TheNewsGuru

Tag: kids

  • HUNGER! Fathers now abandon wives, kids in Gombe-NHRC

    HUNGER! Fathers now abandon wives, kids in Gombe-NHRC

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it recorded 339 alleged human rights violation cases in Gombe State in 2024.

    NHRC spokesman, Mr Ali Alola-Alfinti, made this revelation in Gombe.

    Alola-Alfinti said that majority of the cases were on parental neglect where fathers abandon their children and wives, citing economic hardship and poverty as reasons for their actions.

    He said the cases were on the increase due to sustained enlightenment campaigns on human rights violations in the state.

    According to him, the commission engages civil society organisations, media, religious and community leaders to educate the people and encourage them to speak out against the menace.

    “We are now getting more victims coming to report. This is good for the campaign against rights violations,” he stated.

    “Silence remains a major challenge in the fight against rights violations as protection of rights will not be possible if cases are not reported.

    The commission recorded 339 cases, and we believe it is as a result of the support from other relevant stakeholders

    “The highest in terms of cases is parental neglect with about 50 percent of the complaints, including family abandonment without food, clothing and shelter unlike before when we had fundamental human rights, especially right to life, dignity, inhuman or degrading treatments.”

    He said the commission had scaled up outreach to address issues of parental neglect and sensitised husbands to the need to fend for their families.

    Denying them of their rights is a punishable offence under the law,” he said, adding that rights protection was critical to conflict prevention and peaceful society.

    “When we respect each other’s rights, we will have a peaceful community but when you infringe on another’s right, there will be retaliation and a chaotic society,” he added.

  • SAD! Fear engulfs Abuja as woman, her kids burnt to ashes

    SAD! Fear engulfs Abuja as woman, her kids burnt to ashes

    A terrific accident has claimed the lives of a middle-aged woman and her two children after the bus they were traveling in caught fire near Manderegi village, along the Abuja-Lokoja highway.

    The incident, which occurred on an 18-seater commuter bus with registration number BGT 996 LG, left 12 other passengers with severe burns.

    The bus was reportedly en route to Kogi State when it suddenly burst into flames.

    Eyewitnesses reported that the victims were trapped inside the vehicle and burnt beyond recognition.

    Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) later evacuated the remains of the deceased and transported the injured to a hospital in Abaji for treatment.

    Confirming the incident, the FCT Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr. Muta’ah Chorrie, attributed the tragedy to the driver’s negligence.

    According to Chorrie, the driver had stored a jerrican filled with fuel in the bus alongside passengers, which likely contributed to the fire.

    He said, “Let me tell you, this is what we have been saying that there is danger in carrying extra fuel with passengers while traveling. We have been sensitizing motorists on this but some defiant drivers still carry them.’’

  • SAD! Two mothers, five kids die after taking breakfast in Sokoto

    SAD! Two mothers, five kids die after taking breakfast in Sokoto

    Tragedy struck in Kaura village in Yabo Local Government Area of Sokoto State as seven family members died after eating breakfast.

    The head of the family, Malam Danbala narrated the incident to a national newspaper that he lost his two wives and five children to the incident.

    He said, “I was in Niger State where I work as a labourer when I received a call on Monday from one of my brothers that there was a problem which required my urgent attention at home.

    “He asked me to come back home as soon as I could. I insisted on knowing what happened but he cut the call without making further comment.

    “So I took the early morning bus to Sokoto and when I reached home, I discovered all members of my family with the exception of my little daughter were all gone. They were buried even before my arrival on Tuesday as our religion demanded.”

    Danbala said that the problem started when one of his wives cooked a local delicacy called Dambu for their breakfast.

    “They all ate to their satisfaction and after a while they started complaining of stomach pain and were all rushed to the hospital.

    “The five children died first, followed by my wives who died around midnight but my little girl is responding to treatment because she did not eat much from the food,” he said.

    According to an eyewitness account, the wife initially cooked the meal for their dinner on Sunday which she shared with neighbours.

    It was said that the remnant of the food was kept for their breakfast and on Monday morning, she mixed the remnant food with a raw Dambu reportedly left uncovered throughout the night.

    She was said to have cooked the delicacy and served only members of the family.

