The Lagos State chapter of the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria has expressed grief over the tragic killing of a 42-year-old e-hailing driver, Yusfat Ayinde, who was fatally stabbed by unidentified attackers on Friday.

Confirming the incident, the union’s chairman, Jaiyesinmi Azeez, told PUNCH Metro on Monday that Ayinde was on duty when he was ambushed.

According to Azeez, the driver had received a ride request through the e-hailing app and arrived at the designated location, where a group of hoodlums attacked him.

He stated that the assailants fatally stabbed Ayinde before fleeing with his vehicle.

He said, “Comrade Yusfat Olawale Ayinde is our member and the admin of a body of Professional Chauffeur in the state. He was tragically murdered in a brutal attack initiated by unidentified assailants. According to our findings, Ayinde received a ride request through the e-hailing app, and upon arrival at the designated location, he was ambushed by a group of hoodlums who requested him. The assailants fatally stabbed Ayinda and subsequently stole his vehicle.”

Reports indicate that his remains were abandoned along Agidingbi Road in Ikeja before being taken to the morgue.

Expressing concern over the safety of e-hailing drivers, Azeez called for enhanced security measures in the sector.

He also revealed that the union had launched an investigation through its task force to uncover the circumstances surrounding the murder.

He said, “The task force is currently working in collaboration with the family and other authorities to gather evidence and identify the app through which the ride request was made. Efforts are being made to track down the assailants and bring them to justice.

“The task force will coordinate with law enforcement to enhance investigative efforts and leverage technology in tracking the assailants.”

Azeez further noted that discussions were ongoing to implement additional safety measures for e-hailing drivers, including emergency response systems and increased surveillance in high-risk areas.

“The union will continue to support Ayinda’s family and ensure they receive the necessary assistance during this tragic time. The Auaton Lagos State Task Force is committed to ensuring that justice is served and that steps are taken to prevent such incidents in the future. Further updates will be provided as the investigation progresses,” he concluded.

In a related development, recall that the Lagos State Police Command arrested a 21-year-old US returnee, David Segun, along with two others, for allegedly killing an Uber driver in the Obalende area.

The Commissioner of Police, Ishola Olanrewaju, while parading the suspects at the state command headquarters on January 12, revealed that Segun and his accomplices—Emeka Akwara (19), Samuel Ariori (21), and Lukman Ariori (19) ordered an Uber ride from Chevron in Lekki to Obalende at midnight on Thursday, January 9.

He said upon arriving at a lonely area in Obalende, the suspects allegedly robbed and killed the Uber driver by stabbing him multiple times in the neck

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited mulls fresh premium motor spirit price reduction as MRS filling station, in partnership with Dangote Refinery, announced a fuel pump price cut on Monday.

The National President of Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association, Billy Gillis-Harry, and Spokesperson for Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, made this known in a separate exclusive interview with DAILY POST.

The development follows MRS filling station’s announcement of a fuel price reduction on Monday, for the first time in 2025.

The oil firm stated on Monday in its official X account that its pump price had dropped to N925 per litre in Lagos, South West (N933), North (N945), and South-East (N955). The new per litre price drop is from around N970 previously sold by the company.

This comes weeks after Dangote Refinery, on February 1, 2025, announced an ex-depot price drop to N870 from N970 per litre.

Reacting, Gillis-Harry and Ukadike were optimistic that NNPCL will, in the coming days, announce a PMS price reduction to remain relevant in the country’s downstream sector.

Gillis-Harry said that “NNPC has no choice but to reduce petrol retail prices because it is not possible to see a product at a cheaper price and still go for NNPCL.”

Similarly, Ukadike explained that since the price war between Dangote Refinery and NNPCL persists, the latter cannot afford to do anything other than a price reduction.

“It is likely that NNPCL will drop its price because there is a price war with Dangote Refinery. Once Dangote Refinery announces a price drop, NNPC will follow suit,” he said.

Why petrol price reductions by Dangote and NNPCL is not impacting transportation costs, others

Despite the recent petrol price reduction by MRS filling stations, Gillis-Harry noted that the cost of transportation and food prices have remained stagnant.

According to him, the weak purchasing power of Nigerians is the major reason the fuel price reduction is not impacting food prices and transportation costs.

“If you watch, the cost of transportation has not reduced in spite of the reduction of fuel at the retail market. That tells you that the purchasing power of Nigerians is very weak.

“In my opinion, we need to engage Nigerians in production activities such as farming, fishing, and technology.

“Go to the park, you will see that the price of transportation cost has not been impacted by the fuel reduction,” he stated.

However, Ukadike said that the impact of the petrol price reduction will be felt on transportation, goods, and services in the long run.

“The impact will be gradual; it will eventually impact transportation and others,” he noted.

