Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 31st January 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 31/01/21
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Cows Take Over Abuja Road, Disrupt Vehicular Movement
Cows on Saturday blocked a major road in Apo area of Abuja, disrupting vehicular movement for many minutes.In various pictures seen by SaharaReporters, motorists were forced to stop their vehicles to pave the way for the cows moving freely on the road.
The photos, however, drew anger from many Nigerians on social media.A Twitter user, @Sunkee84 wrote, “This is insane, this can not be tolerated in 2021. FG ( Nigerian government) should do something about it.”Another user, @babeseidah, said, “This is not new, they do that all the time. People living in Lugbe, most especially River-park Estate, can relate.”
@ToheebAdigun2 added, “It’s allowed; it’s called the Federal Cowpital Territory! In the Zoological Republic of Nigeria.”The Abuja administration had in 2016 banned movement of cattle on public roads.
The then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, also inaugurated a task team to keep the cattle off Abuja’s streets.
“You have to understand that when Abuja Environmental Protection Board says cattle should not roam the city, it is not because they want to prevent cattle breeders from raring cattle in the FCT. It is just for safety. It is for the safety of your cattle and above all, the citizens’ safety.”In a modern city, it’s not possible for animals and vehicles to move together on the roads because this could cause accidents which in some cases could be fatal, and we must protect lives and property,” the former minister had said.
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Say No To Blood Money: Why Viacom Must Relocate Mtv Africa Music Awards From Uganda By Milton Allimadi
ViacomCBS must cancel its plans for the MTV Africa Music Awards to be hosted by DJ Khaled on Feb. 20 in Uganda which is currently in a violent political crisis instigated by the country’s dictator of 35 years, Gen. Yoweri Museveni, and relocate the event to another African country.
The United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Tibor Nagy has already repudiated the country’s violence-marred Jan. 14 elections as “fundamentally flawed.” Leading editorial boards have denounced the rigged elections and called for a review of the U.S.’s annual $1 billion support to Gen. Museveni’s regime.
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This problem shouldn’t be dismissed by ViacomCBS as “merely” an African problem. Black Lives Must Matter everywhere.
Official figures confirm that 54 opposition candidates’ supporters were killed—other reports say way more than 100— by security forces on orders of Gen. Museveni who hoped to suppress voter turnout. Gen. Museveni cut off the internet in the country two days before the vote. He also blocked domestic and international observers from monitoring the elections. The U.S. embassy in Uganda had 75% of its accreditation requests denied so Washington pulled out as monitors.
Then on Jan. 16, Gen. Museveni’s own hand-picked Electoral Commission declared that he was the “winner” of the vote, awarding him 59% to 35% to the leading opposition candidate, Member of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi, a.k.a. Bobi Wine.
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The Electoral Commission did not provide a vote breakdown with actual figures from the 34,714 polling centers around the country as mandated by the constitution. It could not, since the internet total blackout meant the data could not be transmitted to tallying centers. The “winning” percentage awarded to Gen. Museveni was manufactured from thin air. On the other hand, when internet was partially restored, several days after the election was officially awarded to Gen. Museveni, a privately-created voting App called Uvote, show that Bobi Wine is actually leading 72% to Museveni’s 25%.
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Bobi Wine has rejected the “results” announced by the Electoral Commission and called on the international community to support a forensic investigation. As soon as he cast his own vote, Bobi Wine’s home was surrounded by about 500 soldiers and he and his wife Barbie and an 18-month old niece were placed under house arrest. No one was allowed to leave or enter the premise, not even to buy food. The U.S. ambassador to Uganda, Natalie E. Brown, was also blocked from visiting Bobi Wine by Museveni’s military. Meanwhile, attacks on opposition candidates’ supporters continues in Uganda, and many are still being hunted down and killed.
This is what Senator Chris Coons has said, in part, in a statement denouncing the state-sanctioned election violence in Uganda: “As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees, I condemn the violent and oppressive tactics employed by Ugandan authorities in the lead up to the January 14 general elections. These acts of intimidation have, for months, eroded and undermined the credibility of Uganda’s electoral process, and I urge the government to reverse course. This presidential campaign has been marked by the worst political violence in Uganda in decades. Ugandan authorities have demonstrated blatant disregard for human rights and constitutional freedoms through frequent attacks on political leaders, activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens. For months, using COVID-19 restrictions as a pretext, security forces have repeatedly detained activists on spurious charges and used deadly force against protesters, with at least 60 Ugandans killed in election-related violence, hundreds injured, and more than 800 arrested so far in the run-up to the vote. Leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine was recently detained for the third time in two months, along with many other prominent activists including Patrick Amuriat and Nicholas Opiyo.”
