The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has confirmed that Somtochukwu Maduagwu was brought to Maitama Hospital without vital signs after a robbery incident at her home in Abuja.

Dr. Dolapo Fasawe, the Mandate Secretary on Health for the FCTA, stated that ARISE News anchor Somtochukwu Maduagwu was pronounced dead upon arrival at Maitama General Hospital at approximately 4:30 am on Monday. This clarification was issued via a statement from the FCTA, aimed at addressing earlier claims that medical negligence contributed to her demise following the robbery.

Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, affectionately known as Sommie, was a 29-year-old journalist tragically killed during an armed robbery at her Katampe residence in Abuja in the early hours of Monday, September 29, 2025.

Residents of the apartment complex reported that the attack transpired around 3 a.m. when over 15 armed robbers invaded the 16-apartment building. Witnesses indicated that security personnel sounded the alarm and tried to reach the police, but there was no immediate response. Sommie and a security guard, who also sustained injuries during the incident, were promptly taken to Maitama District Hospital. However, family members claimed they were denied urgent treatment due to not having identification documents readily available. Both victims later succumbed to their injuries.

In the meantime, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike expressed his condolences to the management and staff of ARISE News Channel regarding the unfortunate demise of Somtochukwu Maduagwu. He described her death as both tragic and painful, and he prayed for God’s continued support for the staff of ARISE News, particularly for the Chairman, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, and for the family and friends of the late journalist. The minister noted that a preliminary medical report would be provided to the police to assist in their investigation, emphasizing that all necessary steps would be taken to uncover the details surrounding her death. He reassured the family, friends, and colleagues of Somtochukwu Maduagwu that the police are committed to discovering the circumstances of her passing and ensuring that those responsible face justice.

Source: ARISE TV

TASKS government on transparency in conditional cash transfer

Civil Rights advocacy Group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has expressed worry about the apparent inability of the Federal government to come clean on how N330 billion was disbursed to 8.1 million households without any compliance with the principles of transparency and accountability. “Most Nigerians are wondering whether this huge sum of public funds were shared to ghosts or to real citizens since these households are not known by millions of Nigerians.”

Besides, HURIWA has raised alarm that corruption is perceived to be so high within the government circles even as the Rights group said it was wrong for President Tinubu to keep silent in the face of mounting accusations of corruption affecting some of his appointees including the allegations of acquisitions of exotic housing assets by the Minister of the Federal capital territory Mr. Nyesom Wike with allegedly looted public funds.

HURIWA recalled that the federal Government had few days ago, announced that it has disbursed a total of N330bn to 8.1 million households across the country under the National Social Safety Net Programme, aimed at cushioning the harsh effects of economic reforms on Nigeria’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

The disclosure was made in Abuja by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, after a review meeting of the Special Presidential Panel on Social Investment, inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in February.

Edun explained that the programme, which experienced delays earlier in the year, was now firmly back on track following the successful integration of biometric data through the National Identification Number. This integration, he said, was crucial to ensuring transparency, curbing leakages, and eliminating political interference.

According to the minister, out of the 19.7 million households captured in the National Social Register—representing about 70 million Nigerians—8.1 million households have already received at least one tranche of the N25,000 stipend. Some beneficiaries have received two or three payments depending on verification outcomes.

Reacting to the widespread failure of the Federal Government to evidently show believable proof of how this humongous cash were disbursed and to clearly publicise the identities of these beneficiaries, HURIWA said it is shocking that a democratically elected government put in place by the people, could come up with such seemingly phantom claim to have distributed financial lifelines to some impoverished citizens without any concrete evidence.

In a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA criticised the federal ministry of Finance and the Coordinating ministry for the Nigerian economy for issuing out the press statement making the claim that can’t be empirically verified just as the Rights group said over ten thousand members of the organisation spread across the Country has not reported knowing or hearing about any Nigerian poor citizens/households who benefitted from the cash redistribution by the federal government.

“We are challenging the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy to prove to Nigerians that his ministry paid out the sum of N330 bn to 8.1 million households by publishing on the website of the ministry and newspapers the identities of the beneficiaries, their locations and the number in each of the benefiting states or local government areas. This demand is made in good faith because we have been unable to see or know anyone out of this 8.1 million households that got the N25,000. As citizens of Nigeria, we are entitled to be adequately informed because the methodology said to have been adopted by the government in redistribution of this taxpayers’ money is opaque and lacks ingredients of transparency and accountability.”

HURIWA is also urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to speak up about the growing accusations of corruption against some of his cabinet-level appointees one of which is the minister of the FCT.

HURIWA recalled that former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 election, Omoyele Sowore, had petitioned the Attorney-General of Florida, James Uthmeier, demanding the forfeiture and prosecution of alleged multi-million-dollar properties secretly acquired in the United States by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike.

