Senate President Ahmad Lawan has warned that Nigeria may not escape another mass demonstration in the mode of #EndSARS protest if the Federal Government fails to effectively address youth unemployment. Lawan gave the warning in Abuja yesterday at the 2021 budget defence of the Ministry of Agriculture. He urged the government to take practical steps in its 2021 budget to meaningfully engage the youths. “Our budget, especially for 2021, should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths. “They demonstrated. They protested because they could do so. There are so many other people who may not be youthful but are also in the same need and they didn’t protest. “Let’s meet them where they are. We don’t have to wait until they also try to grumble or protest. We sho...
No fewer than 15 armed policemen arrested a promoter of the #EndSARS protest, Eromosele Adene, after invading his apartment on Adeleke Street, in the Allen area of Ikeja, Lagos State, on Saturday. PUNCH Metro gathered that a protest had been slated to hold at the Allen Junction in Ikeja when the policemen besieged Eromosele’s house and whisked him away. His sister, Florence, who spoke to newsmen on Sunday, said one of the policemen deceived her by claiming that he had a parcel to deliver to their father around 7am on Saturday. “When I met them, they told me that they were actually looking for my brother and instructed me to take them to our house, but I refused. They said they did a business with him and sent money to his Zenith Bank’s account but the commodity was not delivered. I told th...
Ohanaeze Ndigbo youths have urged the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, and security agencies to treat the unrest in Oyigbo local government area of the state with caution in order not to give the peaceful #EndSARS protest an ethnic coloration and endanger the lives of innocent Igbo people. The South South Coordinator of Ohanaeze Youth Wing, Chief Chinedu Arthur-Ugwa, gave the warning while speaking with newsmen in Yenagoa on Friday over the crisis in the area arising from EndSARS peaceful protest. He however condemned the alleged attacked on the Igbos in the area, saying the EndSARS protest was not a tribal affair but genuine agitation by Nigerian youths. Arthur-Ugwa who also decried the vandalization of state and privately owned properties in Rivers State, regretting that the peaceful ...
The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation led by Rep. Nnolim Nnaji on Thursday refused to hold a budget session with the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, and heads of the sector’s agencies. The infuriated lawmakers, said the won’t treat their budget, because they failed to present their 2021 proposals ahead of the scheduled date for defence. Ministries and heads of agencies, are customarily required to lay their proposals, days before the scheduled dates for defences. The chairman Nnaji in his opening remarks at the scheduled budget meeting with the Minister and the chief executives of the agencies, frowned at the failure of the Ministry to forward the documents as earlier request by the Committee. “Honourable Minister, I don’t know how you expect us to continue this meetin...
Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers says his administration will replace all the properties allegedly destroyed by members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) during the #EndSARS protest in parts of Rivers. Wike, who made this known on Monday in a statement by his Media Aide, Mr Kelvin Ebiri, expressed regrets that the damage done during the protest left a huge financial burden on the state. Speaking during a live television programme in Port Harcourt, Wike said IPOB members killed six soldiers, four policemen and destroyed all police stations and court buildings there’’, restating that the State government will compensate each family of the killed security personnel with N20 million. The governor also described the allegation that he ordered the Nigerian Army to kill Igbos in Oyi...
Gov. Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State on Monday described the killing of policemen by protesters in some parts of the country as evil. El-Rufai, who spoke to newsmen in Kaduna after the meeting of the Northern Governors Forum and traditional rulers as well as other key stakeholders in the region, said that the police must be supported to discharge their duties. He said that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had briefed the meeting on the #EndSARS protest and its aftermath. “We support the police, we believe that there may be some bad eggs in the police just as there are bad eggs in any organisation, but it is no excuse to destroy or kill policemen. “We hope to expand the footprints and the effectiveness of the Nigerian police in accordance with their mandate. “We have discusse...
The Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN), a body of journalists covering the security beat nationwide, has commiserated with the Inspector-General of Police Mr Mohammed Adamu, the entire Nigeria Police Force and Nigerians on their loss during the EndSARS protest. CRAN has described as unfortunate the loss of both human and material resources during the period of violence as a result of #EndSARS protest hijacked by hoodlums. In a statement, signed by Chairman, Public Communications and Ethics Committee, Mr Emmanuel Edom, he noted that ”Like all right thinking members of the society, CRAN strongly frowns at police brutality, but also notes that the unethical actions and inactions of a few should not be the yardstick to measure the entire force. We outrightly condemn the widespread k...