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Coons also said, “International donors, including the United States, should reassess security assistance and other financial support to Uganda. Any review should take into account events on or around the election that have undermined democracy and violated human rights and the rule of law.”
Similarly, Senator Bob Menendez has condemned the violence in Uganda and he’s introduced a Senate Resolution calling for Magnitsky sanctions on political and military actors involved in the bloodshed, in addition to a review of U.S. assistance to the Museveni regime.
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There’s now an ongoing digital campaign under the hashtags #VisitUganda and #MTVMAMA where Ugandans are posting images of violent incidents and of people either killed or wounded by regime security forces and urging @djkhaled @ViacomCBS @MTV and @MTVAfrica not to host the event in Uganda. A petition campaign calling on the Biden administration not to recognize Gen. Museveni’s fraudulent election and to cut off military support is also growing, as is one calling for the MTV Africa Awards to be canceled.
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Is there something that ViacomCBS CEO Bob M. Bakish knows about Uganda and the ongoing violence there that Ugandans, American officials, elected representatives, and the ambassador don’t know?
Why would ViacomCBS want to lend its name and reputation to validate a murderous dictators whose conduct has been denounced by the international community including the U.S. administration and elected representatives in Congress? This would amount to blood money music—rewarding a dictator who ordered the killings of Ugandans during and after the elections.
Bobi Wine is one of Uganda’s leading musical artist. He promoted a voter registration drive and got millions of young Ugandans to sign up to vote and they did, even as many were killed by security forces loyal to the dictator. More than 80% of Uganda’s population is under the age of 35 and want change.
Now, even as the world joins in condemning Gen. Museveni’s violence and attempt to steal an election, ViacomCBS seems poised to validate the dictatorship.
ViacomCBS must do the right thing and cancel the MTV Africa Music Awards in Uganda and relocate the event to another African country. Neighboring Kenya is a suggested candidate.
Milton Allimadi publishes www.blackstarnews.com in New York. Follow him via @allimadi on Twitter.
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E2%80%94doctor Lekki Shooting: We Treated Many Protesters With Gunshot Wounds At Reddington Hospital—Doctor
Babajide Lawson, a doctor at Reddington hospital, on Saturday, said the number of patients shot or injured at the Lekki toll gate shooting, who were brought to the hospital, were so many that they overwhelmed the facilities.
On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 pm, operatives of the Nigerian army opened fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the toll gate, killing an unconfirmed number of people.
The incident triggered outrage within and outside the country.
Despite evidence of people being killed and injured at the Lekki incident, the army had maintained that blank bullets were used to disperse the protesters.
Lawson, a trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, while testifying before a Judicial Panel of Inquiry investigating the incident said many gunshot victims were brought to the Lekki and Victoria Island branches of the hospital on October 20, 21, and 22.
While being cross-examined by Olumide Fusika and Adesina Ogunlana, the two lawyers representing #EndSARS victims, Lawson said due to the crowd, there is a likelihood that the hospital did not capture the records of all the patients.
Fusika had asked, “Go through the medical reports and confirm if it’s from Reddington and whether they are people you know.”
In his response, the surgeon said, “Yes, it’s our medical report. I don’t know them personally but I know them as patients that I treated. Being in charge of trauma means that anybody involved in traumatic injuries such as accident and gunshots must go through me in both of our locations.
“On that 20th, many of the patients were treated at the Lekki office. Later on the night of 20th, I also went to the Lekki office to assess the level of assistance needed in my capacity and I also spoke with the MD of that branch. That night, I transferred a patient to the VI office, which is our headquarters where I work from and where he stayed till the 23rd.
“On the first night, there are about six patients that I saw that night, but as the day goes by, other patients came in.”
The lawyer further asked whether the hospital extracted pellets from the patients as there were many cases of gunshots, especially in the case of one Nnaji Mabel who had a pellet in her abdomen.
“As indicated in the report, we did not extract the pellet. I admitted the responsibility; we reviewed her CT and records. She was treated and allowed to go,” the surgeon responded.
“It’s normal to have pellets in your body and just go home?” Fusika further queried.
“Yes, it is possible. If there is a gunshot injury and the bullet does not in any way endanger the body, the pellet can remain,” Lawson said.
The surgeon said some pellets were removed, but the police will be invited and the pellets handed over to them according to medical protocols.
He added that other patients sustained “entry” and “exit” bullet wounds. “The protocol is that if there are gunshot injuries and bullet extracted, the police will have to come, and the bullet will be handed over to them. For the patients I treated, I did not extract any bullet; the patient that had pellet did not require removal,” he said.
