Sahara Reporters Latest News Saturday 13th July 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 13/07/19
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target=_blank>What Buhari, Inspector General Of Police And Governor Sanwo-Olu Should Note About Nigerian Cops By Adekunle Adeyemi (Scotty Aluta)
Millions of Nigerians struggling to make a living are accosted on a daily basis by plain-clothed policemen who are often times on plainclothes, most especially those situated at the Igando police division who collect bribes, harass citizens, and also force innocent citizens to transfer money from their mobile banking APPs before they could release them on the spot.
My friend Abdul-Azeez Soneye and I were harassed and extorted by some officers of the Igando police division on our way to an event.
We were asked to introduce ourselves and we complied, then one of the officers requested to search my phone but i inquired that he identifies himself because he was on mufti, and he said he is a police officer.
I then requested for his identity card, but he refused to provide it, while this was ongoing some police officers came over to intimidate and harass us.
When we told the officers that our mobile phones are our private property and they have no right to search it, the corrupt officers replied in Pidgin English: “Shebi una sabi law abi? By the time we are done with you, you will go and be quoting those laws inside kirikiri prisons. I promise you both that no member of your family will know your where-about.”
What a lawless country.
We were bundled into their bus and taken to the Igando police station, at the station we inquired to call our lawyers but they denied us the right to call our lawyer or anyone at all, my phone was forcefully taken from me and all calls coming through were ignored, I had no other choice but to unlock my phone under duress.
Their threat to send us to prison without anyone knowing it made us play along, but they found nothing incriminating on my phone despite checking every document in my file manager and checking my private and business chats.
The Nigeria Police Force, established in 1930, has a long history of engaging in unprofessional, corrupt, and criminal conduct.
Over the years, this unwieldy force—Africa’s largest—has proved difficult to effectively manage and control and has become largely unaccountable to the citizens it is meant to serve.
For many Nigerians the police force has utterly failed to fulfill its mandate of providing public security.
Indeed, 89 years after its birth, members of the force are viewed more as predators than protectors, and the Nigeria Police Force has become a symbol of unfettered corruption and abuse in Nigeria.
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target=_blank>BREAKING: Killing Of Fasoranti’s Daughter Declaration Of War On Yoruba -Odumakin
Oriental Times
Yinka Odumakin, spokesperson for Afenifere says the killing of Mrs. Funke Olakunrin is a declaration of war on Yoruba people.
Odumakin said herdsmen attacked and killed Mrs Olakunrin, daughter of Pa Reuben Fasoranti, leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere on the Benin-Ore road.
Odumakin said: “When they started with the kidnapping process, they started with Olu Falae, a prominent leader in Akure.
“Whether deliberately or intentionally, this is clearly a declaration of war on the Yoruba. They shall hear from the Yoruba nation.”
He also condemned the incessant attacks of herdsmen in South-western part of Nigeria.
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BREAKING: Kidnappers Kill Fasoranti’s Daugther, Attack Other Travellers On Benin-Ore Road
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Narrating how the attack happened, Odumakin said: “Yes. Mrs Funke Olakunrin, 58 years old, daughter of leader of Afenifere was coming from Akure this morning (Friday) to Lagos.
“When she got to Ore, shortly as she was to hit the express, Fulani herdsmen emerged from the bush, started shooting at her car, maybe they wanted to kidnap her or not, shot at her car and she died from gunshot while her maid who was with her in the car sustained gunshot injury.”
The Afenifere spokesperson stated that the group would not take the killing lightly and that would only signal an end to the terror reign of the herdsmen in the region.
“The people will hear from us. They started with Olu Falae. They macheted him, kept him in the bush for four days before Ondo State government paid a ransom to get Falae out.
“With this, this is the beginning of the end of their kidnap in Yorubaland,” Odumakin said.
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target=_blank>BREAKING: Kidnappers Kill Fasoranti’s Daugther, Attack Other Travellers On Benin-Ore Road
Funke Olakunrin, 58, the daughter of the leader of the pan-Yoruba sociocultural organization, Afenifere, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, was shot dead by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in Ore, headquarters of
Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Sahara Reporters reliably learned that Mrs. Olakunrin was heading for Akure from Lagos when gunmen suspected to be herdsmen attacked her on the Benin-Ore road.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the woman was assailed in her vehicle by the herdsmen who blocked the Kajola-Ore road and fired shots sporadically.
