A certain Omeli Humphery Darlington has submitted a petition to the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry against the Nigeria Police Force on how he was brutalised and assaulted in 2013.
Darlington explained to the panel how he was wrongly accused by his company, First Bank of Nigeria, arrested and tortured for days.
He stated that his ear drum had been damaged as a result of the torture by the police officers.
He said, “This allegation was a crime I know nothing about as all evidences clearly points to those involved. But First Bank Of Nigeria Plc had to instigate the Nigeria Police Force to subject me to (11days) illegal detention with torture, without any form of fair hearing till date.
“At first, (25/09/2013), I was taken to the Lion Building Police Station where I was detained for three days.
“I was discharged on the third day 27/09/2013, but on my way home, some of the First Bank Head Office Security Operatives ( 1. a MOPOL, 2. a spy police, 3. Mr. Okon, 4. Mr. Abidemi) kidnapped me, blindfolded me, and beat me up with different objects within reach. The Mobile Police man with them kept hitting my head with the butt of his gun till blood started gushing out from both sides of my ears.
“They tried to kill me so that it would look like I got lost on my way home but God intervened by using other citizens to rescue me (witnesses).
“The people who rescued me insisted that I should be taken to a nearby police station which happened to be the Ikoyi Police Station on the Lagos Island.
“Everyone joined to Ikoyi station where the masses handed me over to the police with the hope that I was safe but when we got inside, these set of First Bank operatives instructed the police to torture me to admit to a crime I know nothing about.
“The Ikoyi police officers (INSP. Adeleye Bashiru and his boys) proceeded to torture me that night based on the report made by First Bank Security operatives that I was a fraudster and a criminal who defrauded the bank of N355m.
“The officers tortured me by using iron rods to beat me on my joints saying I should take them to where I kept the money.
“Iron was inserted into my private part until i could no longer bear the pains and fainted.”
He stated that the torture continued in the cell for seven days before the police eventually charged him to court on false charges.
He said he was arraigned before Mrs A.T Omoyele of Tinubu Senior Magistrate Court (II), Lagos, on charges of stealing, conspiracy and forgery without presenting an evidence before the court.
“I could not perfect my bail and had to be remanded at the Ikoyi Prison all through the period till I finish disposing my properties just to meet my bail conditions.
“My ear drum was damaged along the line from beating by the police (doctor’s report attached) and I kept going to court till (24/02/2014) when the case against me was finally struck out for lack of diligent prosecution.
“It will interest you to know that I won a N500,000 judgment against the police in the rnforcement of my fundamental human rights suit I filled against the police and First Bank after my release. Unfortunately, the police in keeping with their position to deal with me has blatantly refused to pay the judgement debt till date,” he added.
Darlington prayed the judicial panel to order the police to pay the sum awarded to him and other compensation to enable him have proper medical treatment as his health condition had degenerated.
A NON-EXISTING journalism institute, International Institute for Investigative Journalism (IIIJ), has faulted the investigative report done by the US-based news giant, Cable News Network (CNN) on the October 20 shooting at the Lekki Toll gate in Lagos.
A report that has been widely shared on social media claimed that IIIJ, which did not exist until 24 hours ago, issued a press statement saying CNN report was “poor” hatchet job targeted at the Nigerian Army.
In an electronic statement signed by, Francois Deburoiche, its special rapporteur on Wednesday, the IIIJ said it came to this conclusion following a careful investigation on the events that led to the escalation of violence at the toll gate.
Checks by The ICIR however, showed that Francois Deburoiche is a pseudonym and the only reference to that name on the internet is in the press statement issued.
Also, the body that is supposedly international has no digital footprint on the internet- it has no website, nor any social media accounts such as Twitter and Facebook to identify them with.
Further checks by The ICIR revealed that an account associated with the ruling party in Nigeria, the All Progressive Congress (APC), on Twitter shared the report published by The Daily Sun newspaper from the press statement issued by the non-existing journalism institute, a report that was later deleted on the website of the newspaper due to lack of verification.
In a phone conversation with an official of Daily Sun newspaper who declined to be named, it was confirmed to The ICIR that the report was pulled down due to lack of verification of source of the press statement.
“We pulled the story down because there were no fact and the reporter will receive a query for the report,” Daily Sun disclosed to The ICIR.
The report that has been widely shared on both Facebook and Twitter was also published by some bloggers and media outlets online.
