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Panic engulfed Iluke Bunu, a community in Kabba-Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, on Wednesday morning after suspected bandits launched a deadly attack that left three people dead, including a school vice principal.

The bandits, who reportedly invaded the community in large numbers, were said to have targeted students sitting for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), sparking fears of a mass abduction.

According to local sources, the gunmen stormed the area in the early hours of June 10, unleashing gunfire that sent residents and students scrambling for safety. The incident disrupted normal activities in the community and created widespread panic among residents.

A community member who spoke about the attack described the situation as terrifying, revealing that the sound of sustained gunfire echoed across the area as people fled to avoid being caught in the violence.

He said we woke up to heavy gunfire this morning. The bandits entered the community and there was confusion everywhere.

Residents were running in different directions for safety, while students writing their WAEC examinations became terrified,” the source said.

The source further revealed that the attackers appeared determined to abduct students and school personnel but were thwarted by the swift intervention of security operatives and local vigilantes.

According to him, soldiers stationed at a nearby military formation responded quickly after receiving distress calls and engaged the gunmen in a fierce exchange of gunfire.

He explained that if not for the prompt response of the soldiers and local vigilante groups, many students could have been kidnapped.

The security forces confronted the attackers and eventually forced them to retreat.

During the attack, three people reportedly lost their lives. Among the victims was Mr. Gani Anifowose, Vice Principal of Government Secondary School, Aharha-Bunu. Two other individuals were also killed in the violence, although details about their identities were not immediately available.

Another resident expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in the area, noting that many community members remain traumatised by the incident.

According to him, our community is facing serious security challenges. The gunshots lasted for a long time, and people are still searching for some residents whose whereabouts remain unknown,” the resident said.

Sources within the community stated that troops from the Nigerian Army formation in Suku-Kiri Bunu led the response operation.

The soldiers reportedly engaged the attackers in a gun battle, preventing them from carrying out their mission.

During the confrontation, one of the suspected bandits was allegedly shot dead, while several others escaped into nearby forests and bushes.

The attack has renewed concerns over insecurity in parts of Kogi State, particularly in rural communities where residents have repeatedly faced threats from armed criminal groups. It has also raised fresh questions about the safety of students and educational institutions amid ongoing national examinations.

Residents have called on the government and security agencies to strengthen security presence in vulnerable communities and take decisive action to prevent future attacks on schools and innocent civilians.

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By Gloria Ikibah

The House of Representatives on Wednesday pushed forward sweeping reforms to Nigeria’s price control regime, as lawmakers approved key bills for second reading amid spirited debate on parliamentary procedure.

Leading debate on the Bill to amend the Price Control Act, Ahmed Munir, declared that the 1977 legislation had become obsolete and ineffective in the face of present-day economic realities.

“The original intent of the 1977 Act was global, to protect ordinary Nigerians from hoarding, price gouging and artificial scarcity. However, the mechanisms it put in place and the list of commodities it covered are completely out of sync with the economic realities of 2026.

“As it stands today, the Price Control Act is blindly a dead letter law,” he said.

He criticised the existing penalties as “laughably low” and faulted the Act for failing to define essential goods in line with the needs of modern households.

He stressed that the amendment would not amount to a return to rigid price-fixing.

“While inflation has external and structural drivers, we cannot ignore the local menace of unscrupulous middlemen, artificial hoarding and predatory price-fixing by cartels, taking advantage of the vulnerability of our people. The current 1977 Act fails us in two major ways — obsolete penalties and vague and outdated definitions.

“This amendment does not seek a return to archaic, heavy-handed price-fixing, which we know destroys businesses. Rather, it introduces a smart, balanced and realistic regulatory framework.

“This bill is not about suffocating the free market. It is about putting a civilised guardrail on it. It ensures that while businesses make legitimate profits, the desperate situation of our citizens is not weaponised against them by cartels,” Munir argued.

According to him, the proposal will “bring transparency to supply chains and give teeth to the regulatory bodies like the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission”.

He urged colleagues to back what he described as “this vital, people-centred bill.”

When put to a voice vote by the presiding officer, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the House unanimously adopted the motion and referred it to the Committee on Commerce for further legislative action.

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…as Deputy Speaker, Regional leaders declare House united on security reform

By Gloria Ikibah

The House of Representatives has intensified its push for the establishment of state police, declaring that lawmakers are prepared to take decisive legislative action to address Nigeria’s worsening security challenges.

Addressing journalists alongside zonal and caucus leaders of the House, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu said the National Assembly was determined to complement the efforts of the Executive through constitutional reforms that will strengthen policing and improve response to insecurity across the country.

The bill sponsored by Deputy Speaker Kalu and 14 other lawmakers, was passed on February 20, 2024, it seeks to transfer “Police” from the “Exclusive Legislative List ” to the “Concurrent Legislative List”, effectively empowering states to have state to have state-controlled policing.