Effort to reach Pa Rebeun Fasoranti proved abortive as the elder statesman did not pick his calls .
A text message also sent to his line was not responded to as of the time of filing this report.
However, Femi Joseph, spokeman for the Ondo State Police Command said the suspects were only suspected to be kidnappers who also engaged in armed robbery.
Mr. Joseph said Mrs. Olakunrin was the only one killed.
He said three vehicles including a luxurious bus belonging to the Young Shall Grow Motors were attacked by the kidnappers.
According to him, travellers inside the bus were heading from Imo State to Lagos.
However, he said the police have rescued three victims, adding that one Gerald Igboroka had yet to be found.
“The information available to us revealed that the suspected kidnappers were 16 and ambushed three vehicles at Kajola in Ore.
“The three vehicles were said to be going to Lagos and they were all attacked by these gunmen. The gunmen shot at one Mrs. Funke Olakunrin and she was confirmed dead immediately,” he added.
Police said they were on the trail of the kidnappers.
Meanwhile, the Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has condemned the killing of Mrs. Olakunrin.
The governor in a statement by his spokesman, Mr. Donald Ojogo, said, “To say the least, it represents an unenviable turning point, the depth of everything that is evil.
“On behalf of the State Executive Council, the Governor symphatizes with our foremost leader and indeed the people of the State over this dastardly act .
“However, the governor wishes to appeal to all and sundry to remain calm and allow the Police to unravel the perpetrators of this murder.
“Already, the Commissioner of Police has been directed to comb all forests of Ondo State to bring to book, these bloodthirsty murderers. There is no hiding place for such in Ondo State.”
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target=_blank>Nigerian PhD Student Dies In Malaysian Immigration Custody
A general view of Bukit Jalil immigration detention center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 28, 2017.
A general view of Bukit Jalil immigration detention center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 28, 2017.
REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin
Thomas Orhions Ewansiha, a Nigerian studying for his PhD in Malaysia has died in the custody of Malaysian Immigration Department.
This was reported on Friday by Channel News Asai (CNA), a Singapore-based television station.
Ewansiha died of seizure in his sleep on Tuesday, while in detention at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot.
Khairul Dzaimee, the Director General of the Immigration Department, said yesterday that he was still awaiting the post-mortem report of Ewansiha, as well as a full medical report to identify the cause of death.
Dzaimee claimed that Ewansiha was among 20 foreigners picked up in an operation on Jul 4 at Desa Aman Puri in Kuala Lumpur, following tipoffs from the public and had attempted to flee during the operation but was captured.
He later produced his passport and was found to be holding a valid student pass upon further checks.
“The action of the subject in trying to escape created doubts on the validity of the student pass held by the subject,” Dzaimee said.
Ewansiha was suspected of committing an offence under the Immigration Act. He was held for 14 days for further investigations, Dzaimee added.
While undergoing the documentation process at the Kuala Lumpur immigration office, he was provided with basic medical treatment by Civil Defence Force personnel as he had an old wound on his right leg, Dzaimee said.
Ewansiha did not inform immigration officers of any sickness, he said.
The subjects detained in the operation – including Ewansiha – were sent to the Bukit Jalil Immigration Depot at about noon the next day.
They were treated “appropriately” in accordance to the standard operating procedure (SOP) during detention, Dzaimee said.
At about 12.05 am on July 9, the officer on duty was informed by the other detainees that Ewansiha “suddenly” had a seizure while sleeping.
“The Special Medical Unit on duty immediately examined and treated the subject and contacted Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) for assistance,” said Dzaimee.
The assistant medical officer – who arrived with the ambulance at 12.30 am – examined and assisted Ewansiha, but the student was later pronounced dead.
Following the incident, the supervisor and officer on duty lodged a report at the Bukit Jalil police station.
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology said in a statement yesterday that it was informed of Ewansiha’s death.
The 33-year-old was pursuing a PhD in Management at the university and is survived by a wife and two children.
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target=_blank>Atiku Vs Buhari: I Transferred Election Results To Central Server, Says INEC Staff
Olufemi Ogunrinde, an ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said he transferred results of the 2019 presidential elections were transferred to a central server.
Ogunrinde said this during the presidential election tribunal set up to hear the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP and its flag-bearer, Atiku Abubakar, in the last presidential election are challenging the results of the election, claiming electoral malpractice on the part of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party and Atiku claimed that they won the election with about two million votes according to the data collected from the electoral commission’s central ‘server’.
