• Driver arrested in Lagos for rape, robbery of women

A Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja has sentenced a 19-year-old teacher, Abdullahi Abbass, to life imprisonment for sexually abusing his nine-year-old pupil — a conviction the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons hailed as a major win in its fight against sexual violence.

In a statement on X on Saturday by the agency’s National Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, NAPTIP said the judgment was delivered by Justice M. Osho–Adebiyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja.

The agency said the convict, who worked in a private school in the Kwali Area Council, lured the victim after school hours on March 19, 2025, and raped him through the anus.

“The convict was the class teacher of the victim. On the 19th March 2025, after school hours, he sent another pupil to call the victim from their home. He thereafter took the victim down the street where he lived and raped the male victim through the anus,” the statement read in part.

The agency added that the victim reported the incident to his mother, leading to the suspect’s arrest and prosecution.

Abbass was arraigned on two counts of rape and sexual abuse and was convicted on October 29, 2025, under Section 2 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, which prescribes life imprisonment.

Reacting to the judgment, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, commended the judiciary and partners for their role in securing the conviction.

She said, “This is a landmark judgment that carries the commensurable punishment for the offender. This will serve as a deterrent, and his name shall feature prominently in our Sex Offenders Register.

“I wish to say that the speedy investigation and arraignment of the Convict is a testimony to our renewed commitment and determination to tackle the incidence of domestic violence, rape, and other forms of sexual abuse in the Country.

Bello also praised the Nigerian Police for its collaboration and reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to tackling rape and other forms of sexual violence across the country.

Similarly, PUNCH Online reports on June 19, 2025, that a teacher, Pascal Ofomata (34 years old), was convicted and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for defiling his 11-year-old male JSS 1 student at St. Christopher’s Junior Seminary, Onitsha. The incident was tried by a Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court in Awka, Anambra State, presided over by Justice Peace Otti.

In a related development, Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos State Police Command, have arrested a man allegedly responsible for a string of violent crimes, including rape, defilement, assault, indecent assault, and multiple armed robberies targeting female passengers across parts of Lagos State.

The Lagos State Command, Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent of Police Abimbola Adebisi in a statement posted on the command’s X handle on Saturday, said after the strict directives from the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Olohundare Jimoh, the detectives of the State Criminal Investigation Department commenced a detailed and discreet investigation into the complaint from victims of the dastardly acts of the suspect.

Over the past few months, several women in Lagos have taken to social media to report disturbing experiences involving drivers who allegedly lured or picked them up before robbing, assaulting, or sexually violating them.

The statement read, “The painstaking investigation by the Police Joint Investigation teams resulted in the arrest of this vicious and very notorious suspect on 31st October, 2025, at about 0940 hrs.

“The operational vehicle being used by the suspect, a red colour Toyota Corolla vehicle with registration number JJJ 226 HT, in committing the crimes and offences was recovered from his possession.

“The suspect is currently in Police detention. Investigation is being intensified to arrest other suspects who are suspected of having been involved in the commission of the crimes.”

The statement added that the recovered vehicle has been secured as an exhibit and will be used in the prosecution of the suspect.

The Command urged any of the victims of this vicious and notorious suspect to report to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, to provide relevant information and evidence to help the investigation.

“Their identities will be properly protected. The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, reassures the public of the Command’s firm commitment to protecting all residents, ensuring justice for survivors, and maintaining the security of Lagos State. He further noted that updates on the investigation will be provided in due course,” the statement added

Healthcare delivery across Abuja is set to face serious disruptions as the Association of Resident Doctors under the Federal Capital Territory Administration (ARD-FCTA) has declared an indefinite strike, effective 12 midnight on Saturday, November 1, 2025.

The doctors said the decision followed years of unresolved welfare and administrative challenges affecting their members.

In a letter dated October 30, 2025, addressed to the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, and signed by ARD-FCTA President, Dr. George Ebong, and General Secretary, Dr. Agbor Affiong, the association announced that its members would withdraw their services indefinitely.