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Group To Sarkin Fulani: We Will Evict You If You Cause Trouble In Kwara State
A youth group, Kwara South Movement (KSM), has warned the embattled Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Saliu Abdulkadri, to be law-abiding during his stay in Kwara State or face another eviction notice.
Abdulkadri and his men had moved out of Igangan in Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State to Kwara State after the expiration of a seven-day eviction notice by Yoruba rights activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho.
Igboho had asked all Fulani residents in the area to leave to stop kidnapping allegedly perpetrated in the area by herders linked to the ethnic group.
He accused Abdukadir of harbouring the herders allegedly kidnapping and killing residents of the community.
KSM, in a statement by its coordinator, Saheed Olayinka Odofin, and secretary, Adeyinka Adeoye, urged the Sarkin Fulani to be guided in his activities during his stay in the state.
The statement read, “The attention of Kwara South Movement has been drawn to the relocation of the displaced Sarkin Fulani of Igangan in Ibarapa local government of Oyo State, Salihu Abdulkadir, and his family to Kwara State following a misunderstanding with Sunday Igboho as well as the host community.
“This cautionary message became necessary as Fulani In Igangan reportedly moved to Buari/Okerimi Near Oro Boundary of Kwara South which is within our territory.
“We all know Kwara State for its harmony. Any attempt to jeopardize this peace and tranquillity will be resisted by Kwara South Movement. We, therefore, use this opportunity to warn the Sarkin Fulani of Igangan to be guided in his activities during his stay in the State or he face another eviction.
“Kwara South Movement also call on the Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, to be proactive in his administrative duties by securing the life’s and prosperity of the citizens in the state against any criminal act by the embattled Sarkin and his family.
“We, therefore, urge the security agencies in the state to be at alert because any criminal activities won’t be taken lightly in the state during the stay of this Sarkin Fulani.”
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Opinon: The MTV MAMAs Shouldn’t Be Happening In Uganda By Dr Vincent Magombe
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Last week, MTV officially announced that its 2021 Africa Music Awards, the MAMAs, would be held in Uganda on February 20. The event, which has been planned in coordination with Uganda’s tourism ministry, is being advertised alongside the hashtag #VisitUganda. If Uganda were free, it would be welcome news. But just as the MTV announcement was made, Uganda’s most popular politician, Hon Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, was under house arrest, having dared to challenge Uganda’s long-ruling dictator, Yoweri Museveni, in a recently concluded presidential election.
Most Ugandans believe that Bobi Wine was the clear winner of those elections, and that Museveni is once again forcefully imposing himself on Ugandans after 35 years in power. If allowed to stand, this will be Museveni’s sixth consecutive term in office. There is growing evidence that a large number of Ugandans may be prepared, this time round, to resist Museveni assumption of power, in spite of the obvious dangers posed to them by Museveni’s ruthless military forces, in particular the so-called Special Forces Command which takes its orders directly from Museveni’s son Muhoozi Kaneirugaba.
The Kampala Post
The election period itself was characterized by ballot stuffing; the invasion of polling stations by Museveni’s security forces; an army raid on Bobi’s National Unity Platform party headquarters; a total internet blackout both during the voting period and for more than three days thereafter; the illegal detention of Bobi’s campaign team; widespread arrests and the torture of hundreds of his supporters (and even the targeted murder of some); and the killing of at least 54 unarmed people in the streets. Many in this last group of victims had come out to peacefully demonstrate when Bobi was illegally detained during a campaign stop – others were innocent bystanders; one was just 15 years old. As of this Tuesday, Bobi’s house arrest has come to an end, but several hundred people, including his entire team, remain in prison, despite many of them having been granted bail.
Just as MTV began advertising its plans to host the Africa Music Awards in Uganda, Bobi and his wife, Barbie, were entering their tenth evening under house arrest. Armed soldiers stood surrounding their home, keeping them under arbitrary military detention – a violation of international law. Earlier in the week, they’d had run out of food, and for several days, despite condemnation from the international community and from ambassadors in the country, our de facto jailers had even blocked provisions from reaching them.
Before Bobi became a Member of Uganda’s Parliament in 2017, he was a successful musician, making a respectable living that allowed him to provide for his family. But since entering opposition politics, the regime has cancelled more than 150 of his concerts and banned his music on local radio and television. In order to perform, he had to travel abroad and seek opportunities outside of Uganda.
Over the years, many other Ugandan musicians have faced pressure not to criticize the regime, but instead to sing praise songs for Museveni. Those musicians who refuse to sing for the regime have been denied the right to perform and have had their shows cancelled by the police – often at the last minute, without reason, and in violation of Ugandan court judgements.