    “This is how God destined their fate. May Allah grant them Jannatul Firdaus,” the bereaved family head said.

  • Why I’m yet to become a father at 31 – Burna Boy

    Why I’m yet to become a father at 31 – Burna Boy

    Nigerian music sensation, Burna Boy has revealed why he’s yet to become a father at 31.

    In a recent interview with Billboard, the Grammy Award winner said not having a child at this point of his life makes him feel good and bad at the same time.

    “When you turn 31 and ain’t got no kids, everything is going good and bad at the same time. You reflect and then you get as lit as possible,” he said. The African Giant singer made the 44-track summer playlist of American ex-president, Barack Obama. He made the list alongside Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Aretha Franklin, and Tems.

    Obama posted his annual playlist on his Twitter page on Tuesday. “Every year, I get excited to share my summer playlist because I learn about so many new artists from your replies—it’s an example of how music really can bring us all together,” Obama wrote. “Here’s what I’ve been listening to this summer.”

  • Why you should not put kids in vehicles’ front seats

    Why you should not put kids in vehicles’ front seats

    The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Oyo State Command, has warned parents and motorists in the state to stop putting children below 12 years in the front seat of vehicles.

    The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Uche Chukwurah gave the warning during the Children’s Day celebration organised by the command at its office in Eleyele on Friday in Ibadan.

    The theme of the celebration is: “A Greater Future For Every Child”.

    According to Chukwurah, it is against the law to put children under the age of 12 in the front seat of vehicles because wherever there is a crash such; children may be thrown out of the vehicles.

    She said that it was better to put the children in the back seat of the vehicles to avoid putting their lives in danger.

    “Some people think it is love to put the children in the front seat while some even breastfeed their children while on the wheel, all these are wrong and FRSC is speaking against it,” she said.

    The sector commander said the essence of the gathering was for the command to be able to talk to the children about road safety tips and be cautious while crossing the road.

    She said that the aspiration of the command was for the children to have a better future which could only be achieved when they are alive.

    Chukwurah urged the children to always look at both left and right sides of the road before crossing in order to avoid being knocked down by vehicles.

    The Chairperson of the Road Safety Officers’ Wives Association (ROSOWA), Oyo State Chapter, Mrs Oluwasola Familoni, said as parents, they believed in the children and want them to have a greater future.

    Earlier, the Deputy Corps Commander (Operations), DCC Olalekan Morakinyo, called on parents and motorists to always obey traffic rules and drive to stay alive.

    Morakinyo advised the children to always caution their parents not to speed while driving them to school.

    Highlights of the event were: games, dance, riddles and the presentation of gifts to students of various schools.

  • “We have submitted to the will of Allah” — 2 parents whose 8 children died in abandoned car in Lagos

    “We have submitted to the will of Allah” — 2 parents whose 8 children died in abandoned car in Lagos

    Two parents, Ibrahim Jubril and Isiaka Alidu, whose seven children were among eight who died on Saturday in an abandoned vehicle in Magbon, Badagry, said they had submitted to the will of Allah.

    Recalled that, Magbon was thrown into confusion following the discovery of the lifeless bodies of eight children – aged between four and nine — inside a parked Honda Pilot with registration number AAA157BD.

    They were discovered when one Saliat Kazeem, who wanted to feed her granddaughter raised the alarm that the children were trapped inside the vehicle.

    Ibrahim Jubril, one of the bereaved fathers, told NAN that he lost four children in the incident.

    “My four children, Abdul-Tayab, Mamood, (two boys); Aisat and Farida (girls) lost their lives inside the abandoned vehicle.

    “I was inside this central mosque when people came to call me to come and see what happened to my children.

    “Before I got to the scene, they have brought them out of the car. Nobody knows how they got inside the motor and locked themselves inside.

    “As a Muslim, everything that happens in life comes from Allah, we believe that it is Allah that gives and take back at any time in life. My wife has also submitted to the will of Allah.

    “We have buried our children according to Muslim rites and we are here at the mosque praying to Allah to forgive them their sins,” he said.

    Another bereaved father, Isiaka Abdul-Wahab, said he lost three children in the incident.

    “My two boys, Abdul-Wahab and Yakubu, then a girl, Zainab, just returned from Quranic school; after eating they started playing with their friends.

