Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 12th June 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 12/06/21
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BREAKING: Nigerians Are Forgetful, Says Buhari
President Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has described some Nigerians as ungrateful for failing to appreciate that his administration is doing so much with little resources.
Buhari disclosed this on Friday evening during an interview aired on NTA.
President Buhari
The President slammed Nigerians, saying they are very forgetful of the achievements of his regime in the last six years.
He said, “Nigerians, I think, are very forgetful. I am very pleased that the majority of Nigerians think that this administration, under the circumstances, are doing their best but people who misappropriated funds are elected members, either at state or federal level.
“You can accuse them or try to prove that when they were elected members of the House of Reps and they are given ministries and so on, they had only one house and maybe a wife but now they have several houses may be in Abuja, maybe in Lagos, so, rarely, if you try to work out their legitimacy limit, viz-a-viz their expenditure, they will be exposed.”
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BREAKING: Fresh Crisis Rocks National Association Of Nigerian Students Over Leadership Tussle
A fresh crisis has engulfed the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as the outgoing President of the Association, Comrade Danielson Bamidele Akpan has fixed a new date to elect new national executives members.
According to a statement by the Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee, Comrade Olajide Wolimoh, the association noted that the convention would take place at the Benue State University, Makurdi between 24th and 26th June, 2021.
The statement also added that the invitation letter has been addressed to all members, including the outgoing SUG Presidents and stakeholders.
Akpan urged all aspirants to consult widely as that alone will guarantee their successes at the election.
He used the opportunity to debunk speculations that he has transited to a new leadership led by one Sunday Asefon.
“I was duly elected by vast majority of Nigerian students and nobody can take it through the barrel of the guns. Propaganda and blackmail to acquire power and destroy people has proven to be a wrong approach world over and must be discouraged.
“Though frost with factionalism, NANS has remained an umbrella body of all Nigerian Students across the globe,” he said.
Comrade Adamu Abubakar, a students’ union President in a Northern university in the country expressed excitement over the development.
“Now Nigerian students can elect their own leaders, and not one governor – imposed President.
“Since democracy is about government of the people, for the people and by the people, a leadership known already to be partisan cannot defend students and the overall interest of the populace. This is what NANS is known for,” he said.
A faction in the association had in December 2020 announced Asefon as its new President amid chaos and violence that characterised its convention at the old parade ground, Abuja.
Asefon, a civil servant with the Ekiti State Government, got 155 votes to defeat his closest rival, Olushola Oladoja, who scored 100 votes.
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E2%80%99re-doing-everything-ensure-my-party-apc-power-long-%E2%80%93-buhari BREAKING: We’re Doing Everything To Ensure My Party, APC Is In Power For Long – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will remain in power as long as possible.
Buhari said this on Friday during an interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
“We are doing all we can to make the APC to be in power for as long as possible.
“That is why we carried out the revalidation exercise. From state to state; local government to local government and ward by ward,” he said.
Buhari also vowed to abide by the constitution and not stay in office beyond his tenure.
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E2%80%94-activist June 12: Yahaya Bello Should Stop Acting Like An Emperor, Kogi Not North Korea — Activist
The Peoples Democratic Party National Youths Frontier, Comrade Austin Usman Okai, has condemned the threats issued by the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, to citizens who plan to stage a protest on Saturday.
Okai, in a statement on Friday, said such a comment is not fitting for a democratically elected government but rather characteristic of totalitarian states.
He described protest as the vehicle through which Nigeria’s democracy was made possible hence it must not be stopped for any reason.
Okai called on men of ‘good consciousness and reason’ to prevail on the governor to allow protesters to continue with their protests.
It read, “The statement attributed to the special adviser to Governor Yahaya Bello, threatening law-abiding Kogites with repercussion if they dare protest against insecurity, worsening economy and maladministration on June 12 democracy day is not fitting for a democratically elected government – such a statement is the defining characteristic of totalitarian states like North Korea and China.
“Governor Yahaya Bello cannot deny the empirical truth that, contrary to the claim by his special adviser that Kogi State is the safest state in Nigeria, the state has been experiencing security challenges for some time now. Was it not in the same Kogi state that Senator Odia escaped an attack on his convoy by criminals? Was it not in the same state that a local government chairman was kidnapped? Gov Bello can fool some people sometimes but can’t fool all the people all the time.
