Sahara Reporters Latest News Friday 18th October 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Friday 18th October 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 18/10/19

E2%80%99s-almajiri-schools Left To Rot: Sad Tales Of Sokoto’s Almajiri Schools

“Our society desires that physical education will assist the individual to develop cooperation, respect for others, health knowledge, democratic behaviour, sound character and economic efficiency,” Ukacha Aminu, a 14-year-old Junior Secondary School pupil reads.
Aminu was applauded by his classmates, who could not read what was written on the white board in front of the classroom. It was a windy morning. Time was 10:15am at the Almajiri Integrated Model School in Shuni area of Sokoto State. Amidst academic activities, three pupils were truanting around when they ought to be in class; three other boys were also seen playing in the dry gutter opposite the school mosque.
These children are pupils understandably picked from slums so as to stop begging and foraging on the streets of Sokoto. However, findings have shown that they are not far from, who they used to be on streets even while in school.
‘We sneak out of the classroom to beg on street’

In what seems like an addiction to begging, many of the vulnerable children still find their ways to the streets to beg for food without being noticed by their teachers – Aminu Aliyu, one of the wandering kids in the school, said. Like many boarding schools, the Almajiri school at Shuni is properly fenced and has a metal gate. As at the time of visitation, it was observed that the pupils’ movements were not well checked by the security man stationed at the gate.
“I go out to beg when I’m hungry,” Aliyu said.
When asked why he went out to beg despite being catered for by the school, he evasively added that “because I’m Almajiri”.
Corroborating, Umar Garba, a senior student of the school explained how some of the students go out to beg for food on the streets. He however, dissociated himself from such act, noting that though the school was established to accommodate only vulnerable students, some of them do have parents, who cater to and provide for them in school. Among the pupils, he continues, are those, who would always find their ways to beg on the streets.
“Some of us sneak out of the classroom to beg on the street,” he says in Hausa dialect. “But I don’t go because my parents give me food money.
“Those who don’t have extra money to buy food sometimes go begging from people in far places from the school. But our teachers must not know – if they know, they will beat them,” he added.
Clearly, there is lack of painstaking watch over the pupils – and the Almajiri school located at Shuni area of Sokoto is not alone in this act. At 10:00 am when our correspondent visited the Almajiri school in Gagi – an area in Sokoto South – the security man was nowhere to be found and no one knew his whereabouts. The school gates were left at the mercy of the students, who went in and out as they wanted.
Sad still, some of the pupils disclosed that they find their ways to beg sometimes because they are not well-fed. Meanwhile, Abdulqadir Bello, a teacher in the school confessed that the vulnerable children lack good food and the school cannot satisfy them because “they waste what the school gives them”.
Obviously, most of the children enrolled in Sokoto Almajiri schools live in penury – a condition tantamount to that of their left-to-suffer counterparts on the streets. The reason for this is not far-fetched: parents of these children are among the low-born fragment of the society.
Sokoto’s out-of-school kids

Like it or not, there are a number of out-of-school kids on the streets of Sokoto, who are not likely to get adequate education – despite the free education system in the state.
In 2017, governor of the state, Aminu Tambuwal, announced free education for children of beggars and other underprivileged members of the society, urging Sokoto natives to support government to create a better environment and future for children in the state.
In 2018, an evaluation of access to Universal Basic Education in Sokoto was conducted at the Department of Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education in University of Ilorin, Kwara State. According to the evaluation, Sokoto State had been striving on the provision of UBE to its school age children over these years. Nonetheless, there is less academic focus on the evaluation of school age children access to UBE in the state.
In a report, UNICEF said, “Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school.
“Only 61 per cent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 per cent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.
“In the North of the country, the picture is even bleaker with a net attendance rate of 53 per cent. Getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge.
“In North-East and North-West states, 29 per cent and 35 per cent of Muslim children respectively receive Qur’anic education, which does not include basic skills such as literacy and numeracy.
“The government considers children attending such schools to be officially out-of-school.”
However, beyond the ugliness in their world on the streets, another kind of awful treatment is being injected in the few itinerant children, who have found themselves in the school.
A tale of decay

