Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 29th August 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 29/08/20
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Youths Protest In Ondo, Ask IGP To Arrest Ex-APC Chairman, Kekemeke, Over ‘Inciting’ Comments
Some Youth in Akure, Ondo State, on Friday protested and also demanded the arrest of a former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Isaacs Kekemeke, over his comment to cause violence in the October 10 governorship election.
They explained that the statement of Kekemeke had shown that the All Progressives Congress had plans to cause violence in the state during the forthcoming election.
Speaking on behalf of the youth, Mr Oluwatuyi Adekanbi, said there was a need to call Kekemeke to order to avoid violence and crisis in the state during the election.
He said, “We call on the Federal Government mostly the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to come to the aid of Ondo State.
“We won’t allow anyone to be killed in the state because of an election. We don’t want any thug to be dragged into this election.
“We won’t allow anyone to bring militant to Akure or the state to cause trouble because we won’t take it.
“We are equally using this medium to warn that nothing must happen to anyone in the state particularly Akure indigenes during the poll.
“If anything untoward like shooting, killings happen in the election, we are calling on the IGP to hold Mr Kekemeke responsible for it.
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We’ll Use Armed Thugs, Others To Rig Ondo Governorship Election, Says APC Stalwart, Isaacs Kekemeke
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“He has threatened our people with militants but they would be resisted with full force and we mean it.”
Reacting to the protest, Kekemeke said his statement in the viral video was only “political yabbies and jokes”.
He denied that he had the intention to cause violence on the day of the election, noting that he had always been a man of peace.
He said, “What I said was only political talk but it was misconstrued and twisted. I have no intention of what I have said, and I don’t have the capacity to do such.
“I am not an agent of violence, I am an agent of peace. I have advised that the youth should also resist being used by any politician.”
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PDP Petitions Police, Calls For Arrest Of Former Ondo APC Chairman, Kekemeke, For Inciting Violence In Viral Video
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The Peoples Democratic Party had last week said it had written a petition to the police calling for the arrest of Kekemeke over his comment in the viral video.
Tee-Leo Ikoro, spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, could not confirm the receipt of the petition when contacted by SaharaReporters.
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BREAKING: Third Person Onboard Crashed Lagos Helicopter Dies
The third crew member in the Bell 206 B3 helicopter owned by Quorum Aviation Services that crashed into a building at Opebi, Lagos State, on Friday has died.
SaharaReporters gathered that he died due to complications arising from the crash at an undisclosed hospital.
The Lagos State Emergency Agency had earlier confirmed that two of the crew members died in the accident.
The names of two of the three victims were given as Captain Chika Prudence Ernest and Engineer Clement Ndiok.
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Accident Investigation Bureau Recovers Black Box, Says Crashed Helicopter Flew From Port-Harcourt
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People Pretending To Rescue Lagos Helicopter Crash Victims Stole Their Phones, Cash –Eyewitness
A resident of Opebi Street in Lagos, who witnessed a helicopter accident in the area on Friday, has decried the lack of empathy by some Lagosians towards accident victims.
The helicopter, a Bell 206, with registration number 5N BQW, belongs to Quorum Aviation, an air transportation and logistics company.
It was coming from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with two crew members and a passenger, when the accident occured.
The man, who identified himself as John, told SaharaReporters that first responders, who rushed to the scene stole victims’ mobile phones and cash.
He also said he lost his phone while trying to rescue them.
He said, “It’s so bad we could do this to ourselves, some people rushed here pretending as if they were helping us to bring out the bodies of those involved in the accident only for them to steal their phones and money. Even my phone was taken away, I gave it to someone while trying to rescue them but the person ran away with it.”
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UPDATE: Pilot, Passenger Dead, One Rescued In Lagos Helicopter Crash
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John added that the helicopter hovered several times around the area before crashing into the building.
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Liberian Activist, Gbowee, Decries Police Attacks On Anti-rape Protesters
Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Prize winner, has condemned violent attacks on anti-rape protesters in Liberia.