INEC had denied collating result through the central server.
However, at the tribunal on Friday, Ogunrinde said he transferred result to a central server during the election.
He said: “All I know is that the PO (presiding officer) brought the forms EC8C. I put the information from the form into the smart card reader which I transmitted to the server.”
Ogunrinde, however, during further cross-examination said he had never seen the server in question.
He explained that he just transmitted information from the smart card readers to the server based on what he had been taught.
The PDP had requested to inspect the INEC servers after alleging that details of election results were manipulated by the commission to favour Buhari.
The tribunal denied the request to inspect INEC’s server last month, saying granting such an order would presuppose that the court had ruled that the server actually existed.
The court deferred pronouncement on the server until a proper argument has been made by both teams in the substantive petition, which hearing began last week.
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target=_blank>Nigerian Anti-kidnapping Policemen Caught On Tape Collecting N100 Bribes
Nigerian policemen deployed to prevent kidnapping along Ife-Ibadan highway, South-west Nigeria, were on Monday caught on camera extorting motorists.
According to Premium Times, the policemen stationed at the outskirt of Ibadan, Ikire, Gbongan and Ile-Ife demanded bribe from a driver of a vehicle conveying a journalist and 17 other passengers.
Some of the motorists who earlier spoke with PREMIUM TIMES confirmed the habitual extortion by cops.
While the police officers on the outskirts of Ibadan and Ikire collected the naira notes discreetly without questioning the driver, the ones at Gbongan and Ile-Ife did not.
An officer at Gbongan, with the inscription Akosoba A on his uniform, collected a N100 from the driver and gave a change of N50.
Also, a policeman in Ile-Ife, who appeared in a camouflage, instructed the driver to park his vehicle for raising a question but changed his mind after N50 exchanged hands.
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target=_blank>Coalition Of Groups Protests Victimization Of Lagos Polytechnic Workers
Members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of University (NASU) in conjunction with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Take It Back (TIB) Movement, Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-Liberal Attacks (ANSA), and other civil society organizations stormed the streets of Lagos today to protest against the victimization of workers and union members and the recent arrest of 38 workers of the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, by the school management headed by Mr. Samuel Sogunro, Rector of the institution.
Thirty-eight workers of school were on Monday brought before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos over alleged breach of peace.
The police arraigned Adebayo Ogunshola, 41; Samuel Adeola, 34; Samuel Oluseye, 53; Fatai Ibuowo, 37; Joseph Ishola, 49, and 33 others on a six-count charge.
The counts include conspiracy, breach of the peace, unlawful assembly and threat of violence.
However, the accused pleaded not guilty.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr Alex Komolafe, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties each in like sum.
Komolafe also ruled that one of the sureties must be an employee of the state government on grade level 12 and above.
He directed that the sureties should not be local government employees or be in the teaching profession under the state government.
“We have been running helter-skelter to get 76 sureties who meets the criteria for the bail, but we are yet to perfect the bail-bond as the requirement for bail of our 38 members who were illegally arrested is too stringent; meanwhile innocent workers are languishing in jail,” a protester told SaharaReporters.
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target=_blank>Ethiopian Airlines In Talks With Buhari Government To Establish National Carrier After Nigeria Air Flopped
Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it is in talks with Nigerian government to establish a national carrier for the so-called ‘Giant of Africa’.
Nigeria had announced the plans to establish an airline in 2018 but shortly after its proposal, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in September 2018 changed its mind and announced the suspension of the airline prompting public outrage.
But Tewolde Gebremariam, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Ethiopian Airlines, told journalists in Abuja on Friday, “We have been discussing and exploring possibilities to establish or support a strong airline in Nigeria. I don’t mean that there is no strong airline in Nigeria, but we want an airline that can satisfy the demand of the domestic market, the regional market, and international market.
“We are also in talks with Ghana government to establish Ghana Airways but the biggest market which is Nigeria has been a challenge, to be honest with you. We make sure that when we start something, we start professionally and make sure that it succeeds.
“Nigeria is a very large country but unfortunately, since the demise of Nigeria Airways, we are unfortunate that we don’t have a strong carrier. So, this concern is part of continental concern because in Africa, non-African carriers have the biggest shares. It is around 80-20 per cent ratio. 80 per cent of the traffic between Africa and the rest of the world is carried by non-African carriers.