The outward appearance of the school is quite appealing – tall, elegant trees donning a beautiful garden. But a journey through the premises of the Almajiri Integrated Model School, Shuni – a N70m worth school – revealed a sorry story about the place of learning.
Venturing out of his office to receive the reporter, Ibrahim Sheu, principal of the school, spoke confidently in a manner that suggested that everything was alright in the school.
“So this is the temporary kitchen,” he says, curtly, pointing at the rotten-aluminum-made kitchen. “We are still expecting the state government to construct permanent kitchen and dining hall for them,” he adds.
“We also need sporting facilities, football play grounds, volley ball and all,” he stated.
However, in the classroom of the Senior Secondary School 1, pupils had just concluded their first subject, Physics, and probably expecting the next teacher. As soon as the reporter arrived, the looping ceiling of the classroom greeted his face; the cracking, dilapidating walls painted a scary picture in the mind; the pillars holding the four walls of the class were deteriorating, apparently putting the lives of students in danger. The appalling structure of this classroom was a similitude of what many of the school’s classrooms were made of, as at the time of visitation. The facilities built to facilitate the academic conveniences of the pupils were decaying.
Health centre without drugs, facilities

Nasiru Ibrahim plays many roles as one of the staff of the Almajiri school in Shuni. He teaches Mathematics; heads the computer department and also given the responsibility to be the health master of the school. The school’s health centre, which is affiliated to the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, is an embodiment of poor clinical facilities; not even first aid materials are said to be available. The spacious room has no basic clinical equipment and drugs, so, Ibrahim uses it for another purpose: attending to his students, who would come to meet him for one help or the other.
The young teacher saddled with the responsibility of attending to any sick pupil, has little or no knowledge about what he does.
“I learnt some health tips from Physical Health Education during my secondary school days,” he says, justifying his experience of healthcare. “I studied Mathematics at the university. During my NCE, I studied Biology.
“There are many things that we are lacking here. The clinic is lacking antibiotic and anti-malarial drugs, and the materials for dressing wounds like cotton wool, spirit, are not available.”
Apparently, the children enrolled in the school are denied their basic rights of having good healthcare – just as the out-of-school itinerant children on the streets of Sokoto have no access to proper health care.
Masters of negligence

Away from Shuni to Almajiri Model School located in Gagi area of Sokoto State, teachers seemed not to be passionate about their profession – they are pranksters of integrity in exercising their duties – and the school authorities cover up their tepid attitudes while many of the teachers resume work late and leave before the closing hours. At 11:12am when this reporter visited the school, teachers were seen competing to scribble their names on the attendance note at the deputy headmaster’s office, while some others were chit-chatting under a tree when they were expected to be with pupils in classrooms.
Findings revealed that ghost working and negligence of duty have overwhelmed the administrative system of the school. The vulnerable kids sent to school from the streets receive nothing but archives of tepid attitudes towards teaching.
For instance, there are six N-Power volunteer teachers deployed to the school of vulnerable children located in Gagi. These teachers were employed to aid teaching and learning but out of the six volunteers, only three seem to be coming to work; other have refused to fulfill their duties as teachers in the school.
However, Huseini Muhammad, Headmaster of the school, was quite evasive when asked what he had done to the N-Power teachers, who had failed to carry out their assignments.
He said, “We are less concerned about that, after all, they work with the federal government and their salaries are being paid into their bank accounts every month.
“If they were originally our teachers, we would know how to deal with them. But they are not, so we’re less concerned.”
There are lots of rots

While rainfall might be a blessing to other pupils of Sokoto State, what it means for kids of the Almajiri school in Gagi is terrible inconvenience, especially at night.
The roof of the hostel are leaky and the toilet filthy; the little kids would spend their nights on bunks without matrasses and tattered mat. Venturing into the toilet could be very disgusting; the unpleasant latrines are dominated by rodents and cockroaches roaming freely.
The language lab and dining hall were both locked as checks revealed they had been left unused for some time. The computer room, which is supposed to be a room for learning about Information and Communication Technology, also seem unpatronised.
Similarly, at the Almajiri Integrated School in Wammakko area of the state, roaming kids engulf the street of the school at 11:00am. Among the school-age children seen to have been truanting the streets of Wamakko was a pupil of the Almajiri school. The fragile-looking boy, who had gone to fend for food, placed his bowl properly on his head and matched towards the entrance of the school.
In the school, the pariah children seemed to be in similar conditions with the ones in the schools previously mentioned – they were sired in pains of learning and cruelty of living. Although, the headmaster declined interaction with the children, there were indications of decay in teachings and learning in the school.
Sokoto SUPEB reacts

