Gunmen have stormed Community High School, Ahoro-Esinele in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, shooting a teacher and whisking away the school principal, Mrs Rachael Alamu, along with some students.

A report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted a source as disclosing that the attackers invaded the community on Friday at around 8.00 a.m.

It quoted the source as saying that the gunmen fled the scene with the principal’s vehicle and escaped with the abductees into a forest reserve bordering the community.

Already, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police (CP), Abimbola Olugbenga, is said to be heading to Ahoro-Esinele to spearhead rescue operations.

The command’s spokesman, DSP Ayanlade Olayinka, disclosed this in a statement issued in Ibadan.

Olayinka said the number of residents abducted was, however, yet to be ascertained.

“There was an attack, and the Commissioner of Police is on his way to the scene; details soon, please,” he said.

According to reports, this incident came at the time an unspecified number of students of Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State were abducted when some armed members of Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists invaded their school premises in the early hours of the day.

A United States federal court has sentenced a Nigerian-born former nonprofit chief executive, Dr Nkechy Ezeh, to 70 months in prison for orchestrating a $1.4 million fraud scheme involving taxpayer and donor funds meant for vulnerable preschool children.

The sentencing was announced in a press release on Wednesday by the Office of the US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

The sentencing was delivered by Chief US District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou, who also imposed a concurrent 60-month sentence for tax evasion and ordered Ezeh to pay $1.4 million in restitution and $390,174 to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Ezeh, 61, of Kent County, Michigan, was the founder and former CEO of Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, a West Michigan nonprofit that provided early childhood services in underserved communities.

She is also a former Associate Professor of Education and Director of Early Childhood Education Program at Aquinas College.

She was immediately remanded into federal custody after sentencing.

During the proceedings, Judge Jarbou described Ezeh as “a fraud and a thief,” adding that the scheme was “brazen and widespread,” and involved funds intended for some of the region’s most vulnerable children.

US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Timothy VerHey, said Ezeh diverted money meant for low-income children for personal use.

“Nkechy Ezeh’s greed is beyond reprehensible.

“She stole taxpayer and private-donor dollars meant for low-income children in our community. Instead of helping kids, she spent that money on herself.

“The stolen money could have supported hundreds of West Michigan children and their families. Judge Jarbou’s sentence was perfectly appropriate,” VerHey said.

According to court filings, Ezeh used stolen funds to finance personal expenses, including travel to Hawaii, Europe and Africa, as well as a family wedding.

Prosecutors also said she placed relatives on a “ghost payroll,” enabling them to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for little or no work.

She was further accused of using intermediaries to transfer stolen funds to family members in Nigeria.

The nonprofit, ELNC, was funded by US federal programmes including Head Start, the Department of Education, and private donors. It provided meals, transport and support services to children in low-income communities.

Following the fraud, ELNC shut down in 2023, leading to the loss of funding for several preschools and the layoff of 35 employees.

A former bookkeeper at the organisation, Sharon Killebrew, who was identified as a co-conspirator, was earlier sentenced to 54 months in prison for her role in the scheme.

US authorities said the case highlights the abuse of federal grants and its impact on vulnerable communities, particularly children in low-income neighbourhoods.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service–Criminal Investigation unit, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler prosecuted the case.

Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has said he would serve only one term of four years if elected president, insisting he would serve only one term in office “even with a gun to my head.”

Obi made the statement in a clip from an interview scheduled to air on News Central TV on Thursday.

“I want to be a one-term president because of stability. I would not stay a day, with a gun to my head, longer than four years,” he said in the circulating video.

The former Anambra State governor also criticised the current administration’s economic policies, including borrowing and rising cost of living, saying Nigeria had entered one of its most difficult economic periods.

Obi contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party, where he came third behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Since the election, Obi has remained a key opposition figure, frequently criticising the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms.