Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 1st July 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 1st July 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 01/07/21

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Ms Ojukwu, Ataga And The Murder In Lekki, By Ozodinukwe Okenwa

SOC Okenwa

The former Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Michael Usifo Ataga, (50) was recently murdered inside an Airbnb service apartment in the Lekki area of Lagos. A 300 level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu, (21) was said to be behind the murder. Miss Ojukwu, obviously terrified after the commission of crime, had been traced to her father’s house and arrested and paraded by the police. 
She had owned up to the heinous crime by ‘singing’ and lamenting that she regretted why she killed the ‘loverboy’ and that she was afraid of her life! She said she first strangled the late billionaire before stabbing him to death in self-defense! According to her the late big man of the media ‘raped’ her and continued making more advances which infuriated her.

SOC Okenwa

Chidinma told detectives at the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Yaba in Lagos that she was able to overpower the deceased because he was weak. She reportedly claimed that the late Usifo was feeble after taking three wraps of Rohypnol while she took one wrap. 
Detectives were said to be on the manhunt for a suspected drug addict and internet fraudster (names withheld), who Chidinma claimed aided her to falsify the deceased’s documents after she escaped from the service apartment leaving his lifeless body behind.
If it was not a premeditated murder then how could the wanted scammer and drug addict have gained access to the apartment? The forged documents with which Chidinma used to escape from the apartment was not produced on the spot. It was done in advance perhaps at ‘Oluwole’!
And after killing Ataga why must the criminal at large help Chidinma to make huge withdrawals from Ataga’s bank account?
There is much more to this strange story than meets the eye. Who killed Usifo Ataga? And why? We are forced to ask these questions because the cock and bull story being narrated by Chidinma should better be told to the marines. The truth about the sordid incident is not yet fully out.
Ms Ojukwu is a dashing beautiful girl who has recently revealed herself to be a ‘Jezebel’ used by undesirable criminal elements to achieve a dastardly act. Seeing her photograph online one was shocked to discover the ‘innocent’ face of a girl young enough to be the daughter of the deceased Ataga.
Pray, why did Chidinma (an Igbo girl probably born and bred in Lagos) go to the extent of killing a benevolent ‘sugar-daddy’ who, prior to his demise, had opened his financial vault via a blank ATM check to her? Who sent her on the deadly mission and for how much? Who turned this ‘angel’ into a monster or vampire?
Conveniently yet unconvincingly she had blamed it on the consumption of alcohol and hard drug? So she was high on drugs and stupefied by liquor when she hacked Usifo to death? Arrant nonsense!
We refuse to take her position as motivation for the crime. Even if she was drunk and high on narcotics as she claimed how could that state of stupor have led to murder? If every murderer could plead state of stupor, weed smoking or sniffing of cocaine and drinking of ‘vodka’ as justification for taking a life then we are all in trouble.
The murder in Lekki demonstrated yet again how violent our society has become lately. Assassination has become a means of settling disputes. The late Ataga must have fallen victim to a set up carefully planned and executed. He lowered his guard and fell into a trap.
According to his family bruises were visible and noticable in his body following an autopsy. There must be a bloody battle inside the room where the late handsome billionaire was overpowered and killed gruesomely. He must have been bound, gagged and tortured before being stabbed ‘multiple times’ to death.
Perhaps the Rohypnol he took (if what Chidinma said was believable) must have weakened him to the extent that resistance was nigh impossible. 
Could it be that a business deal that went terribly bad between him and his partner(s) led to the decision to take him out permanently? Or he was gunning for contract and other competitors thought it wise eliminatinng him in order to corner same? Something must be blamed for this horrible murder!
Besides, while awaiting the final definitive report of police investigation to unravel the mystery behind the butchering of Usifo, we must raise the issue of infidelity and adultery among the married men in Nigeria.
If the late Ataga was not a philanderer then he would not have fallen victim to this kind of cruel death. If he was loyal sexually to his wife as a responsible family man then his killer(s) would not have gotten him so cheaply.
Ataga must be hell-bound for trying to commit adultery and meeting his waterloo instead. That is how the cookie crumbled! When you go for young girls for ‘refreshment’ whatever comes upon you should be considered your comeuppance. 
It is surprising that in this century fraught with digital intelligence and ‘diversification’ of sophisticated crimes Ataga fell ‘mugu’ to his enemies. Pity!
 