Kabiru Aliyu, a top official of the Sokoto State Universal Basic Education, expressed concerns over the dilapidation of most of the Almajiri schools in Sokoto.
He said, “There is a new programme called Western Education Service, whereby we’re going to bring back not just Almajiri school but also other out-of-school children.
“Sokoto is the first state in the Northern part of Nigeria to start the integration of western and Islamic education, that’s why we have the Arabic board.”
When questions on the rot in the schools were pushed to Aliyu, he said, “Most of the time, these are things that don’t come to the government’s notice, and that’s why we’re planning to have an independent monitoring, from CSO’s and NGO’s, to independently monitor and hint the government on some of the things happening and how things should be addressed.
“There is corruption everywhere, we find a principal who is supposed to tidy up the hostel and give the children the best but fails to make them different of being in the school.”
WHY ALMAJIRI SCHOOL SYSTEM FAILS

For Dr Abubakar Alkali, an English Language lecturer at the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, the integrated Almajiri school system is as effective as expected for a number of reasons.
Apart from infrastructural decadence, negligence of duties and lack of maintenance bedeviling the Almajiri school system, the culture, traditions and belief of the people of Sokoto State are also huge hindrances to the success of the school in the state, he asserts.
He said, “Information is very important in everything; before the government would establish such a school in Sokoto here, they were supposed to inform the local people in the village and tell them about the importance of education.
“That’s why you see that the numbers of out-of-school children are increasing despite the establishment of these schools.
“The problem of most of the parents of the Almajiris is not that they cannot feed their children; the problem is really not poverty, it is their belief.
“Have you ever thought of why there are no female children among these child wanderers?
“It is because they don’t allow them to do it. But they believe the male counterparts must do it to learn Islamiyya (Islamic education).
“Unless government focuses on educating the people, the Almajiri schools system would be frustrated.”
This report was supported by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Regulatory Programme.

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Order DSS To Arrest Ango Abdullahi, Youth Group Tells Buhari

Prof Ango Abdullahi

A group, the Yoruba Afenifere Youth Organisation of Nigeria, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the arrest of Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Ango Abdullahi, for saying a Northerner will replace Buhari as President in 2023.
Abdullahi had stated that the North would hold onto power for the next 100 years, stressing that the region would support only candidates from the North for the office of the president in 2023.
Spokesperson for YAYON, Ojo Bright, in a statement said that Abdullahi was inciting the North against the South with this words, adding that it was against the unity of the country.
He said, “We find it inciting, berating and wish to call the attention of the world and President Muhammadu Buhari to this proposed and orchestrated attack against other regions in Nigeria.
“The statement credited to Ango Abdullahi affirming political dominance by one region is tantamount to a terrorist attack on the collective unity of Nigeria.
“As a matter of necessity, a statement of such magnitude should never be credited to anyone who has the interest of Nigeria at heart.
“We urge him to immediately retract the reckless statement.
“The President must show his patriotism by directing the Department of State Services to arrest and prosecute Ango Abdullahi for preaching division, ethnic chauvinism, secession, and making statements capable of causing incitement and revolution.
“Every patriotic Nigerian must support the conventional arrangement for power rotation in the country.”

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E2%80%99s-development Mandela Washington Fellows Urged To Drive Nigeria’s Development

Young Nigerians, who participated in the 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship, have been urged to use the knowledge acquired during the six-week training in the United States to drive development and growth in Nigeria.
At a reunion conference in Lagos on Wednesday, US Consul General, Claire Pierangelo, told the 56 Nigerians to compare notes on their experiences and explore how they can enhance their community service and impact in Nigeria.
She said, “I encourage you to continue to work to improve your communities, to mentor young people, to be politically active, and thereby strive to create a Nigeria that will truly be the giant of Africa.”
Expressing appreciation for being selected for the prestigious program, the 2019 Fellows stated their eagerness to get to work to improve life in their respective communities.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship, which began in 2014, has seen the US Government send nearly 4,000 young Africans leaders to America since that period to empower them through academic course work, leadership training, and networking opportunities.
The fellowship allows participants to apply for their American partners to travel to Africa to continue project-based collaboration through the Reciprocal Exchange Component of the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