In 2018, at the conclusion of a successful by-election campaign for a colleague in parliament, Bobi was arrested and beaten along with four other members of parliament, and dozens of his supporters. After a week in detention, he and others emerged from police custody on crutches. During the police raid on the hotel where Bobi had been staying, his driver and good friend, Yasin Kawuma, was shot dead. He was sitting in the passenger seat of Bobi’s vehicle, and there is every reason to believe that Bobi was the intended target.
Over the past several decades Museveni has been responsible for untold misery, including the muzzling of free speech and the violent abuse of basic human rights in Uganda. This brutal regime, of which Bobi has been a routine target, is also responsible for the theft from public funds, including aid programs, of billions of dollars; the rigging of successive elections; interfering militarily in neighboring countries without cause; massacres of civilians, including small children; and the trafficking in illegal wildlife products including elephant tusks and pangolin scales – while also cynically using wildlife conservation as a pretext to steal land from some of Uganda’s most vulnerable citizens.
About 18 months ago, some people in the Ugandan activist community learned of MTV’s decision to hold the Africa Music Awards in Uganda. They wrote to over a dozen MTV and Viacom executives, requesting that they find another venue, and explained why, including some of the reasons cited above. They received no response.
Now that the Museveni regime’s brutal conduct during the recently concluded election period has been widely covered in the international media, those same executives cannot claim ignorance. How can they now contemplate, albeit virtually, bringing the best of Africa’s musical talent to participate in a global awards ceremony taking place in Uganda at this time? By doing so MTV would not only be lending itself to whitewashing the regime’s crimes, but also implicate all nominated artists. How can MTV and Viacom executives, who claim to be supportive of Black Lives Matter, now look the other way when those lives are African?
Dr Vincent Magombe
Ugandan Journalist and Broadcaster
University Lecturer
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Herdsmen: Anxiety In Igangan Over Fear Of Reprisal
The Igangan community inhabitants in Oyo State are currently living in fear of possible reprisal attack by killer herders in reaction to their recent eviction from parts of the state following the ultimatum given to them by a Yoruba rights activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho.Barring the security arrangements being put in place by the state government, the community leaders, comprising the Asigangan of Igangan, Oba Adewuyi Olaoye; the Asigangan-in-Council, community leaders and youth groups, indicated that precautionary measures were in place to forestall possible attack by the herders.
Oba Olaoye, in an interview with The PUNCH, confirmed that traditional Oro rites had been made to appease the gods of the land for protection and a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed on Igangan community as part of efforts to ensure security.The monarch, who said the community had, for long, been under the siege of killer herders, called for an investigation into the alleged atrocities and criminal acts levelled against the Seriki Fulani, Abdulkadri Saliu.The Convener, Igangan Development Advocates, Oladokun Oladiran, also said the community was eagerly awaiting the deployment of the 200 Amotekun operatives promised by Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to check insecurity further.He said, “In Igangan, a 5am to 9 pm curfew has been put in place to monitor the movement of people to secure the lives and property of the people.“It was the joint decision of the monarch, the chiefs, the council of elders and associations in Igangan. The Operation Burst has been deployed to resume patrol including the local vigilante group.“Fulanis are still in our midst as we speak. They are still at Ile Bamogba in Igangan. They live peacefully and are going about their daily activities without any threat.“We continue to live in peace with Fulani people in Igangan. Those ones have stayed with us for many years. Igangan and the entire Ibarapa are rising against the crime lord. We are talking of somebody who has turned crime into business, who made millions on kidnappings, regardless of the lives been lost in the process.”
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Sanyaolu Juwon And Manthan Pathak
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The First 11 Days Of 2021: Assault, Detention And Injustice In Nigeria By Sanyaolu Juwon And Manthan Pathak
Since 8 October 2020, ordinary Nigerians have been taking to the streets, peacefully demanding an end to police brutality, extrajudicial executions and extortion by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigerian police tasked with fighting violent crimes.
They have been met with excessive, brutal use of force by the army and police forces. On October 20th 2021, an unreported number of peaceful protesters, thought to be in the hundreds, were reportedly shot dead when the Nigerian army opened fire on thousands of protesters calling for an end to police brutality as part of the #EndSARS movement in an affluent Lacos city suburb known as Lekki. What follows is the experience of Sanyaolu Juwon, a 29-year-old political activist with the group #RevolutionNow.