“Nigeria is a democracy and in a democracy, the freedom of expression and association is enshrined in our constitution. Governor Yahaya Bello cannot sacrifice the democratic gains Nigeria has made on the altar of his personal ego and eye-service- all in a bid to please the president.
“The same protest and protesters the governor is threatening to deal with ironically is the vehicle through which our democracy was made possible. Even President Buhari protested and was given full state security under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan. Governor Yahaya Bello must avoid the temptation of breaking the ladder he rose to power on.
“It is high time men of good consciousness and reason cautioned him. To date, under a kangaroo arrangement, two young Nigerians are still languishing in detention for months now because they exercised their constitutional right to peaceful protest. Our democracy should not be defined by people like Governor Yahaya Bello. Before Bello, there was a democracy and after Bello, there will be a democracy.”
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June 12 Protest: Police Release Newspaper Editor, Agba Jalingo After Fake Petition
Agba Jalingo after leaving police custody
Human rights activist, Citizen Agba Jalingo, has been released by the police in Cross River State.
Mr Jalingo, the publisher of Cross River Watch, an online newspaper, was arrested earlier on Friday at the police headquarters, Calabar, where he had gone to honour an invitation from the Commissioner of Police in the state, Kayode Sikiru.
Agba Jalingo after leaving police custody
The police said they had a petition which accused Mr Jalingo of being an arms dealer.
Mr Jalingo’s lawyer, James Ibor, who confirmed his release to PREMIUM TIMES, said the accusation was fake and that the petition was intended to prevent his client from mobilising residents for the nationwide June 12 protest in Cross River.
“He was released about 30 minutes ago, he is here with me,” Mr Ibor said.
“The letterhead (of the petition) was designed with the name ‘concerned citizens of Cross River State’, and with an address that cannot be verified, no house address, and signed by persons that cannot be verified, and there are no phone numbers.
“They alleged that Agba Jalingo is doing gun running and keeping bombs, and he is mobilising non-Cross Riverians to make Cross River State ungovernable.
“The commissioner of police has agreed with us that the petition was frivolous and not worthy of any investigation and has released him,” he said.
SaharaReporters had reported that the CrossRiverWatch Editor in Chief was arrested by the police over a fake petition that he is an arms dealer.
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BREAKING: Zamfara Governor, Matawalle Cancels Democracy Day Celebration As Bandits Kill 67 In Fresh Attack
No fewer than 67 persons have been killed following attacks by suspected bandits on some villages in Zurmu Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
SaharaReporters gathered that the attacks left hundreds of others, including women and children with various degrees of injuries.
Witnesses said the gunmen, who came on motorcycles in their numbers, stormed the villages and began to fire sporadic gunshots.
“This led to the loss of lives and several others were injured, while houses and other valuables of the villagers were razed. At least 67 people were killed,” a source said.
Meanwhile, Governor Bello Matawalle has asked residents to defend themselves against bandits.
He spoke during the special prayer session to mark the second year anniversary of his administration.
Matawalle said it has become necessary to draw teams of agile youths that would be saddled with the responsibility of crushing criminals.
He said governors from the northern region had concluded arrangements to come up with detailed plans to tackle insecurity.
The governor further pointed out that they are working out modalities that could make traditional rulers pick persons that would defend communities against aggressors.
Deadly attacks have raged across Zamfara state where bandits have thrived.
Farming and herding communities in the state have long been terrorised by gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle and kidnap residents for ransom.
In 2019, the state government entered a peace agreement with the gunmen.
About 15 brand new Hilux vehicles and cash gifts were also given to leaders of different ‘repentant’ gangs of bandits by the governor in 2020.
But despite all these, communities in the state are still being attacked and residents kidnapped and/or killed.
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BREAKING: Bandits Storm Adamawa Village, Kill One Person
Bandits, Friday morning invaded a village in Adamawa state and killed one person.
The bandits in their numbers were said to have stormed Gadawaluwol village in the Yola-South Local Government Area of the state and killed one Yuguda Baleri.
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Sale Adamu, a resident of the village who is also a member of the local security, known as the Hunters Group, told SaharaReporters that the bandits tied up the victim before shooting him dead.
He said, “Yes, I’m a member of the Hunters Group, therefore I can confirm that bandits came to our village in the early hours of Friday at about 12am to 1:00am.
“They came in their droves firing sporadically, and because they had superior fire power we were overwhelmed.