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

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Hisbah Bans Use Of Mannequins For Display Of Clothes By Tailors, Boutique Owners In Kano

The Kano State Hisbah Board has banned the use of mannequins to display clothes by tailors, supermarkets and boutique owners in the state.
Hisbah Commander-in-Chief, Ustaz Harun Muhammad Sani Ibn Sina, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Ibn Sina said the use of mannequins by tailors, boutique owners and others contravenes the provision of Islamic injunctions.
He added that the agency would educate them on how Islam frowns on the use of mannequins and send its officials to apprehend and prosecute offenders.
The statement read, “Hisbah prohibits the use of mannequins at shops, commercial and private residences and other public places. This violates Islamic provisions, it is also responsible for immoral thoughts among some members of the public, all these are against Islam.
“We have divided Kano into five areas for the monitoring and implementation of the ban across the state.”
Despite public condemnation, the destruction of beer and other alcoholic beverages by Hisbah has continued in some northern states.
For instance, in November 2020, about 1,975,000 bottles of beer estimated at N200 million were confiscated and destroyed by the security outfit in Kano State.
The agency established to enforce Sharia law in some states recently banned stylish haircuts, sagging of trousers, and playing of music at social events by disk jockeys. 
They have also been seizing tricycles from riders for adorning them with pictures considered to be obscene and against the tenets of Islam.
Hisbah also banned commercial motorcycle and tricycle riders from carrying two women at a time.
This was in addition to other unusual directives reeled out by the Islamic police.

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E2%80%94-scholar-kperogi Taking University Entry Exam Yearly In Nigeria Seems Exploitative — Scholar, Kperogi

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A Nigerian academic and media scholar, Farooq Kperogi has urged the Joint Admissions and m Matriculation Board to allow test scores for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) to have at least a two-year validity period. 
Kperogi, in his article on Monday, titled, ‘Why Must Students Take UTME every year’, questioned the rationale behind the expiration of the test scores within a year, describing it as seemingly exploitative.

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He advised that the conduct of the UTME be patterned after the SAT examination taken in the United States, which is an equivalent of the UTME being taken in Nigeria.
The SAT is a standardised test widely used for college admissions in the United States.It reads, “Why do students have to take the UTME (the mandatory entrance exam to get into Nigerian higher educational institutions) every single year even when they have no need to? 
“The SAT, America’s rough equivalent of Nigeria’s UTME, has a 5-year validity period.
“That means if for any number of reasons, you’re not able to get into a university in a particular year, you can submit scores from any test taken within 5 years. 
“Requiring students to take the UTME every year seems to me needlessly exploitative. 
“I know a student who had great UTME scores from last year but had no success getting a place at the university of his choice even though he had more than the minimum entry requirements. He retook it this year and fell short of the minimum cutoff by a wide margin. 
“If he were in the US, he would have submitted his scores from last year. Several credible people have told me that the current JAMB registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, is an exceptionally honest, smart, and innovative man who is receptive to fresh ideas. I hope someone can whisper this suggestion to him.
“JAMB can organise UTME several times in a year, not just once, but should allow test scores to have at least a two-year and at most a five-year validity period.” 

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Kano Hisbah Arrests Man Who Stopped Praying After Officials Forcibly Shaved His Hair For Being ‘UnIslamic’

The Kano State Hisbah Board says it has arrested a young man identified as Muhammad Ikbal who stopped praying and going to the mosque after operatives of the Islamic police shaved his hair.
Sharing the photos of Mohammed, Hisbah Commander-in-Chief, Ustaz Harun Muhammad Sani Ibn Sina, urged him to desist from further immoral act.