As though coming to battle notorious terrorists and bandits, they came at us with three loaded vehicles convening heavily armed men whose mean demeanour smacked of lustful desperation for violence and blood. The only arms we had were the ones that acted as support to our revolutionary fists as they pointed to the direction of the cold air with full determination. The rest of our ‘arms’ and ‘battle artillery’ were placards, banners and our facemasks.On the night of December 31st, 2020, at about 11pm, we had gathered at Lokogoma junction and then proceeded to Gudu, Abuja for a protest with demands for good governance, respect for citizenship, end to police brutality, environmental justice and a permanent end to the turmoil and bloodletting in the country. As of this time, similar actions were ongoing in other parts of Nigeria including certain areas of Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Kano, Kaduna, Adamawa, and Edo.Our action at Gudu had been peaceful and without incident until about 1am in the New year when we were about leaving for our various homes. The government deployed three to seven trucks of anti-riot police, armed to the teeth with apparent resolve to leave behind an ugly scene of death and destruction. Seeing them in the violent manner with which they invaded our peaceful assembly, many protesters instinctively ran for their lives. Me and a few others like Michael Adenola who had seen them from afar chose to stand our ground as we were not prepared to surrender our country to the rule of tyranny and lawlessness. Like a pack of hungry wolves, they descended on us violently, hitting us repeatedly with their guns even as torrents of heavy punches continuously landed on different parts of our bodies. We were bundled to the trunk of one of their trucks and chained to the vehicle like hardened criminals.The horrifying sight of our dehumanizing brutalization caught the attention of Omoyele Sowore, Nigeria’s foremost revolutionary and investigative journalist who currently faces the charge of treasonable felony for protesting the tyranny, corruption and maladministration of the regime. Throughout the evening Sowore had been filming our action and made way to his vehicle when it was apparent that we were being rounded up. He stepped down from his vehicle to challenge the police operatives. Seeing him, he was also descended upon with such fury that made it apparent they had a score to settle with him. They broke his nose and hurled him into the truck with us. As if that was not enough, they sprayed on our eyes and faces, a very pepperish chemical substance that made even breathing almost impossible. When I managed to challenge this unruly wickedness despite being chained down, one of the officers held me and the other started spraying this substance directly into my eyes and did not stop despite seeing how I struggled to gasp for breath. The pain was so intense that I could barely open my eyes for about two hours and my entire body felt unbearably hot for more than four days.The Nigerian regime led by Muhammadu Buhari, a retired army general and coupist, is infamous for its lack of respect for civil rights and rule of law. His notoriety and propensity for human rights violations was such that Punch Newspaper, a foremost Nigerian paper resolved in December 2019 to henceforth regard Buhari as “Major General Buhari” instead of President Buhari in all its publications. Despite his track record, many of us had hoped the President was at least going to make the first of January an exception, to at least indulge Nigerians in the freedom he had denied and violently attacked over the past 365 days. And as it turned out, we expected too much from a regime that has consciously expunged the language of democracy from his dictionary of governance.From Gudu, we were moved to the detention facility of the Special Antirobbery Squad (SARS) at a police station called Abattoir — a detention facility notorious for torturing and killing its victims. Upon our arrival, the station officer, a SARS operative widely known as Pastor Kennedy a Superintendent of Police, led his junior colleagues to unleash on us more beatings and we were dragged into the cell. The only warm reception we received was from other inmates who accorded us great regard and couldn’t stop talking about how greatly they appreciate our relentless struggles for the soul of our country. They went out of their way to get us mats and blankets with which to relax and rest our weakened joints. A number of these inmates were kept illegally in custody without being charged to court. For the next 3 days we were caged like animals in a cell within the cell and this was to be our home until Monday when we were moved to court.We were in the first instance denied access to our lawyers, families and friends. Upon granting us access to our lawyers after mass uproar, we had to declare a hunger strike in detention before they were pressured into allowing us access to our books. According to our lawyer, Abubakar Marshal, reports of our hunger strike caught the attention of the public and the uproar that followed forced the police commissioner into calling our lawyer at the early hour of 4am. The commissioner appealed to Marshal to come to our detention facility and avail us our reading material which they had initially denied us.When we were being moved to court on Monday morning, we were prepared for all the possible theatrics the government had cooked up to keep us in detention for as long as possible. We were prepared for the worst. So much so we were not at all surprised when the magistrate court, sitting at Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, denied us bail, remanded us at Kuje Prison and pronounced that our lawyer instead file a written bail application. Prior to the pronouncement of our remand in prison, the police refused us phones to speak to our lawyers, instead arranging their own team of five lawyers posing as human rights lawyers to represent us.The plan was to have those lawyers hoodwink us into taking up our defense in the absence of our lawyer