Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 23rd September 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 23rd September 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 23/09/19

target=_blank>Sowore’s Trial Will Dent Your Image, Shehu Sani Tells Buhari

Former federal lawmaker, Shehu Sani, has condemned charges of treason and felony levelled against pro-democracy campaigner, Omoyele Sowore, by the government.
In a statement on Sunday in Abuja, Sani described the trial as unnecessary and uncalled for, adding that the action would further stain and diminish the human rights record of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
He said, “Sowore’s charges amount to electrocution of freedom.
“The democratic credentials of any elected government is not simply about the legitimacy of its mandate but about the degree of its tolerance to dissent and compliance with the fundamental principles of freedom.
“I appeal to the government to drop the charges filed against Sowore.
“Our democracy is becoming inhabitable and inhospitable to its ideal content.
“When a state equates dissent to disloyalty, it progressively decays under the weight of its courtiers.”
Sani added that if the government was confident of moral standing and support base, it should defeat Sowore with superior ideas.

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E2%80%99s-daughter target=_blank>Afenifere Criticises Police Investigation Into Murder Of Pa Fasoronti’s Daughter

Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, has described as “lackadaisical” the attitude of the police over the assassination of Olufunke Olakunri, daughter of its leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti.
The group stated that over two months after the killing of Olakunri by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Ore, Ondo State, investigation by the police had been sloppy.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere said that the police have not done any serious investigations into the murder.
The statement reads, “It’s now over two months that Mrs Olufunke Olakunri, daughter of Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, was murdered around Ore in Ondo State and we are compelled to speak out over the lackadaisical attitude of the police over the gruesome assassination.
“Mr Kehinde Fasoranti, younger brother to the deceased had stated openly a day after the incident that the police in Ore told him that the victim was killed by Fulani herdsmen when he went to collect her body.
“They have not contradicted him till date. The first sign we got that there was no attempt to launch any serious investigation into the murder was when the car in which she was killed was released to the family from Ore Police Station the day after the murder without any forensic investigation into the most prized evidence at the scene of the crime.
“It was when we engaged the police high command that they came to pick the car six days later. The car has now been returned to the family with no report on the examination report.
“Indeed, there was no attempt to carry out any autopsy on the corpse until we also demanded one from the police before the burial.
“One was carried out and only that report was given to the family when they went to collect the car. Beyond this, the police has not made any briefing to the family on their investigations into this dastardly act.
“There are other bizarre developments that worry us on police investigations into this murder.
“For instance, the driver of the car in which Mrs Olakunri was killed has not been asked a question by the police till date.
“Furthermore, a few days after the killing, a staff of the deceased’s husband, Bankole Olatunbosun, was arrested as he was said to be in touch with Mr Olakunri’s driver, Femi Ajayi, who drove the Sienna bus in the deceased convoy.
“A week after the killing, Femi was brought into the family house in Akure by police officers in the anti-kidnap unit. The story from the crime scene was that Femi got down from the Sienna bus and followed the gunmen who killed Mrs Olakunri.
“He claimed he was kidnapped but there is no evidence of ransom requested from him or his family. He and Bankole Olatunbosun are now free men. Femi even sauntered into the Fasoranti family house three days ago.
“All the above put together suggest to us clearly that the police have not done any serious investigations into this murder. And it worries us that we are seeing all the signs of lethargy that usually attend high profile murders with powerful masterminds in our country.
“Afenifere therefore calls on all those who respect human lives in Nigeria and across the world to join us in asking the police where are the killers of Funke Olakunri?”

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target=_blank>Justice Sector Reform Should Top The Agenda In Oyo State

Nelson Olanipekun has advised that the justice sector should top the agenda for Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, who just celebrated 100 days in office. Olanipekun’s Lead for Citizens Gavel, a civic tech and justice sector reform advocacy organisation, believes that “justice reform that can increase the pace of justice delivery in the state” should top the agenda for Makinde’s government.
“Oyo State has one of the highest numbers of awaiting trial detainees which stands at 86 per cent based on our April data survey, this is higher than the national average which stands at 69 per cent,” Olanipekun stated.
Data collected from 16 local government areas in the state reveal that over 20 per cent of citizens arrested by the police are brutalised during and after arrest.

It was also gathered that over 80 per cent of inmates were not treated fairly by prison wardens and this is against the conditions of detention in police custody and pre-trial detention stated in the Luanda guidelines section 24.