Gbowee in a tweet on Thursday described the action by the Liberia Police as ‘sick, appalling and a big shame on the part of the George Weah-led administration’.
She said the country was a democratic state, as such, citizens were afforded the constitutional right to engage in peaceful protests.
“I woke up this morning to news of the Government of Liberia clamping down on the peaceful protest organised by young people against the pervasive rape culture in Liberia.
“This is sick, appalling and a big shame on the Weah-led administration. To teargas and use violence on a peaceful gathering led by women against a pandemic is beyond unimaginable.
“I call out Minister Piso Saydee Tarr. Shame on you! Your job demands that you protect the most vulnerable population of Liberia, but you have chosen to align with your political godfather. Minister Tarr, who plays politics with the tearing of a three-year-old vagina? To say I am mad would be putting it mildly. I am angry, infuriated, boiling inside… if you had done your job void of politics we won’t be where we find ourselves,” she said.
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Bandits Raid Kaduna Towns, Kill Two, Kidnap Policeman, Three Others
Gunmen
Not less than two persons have been killed by gunmen in Mararaban Rido and Juji communities under Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
SaharaReporters gathered that the armed bandits, who spent several hours terrorizing the communities, abducted four persons including a policeman and an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The bandits, according to a resident of the area, came in large numbers and shot sporadically.
He said two people from a neighbouring community, who came to assist in fighting the gunmen, were killed in Juji while the two security operatives were kidnapped from their residences at Maraban Rido.
A 14-year-old girl and one other person were also whisked away by the bandits during the incident.
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Amotekun Corps Should Carry Firearms, Says Gani Adams
Gani Adams, Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, has again said the South-West regional security outfit known as “Operation Amotekun” should be allowed to carry firearms in order to end the rising insecurity in the region.
Adams, who explained that the outfit would operate in accordance with existing laws and would not be collapsed into the police, said the security of lives and properties of citizens should be a top priority for any government.
Adams revealed that Amotekun Corps was designed to combat kidnapping, banditry and other forms of crime in the region.
He said, “The issue of Amotekun has been settled and I don’t know why Garba Shehu is bringing another issue out of it again on collapsing its structure under the police.
“What stops the Commissioner of Police in each state to license Amotekun with just 200 pump action to complement their efforts.
“You are holding an AK 47 and this can kill people within the radius of one kilometer and pump-action cannot kill more than 500 meters.
“Should we allow our citizens to be killed like chicken or you want us to only hold a cutlass to face someone that has AK7 rifle and other sophisticated weapons.
“We even got information two days ago that they have invaded parts of the South-West and you are still saying any who wants to be in charge of local security shouldn’t move with armed. It shows you don’t value the life of your citizens.”
He added that the regional security outfit had come to stay and it would be extremely difficult for anyone to truncate its operations or reduce its influence for personal gains.
While noting that the formation of the regional security outfit had already passed through the law, Adams said Amotekun Corps was never an arrangement placed under the police but only to complement its efforts.
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El-Rufai Vs. NBA: The Unspoken Truth About The Annual Conference Of Nigerian Lawyers By Inibehe Effiong
As a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), I have been silent before now on the avoidable and needless controversy that has characterized the self-redeeming decision of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA to disinvite the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, as one of the speakers at the 2020 virtual Annual General Conference of the NBA because emotions have been elevated above reason.
For the sake of history, I will summarize my position publicly because there is no fence for anyone to sit on this issue.
Those who contemplated and recommended Mallam El-Rufai as a speaker at the 2020 NBA Conference despite his noxious human rights record, open contempt for the rule of law and inflammatory identity politics should apologize to Nigerian lawyers and the entire country for the attendant embarrassment, polarization and controversies that have greeted the NEC decision.
The NBA has a fundamental problem; a problem of purpose.
The NBA’s motto is “defending the rule of law”. Nobody to my knowledge has disputed the documented cases of disregard to court orders by Governor El-Rufai. Among the victims of his tyranny and intolerance are members of the NBA from Kaduna State.
