Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Wednesday 8th January 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 08/01/20
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Six-year-old Son Of Bayelsa Commissioner Rescued From Kidnappers
Victim
Suspected kidnapper
Victim
Six-year-old son of Bayelsa State Commissioner for Water Resources, Nengi Talbot Tubonah, has been rescued after three weeks in captivity.
The boy was kidnapped at his father’s resident at Opolo area of Yenagoa, the state capital.
The rescue operation was carried out by operatives of Puff Adder attached to the Bayelsa Police Command in the creeks of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.
Suspected kidnapper
The command has also paraded the suspected kidnappers behind the act.
CRIME
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Rivers Governor, Wike, Tasks Judges On Justice Dispensation
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has called on judges to show more commitment in the administration of justice.
Speaking during the swearing-in of judges of Rivers State High Court and Customary Court at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the capital, on Tuesday, Wike urged the judges to observe their oath of office as they work for the state.
He said, “It is easy to take oath of office and difficult to abide by the oath of office.
“As judges, show commitment in the administration of justice.
“Wherever you serve, it is important for you to show commitment.”
The Rivers State governor charged judges to be fearless, firm and steadfast in the dispensation of justice for the good of society.
He added, “This country can be better if the judiciary plays its role.
“The judiciary is the the most powerful. When the executive is wrong, the judiciary is there to correct it. Anything done by the executive, can be upturned by the judiciary if they are firm.”
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JUST IN: After UN Appointment, Nigerian Government Reverses Suspension Of Rural Electrification Agency MD
Damilola Ogunbiyi
Damilola Ogunbiyi
Days after joining and beginning her new assignment as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All, the Nigerian Government has reversed the suspension of Damilola Ogunbiyi as Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency.
Ogunbiyi was suspended by Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, over undisclosed infractions in the agency.
Following her suspension, SaharaReporters had reported that Ogunbiyi submitted her resignation letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on October 7, 2019, before she was suspended three months later.
Staff of the agency had also condemned the incident and slammed the minister for ‘hating women’.
Reversing the suspension order, the government formally accepted her resignation.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the suspension of Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi from her role as Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency be reversed.
“Her resignation effective 31 December 2019 has been accepted to enable her take up her new UN appointment,” a release from the presidency reads.
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Release Of Kidnap Gang Ringleader By Police Leads To Protest In Adamawa
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Residents of Girei, Adamawa State, took to the streets on Tuesday morning to protest the release of the alleged leader of a kidnap gang.
The gang is said to include Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Girei Local Government Area, Ibrahim Jaka, and his four siblings.
The protesting residents said Jaka and his brothers were arrested by a local vigilante group and handed over to the police.
Saidu Hamma, a local chief in the area, told journalists that the suspect was released by the police after pressure from the national hierarchy of Miyetti Allah.
He said, “We arrested Jaka about two weeks ago and handed him over to the police; we later got to hear that he had been released.
“We approached the Commissioner of Police for explanation but he told us that he released him on bail to help bring his brothers; but we suspect foul play.
“At this point, Jaka was rearrested and taken to Force Headquarters, Abuja. He was released for the second time.
“The disturbing part of the story is that these people are carrying dangerous firearms and we hear that Miyetti Allah national hierarchy is behind all the pressure to set Jaka and his brothers free.”
Commissioner of Police in the state, Audu Madaki, denied releasing the suspect.
He said, “The allegation is untrue because since I assumed duty, my focus has been to fight crime.”
SaharaReporters can confirm sighting Isa Jaka and three other suspects at Chief Magistrate Court 4 in a police van. However, the ringleader, Jaka, was not among those sighted in court, confirming that he was have been freed as alleged.
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Court Orders NERC To Halt Increase Of Electricity Tariff
Electricity
Electricity
galaxytvonline
The Incorporated Trustees of Human Rights Foundation has asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the proposed over 40 per cent increase in electricity tariff in Nigeria.
In a suit filed before Justice Muslim Hassan, the group argued that “the implementation of the purported minor review of the multi-year tariff order will create unquantifiable hardship and damages on Nigerian electricity consumers.
“Consumers will be made to pay very high tariff, which has been increased by over 40 per cent across the board of which is currently being billed.”
In an affidavit deposed to by Theodora Ubabunike, a lawyer, the human rights group said, “It will amount to a great injustice to impose arbitrary electricity tariff on Nigerian electricity consumers.
“Nigerians will suffer monumental loss as many people will not be able to access power or access same at very high tariff.”
Joined as respondents in the suit are the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission; the Bureau of Public Enterprises; the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company Plc; and the Minister of Power.
Also joined as respondents are Abuja, Benin, Enugu, Ikeja, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Yola, Eko, Ibadan and Jos electricity distribution companies.