“Unfortunately, they gain access to the house of one Yuguda Baleri, tied him up and shot him to death.”
A daughter of the deceased person, Aisha Baleri, also tearfully told our reporter that “my father was gruesomely murdered by some armed men who forcibly forced their way into our house last night”.
The Spokesperson for the police in the state, DSP Suleiman Nguroge has confirmed the incident, saying, “Yes, I can confirm the attack and the killing of one Yuguda Baleri.
“The report we got in the early hours of Friday indicated that he was tied and killed and the corpse has been deposited at the mortuary.
“The Commissioner of Police has accordingly directed the anti-homicde department to proceed with investigation.
“The CP has ordered operatives to trail the assailants and bring them to justice.
“The CP also wishes to assure residents that the command is poised to secure lives and property in the state.”
Meanwhile, the state police command has deployed personnel and assets against protesters ahead of tomorrow’s nationwide protest.
DSP Suleiman said, “The Adamawa State Police Command and other security agencies cannot fold their hands and watch hoodlums have a field day without taking steps to maintain law and order.
“Hence, it is in view of this that the Commissioner of Police, CP Aliyu Adamu Alhaji, has deployed operational personnel and assets for the Joint Patrol in order to provide watertight security within Yola Metropolis and other parts of the state to stem the tide of criminal activities before, during and after the Democracy Day celebration.
“To further strengthen emplaced strategies, the Command CP has ordered the ban on the use of the SPY number plates, Tinted Glasses and covered number plates used on SUV vehicles by some unauthorised individuals.”
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Lawyer Tackles Nigeria’s Deputy Senate President, Asks National Assembly To Give Nigerians New Constitution
A lawyer, Olatunji Abayomi, has asked the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, to mobilise his colleagues in the National Assembly and rescue the country from the military-imposed 1999 constitution.
Abayomi, a Doctor of Philosophy holder in Law, noted in a letter dated June 9, that while the National Assembly cannot solely give a constitution to the country, it can initiate the process.
The letter, which was obtained by SaharaReporters, urged Omo-Agege to learn from Chile, United States of America and other developed democracies in this regard.
The letter is titled, “You are right and wrong but can be right and correct.”
The letter partly reads, “Your well circulated comments when you hosted members of the Alliance of Nigerian Patriots is quoted hereunder; ‘One of the issues you raised is the replacement of the 1999 constitution. I am not sure that we, as a parliament, have the power to replace the constitution. We can only make amendments. And it is explicit in Sections 8 and 9 of the constitution how we can do that and the requisite number of votes required. I say that because there are some top Attorneys in this country, who, for some reasons, keep saying that; we don’t even need any of this, that we should just bring a new constitution, we can’t do that.
“What we are mandated to do by law is to look at those provisions and bring them up-to-date with the global best practices, especially to the extent that they tally with the views of the majority of Nigerians. So we are not in a position to replace this constitution but we can only amend.’
“Now, it should have been expected that vital decisions on what to do with our military constitution (Decree 24 of 1999) should be a matter that will compel the views of experts a your invitation so that our nation is not destroyed for lack of knowledge.
“This unfortunately has not happened. You will by now have received reports from various constituencies on the desire of Nigerians for a new people’s constitution and their disgust for yet another money consuming constitutional amending process following the journey to nowhere.”
Abayomi lamented that amending the constitution had become an endless task for the National Assembly, from one Assembly to another.
He said, “Deep thinking should establish by now that something appears to be wrong considering that the wrongs sought to be righted by the amendments have not subsided.
“We have kept the amending train in perpetual motion, yet things are getting worse for Nigeria and in Nigeria. Do you not think deeper thinking requires the energy of mind and of the intellect for a new intelligent path?
“True, you are correct the National Assembly cannot give Nigeria a constitution. Her duty is to pass law not a constitution which is never passed into law.
“If the National Assembly cannot give Nigeria a new constitution, so is the military government debarred from doing the same. So you are right, only our people and not the military, not the National Assembly through the exercise of legislative powers can give our people a constitution.
“Now, Mr Deputy Speaker, you are wrong to rely on the very unlawful and illegitimate constitution for the ground or authority for your position. Just as error cannot correct error, as wrong cannot correct wrong, the 1999 constitution cannot correct the current constitutional wrong imposed on the people of Nigeria by the military.