Those arguing that the Kaduna governor should have been given a “fair hearing” are playing to the gallery. The right to fair hearing under Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) only avails persons whose civil rights and obligations are to be determined by a court or tribunal established by law or by administrative bodies. El-Rufai does not have a legally protected right to speak at the NBA conference. It is only a privilege which can be given or withdrawn by the NBA without a reason. Therefore, the issue of fair hearing does not arise.
All that the NBA owed him was the courtesy to notify him of the NEC decision which was done through the representation made to the Director General of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum by the NBA President, Paul Usoro SAN. The NBA President did not have to apologize to the Kaduna governor. Mr. Usoro’s apology was ostensibly actuated by his personal relationship with El-Rufai which he publicly alluded to and had nothing to do with the opinion of most lawyers in Nigeria on the matter. Majority of Nigerian lawyers do not owe El-Rufai an apology.
The NBA was not obligated to hear from the Kaduna governor before reaching a decision on the massive protests by her members against the platform wrongly offered to him as one of the speakers. It is the domestic affairs of the NBA to determine who should speak at its conference which does not warrant the insolent, vexatious and intrusive statements by extremist religious bodies and individuals who have sought to capitalize on the development in a sinister effort to foster their misplaced divisive and sectarian agenda.
Mallam El-Rufai should not have been invited in the first place. A man who has exuded dictatorial proclivity and primitive bellicosity towards his critics should not be offered a platform to speak at the gathering of learned men and ministers in the temple of justice.
Regarding the unabated killings in Southern Kaduna, El-Rufai has not only mismanaged the crisis, he has shown open bias which has escalated the murderous reign of the cult of killers in Kaduna State. It is a sad commentary that some lawyers and meddlesome non-lawyers shamelessly turned the commendable decision to disinvite El-Rufai into a religious issue.
El-Rufai once spoke about the lack of policy of consequence as the bane of development in Nigeria. To allow him to address lawyers despite his divisive and oppressive style of leadership will be a derogation from the policy of consequence which he espoused. This should serve as a notice to other arrogant public office holders in Nigeria that there is a price to pay for flouting court orders, injustice, oppression and sectarian politics.
In discussing this matter, we should not shy away from the bitter truth about the lack of purpose in the NBA. Over the years, the NBA has abandoned her core mandate and pandered to the cravings of the corrupt political establishment in Nigeria.
Every year, the NBA offers its prestigious conference platform to corrupt and despotic governors and other politically exposed persons for pecuniary gains.
I say this with all sense of respect and responsibility.
Despite the fact that the 2020 conference had to hold virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizers of the conference could not resist the ritualistic allowances given to questionable political actors and influential figures to speak at the conference. It is always as if the NBA conference will be useless without the active attendance and involvement of questionable politically exposed persons who are not worthy of the noble NBA platform.
I cannot explain why the President of Nigeria has to be the one to give the opening speech at every Annual General Conference of the NBA. It is sickening and tiring. The NBA is neither a political association nor a government agency and should not be projected as an appendage of every government in power. President Buhari has not hidden his disdain for human rights and the rule of law. Yet, the NBA continues to offer Buhari her platform.
At the 2018 NBA conference in Lagos, Buhari declared menacingly to Nigerian lawyers that “national security” was superior to the rule of law. One would have expected a self-respecting professional body to insulate Buhari from her subsequent conferences and events in protest of that provocative statement, but the NBA has refused to listen to the voice of reason and has continued to extern underserved invitation to Buhari to speak at her conferences thereby desecrating the foundational ideals of the NBA.
Is that not ridiculous? Is that not outrageous?
As a body, the NBA has lost its soul and conscience. Like most entities in Nigeria, the NBA has been terribly polluted by the decadent political climate in the country. There is a wide disconnect between the pro-establishment leadership of the NBA and most of her members. It is almost impossible for any lawyer to become the President of the NBA today without possessing the unwritten requirement: stupendous wealth and willingness to spend it.
How can the NBA command respect from a corrupt political class when its leadership recruitment process has been plagued by politics of money and grave allegations of fraud?
