Allegations
Northern governors hail release of abducted Kankara schoolboys
The Northern Governors Forum has welcomed with excitement the release of the abducted students of Government Science School Kankara, Katsina State. Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong while reacting to the development, commended President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Aminu Masari, security agencies, community leaders and all stakeholders who contributed in making sure the school boys were released unharmed. He said the release of the students will comfort and assuage the parents and the entire country which has been agonized since the children were kidnapped. Lalong said with the release of the students, further measures must be put in place to ensure that this ugly incident does not occur again while thorough investigation should also carried out to ensure...
Pinterest overhauls harassment policy following discrimination complaints
A five-month investigation into Pinterest’s company culture published on Wednesday recommends broad changes to how the firm handles workplace conflicts, including harassment and retaliation. Produced by the law firm WilmerHale, the report details how the company can improve its workplace conditions and prevent discrimination, specifically recommending the creation of an internal ombudsman’s office that can field employee complaints. The law firm spoke with 350 current and former Pinterest employees over the course of its five-month investigation. Pinterest’s board has already unanimously voted to adopt the recommendations, which were shared with employees on Wednesday and posted publicly on the company’s website. In recent months, a number of Pinterest employees have come forward with comp...
Governor Ganduje: Ex-President Jonathan right to sack Lamido Sanusi as CBN governor
Kano State governor Umar Ganduje said he is in support of former Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to sack Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as governor of Central Bank of Nigeria in 2014. Ganduje said this at the launching of a book on Jonathan written by journalist Bonaventure Philips Melah in Abuja. “Jonathan took a bold step in sacking Sanusi as CBN Governor, which created bad blood in certain circles,” Ganduje said. “When Sanusi said $49 billion was lost in Jonathan’s government, I said in my mind that No, you could have discussed with him (Jonathan) privately. “You (Sanusi) could have given him this clue and then he would know how to investigate even before those who had stolen the money would find a way of hiding the money.” Jonathan in April 2014 sacked Sanusi as CBN governor over ...
Justice Tsoho: Why court froze #EndSARS promoters’ bank accounts
The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, on Tuesday said that contrary to the belief in some quarters that the court intentionally froze the accounts of #Endsars promoters, it only played its part as an interpreter of the law. The CJ noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria had approached the court to ask for an order freezing certain accounts of corporate bodies and names of individuals over suspicion bordering on alleged money laundering. He however stated that the CBN did not attach any names to the applications. Justice Tsoho, spoke at the opening of the 2020/2021 legal year, Abuja on Tuesday. He noted that CBN’s request came about three months before the ENDSARS protest. The CJ was reacting to the speech by the chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumid...
Shiites call for release of Sheikh Ibraheem el-Zakzaky
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiites, have called for unconditional release of their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, along with those still in detention. Recalled that the convoy of Army Chief of Staff, Lt. General Yusuf Buratai had clashed with members of IMN in Zaria on December 12, 2015, leading to death of several persons on the fateful day. Sheikh Zakzaky and his wife and some Shiites have been detention, and undergoing court trial since the incident happened. In a statement on Sunday by the IMN media Spokesperson, Ibrahim Musa to mark the 5th anniversary of the Zaria killings, it noted that five years in detention amounted to systematic oppression of Zakzaky and other members of the Movement. “As we mark the fifth anniversary of this Zaria Genocide Memori...
Pastor Adigun: I went against sexual purity I preach
Pastor Timi Adigun of The Ark Church and the coordinator of MINE Teenage Ministry has admitted being involved in ‘inappropriate behaviour’ with females in his church over a couple of years. Adigun who apologized on his social media page 48 hours after the sexual allegations went viral, however, said he had ‘no sexual intercourse’ with any of the ladies and none of them was underaged. Mr Adigun, 35, is the editor of MINE Magazine – a free Christian teenage magazine that preaches sexual purity. Several posts surfaced online accusing Mr Adigun of sexcapades with teenage girls under his mentorship and tutelage. In his apology, the clergyman admitted that he behaved in an appropriate manner with some of the females whom he has apologized to. He wrote: “My name is Timi Adigun. I have been called...
Egyptian rights group head hopes release will help other prisoners
The head of a leading Egyptian human rights group who was held for two weeks on terrorism charges said Saturday he hoped the campaign to secure his release would help others still jailed on similar Allegations. Activists saw the detention last month of Gasser Abdel Razek, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), and two of the group’s other staff, as the latest escalation of a broad crackdown on political dissent under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Egypt’s foreign ministry had said EIPR was operating illegally, an accusation the group denies. There has been no official statement from public prosecutors since Abdel Razek’s release, and officials could not be reached for comment. The arrests, which came after EIPR hosted a briefing on human rights for 13 s...
Senate threatens labour ministers over absence at hearing
The Senate Committee on Local Content has threatened to sanction the Ministers of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and Festus Keyamo, over their failure to appear at an investigative hearing on diving operations in the oil and gas industry. It also threatened to sanction the managing directors of international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria for the same reason. The IOCs MDs include ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron. The chairman of the committee, Teslim Folarin, said this at the hearing on Thursday after they all failed to show up for the event which was meant to review the challenges experienced by diving operators in the sector. The invitation followed a debate on a motion on the urgent need to ensure strict compliance with statutory regulations and provisions on Nigerian diving sector. P...
Lagos bye-election: APC, PDP bicker over ‘vote buying’
File Photo Ahead of forthcoming Lagos East Senatorial District bye-election that will hold on December 5, both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State have engaged each other on allegations of voting buying. In a separate statements by the parties, both APC and PDP raised the alarm of attempt to buy vote on the date fixed for the poll.While some residents of the senatorial district have also collaborated the claim’s of APC, alleging that PDP has perfected plan to buy vote with N5, 000 each. The concerned residents who were in different area of senatorial district asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria Police and other security agencies to be at alert, warning that they would resist any plot to undermine the pro...
Man paraded naked as punishment for Facebook post
Police have arrested five brothers after a man was paraded naked in the streets allegedly in punishment for a social media post. India Police spokesman, Hirendra Chaudhary, said the 38-year-old victim was kidnapped on Tuesday by the brothers, assaulted and made to walk 45 minutes around the western town of Khambhaliya with no clothes on. “An investigation revealed that the victim… used to do Facebook live videos on regular basis. “On Sunday, in a Facebook Live video (the man) made serious allegations against the five brothers and claimed that they were involved in criminal activities”, Chaudhary said The brothers were charged with illegal confinement, assault, use of criminal force with intent to dishonour person, criminal conspiracy, obscenity, and other offences. Local police said that t...
Chinese embassy says Australia ‘misread’ offending social media post
China’s embassy in Australia said politicians there had “misread” a tweet showing a digitally-altered image of an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child, and were trying to stoke nationalism. Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday called the tweet posted by China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, “truly repugnant”, and called for an apology. On Tuesday the tweet was pinned to the top of Zhao’s social media account, and China’s Global Times newspaper, known for nationalistic views, interviewed the Chinese artist who created the image. “The rage and roar of some Australian politicians and media is nothing but misreading of and overreaction to Mr Zhao’s tweet,” the Chinese embassy in Canberra said in a statement on Tuesday. Australia...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...