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The Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun Corps, says it has rescued a mother and her two children allegedly kidnapped at Isinigbo/Osi in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Adetunji Adeleye, Commander, Amotekun Corps, said this on Monday in Akure while parading two suspected kidnappers and eight others for various offences.

Adeleye said following a distress call from Isinigbo/Osi Area, his men were in the vicinity within five minutes, while the victims were rescued after a brief scuffle with the kidnappers.

The Amotekun commander said the two suspected kidnappers were arrested at different places in collaboration with Fulani men in the area.

“The amazing part of this struggle is that the Fulani men, who had joined us were the people who assisted us in identifying the kidnappers among them, so that we would not generalise.

“We were able to recover a locally-made gun from one of them while the suspect also confessed to several kidnapping activities. He said his latest victim was his former boss in Molege, Owo.

“He (suspect) said that after perfecting the act, he was able to successfully enter the woman’s house where he wanted to kidnap her.

“However, the husband and other people woke up and ran away. They mobilised Amotekun and the Fulani men, who cordoned off the area and were able to successfully apprehend him.

“The second suspect also confessed to being a serial kidnapper operating in the Akure North axis,” he said.

Adeleye, who commended security agencies for working assiduously to stamp out criminality, said there was a drastic drop in criminal activities in the state.

“This further reassures residents that we, as security agencies, will continue to move around and ensure that they can go about their normal businesses without fear and return home safely,” the commander said.

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The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has expressed divergent views from the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, on the subsidy removal, saying that the mismanagement of fuel subsidy proceeds should not be the reason to return the subsidy.

Obi said this on Monday during a panel session at the ongoing Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

It is important to note that Atiku has signified his intention to return fuel subsidy if elected as president I 2027 while the Presidency has faulted his latest stance, saying that the action shows Atiku’s desperation for power.

Speaking at the event, Obi said, “Well, I subscribe, and I maintain that you need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it.

“What we should have done is that when we remove subsidy, we would have given the people an alternative usage for the subsidy. What we have today is that that removal and attendant resources being recovered are also being mismanaged and stolen.”

According to Obi, proceeds from subsidy removal should be ploughed back into areas such as healthcare.

“For example, we have received, according to them (the Federal Government), N16 trillion. I said it before; go to my manifesto and see where I said I would remove subsidy.

“We’ll do it in an organized manner, and whatever we recover will be invested appropriately, and I’ll just give you an example because we have no time.

“So it’s what you use the money for that is the problem. We will use the money in an organised manner, or you save it. If they had saved the money and decided to do like any other country, we would have had $10 billion added to the sovereign wealth fund, which, if you add it today, will be getting about $10 billion every month, which we can use for a purpose.”

Obi also spoke about an opposition coalition but insisted that he is only interested in one that has the interest of the Nigerian people at heart.

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The Federal Government has officially released new uniform national Continuous Assessment (CA) guidelines, forcing examination bodies including the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) to establish secure, interoperable student CA portals linked to the Nigeria Education Data Infrastructure (NEDI).

This policy, applicable to both public and government-approved private secondary schools across the country, enforces the use of National Learner Identity Numbers (NLIN) linked to the National Identification Number (NIN) for all students.

It also introduces mandatory, strict termly submission deadlines and penalties for non-compliance.

Under the new mandate, schools can no longer upload CA data at their convenience, as portals will open and close around the same specific deadlines nationwide.

Commencing from the 2026/2027 academic session, schools must upload first-term CA records in January, second-term records in April, and third-term records in August.

Beyond data integrity, this structural change aims to block schools from retroactively manipulating or forging student scores before final exams, directly targeting examination malpractice.

Speaking recently with stakeholders including state commissioners for education, private school owners, administrators, and other educators—the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, emphasised the government’s commitment to reforming the nation’s education sector to make it globally competitive.

In the new guidelines, a copy of which was obtained by Nigerian Tribune, every licensed school and all national examination bodies must comply with the policy or face severe penalties.

However, Punitive measures include suspension or blacklisting.

According to the guidelines, suspension may arise from examination malpractice, non-compliance with registration directives, misrepresentation of learners, and fraudulent CA submissions.

Under the new directive, student transfers between schools must be formally processed through the system. The guidelines state that the portal must allow schools to initiate and confirm learner transfers by submitting requests, which the receiving schools will either accept or reject.

Through this process, the system will automatically update student records on the examination portal, carrying over all past CA data. Consequently, CA data belongs to the learner and follows them across institutions; no school can unilaterally delete or alter a student’s past CA records.

Similarly, suspended schools will face harsh consequences. According to the guidelines, any suspended institution will have its CA portal immediately blocked, and its students will be automatically flagged as “orphaned.”

Furthermore, the relevant examination bodies must notify the host state’s Ministry of Education within two days of the suspension.

Affected students will then be transferred to nearby accredited schools or approved temporary exam centres created by the examination body, ensuring their CA records remain intact.

Meanwhile, before now, its appeared both WAEC and NECO found it difficult to make use of students CAs from SS1 to SS3 in their final grading of studens results in their school-based conducted exams.

Now, aside from issuing policy directives, the Federal Ministry of Education will monitor compliance through its Basic and Senior Secondary Departments, providing oversight and intervening when necessary.

Meanwhile, these guidelines are subject to review, if required, after one year of implementation.