Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Monday 7th December 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 07/12/20
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Ex-governor Dickson Wins Bayelsa-West Senatorial Election
The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, the winner of Bayelsa West Senatorial Bye-election.
Dickson, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, polled 115,257 while Peremobowei Ebebi of the All Progressives Congress Scored 17500 votes.
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Again, Police Threaten Showdown As Nigerians Vow To Resume #ENDSARS Protest Monday
Lagos CP Hakeem Odumosu.
The Lagos State Police Command has said security agencies will not fold their arms as youths plan fresh protests against police brutality and extortion.
This was contained in a statement on Sunday by the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, titled ‘No room for violent protest, gathering in Lagos’.
Lagos CP Hakeem Odumosu.
The statement was issued after a poster titled “#EndSARS reloaded phase II” went viral on social media.
In a copy of the poster, it was stated that the “phase II” of the #EndSARS protest would begin on Monday, December 7 in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Delta, and Bayelsa.
The demands of the protesters, according to the poster, are “Buhari, Buratai, Sanwo-Olu must resign and face ICC for killing innocent Nigerians at Lekki toll; free all #EndSARS protesters; unfreeze all bank accounts of #EndSARS protesters and referendum.”
Reacting, the police described the organisers as “unpatriotic”, warning that “any unlawful gathering, procession or protest will be suppressed”.
The statement read, “The Lagos State Police Command has again warned against any gathering, procession or protest in Lagos State as some unpatriotic individuals and groups are planning to embark on the replica of the recent destructive and violent Endsars protest that left pains and agonies in Lagos State.
“The Command has reliably gathered intelligence that specific individuals/groups have concluded plans to lure unsuspecting Lagosians, especially youths, into their planned protest which is proposed to commence tomorrow, Monday 7th December 2020 at designated locations in the state.
“The Lagos State Police Command wishes to re-echo and remind the general public that the Government of Lagos State, businesses, individuals, and security families still groan in losses and pains that the last violent Endsars protest occasioned. Lagos State is still nurturing the wounds orchestrated by some violent Endsars protesters and not fit to accommodate such protest for now.
“In the light of the above, the Lagos State Police Command, therefore, warns those who might want to disguise under Endsars protest to cause another set of mayhem, brouhaha and violence in the state, to desist from such plans as the police and other security agencies will not fold their arms seeing individuals or groups orchestrating another violence and anarchy in the state.
“The Command also warns parents and guardians to warn and discourage their children and wards from being lured into any act, gathering or protest capable of causing violence in the state.
“The Command wishes to reiterate that any unlawful gathering, procession or protest will be suppressed professionally in accordance with the provisions of the law. The police command encourages Lagosians and those who are in Lagos for their genuine engagements, to go about their lawful businesses as all hands are on deck to maintain law and order within the length and breadth of Lagos State.”
#EndSARS
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Abia Governor Suspends Chief Of Staff Agbazuere After Spraying Cash On Controversial Pastor Odumeje
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has suspended his chief of staff, Anthony Agbazuere.This was announced in a terse statement on Sunday.
The statement was signed by the secretary to the state government, Chris Ezem.It noted that Agbazuere’s suspension takes immediate effect.”Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the immediate suspension from office of the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr ACB Agbazuere,” the short statement read.The suspension was announced a few hours after a video surfaced online showing Agbazuere spraying money in his office on Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje.The CoS had since the video surfaced online become the target of public outrage on social media.Apart from the video trending online, ‘Indaboski’ and ‘Abia’ were among the Nigerian trends on Twitter.The video showed Agbazuere spraying naira notes on a dancing Odumeje in a place believed to be his (CoS) office.Odumeje is a famous and controversial Onitsha-based clergyman.The preacher is the leader of the Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention Deliverance Ministry.He became famous in 2019 when he described himself as ‘the liquid metal’, ‘the war’, and ‘the indaboski pahose’ among others in viral videos in 2019.
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Bye-Election: Bayelsa Police Recover Corpses Of Six Officers In Boat Mishap
Six corpses of the personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, who drowned as a result of a boat mishap while on a Senatorial bye-election duty in Bayelsa State, have been recovered.
The incident occurred on Friday, December 4, when one of the speedboats conveying 11 police officers from Yenagoa to Southern Ijaw capsized at Oporoma.
