Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 03/11/20

Northern Governors Ask Nigerian Government To Censor Social Media

Governors of Northern states have asked the Nigerian Government to regulate social media to curb the spread of ‘fake news’.
At a meeting in Kaduna on Monday, the governors said the effect of uncontrolled social media was devastating.

They also condemned recent attacks on persons and properties by thugs.
“The superlative agitations and other change regime actions outside the ballot box soon take advantage of the peaceful protests to push for their separative agenda. The meeting endorses the indivisibility, indissolubility, and oneness of the nation.
“The meeting took note of the devastating effect of the uncontrolled social media in spreading fake news. Therefore, calls for major control mechanism and censorship of the social media practice in Nigeria
“Meeting raises attention on the need to keep a strict watch on the Federal Capital Territory to guide against unwarranted and destructive protests to safeguard critical assets of the nation,” part of a communique signed by Simon Lalong, Chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum, read.

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#ENDSARS: Falana-led Coalition Sets Up Independent Inquiry To Probe Killings, Arson

Femi Falana, SAN.

The Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 And Beyond, a coalition of over 80 civil society organisations and organised labour led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, has set up a seven-man independent panel of inquiry to probe the killings of Nigerians including security operatives and the destruction of properties following the deployment of security operatives in the wake of the #EndSARS protests.
Many Nigerians consider the outcry, which snowballed into looting and arson as symptomatic of the country’s gradual collapse of governance, large scale corruption and the lack of provision of the essentials of life for millions of long-suffering Nigerians, who are stifled under a corrupt and inept leadership.

Femi Falana, SAN.

The panel led by Chino Obiagwu (SAN), according to the coalition, is not to counter the panels set up by the tiers of government but to complement and enrich the democratic space.
ASCAB disclosed this on Monday in a statement jointly signed by its General and Publicity secretaries, Ade Atambi and Adewale Adeoye respectively.
The coalition said the panel, which has one month to complete its assignment, will be open to all Nigerians without restrictions, adding that the Nigerian people will own the process and the outcome of all findings will be made available to all stakeholders including the federal and state authorities.
Other members of the panel are Affiong Affiong (Secretary), Prof Adenike Ogushe and Mr Y.Z Yau, former President, Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, Mr Malachy Ugwumadu and two representatives of the youth, Miss Fatima Umar and Mr Olumide Ogele.
The statement reads, “The independent inquiry is not to counter the panels set up by the tiers of government but to complement and enrich the democratic space. It is a challenge to those already set up by the government to ensure a transparent approach to all enquiries and to put first the public interests.
“Since Section 24 (e) of the constitution has imposed a duty on every citizen to ‘render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies in the maintenance of law and order,’ the report of our investigation will be made available to the relevant law enforcement authorities with a view to prosecuting indicted suspects in the appropriate courts.”
It noted that if any of the Attorneys-General does not accede to ASCAB requests to prosecute indicted suspects, the report of the investigation would form the basis of the application for the right of private prosecution under the applicable Administration of Criminal Justice Law.
“Without prejudice to the prosecution of indicted suspects, we shall approach the high court in each state where citizens were killed with a view to securing the enforcement of the fundamental right of the deceased to life in accordance with Paragraph (e) of the Preamble to the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules 2009 which states that ‘human rights activists, advocates, or groups as well as any non-governmental organisations, may institute human rights application on behalf of any potential applicant,’” ASCAB added.

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EXCLUSIVE: Prisoners In Warri Prison Protest Starvation By State Government

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Prisoners at the Okere Correctional Centre, Warri, Delta State, are currently protesting the starvation and lack of food they are made to go through by the state government, SaharaReporters can exclusively report.
The punishment was put in place by the management of the correctional centre after a jailbreak on October 22, 2020.

