My Dear Freshly Minted Learned Sisters,

FIDA Abuja Heartfelt Felicitation to all Female New Wigs On Call to the Nigerian Bar and an Invitation to a Convivial “Sip and Connect Hangout”

First things first – a massive congratulations, Learned Babes!

It’s no mean feat but you did it!

You survived Law School, crushed your Bar Finals, and now you have officially crossed the threshold into THE noble profession.

You have absolutely earned every letter of the Barrister & Solicitor title – so let it marinate wella for a moment!

And just so you know, this momentous milestone is more than the personal win you may think it is.

It is a big deal for the legal profession, for Nigerian women, and will significantly contribute to inspiring and fanning the embers for a little girl somewhere, who now dares to dream.

I embrace you into the profession with pride, and extend your flowers to you – unreservedly!

As Chairperson of FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch, it gives me immense joy to not only celebrate you but also to invite you to our prestigious fold.

This is a solemn invitation to lead with purpose, serve with integrity, and stand tall as a champion for justice — especially for indigent women, children and persons with disabilities, who desperately need it.

Now that you’ve got the wig on, let’s get to the scoop:

Character is everything – integrity is not optional. You’re stepping into a world that will test your values, your voice, and your vision. Ensure your yes remains yes, your no, no, and your ethics more unshakable than a Supreme Court ruling. Though your brilliance and hardwork may have brought you here, note that it is your character that will keep you soaring.

Be brave and confident. Yours must be the bold voice that rightly and reasonably echoes for the voiceless in any room – be it a courtroom, boardroom or ballroom. Don’t just quote the law – endeavour to exemplify its highest ideals.

Find your tribe – join FIDA. While you may not immediately realise it, worthwhile connections are a goldmine! If you’re looking for a community of powerful women lawyers who are about measurable impact, service, sisterhood and plenty of smart moves – FIDA is where it’s at. We preserve, promote and protect the rights and interests of vulnerable persons. And we do it with heart, grace, and of course, some serious legal sauce.

At the risk of sounding immodest, joining FIDA simply means:

• signing on to a legacy of service and purpose-driven advocacy;
• connecting with seasoned mentors who genuinely get it;
• being part of a global force shaping justice for an egalitarian society;
• gaining platforms to serve, speak, and shine fully;
• enjoying enduring camaraderie and conviviality of sisterhood; etc.

Remember, your wig isn’t just a crown, it symbolizes a call. A call to justice, to lead and to lift others as you rise. So be a real slay queen and come make indelible impact with us.

Assuredly, we’re rooting for you – always.

For a relaxed convivial time together where we better get connected, lounge, play and learn, I invite you to the FIDA ABUJA SIP AND CONNECT HANGOUT, to hold at 10am on Saturday, 12th July 2025. (Attendance is strictly upon reservation – send a WhatsApp message to 09016469573). 

While looking forward to hosting you, I heartily welcome you to the legal profession – and hopefully, into the warm, vibrant family that is FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch.

With pride, excitement and deep sisterly affection,

Chioma Onyenucheya-Uko,

Chairperson, FIDA Nigeria – Abuja Branch

Canada has updated its Express Entry immigration requirements, raising the minimum financial threshold for applicants seeking to migrate under the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs. As of 7 July 2025, single applicants must now show proof of at least CAD 15,263 (approximately ₦17 million), up from CAD 14,690.

This move comes shortly after the United States implemented its own visa restrictions, announcing that most Nigerians applying for non-immigrant visas will now receive only single-entry visas valid for three months. The U.S. says the change is part of a reciprocity adjustment in response to Nigeria’s visa policies toward Americans.

According to Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), applicants must update their Express Entry profiles with the new proof of funds requirement by 28 July 2025 to maintain eligibility. The amount required increases based on family size, with a two-person household now needing CAD 19,001 (around ₦21.2 million).

Proof of funds is required to demonstrate that a prospective immigrant has sufficient resources to support themselves and their family during initial settlement. Acceptable documentation includes recent bank statements, official letters from financial institutions, or other formal evidence of access to funds.

The IRCC warns that applicants must prove legal access to the money and cannot use property equity or borrowed funds as part of their settlement proof. Joint accounts with spouses are permitted, but proof of access must be provided if the money is not in the applicant’s name.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it did not introduce a new visa policy that triggered the recent changes from the U.S., suggesting instead that the new U.S. rules may be responding to long-standing visa imbalances. The government says it is currently studying the situation and will issue a formal response in due course.

These changes signal tightening immigration rules from top destination countries for Nigerian migrants and could significantly impact prospective travellers, particularly younger applicants and middle-income earners.

