Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Friday 29th January 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 29/01/21
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More Victims Kidnapped By Boko Haram, Including Chibok Girls Escape From Captivity
File photo used to illustrate story
A number of victims kidnapped by Boko Haram, including some of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls have escaped from their captors, SaharaReporters can confirm.
SaharaReporters also learnt that the escapees are still with the military.
File photo used to illustrate story
A source privy to the information confirmed the news to SaharaReporters, saying, “They are many and not only Chibok girls alone; they are made up of a variety of women abducted by Boko Haram terrorists.”
It was that some parents had been contacted by government officials and may reunite with their loved ones in Maiduguri, Borno State, soon.
According to Daily Trust, some parents had been contacted by officials handling the girls and that they might be invited to Maiduguri on a later date.
A source indicated that Halima Ali is one of the girls believed to have escaped five years since the escape of her sister Maryam.
Halima was allegedly married off to a commander under the instruction of Abubakar Shekau a few months after their abduction from their boarding school in Chibok.
Her father, Ali Maiyanga, could not be reached for comment but a credible source said that friends and family members trooped to his house to congratulate the family on the good news.
When contacted, the Secretary, Chibok Parents Association, Lawal Zannah, said he had information that some of the girls had escaped but had not yet ascertained the number.
“We heard that some of our girls have escaped from the forest, but we are yet to get the details about their number,” Zannah said.
SaharaReporters recalled that about 276 girls were kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state on April 14, 2014.
Since then, a number of them have regained freedom. 57 of the girls escaped the night they were kidnapped while three of the girls were later found.
Twenty-one of the girls were released in October, 2016 while a good another number of the girls, 82, were released on May 6.
The government said the 82 girls were swapped with Boko Haram prisoners.
On May, 27 2017, another girl also escaped from the terrorists.
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Sack Policemen Who Impregnated Women Out Of Wedlock, Okei-Odumakin Tells IGP
Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin
The President, Women Arise for Change Initiative, Joe Okei-Odumakin, has asked the Inspector-General Police, Mohammed Adamu, to sack policemen who have impregnated women out of wedlock.
Okei-Odumakin was reacting to the sacking of an unmarried female corporal, Olajide Omolola, for getting pregnant.
Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin
The activist spoke on a PUNCH Live programme on Thursday, describing the dismissal of Omolola as “pure discrimination”.
According to her, many male operatives in the Nigeria Police Force have at one time or the other impregnated ladies whom they were not married to.
She stressed that the Force must respect the equality of rights, and accord same regard to both genders in the Force.
Okei-Odumakin said, “It is quite insensitive. The decision of the police authorities typifies the assault encountered by the average Nigerian woman in their workplace. We should be able to interrogate the system and also find out if the leadership within the system can also provide the number of men within the police force who have impregnated women out of wedlock and that have also served similar punishment.”
She noted that “it is quite sad knowing that at this point in the history of our country, an institution like the Nigeria Police Force” could slam such heavy punishment on a policewoman.
The police, in a wireless message with reference number CJ:4161/EKS/IY/Vol.2/236, DTO:181330/01/2021 had dismissed Omolola for getting pregnant while unmarried.
The signal originated from the Department of Finance and Administration in Ado Ekiti and was addressed to the Divisional Police Officer at Iye Ekiti, where Omolola was based.
The Chief Financial Officer in Ekiti was asked to relay the information to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System to ensure that her salary was stopped.
The document read, “Section 127 of the Police Act and Regulation against women police getting pregnant before marriage; W/PC (woman corporal) Olajide Omolola passed out of Police Training School on 24/04/2020 attached to yours, contravened above provisions.
“She stands dismissed from the Force. Dekit her. Retrieve police documents in her possession with immediate effect. O/C CFO Ekiti only. You are to relay signal to IPPIS Abuja for the stoppage of her salary with immediate effect.”
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Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President
The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday.
In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence.
It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria.
“She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria.
“She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR).
“Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as Pioneer Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Lafia, Nigeria (2011 to 2016). She is currently the Pro-Chancellor of Arthur Jarvis University, Akpabuyo, Nigeria.