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Egypt To Deport Seven Nigerians For Participating In #EndSARS Protest, Diaspora Commission Boss, Dabiri-Erewa Says

Abike Dabiri-Erewa

Egypt will deport seven Nigerians, who participated in #EndSARS protest in Cairo on October 18.
The Nigerians were arrested for protesting against bad governance and police brutality and have since been detained.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, made this known in a series of tweets.
She said, “The Egyptian authorities have said that seven out of the eight Nigerians who protested in Egypt on 18 October, will be deported to Nigeria for lack of resident permits/visas.
“The only Nigerian among them who has a residency will get final clearance from the Egyptian Interior Minister, Mahmoud Tawfik, after signing an undertaking not to be involved in unauthorized activities while still in the country.
“Current situation of Nigerians arrested in Egypt for protesting without a permit.
“Everyone has a right to protest, but we appeal to our people abroad to follow the laws of that country as we continue to do all we can to get the Nigerians released.”
The only Nigerian among them who has Residency will get final clearance from the Egyptian Interior Minister, Mahmoud Tawfik after signing an undertaking not to be involved in unauthorized activities while still in the country.2/2.— Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (@nidcom_gov) November 2, 2020

After signing an undertaking not go against laws of Egypt. The Nigerian mission in Egypt is still appealing for leniency on behalf of the seven slated for deportation— Abike Dabiri-Erewa (@abikedabiri) November 2, 2020

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NECO Announces Commencement Of Examinations Across Nigeria

The National Examinations Council has directed the commencement of the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination in all states across the country.
The examinations are expected to commence on November 9.

Azeez Sani, NECO Head of Information and Public Relations, in a statement on Monday evening, said, “The National Examinations Council wishes to inform candidates, schools and other stakeholders of the resumption of the 2020 Senior School Certificate Examination in all states and the FCT from Monday, November 9 2020.
“The council was constrained to postpone the examinations indefinitely on Monday, October 25, 2020, due to security challenges occasioned by the #EndSARS protests, which disrupted the smooth conduct of the examinations in some parts of the country.
“Following the return of normalcy in the states and FCT, the examinations will now continue with a new time-table from Monday, November 9, 2020, to Saturday, November 28 2020.
“This new timetable will be made available to the general public, schools and candidates from Wednesday, November 4 2020. The timetable can also be downloaded from the NECO official website.
“The council thanks the general public and candidates for their patience and understanding during the period the SSCE was suspended.
“NECO assures the general public of quality service in the discharge of her statutory responsibilities at all times.”

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AAC Candidate In Benue Demands Sack Of PDP Member Over Certificate Forgery

Akpoko Gabriel Ogbadu, candidate of the African Action Congress in this year’s local government election in Benue State, has dragged Erebe Agnes Uleko of Peoples Democratic Party before the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Otukpo over alleged certificate forgery.
In the petition with number EPT/01/2020, Ogbadu and the AAC are asking the tribunal to sack her for lying about her qualifications as well as to nullify the election, which they said did not comply with the provisions of the local government electoral law and guidelines for the exercise issued by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission.

Ogbadu while presenting his case before the Justice Ibrahim Mohammed-led tribunal, called two subpoenaed witnesses to testify in respect of Erebe’s claim that she attended LGEA Primary School, Ito Town from 1970 to 1976 and College of Health Technology Makurdi, the present College of Health Technology Agasha between 1996 and 1997.
The witness from LGEA, Oju Area Office, told the tribunal that the booklet containing the counterfoil of the First School Leaving Certificate of primary education with No. 037839 (Erebe’s certificate) cannot be found neither are the records before 1977 available in the Area Education Office, Oju.
The witness from College of Health Technology, Agasha, where the PDP candidate was said to have attended between 1996 and 1997 was led in evidence by the petitioners’ counsel and tendered the students’ enrolment for the year 1995, contrary to her claim that she was admitted in the college in 1996.
Erebe and the PDP did not call any witness to testify.
Justice Mohammed, after listening to the submissions reserved judgment on a date to be communicated to all parties.

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#LekkiMassacre: Governor Sanwo-Olu Must Face International Criminal Court For Inviting Military And Lying About It —AAC

The Lagos State Chapter of the African Action Congress has said Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of the state, must be made to answer for crimes against humanity over his role in the killing of peaceful protesters on October 20 at the Lekki Toll Gate.
In a statement by Kunle Wizeman Ajayi, the state Chairman of party, the AAC said Sanwo-Olu misled Nigerians on his role in the killings which extended beyond Lekki before he was fingered by the military for his involvement.