The letter, acknowledged by the offices of the FCT Minister, the FCT Head of Service, and the Health Services and Environment Secretariat on October 31, signaled a potential paralysis of operations across FCTA-owned hospitals, where resident doctors make up the majority of the workforce.

This move comes on the heels of a similar declaration by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which had earlier announced a nationwide strike starting the same date.

According to ARD-FCTA, members unanimously voted to join the national strike during an emergency congress on October 29. However, the association stressed that it would continue its strike even if NARD later suspended its action.

“Even if NARD suspends or calls off its strike, ARD-FCTA will continue with its own indefinite action until all our demands are satisfactorily met,” the letter stated.

The association’s demands include:

Immediate payment of outstanding salary arrears for members employed since 2023.

Recruitment of new doctors, with a written commitment to conclude by the end of 2025.

Immediate release of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).

Correction of irregular salary payments and stoppage of erroneous deductions.

Promotion and conversion timelines to be completed within one month.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure prompt skipping, conversion, and promotion processes.

ARD-FCTA, which comprises doctors working in 14 district and general hospitals as well as the Department of Public Health, warned that the strike would continue until every item on its list of grievances is addressed.

As Abuja residents brace for the fallout, healthcare services in major hospitals such as Wuse, Asokoro, and Maitama District Hospitals are expected to be hit hardest.

This latest strike underscores the growing crisis in Nigeria’s public health sector, where frequent industrial actions, poor working conditions, and unpaid benefits continue to undermine patient care and staff morale.

Unless swift action is taken, Abuja could soon face a complete shutdown of secondary healthcare services, further exposing the cracks in the nation’s healthcare system.

The Times
Thursday, October 30 2025

In November 2000, Peter Cresswell, then a High Court judge, delivered a legal ruling that condemned the operations of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market and devastated more than 200 investors known as “Names”.

He gave his decision in a 600-page judgment at the end of a vast legal undertaking that was typical of a man who was both brutally logical and in possession of a moral compass underpinned by firm Christian values.

Cresswell attacked Lloyd’s, which had won the case. “The catalogue of failings and incompetence in the 1980s by underwriters, managing agents, members’ agents and others is staggering,” he said, “and brought disgrace on one of the City’s great markets.”

At the same time, he reached out to the Names, who had lost the hearing and, in many cases, faced financial ruin. “I recognise that no words can adequately describe the devastation that has been caused to many individuals in financial and personal terms,” he said, adding that many Names were “innocent victims” who had “suffered enormously”.

After overseeing litigation for three years between 1993 and 1996 and hearing a case that lasted six months in 2000, Cresswell rejected claims that Lloyd’s had defrauded the investors.

Each of the Names had pledged their own wealth with unlimited personal liability to underwrite insurance policies, each providing capital to a Lloyd’s syndicate to share in its profits — and losses.

As the 1980s wore on, however, losses mounted exponentially, eventually reaching £8 billion. Half of them arose out of asbestos claims in the United States; others from a series of disasters, including an explosion on the Piper Alpha oilrig in the North Sea, and damage caused by an earthquake in San Francisco and ferocious storms in northern Europe.

The 230 Names alleged that they had signed up to Lloyd’s under false pretences. They claimed that those running the insurance market were all too aware of the build-up of asbestos-related claims and had made misrepresentations to encourage new underwriters to join the market. The system was widely known as “recruit to dilute”.

Of the 34,000 underwriters who lost money as a result of the crisis, the vast majority settled when Lloyd’s offered a deal that vastly reduced their liabilities after the litigation presided over by Cresswell. Most Names agreed to pay back £100,000 each. Others reached agreement later; 230 held out.

As well as the cost to the Names, the case took a heavy toll on the judge, who was an intensely private man. He faced criticism both in the media and among some of those involved in the insurance market, including many Names. His critics included people he knew well.