“She took over from Professor Mosto Onuoha FAS (Professor of pure and applied geophysics), and will lead the Academy, for the next four years, in achieving an improved quality of life for the Nigerian society through the promotion and application of science and technology; as well as strengthen the nation’s ability to deliver the fruits of science to society by the acquisition, growth, and dissemination of sound scientific knowledge and facilitation of its use in the solution of major national problems.”
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Nigerian Arrested In India With Expired Visa
A Nigerian man, Aluko Ulva Tobi Jones, has been arrested for residing in India with an expired visa.
The accused person from Ekiti state, was arrested at Sarojini Nagar area of Lucknow based on a tip-off.
The Lucknow Police Commissionerate, in a statement, said that the expired visa, a passport, Aadhaar card, marriage certificate, bank passbook, and no-objection marriage certificate were recovered from Jones.
He was residing in Kanpur, the police said.
A case has been registered against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Foreigners Act at Sarojini Nagar police station.
SaharaReporters reported last week that Thailand’s Immigration Police arrested a 40-year-old Nigerian Onyebuchi Johnbosco Ezedinugwu, for overstaying his visa by 2,683 days.
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NANS President Wants Nigerian Students Tested For Marijuana, Other Drugs
Sunday Asefon
The President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Sunday Asefon, has endorsed the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) proposed drug test policy for all tertiary institution students across the country.
Asefon, during a solidarity visit to the new Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (Rtd.) on Wednesday asked the agency to implement the policy.
Sunday Asefon
The NANS President said all Nigerians must join hands to end the scourge of drug abuse by young people, saying “drug has done more harm than good to Nigerian students”.
Asefon, who spoke about the dangers of drug abuse, described the initiative as not only preventive but one that would also encourage others to stop the habit knowing that the authorities would detect it.
He said, “We do not want Nigerian students to continue to die of drugs.
“We are here to congratulate you and declare our support for your nascent administration. From your antecedents, we can now go home to sleep with our two eyes closed with the assurance that Nigeria is in safe hands, on drug control issues.
“Most of the drug problems ravaging the students is when they leave their homes and start schooling.”
Speaking, Marwa commended the association for the visit and show of solidarity.
He said, “I am particularly delighted by your promise to cleanse our campuses of drugs. Your buying into our drug testing among students is equally encouraging,” Marwa noted.
He further called on them to strengthen “Drug-Free Clubs” on campuses.
“There have been some objections to the drug testing initiative. But we cannot watch our students taking drugs and jumping into the well thinking it is a swimming pool. The testing of students is to determine their status early enough and decide the form of intervention to deploy. It is by no means punitive.”
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E2%80%94buratai I Was Nearly Retired By Obasanjo As Major —Buratai
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai.
The immediate-past Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), has said he was nearly retired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, 21 years ago when he was still a Major.
According to Punch, he did not disclose the circumstances of his encounter with the ex-president but described his attainment of the rank of Lieutenant General and Chief of Army Staff as historic.
Lt. General Tukur Buratai.
Buratai, who disclosed this during his official handover to his successor, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, at the Army Headquarters on Thursday, noted that “the Army will never remain the same due to my transformational leadership and landmark achievements”.
“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo almost retired me 21 years ago when I was a Major. My retirement after 40 years of service is historic, hence, calls for gratitude,” he noted.
While thanking troops serving at home and abroad for their sacrifice, Buratai added that the Nigerian Army has been “better positioned with intelligence gathering techniques and equipment”.
He stated, “The security situation across the country is largely stabilised under my watch, and my administration will be remembered for improved professionalism, improved responsiveness to personnel welfare and responsiveness to Nigeria’s democratic system.”
Also speaking, Attahiru solicited the support of soldiers and officers to reposition the Nigerian Army.
The new COAS thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for finding him worthy, adding that he counted himself lucky to have been chosen for the army top job.
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VIDEO: Jubilation In Military Barracks Over Sack Of Buratai, Others
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Nigerian Government Blocks Peoples’ Gazette Website Over Critical Media Reports
The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has shut down the platform of an online news platform, Peoples Gazette, denying its readers access to the website.
