed robberies by shuttle drivers in that area.”
She urged the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Delta State Government to urgently look into the matter and address the security situation along the Asaba–Benin Expressway.
“The non-availability of traffic lights or police posts and checkpoints along the long stretches of the Asaba–Benin Expressway in Delta State made the robbery attack inside the shuttle easy.
“This incident underscores the need for the Delta State Government to ensure adequate security measures along the expressway. I also appeal to the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe, to look into this matter.
“Moreover, the robber stated that he robs and kills regularly on the road and that he would kill me and nothing would happen,” Christopher said.
When contacted on Sunday, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, said he would find out about the incident and get back to our correspondent.
He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
The Asaba-Benin Expressway has become notorious for robberies and kidnappings.
Ekwutosblog reported on June 6, 2022, that the Delta State Police Command gunned down three suspected kidnappers/armed robbers in the state.
Edafe had stated that on June 5, 2022, at about 12:35 pm, operatives of the Command’s Rapid Response Squad, while on an undercover anti-crime patrol along the Asaba/Benin expressway, some armed hoodlums suspected to be kidnappers, numbering about five, suddenly emerged from the bush at the Umunede area.
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PRP Calls For Tinubu’s Impeachment If Linked To Alleged Tax Law Manipulation
In a press statement issued on Monday, and signed by its National chairman, Falalu Bello, the opposition party accused the executive arm of government of tampering with tax bills after they had been approved by lawmakers, describing the alleged actions as a serious threat to constitutional order.
The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has called for the immediate suspension of Nigeria’s recently enacted tax laws and warned that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should face impeachment if found culpable in what it described as unlawful alterations to legislation passed by the National Assembly.
In a press statement issued on Monday, and signed by its National chairman, Falalu Bello, the opposition party accused the executive arm of government of tampering with tax bills after they had been approved by lawmakers, describing the alleged actions as a serious threat to constitutional order.
PRP said, “The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) is deeply alarmed and condemns the blatant executive misconduct and flagrant disregard for constitutional sovereignty exhibited by the current administration in the recent manipulation of Nigeria’s tax laws.”
The party referenced claims by a member of the House of Representatives that bills were altered without legislative consent, stating that the disclosure “showed that the executive arm has clandestinely altered bills after passage by the National Assembly without legislative approval.”
The PRP described the alleged conduct as “a dangerous pattern of executive impunity that threatens the very foundations of Nigeria’s democracy and due process.”
“This audacious act of executive dishonesty, characterized by the insertion, deletion, and modification of substantive provisions post-passage legislation, underscores a reckless disdain for the rule of law, separation of powers, and the constitutional order,” the party said.
Condemning the actions as illegal, the party said, “The PRP condemns this act as not only illegal but as a direct attack on the independence of the legislature and the constitutional rights of Nigerians to transparent and accountable governance.”
The PRP called for an investigation into the matter, urging authorities to identify those responsible.
“In light of these grave developments, the PRP calls for a comprehensive and transparent investigation of these alterations and additions to the already passed Act of Parliament to identify and punish all those responsible for this egregious misconduct,” it said.
The party also raised the possibility of impeachment proceedings against the president if evidence links him to the alleged manipulation.
“If evidence emerges implicating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in these illegal manipulations, the PRP calls for his impeachment without delay. No individual, including the President, should be above the law,” it said.
Central to its demands, the PRP insisted on halting the enforcement of the tax laws, saying, “Furthermore, we demand the immediate suspension of the implementation of the disputed tax laws until all discrepancies, particularly the conflicts between the laws passed by the National Assembly and those gazette, are thoroughly examined, resolved, and rectified.”
The party warned it would seek legal action if the issue is not addressed, noting, “Should this matter not be addressed promptly, the PRP will have no choice but to seek judicial intervention.”
Emphasizing the broader implications, the PRP said, “The PRP emphasizes that the rule of law and constitutional integrity must take precedence. Until these issues are resolved, the suspension of the tax laws is imperative to prevent further damage to Nigeria’s democratic fabric and economic stability.”
The statement called on Nigerians and institutions to resist what it described as constitutional violations, declaring, “The PRP affirms that no government, regardless of political inclination, is above the law.”
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Oyedele addresses claims of altered tax laws
The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has addressed the controversy that the recently enacted tax reform laws, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, were secretly altered after their passage by the National Assembly.
This follows the demand by civil society organisations, and lawmakers for an independent probe into the purported discrepancies.
Oppositions like a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had also called for the suspension of the laws’ implementation.
The matter started last week when a member of the House of Representatives, Abdulsamad Dasuki, raised concerns, alleging discrepancies between the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the versions later gazetted and made available to the public.
Dasuki argued that the differences amounted to a breach of lawmakers’ legislative rights, insisting that the gazetted versions did not reflect what was debated and approved on the floor of the House.
However, speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, Oyedele dismissed claims circulating in the media as false.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed,” Oyedele said.
“The official harmonised bills certified by the clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what was sent.
“It should be the House of Representatives or Senate version. It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even me, I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign,” he added.
Oyedele said he contacted the House of Representatives committee over a controversial provision, Section 41(8), which reportedly required the payment of a 20 per cent deposit.
“I know that particular provision is not in the final gazette, but it was in the draft gazette. Some people decided that they should write the report of the committee before the committee had met, and it had circulated everywhere,” he said.
According to him, the committee informed him that it had not met on the issue.
“What is out there in the media did not come from the committee set up by the House of Representatives. I think we should allow them do the investigation,” Oyedele added.
President Bola Tinubu recently signed four tax reform bills into law, which the Federal Government has described as the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s tax system in decades.
The laws — the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act — are to operate under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
The reforms, which faced opposition from some federal lawmakers, particularly from the northern part of the country, before their passage, are aimed at simplifying tax compliance, expanding the tax base, eliminating overlapping taxes, and modernising revenue collection across the federal, state and local governments.
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Russian general killed by car bomb in Moscow, officials say
A Russian general has been killed in a car bombing in Moscow, officials have said.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov died on Monday morning after an explosive device planted under a car detonated.
Sarvarov, 56, was the head of the armed forces’ operational training department, the committee added.
It said one theory being investigated was that the bomb was planted with the involvement of Ukrainian intelligence services. Ukraine has not commented.
Sarvarov died in hospital as a result of his injuries, the committee said, adding it had opened an investigation into murder and illegal trafficking of explosives.
Investigators have been sent to the scene, in a car park near an apartment block in the south of Russia’s capital.
Images from the area show a badly damaged white car with the doors blown out, surrounded by other vehicles in a parking lot.
According to Russian media, Sarvarov previously took part in combat operations during the Ossetian-Ingush conflict and the Chechen wars in the 1990s and early 2000s, and also led operations in Syria between 2015-2016.
Vladimir Putin was informed of Sarvarov’s death as soon as it happened, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a number of military officials have been targeted in the Russian capital.
Gen Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow in April, while Gen Igor Kirillov died in December 2024 when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely.
A Ukrainian source later told the BBC that Kirillov was killed by Ukraine’s security service, though this was never confirmed on the record. As a matter of policy, Ukraine never officially admits or claims responsibility for targeted attacks.
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