According to those close to him, Cresswell was “deeply hurt” by the criticism. He “felt isolated” and “lost confidence”.
Yet he found support among colleagues in the High Court and, in 2002, the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld his findings.

A former judge who specialises in financial law said: “The litigation by the Lloyd’s Names went to the heart of London as a global insurance sector. Mr Justice Cresswell managed the case with a sure hand, and although the Names were ultimately unsuccessful, his criticisms of Lloyd’s led to fundamental reforms which put the market on a sustainable basis.”

Lloyd’s introduced significant structural changes. A new company was founded to deal solely with historic losses. Rules were established to ensure that underwriting was backed by liquid assets. Limited liability was introduced for Names.

A tall, imposing man with chiselled good looks, Cresswell was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1966 and in his early years undertook criminal as well as commercial work. He built a highly successful practice in financial disputes. He became a QC in 1983 and appeared in cases such as the landmark Libyan assets litigation. Three years later, he became a recorder.

At the same time, Cresswell stood out as an increasingly influential figure in the legal profession. He became a member of the Senate of Inns of Court and Bar in 1981, and chairman of the Common Law and Commercial Bar Association four years later.

In 1990, he was elected chairman of the General Council of the Bar in what Frances Gibb, then legal correspondent of The Times, called “one of the most critical years” in its history. He was 45, one of the youngest men to head the Bar.

In an interview at the time, Gibb wrote of Cresswell: “His style is quietly forceful and tough; not a man to have on the other side of the negotiating table.”
At the time, the Bar was facing a Conservative government determined to introduce more competition into the legal profession, reform rights of audience and end the monopoly enjoyed by barristers in the higher courts.

Although the Courts and Legal Services Bill passed into law, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the lord chancellor, made several compromises to safeguard the position of barristers and the independence of the Bar. Much of the credit for this was handed to Cresswell.

According to Sir William Blair, who was often Cresswell’s junior in his cases: “He built a relationship of trust with Lord Mackay. The Bar in general opposed expanding the rights of audience to solicitors in the High Court and above. He understood, however, that these reforms were inevitable and focused on achieving a sensible result. With hindsight, we can see that these reforms developed the role of advocacy and, rather than threaten the Bar, the removal of restrictive rules raised standards generally.”

Cresswell also used his position to pursue one of his great causes — access to justice for all. He wanted to see an expansion of legal aid and called for “renewed emphasis on the importance for those joining the Bar of doing legal aid work, and the need to represent individuals in difficulty in the civil and criminal courts”.

After his year as chairman of the Bar, Cresswell was appointed a judge in the High Court in 1991 when he received the customary knighthood. He was put in charge of the Commercial Court two years later.

Blair said: “He pioneered case management techniques in the most complex litigation of its day. In emphasising the value of mediation over pursuing cases to trial, he was ahead of his time. He believed in consensus rather than conflict. Sometimes mistaken for weakness, this was fundamental to the way he served as a judge.”

He retired from the High Court in 2008 and became an arbitrator and mediator in domestic and international legal disputes involving commerce and business, with a high rate of settlement.

Cresswell also acted as a judge in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands and the Qatar International Court. He was a founding editor of the Encyclopaedia of Banking Law.
Peter John Cresswell was born in St Helens on Merseyside in 1944, but grew up in Iver in Buckinghamshire. He was the only son of Madeleine Cresswell and her husband, Jack, who was an Anglican vicar. They also had a daughter, Gillian. The household was austere. His mother and father instilled in him “a quiet faith and unshakeable belief in the family”. He was a committed Anglican throughout his life.

Peter was given an assisted place at a private school, St John’s in Leatherhead, where, according to the family, he had a “very tough time”.

He later gained a place at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he studied law, gained a reputation as a “wheeler-dealer” and pursued two great passions: fishing and golf.
He had been taught to fly fish by his mother during holidays in the Lake District and later in life became something of a legend among fly fishermen. At the same time, he became an authority on the lifecycle of the salmon and developed an active interest in the conservation of rivers.