It reads, “Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is very involved with the massacre committed through the Lekki shootings and other shootings around Lagos State in Badagry, Mushin, Berger, Ketu, Abule Egba, Ikotun, Igando and several other areas. He is the one that invited the military as well as even SARS (in the case of Lekki and Surulere) and the police.
“Also, Sanwo-Olu misled the public many times with open lies by first denying the Lekki shootings and then blaming only the army, just as the governor also said no one was killed and later confessed he saw just two bodies in the morgues(whereas, Governor Sanwo-Olu was at the Lekki scene by 3am according to eyewitnesses accompained by the Maroko Police Division DPO.
“These inconsistent and conscious efforts at militarizing against real democratic engagements like protests show that Governor Sanwo-Olu is a despot and he has no place in modern democracy. He should therefore step aside now!
“Revelations have also shown that Governor Sanwo-Olu was in the know of the removal of CCTV cameras as well as the switching off of all the lights. It is therefore clear that this genocide happened same way at most parts of Lagos in quite a premeditated manner.
“Lagos AAC use this opportunity to also call on all activists and peaceful people of Rivers State to rise and protest against the #Oyigbomassacre still ongoing. The vampires must not be allowed to keep trampling on us with their thirst for “mud and blood”. How can Governor Wike and the military claim to be maintaining peace by condoning off a whole society and it’s environs and you start maiming, killing, and destroying?!
“Finally, we call on all Lagosians to rise and ask Governor Sanwo-Olu and his cronies to step down. The weight of such massacre that precendented widespread violence and brutal repressions were caused by the state government’s premeditated and organized fatal attacks on the #EndSARS movement for peacefully and legitimately ignoring an ill-advised, immoral, and undemocratic curfew. AAC therefore calls on the Lagos Panel of Inquiry to maintain their honour by handing off cases of Lekki and the Lagos massacre. An independent and unbiased truth commission is what is moral and judicial!
“Another Lagos without these use of tyrannical engagements is very possible. AAC believes that all oppressed must unite and concretely demand for a new Nigeria nay world.
“The #EndSARS movement has shown the correctness of our party and movement’s positions that the ruling parties are consciously imposing poverty and hardship, as the discoveries of hoarded COVID-19 palliatives show.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu must toe the path of honour by stepping aside and surrendering to the International Crimes Commission at Hague over inflicting such fatal attacks on peaceful and legitimate protesters.
“Meanwhile, Lagos AAC send our condolences to all protesters killed. We pray you all rest in power. We also condole with police workers who were mobbed. All are victims of this rotten political system.”

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E2%80%99s-address-american-people-eve-their-2020-election-first-draft President Muhammadu Buhari’s Address To American People On Eve Of Their 2020 Election (First Draft) By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

My dear American people,
On the eve of the 2015 elections in Nigeria, President Barack Obama addressed the Nigerian people from the Oval Office. Following that tradition, I want to say a few words to you.
Most of you may not know me. My name is Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general. I am the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with its largest economy. I address you today concerning your 2020 elections, taking place on Tuesday, November 3.
Your experiment over the last four years has been fun while it lasted. It has also been exhausting for the world. While I was a postgraduate student at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the America that I knew then has not been recognizable in the last four years. You have an opportunity to change the course on Tuesday. I hope you all will utilize that opportunity. You, Americans, belong to everybody, and you belong to nobody.
The truth about the myth of American exceptionalism is that there is nothing like American exceptionalism. Since the beginning of time, empires rise and fall for the same old reasons. In every case, the people in the empire either do not see the signs or are handicapped to stop the decline or slow it down.

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

My concern is that we need America to stand firm for a little while against China’s rising empire while I launch Nigeria on its divine path to become the richest, strongest, and most powerful empire in the world since the Songhai Empire of our forefathers.
While I hope that you make the right choice, I want to use this opportunity to warn your corrupt political leaders to desist from acts of violence. If election results are disputed and the American people choose to express their displeasure by holding peaceful protests, they must be allowed to do so without being attacked by the police, the militias, or by the military. We would not stand by and watch America destroy itself.
I have instructed my diplomats at the UN to initiate the process of deploying UN forces in America should your numerous Bible-clinging and gun-toting tribes and political alliances of deplorables turn this election into a mayhem. Gallant Nigerian soldiers, known for their skills in bringing peace to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, and others, are ready to storm America and separate your warring factions.
I am also willing to impose visa restrictions on your government officials, who take part in election rigging, ballot snatching or burning, intimidation of opponents, and other acts antithetical to the free exercise of the democratic rights of every American citizen. We in Nigeria consider those rights sacrosanct and we will hold any American official who violates them accountable.
Nigeria has human and material investments in the US and they must be protected. I would be demeaning my sacred oath of office if I allow anything to happen to the likes of Hushpuppi and expensive homes of Nigeria’s former government officials in America.
For Nigerian citizens in America, be assured that your government is ready to come and evacuate you all at the slightest sign of disturbances anywhere in America. We urge you all to keep in touch with your ever-ready, effective, and efficient Nigerian embassy and diplomatic posts all over the United States. Please note that you are safe from harm once you are inside any Nigerian diplomatic building near you. You are as safe as if you were home in our beloved Nigeria. Even the kitchen in our diplomatic outpost is yours to use.
May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And may God bless the United States of America.
Yours truly,
President Muhammadu Buhari, (Retired General), GCFR, FSLC (First School Leaving Certificate)

