The Plateau State Government has announced the immediate and temporary closure of all public and private primary and secondary educational institutions throughout the state as a precautionary measure in response to suspected diphtheria outbreaks identified across four specific Local Government Areas.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

• • Implementation Timeline: The official directive mandates that all affected schools shut down starting Monday, September 7, 2026, and remain closed indefinitely until further official notice is given.

  • Official Authorization: The closure order was formally communicated through a press statement released on Saturday, September 5, 2026, and authorized by Rt. Hon. Joyce Lohya Ramnap, mni, who serves as the Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication.

  • Affected Regions: The suspected diphtheria cases that triggered this state-wide intervention were specifically documented within Jos North, Wase, Jos South, and Bassa Local Government Areas.

  • Scope of Compliance: The directive applies uniformly to all institutions, including schools that had already commenced their academic calendars for the term, requiring them to suspend classes starting Monday.

  • Stakeholder Instructions: School administrators, proprietors, and educators are strictly directed to enforce the closure, while parents and guardians are strongly advised to keep all children and students safely at home during this period.

  • Underlying Rationale: State authorities emphasized that the shutdown is strictly a preventive health measure designed to safeguard the overall well-being of pupils, students, and academic staff against the suspected infection.

  • Future Updates: The government confirmed that additional details regarding when academic activities will safely resume will be shared publicly at a later date.

A leadership crisis within organized labor has escalated to the National Industrial Court in Port Harcourt, where Rivers State labor leader Comrade Ikechukwu Foster Onyefuru is challenging his suspension and the dissolution of elected union executives across two separate lawsuits.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

• • TUC Leadership Challenge (Suit NICN/PH/60/2026): Onyefuru, a senior staff member at Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited (formerly SPDC) and former Chairman of the Rivers State TUC Council, is contesting his June 25, 2024 suspension. He argues that the disciplinary action—spurred by accusations of unauthorized media interviews—violated the 2024 TUC Constitution because it bypassed proper constitutional bodies, fair hearings, and formal procedures. He is asking the court to nullify his removal, block any replacement elections, and award N10 million in general damages alongside N5 million in legal costs, naming TUC President Festus Osifo and other national officials as defendants.

  • PENGASSAN Branch Dissolution (Suit NICN/PH/63/2026): In the second case, Onyefuru and nine other members of the former Renaissance Africa Energy Company (RAEC) branch executive council of PENGASSAN are challenging the union’s decision to dissolve their elected three-year tenure on May 9, 2025—shortly after the company acquired SPDC shares. The claimants are asking the court to interpret the 2022 PENGASSAN Constitution to determine whether the union had the authority to replace them with a caretaker committee led by Akpe Emmanuel. They are also seeking an interlocutory injunction to prevent the recognition of the caretaker committee, block their exclusion from union activities, and halt forced deductions for the PENGASSAN Foundation.

  Both cases remain pending before the National Industrial Court in Port Harcourt, with defendants yet to file their responses.

Karl Von Batten, a Washington-based lobbyist and managing partner at Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C.—a firm hired by former Vice President Atiku to enhance his reputation in the U.S. and push for the release of law enforcement records concerning President Bola Tinubu—has removed a social media announcement from his firm’s verified X account claiming he was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump as a commissioner to a White House presidential commission.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

The deletion followed a public dismissal of the announcement by Sunday Dare, an aide to President Tinubu, who clarified that the role is actually tied to the Commission on Presidential Scholars, an educational panel run by the U.S. Department of Education that holds no jurisdiction over American foreign policy, national security, diplomacy, or bilateral relations with Nigeria.