Ibn Sina further instructed him to go and do a Nafl prayer and ask God for forgiveness. 
A Nafil prayer or supererogatory prayer also known as Nawafil prayers is a type of optional Muslim formal worship.
They are not considered obligatory but are thought to confer extra benefit on the person performing them.
Ibn Sina had in an audio message obtained by SaharaReporters last week said the commission was looking for Mohammed for violating Islamic law.
The young guy had in a trending video claimed he stopped praying after Hisbah operatives shaved off his long hair for being ‘unIslamic’.
Despite condemnation from Nigerians, the Hisbah group has continued its push for the Islamic agenda in the North.
The agency, established to enforce Sharia law in some states in the region, recently banned stylish haircuts, sagging of trousers, playing of music at social events by disk jockeys and tricycle riders from adorning their vehicles with pictures considered to be obscene and against the tenents of Islam.
A barber and his customers were also arrested recently for giving and having haircuts respectively, considered to be offensive to Islam.
They are also notorious for destroying truckloads of alcoholic drinks.
Also, in March, Hisbah operatives arrested two men suspected of sending pornographic materials to a married woman.
The suspects were traced and arrested after the woman complained to the board.

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E2%80%95-nigerias-security-adviser How Boko Haram, ISWAP Groups Are Recruiting Via Social Media ? Nigeria’s Security Adviser

Babagana Monguno

The National Security Adviser, Maj Gen Babagana Monguno (retd.), has raised the alarm that terrorist organisations like the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province are recruiting and radicalising vulnerable Nigerian youths through the social media.
Monguno raised the alarm at the ongoing second United Nations High-Level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of member-states, convened by the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in New York.

Babagana Monguno

He declared that the intention of the terrorist groups was to portray the Federal Government as incapable of protecting the population, Tribune reports. 
The NSA said, “The Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists are also using the social media to instil fear in the target communities, as well as to deflate the morale of defence and security forces.” 
He added that terrorism had continued to manifest itself as a vicious and relentless global threat, recognising no border, nationality and religion.
The NSA stated that in order to deal decisively with the complex nature of terrorism and other organised transnational crimes, the international community must see the menace as a threat to global peace and security.
Monguno said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has persistently confronted the nation’s challenges by setting up new structures and institutions, as well as empowering them.
According to him, the Federal Government has improved the coordination of humanitarian support for non-governmental organisations by creating the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
He observed that in the recent past, the President had approved the establishment of the National Commission of the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons and the National Commission for the Coordination of Cyber Security.
 
The NSA said the government was empowering the National Financial Intelligence Unit to trace terrorist organisations’ sources of funding.
 
Monguno reiterated Buhari’s commitment to diffusing tensions in Lake Chad Basin via the Multinational Joint Task Force. 
 

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E2%80%93british-lawyers-give-nigerian-government-ultimatum-return-nnamdi-kanu-uk-berate Igbo–British Lawyers Give Nigerian Government Ultimatum To Return Nnamdi Kanu To UK, Berate Kenya’s Involvement In Arrest

A group of Igbo lawyers resident in the United Kingdom has described as illegal the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian government.
The legal practitioners under the auspices of the Coalition of Igbo-British Lawyers condemned the Kenyan Government for arresting the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, who is also a British citizen, and handing him over to the Nigerian government.

The group revealed this in a statement signed by Barrister Ebuka Okoroafor and made available to SaharaReporters on Wednesday.
According to the lawyers, the Kenyan government has violated the human rights of Kanu, who possesses both Nigerian and British passports.   
“Coalition of Igbo-British lawyers condemns the illegal detention and subsequent handing over of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the Nigerian government by the Kenyan Government.
“The Coalition of Igbo-British lawyers in a statement issued and signed by Attorney E.R Okoroafor on the 30th of June, 2021 at his Glasgow residence in the United Kingdom has condemned the illegal and archaic manner in which the Kenyan Government has acted in the illegal detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“It also condemned the subsequent handing him over to the Nigerian Government without any due process.
“It is worthy of note to mention that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu entered Kenya with his British passport, and the Kenyan government is fully aware of his citizenship status but still went ahead to perpetrate their illegal act which does not only breach the personal human rights of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu but also undermine the sovereignty of the British government,” the statement read in part.
The group also disclosed that the illegal action will be addressed at the International Criminal Court, in Hague, The Netherlands, while asking the Nigerian government to convey Kanu back to the United Kingdom before the expiration of 48 hours.
The Igbo British lawyers also stated that the failure of the Nigerian government to do so has declared war on Kanu, IPOB, and the entire Igbos.
“While this serves as a pre-action notice to the Kenyan Government as we shall be heading to the International Criminal Court to rectify the injustice done as it is trite law that injustice to one is injustice to all, we are also by this medium informing the Nigerian Government that they have 48 hours to return Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the United Kingdom.
“And if he has any charges to answer to, they should as a nation that is governed by the constitution, pass through the legal means of filing an extradition notice as failure to do so, we shall not hesitate to term this a declaration of war on not only Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB but all Igbos generally, and this we shall vehemently resist with all apparatus of law available at our disposal.
“While all this is being done, the Nigerian government is also being warned that no bodily harm whatsoever must be done to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to avoid a total breakdown of law and order in the fast crumbling entity called Nigeria,” the Igbo–British lawyers added in the statement.