and then use these so-called “human rights lawyers” to keep us in detention for as long as possible. When they approached us in court, we immediately refused their representation. Without the presence of our own lawyer, the court session commenced and the prosecuting team announced appearances. When the magistrate, Mabel Taiye Segun-Bello, called for appearance of the defense, the arranged lawyers who we had already refused attempted to announce appearance on our behalf but were immediately interrupted by Sowore, who informed the court that the lawyers had no permission to represent us and lamented how we were denied access to our lawyers when we were being brought down to the court. The exchange between Sowore and the prosecuting team continued until the magistrate decided to adjourn for 10mins, apparently to write her ruling on our objection. By the time the magistrate returned to her seat, our lawyer was now in court. The disappointment in the face of the police prosecutors was palpable. In any case, the arrival of our lawyer did not stop them from achieving their devious aim of keeping us in detention. However, it was certain that they would have been able to keep us far longer if their game of imposing lawyers on us had worked. With our lawyers in court, we were able to take a plea on trumped up charges of ‘unlawful assembly’, ’incitement’ and ‘criminal conspiracy’.The road to Kuje was terribly bad and extremely tiring. The roads were so bad and highly discomforting to the extent that the police who were taking us to the prison complained very bitterly and relentlessly too. I had to immediately remind them how they would have shot at protesters if the residents of Kuje had come out to protest bad roads. In fairness however to most of the junior officers in the police, it was clear to us that a number of them sympathised with our struggles but lacked the courage to turn their guns against the real oppressors of our people.When we arrived at Kuje Prison, the prison officials professionally told the police delegation that brought us that they had stopped accepting inmates due to COVID-19 and that their isolation facility was equally unavailable at the moment. Desperate to keep us in prison, they furiously began making phone calls. From the police commissioner to the Inspector General of police to numerous power brokers at the higher-ups until a phone directive came to the FCT Prison Controller, stocky named Maiyaki who had to drive all the way from his home down to the prison. During the waiting period Sowore told the police delegation that ‘’if the Police Commissioner was so desperate about keeping us in detention, he can as well keep us in his house where he will volunteer as a teacher to his children and lecture his wards how not to be a lawless public officer like their father’’.We were at last admitted into the prison and each of us dumped in solitary confinement. The prison confinement we were dumped into looked like the ones reserved for persons on death row, but the prison warders called it a ‘’COVID-19 isolation facility.’’ We were denied access to doctors, food and our books throughout the night of our stay in prison. The following morning, January 5, when we were to be processed and returned to court for a bail application hearing, information of our presence, especially that of Sowore, had become popular amongst prison inmates such as the the Niger Delta activists among them were seen struggling to come towards us but were sternly repelled by the prison warders.We were handcuffed and hurled into the back of the notorious prison truck known as “Black Maria” that would be convening us to court. Stepping out of the police truck with cuffs on our hands infuriated the mass of Nigerians who had come to court to show us solidarity. Our lawyers did not take it easy either as they immediately demanded the removal of the cuffs. As the court session began anew, the Magistrate, Mabel failed again to grant our prayers for bail after our application met vehement opposition from the police prosecutors. The magistrate then ordered that we should be remanded at the Police Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) until Friday, January 8 when she would then give a ruling on our bail application. In her ruling, she included a caveat allowing us access to medical attention, our books and upon Sowore’s request, made a special order to avail Michael Adenola, a level 3 law student, internet facility with which to participate in his classes which had commenced online on January 4 2021. But of course, the police had no internet facility, neither did they have any decent hospital or detention facility.Upon our arrival at the Force CIID, we were immediately processed and hauled into our cell. Just like Abattoir, our first detention centre, we were locked up in a ‘’cage within a cage’’. The police officers before our arrival had warned all other inmates to steer clear of our cell and not to make any contact with us. This was apparently to prevent us from radicalizing the inmates in the general population. And just like we had it at our previous detention centres, we also had great support from the other cell mates. Despite being threatened, a number of them still took turns in confiding in us several injustices they have had to endure in detention, including how poorly they are fed and how a number of them have been denied access to lawyers and their families. Of all the numerous cases there, one caught our attention. It was the case of one Solomon Chukwuemeka Akuma, a pharmacist who has been remanded since April, 2020, for anti-Buhari Twitter comments. The Pharmacist faces charges of treasonable felony, amongst many other trumped charges. And while in detention, the government had done all they could to demoralise and break him. He was tortured into making a self-incriminating “confessional statement with the police’’, denied access to a lawyer, and his family. Despite this, Akuma Solomon remains unbroken.On the morning of Friday,January 8 2021, at about 8am, the police PPRO of the FCIID had come to our cell to inform us about