Prison cells in Oyo State are overcrowded. Some very small cells have over 100 detainees.

It was also reported that there is very poor hygiene of arrested and detained persons at police stations in Oyo State and this can lead to serious health conditions of inmates. Less than two per cent take a bath once in a week.

It was also highlighted in the report that over 90 per cent of the respondent said they have had very bad experiences in Oyo State prisons and police stations.

Even though N17bn was allocated for feeding inmates in Nigerian prisons, less than four per cent of Oyo State prison inmates are feed twice daily in detention cells.

Despite the N366.1bn police budget for 2019, less than seven per cent of arrested and detained citizens are given food once daily in Oyo State.

The Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) provision of session 34 says that magistrates are supposed to be visiting police stations but due to lack of proper framework to implement the provisions, less than one per cent of the inmates have been visited.

Arrested and detained persons have, according Section 8(1) of ACJL of Oyo State, rights to be informed of reasons of their arrest and charges against them but less than two per cent are notified of the reason for their arrests during or before the arrest.

It was also reported that almost 60 per cent of people arrested and inmates in Oyo State are youths.

According to Luanda guidelines, it is the duty of the court to ensure that every detainee is represented by a lawyer but 100 per cent of respondents say that they were not assigned a lawyer by the court.

And only two out of 100 respondents wrote their statements in front of a lawyer.

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Kehinde Adegboyega

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target=_blank>Nigeria, Australia Partner On Safer Building Construction

In a collaborative effort to improve the methodology and technology of building construction, the Nigerian Institute of Building has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian Institute of Building.
The MoU, which was signed in Sydney, Australia, is aimed at making the NIOB and AIB have a shared commitment to become a stronger professional institute and educator within the construction industry.
According to the National President of AIB, Mr David Burnell, AIB and NIOB will work together to raise the level of professionalism in the construction industry and education in Australia and Nigeria.
The National President of NIOB, Mr Kunle Awobodu, said, “The collaboration among members of the two institutes would promote research in the field of construction and also encourage greater participation of members in jointly organised construction events for valuable Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
“The two parties also agreed to exchange information relevant to the development of the building construction management profession in Australia and Nigeria in order to facilitate an understanding of each other’s work.”

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target=_blank>Group Asks Nigerians To Embrace Cashless Policy

A Coalition of Civil Society Groups has called on Nigerians to support the cashless policy on deposits by the Central Bank of Nigeria, saying it would turn around the nation’s economy.
The group disclosed this on Saturday in Abuja through a statement jointly signed by its President and Secretary, Bassey William and Abubakar Ibrahim.
The group noted that the policy would stop economic saboteurs and reduce overhead cost of currency production.
It said, “Ever since inception of electronic transfer, we all realised that it is more secure, less costly and much faster as we have completed transactions unlike when it was all about moving huge sums of cash around.
“We thus use this medium to call on all well-meaning Nigerians to embrace the policy as a means of encouraging cashless policy needed to drive the economy and separate legitimate transactions from questionable once, which the electronic transfer will reveal over time.”
Recall that many Nigerians have kicked against the policy of the apex bank, describing the charges as unnecessary.

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target=_blank>Sowore Deserves Freedom, Not Detention, Not Trial By Agbonsunremi Augustine Okhiria

Mohamed Rachid Rida, a Syrian Arab reformator said, “To revolt on behalf of an ignorant people, is like to set yourself on fire in order to light the way for a blind man!”
When Mohamed Karim, the Egyptian, who undertook to resist the assault of Alexandria launched by Napoleon, was arrested by the army and sentenced to death, Napoleon appealed to him and said, “I have the trouble to execute a man who has valiantly defended his country, I do not wish history to retain the image of a person who stifles the impetus of the patriots that defend the integrity of their homeland, so, I promise you freedom if you pay ten thousand gold coins as financial compensation to my soldiers that the resistance killed.”
Smiling, Mohamed Karim replied, “I do not have the full amount requested on me but I am indebted more than 100 thousand pieces of gold by the merchants of Alexandria, they will pay for sure, this fine, so that I have my life saved.”
Chained, Mohamed Karim was driven to the Alexandria market for a tour of the market in search of the sum on, which his freedom will depend.
But, to his great surprise, no merchant was on his fate, worse, the natives accused him of being a troublemaker, destroyer of property, and undermining the economic vitality of the port city of Alexandria.
Napoleon, in view of the resignation of his family towards him, declared, “I will concede that the sentence of capital punishment be executed not because you killed my soldiers, but for having fought for cowardly people, who care more about their businesses than about their integrity.”
Me:
Sowore over the years stood up for the Nigerian nation. At every junction, the activist refused to sit on the fence. He has demonstrated courage, carrying out actions he honestly believes can change the ugly political situation in Nigeria for the better. He has worked so hard to earn a living for himself and provide employment and livelihood for young reporters and researchers at SaharaReporters.
He doesn’t deserve to be kept in detention and tried for standing up in defense of the people of Nigeria against decades of bad governance.