In an ex parte application taken before Justice Hassan on Monday by Anaje Chinedu, the human rights group prayed for “an order of interim injunction restraining NERC from taking any step towards the implementation of the purported minor review of the multi-year tariff order 2015 and the remittance order 2019,” pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed by the group.
However, following argument by Chinedu on Monday, Justice Hassan declined granting the ex part application but instead ordered the parties to maintain the status quo.
The judge said, “It is hereby ordered that the status quo ante bellum shall be maintained by the parties in this suit pending the determination of the motion on notice.”
Justice Hassan adjourned till January 20, 2020 for the hearing of the motion on notice.
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Bomb Explosion Kills 32, Injures Over 35 Persons In Borno
At least 32 civilians lost their lives while over 35 were badly injured when an Improvised Explosive Device went off in Gamboru, a town in Borno State bordering Nigeria and Cameroon.
The incident was said to have occurred around 4:00pm on Monday on a crowded bridge in the market town.
An eyewitness, Ahmad Musa, said the tragic incident left the entire place in chaos with blood stains visible at almost every corner.
He said, “I just heard a loud explosion and before I realised what was happening, I saw many lifeless bodies on ground. Children were crying for help. It was disheartening.
“I counted at least 32 dead bodies. The incident happened on the Fotokol Bridge between Nigeria and Cameroon.”
Another resident of the area, Mohammad Ali, said they are yet to recover from the shock created by the tragedy.
He said, “Many people were severely injured, mostly children and women. We took 35 persons to the hospital at first but so many were injured.
“It is an unfortunate incident and we are sadden about this. A lot of people move in and out through that bridge.”
Insurgency
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EXCLUSIVE: Nigerian Army Personnel Threaten To Leave Duty Post In Yobe, Accuse Military Authorities Of Neglect, Starvation
Nigerian Army personnel attached to the 159 Battalion, Geidam (Sector 2), Yobe State, have threatened to abandon their duty post over their neglect by military authorities.
In a letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly, United Nations, African Union and several other organisations, the soldiers expressed sadness over their long stay in the volatile North-East region, revealing that many of them had been pushed into a state of depression as a result of the situation.
Additionally, the soldiers, most of whom had participated in operations in Liberia in the past, disclosed that they are being exploited by insensitive superiors for personal and material gains.
According to them, their families back home had been made to endure all sorts of suffering during the period they have served Nigeria with their lives in the war against Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East.
The letter reads, “We wish to bring to your notice that we have overstayed here in the North-East.
“We were inducted in this operation on July 10, 2016 to fight Boko Haram insurgency after spending a year in Liberia.
“Presently, we are covering the following locations of Dapchi, Bamari and Kanama to Niger border.
“This is our fourth year in the battlefront fighting and we have not been changed from this operation. The other battalions we came with and even those ones that came after us have all been withdrawn. We are the oldest infantry battalion in the North-East yet they don’t want to change us.
“We have complained to the Chief of Army Staff and he promised to rotate us. He even told our families the same thing but till now nothing has been done or said about it.
“We are from 1 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State.
“If the North-East was like United Nations operation, a place where there is money, we would have been changed after six months or at most one year and it would have been based on god-fatherism. But we have been forgotten because we don’t know any god-father.
“Since we have been here, this is the second President, the second Senate, the 2nd CDS, the 2nd COAS, the 5th Theatre commander, the 5th 7 Division GOC, the 6th Brigade Commander, the 4th Commanding Officer and the 5th Acting CO that we have worked under and none of them have had the feeling of changing our battalion from this North-East.
“After bringing peace, victory and honour to Nigeria, all we get back is suffering and rejection.
“Since we came to this operation; there has been no changes, no special promotion, no issuing of uniforms, boots and combat kits. Instead, we end up buying it with our money.
“There have been no good feeding, in fact we are fed like slaves.
“Soldiers of 159 Battalion are now suffering from depression, stress, lack of feeding, poor admin, family problems, psychological trauma.
“We are begging the President, the CDS and COAS to look into our case because our homes have ‘scattered’ and some of our children don’t know us anymore.
“It is only four times that we have had pass in four years. Our children now see us as strangers, some of our parents died of high blood pressure.
“We have lost a lot. We want the army authorities to change us before it gets too late.
“Any Brigade Commander and Commanding Officer posted here only use us to make money for themselves and go.
“We are really tired of this place, we want to go back to our unit and meet our families.
“To the governor and lawmakers from Yobe State, this is a warning to you all. Soon, your people will start running away from their homes because we are no longer happy. We are ready to leave the local government areas we are covering should attack come.”
This is not the first time that army personnel deployed to the North-East to combat Boko Haram terrorists would be complaining of neglect and lack of equipment to carry out their duties, the embarrassing situation has become an integral part of the deep-rooted corruption bedevilling Nigeria’s military setting over the years.