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President Buhari Approves N10bn Intervention Fund For Enugu Airport Upgrade

Enugu International Airport

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved N10bn for the upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
In May 2019, government announced plans to shut down the airport indefinitely, a move which was met with public outcry.
However on Thursday, the President in a series of posts on Twitter, said, “I have approved the sum of N10bn for an intervention fund for the upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
“I have the assurance of the Minister of Aviation that the work will be done speedily and to the highest standards.
“Even as we have many items competing for our limited resources, we will continue to prioritise infrastructure investments in every part of the country.
“It is our responsibility to ensure Nigeria’s infrastructure is fixed; we will keep doing this.”

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E2%80%93atiku Onitsha Tanker Explosion, Preventable –Atiku

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has described the fire outbreak caused by a tanker explosion in Onitsha, Anambra State, as preventable.
The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, killed at least three people and also destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
In a post on Twitter on Thursday, Atiku said, “We’ve had many preventable fuel tanker tragedies.
“I received with sadness, report of a tanker explosion in Onitsha, Anambra State, which caused massive destruction to lives and properties in Ochanja Market area.
“My prayers and thoughts are with the families of the affected persons.”

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Onitsha Fire: Twitter Users Demand Resignation of Anambra Governor, Obiano

Twitter users have called for the resignation of governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, following a tanker explosion in Onitsha on Wednesday.
The inferno claimed lives, razed shops, buildings and roads in a tragedy that last for more than seven hours.
Reacting to the incident, one user @Lucyplun1, blasted Governor Obiano for his slow response in dealing with the emergency, while claiming that victims had to wait for the intervention of the Delta State fire service.
He said, “A governor who doesn’t care about our feelings. A governor who couldn’t provide fire service in his state.
“If not for the intervention of Delta State Government, only God knows how many people would have been affected. #ObianoMustGo #ObianoHasFailed #ImpeachObiano.”
Another user, @teddyik001, said Governor Obiano should have resigned by now due to what he described as “negligence”.
He said, “In a sane country, Obaino would have resigned. In a sane country, the fire service chief would have resigned or been sacked.
“In a sane country, some people will pay for negligence. But this is Naija. #ObianoMustGo.”
Calling on Obiona to buckle down, @Geraldcake said a tragedy such as the tanker explosion must be avoided in future.
He said, “Obiano needs to sit up. He can’t and won’t leave because the state House of Assembly is filled with APGA loyalists. What we have to do is push him to sit up. #ObianoMustGo.”

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E2%80%99s-conspiracy-silence-part-1 UPDATED: Sodomy Of Children In Maiduguri Prison And ICRC’s Conspiracy Of Silence (Part 1)

Goni Ali Shettima is an 11-year-old boy living with a mental condition akin to autism. Since the age of eight, he has also been living in bondage – held captive within the confines of Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison, Borno State, in North-East Nigeria. More specifically, he is in Cell Number 16, Unit 3, Cluster 2.
He is yet another hapless victim of the gross violation of human rights, sexual abuses and prostitution of women and children inside a federal prison in Nigeria.

Video of Sexually Abused And Sodomized Children Inside The Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison

Sexually Abused And Sodomized Children Inside The Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison

A sexually abused victim recounts the horrors of his experience inside the Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison, Nigeria.