our movement to court by 9am as ordered by the magistrate. Seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours, until about 10am, we were still in our cell and it wasn’t looking as though the police were prepared to comply with the orders of the court. Out of nowhere, one of the police officers stationed to our cell showed up. He said to Sowore, ‘’Leader, your attention is needed. Once Sowore stepped out, I had asked our comrades to also get ready in the hope that Sowore’s invitation was about our movement to the court. Once Sowore got back, I laughed uncontrollably when I realised the persons who sought Sowore’s attention were not officers but comrades who had helped bring us food, water and other necessities. By not delivering us to court at the ordered time the government once again proved its disregard for the law.It should be noted that prior to our detention the Buhari Junta had already similarly violated over 40 court orders. One of such orders is one that granted bail to the Shiite leader, Sheik El ZakZaky and despite several court orders ordering his release, Buhari has illegally held the Sheik since 2015. The police however weren’t the only culprits of this episode. Upon realising the wretched game the police were playing, our lawyer went to court with the hope that the magistrate was going to sit as ordered. In fact not only did the court fail to sit, the magistrate told our lawyer she wouldn’t sit unless we were produced in court. Meanwhile, the magistrate could have still ensured the court seats as ordered and at least made a pronouncement on bail. It was also within the constitutional powers of the magistrate to move the court to the police headquarters where we were detained and still make a pronouncement that must force the police into immediate compliance. She failed to do any of this and deliberately assisted the police to violate the orders of her own court.Failing to produce us in court on Friday, we were forced to spend another next three days in the mosquito-infested and shitty detention facility. We used this time certain new inmates who had been transferred from Abattoir, our first detention centre before Kuje Prison. They informed us of how the Abattoir police had immediately freed over 40 inmates who had been illegally detained after we had been moved from there. According to them, the police feared we may expose this illegality on their part once we get out.On Sunday, one of the inmates informed us that we will definitely leave detention on Monday and that he learnt that people were coming to protest at the Force CID. We became very certain that the police, fearing protest, had furnished the inmate closest to us with this information with the certainty that he would inform us, in the hope that somehow we would be able to communicate with ‘our people’ on the outside not to protest. Hence, it was only fear of a protest that influenced their decision to take us to court on Monday. We arrived at the court to the cheer of a mass of highly resilient Nigerians who had begun staging protests in front of the court building.Entering into Magistrate Mabel’s court, the session as usual started with the prosecution and defence announcing appearances before the magistrate went into a long read of very verbose and deceitful ruling. Her ruling announced bail conditions that were no doubt not only vindictive and stringent but also made clear that the court had preempted guilt before trial. One of the bail conditions ordered our restrictment to Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. Aside from the general bail conditions, Sowore was also ordered by the court to henceforth make a registered presence at the office of the registrar of the FCT high court every Monday and Friday.It was clear to us that the purpose of our brutalisation, arrest and 11-day detention at three different prison and detention facilities respectively was to discourage and punish our resolve to mobilise Nigerians in the pursuit of social revolution that places public wealth into the hands and control of ordinary people. However, they ought to know that we have long surpassed the stage of fear into the realm of determination and courage, heading to the destination of freedom.And like the words of Leon Trotsky, the late Russian Revolutionary, ‘’We will not concede this Revolutionary banner to the masters of oppression and falsehood! If our generation happens to be too weak to establish a Revolution, we will hand the spotless banner down to the next generation. The struggle which is in the offing transcends by far the importance of individuals, factions, and parties. It is the struggle for the future of our country. It will be severe. It will be lengthy. Whoever seeks physical comfort and spiritual calm, let him step aside. Neither threats, nor persecutions, nor violations can stop us! Be it even over our bleaching bones, the truth will triumph! We will blaze the trail for it. It will conquer! Under all the severe blows of fate, I shall be happy, as in the best days of my youth! Because, friends, the highest human happiness is not the exploitation of the present but the preparation of the future.Sanyaolu Juwon and 4 others are due in court to face charges of unlawful assembly, incitement, and criminal conspiracy in Abuja on Friday, 5th February.
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Sanyaolu Juwon And Manthan Pathak
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E2%80%94ekiti-oil-magnate-akinbami All My Kidnappers Spoke Fluent Yoruba—Ekiti Oil Magnate, Akinbami
An oil dealer in Ekiti State, Suleiman Akinbami, has said those who kidnapped him spoke Yoruba fluently.
Akinbami was abducted on January 10 by gunmen at one of his filling stations in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.
He was released a week later in Kogi State after paying an undisclosed sum as ransom.Speaking with PUNCH, Akinbami said his abductors, who claimed to be unemployed graduates, had a good command of the Yoruba and the English Language.
He said if they were not Yoruba, they would have been in Yoruba land for long.
