A vice principal and two others were killed when bandits invaded Government Secondary School, Iluke Bunu in Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The attack, which occurred at about 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, threw the community into mourning and heightened concerns over security in the area.

Confirming the incident in a statement issued on Wednesday by its spokesperson, ASP Saliu Afusat, the Kogi State Police Command said a large number of armed bandits, operating on about 40 motorcycles, invaded the school with the suspected intention of abducting students and other residents.

The statement said the Divisional Police Officer of Kabba ‘A’ Division immediately mobilised a joint security response after receiving distress calls, deploying personnel from the police division, the Police Mobile Force, and tactical teams.

It added that military personnel and local vigilante groups already stationed in the area also joined the operation.

“The combined security operatives engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun duel, forcing the criminals to flee into the surrounding bush.

“Preliminary findings indicate that there is presently no conclusive evidence of a successful mass abduction of students or other residents.

“However, investigations and ongoing assessments are continuing to ascertain the full circumstances surrounding the incident,” the statement said.

The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prof. Abubakar Sadiq Gombe, has urged political parties not to worry themselves over names uploaded on the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, saying it is never an instrument to determine authentic party leadership.

He declared unequivocally that no digital registry maintained by the electoral umpire has the constitutional authority to determine who leads a political party in Nigeria.

Gombe spoke with journalists in Abuja immediately after INEC convened a consultative meeting with the leadership of registered political parties.

He used the occasion to draw a firm legal and constitutional line between the Commission’s administrative functions and the sovereign right of parties to govern their own internal affairs.

“The issue is not about the INEC portal. It is about the party itself. The party has organs that regulate its day-to-day running,” the SDP chairman said.

He anchored his position on a succession of Supreme Court judgments that have consistently held that intra-party affairs remain beyond INEC’s regulatory reach.

A woman in Edo State has been arrested by the Police for throwing her child into river after a prophet told her she needed to do that to attract more blessings.

The incident happened in Ovia North-East Local Government Area while the prophet resides in Benin city, the state capital.

A videos circulating on social media on Tuesday which was shared by X user ChuksEricE has since generated widespread outrage and debate among Nigerians.

According to information accompanying the viral videos, the woman allegedly abandoned the child after being told by a seer that the five-year-old was a python in human form.

Speaking in the video, the woman reportedly explained that she had been unable to conceive another child after giving birth to the five-year-old. She further claimed that the child had been unable to walk since birth, a situation that prompted her to seek spiritual intervention.

According to her account, she visited a self-acclaimed seer in Benin City who allegedly informed her that the child was responsible for her inability to have more children.

“The seer told me that the child was a python and that if I did not get rid of the child, I would either continue giving birth to children with the same condition or never conceive again,” she said.

Based on the advice, the woman was said to have thrown the child into a river.

The development has triggered strong reactions from members of the public, many of whom condemned the act and questioned the influence of self-proclaimed spiritualists.