Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Monday 23rd November 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 23/11/20
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Chief Of Army Staff, Buratai, Directs Soldiers To Treat All Nigerians As Boko Haram Suspects
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai
Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has ordered troops involved in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East to swiftly ready themselves to war mode.
According to Peoples Gazette, Buratai lamented a slack in personnel performance that had prolonged the war.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai.
An internal army correspondence seen by the newspaper, titled: “COAS Special Order-01 Change to War Mode,” also directed soldiers deployed in ‘Operation Lafiya Doleé a special anti-terrorism combat squad to treat all individuals in the troubled region as Boko Haram suspects until properly identified.
“All persons must be treated as suspects unless fully identified and cleared especially in isolated, high threat areas, when on clearance operations and check point duties.“We are not in peacekeeping operations, internal security operations or deterrence actions. This is real war fighting,” the November 20, 2020, directive said.
OPLD Theatre Commander, Farouq Yahaya, also conveyed a follow-up from Buratai to the soldiers, directing them to “quickly identify” and “immediately neutralise” all confirmed terrorist elements.Rights activist, Emeka Umeagbalasi, worries that the new methodology deployed by Chief of Army Staff portends grave consequences for human rights.
“If that directive is implemented, we are going to witness human rights abuses on an industrial scale,” Umeagbalasi told Peoples Gazette.
“The Nigerian Army’s counter-insurgency operations should be done within the confines of international best practices. Superior intelligence and crime detection must be applied considering Boko Haram’s asymmetrical style of operations in the North-East can’t be labeled as terrorists,” he added.
Military authorities had repeatedly assure sinced 2015 that the decade-long war against insurgency had been won, and the Nigerian Army was merely executing a mop up operation to extinguish remnants of Boko Haram in the North-East.
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El-Rufai, Zazzau Emirate, And Injustice By Dr Nasir Aminu
Dr Nasir Aminu
Every human alive should be grateful to live in this twenty-first century—a century that has freed humans from slavery, tyranny, and all other forms of medieval imperfections. We should also be grateful to our democratic system and the existing arms of government for creating limited powers to individuals.
The subjective attempt by Governor El-rufai to use his, final thirty months, of executive power to change the customs of the Kaduna State traditional institutions is worrying. Thus, it is imperative to seek the help of both the Judiciary and the legislative arm of government to intervene. The consequences of any change in the traditional institution will not be disclosed until after his government has departed.
At the coronation ceremony of the Emir of Zazzau, the Governor reiterated that he is proposing a change to the laws of the State’s traditional institutions. He had highlighted thisearlier at the State Assembly when he presented the 2021 budget too. I have not read the proposal, but from what the Governor is saying, he has mentioned the need rotate within the dynasties, and wishes to correct injustices.
Dr Nasir Aminu
Historically, Zazzau emirate does not follow a rotational system. The selection process has always been for all contenders from the ruling dynasties to be declared after the demise of an Emir. The kingmakers then make their selection and ask for the Sultan’s blessings. When the colonial government took power, in 1897, they also sought the acceptance of the Sultan after the selection of the kingmakers when Kwasau was removed.
Like a perfect competitive market, the Zazzau emirate has always had strong competitive contenders, which makes it difficult for one dynasty to dominate. That is why Emir Aminu (1959-1975) rose and contested for the throne as the only candidate from the Katsinawa dynasty, and was voted unanimously by the kingmakers.
In 1846, Emir Mamman Sani was selected by the kingmakers, to succeed his brother, Emir Hamada, with the blessing of Sokoto. In 1897, Emir Kwasau was selected to succeed his father, Emir Yero. The appointment of Kwasau was against the wishes of the Sultan, but the kingmakers had stood their grounds to select the competent person for the throne. That is why the Katsinawa dynasty has spent 73 years without the throne without crying for injustice.
In Northern Nigeria, several emirates have stopped rotating,and there was no proposal to change the laws. For example, the Kano emirate has stopped rotating their dynasties, leaving the dynasty of Abbas alone to rule. The dynasty of Suleimanu, the first flagbearers of Danfodio, can only rise to the position of kingmakers. In 2014, El-rufai proudly celebrated the installation of his friend, the debunked Emir of Kano Sanusi, who is from the house of Abbas. Likewise in Katsina, the ruling dynasty left to rule, the house of Ummarun Dallaje, was not the initial flagbearers of Danfodio.
Historians will tell you flagbearers assume the scholars instead of Emirs, which is similar to Danfodio who did not take the position of Sultan. For this, some dynasties of the flagbearers lost the stool of the Emir to other dynasties. Mallam Musa of the Mallawa dynasty also remained a scholar until his death. However, two of his children assumed the position of Emir of Zazzau.
