Protests
Lagos APC, PDP bicker over calls for governor’s resignation
The ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Lagos State says Babajide Sanwo-Olu remains undaunted and could not be distracted from delivering on his social contract with the people. Lagos APC spokesman Seye Oladejo said this while reacting to calls by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Sanwo-Olu to consider resignation in view of what PDP called “the collapse of good governance in the state, particularly in the last 10 days”. Oladejo said the PDP call is an invitation to anarchy, saying “the call for resignation remains the wish of a frustrated opposition battling its permanent implosion”. The dream of PDP to govern Lagos through the back door after persistent rejection at the polls remains a nightmare. Oladejo said that the fact that the wanton destruction of public propert...
French president says he ‘understands’ Muslims shock over Prophet Muhammad cartoons
French President Emmanuel Macron said he can understand why Muslims were shocked by caricatures depicting the prophet Muhammad. But in an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Saturday, he said he could never accept the issue being used to justify violence. “I understand and respect that we can be shocked by these caricatures,” Macron said. “I will never accept that we can justify physical violence for these caricatures and I will always defend in my country the freedom to say, to write, to think, to draw.” Tensions flared with some Muslim majority countries who have held anti-Macron protests and called for a boycott of French products after he publically promised France would not “renounce the caricatures”. Macron made the comments following the October 16 murder of French school teacher...
#EndSARS: No plan to dismiss police officers who fail to resume work – PSC
The Police Service Commission (PSC) says contrary to media reports, it has no plans to dismiss any police officer who fails to return to work after the #ENDSARS protests which turned violent following the hijack of the otherwise peaceful protests by hoodlums, leading to wanton looting as well as the destruction of lives and properties across the nation last week. Recall that near breakdown of law and order in some parts of the country last week led to the gruesome murder of 22 policemen with 26 others critically injured while a total of 205 police stations and formations were also attacked and razed by hoodlums who hijacked the protests. Many police officers across the country, fearing their lives and those of their families and loved ones, stayed away from their duty posts to avoid becomi...
Abia asks looters to return stolen medical equipment
Abia State Government has appealed to suspected hoodlums who looted the medical equipment at the Abia State Dental Center, Aba, and Primary Health Authority office in Aba South Local Government Area to return them within seven days. A statement by the Commissioner for Information in the state, Chief John Okiyi-Kalu, stated that the hoodlums who hijacked the otherwise peaceful #EndSARS protests took away vaccines, X-ray machines, sterilizers, air conditioners, fans, and other equipment as well as disposables and consumables carted away. The statement directed the looters to return the stolen items to the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health Matters, Mr Joe Chinwendu, with information on the location of the items. The statement read, “Kindly note that most of the Primary H...
Governor Bello: Disbandment of SARS dampened police morale
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has said the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force dampened the spirits of police officers across the country. The governor was reacting to the nationwide violence and looting by hoodlums in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests. Many Nigerians have wondered why rampaging hoodlums are having a field day destroying lives and properties in the country despite the presence of security operatives. There have been reports of hoodlums overpowering police officers to burn down police stations and other infrastructure they guard. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday which was monitored by newsmen, Bello explained that the pronouncement by the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, affected...
Hoodlums attack Complete Sports head office
Hoodlums on Sunday attacked the head office of Complete Sports newspapers in Okota, Lagos. This was made known in a statement by the Group Managing Director of the company, Dr Mumini Alao. The hoodlums capitalised on the curfew imposed by the Lagos State Government in the wake of the violence and looting that rocked the state in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests in the country, to carry out the attack. According to Alao, the suspected hoodlums forced their way into the company and ransacked the offices. “The hoodlums came very early on Sunday morning, October 25, 2020. They attacked our office security guards, tied them up, and proceeded to ransack several offices in the building,” Alao said. “Luckily for us, one of the guards escaped to raise the alarm, thus forcing the fleeing hoodl...
Nigeria seeks to halt looting amid fury over ‘food warehouses’
Nigerian security forces are struggling to contain increasing cases of looting on government-run warehouses across the country, in the latest incident of unrest following widespread, youth-led protests against police brutality. The storage facilities hold tonnes of relief materials including food meant for distribution during lockdowns previously enforced to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. While the distribution programme had been temporarily halted across several states in the country in recent months, it emerged this week relief items were still stored in some of these facilities, as well as the private homes of politicians. The news angered many in the country with the biggest number of people living in extreme poverty globally. “The food items belong to Nigerians. Why are the...
#EndSARS: Out-of-School children a future time bomb – Senator Okorocha
Rochas Foundation Former governor of Imo state and Senator representing Imo West in the National Assembly, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has described the violent twist to the #EndSARS protests as a wake up call to Nigerian leaders, expressing concern that Nigeria’s huge population of out-of-school children is another time-bomb waiting to explode in the future. At a news conference weekend in Abuja, Okorocha who was flanked by leaders of different socio-cultural and political groups from across the country said; “Today, we have millions of out of school children in the country, it is another time bomb for tomorrow. While the situation is getting under control, government and leaders must rise to their responsibilities to ensure that such occurrences do not happen again”. According to him, the os...
Luis Arce secures big victory in Bolivia election
The result, which was a vindication to Evo Morales’s MAS party, also gave majorities in both houses of Congress. Leftist leader Luis Arce has won a smashing victory in Bolivia’s presidential election, a final official vote count released on Friday shows, providing vindication for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party of overthrown President Evo Morales. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced Arce won 55 percent of the votes against six rivals on the ballot, easily avoiding the need for a runoff. The runner-up was centrist former President Carlos Mesa with just less than 29 percent. Conservative Luis Fernando Camacho, one of the leaders of the protest movement that helped drive Morales out of the country a year ago, received only 14 percent of the vote. MAS also won majorities in bot...
Heavy Culture: Musicians on Protests, Power, and the Pandemic
Clockwise from Upper Left: Skin, Rasheed Thomas, William DuVall, Cammie Gilbert, Elias Soriano, Militia Vox, AJ Channer, Prika Amaral Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their music. The latest installment of this column features multiple rock and metal musicians recounting their early experiences of racism. The year 2020 will go down as one of the most difficult and memorable in the history of the world. As a global pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the physical and economic health of countries across the world, protests for justice and equality have led to notable progress in the battle again...
Akwa Ibom council polls: Protests trail ‘imposition’ of candidates by PDP
File Photo A storm of protests has broken out in Akwa Ibom State over alleged imposition of unpopular candidates on the faithful by the hierarchy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The selection process of aspirants to fly the flag of the ruling PDP in the state has been dogged by alleged underhand dealings, fetish oath-taking, among other dubious means. Specifically, youth from Mbo and Urue Offong/Oruko local government areas of the state have spoken against the imposition of Chairmanship candidates on them. The youth in Mbo have questioned the rationale for picking the incumbent chairman, Asukwo Eyo for a second term when his record in the first term was nothing to write home about even as their counterparts in Urue Offng/Oruko also faulted the imposition of Mrs Precious Selong as th...
Black Father Of Three Anthony McClain Killed By Police During Traffic Stop
Source: MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images / Getty A community in Pasadena, California is demanding justice after local police fatally shot a Black man during a routine traffic stop that went horribly wrong. Blavity reports the incident took place Saturday evening when cops pulled over 32-year-old Anthony McClain and a driver who they suspected was in violation of a vehicle code. That’s cop code for “suspended license.” Police said the driver cooperated with authorities and was arrested on the scene, but McClain refused the search and fled into the street while in possession of a gun. This is where it gets tricky. According to police officials, McClain began to turn when the weapon became visible to the officer in pursuit. “Fearing for both his and the pu...