The Guardian

For orchestrating the killing of Dr. Mrs. Funmilayo Sherifat Adefolalu, a lecturer at the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, a 16-year-old girl, Miss Joy Afekafe, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of culpable homicide and armed robbery in connection with the death.

Justice Mohammed Adishetu Mohammed of Minna High Court No. 4 delivered the verdict, stating that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Joy and her accomplices were responsible for the brutal killing of Dr. Adefolalu at her Gbaiko residence on October 28, 2023.

The Principal State Counsel from the Niger State Ministry of Justice brought two charges—culpable homicide and armed robbery—both punishable under Sections 221 and 298 of the Penal Code.

According to court proceedings, Joy had been employed as a housemaid by the deceased on October 2, 2023.

She was introduced to the household by Pastor Ojo Peters of the Voice of Mercy Church, Minna, which both the victim and Joy’s mother attended.

After being caught stealing money and valuables, Joy was dismissed.

In retaliation, she recruited two accomplices—identified as DJ Wallex and DJ Smart—to carry out the attack. The accomplices are currently at large.

In her confession to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Joy recounted how her friends stabbed the lecturer multiple times.

As the victim tried to fight back with a stool, they overpowered her and used the same stool to strike her head, killing her instantly.

They then made away with mobile phones, a laptop, and foreign currency from her room.

Delivering a judgement that lasted over two hours, Justice Mohammed ruled that the evidence clearly established Joy’s involvement in the crime, both as a participant and instigator.

“I hold that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Dr. Adefolalu is dead and that her death was caused by the convict and her friends, who stabbed and later struck her fatally with a wooden stool,” the judge stated.

Although Joy is 16 years old, the court considered her age at the time of the crime—14 years—when determining her sentence.

Justice Mohammed noted that under Section 221 of the Penal Code, the death penalty cannot be applied to minors. Instead, the law mandates life imprisonment or other custodial measures.

Consequently, Joy was sentenced to life in a custodial facility for culpable homicide and an additional 10 years for armed robbery.

The Conclave

Sequel to the Supreme Court verdict on Thursday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Candidate in the September 2024 governorship election in Edo state, Mr Asue Ighodalo says he feels a deep sense of betrayal in the apex court’s verdict.

A five-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba Lawal held that the appellants – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the September 2024 election, Asue Ighodalo –  could not establish their claims of election non-compliance, unlawful votes, and that Okpebholo was not duly elected.

The appeal was dismissed for lacking merit.

‎Ighodalo, in his reaction to the apex court verdict, on Thursday, said though he accepted the finality of the judgment, “I do not and cannot pretend that what was delivered amounts to justice.”
‎
‎He spoke in a statement he signed, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

‎‎”My dear people of Edo State, today, the Supreme Court has ruled.
‎
‎”What happened in the September 2024 Governorship Election was not a contest.
‎
‎”It was a robbery. Coordinated. Deliberate. And now, tragically validated by the highest court in the land.
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‎”While I will not and can not obstruct any judicial pronouncement, no matter how flawed, I must never fear to speak truth to power,” he said.
‎
‎According to him, like you, I feel a deep sense of betrayal.
‎
‎”Not just by those who rigged the process, but by the very institutions we trusted to protect our democracy.
‎
‎”You came out in hope. You voted for competence, for progress, for prosperity.
‎
‎”And now, we are told that your voice does not matter.
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‎”That your freely given mandate can be trampled without consequence.
‎
‎”I feel your pain. I share your anger. And I will never forget your courage.
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‎”To every young person who saw in this moment the birth of a new Edo.
‎
‎”To every elder who longed to see our state rise again.
‎
‎”To every woman and man who prayed, campaigned, and voted.
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‎”We may not have won the office, but we won something greater.
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‎”We found one another. We discovered our collective strength.
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‎”Though this painful chapter closes today, our beautiful story does not end,” he said.
‎
‎Ighodalo, however, said that he would not relent in his effort at ensuring a better Edo.
‎
‎”The struggle to reclaim the soul of our beloved state continues.
‎
‎”Yes, dark days may lie ahead. The weight of this illegitimacy will, unfortunately, echo beyond the halls of the Supreme Court.
‎
‎”I fear Edo will feel it in the absence of leadership, in the poverty of policy, and in the daily suffering of her people.
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‎”But we are neither a fearful nor a broken people. We may be wounded. But all wounds heal.
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‎”So let this be our vow. We will not retreat. We will not be silenced. And we will never forget,” he said.
‎
‎The PDP candidate, therefore, advised Gov. Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner of the election, to govern the state aright.
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‎”To those who now hold power undeserved, lead with humility.
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‎”Govern with conscience. History sees what the courts may not.
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‎”And one day, it will deliver its own verdict,” he concluded.