Tribune Online, a Nigerian newspaper also published the unverified report condemning CNN’s report on Lekki shootings and as at the time of filling this report, the story is no more on the website.
Meanwhile, Nigerians on social media have also doubted the existence of the group that faulted CNN’s report.
A Facebook user identified as Abdul Jimoh, ” Tuale to the International Institute for Investigative Journalism for rubbishing the CNN in the eyes of the international community.”
Abdul in the post, demanded for IIIJ’s office and the investigative reports they’ve done in the past.
A Twitter user identified as Leon Ikechukwu said in response to APC Support tweet on the IIIJ press statement, “Used Google, Bing, and Duck Duck Go, and I never saw anything relating to an International Institute of Investigative Journalism. This is quite shameful, that you guys would have to resort to fiction to drive your agenda.”
From the reports gathered by The ICIR and checks online, we can say authoritatively that the International Institute for Investigative Journalism (IIIJ), does not exist and the press statement issued is fake.
Riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas in clashes Thursday with football fans near the wake for Argentine football legend Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires.
Officials earlier ordered Maradona’s coffin to be moved to another room inside the presidential palace after fans took over an inner courtyard and disrupted his lying in state.
The government had early announced a three-hour extension to the wake to allow time for thousands of fans to pay their respects.
Tens of thousands of people had queued from early morning to file past the star’s coffin, draped in the Argentine flag and the player’s No.10 jersey, at the presidential palace.
Many of the mourners were in tears, and some wore replicas of the World Cup winner’s jersey as they gathered at the Casa Rosada palace to see his coffin.
But as the day wore on, fans queueing outside the palace grew increasingly impatient and some took over a courtyard inside the palace, where they chanted slogans.
Officials moved Maradona’s coffin to another room as a security precaution, a government source told AFP.
At the same time, riot police clashed with stone-throwing fans on streets around the palace, and several people were arrested.
Maradona died of a heart attack on Wednesday while recovering from surgery earlier this month to remove a blood clot on his brain.
He was to be buried later Thursday at the Jardin de Paz cemetery on the outskirts of the Argentine capital, where his parents were also laid to rest, his spokesman Sebastian Sanchi told AFP.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, on Thursday lamented the high rate of insecurity in the North, saying it was the worst place in the country to live.
The Sultan, who stated this at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Abuja, said bandits were fast overrunning the North as residents slept with their eyes open.
The meeting had as its theme, ‘Questioning for peace in the challenges of insecurity and COVID-19’
While describing the North as the worst place to live, he said that bandits had become daring.
He said they moved from house to house, village to village, market to market, with AK-47 rifles openly, purchasing foodstuffs and other items and even collecting change without any challenge from the security agencies.
The foremost traditional ruler stated that the security system in the North had completely collapsed.
He said, “Security situation in Northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation. Few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there with the governor to commiserate with the affected community.
“Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the North. We have accepted the fact that the North does not have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.
“People think North is safe but that assumption is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country because bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is challenging them.
“They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts, I know because I am at the centre of it.
“I am not only a traditional ruler, I am also a religious leader. So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the North in this regard because I am fully aware of the security challenges there. We have to sincerely and seriously find solutions to the problem, otherwise, we will find ourselves soon, in a situation where we would lose sleep because of insecurity.”
The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Ignatius Kaigama, outlined a code of conduct for both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
He said, “We Christians and Muslims must avoid imposing our religious views on others or denying them public amenities, jobs or influential positions because they don’t belong to our faith.
“Merit, not the vigour of our religious piety or affiliation should determine all we do or get in this country. We should not unjustly or corruptly deprive others of their rights, not to talk of wounding or killing anyone for economic or partisan political interests or because of blind religious zeal.
“It is preposterous that Nigerians clamouring for their rights and privileges from government would turn their anger on religious institutions by attacking Churches and Mosques, instigating Christians and Muslims to turn against one another or to destroy public amenities and infrastructure.
“We understand that the budget for national and state security is huge. Let us not deceive ourselves that the bigger the budget the more peace will flow. Weapons don’t bring peace.
What we need is a change of attitude, a conversion of heart; an objective appraisal of the religious or ethnic indoctrination we perhaps were subjected to in schools or at home. If we are only propelled by religious interests that exclude others we shall always remain in chaos and darkness.
The President, Christian Association of Nigeria and co-Chairman of NIREC, Dr Samson Ayokunle, while thanking God for saving the nation from the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to other countries, urged government to always tackle problem before it degenerated.
He asked the government to quickly reverse the recent decision to hike the price of electricity and fuel.