“They spoke good Yoruba and good English. I want to believe that they had been in Yorubaland for long if they are not Yoruba. They spoke good Yoruba. They spoke good English as well. They claimed to be jobless graduates,” Akinbami said.“I am appealing to the government; the economy is terrible. Those in authority should see how they can help the unemployed graduates through employment creation. Let the youths have something doing.“The truth is that without jobs, it will be easy to recruit them into kidnapping, and nobody will be safe. I appeal to the state government and the Nigerian government to find a solution because my case will not be the last. Kidnapping has now become a trend. It is my prayer that we quickly find a solution to it.”
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E2%80%94uniosun-student How I Conspired With Fulani Herdsman To Abduct, Kill My Two Nephews—UniOsun Student
A 21-year-old undergraduate of the Osun State University, Usman Muyideen, has narrated how he kidnapped and killed two underage children with the help of a Fulani herdsman identified as Memudu.Muyideen, who was paraded alongside Memudu by the Osun State Police Command on Friday, said the victims were children of his elder brother.
The 200 level student of Public Administration accused the herdsman of talking him into abducting them.SaharaReporters gathered that the two children, Thompson Onibokun (13) and Samson Onibokun (12,) were kidnapped on January 26, 2021, on a football field around Iludun area, Osogbo.”The herdsman talked me into kidnapping them. He is my friend. We have lived together since childhood,” Muyideen said.”When we got to the field where Thompson and Samson were, I told them to follow me and they did because I am the younger brother of their daddy. We didn’t know that they would die.”The police tracked the phones we used in contacting the parents and we were arrested.”Also confessing to the crime, Memudu said, “I am a Fulani herdsman. I abducted two children with the help of Muyideen, who is their family member. We went to the football field where the children played and abducted them.”We took them on a commercial bike to a forest where my cattle do feed around Coker area, Osogbo. I know the terrain very well. We were in the forest for four days, giving the children bread and soft drink.”We contacted the parents and demanded N25 million ransom. I wanted to use the ransom to start a business. We gave them six days to provide the ransom but, unfortunately, the two children died on the fourth day after the rope we used to tie them to a tree strangulated them.”When those children died, we did not contact the parents again. We left the corpses there and they discovered the bodies four days after.”The state Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, said the two children’s bodies had been recovered and deposited at University Teaching Hospital morgue, Osogbo for autopsy.
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E2%80%94nnamdi-kanu Why Nigerian Army Frequently Kills Civilians In South—Nnamdi Kanu
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has said that the Nigerian Army kills defenceless civilians from the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria to further populate Fulanis in the country.
Kanu described the Nigerian army as a “Fulani ethnic militia” assigned to assist the bandits and terrorists in perpetrating evil across the nation.
The IPOB leader said this in a statement by the group’s media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful.
“HQ Nigerian Army is nothing but a Fulani ethnic militia structured and tasked to aid Fulani bandits and terrorists from across the Sahel to subdue and conquer Nigeria’s indigenous populations the same way Uthman Dan Fodio, that lying demon from Senegal, deceptively and successfully conquered and completely emasculated the now impoverished Hausa race,” Kanu said.
Kanu claimed that the British government empowered the Fulani against the country by allowing the Arabic inscription in the Nigerian Army emblem.
The statement partly read, “Look very carefully at the Nigerian Army logo. The same Arabic-Islamic inscription that adorned the war standard (banner) of Uthman Dan Fodio was what British colonialists adopted as the motto of a supposedly secular national army. British-Fulani satanic alliance to render all indigenous peoples in Nigeria as useless as they did to the Hausa did not start today.
“The Arabic text on the Nigerian Army logo is, “NASRUNMINALLAH” which means “VICTORY COMES FROM GOD ALONE”. The motto was that of the great jihadist, Uthman Dan Fodio, Head of the Sokoto Caliphate inscribed by the British under Lord Lugard.”
“Now you know why the Islamic Nigerian Army specialise in killing unarmed civilians in the South. It has always been part of their broader game plan: to reduce non-Fulani populations in the Middle Belt and South whilst opening the north’s borders to rapists, kidnappers, murderers and bandits from across the Sahel.
“How many times have you heard the army opened fire on Fulani civilians in Sokoto or other parts of Arewa core north the way they frequently do in the East, Middle Belt and Western parts of Nigeria? Think, for goodness sake, think!
“Remember how Fulani youths repeatedly mobbed and tried to assassinate President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. His campaign posters were destroyed and set ablaze. Not a single shot was fired, but common Buratai had his way blocked by Shiite protesters made up of Hausa, Gwari and Nupe youths in Kaduna, and he ordered the army to open fire.
“At the end of this civilian killing spree, over a thousand people lay dead. Today, Buratai is walking about freely because he is Fulani enjoying the protection of the United Kingdom Government, the real owners of Nigeria and Nigerians.”
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