HIV prevention injection demand leaves supplies depleted in four Nigerian states

Supplies of the long-acting HIV-prevention injection Lenacapavir have reportedly run out in four Nigerian states participating in the Federal Government’s pilot programme, as demand grows among sex workers and other eligible people. Saturday PUNCH reported that Benue, Kwara, Gombe and Cross River had experienced stock-outs only months after the rollout. The report did not state when supplies would be replenished or how many people had been affected.

The wider report also highlighted the death of polytechnic student Al-Amin Mohammed, who was detained by the Sanyo Police Division over an alleged N8,000 debt. His family reportedly failed to raise N100,000 allegedly demanded for bail before he was taken to court. Saturday PUNCH said new details suggested that the handling of the case by the Oyo State Police Command contributed to his death.

The newspaper reported that police allegedly neither questioned nor arrested the woman accused of taking Mohammed’s mobile phone, an incident that began the dispute. The report did not include a response from the police command. Separately, Peter Obi and African Democratic Congress chieftain Dele Momodu renewed calls for the release of former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai, who Saturday PUNCH said had been in custody since February.

Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri, said Obi believed allegations should be addressed through due process and determined by the courts. Families of 37 suspected illegal miners who died after being arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State also demanded justice and compensation, according to the newspaper. They alleged they had been denied access to the detainees before learning of their deaths.

The report also featured entertainer Charles Oputa, known as Charly Boy, defending his acceptance of his daughters’ decisions to identify as lesbians.