“The homegrown carriers have only 20 per cent of the market. This is not fair and it used to be 60 per cent some years ago but now it is coming down. We are also threatened because all of us in Africa are only 20 per cent of the market.
“So, in a declining trend, there is a possibility that the market share can be zero. So, they will wipe us out. We have to make sure that we work together with all African countries to ensure that there are strong homegrown indigenous carriers. We have done this with Asky in Togo and we want to do it in Nigeria.”
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target=_blank>The Intricacies Of Rape In Our Society By Raymond Oise-Oghaede
The debate about the allegation of rape which hit social media penultimate week is still waxing stronger by every passing minute.
As expected, a lot of people have expressed their divergent opinions from their level of understanding of the subject matter. While some opinions seem to be on the right track; some others are confusing and not adding up.
However, considering the fact that `rape` is a very serious and dangerous crime that must be crushed from every sane society; I have decided to do this review for our thoughtfulness.
Importantly, I am not in a position to pass judgment on the imbroglio; but, this write-up will delve on some of the relevant areas of the subject matter as it relates to the present situation in order to shed more lights on our understanding of same; and, how best to go about such in our society going forward.
Expectedly, there will neither be apportioning of blames to the principal actors nor will there be any attempt to take sides on the matter to undermine the rights and privileges of anybody. I will be objective as much as possible; and as such, I wish to appeal to every one of us to be open minded in assimilating the facts.
It is a well-known fact that `rape` is a serious criminal offence that has attracted and still attracting huge outrage and condemnations from every corner of civil societies.
Thus, for the purpose of this write-up and better understanding, moreemphasis will be placed on Nigeria.
According to Section 357 of the Criminal Code Act “Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threat or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or in the case of a married woman by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape”.
From the definition, it is clear that the carnal knowledge will still be unlawful even if the consent of the woman or girl is obtained `incorrectly` (e.g. statutory rape). Also, Section 31 (1) of the Chil Rights Act (2003), states that “No person shall have sexual intercourse with a child “.
This is further buttressed by Section 31 (3) which also states that, where a person is charged with an offence under this section, it is immaterial that (a) “the offender believed the person to be of or above the age of 18years” or (b) “the sexual intercourse was with the consent of the child”.
So, for those who are positing that it was a `consensual affair` and not a rape because the act was repeated with no struggle, no screaming, and no bruises; these provisions will instructively put away your postulations. In this case, even if the child (below 18 years) gave her consent to the act; that will still not exonerates the
accused because the girl is below the `age of consent`.
The above position is supported under Section 282 of the Penal Code (which is applicable in all Northern states of Nigeria). However, Section 282 (2) (e) states that s** with a girl under 14 years of age or who is of unsound mind is rape, irrespective of whether there is consent or not.
On a related but different note; rape is defined under the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPPA), “as when a person intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person with any other part of his / her body or anything else without consent”.
In the same vein, Section 7 (1) of the Nigeria Sexual Offences Bill, 2015 provides that a person who commits an act which causes penetration with a child is guilty of an offence called defilement.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that the issue of rape as a crime in Nigeria is very complex and delicate. It goes beyond the general definition of a man having carnal knowledge of a woman/girl without her consent.
Therefore, you will agree with me that the case in question is very complicated and needs to be handled with care and caution because some pertinent factors must be put into consideration before arriving at a conclusion.
Firstly, the alleged incident was said to have taken place in Ilorin when the victim was 17 years old. If that be the case and considering the fact that Ilorin is in the Northern part of the country where Penal Code Law was then applicable; it means a person can only be convicted of rape if the act was committed with a girl below the age of 14 years.
So, if it is affirmed that Penal Code was the law in force in Ilorin as at the time of the commission of the act as alleged; the issue of `age of consent` would have been defeated (though, the Criminal Code and other subsequent laws specified the age of consent as 18 years).
It is also instructive to draw our attention to Section 7 (5) of the Nigeria Sexual Offences Bill, which provided defence for any accused person “if it is proved that the victim deceived the accused person into believing she was over the age of 18 years at the time of the alleged commission of the offence; and or that, the accused person reasonably believed that the victim was over the age of 18 years” (though, this provision was not in existence during the case under review; it is important to mention it to guide our understanding of what is presently in place).
