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Dapo Abiodun, the governor of Ogun State, visited Gabriel Michael on Wednesday. Gabriel Michael was hit by a stray bullet on Tuesday during the naira and fuel scarcity demonstration in Abeokuta.

Michael is presently undergoing medical care at the Federal Medical Centre in Idi Aba, Abeokuta.

According to reports, demonstrators reportedly overran the capital of Ogun State to voice their unhappiness with the severe naira shortage that has affected both the State and the entire nation.

Speaking to journalists, Abiodun urged citizens of the State to maintain calm and peace, stating that destroying property was not the appropriate response to the current predicament.

He promised that the government will see to it that all pressing concerns were addressed in order to prevent additional unrest and violence.

“I plead with everyone in Ogun State; your governor is doing everything humanly possible at this time. We have spoken to the President and the Central Bank of Nigeria gove rnor. I have met with bankers and monarchs .

“Please, do not resort to any form of violence. This is not who we are in Ogun State. We are a peace-loving people. We are the Gateway State, the industrial capital of Nigeria. We are not violent people. We are going to get over it. Let us be peaceful and orderly,” he said.

He further added, “We cannot resort to violence. Looting banks and breaking Automated Teller Machine terminals will not solve the problem. You will only create fear in the minds of the bank staff and they won’t open their doors and attend to you.

“So, if there is a supply of cash in the banks and they are not open, we will still be just as frustrated. Please do not take it out on the bankers,” Abiodun said.

He further urged the Federal Government to keep investing in human resources and investment with much-needed equipment.

“One of the takeaways from this is that we have local capacity. If the government can continue to invest in our human resources and match them with equipment, we can save the lives of our people.

“I believe that from COVID-19 and its experiences, we have continued to build capacity; hence we have been able to intervene as we have done with this boy’s life,” he disclosed.

Success James, age 35, was found guilty of child labor, child exploitation, kidnapping, and child snatching and was sentenced to prison by the Children, Sexual, and Gender-Based Violence Chief Magistrate Court in Awka, Anambra State.

The defendant was previously detained in Onitsha and charged in December 2022 for kidnapping four young girls and using them for child labor and sexual exploitation before the Chief Magistrate Court in Awka.

In December 2022, the young girls were rescued by police officers working with the Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Hon Ify Obinabo.

All of the victims, who were between the ages of 13 and 15, were from Akwa Ibom State, and they were saved during a raid on a brothel in Delta State that the convict owned and ran.

The defendant was charged with conspiracy, as well as additional offenses involving child labor, sexual exploitation, and child stealing, and was found guilty of seven of the eight counts by the presiding court.

Delivering judgement on the case, the Presiding Chief Magistrate, Genevieve Osakwe found Success James guilty of count 1 and sentenced her to 5 years imprisonment; count 2 attracted 5 years imprisonment; she was slammed 2 years imprisonment in count 3; count 4 was 4 years imprisonment; 2 years imprisonment in count 5; in count 7, she was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, while count 8 attracted 1 year imprisonment.

However, the Chief Magistrate ruled that there would be no choice for a fine and that all sentences would run consecutively.

The victims testified in separate testimony before the Honourable Court that they were tricked into the prostitution business by an aunty named Success who claimed to have a job opportunity for them in Agbor, Delta state, where they would be selling drinks in a beer parlor. However, when they arrived in Agbor, they realized that the work they had been brought in for was prostitution.

The Women and Social Welfare Commissioner, Hon. Obinabo, responded to the verdict by expressing satisfaction with the swiftness of the case’s trial and revealing that the children had been enrolled in school, while those who preferred learning skills acquisition had begun doing so at the state-owned Skills Acquisition Center in Awka.

Further reprimanding that the Anambra state government would not put up with such atrocities, Hon. Obinabo vowed to keep up the fight for equal justice for women and children in the state anytime their rights were violated.