Nigerian health officials have cautioned against consuming locally-made drinks believed to contribute to the spread of cholera, which has claimed over 60 lives in the country this year. The drinks are often produced by unlicensed traders who often use untreated water.
The worsening violence in northeast of the country has left internally displaced persons in Borno state stranded in temporary accommodations. Recent bomb attacks have further complicated their hopes of returning home, prolonging their displacement.
Mr Jalingo, who publishes an online newspaper, CrossRiverWatch, was prosecuted by the Nigeria police over a 30 June 2022 Facebook post in which he alleged that Alami Ayade, the wife to the younger brother of the former governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, contracted someone to write law examination for her at the Nigerian Law School, Abuja.
The article was also published on CrossRiverWatch, the police said.
The police arrested Mr Jalingo in August 2022 after laying siege for hours at his Lagos residence.
Mr Jalingo was arraigned in 2023 before Justice Zainab Abubakar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who remanded him at the Medium Security Custodial Center, Kuje. The court later granted him bail.
‘Discharged and acquitted’
The CrossRiverWatch broke the news on Monday morning about the Federal High Court judgment which reportedly discharged and acquitted Mr Jalingo of cybercrime.
The judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, found Mr Jalingo not guilty of the crimes the police accused him of, according to a report by the newspaper.
Mr Jalingo told PREMIUM TIMES, Monday afternoon, that he was very happy with the court judgment. “I was being persecuted, not prosecuted,” he said.
“When the prosecution finished their case, we (had) entered a no-case submission, so the court ruled today that they (the prosecution) only came to waste the time of the court,” he said.
“This case had given me sleepless nights because there are many things that I wanted to do which I couldn’t.”
Mr Jalingo said following the advice of a respected traditional ruler and other people in Cross River, he had sought an out-of-court settlement with Mrs Ayade, including visiting her to beg her over the matter, but she refused.
“I am very happy that the court has given this judgment. This judgment is a victory for the Nigerian media because this is a law that has been used to harass those of us who are journalists,” he added.
PREMIUM TIMES asked Mr Jalingo if he was certain about the contentious issues in his article against Mrs Ayade.
“I was (certain),” he retorted. “I couldn’t go out there and lie against anybody.”
PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately reach Mrs Ayade for her comment.
Mr Jalingo is not new to criminal prosecution over his journalism work.
He was arrested in August 2019 and incarcerated for about 179 days in Calabar, charged with terrorism, treasonable felony, and cybercrime for accusing the then Governor Ayade of diverting N500 million belonging to Cross River State.
Amnesty International in Nigeria had declared the journalist a prisoner of conscience and had accused the Nigerian government of manipulating the nation’s justice system against him.
Nigeria plans to suspend taxes on certain food imports including wheat and maize for 150-days, and recommend a retail price to try to bring under control rising prices in Africa's most populous nation, its agricultural minister said on Monday.
The move is part of the government's policy to curb food inflation, which has climbed to over 40% year-on-year, and spur growth which has been fragile for almost a decade.
President Bola Tinubu has asked his economic management team to prepare a 2 trillion naira ($1.33 billion) stimulus plan to address concerns about food supplies and pricing and bolster key sectors, the finance minister said last week.
"To ameliorate food inflation in the country caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability, the government has taken a raft of measures to be implemented over the next 180 days," Agricultural Minister Abubakar Kyari said in a statement posted on X.
He said that the government would import 250,000 metric tons of wheat and 250,000 metric tons of maize in addition to imports by the private sector. The commodities will be imported in their semi-processed state and target supplies to small-scale processors and millers.
Food inflation has soared in the West African nation with insecurity in parts of the country's food producing regions and poor road network linking farms to markets.
Soaring costs of food staples have deepened the cost of living crisis and added to double-digit inflation which is stuck at nearly 30-year high.
Kyari said the tax waiver would cover food commodities imported through the country's land and sea borders.
By Macdonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
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Badenoch was the Secretary of State for Business and Trade in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet that has now been sacked by the Labour Party.
She won the North West Essex seat after a tight race.
Badenoch received 19,360 votes – 35.6 per cent of the overall votes, which is a decrease of 26.1 per cent from her previous majority.
Labour candidate Issy Waite received 16,750 votes, while Reform UK’s Grant StClair-Armstrong received 7,668 votes, despite resigning from his party after it was discovered he had previously encouraged people to vote for the far-right British National Party (BNP).
According to Salffron Walden Reporters, Liberal Democrat Smita Rajesh received 6,055 votes and Green candidate Edward Gildea received 2,846 votes.
Independent candidate Andrew David Green received 852 votes, fellow independent Erik Bonino received 699 votes and independent candidate Niko Omilana received 156.
There was a 68 per cent voter turnout in the constituency, which was previously named Saffron Walden.
Kemi Badenoch has served as the MP for Saffron Walden since 2017.
Badenoch, born on 2 January 1980 in Wimbledon, London is one of three children born to Nigerian Yoruba parents.
Her father, Femi Adegoke, was a GP and her mother, Feyi Adegoke, was a professor of physiology. She has a brother and a sister.
Badenoch spent her childhood living in Lagos, Nigeria and in the United States, where her mother lectured. She returned to the UK at the age of 16 to live with a friend of her mother’s owing to the deteriorating political and economic situation in Nigeria which had affected her family.
Although a British citizen and born in the UK, during her parliamentary maiden speech Badenoch stated that she was “to all intents and purposes a first-generation immigrant.”
Related story: Nigerian Kemi Badenoch launches bid for UK’s PM
