By Vincent Tyosuugh

After consuming a suspected poisonous herbal concoction allegedly sold to residents of Oju Local Government Area of Benue State, at least four victims have reportedly died.

Reports indicate that as of Friday, several other victims were receiving treatment in different hospitals, with some in critical conditions.

The latest death was said to have occured on Thursday, following the arrival in Oju of the body of a third victim, who reportedly died while receiving treatment at a hospital in Makurdi.

Earlier reports had put the death toll at three.

Witnesses said that the incident began on Monday, November 2, when residents who purchased and consumed the herbal mixture from three male traders identified as Alhaji Sule Mai Magani, Bello Mohamed and Musa Kala during Ihiejwo market day started developing similar symptoms.

The witnesses also said that medical experts believed to come from the World Health Organisation (WHO) had arrived in the area to support the response to the outbreak.

According to DailyTrust correspondent, three suspects have been apprehended by the leadership of the Igede Youth Council in collaboration with the Oju Township Youth leadership and handed over to the police.

They said the suspects were later transferred to the Benue State Police Command in Makurdi for investigation.

The Chairman of Oju LGA, Jackson Ominyi, has reportedly confirmed the incident but was yet to establish the exact number of casualties as of Wednesday.

Ominyi said the local government had mobilised its security and health officials to manage the situation, adding that victims were receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Oju, while the health department was providing necessary support.

“I have tried to calm the situation down in my local government. The person selling the herbs has been arrested and sent to Makurdi three days back,” he said.

The chairman said he had directed relevant officials to continue attending to the victims while efforts were being made to establish the full extent of the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the President of the Igede Youth Council, Comrade Idoko John-Frank Ozzidi, had earlier called on the Benue State Government to ensure a thorough investigation and bring those responsible to justice.

Ozzidi said the youths deliberately resisted taking the law into their hands and handed the suspects over to the police, insisting that the circumstances surrounding the deaths must be fully investigated.

He also urged political officeholders from the area to follow up on the matter to ensure justice for the deceased and adequate attention for survivors.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Benue command, DSP Peter Aondongu, could not be reached on his telephone as of the time of filling this report.

By Felix Umande

In a stunning judgment that has thrown the African Democratic Congress (ADC) into fresh crisis, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday voided the Senator David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the party and annulled the 2027 presidential primary that produced former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its candidate.

Presiding Judge, Justice Peter Lifu, held that the caretaker committee was illegally constituted, and consequently, all steps taken by it including the nomination of Atiku and former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as his running mate were null and void.

The court also barred Senator Mark and former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, from parading themselves as National Chairman and National Secretary of the party.

Judgment in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025 was delivered barely a day after Atiku staged a large rally in Sokoto, casting fresh legal doubt on his presidential bid.

The suit was instituted by former ADC Deputy National Chairman (North-East), Nafiu Bala Gombe, who contended that upon the resignation of Chief Ralph Nwosu as National Chairman, the party constitution positioned him to assume leadership, and that the emergence of the Mark-led caretaker violated both the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act.

Defendants in the matter were the ADC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Mark, Aregbesola and Nwosu.

Justice Lifu upheld Gombe’s claims, declared the Mark-led committee unlawful, and set aside all actions undertaken under its authority.

The ADC has vowed to appeal. Its National Welfare Secretary, Nkemakolam Ukandu, who was joined as an interested party, said the party will challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.

Atiku, who recently dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ADC, had begun campaigning with a pledge to restore fuel subsidy and reopen land borders. His Sokoto rally featured former Governor Amaechi accusing the Tinubu administration of unprecedented corruption, and former Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, accusing state authorities of frustrating opposition campaign.

The verdict adds to long-running leadership litigations rocking the ADC. In July 2026, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed a Federal High Court order restraining INEC from recognising state congresses conducted by committees appointed by the Mark-led caretaker.

In a 2-1 decision, with Justices Okon Abang and Donatus Okorowo in the majority and Justice Abba Mohammed dissenting, the appellate court ruled that power to conduct state congresses resided in elected state executives, not caretaker national leadership.

The ADC and Atiku camp at the time argued the judgment concerned only state congresses and the tenure of state executives, not the presidential primary.

Spokesman Phrank Shaibu had said then that “political propaganda can never substitute for judicial pronouncements.”

The new judgment now directly attacks the caretaker’s power to organise the presidential primary, effectively rendering that distinction irrelevant.

For the ruling APC, the development offers reprieve, as Atiku had sought to present the ADC as the main opposition vehicle, accusing the government of anti-people policies and promising economic restoration.

By Nick Ibe, Abuja

Bagoni Bukar, a professor of Law, has called on Northern governments to introduce sustained financial incentives for vulnerable families to fight the out-of-school crisis.

He said this will encourage parents to enrol their children in school and prevent them from dropping out.

Bukar stated this in an interview with LEADERSHIP.

He said poverty remained a major factor driving children away from classrooms into the street trading, begging and doing menial labour, warning that many families were increasingly finding it difficult to prioritise education over their immediate survival needs.

He said addressing the out-of-school children crisis in Nigeria, particularly in the North, required more than policy pronouncements, stressing the need for targeted financial interventions that would ease the economic burden on poor households.

According to him, years of institutional and socio-economic challenges have eroded the foundations needed to support children’s education, leaving many vulnerable families with limited options.

He said the economic realities facing poor households had made it increasingly difficult for parents to keep their children in school, as some families depended on income from children engaged in street activities to meet their basic needs. In his words:

“Today, poverty has pushed many families to a point where survival through hawking, begging and menial labour seems more rewarding than education.

“For a vulnerable household, the immediate income from a child on the street often outweighs the long-term promise of the classroom.”

He called for deliberate, targeted assistance to poor families, particularly those whose economic circumstances made it difficult to meet their children’s educational needs.

“That reality notwithstanding, what is required is sincere, targeted financial support to vulnerable parents and children. If families have a basic safety net, children can spend more time learning, and parents will have less pressure to withdraw them.”

The professor stressed that many children were either not enrolling in school or dropping out because the support available to their families was inadequate and inconsistent.

He therefore urged governments across the North to, where available, move beyond existing interventions and establish sustainable financial assistance programmes that encourage parents to keep their children in school. “The truth is, many children do not enrol or remain in school because support to do so is infrequent and inadequate,” he said.

Bukar said Northern governments needed to take greater responsibility for addressing the economic conditions that continued to keep thousands of children out of formal education.