Destruction
Lagos: Councillors suspend council chairman for ‘fraud’
The Chairman, Surulere Local Government, Lagos State, Tajudeen Ajide, has been suspended for alleged financial impropriety. This is according to a letter sent to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police by the nine councillors at the local government. The suspension, according to the councillors, is sequel to a resolution dated April 9, 2021 wherein a vote of no confidence was passed in Ajide. The names of the councillors include: Akande Barakat, Adebisi David, Fasasi Ajenifuja, Phillips Olubunmi, Otinwa Eric, Ijitola Oluwasegun, Ajala Ajibola, Kareem Abiodun and Kazeem Bello. They asked both the police commissioner and the area commander, Area C, to deploy policemen in the local government secretariat to prevent hoodlums from attacking them. The letter read in part, “We the undersigned by t...
US accuses Nigeria of significant human rights abuses
US Embassy in South Africa The United States has accusesd Nigeria of significant human rights abuses in its latest ‘’Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2020’’, released Wednesday by the Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour. In the report titled ‘’’Nigeria 2020 Human Rights Report, Executive Summary’’, the US accused Nigeria of ‘’significant’’ human rights abuses, which include: unlawful and arbitrary killings by both government and non-state actors; forced disappearances by the government, terrorists, and criminal groups; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government and terrorist groups; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions. The 102-page report also accused the federal government of ‘’arbitrary d...
Activist asks court to compel Kano, others to refund VAT generated from alcohol
An Abuja-based activist, Sesugh Akume, has filed a suit before a Federal High Court in the nation’s capital, asking it to compel states that outlawed the sale of alcohol to refund the sums received through Value Added Tax imposed on alcoholic beverages. About 12 states practise Sharia law in Nigeria. They are Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Zamfara and Niger. Based on Sharia law, some of the states prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages and usually hold public events where bottles of alcoholic drinks are destroyed while gambling is also illegal. However, all the states receive VAT collected from alcoholic beverages sold in other states that permit the sale of the product. In an originating motion brought pursuant to Section 1(3), 4(5), 162(3), (4...
Food blockade: AFAN blames institutional failure, inequity
The All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, Friday, blamed institutional failure for the blockade of foodstuff supply and transportation to Southern Nigeria as the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria, AUFCDN, embarked on the protest over factors militating against their business. Speaking with newsmen, National President, AFAN, Arc Ibrahim Kabir, said the whole issue boils down to poor discharge of constitutional duties by relevant government organisations that would have mitigated the plight of members of AUFCDN earlier, and such blockade of food supply would not have happened. Kabir said: “The situation arose principally due to institutional failure and inequity. The institutions saddled with maintaining national security must work properly so also those charge...
#EndSARS: Oba Akiolu accuses youths of stealing $2 million, N17 million from his palace during protests
Nigerian Ports Authority Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu has said that youths that invaded his palace during #EndSARS protests in October 2020 stole $2m and N17m from his palace. The monarch said the youths wouldn’t have committed the offence if they knew the implication of what they did. Akiolu said this during the commissioning of the Glover Hall Memorial in Lagos on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. It would be recalled that Akiolu’s palace at Iga Idunganran on Lagos Island was attacked by youths a day after soldiers shot at #EndSARS protesters at Lekki tollgate on Tuesday, October 20, 2020. The youths vandalised vehicles and carted away several artefacts including the monarch’s staff of office. Describing the destruction that followed the shooting of protesters as enormous, Akiolu said he had appe...
Gombe governor suspends Mai Tangale selection process
Gombe State governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has suspended all proceedings leading to the selection of a new traditional ruler of Tangale Chiefdom until peace is fully restored to the troubled area which has seen days of violent protests. This follows confirmation by the state’s commissioner of Police, Maikudi Shehu confirmed that three persons have been killed during the crises. The police commissioner who spoke when the governor led some members of the government on assessment tour of the destruction of lives and property in Billiri local council area said: “So far we have arrested 10 suspects and we are still counting. About three people died during the cause of incident.” Meanwhile, governor Inuwa Yahaya during statewide broadcast yesterday shortly after returning from Billiri that th...