The concentration camp
There are four separate compounds within the MMSP yard accommodating over 1,550 inmates. They are clusters 1, 2 and 3 for men and a much smaller compound, ‘Gidan Mata’, the female section.
The men awaiting or standing trial are confined in cluster 1, and already convicted men serve their time in cluster 3. The Boko Haram insurgency altered this arrangement with the influx of detainees, who were squeezed into every available space.
‘Gidan Mata’, which lumps every category of female inmates together, was originally purpose-built to incarcerate only “very important persons”. It was converted later to the female custody after remaining empty for many years in spite of the high rate of corruption and vice involving the elite.
The compound for women is a stifling prison within a prison and that has been responsible for the depressive bipolar behaviour of most of its inhabitants, which is erroneously attributed to evil spirits.
A peaceful but noisy protest by the women on Saturday, October 13, 2018, over their harsh living conditions was brutally suppressed by the prison’s armed squad with severe beatings; freshly cut branches were used to flog them all over their bodies, and batons on the joints of the ring leaders, leaving several of the protesters with broken bones. The scream of women on that day was terrible. It was an awful spectacle.
The last bus stop
Cluster 2, also known as ‘the last bus stop’, is an insalubrious, octagon-shaped, reinforced concrete structure built on one level with a capacious central courtyard. It is divided into six identical units, with each unit comprised of 16 cells, except that of unit 1 with 15.
The 95 death row cells, aptly to be described as cages, are reserved for condemned men awaiting the hangman’s noose in a currently disused and rusty gallows. A total of 71 persons are on death row in MMSP. They are made up of 65 men, three women, and one confused 13-year-old boy, who committed patricide.
The defiant teenager, Suleiman Salisu, bludgeoned his father to death with repeated blows of a club to his head for sexually defiling him since he was five years old. He said the abuses always occurred whenever his father, who doubted his paternity, reached a state of excitement after sniffing glue. Then in 2017, one fateful night in February, Suleiman did the contrary. He said “no more” and snapped.
During his short trial, following the selfish advice of his maternal uncle, Usman Durkwa (Deputy Governor of Borno State), to hide the family’s embarrassing secret, Suleiman then testified in court that his only motive for murder was “anger” at the glue-sniffing addiction of his father. Without even considering a psychiatric evaluation, the judge, Justice Umar Zanna Fadau, living up to his reputation as “the hanging judge”, sentenced the then 12-year-old child to death by hanging.
Anger, avarice, covetousness, envy, hatred, jealousy, psychopathic disorder, an unforgiving spirit; all these are the negative emotions and thought-cankers, the evil spirits, tempestuous passions and mind-diseases behind the homicides that landed these men, women and unfortunate boy in the last bus stop of sorrow, and remorse, and unbounded impenitence.
The haunted passage
The corridor in Cluster 2 with a two feet elevated base is adjacent to the courtyard. It covers the entire length of the octagon outline of the place, encircling the courtyard and taking the form of a zigzag track ideal for walking exercises.
Crevices have been created where the concrete slabs over the corridor failed to connect properly. This building defect in several places, have been taken advantage of by a miniature species of bats that have made it their abode. They forage for nocturnal insects found in their abundance, gorge themselves full like gluttons and then return by daybreak to relieve themselves. Their droppings, which resembles black grains of rice in appearance, rains down intermittently throughout the early morning. The outer walls of the corridor facing the courtyard are built with perforated blocks to allow in as much natural light into the passage from the outside. The lower parts of the walls on both sides and floor are splattered with phlegm, indiscriminately spat out with complete disregard to hygiene, while upper walls are littered with hundreds of old and new mud nests built by wasps. Small neat holes indicate nests discharged of the next generation of wasps.
A dark curve in the corridor between Unit 4 and 5 is where cannabis is smoked and trysts are arranged for quick s**; especially with minors. It was here that Suleiman Salisu was lured to and raped by an older condemned convict. Bats peep from above through the crevices, involuntary witnesses to the strange happenings going on beneath them. An eerie atmosphere created by the dimly-lit corridor, the echo and squeaky-sounding bats have given rise to the claims that the corridor is haunted, visited by ghosts of victims murdered by the condemned killers inhabiting Cluster 2.
The cages
From the corridor, two gates in each of the units, lead into their atrium where a gallery of death row cells are lined up. The 10ft x 6ft cells do not offer much protection from the elements. Sand storms dump inches of sand and fine dust through the open window bars, requiring constant cleaning up. The hexagon-shaped iron door bars are arranged like honeycombs, just as the windows. Because they extend right down to the floor level, it makes easy access for large snakes and rodents. The clever rats though, have an uncanny ability to discern which cells to avoid, such as the ones occupied by Koji Gambo and his fellow rat eaters, or else by morning they would become roasted barbeque. Except for the entrails and teeth, every other part, from the head down to the tail is consumed with relish.
A plague of pesky flies harass persistently from dawn to dusk. From irritating the ears, they even try entering sensitive nostrils. By dusk, they hand over the baton of harassment to blood sucking mosquitoes who run their lap from dusk to dawn with relentless waves of attack. With no provision for fans, temperatures inside the cells can soar as high as over 45 degrees Celsius during the dry season and bitterly cold when the Harmattan arrives. Light bulbs, which are part of the original fixtures in the cell ceilings, have all been deliberately removed and disconnected, resulting in pitch-black darkness at night, except on those nights when the full moonlight comes to the rescue.