    “I went to the mosque to pray for about an hour and from there I went to Quranic school to see a friend.

    “Suddenly, my wife sent for me, when I got there, I saw the lifeless bodies of my children.

    “We have submitted to the will of Allah because he is the one that gives and take,” he said.

    In his reaction, Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan, a Moslem leader in the area, urged the government to get to the root of the matter.

    “This thing that happened to our children can happen to anybody. The findings will calm our youths down, so government should find out the fact of the incident,” he said.

    NAN reports that the Chairman of Olorunda LCDA, Mr Samson Olatunde, had earlier visited the parents of the deceased.

    Spokesperson for Lagos State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, had said: “Eight children were said to have mistakenly locked themselves in an abandoned car while playing.

    “Their bodies have been recovered and deposited at the Badagry General Hospital’s morgue for autopsy, so as to determine the actual cause of death.

    “Notwithstanding the report made to the Police, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered a thorough and speedy investigation into the circumstances surrounding their death”.

    The house where the incident occurred remained locked, preventing people from gaining access, when visted on Monday.

  • My kids helped me heal from trauma – Dancer Kaffy

    My kids helped me heal from trauma – Dancer Kaffy

    Popular dancer, Kafayat Shafau, popularly known as Kaffy, has recounted how her kids helped her heal from trauma with their messages.

    The 41-year-old took to her verified Instagram page on Thursday to celebrate her “thoughtful kids” who sent her emotional messages when she suffered from trauma.

    TheNewsGuru recalls that Kaffy lost her father a week ago shortly after she survived an illness that almost took her life.

    In her recent Instagram post, the mother-of-two shared the handwritten notes from her kids.

    She said, “I get these love letters often from my beautiful thoughtful kids but what amazes me is their timing.

    “As parents we often don’t give these kids enough credit for their understanding of situations around them . Even if they can’t explain it, they feel all; our joy, victories, sorrow and tears.

    “This particular one hit home deeply as I was in a place where I was dealing with the trauma of nearly dying and dads passing and disappointments but God kept sending me messages from all around me and in the darkest hour, I slept … and woke to this amazing write up from my kids”

    The proud mother went on to share the “healing messages” she received from her two kids.

    She wrote, “From @seanameh: ‘I am grateful to my mum. I am very grateful to have a mother like you. You make me happy when I am sad. You take very good care of me. You can be a comedian sometimes. You are so smart when we try to get you. You are a very wise mom and generous. I LOVE YOU. K- Kind A- Awesome F- Fearless F- Fun Y-youthful.’

    “From @elianaameh : You are smart, kind, intelligent, wise, loving. You are a butterfly. You are the best mom. I do not want you to die. I want you to live. If I were you, I would rejoice. Your love would never bring me down. I LOVE U!” (sic)

     

  • Why I love kids – Hope Eghagha

    Hope O’Rukevbe Eghagha

    ​I love kids. I love childhood. I love children. I refer to real kids, the unsoiled ones. The ones who see this world as a world of no impossibilities. Daddy is a hero, a magician. With daddy around they can get all they need, all they want. The ones who say ‘I will tell daddy for you’. If they tell daddy for you, daddy will deal with you. Or the ones who say ‘Mommy said I should tell you that she is not in the house! And unwittingly cause a war between two families!

    ​I love their unspoilt nature, their innocence, their simplicity, and their lack of pretence. With them you know where you stand. They will not scheme against you nor hatch an evil plot to destroy you or derail your career. They will not envy your successful life. They do not pad things. They may make things up for their world to flow. But they do not mean to destroy your world. Their world is governed by truth, truth as they see it. They may be, they are often naïve but they are genuine. They may not act right. But they keep no malice. They trust adults. They believe adults. They want to be like adults in some respects. Yet in their world, the mindset of the adult is dangerous!