Of course, there are emirates, like the Lafia emirate, where the customary law of rotation has been maintained. There are also emirates where the rotational custom within dynasties is recently altered, like the Bida emirate. However, there was no cry of injustice or call to correct the tradition system.
In his coronation speech, El-Rufai claimed to be Godsent tocorrect the injustice done to the Mallawa dynasty because the colonial Governor unjustly removed Emir Alu Dan-Sidi.Records show he was deposed for slavery and corruption (see Smith, 1950). Ethically, the practice of such injustice can be classified as corruption. Doing so means all the Emirs after 1920 will be regarded as an illegitimate appointment by the past Governors. Thus, Ambassador Bamalli should be the first legitimate Emir in 100 years.
Since he is Godsent to correct injustice, then he should consider Sullubawa dynasty who have spent 160 years away from it. The Bare-bari dynasty has also spent 61 years without it, but they have not cried for injustice. For me, the 100 years of Mallawa dynasty is the Will of God, not injustice as suggested in the Governor’s speech. It is also the Will of God that late Emir Shehu (1975-2020) spent 45 years on the throne which contributed to those aggrieved 100 years. The Will of God cannot be an injustice and vice-versa.
Finally, trying to correct a misunderstood injustice will only lead to committing further injustices. The existing customary practices of Kaduna State’s traditional institutions should not be alienated from the rest of the institutions in Northern Nigeria and West Africa. The objective thing to do for the traditional institutions is to leave them as they are, as the colonial government and military administrators chose to do.
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E2%80%99t-shun-ccb-invitation-lacks-access-relevant-documents-%E2%80%94lawyer Magu Didn’t Shun CCB Invitation, Lacks Access To Relevant Documents —Lawyer
Ibrahim Magu
Lawyer to suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, Wahab Shittu, has denied media reports that his client shunned an invitation of the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The CCB had invited Magu via a letter with reference number CCB/HQ/II&M/007/2093 dated November 2, 2020.
Ibrahim Magu
He was asked to appear before the anti-corruption agency on November 17, 2020.
The suspended EFCC boss was asked to come along with acknowledged copies of all asset declaration forms since joining the public service as well as his payslips and land documents.
It was, however, reported that Magu failed to honour the request of the CCB but wrote a letter instead explaining that he would not be able to do so.
In a statement on Sunday, Shittu said he had written two letters to the Chairman of the CBB, intimating him about the inability of Magu to have access to the relevant documents as required by the CCB.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to certain media report where it was reported that our client, the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr Ibrahim Magu, shunned the invitation of the Code of Conduct Bureau. We wish to state that our client did not shun the CCB invitation as the media reportage did not reflect the true position of the narrative.
“We wish to state with high sense of responsibility that we have written two letters to the Chairman of the CBB, intimating him about the inability of our client to have access to the relevant documents as required by the CCB. The letters, which were dated November 16 and 17, 2020, were addressed to the CCB Chairman.
“The letters were titled- Re: Investigation of Activities- Letter of Invitation, Breach of Code of Conduct for Public Officers. Please note that the letters were stamped and acknowledged by the office of the CCB Chairman on the said date of November 17, 2020. We also wish to state that the said letters were copied to the Director of Intelligence, Investigation and Monitoring while the letters were also stamped and acknowledged by his office.
“Explaining the inability of our client to honour the invitation, we stated as follows: Your letter dated November 2, 2020 with reference No.-CCB/HQ/II & M/007/2093 addressed to our client has been passed unto us to respond to as follows: In the referred letter, our client was requested to appear before your distinguished body on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 11am prompt concerning the above subject matter.
“We have firm instructions to inform your distinguished body that our client, regrettably will not be able to honour today’s invitation in view of certain circumstances beyond his control. Our client’s inability to honour your invitation is as a result of his inability to access his office and the requested documents since his suspension from office. We wish to inform you that the documents which you requested for and other personal documents are still in his personal office where he has been denied access up to date.
“We request that the invitation to our client be extended pending the conclusion of the exercise of the mandate of the presidential Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up against our client and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. This request has become necessary since most of the documents requested by your bureau were removed from our client’s offices by the Department of State Security Service and the request of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry in the absence of our client while our client was in detention.
“Based on the foregoing, it would be impossible for our client to answer your questions and provides those documents which are in the possession of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry and the Department of State Security Service. We therefore kindly request your distinguished body to graciously extend the invitation extended to our client pending the return of our client’s documents (which you requested).
“We further wish to inform you that we are writing a letter to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry requesting it to direct the Acting EFCC boss to allow our client access to the relevant documents. Please note that there is the need for our client to have access to the relevant documents in order to prepare for his defence to your invitation.”
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Governor Wike Orders Arrest Of Traders Under Rumuokoro Flyover
Rivers Governor Wike
The Rivers State Government has directed security agencies to arrest any trader, who displays goods around the Rumuokoro Flyover with effect from Monday, November 23, 2020.