It proposes 16 alterations to the constitution and introduces a comprehensive framework to ensure cohesion accountability,  and uniform standards between the federal police and state police.

The bill also seeks to establish State Police Service Commission as distinct from the Federal Police Service Commission with clearly defined roles and jurisdictions.

Kalu argued that while Parliament had continued to exercise its oversight powers by summoning security chiefs and government officials, lawmakers must also deploy legislative solutions to tackle the root causes of the nation’s security crisis.

The Deputy Speaker noted that the House had always positioned itself as a platform where national challenges are debated and practical solutions developed through legislation.

He said: “When we say that security of lives and property is a primary purpose of government, what do the executive think that that particular section refers to? Does it consign the three arms of government? And if yes, what is the executive doing? While we call them to order as Parliament and as allowed by Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, the question becomes, have we done our part in regards to the expectation of 88 and 89 as it consigns legislative functions?

“We have always referred to the Parliament, the House of Representatives, as the solution hub where hydra-headed problems of the country are presented and solutions given to them in security and legislative tool to cure it.

“Whilst we call the chief service chiefs to come and meet with us to dialogue, while we call ministries of finance, budget office and all the others, there is the need for us to use legislative tool to block the car.”

Kalu praised members of the constitutional amendment committees and regional leaders of the House, describing them as the driving force behind the ongoing efforts to reform the nation’s security architecture.

“These men here are the real leaders of the House of Representatives who have been working night and day.

“When I mean night and day, I mean literally night and day.”
According to him, lawmakers have concluded that the current constitutional framework governing policing is inadequate to meet the security expectations of Nigerians.

“We have discovered that leaving the law as it is will not give us that expectation that all Nigerians have placed in the expectation basket with regards to curing the issue of insecurity.

“Therefore, we decided to prioritise the issue of unbundling security-related problems, response time through the legislative tool of legislation, targeting policing”, he said.

He disclosed that consultations on state policing had attracted broad support from critical stakeholders, including the Inspector-General of Police, governors and the Executive arm of government.

The Deputy Speaker argued that constitutional provisions, particularly Section 214 and related clauses, would need to be amended to pave the way for state police.

“And we said as it is today, the structure which has been agreed to by the IGP and his team, national consensus has also arisen on it, the executive have bought into it, the governors have bought into it, that there is the need for state police.

“The Constitution as it is, especially Section 214 and other consequential amendments in that particular Constitution, would not birth the state police that will guarantee what we’ll be looking for in the space of security.”

Kalu revealed that the House will move to vote on the constitutional amendment proposals, with state police placed high on the agenda.

He added that the announcement was intended to reassure Nigerians that lawmakers across the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory were united in support of the proposal.

“So we are here to announce to Nigerians that hope is coming, that hope to have a better response time to incidents of crime is here, that we have decided, do talk, that by tomorrow we’ll be voting on the Constitution and in that we’ll be prioritising state police.

“This is us telling our supporters, our constituents across the nation, that your leaders are represented here, that the six caucus leaders, including the FCT 37, they are here, regional leaders and zonal leaders are here and all of us are together on this mission.

Dismissing reports suggesting that efforts were underway to frustrate the proposal, the Deputy Speaker insisted that the House remained firmly committed to the reform.

“The Speaker has asked us to come and address Nigerians to assure them that hope is coming and there is nobody stopping us from going ahead with state police.
“We’ve read a lot of things on the news that people are trying to stop it. No, the Parliament is marching forward and by tomorrow we’ll be concluding on this”, he noted.

Expressing confidence in the next phase of the constitutional amendment process, Kalu said lawmakers expected strong support from state governors and Houses of Assembly once the proposal leaves the National Assembly.

“This is what we have come to inform you that hope is here and by tomorrow state police will make it in our constitutional amendment.

“We are hoping that by the time we finish tomorrow it will be going to the states and because we have seen the body language of the governors of these 36 states, which is in support of state police, they will work hand in hand with their Houses of Assembly to ensure that it is returned back to Mr President for his assent as quickly as possible”, he added.

The Deputy Speaker also issued an urgent appeal to lawmakers currently carrying out oversight assignments across the country to return to Abuja for the vote.

“We’re also using this opportunity to invite our members who are currently handling oversight function across Nigeria. Let them cut it short and fly in. It’s an emergency situation.

“They should cut it short and fly in tomorrow. We want all our members to be in the House so that will show our constituents that we are in support of state police and that security is priority on our list”, he said.

The proposed state police framework remains one of the most closely watched constitutional amendment initiatives before the National Assembly, with supporters arguing that decentralised policing will improve intelligence gathering, strengthen local security responses and help address the country’s persistent insecurity challenges.