The holes inside the cages
At the opposite end of the cell threshold, a hole levels out with the floor that serves a dual purpose as a bath drain and a squat latrine. The opening at the hole in the ground is four inches in diameter, and it’s actually one end of a PVC elbow drain pipe fitting. The other end, connected to a subterranean pipe, runs straight into a septic tank. Like an archer, you learn very quickly how to align your bow and aim your arrows to hit the bulls’ eye of the four-inch target. Even with diarrhoea, you do not want to risk using that contraception at night just in case something lurking behind the pipe curve with very sharp teeth or venomous fangs mistaken your dangling genitals for a potential meal and bites.
When everything is quiet at night you can even hear a pin drop a mile away. For those who must take the risk to relieve themselves, they would usually “break wind” in short, short bursts. They have a good reason for doing this. Not only does the hole amplify sounds, but depending on wind direction and velocity, it mimics various brass instruments. Amazingly, this can be intimidating and highly embarrassing even for the most hardened criminal when confronted with such a cacophony under an awkward and undignified squat posture in the silent night.
Titi and Asina
The West Side of Cluster 2 has been spared of rats because of the presence of Titi and Asina, two female cats raised by Yaya in cell 2, unit 1. Yaya Jibrin, a condemned man from Gombe State has been on death row in MMSP for 23 years and loves his cats passionately. Titi and her mother, Asina, recently gave birth between them to seven adorable and playful kittens. Those, who eat cats or can’t stand them know better than to mess with the Fulani’s cats. He takes each one of them as the family he completely lost touch with.
One fine morning, the prison authorities decided to get rid of all the cats without finding a solution to the rat menace. Yaya was devastated. He wept inconsolably, begging that at least they shouldn’t be killed. Titi, Asina, and the seven kittens were put inside a cardboard box, taken to a bush far away from the prison and released. Three nights later, to the surprise of everyone, Asina had managed to lead her family back home to Yaya’s cell with the exception of two kittens.
For the three days the cats were away, it gave some respite to the rats as well as the lizards, who could bask leisurely in the sun without looking across their shoulders – so to speak. Yaya was overjoyed to see his ‘family’ back home. He was as excited as any parent whose missing child had been found. But for those who could not stand the cats, they were disappointed. It further confirmed their conviction that Asina is a witch in the form of a cat, the same superstitious belief they have of an owl that was rescued from being lynched.
The courtyard
In the middle of the courtyard is an open sided building that resembles a gazebo. It has a concrete pyramid-shaped roof supported by nine pillars. The building serves as a praying area for Moslems, and the ironing section for the laundry. Migratory swallow birds have made their home there with well-crafted nests glued to angles on the concrete ceiling around the central pillar. They let out high pitch shrieks when flying in and out with swift elegant grace; manoeuvring even better than the jet fighter planes of the air force roaring past the prison skies on an almost daily basis to harass or make sorties in their protracted battle against a yet unvanquished insurgency.
The elevated base of the structure which is two and a half feet high, serves as a convenient charcoal –box ironing platform for the exploited laundry boys to stand beside to iron the washed and starched uniforms of prison warders, and clothing of their families. Nigeria is perhaps the only country in the world where full uniforms of junior and senior prison officers, compete with ranks, name tags, badges and epaulette can be found inside the cells of prisoners for washing or pending collection in a maximum security prison. Instead of seeing this folly as a major security lapse, these agents of persecution, who still operate on the colonial prison system and punitive template, take the denial of prisoner’s access to information and current affairs news as more of a security measure. The donated television sets in the mosque and church are restricted to only religious programmes, and it is an offence to tune into a drama, sports or news channel. Radio, newspapers, magazines and a wide range of books are considered ‘haram.’ MMSP cannot boast of a bookshelf, let alone a library.
All around the courtyard, trees such as paw-paw, date palm, mango, citrus and dogoyaro have been planted. Some inmates use the land in the fringes to cultivate vegetables gardens using human waste for manure. They must constantly bribe the warders with the produce in order to retain the gardens whenever they are subtly hinted that gardening is a privilege that can be withdrawn. Meanwhile, these same warders use prisoners as serfs to toil for free on their self-allotted farm plots inside the prison yard. Even during official hours, they abandon their duty posts to spend time on their farms as overseers, to ensure that the prisoners do not steal some of the crops for themselves. All 16 cells in unit 5 have been converted for the sole purposes of storage for the farm produce of warders.
The presence of shrubs and trees has attracted different species of birds making stopovers to quench their taste and assuage their hunger. They drink from the pool of stagnant water by the underground water reservoir used as a well, and feed on the coarse corn meal remnants left to dry out in the sun to be later sold as animal feed by the chief warder. Large Grasshoppers, who feast on tender leaves in the courtyard have become prey themselves to the inmates, who compete with birds and chameleons for this protein-rich food source.
The trees, birds, and their falling melody give the courtyard the semblance of a tranquil oasis in this semi-arid region of Nigeria. Even the white doves, the symbol of peace, visit the courtyard of cluster 2. But behind this façade of natural harmony and normalcy, is a dark, terrible, sinister and repulsive secret; an infamy that has been well hidden from the public and visitors to the prison for long, until now.

