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The police, for the second time, made no appearance at the ongoing public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions on the alleged killing of an auto mechanic and brutalisation of four others in Rivers State. At the commencement of the hearing on Thursday at room 429 New Building House of Representatives, the police were conspicuously absent when the matter was called. The police did not show up despite the formal invitation extended to the state’s police command in respect of the alleged torture of five young men and subsequent killing of one of them, Chima Ikwunado, by the Eagle Crack Squad led by Superintendent of Police, Benson Adetuyi in December 2019. The development prevented the committee from going ahead with the deliberation on the matter. Irked by the uncooperative attitude of the police in the matter, the Rivers State Civil Society Organisations, led by Enefaa Georgewill, who was also the petitioner, described the action as an attempt ...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday left Abuja for his hometown, Daura in Katsina State. He will be away from the seat of power for one week in what the Presidency described as a “private visit.” His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement titled “President Buhari in Daura on week-long private visit” said Buhari would undertake private engagements while in Daura. The presidential aide added that the President would also participate in the next Wednesday’s virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council from his hometown. The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari is in Daura, Katsina State for a week-long private visit. “The aircraft carrying the President from Abuja landed at 4:45 pm on Friday at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina where he was received by the Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, his deputy, Mannir Yakubu, senior government officials and the heads of security agencies in the state. “In Daura to rec...

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has decided to go into self-isolation immediately after one of his close aides tested positive for COVID-19. According to a statement by the state Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, the unnamed aide was said to have tested positive, making the governor decide to go into self-isolation from today, Friday. Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu The statement read, “This is not the first time the governor is taking the COVID-19 test. He has had at least three since May when he announced that 10 of his aides had tested positive for the virus. “Mr. Governor and other members of his team will be tested by the Lagos State biobank today but will remain in isolation until the results of the tests are available. “We see a slightly increasing number of COVID-19 positive cases in clusters in Lagos and all Lagosians should adhere to the prescribed advisories of safe distancing, good hand and respiratory...

Azu Ishiekwene When the news of the death of Diego Maradona broke, I was in a friend’s office. Our initial spontaneous reaction was sorrow and regret. And then we drifted, almost as if we had rehearsed it, to the next thing: who is football’s all-time greatest? Maradona or Pele? My friend wasted no time is declaring that for him, it is and always will be Maradona. He spoke about the Argentine’s prodigious talent, talked about his imagination and gushed, above all, about his artistry and genius. Maradona announced himself on the world stage with the World Youth Championship in 1979, where he claimed the Golden Ball for being the tournament’s best player at age 19. He scored a harvest of goals during that competition and topped it off with a virtuoso display in Argentina’s 3-1 win over the Soviet Union in the final match. Maradona’s performance at the World Youth Championship in 1979 left the national coach biting his nails in regret for judging him too young to play in the Worl...

The Delta State Police Command has arrested 103 suspects for various offences ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, child stealing and trafficking as well as unlawful possession of firearms. Parading the suspects on Thursday at the police headquarters, Asaba, the state Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Inuwa, noted that the suspects were arrested at various locations across the state following what he called “proactive and reactive crime preventive mechanisms put in place by his command.” Giving details for the several arrests from June till date, Inuwa disclosed that among the 103 suspects, 27 were arrested for armed robbery, 25 for cultism, 12 for kidnapping, 14 for unlawful possession of firearms, nine for arson, eight for stealing and trafficking while another eight were arrested for rape and defilement. According to the police boss in the state, items recovered from the suspects included seven AK-47 rifles, 142 AK-47 rifles 7.62mm ammunition, three explosives (dyn...

Bashir Mohammed Bape Kidnappers, who abducted a member of the Taraba State House of Assembly, Bashir Muhammed, have demanded N150 million ransom for his release. SaharaReporters gathered that Muhammed, who represents Nguroje constituency in the Sardauna Local Government Area of the state, was said to have been abducted in his residence in Jalingo on Wednesday. Bashir Mohammed Bape However, it was learnt that negotiation is still on between Muhammed’s family and the kidnappers. See Also Insecurity Gunmen Kidnap Taraba Lawmaker In His House 0 Comments 2 Days Ago According to Daily Trust, it was gathered that Muhammed pleaded with the leadership of Taraba House of Assembly and the state government to meet the demand of his abductors to save his life. Members of the Assembly, according to a source, have met with Governor Darius Ishaku over the issue. The outcome of the meeting is, however, not disclosed. Meanwhile, the state government has banned the use of motorcycle...

Chidi Odinkalu A former National Human Rights Commission Chairman, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sack the incompetent Service Chiefs shows that he cares about his regime from being toppled like in 1985, as against caring about Nigerians’ security. Odinkalu, a human rights activist, noted that the President had indicated that his government was not serious about tackling the worsening insecurity in the country. Chidi Odinkalu He stated these on Thursday when he appeared on an African Independent Television programme, monitored by SaharaReporters. The human rights activist says it is unfortunate that the president is busy outsourcing rather than take full responsibility for security issues.  He added that the constitution of the country is very clear on the primary responsibility of the president, which is the safety and security of the country and the people who live in it. He said, “But what has he done? He’s outsourcing, he outs...