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target=_blank>Letter To Omoyele Sowore (Part 1) By Arakunrin Ajos

Dear Puluma,
I actually called you by your local nickname to register an impression. A reminder of some sort. More like telling you it’s from one of your followers, one who must have shared some moments with and around you in your village. I want to draw your mind back home, reminding you of Kiribo, the quiet, serene place close to the Atlantic.
The first time I stepped into your town, I allowed the tears to flow. I saw genuine love. All the children wanted to touch you. Their parents couldn’t hold their joy. The older ones wouldn’t allow any harm befall you. The women prayed hard for your wellbeing and went harder on your presidential ambition. They converged on your country home and asked for heavenly protection and favours. The elderly gathered, and with their weak, shaky hands, begged the Almighty to be with their illustrious son.
I saw real love, not one bought with money or powers. I dragged a young local aside and asked why this huge show of love. With a quizzical look, he asked if I knew who you truly are. A man, who has consistently paid their tuition, sent his brother to higher institution and got him a job after school. He looked at me again, and with pleading eyes, begged me to ask all my friends to vote for you. I went to a corner and allowed one or two tears to escape.
Puluma, do not let me bore you with those needless stories up there. I actually want to pass a little message across to you while those confused ones still hold you hostage. I’m not sure this will get to you, but when it finally does, do not totally ignore. I’m writing yet smiling and shaking my big, oblong head. My joy is that you’d do the same when you read the charges those government bulldogs landed on you.
You conspire with yourself to oust their lord and even dared to bully him on the Internet. What a cybercrime!
Again, I don’t want to bore you with my needless digressions.
This missive is direct: leave Nigerians to our sufferings. When you leave that confinement, do everything possible to stay away from ‘rescuing’ us from whatever misgovernment has done to us. Let’s enjoy our darkness in peace while we brag to our neighbours with our generators. Can you allow us pray to God to help us fix our roads and refineries? He answers prayers! We want to enjoy our cashless policies, quietly abandon our highways because of kidnappers, negotiate with bandits and terrorists, watch serial killers given preferential treatments and boastfully accept apologies from our black brothers killing us.
Dear Puluma, leave us. Leave Nigerians. We’re resilient and strong. We have succour. Our churches and mosques are our refuge. We’d cry to the Lord, the author and finisher of our faith. He will come down to help us. He cannot forsake us this time. I know you believe in the Almighty and he’d save us from ourselves.
Just let us be. Leave us to our predicaments. We will be alright. Go back to your America and enjoy the neon lights on the streets of New York. Didn’t the beautiful Alicia Keys with her sonorous voice tell us how the lights in New York inspire people? Go home and savour ‘God’s Own Land’. In our ‘home’ here in Nigeria, we hold processions against Bobrisky and for #BBNaija housemates, converge on the same stadium you begged us to come for a peaceful #RevolutionNow protest and watch Tacha and Seyi fans clash.
I wish to continue this but my phone is blinking. Let me look for someplace to boost my battery. I’d get back to you.
Yours in ‘cybercrime’,
Arakunrin Ajos.
Ajos is an activist based in Akure, Ondo State.

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target=_blank>When Will Nigerians Free Sowore? By Adebayo Raphael

Adebayo Raphael speaking at a public function.