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E2%80%99s-time-free-yourselves-buhari%E2%80%99s-tyranny-bayo-oluwasanmi Nigerians, It’s Time To Free Yourselves From Buhari’s Tyranny! By Bayo Oluwasanmi

Bayo Oluwasanmi

December 1776, Thomas Paine reminded Americans that “Tyranny, likehell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us,that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph”.That was 243 years ago.In 2019 Nigeria, Thomas Paine’s declaration resonates with oppressedNigerians subjected to hellish conditions by President MuhammaduBuhari.President Buhari is a poor substitute for a leader of representativedemocracy that respects your rights. Buhari is far worse than SanniAbacha. After all, Abacha was neither voted for nor rigged throughelection into office. He was a military dictator.The abuses, oppression, violation of human rights, violation of yourConstitution, and disrespect for rule of law, fly in the face of everydemocratic idea and ideal.Nigerians, you’re to blame.As if you’re under a divine curse, you watch helplessly as Buharireduces you to slaves dithering over meaningless trivialities. Youwatch with your hands tied behind your backs as Buhari tightens thenoose on your freedom, liberty, justice, peace, and progress.He has turned you into zombies!Could you ever believe that in 2019 Nigeria you will live in a lawlesscountry that has been aptly described with different primitiveepithets: zoo country, poverty capital of the world, a nation ofthieves and cowards, a country where nothing works, a failed state,zombie nation.The list goes on.Would you have imagined that in 2019 Nigeria, a pro-democracyadvocate, human rights crusader, publisher of the fearless andinfluential muck-raking portal, SaharaReporters, and formerpresidential candidate would be abducted in the night by agents of a“democratic government” arrested, detained on trumped-up charges ofserious crimes of treason that carries death penalty?Whereas, in the same country, deadly terrorists like Boko Haram,herdsmen terrorists, are being pacified, curdled, massaged, paid forkilling innocent people, while thieves and crooks were appointed intohigh visibility public offices. What the hell is wrong with youNigerians?Nigerians, where is your collective rage? Where is your kindled anger?Where is your seething outrage?Nigerians, it’s time to free yourselves from Buhari’s tyranny! Wake upfrom your self-induced stupor. Fight for your life, your dignity, yoursoul. Fight for your future. Fight on behalf of your children’schildren. Resist the evil president. Call off the bluff of thegap-tooth devil and his satanic agenda!You must halt the advancement of the ancient evils of a sadist indemocratic camouflage.Nigerians, you’re at war with your public enemy number one. Buhari isa sworn enemy of your nation, your people, and your civilization.Buhari is not joking. He is determined to erase you from the face ofthe earth. He sees critics and whoever disagrees with him asterrorists and placed them on government watch. You have becometargets for surveillance of your activities and correspondence.Now, it’s legal to arrest, detain, and hold you indefinitely inincommunicado without bail or trial for exercising your freedom ofspeech, assembly, association, and freedom to protest peacefully. Youhave been stripped of your rights. You have been labelled as enemycombatants.Nigerians, the danger is real.The time is now for you to use some revolutionary outrage if you haveany left. Invoke the revolutionary spirit of your ancestors anddeclare your independence from the tyranny of Buhari’s police state.Nigerians, lest you forget, the government’s job is to protect yourinnate rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.Remember, government power comes from the will of the people. Buhari’sgovernment should not be an exception.Make no mistake about it. It is evident that the purpose of Buhari’ssecond term is to establish a tyrannical government. Buhari’sgovernment has become destructive. It is your RIGHT to alter orabolish it and institute a new government.President Buhari is sitting on a time bomb that will explode any timefrom now unless he makes a dramatic U-turn. If he likes, let himcontinue to hunt down critics. Let him continue his oppressive rule.Let him continue as an invincible emperor.Like other dictators before him, he’ll be swept away by the tide ofthe looming and inevitable #RevokutionNow!

