Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) says that politicians were renting jobless youths to attend their campaign rallies.

Mr Adeboye made this statement on Friday during a sermon at the church auditorium in Mowe, Ogun State.

He said that political parties don’t schedule their rallies “simultaneously in a town” because the crowd are paid to gather, noting that after the “campaigns are over” the participants will be jobless.

Mr Adeboye who earlier said that God was yet to reveal the winner of the 2023 elections, however, said that “thousands of youths” participating in the rallies were doing so because of joblessness.

“I watch it in the news. If human beings promote you, oh, I don’t know whether I should say this. I’m sure you have been watching the campaign rallies, I watch it on the news.

“I don’t know if you have noticed that two different people don’t hold their campaign simultaneously in a town. Have you noticed that? You don’t know why? Because majority of the crowd, majority are rented.

“So I come, I pay, you gather. After I’ve gone, another man comes, he pays, you gather,” Mr Adeboye added.

He added, “Somebody said ‘Daddy, you keep on saying that you haven’t heard from God about who will win or who will…’ Maybe because there are several things occupying my mind and one of it is; when I see the crowd gathering and if you look at the crowd majority of them crowd are young.

“When I see the hundreds of thousands of youths, you have to be jobless to be attending all these rallies. What is going to happen when the campaigns are over?” the clergy added.

About 15 persons abducted by bandits along Gusau-Funtua road have been rescued by the Zamfara State Police Command.

The bandits kidnapped the victims on Tuesday and took them to the bush.

Muhammad Shehu, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), while briefing newsmen in the State, explained that on receiving the news of the kidnapped persons, the command mobilised a rescue operation and confidence-building patrol team to the area.

After an intensive gun battle, the PPRO stated that the criminals withdrew and fled into the forest, leaving the captives behind.

He added, “The policemen in the operation team quickly rushed into the bush and recovered 15 persons comprising seven women, six men and two children.”

The PPRO further explained that the victims had been given the necessary medical checkup and had interactions with the police commissioner for further intelligence report.

He assured that the rescued victims would soon be reunited with their family members.

Governor Mai Buni of Yobe State has declared Monday and Tuesday as public holidays to welcome the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to the state.

This was contained in a statement by the state Head of Service, Alhaji Garba Bilal, in Damaturu on Sunday.

Buhari will be visiting the state to inaugurate projects, including Cargo Airport, Ultra-Modern Market and Maternal and Child Health Care Complex.

Bilal said, “This is to enable civil servants and the general public to receive the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, who will be in the state on a one-day State Visit to commission projects.”

He, however, said civil servants were to resume work on Wednesday.

Pandemonium broke out, on Wednesday, at Ogbese in Akure North local council, following an alleged clash between Fulani and Hausa traders.

Many people were reportedly injured in the clash, with goods destroyed and shops set alight.

Several witnesses said the fight started on Tuesday night at the popular Ogbese market between the two northern tribes.

Ogbese is densely populated with traders dealing in local food and crops brought mostly from the North.

A witness who did not want her name published told MAIDAWAAREWAA that one person was feared killed in the clash, which turned into a full-blown crisis in the early hours of Wednesday.

“In fact, several shops have been razed (burnt) as a result of the bloody clash as I speak with you,” she said via the telephone.

When contacted, the police spokeswoman in the state, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, denied the claim.

“The police only got a report that about eight shops were razed by fire at midnightwith accusing fingers being pointed at a particular extraction,” Ms Omisanya explained, adding that investigations are ongoing regarding the clash.