The Federal High Court has ordered the Department of State Services to pay the sum of N10.5 million as compensation to journalist, JAMES ABIRI, over his illegal detention for two years by the security agency.

At the resumed hearing today, Justice NNAMDI DIMGBA stated that the DSS did not deny arresting and detaining him since July 2016, as well as deny him access to his doctor’s, family and friends.

He further stated that when ABIRI was eventually charged to court earlier this year, he was not charged with the crimes for which he was arrested.

The judge then ruled that the DSS acted outside the provisions of the law regarding the Terrorism Prevention Act, and therefore, ordered the agency to pay the sum.

The All Progressives Congress has rejected what it described as doomsday prophecies by two British-based institutions about Nigeria’s economy and the 2019 presidential election.

The party’s position was contained in a statement by its acting National Publicity Secretary, YEKINI NABENA, in Abuja.

The statement was the APC’s response to reports by The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research unit of The Economist, and a multinational banking and financial services company, HSBC.

The Economist had in a report by its EIU predicted that the Peoples Democratic Party would win the 2019 presidential election while the HSBC also said the second term of President MUHAMMADU BUHARI would stunt the economy of the country.

But NABENA said the reports were nothing but the usual doomsday prophesies about Nigeria, which had serially proved false, deceptive and unreliable.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has denied a newspaper report quoting its chairman, Professor MAHMOOD YAKUBU as saying the commission may shift the 2019 polls over threats of violence.

The chairman was quoted to have made the remark at the Inter Agency consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES that took place at the commission’s headquarters.

But the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, ROTIMI OYEKANMI, said the report which appeared on the front page of the national daily with the headline: “We may shift 2019 polls over threat of violence-INEC” was not a correct reflection of what the chairman said.