In a statement on Sunday by Kelvin Ebiri, Special Assistant to Governor Nyesom Wike on Media, said security agencies have also been directed to confiscate goods of erring traders.
Rivers Governor Wike
“The Rivers State Government hereby warns that any trader, who flouts this directive will be prosecuted according to relevant sections of the Rivers State Street Trading, Illegal Markets and Motor Parks (Prohibition) Law 2019,” the statement reads.
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FLASHBACK: APC Chairman Killed By Bandits In Nasarawa Hailed Buhari In 2018 For Defeating Boko Haram, Said Killings Attributed To Bandits, Herdsmen Attempt To Discredit President
Late Phillip Tetari Shekwo
Philip Shekwo, Chairman of Nasarawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, who was found dead on Sunday after being kidnapped by bandits on Saturday, once hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for ‘defeating’ insecurity in the country.
Shekwo was kidnapped on Saturday at his residence along Dunamis Church, Bukan Sidi in Lafia, capital of Nasarawa.
Late Phillip Tetari Shekwo
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Bandits Kill Abducted Nasarawa APC Chairman
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During a 2018 thanksiginng in his honour in Toto Local Government Area of the state, Shekwo said killings around the country attributed to bandits and herdsmen were corruption fighting back and an attempt to discredit President Buhari.
He said at the time, “If not because God in His infinite mercy decided to bring Buhari to power at the time He did, the country would have been in a serious mess by now.
“The President is sincerely fighting corruption; corruption is responsible for all other reasons why there is so much rot in the system.
“Boko Haram was also defeated and no local government area in the country today is under the control of the group as was the case in the past.
“Immediately President Buhari started fighting corruption and corrupt people, every right-thinking Nigerian knew that corruption would fight back.”
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Drunk Policemen Shoot Man Dead At Ekiti Hotel
A team of drunk policemen on Saturday night in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, shot dead a young man named Olaoye Abayomi.
Abayomi was with his friend, Idris Adebayo, at Queens Court Hotel along Ado-Ikere Road when the police officers attached to a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police arrived the scene with a vehicle carrying “PF 600 – WSH” number plate and started misbehaving under the influence of alcohol.
They allegedly threatened to kill some of the guests and opened fire all of a sudden.
In the process, stray bullet hit Abayomi, killing him instantly.
The development caused pandemonium in the area, forcing guests to scamper for safety while those, who sustained gunshot injuries were rushed to Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.
Spokesperson for the police in the state, Sunday Abutu, confirmed the incident, adding that the command had commenced investigation into the matter.
He said the policemen fingered in the shooting had been arrested and detained at the police headquarters in Ado Ekiti.
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E2%80%99s-covid-19-vaccine Nigerian Doctor, Onyeama Ogbuagbu, Identified As Key Figure In Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough
Dr Onyema Ogbuagbu
Dr Onyema Ogbuagbu, a Nigerian doctor, has been identified as a key figure in the research that led United States pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, to develop the first effective COVID-19 vaccine.
Speaking in an interview with ABC News on the vaccine, he said although doses will be unavailable to everyone at first, massive distribution was expected to take off in the first quarter of 2021.
Dr Onyema Ogbuagbu
Pfizer said it would launch a pilot in four states in the United States but there have been concerns as the vaccine needs to be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 degree Celsius), a challenge Ogbuagbu said would be overcome soon.
Ogbuagbu is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Infectious Disease Specialist at Yale School of Medicine, who graduated in 2003 from the University of Calabar with a degree in medicine.
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Pfizer Reports 95 Per Cent Efficacy Of New COVID-19 Vaccine After Final Analysis, Declares It Safe For Use
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Bandits Release Kidnapped Nigerian University Students After N9m Ransom, Cartons of Milk
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have released nine students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, kidnapped last Sunday after N1m was paid as ransom for each of them.
The students were travelling to Lagos for a programme at the Nigerian French Language Village in Badagry when they were kidnapped along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway.
One of the students, Dickson Oko, who escaped with a gunshot wound, said the kidnappers had contacted families of the students demanding N30m ransom on each student.
The kidnappers, however, reduced their demand to N1m for each student.
“Yes, my daughter had been released, yesterday, they told me to bring N5m but after series of bargaining, they said I should pay N1m which I did.
“They also demanded for some drinks and cartons of milk from each parents. They then described a place for us in Dutse, Jigawa State, that was where we dropped the money,” a parent of one of the students told SaharaReporters.
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Bandits Kill Abducted Nasarawa APC Chairman
The body of Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Nasarawa State, Philip Shekwo, was on Sunday discovered, a day after he was abducted by gunmen suspected to be bandits.
SaharaReporters recall that Shekwo was kidnapped late Saturday night by the gunmen, who invaded his residence along Dunamis Church, Bukan Sidi in Lafia.
