Blessing Onuh, the lawmaker representing Otukpo-Ohimini Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has raised an urgent call for intervention from President Bola Tinubu regarding the growing insecurity in Otukpo, Benue State.

Onuh described the ongoing attacks and killings as a national emergency that requires immediate and serious attention from the federal government.
The lawmaker expressed her deep concern over the alarming frequency of violent incidents in her constituency, citing the recent brutal murder of a retired customs officer, Onche Akatu, in Asa 2 community. Two members of Akatu’s family were also abducted during the attack.

Additionally, Onuh highlighted the senseless killing of Mrs. Felicia Ochigbo, a nursing mother, in the Old NTA Area of Asa, and the murder of an Igbo man in the community. Just last month, in Okpomoju Community in Okete Ward, Otukpo Local Government Area, suspected herdsmen killed five men, which has led to widespread panic.

Onuh also pointed out that these killings and kidnappings have become so frequent that it now feels as though they have become a sad norm.

She expressed frustration with the perceived inaction of security agencies, noting that after each attack, officials at both the state and local levels merely issue statements declaring that they are “on top of the matter,” but no real action is taken.

She questioned why the perpetrators are not being apprehended and why peace is not being restored, allowing residents to live without fear.

The lawmaker further expressed that the constant insecurity has forced many farmers to abandon their farmlands, leading to a worsening food shortage in the region. With many residents now fleeing their homes to escape the violence, Onuh stressed the growing sense of fear among her people.

Onuh appealed to President Tinubu to take decisive action by directing security forces to intensify efforts to arrest the culprits and bring them to justice.

She also pleaded with her constituents, particularly the youth, to avoid taking matters into their own hands through jungle justice or reprisal attacks, as this would only make the situation worse.

Onuh reassured her people that she would continue to work closely with political leaders and security agencies to ensure that these heinous acts are brought to an end, and peace is restored in Otukpo and surrounding areas. She emphasized that the people deserve to live in peace and safety.

The Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, says Nigeria is not a democratic country.

Obi stated this while speaking on Tuesday during his appearance on Prime Time, a programme on Arise TV.

The former Anambra state governor claimed that the standards for measuring democracy do not exist in Nigeria.

“I have said it, and I maintain that there is no democracy in Nigeria today. Nigeria today is not a democratic country. Let’s stop telling ourselves lies. If you look at all the tenets and yardsticks measuring democracy, it doesn’t exist here.

“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Today, the government we have is not of the people.

“It is not by the people because the people didn’t vote. It wasn’t their votes. I’m not just talking about the presidency; it’s across the line. Look at what happened in Edo. Can you call that democracy?

“It is not the vote of the people. And it is not for the people. I have just told you that I went to an IDP camp where we have thousands of people. No primary health care.

“They were begging me to have one nurse, which I said I must make sure they have. They don’t even have a primary school, which again I have told them I will make sure it happens,” Obi said.

He also faulted the government for prioritising the wrong issues and neglecting social capital development.

Recall that Obi, in March, criticised President Bola Tinubu for declaring a state of emergency in Rivers and suspending Siminalayi Fubara, governor of the state.

According to him, Nigeria’s democracy, which has been progressing since 1999, is now collapsing and being knocked down by Tinubu’s administration.

US President Donald Trump and close ally Elon Musk weighed in on Marine Le Pen’s conviction after the far-right National Rally leader was found guilty of embezzlement and barred from running in the 2027 French presidential election.

Trump called the court’s decision a “very big deal” on Monday. “She was banned for five years and she was the leading candidate,” Trump said.

“That sounds like this country, that sounds very much like this country,” he added, in apparent reference to legal cases he faced before taking office for a second term.

“I know all about it, and a lot of people thought she wasn’t going to be convicted of anything,” he said.

The South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk blasted the court verdict, which will see Le Pen and 24 codefendants also face a four-year prison sentence and a €100,000 fine for siphoning European Parliament funds to pay for party employees back home.

“When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents,” Musk said Monday. “This is their standard playbook throughout the world.”

Musk, who has increasingly backed far-right movements across Europe, said the court verdict would “backfire” in a separate post.

Le Pen to appeal

Speaking to French TV channel TF1 in her first reaction to the verdict, Le Pen called the ruling a “political decision” and said that millions of French people “are outraged”.

She called the verdict a violation of the rule of law, said she would appeal and asked that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign.

She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.

“I didn’t think the magistrates would go so far against our democratic process”, she said in the TF1 interview.

“It’s a fatal day for our democracy.”

Marine Le Pen leaves the National Rally headquarters in Paris after a court convicted her of embezzlement and barred her from seeking public, 31 March, 2025 AP Photo

“There is no personal enrichment, so there is no corruption”, she said. “I’m going to pursue all possible avenues of appeal.”

She will have to resign as councillor for the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. She will continue to serve as an MP but will not be able to stand in legislative elections in the event of another dissolution of parliament in the near future.

A total of eight National Rally MEPs and their twelve assistants were also found guilty and barred from running for office. The party was also fined €2 million.

Le Pen and 24 other National Rally members were found guilty of embezzling money intended for European Parliament aides to pay staff who worked for the party over nearly 12 years.

A torn poster of French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen is seen in Henin-Beaumont in northern France, 11 December, 2015 AP Photo

Their full sentences were read out individually by the Paris court over several hours. Le Pen, who was sitting in the front row of the courtroom, visibly shook her head in disapproval as the verdict was read. She left without comment before sentencing ended.

The court estimated that the European Parliament’s total loss was €2.9 million, with Le Pen personally embezzling around €474,000.

“There was no personal enrichment … but there was the enrichment of a party,” Judge Bénédicte de Perthuis said, claiming it went against party financing rules.

“Let’s be clear: no one is on trial for doing politics, that’s not the issue. The issue was whether or not the contracts had been executed”, the judge added.

‘Je suis Marine‘

Leaders from the European Parliament’s right-wing Patriots for Europe bloc have rallied around Le Pen after the sentencing.

Patriots.eu, the group to which Le Pen’s RN belongs, published a post on X expressing “full support to Marine Le Pen” against what it described as an “alarming authoritarian drift within the European Union.”

Leaders of Patriot-affiliated parties have also expressed solidarity with the RN’s founder.

“Je suis Marine,” (I am Marine), wrote Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on X.

“I back Marine,” was the message in French of Italy’s League leader, Matteo Salvini, posted on a picture with the French politician.

Right-wing party leaders at a Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, 8 February, 2025 AP Photo

The League’s delegation in the European Parliament considered the ruling as “political and disproportionate,” and “the greatest judicial scandal of the Fifth [French] Republic.”

“Today it is not Marine Le Pen or the Rassemblement National being hit, but democracy,” read a note from the Italian party.

“I am shocked by the incredible tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,” wrote the Dutch nationalist leader Geert Wilders, founder and president of PVV, adding that he is confident she “will win the appeal and become President of France.”

Statements of solidarity and accusations towards the French judiciary also arrived from Belgium and Greece.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament resumed its business in Strasbourg on Monday afternoon, with some members also reacting to the sentencing.

“Justice has done its job, we need to accept it, and I call on everyone to bear responsibility,” Valérie Hayer, chair of the centrist Renew Europe group, told Euronews.

“All Republican forces must stand up against anti-judicial rhetoric, which is a slippery slope”, socialist MEP Chloé Ridel said.