Their response seem to imply that their lives and survival depended on it. But unlike what obtains presently in Nigeria, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly surprisingly demonstrated the imperative of subjecting themselves to an HIV/AIDS test instead of shying away from it as many are wont. This they did during a one-day free HIV counseling and testing services organised by the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency, LSACA which took place at the Assembly complex.

To say that Yooyo and Mbayongo council wards in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State are now ghost communities is an understatement. This is no thanks to the activities of a notorious armed group led by one Terwase Akwaza also known as ‘Ghana’ which recently unleashed terror on the communities.

I told my brother to quit this place but for five years all my pleas fell on deaf ears. I have a befitting accommodation in Mowe where I gave him three rooms but he ignored my advice, prefering to occupy two shops here with his four wives and 15 children.”

Muyiwa Oni was a petty trader in Lagos who operated a savings account with a new generation bank in Lagos. He was just a stone’s throw from the bank one day when he received an alert on his mobile phone that N150,000 had been withdrawn from his account with an ATM card.

It started as a round table discussion last Monday but it soon became a peaceful protest with many of those present brandishing placards and singing solidarity songs to express their grievances and press home their demand.