A statement by SP Asinim Butswat, the Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, said,” Five of the policemen were rescued immediately, while six were missing.”
According to the police spokesman, a combined team of rescue officers from the Marine Department of the Bayelsa State Police Command and local divers have recovered the six bodies of the missing policemen, and they are deposited at the mortuary.
“The command condoles with the families of the deceased. An investigation has commenced ascertaining the cause of the boat mishap.”
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E2%80%93-defence-minister Military Needs ‘Made In Nigeria’ Equipment To Fight Insecurity – Defence Minister
Defence Minister, Major-General Bashir Magashi.
The Minister of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi, has said that the armed forces need indigenous hardware and equipment, which should be produced and utilised to tackle the myriad of security challenges facing the country.
Magashi noted that the military needs to look inwards for ammunition and weapons if the armed forces are to have an advantage over its many adversaries.
Defence Minister, Major-General Bashir Magashi.
The minister stated these in Abuja while opening a modern research centre at the Defence Research Development Bureau, Asokoro.
According to a statement by Kabir Bala for the Director, Press and Public Relations, of the ministry, Magashi said, “The bureau would be a key driver to the employment of unique and modern techniques for the operations of the Armed forces as well as facilitating the self-reliance drive.
“It is essential for the military to be highly innovative and self-reliant in producing indigenous hardware to beef up the insufficiency impeding efficiency in operations.
“This development calls for self-appraisal in vision and determination to our military requirements. In the face of the challenges, there is the need to evolve a new concept of ‘Made in Nigeria’ for military equipment and platforms.
“This bureau is a dire necessity because it will avail the country an avenue to develop and implore technology needed in curtailing the current security challenges.”
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Nigerians Facing Hardship Caused By #EndSARS Protest, COVID-19, Says Aregbesola
Rauf Aregbesola
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is aware of the current hardship Nigerians are facing.
According to the minister, the just concluded #EndSARS protest, which gripped the whole country, has caused a lot of suffering to the people.
Rauf Aregbesola
Recall that thousands of Nigerians held the #EndSARS campaign in October, taking to the streets to protest police brutality.
The protests resulted in the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit of the police.
Speaking at the commissioning of a central mosque built by Ta’Awunu Islamic group in Iwo, Osun State, on Saturday, Aregbesola said, “The President is aware of the hardship facing the citizens of the country. This was caused by the pandemic and the #EndSARS protests which erupted in many states of the federation. The president is doing all his best, and I can assure you that very soon, all will be well and we will be happy again.
“My reasons for coming to the state is in two folds; #EndSARS and to remind us that Coronavirus is still very much with us. We can’t afford to return to when the virus was at its peak in the country. That is why we must observe social distancing and use our face masks always. Cases are still being recorded every day.
“During this festive period, we must be cautious. We should obey the holy prophet’s teachings that say, ‘When there is an epidemic somewhere, we should not live there, and those outside should not join until the epidemic is over.’ We must take responsibilities for our lives.”
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Three Policemen Who Shot Wedding Guest Dead In Imo Arrested
There was confusion on Owerri/Orlu Expressway on Saturday after trigger-happy police officers shot dead a man who was attending a wedding ceremony in Owerri, Imo State.
The policemen had allegedly asked the victim, identified as Nude Oguzie, to stop for a search but the personnel shot at his Toyota Camry when he reportedly refused to stop.
It was learnt that the policemen, after learning that they might have shot the motorist dead, took to their heels and left him for dead.
Eyewitnesses said that the crowds around the area gathered around Oguzie and he was rushed to a nearby government hospital where a doctor confirmed him dead.
“We the passersby, when the policemen refused to stop to help him, took Oguzie to the Federal Medical Centre in Owerri, where he was pronounced dead,” the witness said.
It was learnt that the victim was a native of the Njaba Local Government Area in Imo State.
When contacted, the Police Spokesperson in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, confirmed the incident, adding the culprit policemen had been identified, arrested, and kept in custody.
He said, “The Imo State Police Command has condemned the killing of one Jude Oguzie by operatives attached to the command, on December 5, along the Njaba/Owerri Road.
“The Commissioner of Police, Isaac Akinmoyede, wondered why the officers refused to adhere to rules guiding the use of firearms.