With other like-minded fishermen, he took over a run-down property in the Outer Hebrides, which involved a three-hour walk to the river, and transformed it into a renowned sporting estate. He introduced a 100 per cent catch-and-release policy long before this became the norm. He also fished on the Spey and managed a beat near his home at Wherwell on the Test in Hampshire.

Amassing a huge collection of old salmon flies, he bought boxes of them from antique shops and vintage outlets around the country, often keeping only a solitary fly and selling the rest through an anonymous intermediary on eBay. He became president of the Flyfishers’ Club in 2003.

When he proposed to his future wife, Caroline Ward, whom he had known since childhood, she accepted his hand in marriage on condition that he pursued only one of his great, time-consuming hobbies; the other had to go. The casualty was golf.

The couple were married in 1972 and had two sons, Oliver and Mark. Both parents carried the recessive gene for cystic fibrosis. Oliver was born with the disease and died in 1986 at the age of 13. Cresswell later worked with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, becoming a trustee, then a member of the board. His wife, who worked for Christie’s, the auction house, developed spinal cancer and died in 2003. His son Mark, who is a fund manager, survives him.

Peter Cresswell and his grandson Felix sitting on rocks by the River Spey.
Cresswell on the banks of the Spey with his grandson Felix
After being buffeted by personal loss and difficulties in the aftermath of the Lloyd’s case, Cresswell finally found a new lease of life with the birth of two grandsons, Felix and Jack. He also found a new partner, Pamela Montgomery, a Canadian who is an international art teacher. They met in the Cayman Islands.

When he died, his son received letters of condolence from many judges — and even more from ghillies.👏🏽

Sir Peter Cresswell, High Court judge, was born on April 24, 1944. He died of cancer on September 10, 2025, aged 81

https://www.thetimes.com/article/9f317099-a6b3-4379-bf6c-b4d585e943f3?shareToken=40835146ed0ce17eda6f12d290c09c73

A High Court in Kano State has ordered that a man, identified as Idris Kurma, be remanded in a correctional facility for allegedly strangling his wife to death after she reportedly refused to prepare kuli-kuli (groundnut cake).

Kurma appeared before Justice Musa Dahiru on a charge of culpable homicide, contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code, as presented by the prosecuting counsel, Barrister Lamido Abba Soron Dinki.

The accused pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.

In the course of the proceedings, the prosecutor requested time to enable the state to call its witnesses, while defence counsel, Ibrahim Adakawa, applied for access to all necessary details of the case.

Justice Dahiru granted both requests and adjourned the matter to December 12, 2025, for continuation of hearing.

According to court records, Kurma, who lives in Goda, Shanono Local Government Area of Kano State, allegedly strangled his wife, Aisha Idris, after she refused his request to make the local delicacy.

The Conclave

• Classifies it as a country of particular concern

United States President Donald Trump has redesignated  Nigeria as a country of particular concern.

This follows the groundswell that accompanied the allegations of United States Senator Ted Cruz, who accused Nigeria’s government of enabling a “massacre” against Christians, citing a rising number of attacks against the community in the country.

In a statement on social Media on Friday, Trump said Christianity was facing an existential threat in Nigeria.

“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a “COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN” — But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!”

“I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately look into this matter, and report back to me.

“The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other Countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our Great Christian population around the World!”

Weeks ago, American Fact-Finder, Mike Arnold, noted that the pattern of attacks is consistent.

He attributed the ongoing violence to three intertwined drivers: radical Islamist conquest, illicit ‘blood mineral’ mining, and politically motivated demographic re-engineering.

“The term farmer herder clashes is, in many instances today, cynical doublespeak. Weaponizing historical land disputes to mask jihadist conquest. For centuries, herders and farmers co-existed with rare, very rarely lethal disputes,” he said.

“Now villages are systematically razed, churches leveled, and tens of thousands are dead. This is a systematic terror and not grazing conflicts. A lie akin to calling Bosnia’s ethnic cleansing a neighborhood spat.”