I find it offensive that the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, who has publicly defended the nefarious attacks on democratic institutions and the rule of law by the Buhari regime, is a speaker at this year’s conference, like in the previous ones. Also, people like the former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, have no business speaking at the Bar conference. Like Buhari and El-Rufai, they have terrible human rights records. Wike can always participate in the conference as a member of the NBA, but not in his capacity as a serving governor given his poor democratic credentials.
Progressive lawyers in Nigeria must find ways to rescue their association from the strangulation of some of their elitist colleagues who are more interested in serving the insatiable interest of their friends, clients and associates in government. It is good that Mallam El-Rufai was disinvited. I hope this decision will serve as a precedent in the future.
If lawyers cannot boldly stand up in defense of democracy, rule of law and human rights, we are truly doomed as a country. Nigerian lawyers must rise above petty religious and ethnic sentiments. We cannot afford to divide our profession along those lines the way Buhari has divided Nigeria.
The Vice President of the United States of America Mike Pence has just been disinvited from delivering a commencement address to the graduates of Wisconsin Lutheran College amid ongoing unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by a white police officer.
“After further review with careful consideration of the escalating events in Kenosha, the WLC Board of Regents and the College’s Administration have jointly decided to present a different speaker instead of the Vice President of the United States, Michael R. Pence, at the Saturday, August 29, 2020, commencement,” the college said in a statement on Thursday quoted by CNN. The heavens have not fallen.
Maurice Iwu, the embattled former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was once disinvited as a speaker at the NBA conference after protests by lawyers over the electoral heist that characterized his tenure as the Chairman of INEC. Nobody called for war or religious strife. Why is El-Rufai’s case different?
Those canvassing for the formation of splinter groups out of the NBA along ethnic or religious lines simply because one out of the many Northern Muslims who were invited to speak at the conference was disinvited, should tell us whether they are advocates of restructuring? If they want to restructure the NBA, they should go further to demand a restructuring of the Nigerian ‘federation’. Anything outside that will be the height of hypocrisy.
If lawyers cannot afford the cost of holding their annual conference, it will be better for them to stop the yearly conference than to continually depend on the patronage of those who are stealing and mismanaging public funds. Amongst professionals, lawyers should represent the highest moral and ethical values.
When was the last time that the NBA took the Nigerian government to court in the public interest? Why is the NBA seen as a toothless bull dog by the government? Why are lawyers not getting the respect due to them from the police? These are some of the questions we must answer with honesty.
The eyes of the nation are watching the NBA. If the NBA does not change its ways, Nigerians will lose whatever is left of the respect they have for legal practitioners. Lawyers should engage in self-censorship.
Lawyers should no longer allow questionable political actors and moneybags to hijack their Annual General Conference. Will fundamental changes take place at the 2021 conference under the incoming NBA leadership led by Mr. Olumide Akpata, or will the repugnant status quo be retained?
Time will tell.
Inibehe Effiong is a Lagos-based legal practitioner and civil rights campaigner.
inibehe.effiong@gmail.com
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EXCLUSIVE: Nigerian Senate To Pass Social Media Bill Despite Rejection By Nigerians
The Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and Other Related Matters Bill 2019 popularly known as the social media bill, is one of the bills before the Nigerian Senate led by Ahmed Lawan.
SaharaReporters gathered that the Nigerian Senate has concluded a “signed, sealed and delivered” plot to pass the social media bill once the it resumes plenary on September 15.
According to a top source in the Senate, who pleaded anonymity, the upper legislative arm is determined to pass the heinous bill despite the immense rejection by majority of Nigerians.
“They have already concluded plans to pass the bill. They are going to hide behind the COVID-19 issue and other national issues and pass the bill without delay. Their plan is to do it once they resume. It is already signed,” the source told SaharaReporters.
Recall that SaharaReporters reported that the social media bill was rejected by majority of Nigerians during the public hearing of the bill in March.
It will also be recalled that the bill had been rumored to be an “executive bill”, thus making its passage non-negotiable by the lawmakers, who have shown that they were willing to support anything from the presidency.