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Bandits Kidnap Nasarawa APC Chairman
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They were said to have exchanged gunfire with the victim’s security detail before whisking him away.
Spokesperson for the police in the state, ASP Ramhan Nansel, confirmed the incident to SaharaReporters.
He said, “Yes, he is dead, his corpse has been removed and taken to the morgue for post mortem examination and investigation has began to unravel the cause of the incident.”
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OPL245 Scam: Global Coalition Urges World Bank Group Not To Protect Oil Giants From Probe
A coalition of international anti-corruption groups has urged a World Bank affiliated group against scuttling Nigeria’s bid to successfully prosecute illicit funds associated with the controversial OPL 245.
In a petition to the Chairman, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, David Malpass, the groups raised critical issues concerning ICSID lack of diligence in dealing with serious corruption cases in Nigeria, warning that the posture of the ICSID may have far reaching consequences across the global anti-corruption campaign especially as it affects oil giants.
The petition was signed by Olanrewaju Suraju for Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre); Bart-Jaap Verbeek for SOMO; Simon Taylor, Global Witness; Luca Manes, Re-Common; and Nicholas Hildyard, for The Corner House. The anti-corruption groups had helped opened up a can of worms involving several criminal deals associated with the OPL245 while raising the alarm that some of the affected companies were seeking refuge under the ICSID frontiers for an arbitration that raise fears of a plot to undermine on-going court proceedings in Nigeria and Italy.
The groups warned of a real danger that a parallel adjudication of the OPL 245 corruption charges by an ICSID arbitration tribunal, lacking the clear rules and evidential powers that assist a criminal court, may reach conclusions that undermine or conflict with the findings of the courts in Italy and Nigeria.
The coalition said ICSID as an institution should not let cases even start when they involved corruption that is being prosecuted or under official investigation.
The groups said they were concerned about the ICSID’s long-standing failure to promulgate clear rules for addressing cases where corruption had been alleged, resulting in a well-founded perception that arbitration is now “a venue where agreements vitiated by corruption find legitimisation and enforcement”.
They argued that it cannot be right that investors were able to use letterbox companies established for tax benefits to “forum shop” BITs by taking claims in the name of companies, which have had no role in negotiating or fulfilling the contracts under dispute.
It said ICSID needs to take urgent steps to ban this practice.
The coalition said, “ICSID should not allow itself to be put into a position where its registration or tribunal rulings undermine the rule of law or development policy on the fight against corruption.
“Screening out such is essential if ICSID’s reputation (already undermined by its lack of transparency and the conflicts between its arbitration judgments and ICSID’s foundational development objectives) is not to be further damaged.
“Likewise, with cases where a lack of legality clauses might mean illegal contracts are considered fit for adjudication.
“More generally, there is an urgent need for ICSID to clarify its rules relating to cases where corruption is pleaded by a party or suspected by the arbitrators.
“A clear duty should be imposed on the arbitrators to report such suspicions to the appropriate investigatory authorities and to suspend hearings until those investigations have been concluded.”
The coalition stated that ICSID should, according to the international coalition, acknowledge the primacy of national courts in trying corruption cases. We would therefore urge that rules are introduced to deny registration of cases where corruption has been proved or suspend registration and/or jurisdiction to cases that are either being prosecuted or under investigation by national prosecutorial authorities, pending conclusion of such investigation or prosecution.
It posited that the Eni case was a test of ICSID’s resolve in this regard.
The coalition said it was concerned that the ICSID is willing to accept cases for arbitration based on outdated (and arguably illegitimate) Bilateral Investment Treaties that do not require investments to comply with host country law.
“Since ICSID is part of the World Bank Group, the onus is on the World Bank to ensure that ICSID supports rather than hinders the fight against corruption. Indeed, it would be an affront for the World Bank Group to continue to give secretarial and other assistance to ICSID whilst it remains an avenue through which corruption is rewarded” the groups added.
The groups condemned the recent registration of a request by Eni International B.V. (The Netherlands), Eni Oil Holdings B.V. (The Netherlands), Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (Nigeria) “the Eni companies” for the institution of arbitration proceedings against the Federal Republic of Nigeria where Eni accused Nigeria of refusing to abide by what are said to be its obligations under agreements signed in 2011 to convert an oil production licence for an offshore field (known as OPL 245) into an oil mining license.
The groups said the request violates Nigeria’s 1992 Bilateral Investment Treaty with The Netherlands.
They called on the President of the World Bank Group and Chair of the ICSID Administrative Council to take urgent action under Article 6.3(5) of the ICSID Convention to empower the Secretary-General to declare cases to be manifestly outside the jurisdiction of ICSID where corruption is proven in a separate legal process or a contract has been proven to be illegal under host country law (irrespective of whether the underlying BIT or BITs has a clause requiring compliance with host state law).
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