The platform said in a release that a vast majority of its web readers were denied access to its contents owing to a disruption influenced by the government.
The platform, launched in 2020, has been critical of the government’s actions and policies, including its coverage of the #EndSARS protest staged in October and the aftermath of the protest.
In a statement issued by its Managing Editor, Samuel Ogundipe, the media organisation alleged that the disruption, which started on Tuesday evening, was based on a directive from the Nigerian government to MTN, Glo Mobile and other telecom firms.
Ogundipe suspected the restriction may have been caused by a couple of reports the newspaper published recently.
MTN and Glo have the two biggest mobile data subscriber bases with 78,754,855 and 52,573,907 connected lines respectively as at the end of the second quarter of 2020, figures released by the Nigerian Communication Commission showed.
Airtel has 52,462,347 subscribers and 9mobile, in the fourth position, has 12,111,674 subscribers.
“We have strong grounds to believe that it the restriction was deliberate based on the preliminary conclusion of webmasters,” Ogundipe said.
The clampdown on Peoples Gazette’s operations may not be unconnected to certain critical reports done by the platform recently exposing the corruption and power play in Aso Rock, Nigeria’s seat of power.
“Nigerian telecom firms have a history of acquiescing to repressive orders from state actors without recourse to the Nigerian Constitution, which is why we would not yield any resources to fight back against this through available civil authorities,” Ogundipe said.
Expectedly, Ogundipe said the restriction will stifle the newspaper of its readership and will “leave our newspaper hemorrhaging crucial revenues from web traffic” if it lingers.
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Activities Paralysed As Oyo Workers Begin Indefinite Strike Over Allowances, Others
Activities were paralysed at the Oyo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion and some government agencies, including Water Corporation due to an indefinite strike embarked on by workers of the corporation.
Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA) was also affected by the strike as along with the others mentioned, they share the same building with the state Water Corporation, whose workers began the indefinite strike on Thursday.
The Water Building was locked by the striking workers and no one was allowed to go in or out.
Workers of the Water Corporation, under the aegis of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), embarked on the strike following the failure of the government to pay the six months deductions owed to them by the Governor Seyi Makinde led-administration.
The union had on January 20, 2021, given the Makinde administration a 72-hour ultimatum to pay the outstanding deductions and address the issue of shortage of workers, among others.
The union demanded a prompt payment of outstanding deductions, increment in monthly subvention, supply of chemicals to the corporation, recruitment of workers and appointment of a substantive general manager for the organisation, among other demands.
The letter reads in part: “I bring to Your Excellency fraternal greetings from the state leadership of the above-named union and to inform Your Excellency that after a series of meetings with the management of Water Corporation and government representatives without finding lasting solutions to our demands, the union is left with no other option but to issue this letter on the above subject matter.
“Aside from the outstanding deductions, the union also demanded the payment of check-up bonus, leave bonus, car loan deductions, and housing loan deductions. Others are increment in monthly subvention, availability of chemicals, recruitment of more workers for the corporation and the appointment of a substantive general manager.
Following the expiration of the 72-hour ultimatum, the union commenced the strike, locking the Water Building, which houses several other state agencies, while also blocking the feeder roads leading to the building.
Leading the protest, the AUPCTRE Secretary, who doubles as the state’s Nigeria Labour Congress Secretary, Ibrahim Mohammed, said the strike would be indefinite, adding that the union had exploited all options to resolve the matter amicably to no avail.
He said: “It is an indefinite strike. We have exploited all available options but the government is not forthcoming. The government failed to respond to our calls. They owe us arrears of up to seven months.”
Speaking of the Water Building that was locked, preventing workers of some other departments and agencies from also working, Mohammed said: “It is the Water Building, and it belongs to us. The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Local Government Service Commission, Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (OYSAA) are all tenants.”
As at the time of filing this report, no government official had addressed them.
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Buhari, Sleeping At The Wheels Is Not An Option By Azu Ishiekwene
Azu Ishiekwene
If you were on a holiday to Nigeria from Mars last week, you would almost certainly cut short your stay to avoid what looked like a coming Armageddon.
Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo, one of the six South-western states, had issued an ultimatum to herders, mostly of the Fulani tribe, to vacate the state’s forest reserves within one week. The folks are not rangers and have no business in forest reserves, much less turning them into grazing fields.
But that’s Greek. In Nigeria, where the law can often be a respecter of connections or identity, you’ll be a fool not to press your advantage. The unspoken feeling is that President Muhammadu Buhari, himself from the Hausa-Fulani stock and a big cattle ranch owner, is not just a club member but also patron saint of Miyetti Allah, the herders’ association which claims every blade of grass on fertile Nigerian land.
Governor Akeredolu said he received intelligence that some herders were about to unleash violence in the state and that recent reports of banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities implicated Fulani herdsmen. They must expel their under-age members, he said, leave the reserves in seven days and be registered or else…
The governor did not say what he would do, because quite frankly, he knew he couldn’t do jack. Not just him. No Nigerian governor can call a shot or dodge a bullet to save their own lives.
Azu Ishiekwene
Yet, Akeredolu had barely finished speaking when Miyetti Allah, enabled by a statement from the Presidency, vowed that herdsmen in Ondo forest reserves would not move an inch, and threatened fire for fire.
The spark flew southward, inflaming the already tense situation between herdsmen and communities in the Oke Ogun area of Oyo State. A certain Sunday Igboho led mobs to unleash violence in the area; killing, looting and burning – a revenge mission that transformed Igboho, a popular thug, into the overnight leader of the Salvation Army.
Who can blame Igboho, a thug who it would now appear from a number of insider accounts, has exploited loopholes in a failing system to create for himself a political kingdom and the image of a messiah? Who can blame Miyetti Allah for claiming that the only road to our collective redemption is paved by cattle dung?
Yet, Akeredolu’s ultimatum was an expression of impotent rage. There was nothing he could do. Both he and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, who asked the police to arrest Igboho, and Miyetti Allah which is behaving like the military wing of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and everyone involved in this shambolic cow-and-grass game, know that the only man who can do something about this situation is Buhari.
That may sound unfair or too much to ask of one man, but it’s a burden with a long history that Buhari knows more than anyone else.
Twenty-one years ago, this Oke Ogun where Igboho mobilised thugs on a revenge mission was the same place where Citizen Buhari, upon hearing of clashes there, led an Arewa group to Government House, Bodija, to demand from Governor Lam Adesina justice for Fulani cattle herders affected by the violence.
If justice was good enough for the Fulani cattle herders in Oke Ogun in Buhari’s former life, it should be good enough today for victims of Fulani-herder banditry in Ondo forest reserves or wherever such travesty may be found.
I don’t share the somewhat prevalent view that Buhari is an irredeemable tribalist, a predatory Fulani to the core.
Sure, influential persons and opportunists around him are using tribe for advantage, encouraged and enabled by Buhari’s puzzling silence.
It’s, however, in the nature of politics, especially our kind of politics, that tribes or social groups that may think they enjoy a temporary advantage, would beat the rest of society over the head with their shared identity, once their man is in power. They naturally think it’s their turn to eat even when, in fact, the crumbs may never fall their way.
At times like that, the leader has a choice: indulge the tribe’s worst instincts and alienate the larger society; or inspire confidence and trust by reining them in not just by platitudes and claims of fairness to all, but also by being seen to be fair by all.
What is sauce for the Fulani cattle herder in Oke Ogun, should be sauce for the farmer in the Ondo forest reserve or the palm wine tapper in Ikeduru.
And Buhari knows this only too well, not just from standing up for the Oke Ogun Fulani cattle herder, but also from his role in the events that led to Nigeria’s civil war.
The soldiers who killed Nigeria’s first military head of state, General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-
Ironsi, didn’t kill him because he committed any crime or was part of the plot that led to the violent and bloody overthrow of the First Republic.
They just thought that perhaps because the ringleaders of the mutiny were from his tribe, he wasn’t tough enough on them or keen to bring them to justice. They judged him guilty by identity.