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E2%80%99s-problem-nigerians-not-ethnicity-religion-%E2%80%93-buhari Nigeria’s Problem is Nigerians; Not Ethnicity, Religion – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that the problem confronting Nigeria is Nigerians, and not ethnicity or religion as being opined in some quarters.
Buhari noted that Nigerians should be blamed for the injustices rather than ethnicity or religion, not minding the complexities of the Nigerian condition.

According to a release by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President spoke while receiving members of the Muhammadu Buhari/Osinbajo Dynamic Support Group, who visited State House, Abuja, to present a compendium of five years achievements of the administration.
He said, “Our problem is not ethnicity or religion, it is ourselves. After my third appearance in the Supreme Court, I came out to speak to those who were present then. I told them that from 2003, I’d spent 30 months in court.
“The President of the Court of Appeal, the first port of call for representation by presidential candidates then, was my classmate in secondary school in Katsina. We spent six years in the same class, Justice Umaru Abdullahi.
“My legal head was Chief Mike Ahamba, a Roman Catholic and an Ibo man. When the President of the court decided that we should present our case, my first witness was in the box.
“Ahamba insisted that a letter should be sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to present the register of constituencies in some of the States, to prove that what they announced was falsehood. It was documented.
“When they gave judgment, another Ibo man, the late Justice Nsofor, asked for the reaction from INEC to the letter sent to them. They just dismissed it. He then decided to write a minority judgment. That was after 27 months in court.
“We went to the Supreme Court. Who was Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)? A Hausa-Fulani like me, from Zaria. The members of the panel went in for about 30 minutes, came back to say they were proceeding on break. They went for 3 months. When they came back, it didn’t take them 15 minutes, they dismissed us.
“In 2007, who was the CJN? Kutigi. Again, a Muslim from the North. After 8 months or so, he dismissed the case. Again in 2011, because I was so persistent, Musdafa, a Fulani man like me, from Jigawa, neighbor to my state, was CJN. He dismissed my case.
“I’ve taken you round this to prove that our problem is not ethnicity or religion. It is ourselves.”The President boasted that in all the six years of his governance, nobody could accuse him personally of stealing and corruption.
“I refused to give up. I had tried to wear Agbada after what happened to me in Khaki. Something was done to me, because I did something to others. You know it. In the end, I myself was arrested, sent to detention, and they were given back what they had taken. I was there for three and a quarter years. This is Nigeria.
“I hope historians and intellectuals would document this, because it is a fantastic state of political development. Let our grandchildren and great grandchildren see how we came along. We didn’t get it as easy as other people think. Not because God has given us great population and resources. We have suffered along the line.
“I try to mention these things because you got yourselves together, used your resources, energies without any input from me. I cannot thank you enough. I’m very grateful to you and to Nigerians because in 2019, I visited all the states, the people that turned out to see me across the country (because I’m dedicated to serve Nigeria and Nigerians), the love is genuine.
“Thank God that over the years, they can’t accuse me of corruption. And I’ve been everything; Governor, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Head of State, President and in my second term. I thank you that nobody forced you, but you got together, used your energy, time and resources, I thank you very much. I assure you, history will do you justice,” he added. 

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Sexual Assault: American Actor, Bill Cosby To Be Released From Prison After Court Overturns Conviction

Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Bill Cosby’s s** assault conviction Wednesday after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.
Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia, New York Post reports. 

He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.
The 83-year-old Cosby, who was once beloved as “America’s Dad,” was convicted of drugging and molesting the Temple University employee at his suburban estate.
He was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence — Cosby’s damaging deposition from her lawsuit — arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. 

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Appeal Court Upholds 7-year Jail Term For Former Electoral Officer Over N362million Bribe From Ex-Minister, Diezani

The Court of Appeal, Yola Division, Adamawa State has affirmed the conviction of Ibrahim Mohammed Umar, a former electoral officer with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Yola South Local Government Area. 
A statement on Wednesday by the Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC stated this. 