Concerns over frequent petrol price adjustments

Gillis-Harry frowned at the frequent adjustments of petrol price by actors in the oil and gas sector.

He noted that incessant price adjustments will affect petrol security.

He added that arbitrary petrol price hikes cause serious losses to marketers who might lift fuel stock before the arrival of new stock.

“There was a lot of fuel that was purchased at the old price that is still in the system, and they have not been sold.

“Marketers cannot sell below the cost price. It is completely impossible for someone to buy a product at N970 per litre and sell below the purchase price.

“MRS that is trying to deepen the distribution process with PETROAN and Dangote Refinery still has the same challenge of the buying power,” he told DAILY POST.

DAILY POST reports that last December, Dangote Refinery had slashed its petrol ex-depot price from N899.50 per litre to N970.

NNPCL also announced a PMS price drop to petroleum markets.

The price rivalry between NNPCL and Dangote pushed fuel prices down in the last lap of 2024

The lead Counsel of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Aloy Ejimakor on Monday explained why Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Federal High Court can no longer conduct the trial of the Biafra agitator.

Ejimakor explained that the constitution permits Kanu to be tried within a period, hence the trial of the IPOB leader has extended for years.

He disclosed that Kanu has filed a petition bordering on judicial misconduct against Nyako which is enough to get her off the case.

This is coming when Nyako adjourned Kanu’s trial “sin die.”

Nyako had initially recused herself from Kanu’s trial after the IPOB made the demand in open court last year.

But the judge’s decision was turned down after the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho refused to accept Kanu’s case file and reassign the matter to another judge.

Consequently, Nyako resumed the hearing on Monday, after which, she adjourned indefinitely.

Reacting, Ejimakor maintained that the judge lacked the constitutional powers to continue with Kanu’s trial.

In a statement he issued, Ejimakor said: “We have been informed by our Client (Mazi Nnamdi Kanu) and we have obtained a copy thereof … that he has initiated a Petition or a Complainant bordering on judicial misconduct against Honorable Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako. This alone, without more, is enough to oust the Justice from subjecting Mazi Kanu to any trial before her court. It is against the rule of natural justice, equity and good conscience (and even the Cons) for a Judge against whom a defendant has preferred a Petition to – before the disposition of such Petition – continue to preside over the trial of such a defendant. This is very easy to understand – for lawyers and lay people alike. Compare and contrast with someone being a judge in his or her own case, or being a Judge over you when she is a defendant in the case you initiated against her. The Petition or Complaint was filed on 14th January 2025 and it is pending.

“As a BACKGROUND to the current impasse, below are the reasons Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had to take the drastic step of requesting the RECUSAL:

“First, back in June 2021, the same Judge conducted a hearing by which Mazi Kanu (an awaiting-trial) was ordered remanded without notice to, and the presence of his former Counsel (of record) at the hearing. That was a grave constitutional error that turned highly prejudicial against Mazi Kanu and it continues to be constitutionally injurious to him to this day.

“Second, Mazi Kanu was ordered detained in DSS cell instead of a prison facility as the law contemplates. The excuse then (which – by the way – fell outside the exceptions) was that every penitentiary in Nigeria is porous or pathetically low-security. This excuse suggested a judicial state of mind that imputed a proclivity for jailbreak to Mazi Kanu. That’s wrong and unacceptable.

“Third, when the DSS detention posed grave risks to Mazi Kanu’s constitutional right to fair hearing and to Counsel, the Judge summarily refused his application for transfer to prison or other less restrictive facility and instead ordered an accelerated trial. That’s manifest injustice.

“Fourth, when the Supreme Court ruled against Mazi Kanu’s bail revocation, the same Judge who had revoked his bail refused to reinstate the bail. That’s an egregious violation of the Constitution and the doctrine of stare decisis.

“Fifth, the Supreme Court had held that, by revoking Mazi Kanu’s bail, the Judge’s impartiality has become suspect. In the face of this damning indictment from the apex court, it would amount to a dangerous gamble for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to ignore this and take his chances in a trial that has six capital offenses arrayed against him.

“And sixth, despite the enormous risks to Mazi Kanu’s right to fair trial posed by the strict conditions of his detention at the DSS and the illegality of the charges, the Judge summarily refused our meritorious application to adjourn the trial until the exhaustion our appeal challenging her jurisdiction to try the case. For Mazi Kanu, this is the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Above all, when Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was presented in Court on 29th June 2021, following his rendition from Kenya, the Court had a duty to make inquiries regarding the locale of his “arrested” (whether in Nigeria or abroad); and if abroad, whether his “arrest and surrender” to Nigeria complied with the pertinent laws of the country of his refuge, as well as that of Nigeria and the international laws on point. We are aware that the Court never made such inquiry because if it did, it would have revealed the earliest indication of the infamous extraordinary rendition that has complicated jurisdiction to this day. You will recall that the former Attorney-General had falsely claimed that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was lawfully extradited. If not for the dexterity of one Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s Counsel who had told Nigerians what actually happened, this grave falsity would have persisted as the truth to this day.