Citing Article II of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Arnold asserted that Nigeria’s situation meets the international legal threshold for genocide.

According to him, after five years of investigation, he could say, “The campaign of violence and displacement in northern and middle belt Nigeria does indeed constitute a calculated current and long-running genocide against Christian communities and other religious minorities without any reasonable doubt. To continue to deny this is to be complicit with these atrocities.”

Arnold warned that continued denial of the atrocities only emboldens perpetrators.

“To continue to deny this is to be complicit with these atrocities,” he said. “I say this not in anger, but in truth and grief. My stated assignment from my host was to speak the truth and I have done that to the best of my ability. I believe Nigeria has a bright future.”

“I believe in Christian Muslim harmony. I believe good people of every tribe and faith and party must stand against this evil, but first we must name it. Here I stand,” he added.

He concluded that his team’s report would be submitted to U.S. policymakers and international human rights organisations upon return.

This is a developing story…

Frontline soldiers in Yobe and Borno say a government peace policy has become a weapon against them.

What was meant to end the insurgency, they warn, is now arming it with intelligence.

The Nigerian military’s reintegration programme, known as the “Borno Model,” aims to rehabilitate surrendered Boko Haram fighters.

But soldiers say these “repentant” ex-fighters are feeding information straight back to their old commanders.

“They know our camps, our routines, our armouries,” one soldier said. “They pretend to work with us, then disappear back into the bush.”

Since 2016, officials have celebrated thousands of surrenders and rehabilitation graduations.

In July 2024, the Borno State government proudly announced that 8,490 “low-risk returnees,” including minors, had been reintegrated.

But in the field, soldiers tell a darker story.

Many troops say they are forced to patrol, share intelligence, and even live with ex-Boko Haram members.

“We go on patrol together,” a soldier said. “They guide us through the forest. But we don’t trust them.”

That distrust runs deep.

Several soldiers said the ex-fighters received uniforms, motorbikes, and stipends—sometimes more than regular troops.

“They wear our uniforms,” one soldier complained. “If they escape, they can commit crimes with our identity.”

Anger is growing inside the ranks.

“These are men who killed our colleagues,” another soldier said. “Now they eat beside us. How can we trust them?”

The soldiers allege that the “repentant” fighters have leaked critical information—troop numbers, patrol schedules, even armoury locations.

Insurgents have used that intelligence to strike at night, ambush supply convoys, and seize weapons.

There’s precedent for these fears.

In October 2024, thirteen “repentant” ex-fighters fled Borno with rifles and motorcycles provided by the state.

It confirmed what many soldiers had warned: insider access is being exploited.

Experts say reintegration itself is not the problem.

Around the world, former fighters are often rehabilitated to reduce violence.
But such efforts require tight screening, community acceptance, and constant monitoring.

In northeast Nigeria, soldiers say those safeguards don’t exist.

Commanders under political pressure to show “success” are deploying unvetted ex-fighters alongside loyal troops.

The result, they argue, is deadly.

“Boko Haram now knows when we rest, when we move, when we reload,” one soldier said.
“They hit us at our weakest moments. Someone is telling them everything.”

Security analysts agree the policy needs urgent reform.

They recommend biometric tracking for all returnees, strict separation from military camps, and transparent reporting of resources.

Without that, they warn, reintegration risks becoming a revolving door back to insurgency.

The policy’s failure has broader consequences.

In a region already ravaged by violence and displacement, every betrayal costs civilian lives.

When military cohesion breaks, entire communities suffer.

Advocates insist that peacebuilding and protection can coexist—but only with accountability.

Soldiers who raise concerns, they say, should be heard, not silenced.

For now, troops on the front line feel abandoned.

“They tell us these men have changed,” a soldier said bitterly. “But every time we bury our own, we know they haven’t.”

Reintegration was meant to heal the wounds of war. Instead, it may be reopening them—one insider attack at a time.