Leader of the Senate, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, has revealed that the National Assembly is working on a legal framework to establish state police as part of a broader effort to tackle Nigeria’s deepening security crisis.

Bamidele made this disclosure in his Easter message on Sunday, where he combined a call for spiritual reflection with a sharp critique of divisive politics and a passionate plea for national unity.

“While the Authority of the National Assembly is in the process of developing legal frameworks for the establishment of state police as one of the measures to address insecurity in the country,” he stated, “we urge security agencies to work together as a team to track and apprehend all the masterminds and sponsors of terror attacks nationwide.”

The Ekiti Central lawmaker’s comment marks one of the clearest indications yet that the federal legislature may be moving toward decentralising the country’s policing system—a long-standing demand by many stakeholders in the face of persistent insecurity.

Away from policy, in the spirit of Easter, he urged leaders at all levels to emulate the sacrificial and unifying example of Jesus Christ, warning against the consequences of fueling division in a fragile federation.

“In Nigeria today, Christ’s example clearly presents us a glimpse of how we should live together as compatriots and not competitors, collaborators and not combatants, comrades and not contenders in the task of building a viable and virile federation that will serve the interest of all,” he said.

Condemning the recent killings in Benue and Plateau States, Bamidele said such acts “outrightly negated the virtues of peace and love that Jesus Christ taught,” adding that inflammatory rhetoric by political and sectional figures continues to undermine efforts at nation-building.

He warned against the weaponisation of Nigeria’s challenges for political gain, stressing, “Some political actors that always lash on the country’s challenges to push divisive narratives… are no longer playing opposition politics, but simply taking advantage of the country’s internal conditions in the pursuit of their own parochial political outcomes.”

Reaffirming the commitment of the 10th National Assembly to Nigeria’s development, Bamidele declared, “Nigeria is our ultimate project… our goal is to build a federation that will be noted for peace, progress and prosperity anywhere in the world.”

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has reduced its premium motor spirit price in Abuja.

Some motorists in Abuja confirmed the new fuel price adjustment at some NNPC retail outlets.

Abdullahi Hashim, a resident of Kubwa, Abuja, said, ‘I observed the drop in the fuel price to N935 per litre on Saturday morning. It is a welcome development.”

“I think I first saw this new price adjustment in Town, Wuse Zone 4 area, on Friday. NNPC filling station at Kubwa Expressway is just reflecting it,” Bukola Adewole said.

The development comes after Dangote Refinery announced in its ex-depot petrol price to N835 per litre from N865.

The 650,000 barrels per day refinery had announced that its partners, such as MRS and AP filling stations, are expected to sell petrol between N890 and N920 per litre, depending on the location.

Meanwhile, PUNCH Online observed that MRS filling stations in Abuja have not been dispensing fuel since Wednesday, April 16, 2025, when Dangote Refinery announced a slash in ex-depot petrol price.

A lion killed a 14-year-old girl outside Kenya’s capital Nairobi while an elephant killed a 54-year-old man in the central part of the country, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said this weekend.

The attack on the girl occurred on Saturday in a ranch to the south of Nairobi National Park.

The attack was witnessed by another teenager, who raised the alarm, the KWS said in a statement.

“KWS rangers and response teams were swiftly mobilized and traced bloodstains leading to the Mbagathi River, where the girl’s body was recovered with injuries on the lower back,” the conservation agency said in a statement.

“The lion was not sighted at the scene,” it added.

It said a trap had been set for the lion and teams deployed to comb the area, along with additional safety measures.

The KWS said a 54-year-old man had also been killed by an elephant in Kenya’s Nyeri County on Friday. The agency gave no further details about that incident.

“KWS conveys its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and continues to work closely with local law enforcement and communities to enhance the safety of people living near protected wildlife areas,” it said in the statement.

It called for more investment in “human-wildlife conflict mitigation”, including early warning systems and greater collaboration with affected communities.

In a statement to the BBC Paula Kahumbu, head of the WildlifeDirect conservation group, urged Kenya Wildlife Service to improve “risk assessments and ensure accurate, real-time communication of wildlife movement and behavior, especially in known high-risk areas such as Savannah Ranch,” where the girl was killed.

Last year, police in Kenya recovered the body of a man believed to have been attacked by a lion while he was riding a motorcycle near a national reserve in the south of the country.

The lion population was declining in Kenya just over a decade ago, primarily due to human-wildlife conflict. The government listed lions as endangered, with an estimated population of 2,000 in 2010. A more recent survey put the number at 2,489.

In 2023, 11 lions were speared to death in just one week — including one of Kenya’s oldest wild lions — by herders after the big cats killed their livestock.

Last year, the BBC reported CCTV footage captured the moment a lion snatched a Rottweiler dog from another home near Nairobi National Park