In a petition signed by his counsel, Deji Adeyanju, dated September 22, Sowore alleged that Wike, alongside his wife, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike of the Nigerian Court of Appeal, unlawfully purchased three lakeside properties in Winter Springs, Florida, worth over $6m.

The petition claimed the acquisitions were “conducted entirely in cash, thereby circumventing banking oversight and raising significant money laundering concerns.”

According to the documents, the properties include 113 Springcreek Lane, purchased for $535,000 and transferred to Jordan Wike; 209 Hertherwood Court, purchased for $459,157 and transferred to Joaquin Wike; and 208 Hertherwood Court, purchased for $465,000 and transferred to Jazmyne Wike.

The petition stressed that Wike, “a career politician with no record of legitimate private enterprise,” could not have earned the income to fund such acquisitions, adding that the assets were not declared to Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau in violation of constitutional obligations.

Sowore, in his petition, stated that, “The evident pattern in this case involves large cash acquisitions by a long-serving public officer with no legitimate private earnings, the immediate transfer of title to his children, and the concealment of true beneficial ownership.

HURIWA said: “Whilst we await the decision of the foreign entity regarding the petition said to have been sent to them, accusing the minister of FCT of illegally buying up juicy housing assets in the USA using allegedly looted public funds. But we expect that when such a very weighty accusations are made consistently against a serving minister, the President ought to publicly make a statement regarding what the position of his government is especially given that the President told the World in Brazil that his administration is waging a relentless war against corruption.”

“We know that when accusations of corruption was made by the then minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, President Tinubu suspended and thereafter fired the minister from her duty. Nigerians expect that since nobody is above the law, when accusations of corruption are made against a Nigerian public office holder, the appointing authority is expected to weigh in one way or the other so the citizens are assured of the government’s commitment to the war against corruption. The President should also direct the Minister of Finance to furnish Nigerians with verifiable evidence to prove that government actually disbursed N330 billion to some poor households”.

Wants independent state police service Commission created

Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said the time is overdue for the establishment of state police in Nigeria to confront the unprecedented insecurity in Nigeria but says the overall command and control shouldn’t be domiciled with state governors but with members of the independent state police service Commission which ought to be created to improve accountability of the state policing institution.

HURIWA said the prospective members of the Independent state police service Commission should run for election as independents and not as card-carrying members of any of the registered parties, just as the Independent National Electoral Commission should oversee such elections alongside the others during general elections.

HURIWA said the autonomous state police service commission should be a body of reputable persons(not more than 7 in each state) constituted from the people of the state with a single four-year tenure just as to constitute the oversight policing body in the states, members should be elected during the general elections just as they can’t be removed unless any of such a person is found guilty of a serious crime of fraud or found to be bankrupt by a competent court of law.

HURIWA stated that the apprehension about state governors misusing state police operatives to attack their perceived political opponents as observed by the member representing Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Federal Constituency of Plateau State and Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi, is germane and disconcerting but the Rights group said if the constitutional amendment to create state police is made with enforceable provisions on the composition of the independent state police service Commission, then it may be difficult for governors to ride roughshod on the state policing institution in their domains.

The ranking House of Representatives member, Mr. Gagdi, who earlier stated this while visiting some attacked and displaced communities in Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State on Sunday, said he has never been in support of the calls by Governor Mutfwang and other governors for the establishment of state police, alleged they will be used against perceived political opponents. He emphasized his views while featuring on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television on Tuesday. Gagdi warned that governors cannot be trusted with the control of policing in their states.

In a media statement endorsed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA warned that discarding the idea of state police for fear that the governors will misuse the state police against political rivals is like throwing the bathwater together with the baby. “We accept that the governors of Nigeria are often dictatorial and may use the state police against political opponents just like what obtains with the centralised national police whereby successive Presidents have often deployed the police to target their political opponents, but HURIWA said if the Police Service Commission at the centre was made to function independently and without letting the president have the appointing authority, the excesses and professional misconduct of the police would have been drastically controlled.

The Rights group therefore asked the National Assembly’s constitution amendment committee to include provisions creating independent state police service Commission whose members would enjoy unimpeded independence and wouldn’t be subjected to the whims and caprices of the governors. “We think that by this way, the groundswell of fears being expressed by opponents of the idea of a state police in Nigeria would have been taken care of. The state governors should be convinced not to oppose the checks and balances to be inserted in the constitution alongside the creation of state police. What should be of the utmost priority is to safeguard the nation’s National security because the primary legal duty of government is to protect lives and property of the citizens.

COMRADE EMMANUEL NNADOZIE ONWUBIKO,
NATIONAL COORDINATOR,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA).
Wednesday, September 24th, 2025.