“He, therefore, ordered an investigation into the matter, to unravel the cause of the incident. The officers involved have, however, been identified, arrested, and are presently in custody.
“The CP, while sympathising with the family of the deceased, urged them to remain calm, as the Command will do everything possible to ensure that justice is done.
“The command regrets the killing of the deceased under any guise especially now that the force is doing everything within its powers to put an end to incidents of brutality and incivility to members of the public.”
Killings such as Oguzie’s had led to a nationwide protest led principally by angry youths in the second week of October where the citizens called urgent police reforms including the immediate disbandment of the now defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
The protest, EndSARS, had led to the establishment of state judicial panels across more than 15 states where victims of police brutality were allowed to explain the injustice and cruelty they had suffered from the police and seek redress.
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APC Candidate, Kurami, Wins Katsina Bye-Election
The returning officer for Bakori Local Government state constituency bye-election in Katsina State, Prof. Aminu Kankia, early Sunday morning, declared Dr. Ibrahim Kurami of the All Progressives Congress winner of the Saturday election.
According to him, Kurami scored 20, 446 votes to defeat his closest rival, the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Alhaji Aminu Magaji, who polled 11,356 votes.
The returning officer of the election, who is from the Federal University, Dutsin-ma, also said the Accord party candidate in the election, Abdullahi Sulaiman, polled 729 votes.
The bye-election was peaceful although it was characterised by voters’ apathy and heavy security presence.
The bye-election was to fill the vacant seat of Bakori state constituency in the state House of Assembly, whose former occupant, Abdurrazaq Tsiga, died in May 2020.
Fifteen political parties participated in the election although All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) were most visible.
The exercise was generally peaceful while card readers deployed for the exercise functioned properly.
It was observed that the majority of voters in the eleven wards that make up the Local Government were women.
Security operatives, including the police, were also sighted in all the polling centres and parts of the council, Punch reports.
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Nigerian Laws Are Not Effectively Used Against Sexual Violence By Hammed J. Sulaiman
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, recently revealed that the Nigerian Police Force recorded 717 rape cases between January and May 2020. This means that while the world was busy battling with a pandemic, rapists in Nigeria were busy taking advantage of the lockdown.
Nigeria boasts of numerous laws against rape and s**-related offenses: At least five legal provisions are available in Nigeria to protect rape victims and help them get justice: The Criminal Code, Penal Code, Criminal Laws of Lagos, Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, and the Child Rights Act. However, evidence shows that it lacks the will to enforce them. Some of these laws are even yet to be domesticated at the state level where their implementation could be properly monitored.
A 2019 survey published by NOIPolls stated that about one in every three girls living in Nigeria has experienced at least a form of sexual assault at 25. The rising number of rape cases, however, is not complementary to the number of rapists in jail. The wheel of justice in Nigeria, particularly as regards sexual violence, is really slow. The laws live only on paper. Most of the few cases of sexual violence that got justice did with the support of one non-governmental organizations.
More so, many Nigerians see rape and sexual assaults as an avenue for trading blames and raising discourse about dressing and morality, making it difficult for victims to speak out about their ordeals. The stigmatization at police stations makes reporting rape cases even more difficult.
Enforcement of existing legislations is the first step that must be taken towards curbing sexual violence in Nigeria.
Also, some of the laws need to be updated as they are archaic. For example, the age limits should be reviewed in Criminal Code (i.e section 30) as this modern world has shown that a boy under the age of 12 years can possess the knowledge of carnal knowledge with lewd and sexual materials available everywhere.
Lawmakers should enact laws mandating s** education in Nigerian educational curriculum in order enlighten young people about sexual violence. Civil societies should continue to ensure that victims of sexual assaults get justice.
Hammed J. Sulaiman is a Writing Fellow at African Liberty and a student of law at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. He tweets via: @sulexmighty_sbm
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Messing With Mercenaries On Boko Haram Again, By Fredrick Nwabufo
Fredrick Nwabufo
On January 22, 2015 at Chatham House, London, Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), baited the whirlwind. He said he had suggested to Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to postpone the general election scheduled for February 14 by six weeks – which is within the constitutional 90-day election window – to give more time for voter-card distribution.
“It costs you nothing, it’s still within the law,” Dasuki was reported to have told the INEC chairman.