“The post-recusal Summons issued to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu that brought us to Court on 10th February 2024 cannot be blamed on the Court alone. The prosecution grandfathered it by a Letter it wrote to the Court on 5th December 2024, requesting that the case be re-calendared for a hearing before Justice Murtala-Nyako. In our reaction and after a considered view that the said Letter strained the boundaries of prosecutorial misconduct, we countered with a reply, vehemently opposing the re-calendaring the case to be heard before a Judge who is bound by an extant Order of recusal.

“In our efforts to stave off what we reckoned to be burgeoning unconstitutionality that lies in sending the case back to the recused Judge, we took the responsible step of generating a Letter to the Honorable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, requesting for transfer of the case to the Southeast. We took this step because we were reliably informed that the “official” reason for sending the case back to the recused Judge is because no other Judge in the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court is willing to take the case. And the reason why Southeast is in play (to the exclusion of other zones) is because, being the place where the offenses were alleged to have impact, it possesses far superior jurisdiction to every other division, including Abuja.”

Highlighting the solution to the impasse, Ejimakor reiterate that Kanu’s trial should be transferred to the Southeast if no judge is willing to take it up.

He added: “Having come thus far, the next logical question is: What’s the way forward? The answers are simple and they are as follows:

“If no Judge (other the recused Judge) in Abuja is willing to try the case, the next lawful thing to do is to – on the authority of Section 45, Federal High Court Act & James Ibori v. FRN – transfer the case to any of the Federal High Court divisions in the Southeast.

“If there’s some sort of a “secret official embargo” in having Mazi Nnamdi Kanu tried in the Southeast, you cannot keep him in an endless limbo while he’s detained as an awaiting-trial. Awaiting which trial? A trial that cannot happen in Abuja or Southeast?

“In every common law country, when a State has an insurmountable difficulty in putting a detainee on trial within a reasonable time, the next responsible and lawful option is to release such a detainee until such a time his trial can be properly conducted, subject to any statute of limitation that may be applicable.

“Under the Constitution, every criminal suspect, especially a detainee, deserves to be tried within a reasonable time, not an indefinite time, not being in detention for almost four years awaiting trial that never happens for no fault of the detainee but of the State. Additionally, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act prescribed a day-to-day trial for every criminal suspect. It becomes more urgent and compelling when such a suspect is in detention, and a lengthy to boot.

“In summation, we make bold to say that the ball is firmly and exclusively in the court of the Federal Government, in the sense that since it has proved unable to bring Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to trial within a reasonable time, then the next best thing (which is also lawful and constitutional) is to end this whole saga honorably by releasing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu either through restoration of his bail or otherwise – by a discontinuance of a case that was burdened by the indices of internecine politics from its inception ten years ago in 2015.”

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has distanced himself from campaign posters promoting his alleged governorship ambition in Delta State.

The Minister’s Special Assistant on Political Matters, Voke Oshasha, in a press statement on Monday, described the posters as “fake” and a cheap act of blackmail by those seeking to make Delta APC their personal estate.

Dismissing the speculation, he stated that the intention behind the posters is to misrepresent the minister’s and other Delta APC leaders’ efforts to make the party more inclusive, rather than allowing it to remain under the control of a single individual.

Oshasha said in the statement: “Our attention has been drawn to some fake posters circulating online, suggesting that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Olorogun Festus Keyamo, SAN, is interested in running for Governor of Delta State in 2027 on the platform of the APC.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. This is cheap blackmail by those who want to turn Delta APC into their personal estate. Their strategy is to distort the Minister’s and other leaders’ genuine efforts to open up the party for all members to participate freely, instead of leaving it in the grip of a single individual.

“Mr Keyamo has a long history of fighting military dictatorships and injustice, alongside President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of NADECO fame, and he has no reservations about resisting civilian dictatorship either.”

He avowed that the APC leaders in Delta” have built a formidable alliance to prevent the party’s decline in the state.”

He added: “For emphasis: no one is excluded or shut out. That is the simple message. Everyone must work collectively, rather than kneeling in someone’s village to form structures or beg for tickets. Democratic ideals must shine through in Delta APC.

“All current blackmail attempts will not deter the Minister from collaborating with others to achieve these important goals.”

However, some stakeholders believe the minister may be testing the waters under the APC banner ahead of the 2027 election. They interpret the posters as a potential challenge to former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, who is also believed to have gubernatorial ambitions.