In the face of these glaring hurdles and failure of the authorities to act, soldiers have continued to pay the supreme price in a war government continues to plough more resources into but have only little to show for it in terms of success.
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The Million-dollar Question For Buhari By Seun Awogbenle
The dawn of every New Year is symbolic for not just its frenzy and excitement, it is the time when people are have big hopes, big dreams, big promises, big expectations and big ambitions. There is a deliberate commitment to do better, set new goals and new benchmark. It is this spirit that has inspired introspection as a regular column, readers can count on my weekly intervention to enrich public discourse and set the records straight as always after deep introspection!
In Nigeria, the feeling has not been far different, many have even started with their usual “new year, new me” yearly ritual. In fact, the recurrence of this phenomenon has provoked a general debate on social media, where a radical far left wing are of the opinion that a new year is merely a change in day and date, which does not come with any special wand or magic. You know this is largely correct, only that in this part of the world, ageism and conventional long held beliefs are almost difficult to discountenance even in the face of prevailing evidence and subliminal facts. Tragic!
But regardless of the side of the divide that you belong, 2020 is truly symbolic in every sense of the word. You are wondering how? Aside that it is the beginning of a new decade that offers so much promise for Nigeria and it’s great people, for the world, it is 10 years to 2030. By interpretation, we are only 10 years away from the completion of the Sustainable Development Goals, an aggregation of the global goals including the fight for zero hunger, healthy lives and general well-being, inclusive and equitable quality education, gender equality and reduced income inequality, fight against poverty and a number of other key issues of global consensus and solidarity. Yes, we can!
Now let’s bring the issue home. I read President Muhammadu Buhari’s open letter to Nigerians on New Year’s Day and in my deep introspection, I concluded that there is little to hope for, just the same sound bite, over-flogged promises that have become all too familiar to the ears. Simply put, the President’s New Year message had no reassurance of hope, just vague, ambiguous and empty! The part that caught my attention the most has to be where the President restated his commitment to lift the bulk of Nigeria’s population out of poverty. In his words, his government will “lay the enduring foundation for taking hundred million Nigerians out of mass poverty” but on the flip side of it, the only sincere thing I am aware the President has done since the beginning of his administration is the admission that Nigeria is home to the highest number of extremely poor people in the world and that we must urgently reverse the trend. Applaudable innit?
But beyond this general admission, I saw this reality in its clear expression on Sunday. It was on our way out of Lekki, one of the most exquisite locations in Lagos, where there was a mild traffic at the main gate, so the cars moving out were forced to move steady but slowly. During the time we were held up, some kind-hearted Nigerians decided to give out money to the hordes of people hanging around the entrance with deprivation and forlorn hope. This immediately led to a frenzy, young children looking like the description of the typical Almajiri began to jump at the cars holding on to them firmly without recourse to their lives. There is serious hunger in the land. In that situation, survival is the only language they can understand! In my quick introspection, I said loudly, if we don’t take care of these people by providing them with education and opportunities, the consequence will be fatal, they will one day come for all of us! Beyond making a cascade of empty promises, where is President Muhammadu Buhari’s robust and comprehensive plan to lift 100 million people out of poverty?
He should show us the roadmap and please spare us the talk of economic and recovery growth plan that is already a failed plan! At the moment, there is nothing pragmatic or practical to suggest that Nigeria can lift 100 million people out of poverty and the President knows that if we fail to lift the bulk of our population out of poverty and provide the greatest number of our people with the economic opportunities that they need to thrive, the end will be dire! China, Singapore, India, Brazil did not all lift bulk of their population out of poverty by only making vain commitment, they laid out a pragmatic plan and executed the plans with discipline and utmost celerity. But it is different here. Nigeria is a special breed of country where the President will only make empty declaration without explaining how. Whoever that is talking to President Buhari should remind him that our helpless population are counting on him for hope and restoration. We must empower our young and vibrant population before it is too late. As we commence a new year, the million-dollar question for President Muhammadu Buhari is that where is the holistic, pragmatic and comprehensive plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over the new decade?
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Seun Awogbenle
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Iran Designates United States Forces, Pentagon Employees ‘Terrorists’
Iran’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday designating all United States forces ‘terrorists’ over the killing of a top Iranian military commander in an America airstrike last week, according to Daily Mail UK.
Qasem Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm, was killed in a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport, Iraq, on Friday, ratcheting up tensions between the arch-foes.
Under the newly adopted bill, all US forces and employees of the Pentagon and affiliated organisations, agents and commanders and those who ordered the ‘martyrdom’ of Soleimani were designated as terrorists.
“Any aid to these forces, including military, intelligence, financial, technical, service or logistical, will be considered as co-operation in a terrorist act,” the Iranian parliament said.
Lawmakers also voted to bolster by £170m the coffers of the Quds Force – the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that was headed by Soleimani.
