News

Extend shoot-on-sight order to cattle rustlers, attackers of herdsmen – Fulani coalition tells Mutfwang

Published

2 months ago

May 17, 2026

Preport

The Plateau State chapter of the Coalition of Fulani Registered Organizations, has called on Gov. Caleb Mutfwang to extend his recent order to security agents to shoot-on-sight anyone found destroying farmlands in the state to accommodate cattle rustlers and those who attack innocent Fulani herdsmen going about their legitimate businesses.

The coalition, which is an umbrella body of different Fulani pastoralist and socio-cultural groups in the state, in a statement signed on Saturday by its Chairman, Hon. Garba Abdullahi Muhammad, said if Gov. Mutfwang is to be seen as being fair and just, he should also give an order that anyone caught stealing Fulani cattle or attacking herdsmen should be shot on sight as well.

While commending the governor for his prompt response to the renewed clashes between farmers and herders in Barkin Ladi, Riyom, and Bokkos Local Government Areas and his efforts at restoring peace in the areas, Muhammad said the coalition was worried that overzealous security agents and ethnic militia gangs could take advantage of the pronouncement and unleash violence on innocent Fulani people.

“While we commend Gov. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang on his efforts at resolving the current ongoing crisis and restoring peace in the state especially in Local Government Areas, we also urge him to extend the shoot-on-sight order to cattle rustlers and those who attack innocent Fulani herdsmen going about their legitimate businesses,” Muhammad.

“By doing that, he will be seen as being fair and just. Anything out of this will be seen as taking sides and being partisan. We also fear that overzealous security personnel and ethnic militias could take advantage of the order and unleash terror on innocent herdsmen,” he added.

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The coalition also raised concerns over what it described as the killing of herders, cattle rustling, poisoning of grazing lands and water sources, and destruction of livestock belonging to Fulani communities in some local communities in the state and called on the government to extend the shoot-at-sight directive on farm destruction also to cover cattle rustling, cattle poisoning, and attacks on herders and their livelihoods.

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“‎The Coalition calls for fairness, justice, and equal protection for both farmers and herders. Lasting peace in Plateau can only be achieved through dialogue, accountability, and mutual respect,” the statement added.

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Related Topics:attackers cattle Coalition Extend Fulani herdsmen Mutfwang order rustlers shootonsight tells

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Business

Cornerstone Insurance Strengthens Balance Sheet, Declares 28 Kobo Dividend

Published

54 minutes ago

July 21, 2026

Preport

BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—Nigeria’s leading underwriter, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, has strengthened its financial position after posting solid growth across key performance indicators for the 2025 financial year.

‎Speaking today during the company’s 34th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Lagos, its Acting Chairman, Afolabi Balogun, said the company’s profit after tax rose to N11.76 billion at the end of 31st December, 2025 when compared to N25.89 billion reported in 3025. D

‎According to him the Group recorded insurance revenue of N51.66 billion, representing 34% increase over the previous year of 2024, while earnings per share stood at 64 kobo per share.

‎Total assets rose to N141.03 billion while shareholders’ fund rose to N72.86 billion from N60.50 billion in the previous year of 2024.

In recognition of these performance, the Board recommended a dividend of N0.28 per share.

‎These results he noted reflect the strength of its franchise, the quality of its customer relationships, and the disciplined execution of our strategy.

‎‎On future outlook he said “Cornerstone enters this new phase from a position ‎strength. We have a clear strategy, a strengthened Capital base, an experienced leadership team, and the support a committed majority shareholder. Most importantly, ‎have a trusted brand and a growing customer franchise that provides a strong platform for sustainable growth.

‎Managing Director, Stephen Alangbo, further explained that the company’s profit before tax declined to ₦8.73 billion from ₦28.62 billion in 2024 due to the normalisation of earnings after the exceptional foreign exchange gains recorded in the previous year.

‎‎He noted that the company had posted ₦30.83 billion in one-off foreign exchange gains in 2024 following the Naira devaluation.

‎“Adjusting for this one-off effect, our underlying performance demonstrates sustained growth in our core insurance operations,” Alangbo said.

‎The company’s report also showed that net profit for the year stood at ₦11.76 billion, down from ₦25.89 billion in 2024, further reflecting the normalisation of earnings after the exceptional gains recorded in the previous year.

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The post Cornerstone Insurance Strengthens Balance Sheet, Declares 28 Kobo Dividend appeared first on Business Today NG.

News

Anthropic’s landmark $1.5B copyright settlement is approved

Published

55 minutes ago

July 21, 2026

Preport

Anthropic can finally start cutting checks to a group of authors and book publishers that sued the AI lab over copyright infringement. A federal judge gave final approval Monday of Anthropic’s landmark $1.5 billion settlement of a class action copyright lawsuit, Reuters reported.

Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary approval of the settlement last year, after ruling that Anthropic had illegally downloaded and stored millions of copyrighted books.

Alsup has since retired and Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin signed off on the settlement on Monday.

The payout will deliver $3,000 per work across an estimated 500,000 works, shared among the authors and publishers who hold rights to them. While the settlement is believed to be the largest in the history of U.S. copyright law, many authors and creators still don’t view it as a win.

That’s because of how the legal question was resolved. Alsup sided with Anthropic on the core issue. He ruled that training an AI model on copyrighted text counts as fair use — a decision widely seen as a turning point for the AI industry. But the ruling didn’t excuse how Anthropic obtained the books in the first place. Anthropic had built its training library from two sources: books it purchased and scanned (fine), and books it downloaded from pirate sites like Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror. Alsup found the second method illegal on its own terms and said that piracy question could go to trial; Anthropic agreed to a settlement soon after to avoid a trial and whatever damages a jury might have awarded.

While the final approval closes out this case, it doesn’t settle the legal question industry-wide because Alsup’s ruling was a single district court decision, and Anthropic’s decision to settle means the case will never reach an appeals court to become binding precedent.

Other judges are still free to reach their own conclusions on their own facts, which is exactly what’s playing out elsewhere. There is still a string of copyright lawsuits against companies such as Google, Meta, Midjourney, and OpenAI over whether it’s legal to train AI models on copyrighted works. Just last week, a group of publishers and authors, including Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier, author Scott Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E. filed a class action lawsuit against Google over accusations that the company used their copyrighted works to train its AI platform, Gemini.

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