Thursday’s verdict came about 11 months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Okpebholo as the winner of the Edo governorship election.

The then-APC candidate got 291,667 votes, beating Ighodalo, his closest rival, who garnered 247,274 votes.

Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) took a distant third place, managing only 22,763 votes in the fiercely contested election.

However, unsatisfied with the conduct of the exercise, Ighodalo and the PDP took the matter to court, alleging that the election was fraught with irregularities. They asked the court to nullify the poll over allegations of non-compliance with the tenets of the Electoral Act 2022.

In April 2025, the election tribunal said the petitioners failed to prove the allegations against the respondents.

The PDP and Ighodalo took another step, going to the Court of Appeal to challenge that verdict.

Their petition was equally dismissed by a panel of the appellate court, which said their appeal lacked merit.

Meanwhile, Governor Okpebholo has welcomed the victory at the Supreme Court and has extended a “sincere olive branch to all his opponents and members of the opposition”.

NAN/ChannelsTV

A very angry Kenyan President, William Ruto, has ordered police officers to shoot protesters during the nationwide anti-government protest in the East African country.

Ruto, in a speech on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, said police should shoot protesters who vandalise businesses in the leg to incapacitate them.

The president’s directive came two days after 31 people were killed during nationwide anti-government demonstrations.

On Monday, police blocked off large parts of the capital Nairobi, and used tear gas, water cannon, and fired at crowds to disperse them.

Some supermarkets, businesses, and hospitals were looted, damaged, or torched.

Ruto said: “Anyone who goes to burn other people’s property, someone like that should be shot in the leg, and go to the hospital on his way to court.

“They shouldn’t kill the person, but they should hit the legs to break them.”

The death of a political blogger in police custody brought hundreds of Kenyans onto the streets last month – reigniting a protest movement fuelled by anger over the cost of living and what they say is police brutality and corruption, a year after protesters opposing proposed tax hikes stormed parliament.

The rallying cry among the protesters, mostly young adults desperate for job opportunities and organised through social media channels, is that Ruto will be a one-term leader.

He won power almost three years ago as a champion of the poor who promised to end extrajudicial killings, but his government has responded to mounting public dissatisfaction with defiance.

Kenya’s interior minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, branded last month’s protests as a “coup attempt” by what he called “criminal anarchists”, Reuters reported.

The government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said criminal gangs wielding whips and machetes appeared to be operating alongside police in Nairobi and the Rift Valley town of Eldoret during the protests on Monday.

10 in Kenya suffer gunshot wounds at rallies

Police have not commented on the commission’s observations, but have previously said they do not work with “goons”.

Ruto, in a post on X on Wednesday, stated: “Those who attack Kenyans, police officers, security installations and businesses are terrorists. Such criminal acts are a declaration of war.

“We will not allow our country to be destroyed by retrogressive elements that are seeking shortcuts to rise to power.

“Enough is enough!”

The Conclave

After Nigeria’s Federal government had bragged that Abuja was safe despite a US government travel advisory, a staff member of the Ghana High Commission in Abuja, identified as Miss Freda Arnong, died following an alleged abduction and assault in Abuja.

The assurance followed a recent travel advisory issued by the United States Embassy, restricting non-official visits by its staff to military and government facilities in the Federal Capital Territory.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said there was no cause for alarm, adding that Nigeria’s security agencies were fully engaged in keeping the FCT and the rest of the country secure.

“Abuja remains safe for citizens, residents, and visitors alike.

This, even as the National Security Adviser, NSA, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, says the efforts of the Nigerian military have enabled the country to stand strong against all manner of insecurities.

The unfortunate incident reportedly occurred on the evening of July 1, 2025, around 7 pm, when Miss Arnong boarded a commercial taxi heading toward Transcorp Junction in the Federal Capital Territory. 

Unknown to Freda, the vehicle was already occupied by four unidentified men.

According to the Ghanaian High Commission, the taxi diverted from the intended route shortly after departure. 

Hours later, the victim was discovered in critical condition along Airport Road by a good Samaritan, who promptly transported her to the National Hospital, Abuja.

A security source, Zagazola Makama, disclosed that a good Samaritan discovered the victim and quickly took her to the National Hospital in Abuja for emergency treatment. 

However, despite medical efforts, she was pronounced dead at approximately 1:52pm on July 7 due to the severe injuries sustained during the attack.

Makama added that the remains of the deceased diplomat had been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary for autopsy and preservation.

He further stated that detectives from the FCT Command’s Criminal Investigation Department have launched an investigation into the incident, with efforts ongoing to identify and arrest those responsible.