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Drought, Lack Of Incentives Responsible For Rise In Food Price, Nigerian Farmers Group Says

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Farmers have attributed the rising cost of food prices in Nigeria to drought and lack of incentives.
The prices of food items in the country have doubled in recent times, exposing many individuals and households further to hunger and starvation.

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In Lagos and Port Harcourt, a bag of rice, which is a staple, has gone from N18,000 to N32,000.
A bag of onions, which used to sell for N25,000, now goes for N76,000 with one piece going for N100 in most markets across the country.
The price of a Mudu/Derica of beans has also gone up from N250/300 to N500 in some markets.
Shedding light into why the price of food items had been shooting up, Adeola Adegoke, National President of Cocoa Farmers Association, told SaharaReporters on Monday that lack of rainfall combined with lack of incentives from the government was chiefly responsible for the hike in price.
He said, “The truth of it is that we cannot run away from the reality of the change in our weather system. When you look at it in the last six months we have noticed a lot of paradigm shift that rain-fed agriculture is not sustainable and because of what we are seeing today coupled with the COVID restrictions that have brought lockdown which invariably affected farmers and also decreased production and productivity per most of the commodities which Cocoa is also one that has been affected and other food crops.
“What has led to this is that the amount of rainfall has reduced, the peak period that most of these products are supposed to be growing, fruiting and giving increment, the rain stopped abruptly and for two close to three months, the rain did not fall.
“Most of the things yam, coconut, pepper, tomatoes, vegetables God destroyed because of the excessive heat and this affected the production and the moment you see scarcity, what happens when demand is above supply? It gives room for skyrocketing of prices.”
Adegoke also attributed the cause of the problem in part to the high cost of production, which farmers have to bear without government subsidies.
“Another area is the input when you look at it, most are produced by companies and they are imported and when the farmers go to buy it you see that the prices are just jumping and at the end of the day when you buy input such as fertiliser, herbicides fungicides at high prices — because for agriculture to be sustainable you have to make it a business, there must be profit margin, that is the only way.
“So for us to create food security is to have a balanced ratio so what we have seen is that farmer shave the high cost of input which invariably affects outputs although in cocoa it is different because the farmers are not even the one giving the price, it is the Europeans, the Americans who are the chocolate consumers that disrate the price but when it comes to other food crops, the truth of it is is that input has been very high.
“And that is why we have been saying that for sustainable Agriculture, the government must come to the aid of the farmers by subsidising the input because the moment the capacity of farmers cannot absorb the input mechanism that are drivers of the food crops or other commodities, what you see is prices that will skyrocket because if farmers cannot make a profit, they will be discouraged and if they are discouraged it limits the number of farmers that will produce next season,” he said.
He called for improvement in infrastructure that make farming easy and mitigate the impact of climate change and incentives that can encourage young people in the country to take up farming.
Adegoke said, “Another thing is the weather problem and that is why we are encouraging irrigation, the government and the private farmers’ organisation must look into how to create a modular education system and that is why when you see what is happening in Isreal and other countries you see a kind of promising agriculture that happens every season.
“There is no season that you can say this is a rainy or dry season because they have agriculture all through and most of their planted crops are given production throughout the year because irrigation is key.
“We can see that it is better in the northern area because they have a lot of dams and the farmers key into it by making sure they extend pipes to their different farms unlike what is happening in the southern areas; there are no dams.
“Infrastructure such as road networks have been so bad. For example, a farmer that is in a remote area, before you carry a bad of cocoa to the outer area you realise that you are spending about five thousand Naira, that is an extra cost. Ditto if it is another bag of vegetable, a bag of cocoyam or a bag of yam — all these if you are going to transport it at the end of the day, it must manifest when you are to sell it and that is why I believe these are carryover expenditure.
“Sometimes we have a higher demand than supply and that is why the country must encourage youths to go into agriculture, many of our farmers today are old which is so rampant in the cocoa sector. The average age of a farmer is 65.
“It is happening because there is no better incentive for the farmer just like what is responsible for the #EndSARS because you cannot say the youth should go into agriculture when there are no roads, even when you go into your farms you cannot access it, the price of the input, when you sell the product at the end of the day you cannot make gains.
“We have the average age because the youths have refused to key into it and why they are refusing is because it is not encouraging in terms of profitability.
“When you look at it in terms of infrastructure, road, light, in fact in the urban area they are not even enjoying light not to talk of the rural areas. The health sector — how many clinics do we have in rural communities? All these are making the youths to run away from it.”