When asked whether the Senate’s plan had always been to pass the bill without considering public opinion, the source told SaharaReporters, “I am not sure about that, but they believe that Nigerians will accept it and move on the same way they have accepted the Broadcasting Code.”
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Activists Ask Lawmakers To Kill Social Media, Hate Speech Bills During Protest In Abuja
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The reviewed Broadcasting Code was recently passed into law for media organizations in Nigeria.
The reviewed code increased the fine for hate speech from N500,000 to N1m among other things and has already been used in sanctioning Nigeria Info, a radio station, following a recent interview in which a guest criticized the government on one of its popular programmes.
According to its objectives, the social media bill will enable the Nigeria Police Force to “detect, control and safeguard against coordinated inauthentic behaviour and other misuses of online accounts”.
The bill proposes up to N5m or three years imprisonment or both for defaulters.
All attempts to reach Senator Muhammed Sani Musa; sponsor of the social media bill, and Senator Opeyemi Bamidele; Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, on the issue proved abortive as both were unreachable on their official telephone lines.
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Accident Investigation Bureau Recovers Black Box, Says Crashed Helicopter Flew From Port-Harcourt
The Accident Investigation Bureau has recovered the Black Box of a helicopter belonging to Quorum Aviation that crashed into a residential building in Lagos State on Friday.
The AIB said there was a passenger and two crew members on board the aircraft with registration number 5NBQW at the time of the accident.
Director-General of LASEMA, Dr Femi Osanyintolu, while speaking to journalists said the helicopter came in from Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Osanyintolu said two persons died from the crash with one other critically wounded but people on the ground were not affected.
He said, “At about 12:00pm, we received a distress call in our command and control centre that there was a helicopter mishap and immediately we activated the Lagos State Emergency Response Team.
“We were able to rescue one person alive and he has been transferred to the Lagos State Teaching Hospital where he is receiving adequate treatment, but it is pertinent to note that we recovered two bodies and they have been deposited at the mortuary.
“Based on the investigation carried out, it was due to the impact that led to their mortalities.”
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Garba Shehu Reverses Council Of State Decision Nominating Christian As Chairman Of NPC, Announces Muslim As Replacement
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday reversed the Council of State decision nominating Silas Agara as Chairman of National Population Commission.
The Council had during it’s meeting presided over by President Buhari ratified the appointment of Agara as Chairman of the NPC.
The body, made up of former Heads of State, President, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker, governors, some ministers, and senior government officials, also approved the composition of membership of the commission, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said on Thursday.
The NPC is responsible for conducting the national census in Nigeria.
In the document marked ‘SECRET’, dated August 12 and sent to the Council members, Agara was named as Chairman, according to a report by Premium Times.
The other six nominees were Muhammed Dottijo (Sokoto); Razaq Gidado (Kwara); Ibrahim Mohammed (Bauchi); Joseph Shazin (FCT); Bala Banya (Katsina); and Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin (Lagos).
However, hours after the Council meeting, Shehu sent a brief message to journalists announcing one Nasiru Kwarra, a Muslim also from Nasarawa State as Chairman.
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Christian Nominated For Chairmanship Of National Population Commission Finally Replaced With Muslim
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According to findings, Shehu disrupted the entire arrangement with his message to journalists, who reported the narrative he sold to them.
SaharaReporters had earlier reported how some officials within the Nigerian Government were not contented with Agara’s nomination being a Christian.
A government source confirmed to SaharaReporters that Governor Abdullahi Sule was among top Northern Muslims, who worked against a Christian being appointed to head the commission.
“Governor of Nassarawa and Chief of Staff told Buhari not to handover NPC to a Christian,” the source said.
In 2019, Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, alleged that Shehu had switched his loyalty from her husband to some cabals within the Presidency.
She accused him of taking orders from Mamman Daura, Buhari’s nephew, instead of her husband and also meddling in the private affairs of the first family.
Observers say the latest move by Shehu tallies with those projections.
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