“The diplomatic community in Abuja has expressed deep concern over the incident and is closely following the investigation.
“Miss Arnong was remembered by her colleagues as a dedicated and compassionate individual. 

“Her untimely death has left staff at the High Commission and her loved ones in deep mourning,” Makama added.

A federal judge again barred President Donald Trump‘s administration from enforcing his executive order limiting birthright citizenship nationwide after the Supreme Court restricted the ability of judges to block his policies using nationwide injunctions.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in Concord, New Hampshire, made the ruling July 10 after immigrant rights advocates implored him to grant class action status to a lawsuit they filed seeking to represent any babies whose citizenship status would be threatened by the implementation of Trump’s directive.

Laplante agreed the plaintiffs could proceed as a class, allowing him to issue a fresh judicial order blocking implementation of the Republican president’s policy nationally.

The question of whether to issue an injunction was “not a close call,” he said, noting children could be deprived of U.S. citizenship if Trump’s order took effect.

“That’s irreparable harm, citizenship alone,” he said. “It is the greatest privilege that exists in the world.”

The judge said he would stay his ruling for a few days to allow the Trump administration to appeal and would issue a written decision by the end of the day.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others filed the suit just hours after the Supreme Court on June 27 issued a 6-3 ruling, powered by its conservative majority, that narrowed three nationwide injunctions issued by judges in separate challenges to Trump’s directive.

The suit was filed on behalf of non-U.S. citizens living in the United States whose babies might be affected.

Under the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump’s executive order would take effect on July 27.

Looking to seize upon an exception in the Supreme Court’s ruling, the lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the decision allows judges to continue to block Trump policies on a nationwide basis in class action lawsuits.

The three judges who issued nationwide injunctions found that Trump’s directive likely violates citizenship language in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The amendment states that all “persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

The Justice Department has argued that Trump’s order conforms with the Constitution and has asked Laplante to find that the plaintiffs cannot sue as a class.

The Supreme Court’s ruling did not address the legal merits of Trump’s order, which the Republican president issued as part of his hardline immigration agenda on his first day back in office in January.

Trump’s order directs federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of U.S.-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also known as a “green card” holder.

More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship annually if it takes effect nationally, according to Democratic-led states and immigrant rights advocates who have challenged it.

USAToday

Law teacher, rights lawyer and one-time Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has called for a radical change in Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence, insisting on the inclusion of voters who are the real stakeholders in post-election legal proceedings.

Odinkalu spoke at the private book reading of his new book — The Selectorate, When Judges Topple The People —in Abuja at the weekend.

Condemning the current legal framework, which limits the right to challenge election outcomes solely to political parties and candidates, he argued that this disenfranchises the very people whose votes are at stake.

“Our votes are not negotiable. If it’s about our votes, then the people, ordinary citizens, should have a legal right to participate in the election petition process. You cannot exclude the electorate and say it’s only the candidates and parties that matter in court. We are the ones who queued to vote.”

The book, an incisive critique of judicial interference in democratic processes, accuses the judiciary of complicity in subverting the will of the people through questionable election rulings.

Odinkalu maintains that a small circle of judges cannot be allowed to determine electoral outcomes without accountability to the citizens affected by their decisions.

“I feel violated as a citizen when judges determine my vote, and I’m told to just accept it. Lawyers like myself will tell you the Supreme Court has spoken, but the Supreme Court doesn’t vote. The people do. Supreme Court judges don’t vote, so defend your votes”, he said.

He further likened the exclusion of citizens in election petition cases to the fate of local governments in constitutional disputes. “In cases of local government autonomy, the Federal and State governments argue, but local governments the real victims are not even invited. The same thing happens with voters during election disputes.”

The law teacher then called for a national re-evaluation of the limits of citizen participation in Nigeria’s democratic process. “We don’t have to win the case. But if the people show up at the courts en masse, even without being parties to the case, it sends a powerful political signal. We must organize, protest, and insist on our right to defend our votes.”

He urged Nigerians to build a political movement that places citizens at the centre of electoral justice. “Victory doesn’t have to be judicial; sometimes, it must be political. We need to put ourselves in the conversation not just as voters on election day, but as defenders of democracy every day after.”

According to Chidi Odinkalu, if democracy is to mean anything, it must be rooted in the will of the people, not the pronouncements of an elite judiciary.

Through compelling storytelling and rigorous analysis in this new book, he makes the case for reclaiming electoral legitimacy from the hands of unelected power brokers.

The Selectorate is a rallying cry for all who believe that democracy is worth defending and that it must be defended not just from politicians but from judges who wield unchecked power.