Muhammadu Buhari The Peoples Democratic Party has said that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw his scheduled visit to the National Assembly is disgraceful. The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, stated this, noting that it was a sheer disappointment for a retired general of the Nigerian Army to be “afraid” to address the parliament on the issue of insecurity bedevilling the country. Muhammadu Buhari Secondus disclosed this at a media briefing to celebrate his third year in office, in Abuja, on Thursday, Punch reports. While discussing the party’s zoning arrangement in 2023, the party chairman said it was too early to debate that as the Governor Bala Mohammed-led committee was still reviewing issues responsible for PDP’s 2019 electoral defeat. Secondus said, “This back and forth from the President on a vital issue as security that is overwhelming our nation underscores our position as an opposition party that nobody is in charge and that this is a brok...

The Lagos Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested one Williams Ogwezi, also known as Dr Williams, for parading himself as an official of the commission to defraud his unsuspecting victims. He was apprehended with fake EFCC identity cards and those of other law enforcement agencies. The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed in a statement in Abuja, on Thursday, that Ogwezi was arrested in Lagos, following a report from the Nigeria Police Area Command, Ajah, Lagos. Uwujaren said, “Investigation revealed that the suspect had defrauded one of his victims, a lady, of jewellery valued at N10million before his arrest. The suspect confessed to the crime in his confessional statement to the EFCC. “Items recovered from him at the point of arrest included an identity card with the inscription of EFCC; EFCC face masks, three laptops, three mobile phones and two vehicles (Lexus and Hyundai Genesis).”  Corruption PUB...

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has flayed the Nigerian Army over the demotion of General Olusegun Adeniyi, by a rank. Adeniyi had in March, in a viral video, revealed that troops fighting Boko Haram terrorists lacked weapons and credible intelligence need for their mission. The video sparked outrage in the country and piled renewed pressure on the government to end insurgency in the country. The court-martial, however, found  Major General guilty of ‘producing and publicizing a video on the counter-insurgency operation in the North-East in a manner that embarrassed and ridiculed the armed forces of Nigeria’. But SMBLF in a statement signed by Chief Guy Ikokwu (South East), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-South), Isuwa Dogo (Middle Belt), and Yinka Odumakin (South West) wondered why the rule used to punish Adeniyi was relaxed against some Northern Muslim officers, who were accused of giving out the routes of soldiers, who were brutally murdered over two ...

Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai The Kaduna State Government has issued a demolition notice to all the traders and people operating in Kakuri Market square in the Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State. SaharaReporters reliably gathered that two persons had collapsed and fainted after receiving the notice to leave which was pasted at the market on Thursday. Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai The notice of vacation from the market facilities was issued and pasted on the market streets by officials from the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority. All efforts to clarify from the state police command failed as the police Spokesman, Muhammad Jalige, was unable to answer his calls. Also when contacted, an official of the market, identified only as Mr Omale, refused to comment on the issue. The Kaduna government, under Governor Nasir el-Rufai, has carried out the same demolition exercise in several communities in the state including ...

John Dramani Mahama Ghana’s opposition candidate, John Mahama, on Thursday rejected as “fraudulent” the results of the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections in which President Nana Akufo-Addo won a second term.  Challenging election results could test the stability of the West African nation, where previous electoral grievances have been pursued through the courts, AFP reports. John Dramani Mahama Francis Osei-Owusu / National Democratic Congress / Reuters A day earlier, the electoral commission said that Akufo-Addo had won 51.59 percent of the vote on Monday, ahead of Mahama with 47.36 per cent.  But Mahama rejected those numbers. “I stand before you tonight unwilling to accept the fictionalised results of a flawed election,” he told a news conference.  “We will take all legitimate steps to reverse this tragedy of justice.” The 62-year-old claimed that “numerous steps have been taken to manipulate the results of the election in favour of the inc...

Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka A spokesman for Enugu Catholic Priest, Mr. Maximus Ugwoke, has doubted if the BBC story of an alleged beating of its journalists in Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka’s compound was true.  SaharaReporters had gathered that two BBC journalists were attacked on the orders of Mbaka in Enugu on Thursday. Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka Ugwoke told Vanguard on Thursday evening that he just learnt about the development but has not heard from Mbaka.  He, however, said: “I doubt if it’s true. Fr couldn’t have done that kind of a thing. Is this the first time he granted interviews to journalists?”  See Also Journalism Father Mbaka Ordered His Boys To Seize Our Gadgets And Beat Us—BBC Journalists In Enugu 0 Comments 17 Hours Ago BBC, in its report, alleged that it’s three crew members were on Wednesday assaulted by people in Mbaka’s house and under his supervision.  BBC head of Igbo service, Adline Okere, however, insisted the story is true.  ...