Ayokunle said, “That’s not what we send them to do for us. The decision, evidently, has added to our pains and they should reverse it as quickly as possible.
“The development that led to #EndSARS protest was quite unfortunate, and one of that development is police brutality which ought to be addressed before now.
“We have never witnessed such a mass action in Nigeria before. People were frustrated and because those in power didn’t respond appropriately until it degenerated to that level.
“But attributing the actions of the angry youths to a particular religion or ethnic group is insincere and unsafe. No religious group was exempted from the effect of the protest. The action was a spontaneous action that cannot be attributed to any religion or ethnic group.”
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, regretted that the nation was still faced with insecurity despite the government’s efforts.
“Today, despite all efforts including the deployment of enormous resources, our country still faces a measure of insecurity which is impacting negatively on our economy, social life, education of children and young persons, investment and remains a threat to lives and livelihood,” he said.
President Donald Trump said Thursday for the first time that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden is officially confirmed the winner of the US election, even as he railed against the “rigged” vote.
Trump has made an unprecedented attempt to defy the results of the election by refusing to concede, spreading wild theories about stolen ballots and launching baseless legal challenges that have been thrown out by courts.
Answering his first questions from reporters since the November 3 vote, the president moved closer to accepting that he would serve only one term in office before Biden is inaugurated on January 20.
When asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s victory, Trump said, “Certainly I will. And you know that.”
But “if they do, they made a mistake,” he said, adding, “It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede.”
“I think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and (January) 20th,” he said.
The Electoral College, which determines the White House winner, will meet on December 14 to certify Biden’s victory, with Biden receiving 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
“This election was a fraud,” Trump said, again without providing any evidence during his remarks to reporters at the White House after he spoke to military personnel via video-link on the Thanksgiving holiday.
He described the US voting infrastructure as “like a third-world country.”
Earlier in the day he tweeted that “this was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION,” while on Wednesday he called on his Republican supporters “to turn the election over.”
– No proof of fraud –
President-elect Biden has said that Americans “won’t stand” for attempts to derail the vote outcome, and urged for Americans to unite to fight the worsening pandemic.
More than 260,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19, with daily death tolls surging to 2,000 on recent days.
Trump’s refusal to concede the election to Biden has added to the countless norms he has torn up during his four years in power.
Supporters suggest he is already eyeing a run for president in 2024.
Trump, 74, is alleging — among other conspiracy theories — that voting machines deliberately deleted millions of his votes, though the government election security agency declared it “the most secure” election in US history.
Under pressure from some senior Republicans, Trump this week ended his blockade of government assistance to ease Biden’s preparation for assuming the presidency.
Trump said Thursday he would soon travel to Georgia to campaign ahead of two key runoff elections that will decide which party controls the Senate.
Biden, 78, this week introduced a slate of veteran diplomats and policy-makers who will make up his national security and foreign policy team, saying: “America is back, ready to lead the world.”
He said that in his first 100 days in office, he would tackle the Covid crisis, scrap Trump policies “damaging” the environment and push legislation offering millions of undocumented US residents a route to citizenship.
Isreal Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon in Ose local government area of Ondo state, has been shot dead.
Tee-Leo Ikoro, police public relations officer in Ondo, confirmed the tragic incident to TheCable on Thursday.
He said Adeusi was on his way from a meeting in Akure, the state capital, when he was attacked.
TheCable gathered that the monarch was returning from a meeting of the council of obas when the tragic incident occurred.
He was said to have been shot at Elegbeka, a few kilometers from Owo town, and later rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Owo, where he died.
The news of the monarch’s death broke hours after report of an attack on a branch of a commercial bank in Ode-Irele, headquarters of Irele local government area of Ondo.
The gunmen invaded the bank, which is located along Akure-Ado Ekiti expressway, around 4:10pm and started shooting sporadically,
According to a witness, the robbery operation lasted for over 50 minutes without any interruption from security agents.
The source said one person was killed in the attack.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he had pardoned Michael Flynn, the former security advisor whose lies about his Russian contacts spurred the troubling investigation into Trump campaign collusion with Moscow.
The pardon, which was expected, came in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency, two years of which was spent fighting the allegations that Trump had overseen and sought to cover up a dangerous scheme of cooperation with Russia.
It was the first of several possible pardons that analysts think Trump could extend to political aides and allies before he steps down on January 20.