Fredrick Nwabufo
Being a spy chief, Dasuki secreted the underlying reason for his startling suggestion away in election contingencies. But the raison d’être for his proposition was the Boko Haram snag. The insurgents had scaled up their pursuit of tragedies months before the scheduled date of the election. In fact, the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction happened just 10 months before the time.
Eventually, the concealed agenda seeped into the news — the Armageddon; the six-week battle to miniaturise Boko Haram. There was hysteria of pessimism. How can a government which has failed to trim the large coats of the insurgents over the years bring the group to capitulation in six weeks? It was doubtful. But there was an outlier. Gladiators from South Africa and Eastern Europe were being thrown into the arena.
Dasuki had said at Chatham House that “cowards” peopled the rank and file of the military and dismissed the claim that there was a hierarchical conspiracy to keep the insurgency alive.
“We have people who use every excuse in this world not to fight. There is no high-level conspiracy within the army not to end the insurgency,” he said.
And truly, Boko Haram sustained the most lethal blow ever in those six weeks. They were pummelled and expelled from their “terrodoms”. They subsequently tumbled into the fringes and territories outside Nigeria. The six-week operation could have been the defining surgery on the malignant cancer, if the Buhari administration which inherited this success was responsible.
In 2015, elections were held in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and other areas hitherto dominated by the insurgents owing to the effective war campaign driven largely by the mercenaries. There was scarcely any report of attacks during the election. In fact, President Buhari secured some of the highest votes in these troubled states.
The 2015 election has been widely described as peaceful, free, fair and credible. The Buhari administration was the biggest beneficiary of that successful operation. But what did the APC and Lai Mohammed, its spokesman, say at the time when shifting the election was contemplated?
Hear Lai: “Why are they not ready? Why should we postpone? We say ‘no’ to postponement. They know that if they don’t postpone they can’t win. They are just terrified.”
The lies of a liar will always find him out.
Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, and other service chiefs were appointed at the time the tide of insurgency was receding. Perhaps, lost in the reverie of the success against Boko Haram, Buratai boasted that the army was capable of interring the group finitum and had no need for external support. The same army chief is now saying the insurgency will live with us for 20 years.
The mercenaries who had secured the most evident success against the insurgents were “clamped down” on and ‘’expelled’’ like aliens by the Buhari administration.
Eeben Barlow, founder of Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP) which recruited the foreign fighters that secured the gains, ululated about how they were abysmally treated by the Buhari administration.
In a Facebook post in August 2019, he alleged that the Buhari government politicised their effort and ignored all intelligence warnings by his team. He also alleged the government repudiated their strategy to take down Boko Haram.
Barlow said: “The initial 3-phase campaign strategy (known as ‘Operational Anvil’) to degrade and destroy BH in Borno state, was rejected by his (Buhari) advisors.’’
And speaking on the terror alerts, he said: “These warnings covered the implications of not allowing the 72 MSF to annihilate BH in Borno province; the plans by Boko Haram to re-arm and escalate their activities; the implications of regional spill-over, the impact on the armed forces; and so forth.”
Alas! Five years after the fiercest blitz on the insurgents, we are back in the days of the freewheeling of terror — when insurgents can massacre as much as 78 people without any resistance and when bandits extract tax and tolls from citizens to allow them access to their farms. We are back in the night of doom. Governors of the north-east are now calling for the enlisting of mercenaries to deal with the jagged threat.
There is no shame is seeking external help to deal with a threat like Boko Haram. In fact, it is a viable strategy to enlist specialised agents to deal with certain threats. But the undoing of the Buhari government is its insincerity and hollow ego. The government bragged that it “technically defeated” the insurgents by sleight of hand only to be caught up in a web of its own lies and perfidy.
The lies of a liar will always find him out.
It is asinine to send soldiers in droves to die when there is an option of drafting agents that can push back the violators. Again, there is no shame in engaging mercenaries against Boko Haram; even the US and Israel deal with terror by engaging external agents on certain missions. It is a standard practice. It does not make our military less powerful.
But the trouble with the Buhari regime is the lies, deceit and vacuous ego. I hope the government has learnt its lessons. Messing with mercenaries can cost lives.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist
Twitter @FredrickNwabufo
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