At this point, the next thing to try to establish would be if the act was done without the consent of the victim or if such consent was obtained incorrectly. This would also be very difficult to establish as a result of the fact that the incident was not immediately reported (unless the victim can prove that she was under threat not to have done so over the years).
secondly, and very importantly, there must be penetration of the vagina (and or the anus or mouth of another person with any other part of his/her body or anything else without consent) before a rape can be said to have been committed.
Even at that, the penetration can only be determined or confirmed by corroborative evidence i.e. by an eye witness or by a medical report. As such, it will be immaterial whether, the victim was below the age of consent or not; or, whether the act was committed with or without her consent if it cannot be proved (confirmed by corroborative evidence) that there was penetration.
So, a rape victim could still keep her virginity after the act because the penetration of the anus and, or the mouth also constitutes rape. However, this law (VAPPA) is only applicable within the Federal Capital Territory. Abuja.
Thirdly, the long period of the commission of the offence notwithstanding, the perpetrator of rape can be arraigned at any time because the act is not affected by the statute of limitation in our country (it cannot be statute barred).
The only problem (especially in this case and even for an indecent assault committed against a child) is the burden to prove the fact in the issue of the commission of the offence. It must have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the act was actually committed by the accused and that there was indeed penetration (for rape/defilement).
So, if such crime was not reported over the years, it is doubtful if there could be a medical report or an eye witness evidence to corroborate that penetration took place.
Fourthly, a victim must make a formal report to the police for investigations and other necessary actions. It is advisable to ensure that all substantial pieces of evidence are in place to prove the facts in issue before charging the case to court in order for the action not to backfire.
This is in view of the fact that if the accused is proved to be innocent; he can institute an action of defamation against the `presumed victim` and send her to jail eventually. So, it is pertinent to look very carefully and understandingly before taking a leap.
In view of the aforesaid, you will agree with me that the issues at hand go beyond throwing tantrums on social media or calling for the head of someone who is presumed innocent until he is proved guilty andconvicted by a court of competent jurisdiction.
So, my concerns are; why then are we quick to passing `malicious and unjustifiable judgments` on social media?; why is it that some of us do not apply wisdom before flooding the social media with sentimentally biased posts?; what are the rationales for taking laws into our hands in the cause of fighting for justice?; why embarking on protest to molest members of the church who were exercising their freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and, freedom of association as provided under sections 38 and 40 respectively of the 1999 constitution of the country? We should remember that the parties involved are citizens of this country who should be protected by the laws of the land.
So, how reasonable and sensible is it for us to want to protect one person`s right by trampling on that of another or others? It is very imperative to always allow the legal process to be conducted in a proper manner so as not to prejudice the accused. We should desist from actions and reactions that are capable of causing lawlessness in the polity where those that have the clout, popularity, and wherewithal to organize nauseating protests will always have their way in getting `jankara redress or jungle justice`.
If we are not careful in handling the act of rape, we could plunge the country into a society where every sexual intercourse are turned into rape for `fraudulent gains` and, or `act of vindictiveness`.
Consequent upon the aforementioned, we should all join hands together to fighting and eradicating the menace from our society by using every opportunity to educating the citizenry in this regard. It is high time our people should desist from stigmatizing victims of rape so that they will be encouraged to always promptly report such incidents to the relevant security agencies for appropriate actions. This will also forestall any lacuna that could jeopardize the dispensation of justice by the victims` resolve to `cover her shame` rather than doing the needful.
“At this point, it is very crucial for everyone to be guided by the fact that the accuser is protected under the law to prove her case; while, the accused is also innocent and should be seen and treated as such until proven guilty. Therefore, his dignity and integrity remain intact and must be respected; and, any encroachment upon his fundamental human rights must be treated as an affront against the laws of the land”.
RAYMOND OISE-OGHAEDE,
PUBLIC POLICY ANALYST/COMMENTATOR,
SURU-LERE, LAGOS.
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Coup Attempt: Sudan Government Arrests Masterminds
Sudan’s ruling military council (TMC) says it foiled a coup attempt on Thursday.
The TMC said 16 officers were arrested.
General Jamal Omar said, “Officers and soldiers from the army and National Intelligence and Security Service, some of them retired, were trying to carry out a coup.
“The regular forces were able to foil the attempt.
“This is an attempt to block the agreement which has been reached by the Transitional Military Council and the Alliance for Freedom and Change that aims to open the road for Sudanese people to achieve their demands.”
Aljazeera reports that the development late on Thursday came as the TMC and protest movement leaders seeking a transition to democracy were in discussions over a power-sharing deal.
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