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#EndSARS: Osun Youth Condemn Criminalisation Of Peaceful Protest, Insist On Review Of Judicial Panel

Some protesters in Osun State have called on the state government to stop the clamp down on protests in the state.
The state government had cracked down on protesters in Osun after an alleged attack on the state governor.

The EndSARS protest, which took place across the country, was met with violence, leading to the killing of at least two persons in Oshogbo, the state capital, by security operatives attached to Governor Gboyega Oyetola, while he was dispersing the demonstators.
However, the Osun State Government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Funke Egbemode, on Sunday, moved to suppress further demonstrations.
But the protesters through their spokesperson, Olawale Bakare (Mandate), in a statement said the youth will continue to push for an end to police brutality in the state.
The group also tasked the state government and law enforcement agents to protect protesters rather than forcefully dispersing and arresting them.
Mandate said, “As peaceful youth, we have been engaging in demonstrations since the emergence of #EndSARS protest nationwide. Unfortunately, we have wild and rude leadership.
“Yemi Lawal, Commissioner for Youth and Sport, had no intelligent response to answer the youth of Osun but called us a set of irresponsible youth. The unruly and unprofessional way of engagement of Yemi Lawal would not be overlooked and condoned.
“We tried to communicate our demands to them but we were met with disgraceful and embarrassing words from a supposed Commissioner of Youth and Sports. Also, this same Yemi Lawal masterminded the kangaroo Judicial Panel of Inquiry where he added his own boys, who were never seen at the barricade or even sympathised.
“Adding salts to injury, the Government of Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola has contracted the military and other forces in the state to gag us from expressing our grievances. It is not new to the people of Osun where the government will call on the military to dehumanise and violate the rights of citizens as seen in the Ilesa saga during the curfew in the viral video.
“We will remain peaceful and always remain as such but the government must understand that this state is better run based on law and not hooliganism or gangsterism as the right of the people to protest is constitutionally guaranteed.”
The group also insisted on the reconstitution and review of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry to include arrest and prosecution of identified hoodlums and officers found guilty of any allegation.
“We hereby call for the immediate and unconditional review of this Judicial Panel of Inquiry. We request that no panelist must have controversial antecedents and track records of service must be acceptable to the protesters.
“We emphatically demand that the protesters should also be adequately and satisfactorily represented in the Judicial Panel of Inquiry as a way to encourage transparency. We also demand that every sitting of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry which must comprise of persons of integrity and moral excellence must be aired and televised live for all the people of Osun and Nigeria at large to follow,” Mandate added.

#EndSARS

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Nigeria News Headlines Today

Nigeria News Today Headlines Update

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Northern Governors Ask Nigerian Government To Censor Social Media

#ENDSARS: Falana-led Coalition Sets Up Independent Inquiry To Probe Killings, Arson

EXCLUSIVE: Prisoners In Warri Prison Protest Starvation By State Government

Egypt To Deport Seven Nigerians For Participating In #EndSARS Protest, Diaspora Commission Boss, Dabiri-Erewa Says

NECO Announces Commencement Of Examinations Across Nigeria

AAC Candidate In Benue Demands Sack Of PDP Member Over Certificate Forgery

#LekkiMassacre: Governor Sanwo-Olu Must Face International Criminal Court For Inviting Military And Lying About It —AAC

E2%80%99s-address-american-people-eve-their-2020-election-first-draft President Muhammadu Buhari’s Address To American People On Eve Of Their 2020 Election (First Draft) By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

Drought, Lack Of Incentives Responsible For Rise In Food Price, Nigerian Farmers Group Says

#EndSARS: Osun Youth Condemn Criminalisation Of Peaceful Protest, Insist On Review Of Judicial Panel