Umar and his accomplice had earlier been convicted of three counts by an Adamawa State High Court and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment for receiving monetary benefit (bribery) to the tune of N362 million, being part of the bribe allegedly distributed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke to influence the outcome of the 2015 elections.
The convict was arraigned alongside a former staff member of a new generation bank by the EFCC on September 28, 2018.
During the trial, EFCC called 14 witnesses and tendered several documents which were admitted in evidence.
Justice Nathan Musa, in his judgment, held that EFCC proved its case beyond reasonable doubt as investigation proved that the convict was identified as the person who signed and collected the said sum and was unable to account for its whereabouts.
He was therefore convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine on all the counts.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, Umar approached the Court of Appeal, Yola Division on March 4, 2020 asking that the judgment of the lower court be set aside.
The appellate court on April 14, 2021 delivered its judgement, wherein it unanimously affirmed the judgment of the lower court.

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REVEALED: Faces Of Inspector-General Of Police’s Seven-Man Committee Members Set Up To Crush IPOB, ESN

Inspector-General of Police (IGP)

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, in April 2021 set up a seven-man committee of top police officers whose responsibility is to dislodge the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its militant arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) in the South-East and South-South regions.
SaharaReporters obtained a signal from the IGP’s office which listed out the top officers deployed to crush the IPOB and ESN agitations.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP)

The IGP constituted the committee led by Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tijani Baba, and having other police officers such as; Assistant-Inspector General of Police, Habu Sani, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, John Abang, Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Idris Abubakar, Deputy Commissioner of Police Adepoju Ilori, Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, and Deputy Commissioner of Police Kolo Yusuf.
SaharaReporters learnt that although the signal said the officers should fashion solutions to also end banditry and insurgency, their major assignment was on how to contain IPOB, ESN, and the secessionist threats in the South-East and South-South regions, which were “embarrassing” the President.
The signal reads, “Ahead of the IGP’s scheduled presentation to President Muhammadu Buhari, the IGP has constituted a committee headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tijani Baba, and other members of the committee; Assistant-Inspector General of Police, Habu Sani, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, John Abang, Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Idris Abubakar, Deputy Commissioner of Police Adepoju Ilori, Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, and Deputy Commissioner of Police Kolo Yusuf.

“The terms of reference are to review the security situation of the country and in relation to insurgency and banditry and secessionist threats and examine current strategies and evolve a new operational plan towards curtailing the internal security threats to the country and determine the manpower and materials needed to execute the operations and cost implication report of the committee to be submitted not later than 1600hours of 22/04/2021 for final vetting by the IGP against his scheduled presentation to Mr President on Friday, April 23 by 0900 hours.”
 
A civil group, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, in a release to SaharaReporters on Wednesday, said it believed that the same committee of police officers sent the squad which invaded the residence of top IPOB lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor in Anambra State on June 6.
The intersociety said, “We wish to place it on irrefutable record that personnel of the Nigeria Police Force’s Intelligence Bureau or FIB, Abuja and the ‘Special Force’ in Anambra have been identified as being responsible for the ungodly hours of Sunday, June 6, 2021 invasion of Lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor’s ancestral Family House at Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State.
“Barr Ifeanyichukwu Ejiofor is a licensed legal practitioner, senior member of the Nigerian Bar Association, and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria as well as a Human Rights Lawyer of international repute and Principal Counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra and its leader, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. The attack in his house by the murderous security operatives was a ‘mission to abduct, kill, burn and destroy evidence’ including ensuring that the abducted three domestic staff members never come back alive.
“It is also our finding that the domestic staff: Felix Emeka Okonkwo (over 55-year-old driver), Ugochukwu Lawrence Okafor (20-year-old gardener), and Ikenna Chibuike (35-year-old gateman) are being held dead or alive in Abuja at the Directorate of the Force Intelligence Bureau, headed by DIG Tijani Baba.
“Further investigation by Intersociety showed that the FIB personnel’s attack was carefully hatched in Abuja and executed in Anambra using the local services and lethal facilities, equipment, and personnel belonging to the so-called ‘Special Force’ in the state,” the group said.

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