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Bayo Oluwasanmi

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Nigeria Missed Opportunity To Claim N18 Trillion From Oil Companies -Timipre Sylva

Former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva

Timipre Sylva

Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva,said on Wednesday that the country had lost the opportunity to claimN18.91 trillion — $62 billion from international oil companies.The sum is the estimate of what the attorney general of thefederation, Abubakar Malami, believes the country should havereceived, from a review of the revenue sharing formula in theProduction Sharing Contracts signed with the firms in the 1990s.According to Reuters, Sylva disclosed this to newsmen after theFederal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.“Nobody can bring out that kind of money,” Sylva said. “I mean, wecan’t get $62 billion. We can maybe get something from them but not$62 billion. It’s an opportunity we have lost.”Five oil companies – Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Eni, and Total, haveso far been approached individually to make remittances on a backdatedattempt by the government to review the PSC.One of the five firms told Reuters they had received a bill of closeto $10 million.“We have to ensure that this bill is passed. With this bill now, therewill be some adjustments in the fiscal regime and we believe that thegovernment will get a lot from the oil companies, especially theirdeep shore exploration activities,” Sylva added.The companies had earlier told the news agency that they do not agreewith the government’s demands, they have since made representations incourt. Section 16 of the act provides for the contract terms to bereviewed once the dollar crosses $20, after 15 years and every fiveyears subsequently.On Tuesday, the Senate adopted a report by the joint committees onpetroleum upstream, gas and finance, seeking to amend the PSC.The details of the amendments made are sketchy at this time.According to a 2018 executive bill sent to the 8th assembly, theexecutive requested that section 16 of the act be amended with theintroduction of a third section that will make the government get morefrom royalties as oil prices increase.Royalty rates are fixed percentages at the moment, with petroleumsourced at depths deeper than 1000m paying 0 percent.Based on debates held during the passage of the PSC amendment onTuesday, the period of review after the initial 16 years, whichelapsed in 2008, was increased from five to eight years.The executive hoped to earn at list N320 billion with the passage ofthe bill in 2018 to fund the 2019 budget.President Muhammadu Buhari now hopes the country will make $500million – N152.5 billion in 2020 and $1 billion – N305 billion in 2121if the revision of the law sales through.

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SaharaReporters, New York

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Yemi Osinbajo, Brain Box Of Buhari’s Regime, Cabal Trying To Humiliate Him, Northern Youths Claim

A group, Northern Youth For United Nigeria, has warned against what itdescribed, “plots to oust Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as a threat tonational unity”.The group said any such move against the vice president isantithetical to civilized democracy and threatening to national unity.Mohammed Bappare, leader of the group, told journalists in Yola,Adamawa state, on Wednesday night that the northern youth group wasready to resist any “power play aimed at humiliating Osinbajo”.Bappare said, “We are tracking and carefully reviewing unfoldingevents within the ruling APC, particularly regarding moves againstVice President Osinbajo.”All the hullabaloo about the so-called alleged N90 billion FRIS moneylinked to the VP simply betrays the desperation of a cabal.”Some people have erroneously arrogated to themselves the right todetermine who becomes what, but we’ll prove them wrong.”Osinbajo, who is arguably the brain box of this government, cannot beused and dumped.”Besides, as young people, we must set the agenda for a unitedNigeria, that is why we are strongly supportive of the principle whichpromotes the rotation of the central power.”Nigeria is for all Nigerians and at this material time, we, theyouths from the north, believe that in 2023, power should move to thesouthwest.”

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