    ​When daddy has no car, it is because daddy does not need a car. Not because he cannot afford one. When daddy says ‘there’s no money’, they say to ‘daddy go to the bank and take money’. and to dad’s ‘There’s no fuel in the car!they say ‘Let us go to the fuel station to take fuel! They do not have fake identities. They are who they are. They are, they could be fun to be with, especially if you are a grandfather, not obliged to pay their fees or be with them twenty-four hours. They make you forget the uglies of the world. You stay with the beautiful, the good, the kind, and the testimony of sainthood. In the world of kids, there is no malice. In malice, be like children. In understanding by like men. So, the Apostle Paul says. The assumption is that all men have understanding. We know however that sometimes, the naivety of a child is more powerful than the wicked understanding of an adult. It is our peril. It is our doom. Adults rule the world. Not children. Wish they could rule the world!

    ​Some powerful men, like most rich men, treat women like kids. Their kids. Their play thing. Their toy. The gambit is money. influence. Access. The women look at them in awe. Treat them with awe. They exhibit the innocence and charm of the kid. They throw up the charm of a kid. The men fall for it. They lap it up. They fall for it. And the relationship becomes sweet, remains sweet. Until when the innocence disappears, that is, when the woman discovers the web of deceit, lies, and cunning. Innocence or the appearance of innocence in a woman portrays the image of the child, the vulnerable. It makes men want to protect them.

    ​Childhood is innocence. It ought to be innocence, that is, a child ought to be innocent. Childhood is synonymous with innocence. At some point innocence disappears. The grow out of it, into the adult world. Like the children in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies in which Ralph ‘wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart’ as the beast in children rise to the surface and dominates the landscape, their lives, their stay in the wild.Maturity comes. Maturity? Perhaps, not maturity. Savagery. Exposure to the greed in the world. The hate. The jealousy. The spite. The bile, hidden one. You could be an adult without being mature. But you cannot be a child without innocence. Once innocence is lost, the sanctity of the contract between childhood and innocence evaporates. Golding also writes about ‘the world, that understandable and lawful world’, which ’was slipping away!

    ​The child is the man. The child is the father of the man. This is belief in the future. It is hope. It is faith. It is a seed that is planted to be nurtured when, if all circumstances are equal. It is no apotheosis of any kind, no epiphany; nothing near it. It is no divine revelation, no. It is the reality that we contend with daily. That hope ishumanity. That hope is the future of humanity, the earth, the cosmos. So, when we destroy the kid, we destroy the future. Not in the physical sense may be. But in essence. To be sure there are consequences.

    ​The kid dies in the child that is exposed to or plunged into the ugly dangers and filth of the adult world before the age of innocence naturally ends. And that is the plight of our world. Our fall. Our doom. Our death. Too many things kill innocence. Sheer brigandage rules the airwavesthrough the power of technology. Social media. Blogs.Porn sites. Wars and rumours of wars. The smartphone.The Internet. Brigands in power. Disappearance of sacred values or nonrecognition of sacred values. Muscles of the adult world squeeze life out of the chest of values, of decent codes, of mentorship.

    ​There is a sense in which an adult loses innocence after trauma. This is another form of innocence. Experience, sometimes traumatic, opens the eyes to the realities of existence. Or when a sibling or a close friend or blood relation betrays you. Or when the husband is discovered for who he really is. Something gives, something dies, something flies away. Never to return. It is a story of no return often, even when there is forgiveness.Their spirit cannot rise to that level.

    ​So, I love children. I love the kids. And I want them to enjoy the beauty of innocence as long as they are Naturally entitled to it. We should guarantee childhood. But we are destroying the world of kids. The kid in Nigeria. In northeast Nigeria. The kid growing up in the wild killings in Owerri. The killing fields of Kaduna. In Jos. And the ones abducted from school. Innocence is destroyed, not lost. And they will never be balanced adults because there was no fitting transition. There was no transition. There was a staccato of shots. Suddenly that blind belief in the world of no impossibilities vanished in a puff. It is not a story to be told, neither now nor in the future!

    ​There are tears for destroyed or murdered childhood. Tears for a compromised and destroyed adulthood. So, when a young adult breaks down or cannot face the world or cannot handle a family or cannot handle his kids or remains tied to the apron strings of their parents, where rests the blame? Has blaming exculpated the guilty or the vanquished? The answer is not blowing in the wind!

    ​Loss of innocence is inevitable as the child grows into adulthood. But a destroyed innocence is a scar that not even time can heal. ‘The death of innocence causes an imbalance’, writes Bowers, ‘and initiates an internal war that manifests differently in each individual, but almost always includes anger, withdrawal and severe depression’. What have we done to innocence in the land?