In his second coming as civil head of state, President Olusegun Obasanjo, often derided as Nigeria’s Uber-nationalist, faced a similar problem. The Oduduwa People’s Congress which began as a Yoruba sociocultural interest group soon spun into a violent terror gang and the common assumption then was that the group had taken advantage of the fact that a Yoruba man was in power to terrorise the general public, especially the non-Yoruba in the South-west.
Obasanjo could have indulged them. But he didn’t. He unleashed what was generally considered a disproportionate show of force, issuing a shoot-on-sight order at a stage. He still believes, to this day, that it was the right thing because it was incumbent on him to rein the group in or risk a general breakdown of law and order.
That lesson was lost on President Goodluck Jonathan and he paid dearly for it. Niger Delta militants were the Fulani herdsmen of his day. Nigeria paid them billions of naira to look after oil pipelines, part of which they used in blowing up pipelines for more money and the rest in carousing on the 9th floor of Transcorp Hilton!
Buhari is behaving as if some Fulani herdsmen have him between the legs, making the cow a metaphor of all that is wrong with Nigeria, when in fact, pastoralism is just another business, like farming, banking or manufacturing.
I understand the pride of a remnant of herders for whom the herd is not just a means of transaction but a legacy, a way of life. But those who have politicised and weaponised the business know that these remnant herders are clinging to a dying past. Current pastoral practices in Nigeria are the journalistic equivalent of using movable metal type in printing, the sort of thing that Gutenberg did.
Neither data about world beef consumption nor figures about world cattle production puts Nigeria among the top 50. With a population of about 200 million, Nigeria’s meat consumption per capita is lower than those of smaller countries like Chad, Burkina Faso or Cameroon. Its average cattle milk yield of 500 kg per year is barely enough to feed a bunch of five-year-old-kids and ranks among the lowest in the world.
Why is cattle still such a great source of misery and divisiveness in Nigeria today?
The system, with proper planning and regulation, has to be opened to modern business practices, without government grabbing other people’s land in contravention of a half-a-century-old law against open grazing. Proposals to import preferential grass at the public’s expense don’t make sense either. Pastoralism needs a new, business-driven life.
The evidence of love for herdsmen is not to use them as cannon fodder in endless political warfare. Miyetti Allah’s opportunism must stop and Buhari should call the shambles for what it is. That is the only way he can have the moral backbone to tackle any other group that steps brazenly out of line.
Ishiekwene is the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview
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E2%80%93-intersociety Buratai Reduced Army To Hausa-Fulani Caucus, 142 Northerners Out Of 210 Promoted – Intersociety
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has said the outgone Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, reduced the Nigerian Army to a Hausa-Fulani group as he allegedly promoted 32 northerners among the recently promoted 47 Major-Generals.
Intersociety added that the former Chief of Army Staff must be made to answer for his nepotism and mismanagement of the army and face prosecution.
Lt. General Tukur Buratai.
The group stated this in a release on Wednesday by Emeka Umeagbalasi, as the Board Chair; Chinwe Umeche, as the Head, Democracy and Good Governance; Obianuju Igboeli, as the Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law; and Comrade Samuel Kaanyaoku, as the Head, Field Data Collection and Documentation.
The group said, “The Nigerian Army under Buratai was reduced to ‘an Army for Fulani-Hausa Muslims alone’ with others as makeshifts. For instance, the army under him witnessed a high level or maddening domination and control by Fulani-Hausa Muslim officers, to the extent that in its recent promotions and postings; out of 47 Major Generals, North took 32, including 27 Muslims and South took only 15, including only three from the South-East.
“In the case of 163 Brigadier-Generals posted, the North took 110 including 84 Muslims and the South took 53, including only 10 for the South-East.”
On November 28, 2020, the army had released its latest list of its promoted senior officers.
Checks by SaharaReporters revealed that about 20 names were from the North out of about 39 Generals.
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Concerned Nigerians Group Asks International Criminal Court To Arrest, Prosecute Ex-army Boss, Buratai
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