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Growing Concerns Over Sealed Plateau State House of Assembly by Police

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Plateau State House of Assembly police

The ruling All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party have slammed the Plateau State Police Command over the continuous sealing of the State Assembly complex

They condemned the police for barring the state legislators’ access to perform their duties following the sealing off of the Assembly complex.

The parties which spoke to newsmen in separate interviews in Jos, the state capital, accused the police of working to destroy democracy in Plateau State and demanded the unsealing of the State House of Assembly to allow legislators to perform their functions.

For the past three weeks, the Plateau State House of Assembly had remained under lock and key at the instance of the police high command whose personnel manned the assembly complex daily.

The police had said its action was on the need to maintain law and order in the wake of the latest leadership crisis rocking the Assembly

over who should be recognized as the authentic Speaker between Ayuba Abok, who represents Jos East Constituency and Yakubu Sanda, who represents Pengana Constituency.

Lawmakers have not conducted plenary elections since the police took over the state legislature as they were barred from the Assembly complex.

But the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, John Akans, on Wednesday said it was unbelievable that the police could wake up and stop the functions of another arm of government without recourse to the law, describing it as unconstitutional, reprehensible, abuse of power and brazen show of partisanship.

He said, “As a party, we are monitoring the situation with keen interest. We are made to understand that the state Commissioner of Police has taken sides with the state government to seal the Assembly for no justifiable reason.

“We are consulting with our lawyers to know where the Commissioner of Police derives his powers to stop the function of another arm of the government which is the legislature. He should explain to the Plateau people why he has chosen to destroy democratic practice in the state. Ordinarily, the CP has no constitutional right to do that because what is available to us as a party is a declaratory judgement reinstating Rt Honourable Abok Ayuba as the legitimate Speaker of the State Assembly.

“There is no other judgement setting aside that judgement. Let him produce it if he has a contrary judgement. So, we know the judgement still exists and notice of appeal, if any, is not the same as a stay of execution. And even at that, Abok had already resumed office immediately after the judgement. So, the Commissioner of Police owes the people of Plateau State an explanation why he should continue to seal the state Assembly even when there is no crisis at all. He should reopen the place to enable lawmakers to perform their duties without further delay”.

Similarly, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Sylvanus Namang, berated the police for sealing the Assembly complex and asked for the immediate unsealing of the Plateau Assembly without further delay to enable the lawmakers to perform their constitutional duties.

Namang said, “What is happening at the Plateau Assembly is unfair to the people. Our position as a party is that the State Assembly should be unsealed by the police. Does it mean that anyone can issue a threat and you lock the place?

“The action of the police is not telling well about the state. But as far as we are concerned, Rt Honourable Yakubu Sanda is the authentic Speaker of the State Assembly and will remain so until the end of their tenure in June. We expect the police to know who is not the Speaker and allow the lawmakers to perform their duties. So, we are appealing to the police to once again unseal the Assembly complex and protect those who are ready to do their work as lawmakers”.

The police were yet to react to enquiries following the lawmakers’ demand.

But when contacted, the police insisted that its continued stay at the Assembly was for the good of the state

The spokesman for the police command, DSP Alfred Alabo said, “Let them (APC and PDP) say whatever they want but as far as we are concerned, our presence at the State House of Assembly is purely for security reasons.

“We are there to prevent a breakdown of law and order and nothing else “

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NITDA, Meta partner to strengthen youth online safety

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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has partnered with Meta to promote responsible digital citizenship and protect young Nigerians online.

The Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed the partnership at the Youth Safety Summit organised by Meta on Thursday.

At the summit, held in Abuja, Meta, in partnership with NITDA and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, also launched the Youth Online Safety Campaign and My Digital World 2.0.

The stakeholders at the summit, including government officials, civil society organisations, educators, and industry leaders, deliberated on strategies to create a safer digital environment for young people.

Represented by Ahmed Tambuwal, acting director of NITDA’s Digital Literacy and Capacity Building Department, Mr Inuwa said the agency remained committed to ensuring that young people enjoy safe, positive, and age-appropriate online experiences.

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He noted that NITDA’s ongoing nationwide digital literacy programmes would receive a significant boost through its collaboration with Meta, particularly in advancing online safety education among young Nigerians.

READ ALSO: NITDA enters pact with DAWN Commission to accelerate digital literacy in Southwest

According to him, the partnership seeks to integrate online safety education into the school system, equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and values required to use digital technologies safely, responsibly, and productively.

Stakeholders at the event emphasised the need for stronger collaboration among government agencies, technology companies, educators, and civil society groups to address emerging online risks and promote digital well-being among young people.

The initiatives are expected to enhance digital literacy, strengthen online safety awareness, and support efforts to create a more secure and inclusive digital ecosystem for Nigerian youths.

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The White House is asking OpenAI to slow roll the release of its new model over safety concerns

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OpenAI’s release of its newest model, GPT 5.6, reportedly won’t be like its previous releases. Instead of distributing it to the public, the company plans to share it only with a select group of close partners because the Trump administration told it to, reports The Information.

At a meeting this week, CEO Sam Altman reportedly told staff that the government would be “approving access customer by customer” during a preview period. Altman reportedly added that if the limited release goes well, OpenAI hopes to follow with a general, broader release a “couple of weeks later.”

In other words, the Trump administration appears to be pressuring OpenAI to do what Anthropic is already voluntarily doing: keeping its most powerful AI models under wraps.

According to The Information, OpenAI’s new model is not only being reviewed by the administration, but its staffers also “worked closely” with the government on the upcoming release. The agencies that reportedly asked for a limited release were the Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The Trump administration — which originally positioned itself as taking a “hands off” approach to AI — has in recent months pushed for federal oversight of new models. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order directing certain AI companies to voluntarily submit new models to the government for testing and evaluation before releasing them publicly. 

Earlier this year, Anthropic sparked no small amount of controversy when it announced that its new frontier cyber model, Claude Mythos, would only be released to a small coterie of partners through a program called Project Glasswing. Anthropic argued that its model was simply too powerful and could, in the wrong hands, cause more harm than good. Observers have since debated whether Anthropic’s rhetoric is a mere marketing gimmick or a legitimate attempt to keep a powerful model from being misused. The answer may be somewhere in between.

Cybercriminals have used automated tools for a very long time, but in the age of generative AI, they now have more digital ammunition than ever before. LLMs have proven adept at writing malware, and some can even execute entire ransomware attacks autonomously.

The specific concern with frontier cyber tools like Mythos is that they are ostensibly capable of both identifying and exploiting software vulnerabilities at speeds that no human analyst could match. Since many software systems contain hidden bugs that act as entry points into enterprise networks, this obviously poses an obvious and significant problem for any organization running complex software infrastructure. That said, since these models remain closed to the public, it’s difficult to tell just how much of a threat they really are.

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