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Send Your Kid To School or get jailed – Gombe govt cautions parents

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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Gombe State government says it would send parents and guardians to jail for not sending their children to schools.

Babaji Babadidi, Chairman, Gombe State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, said this on Monday at the inauguration of the 2025/2026 School Enrolment Campaign at Amada in Akko Local Government Area of the state.

He said that defaulting parents could face a two-month jail term under Section 19(2) of the SUBEB Amendment Law 2021.

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Babadidi said the measure was necessary to ensure that every child has access to quality basic education.

“Every parent should ensure that his child or ward attends and completes primary, junior and senior secondary education.

“Any parent, who contravene Section 19(2) of the law commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to pay a fine or serve a one-month prison sentence.

“Subsequent convictions also attract a substantial fine or imprisonment for a term of two months,” he said.

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Babadidi said prior to this enrolment campaign, the state government adopted a carrot approach by providing free education.

“However, if we fail to meet our target of enrolling 400,000 students into primary schools this session, we will revert to the stick approach by enforcing the law.”

The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Aishatu Maigari, said the state has over 700,000 out-of-school children.

According to Maigari, the North-East region accounts for 15 per cent of Nigeria’s 18.2 million out-of-school children.

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“We cannot sit and fold our arms while our children remain out-of-school. We will ensure every child is enrolled. Every child will receive quality education, and also learn a trade, which does not necessarily mean working for the government.

“An educated person can become an employer of labour through skills and entrepreneurship acquired in school,” she said.

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Just in: Terrorists invade military camp, k!ll three soldiers in Kwara

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Terrorists have killed three soldiers in a fresh attack on a military camp in Kemanji community, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The attack reportedly occurred in the early hours of Monday, with residents saying heavy gunfire echoed across the area during the invasion.

According to local sources, the assailants, suspected to be armed terrorists, stormed the military camp without warning and engaged troops in a fierce gun battle.

The confrontation left three soldiers dead, while other personnel were said to have responded with a reprisal attack to repel the assailants.

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One resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the incident as sudden and violent, noting that the attackers took advantage of the early morning hours when some soldiers were asleep.

“Kemanji is a border community close to thick forest areas.

“Few of the soldiers were asleep around 3am when the terrorists invaded their camp and killed three of them before others responded,” the source said. (The Sun)

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Aisha Yesufu faults FCT teachers’ strike, wants Wike to intervene

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Prominent activist, Aisha Yesufu, has expressed concern over the ongoing teachers’ strike in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), calling on the minister, Nyesom Wike, to urgently intervene and resolve the crisis.

In a statement on Monday, Yesufu lamented the prolonged closure of public primary schools across the FCT, noting that the situation continues to disrupt the education of thousands of children.

She stressed that education remains a fundamental right and should not be treated with negligence, urging authorities to prioritise the welfare of both teachers and students.

“The continuous strike by teachers in the FCT is unacceptable. Our children cannot keep paying the price for unresolved issues,” she said.

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The activist appealed directly to Wike to take decisive steps towards addressing the grievances of the striking teachers, including issues surrounding unpaid salaries and poor working conditions.

According to her, swift intervention by the FCT administration would not only restore academic activities but also rebuild confidence in the public education system.

The strike, which has lingered for weeks, has left many pupils at home, raising concerns among parents over the long term impact on learning.

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El-Rufai issues public alert in prison

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Malam Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna, has alerted the public to what he called “certain malicious orchestrations” directed against him.

El-Rufai, in a statement signed and released on Sunday by Muyiwa Adekeye, his Media Adviser, said the unwarranted effort to arrest him upon his arrival at Abuja Airport from Cairo on 12 February 2026 served as a clear signal of more troubling developments to follow.

The evident objective of the current scheme, according to the statement, is to secure his indefinite detention through reprehensible tactics, stressing that such conduct is unacceptable, particularly toward a citizen who has made substantial contributions to our country.

He, however, said that the rule of law must never be perverted into a tool of oppression and legal processes should serve the ends of justice, not be employed to deny a citizen his fundamental right to liberty while he stands trial.

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The statement stressed that Malam El-Rufai should be accorded full due process guaranteed by law to every citizen, and the persistent disregard for his rights must cease immediately.

The statement recalled that since 16 February 2026, when Malam El-Rufai honoured an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he was detained, then transferred to the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the night of 18 February.

It said the former governor remains in detention and has been arraigned in two separate high courts.

The statement, however, picked holes in a report headlined “El-Rufai’s trial: Gunmen invade principal witness home” published by a national newspaper, not Nigerian Tribune, on 18 April 2026.

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It quoted the article as stating that a witness in the criminal proceedings at the Kaduna State High Court had reported to the police that armed individuals had invaded his residence.

The statement added that the paper included innuendos suggestive of a plot to frame Malam Nasir El-Rufai as the witness linked the incident to his role as a witness in the corruption charges against El-Rufai, specifically one of the nine counts involving the alleged unlawful revocation and reallocation of land.

The article, the statement added, further quoted the witness as alleging that the invasion might be part of an effort to silence him, drawing parallels with the controversial disappearance of Kaduna-based activist Abubakar Idris Dadiyata.

The statement said that while it is the civic duty of every citizen to report crimes to the authorities, it is an entirely different matter to publish false imputations against others.

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It said any objective reader would recognise the clear intent behind these statements: to smear Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s reputation, jeopardise his pending bail application at the Kaduna State High Court, and implicate him in serious capital offences.

Part of the statement read, “Malam Nasir El-Rufai is an upstanding and law-abiding citizen who has no connection whatsoever to the incidents described in the publication. Therefore, he has already instructed his legal team to initiate defamation proceedings in this matter.

“Since 2023, Malam El-Rufai has been subjected to an appalling and sustained campaign of innuendos and vilification.

This is a man with a distinguished record of public service. Many will recall his sterling service to the cause of national unity through his principled opposition to opportunism, alongside other senior leaders, during the events leading to the 2022 primaries of the ruling party and thereafter.“

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