“Truth is that only the National Assembly can bring about the process of a people’s constitution.”
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International Press Centre Condemns DSS, Police’ Assault On Two Journalists In Abuja
The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos has condemned the attack by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police on two journalists in the nation’s capital, Abuja.Giving the two names of the journalists as Friday Olokor, a senior correspondent with The Punch newspapers and Patience Ihejirika of the Leadership newspapers in Abuja, IPC said it has confirmed that the journalists were molested on Thursday while trying to gain access to M & M Events Centre, Abuja.
IPC said the journalists had gone to cover the ongoing African Women Conference organised by dRPC (Development Research and Projects Centre) with the support of Ford Foundation.A statement on Friday, signed by the Executive Director of IPC, Lanre Arogundade and obtained by SaharaReporters, disclosed that “IPC’s Journalist Safety Alert Desk gathered that while Olokor was physically manhandled, Ihejirika had her phone seized and vital videos deleted to ensure she did not record the assault on Olokor”.”This detestable act is very worrisome and totally against the fundamental human rights of Olokor and Ihejirika who identified themselves as journalists. The continuous attacks on journalists in Nigeria is particularly worrisome, especially when the perpetrators are security operatives whose main function is to protect lives and property,” the statement said. While applauding an Assistant Director of DSS who reportedly apologised to Olokor with a promise that the personnel involved would be made to face the consequences of their actions, IPC demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice immediately.
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Nigerian Government Lists Sins Of Twitter And Its CEO, Dorsey Against Buhari’s Regime
The Nigerian Government has enumerated many reasons to justify its indefinite suspension of Twitter by adding that the microblogging social media company have made several efforts to destabilise the country.
Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, disclosed this on Friday during a live programme of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), `Good Morning Nigeria.’
Mohammed said Twitter had become a stage of choice for secessionists to carry out their agenda.
The minister lamented that the platform was used regularly to encourage activities that would lead to the collapse of the country.
He said the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who stays comfortably in Europe, had been using Twitter to direct people to attack the symbols of Nigeria’s sovereignty.
The minister said Kanu, as a leader of a separatist group, used that platform to direct his supporters to attack policemen, military men, barracks and INEC offices among others.
“Before its suspension, we made several pleas to them to remove the tweets where Nigeria is described as a zoo where all of us are described as monkeys.
“We also pleaded to Twitter to delete the tweet where he said that if a Nigerian soldier enters into Biafra, it is death,” he said.
“Twitter, however, said that those tweets did not offend their own rules.
“It gets out of hand when attacks on police and military formations, police and army officers became unabated and we said at this point, we will need to suspend their operations,’’ he said
Mohammed added that the Muhammadu Buhari-led government suspected Twitter and its founder, Jack Dorsey, to have sponsored last year’s EndSARS protest which almost destabilised the country and led to the death of many, including the destruction of public and private property.
He said when he asserted that Twitter funded the EndSARS protest, his position was substantiated by the fact checks made by an online media outfit, ‘The Cable’.
“The online media concluded that on October 14, 2020, Dorsey actually retweeted some of the posts by some of the coalitions supporting the EndSARS protest.
“On the same day, he launched fundraising asking people to donate via Bitcoins.
“On October 16, 2020, Dorsey launched another Emoji to make the EndSARS protest visible on the microblogging site.
“On October 20, 2020, he retweeted the tweets of some foreign and local supporters of EndSARS,’’ he said.
The minister said his claims were proven right by the investigations of the Cable, including the fact that Twitter founder solicited donations to support EndSARS.
“If you ask people to donate money via bitcoins for EndSARS protesters then you are vicariously liable for whatever is the outcome of the protest.
“We have forgotten that EndSARS led to the loss of lives, including 37 policemen, six soldiers, 57 civilians while property worth billions of naira were destroyed.
“164 police vehicles and 134 police stations were razed to the ground, 265 private corporate organisation were looted while 243 public property were looted.
“81 warehouses were looted and we are now saying we don’t have a reason to ban Twitter,’’ he said.
The minister said it was discriminating to conclude that the operation of Twitter was suspended indefinitely because it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet.
He said the government was definite that the action was taken because the platform was being used to promote the opinions of those who want to break the country.
Speaking on the timing of the ban on Twitter, the minister said the government had the right to regulate when and where to make a pronouncement on policy and action affecting the corporate existence of the country.
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