The bill was an amended version of a law adopted in April last year that declared the United States a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ and its forces in the region ‘terror groups’.
Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said that the blacklisting came after the US designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a ‘terrorist organisation’.
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Trump Vs Iran: A Wander Into Unprogressive Nigerian Mind By Rachel Onamusi
I haven’t written in a while and I feared work demands meant I had forever lost my creative writing nous to structured articles and professional pieces. Luckily, however, I’m Nigerian, and one can always rely on the fault in our stars to make one’s fingers fly over keyboards in disbelief again.
On January 3, many woke to the news that United States President, Donald Trump, had ordered an airstrike that killed a top Iranian commander, Qasem Soleimani, and a few others. The Nigerian Facebooksphere was filled with comments trying to weigh out the likely outcomes of this action because, of course, we are tired of judging our own issues. Really, what is there to say? We’ve entered the year 2020 that we were promised all sorts of positive development and today, our president, Muhammadu Buhari, was seen at a conference titled Nigeria 2050: Shifting Gears. More like shifting goalposts and deferring promises, but I digress.
Normally, I wait a couple of days for events like these to pass. With the exception of a few insightful pundits, I usually find many of these conversations have the depth of a teaspoon and as much use as a chocolate teapot. We are, after all, the same people who discussed at length the virtues of afang over oha soups when everyone knows the right answer is to put the kettle on for eba.
One particular post caught my eye, however, and is the muse for this piece. A friend wrote on his unease surrounding America’s decision and Iran’s reputation for being unforgiving. There were comments for and against the threat of retaliation for the murder of arguably the second most important man in Iran – some were flimsy, some were cogent.
But they are not my problem. There were three comments that caught my eye because they are symptomatic of wider, more endemic problems in our country:
The first comment: “That your analysis is strongly flawed is not my headache at all but the way you presented it. It’s childish and doesn’t make sense whatsoever to call a country’s president a child.”
The second: “Well! For Nigeria it “may” be good news. Oil prices”
And, the piece de resistance: “Trump my man. If one man own no spoil, another person own no go better. That’s life o. I pray present Nigerian Government will use whatever excess we make on something tangible that we will be able to point to o” and when she was reminded that “When the world loses an opportunity for peace or less bloody interventions and/or punitive measures, it is not a joking matter,” she responded with, “Hahahaha, guy chill o… no carry problem wey no be ya own for head. As I dey so, hakuna matata. The world itself wey crucify the Prince of Peace, abegi peace dey where it dey. O Lord, give me peace in my heart and keep me loving, but not as the world loveth biko. Las las, we go dey alright”.
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: Nigeria in a nutshell. The first comment was in response to the original poster referring to Trump’s action as childish. This feeble deflection from main issues for which the speaker has no real information or viable solutions is a plight that plagues many Nigerians. Talk about Buhari’s governance, and there are people who will tell you to respect his grey hair. When you talk about a sanctioned strike possibly causing more unrest and bloodshed, our people, world famous for leaving the substance and chasing the shadows, bemoan your referring to the US president as “That child”.
The second offensive conjecture is that the potential war could in any way affect Nigeria. Yes, the coffers may swell, as will agbadas and military garb the length and breadth of the country. Another dark spot in the Middle East will not add a single chair or desk to a classroom, a syringe to a hospital, or a kilowatt of electricity to our grids. Our darkness grows even as blood stains Eastern sands because people like the second writer will not channel their rhetoric towards what should work for Nigeria. And no, it is not bloodshed to shore up our oil prices.
The third is perhaps the most worrying and telling comment. A commenter proactively espousing evil on a country in the hopes that their misery will lead to ourupliftment. And when questioned on this, she immediately started talking about God, Nigeria’s eternal band-aid on the cancer of evil. This hypocritical position shows effectively how some people are happy to starve and beat house maids and spend hours in church. The cognitive dissonance shows how many of our leaders are unmoved by their inefficiency and the ever-plunging depths to which Nigeria is falling, but are devout practitioners of whatever faith they follow. Our culture teaches that it is okay to lack ideas, be short on solutions, have zero understanding of empathy, as long as you can call on a superior power.
A few days ago, a young man allegedly met with a “pastor” and together, they brutally murdered his girlfriend and made food and soap with her vital organs for the purposes of supernatural enrichment. The young man’s mother, who also partook of the macabre meals and baths, has a Facebook wall full of Christian service videos and Biblical quotes. Because priorities, thoughts shape ideas. Ideas shape actions. Consistent actions shape behaviour and this ultimately forms a nation’s collective ideology. So, if you want to work out what’s wrong with Nigeria, it might be worth starting with why we have people who know first-hand what suffering is, yet wish suffering on others for the sake of wealth that will not ultimately benefit them.
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