It is often said that when a dog is destined to perish, the hunter, who recalls it from such a path toils in vain. Since 2015, each day that passes under the present regime of President Muhammadu Buhari accentuates its unforced teetering on the brink of the dark abyss.
We are often told that life is so stern that it hardly gives anyone a second chance at doing the same thing over again. But how do you explain the fact that Buhari is presently butchering his second chance at being remembered for good in the annals of history?
Buhari’s obsession with dictatorship and repression has now crossed every red-line that can be presumed to exist in any given democracy. Initially, he started with those that were supposedly corrupt, and as a result, there was nearly no opposition nor suspicion from the public. Not long after, he raided the homes of judges in the middle of the night, as though they were fugitives, who had to be hunted down at all costs. Again, this was rationalised by many with little opposition.
Suddenly, like an accursed hammer whose face is jinxed to see only nails in everything, he unleashed a thwacking spree targeting anyone that does as little as wrongfully call his name; even he, who named his dog after the man out of admiration, was not spared his hammer of tyranny. These were the early signs of what was to come.
Between 2015 and now, we have trended hundreds of hashtags on social media condemning one act of repression after another; declaring the sanctity and supremacy of Nigeria’s democracy and constitution. Despite this, however, the regime has only degenerated more and more.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Omoyele Sowore, a solo but consistent critic of Buhari’s regime, is presently facing ridiculous charges that are premised on Buhari’s paranoia, and a very clumsy intelligence by an intelligence agency that has itself become rudderless and anti-people.
When a public institution becomes a hunting tool for politicians, it invariably replaces professionalism with shoddiness. And that is why one cannot but consider ridiculous the fact that Sowore is being charged to court for ‘insulting’ the president. See, no matter how well an empty pail is burnished, it will always be an empty pail. And just as heavy suppuration is an indication of a festering scar, weak institutions are indicative of a degenerating democracy. Nigeria’s institutions need some serious healing, one that Buhari is too incompetent to give.
But Buhari is not alone in the pulverisation of our democracy and democratic institutions. Whatever we do, we must never forget the Vicars of Bray, who are currently nudging Buhari to go on and damage every fabric of our democracy in every way possible. They are in every nook and cranny of power; they are the ones chanting “you are the Messiah, you are the Moses” before Buhari today, just as they did when Olusegun Obasanjo sought a third term in office. They are the ones signing the charge sheet of these ridiculous offences and hiding behind “na oga send me.” We must never forget them. They are also the enemy.
Fifty days have passed, Sowore is still behind bars; but those whose cause sent him there are watching without a fight. This is how tyranny thrives; tyranny thrives only when the people are docile. Sowore’s dream for Nigeria is that of liberation and prosperity. That should never be forgotten. If anything, let it remind the rest of us; hailers and wailers alike, that only a revolution can save us now.
Adebayo Raphael is a human rights activist based in Abuja. Twitter: Asorosobioro

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target=_blank>BREAKING: DSS To Arraign Sowore In Court On Tuesday

Pro-democracy campaigner and Convener of RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, will be arraigned at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, SaharaReporters can confirm.
The Department of State Services had on Friday charged Sowore on seven counts bordering on conspiracy to commit treason, cyberstalking President Muhammadu Buhari, and also insulting him in a television interview.
Sowore was arrested in Lagos on August 3, 2019 for planning a series of peaceful protests against bad governance in Nigeria.
Despite calls for his release, the government has continued to hold on to him, violating his fundamental human rights in the process.

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Thunder Allegedly Kills 36 Cows In Ondo Community

No fewer than 36 cows have been killed by a thunderstorm at Ijare, under Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The incident happened on Saturday at Oke Owa Mountain, a sacred area in the community.
SaharaReporters learnt that the thunderstorm was accompanied by rainfall, which lasted several hours.
Our correspondent, who visited the community, observed that the incident has caused panic among residents of the town.
Some of the locals revealed that the strange incident occurred when some Fulani herdsmen led their cattle to the scared mountain in the community.
“On Saturday, I saw the Fulani herdsmen with their cows while they were entering the bush and climbing the mountains.
“But this morning, a hunter that was passing came to inform us that he saw the same cows but they were already dead.
“We rushed there and was shocked to find the cows all dead,” one resident, who identified herself only as Amara, said.
Traditional head of Ijare, Wemimo Olaniran, confirmed the incident to SaharaReporters.
Olaniran said the incident was a rude shock to the community and was regarded as an act of God.
He said, “We counted no fewer than 36 cows already dead. They would be there and no one would be allowed to touch them.
“The place is not meant for ordinary people and even the king that goes there, does so with great caution.
“Incidents like this happens when people desecrate the scared land.”
Spokesperson for the police in Ondo, Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident when contacted by our correspondent.

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