Senator threatens to join kinsmen in self defence against Fulani herdsmen
Facebook Worried by the seeming helplessness of security agencies to stem the tide of incessant attacks of communities in Yewaland in Ogun State allegedly by Fulani herdsmen, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC-Lagos West) has threatened to join his kinsmen in self defence. The Senator, who made the threat in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, said his action in that direction is being fuelled by the inaction of both the Federal and Ogun State Governments to stop incessant attacks of communities in Yewaland by Fulani herdsmen. Adeola, in the statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Kayode Odunaro, said the latest of such attacks were the ones brazenly carried out in Yewa North, Imeko, Afon, Ipokia and Yewa South Local Government Areas two weeks ago, occasioning several deaths and destruction...
Police warn against unlawful gathering in Osun
The Police in Osun has warned against unlawful gathering or blocking of free-flow of traffic in the state. In a statement by the police spokesperson in the state, Yemisi Opalola, the police said it had information that some unscrupulous elements were planning to start an #EndSARS solidarity protest in the state. “The intelligence availed the command revealed that some unscrupulous elements are planning to embark on unlawful gathering, in solidarity with #EndSARS protesters elsewhere. “The commissioner of police has advised that this unlawful plan should be jettisoned. “He has warned that the command will not condone any act that will jeopardise the peace and tranquillity presently enjoyed in the state. “Note also that gathering of any sort now is unlawful and a violation of COVID-19 laws. ...
Oyo governor imposes curfew on Sasa over killings
Following the over 48 hours of killing and destruction of property at Sasa market, in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde has imposed a curfew on the area. Sunday Vanguard also learnt that the governor has shut the market indefinitely. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr Taiwo Adisa, on Saturday, indicated that the governor gave the order to forestall breakdown of law and order in the area. The curfew is to run from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. The statement warned residents of the affected area to go about their legitimate businesses peacefully, stating that anyone caught perpetrating violence will face the wrath of the law. The statement read: “His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde has directed the immediate closure of Shasha market in...
Nigerian Navy destroys 15 militant camps in Akwa Ibom, Rivers
Getty Images The Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Jubilee, in Ikot Abasi local government area of Akwa Ibom state, said it has destroyed 15 militants camps within its area of jurisdiction in Akwa Ibom and some parts of Rivers state. The Commander, NNS Jubilee, Commodore Abdulmajid Ibrahim, who disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday at the base in Ikot Abasi local government area, Akwa Ibom state said the militant camps were discovered and destroyed during its anti-piracy and anti-sea robbery operations. He stated that the destruction of the militants’ camps by the Nigerian Navy was made possible through the raid of some of the 1,800 creeks within its jurisdiction, adding that the joint patrol operations of the Navy and Nigeria Police have resulted in relative peace and security in the area as well a...
#ENDSARS: Group urges youths to end proposed protest in Lagos
The Committee of Youths on Mobilisation and Sensitisation (CYMS) has urged Nigerian youths to boycott the proposed protest in the interest of peace and socioeconomic stability that were affected after the 2020 “ENDSARS PROTEST”. The Lagos State coordinator, CYMS, Leonard Obasi, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Friday in Abuja. To counter the proposed Feb. 13 protest #OccupyLekkiTollGate at the tollgate plaza, some youths had announced a #DefendLagos rally to hold at the same venue. The plan to #OccupyLekkiTollGate came barely a day after the controversial ruling of the Lagos Judicial panel of inquiry to reopen the Lekki Tollgate. Obasi said that this has become compelling owing to reports of a planned protest by what he described as some self-centered elements who were he...
Armed herdsmen: Group calls on President Buhari to caution Bauchi governor
An Edo State-based civil society organisation, the Foundation for Good Governance and Social Change (FGGSC), has called on the Presidency to caution the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed, over a statement credited to him justifying bearing of arms by Fulani herdsmen to protect their cows. The group, faulting the comments of the governor, described it as ‘reckless, provocative, divisive and unbecoming of the status of a governor in a pluralistic society like Nigeria.’ Addressing journalists in Benin City, the Executive Director of FGGSC, Austin Osakue, said the situation in Nigeria was similar to what led to the 30 months civil war in the late 1960s that resulted in wanton destruction of lives and properties. ‘The statement opens the floodgates of self-help for Nigerians of other ethn...