  • Nanny who abducted two of her boss’s kids in Lagos arrested in Edo

    Nanny who abducted two of her boss’s kids in Lagos arrested in Edo

    Two siblings based in Lagos have been rescued following their abduction allegedly by a nanny simply identified by Precious.

    Precious was said to have absconded with the minors – a four-year-old boy and two-year-old girl – on Monday and brought them to Benin City to a couple based abroad who were on a visit to Nigeria.

    The Police Public Relations Officer in Edo, Bello Kontongs, disclosed this to reporters on Saturday in the Edo State capital.

    “Operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping and Cybercrime Unit on 26 at about 15:35 hours arrested some suspects for the abduction of children from Lagos down to Benin City,” he said.

    “The principal suspect is believed to be the nanny – or what we normally call house help – of the children of Mr Ibe whom she has been staying with his family and taking care of the children.

    “Using her familiarity with the children, she decided to allow the devil to take the better part of her by abducting these two children … of the same father and ran down to Benin City to meet one lady – Biva Idaho, 35, who is also suspected to be the receiver and her husband, Joseph Obaze, 45, at a remote area along Ekenwan Road.”

    But the woman whom the nanny allegedly brought the minors to claimed she met Precious on Instagram and became friends with her.

    According to her, they had been video chatting and talking with her and the two children over the past two years.

    Idaho said Precious had claimed to be the mother of the children, stressing that she and her husband had no hand in the crime.

    Rather than supporting the effort of the police, Kontongs – a Superintendent of Police – decried that a group of armed men attacked the security operatives in the course of the rescue operation.

    He added that the armed men whom he said belonged to some unknown vigilante group took two other children the police had rescued from the premises along with them.

    “The children were rescued alongside two other children in the compound that we cannot establish who the parents are.

    “Mr Joseph decided to raise an alarm that our operatives are kidnappers and those unknown vigilante officials who were fully armed with pump-action surrounded our policemen and forcefully took over the other two children that we met in the compound and also used machetes on our police operatives,” the command’s spokesman said.

    He stated that the police would not relax and allow miscreants to take over the public space and stop security operatives from carrying out their legal duty.

  • TRENDING: Church member accuses ‘General Overseer’ of snatching his wife [Wedding photos attached]

    TRENDING: Church member accuses ‘General Overseer’ of snatching his wife [Wedding photos attached]

    A man identified as Bright Ben has taken to social media to accuse his pastor and the General Overseer of World Bank Assembly, Pastor Moses Adeeyo, of “snatching” his wife, Mrs Tina Bright nee Everest.

    Ben, who resides in Port Harcourt in a Facebook post, said he was a full financial member of the church alongside Tina.

    He said that Adeeyo had been there for them in the past when they had family issues but he was shocked to find out that he, the pastor, was behind his wife’s attitude.

    Ben alleged that trouble started after his wife was given an ‘appointment’ and she quietly moved out of the house with their children.

    He added that he had been searching for her and even called the Pastor to seek advice on the matter.

    Ben stated that he found out about his wife’s whereabouts on Sunday after seeing pictures of Adeeyo’s marriage to Tina.

    “ADULTERY… As shameful as it sounds, it is a true life story. MY PASTOR MARRIED MY WIFE. I’ve been married to Mrs Tina Bright for over 12 years with 2 kids, a girl and a boy. I married her traditionally and white wedding and took her to introduce to my Pastor Moses Adeeyo,” he wrote.

    “The General Overseer of World Bank Assembly in Eneka, Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers State; We started attending the church and became full financial members.

    “My wife was given an immediate appointment seven months ago, she moved out of the house with our two kids before I got back from work. I searched everywhere and called everyone even the G.O. Unknown to me, he was the architect of my problems. After sometime he stopped picking my calls and blocked my phone line. I’ve been looking for her until I saw this pictures yesterday online.

    “He claimed that the Holy Spirit told him that she is his wife. Is the Holy Spirit and author of confusion? My wife of 12 years is now his. Please, couples, be careful about World Bank Assembly; be careful of Pastor MOSES ADEEYO.”