Those could include former 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort, also convicted in the Russia collusion investigation, Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former advisor Steve Bannon, and Roger Stone, whose prison sentence for lying and witness tampering the president already commuted.
‘Innocent Man’?
Thursday’s announcement helped Flynn avoid a potential prison sentence being weighed in a Washington federal court.
It also appeared to bring to a close the last case arising from special counsel Robert Mueller’s sprawling 2017-2019 investigation of the Trump campaign, which saw six campaign associates plead guilty or be convicted at trial.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Trump tweeted.
He wished the retired army lieutenant general a “truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” holiday.
In a broader statement, the White House said the pardon brings “an end the relentless, partisan pursuit of an innocent man.”
The statement said the investigation into Flynn was part of “a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016” and to “undermine (Trump’s) administration at every turn.”
Secret Calls With Russians
Flynn was initially targeted in an FBI counterintelligence investigation over secret phone calls with the Russian ambassador to the United States in December 2016, after Trump’s election victory but before he took office.
In one key phone call Flynn sought to undermine the impact of sanctions and expulsions announced by then-president Barack Obama against Moscow for its interference in the 2016 election.
Coupled with Flynn having taken significant sums of money over the previous two years for appearances with Russian companies — including one in which he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow gala — US investigators were concerned that Trump’s top national security aide may be vulnerable to compromise.
He was forced to resign as Trump’s national security advisor in February 2017, less than four weeks into the administration.
Trump’s efforts to defend and protect Flynn led to the naming of an independent counsel, Robert Mueller, whose investigation into both collusion and obstruction of justice clouded the first half of Trump’s tenure in office.
In late 2017 Flynn reached a deal with investigators and pleaded guilty, twice, to lying to FBI agents, avoiding heftier charges tied to his allegedly illegal lobbying for Turkey.
But after Flynn’s trial exposed some missteps by the FBI and investigators, Trump and his supporters said it was evidence that the entire Mueller probe was politically tainted, Trump labelling it a “witch hunt.”
Just as he faced a light sentence of possibly weeks in jail, the former Pentagon intelligence chief did an about-face last year, seeking to withdraw his plea.
Then, in a bizarre series of events that raised charges of political interference, Attorney General Bill Barr, the Trump-picked head of the Justice Department, overrode his own prosecutors to try and drop the case entirely.
The federal judge in the case rejected that move, and the two sides continued to battle in court.
Democrats Outraged
Democrats expressed outrage at Flynn’s pardon.
“Trump has once again abused the pardon power to reward Michael Flynn, who chose loyalty to Trump over loyalty to his country,” said Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee which also investigated Russian collusion.
“Flynn lied to the FBI about his communications with the Russians — efforts which undermined US foreign policy after sanctions were imposed on Russia for interfering in our elections,” he said.
“A pardon by Trump does not erase that truth, no matter how Trump and his allies try to suggest otherwise.”
Sudan’s former Prime Minister and top opposition figure Sadiq al-Mahdi has died from a coronavirus infection, his party said.
The 84-year-old, Sudan’s last democratically elected prime minister, died on Thursday, said the moderate Islamist National Umma Party.
Mahdi was transferred to the United Arab Emirates for treatment three weeks ago after being hospitalised in Sudan and testing positive for Covid-19.
“We offer our condolences to the Sudanese people over his death,” the party said in a statement.
The government on Friday declared three days of national mourning for the former premier.
Sudan has recorded nearly 17,000 coronavirus cases including more than 1,200 deaths.
Mahdi was toppled in 1989 by now-ousted president Omar al-Bashir in an Islamist-backed military coup.
He was a staunch opposition figure during Bashir’s long rule and threw his weight behind a mass protest movement that eventually prompted the military to overthrow the president last year.
Since his ouster, Bashir has been jailed in Khartoum’s high-security Kober prison and was found guilty last December of corruption.
He is currently on trial in Khartoum for his role in the 1989 coup that brought him to power and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has charged him with alleged war crimes in the Darfur war that began in 2003.
If convicted, Bashir and his co-accused — including former top officials — could face the death penalty.
A four-year-old girl, Ugochi Nwosu Christian, who was born on February 12, 2016 in India and her parent, Tochukwu and Olivia Nwosu Christian, are among 40 Nigerians the Mandideep Police Station, Raisen District of the State of Mandya Pradesh filed First Information Respondent and a Look-Out Circular against, documents seen by SaharaReporters have showed.
Look-Out Circular is synonymous with the Interpol Red Alert.
This means none of the accused persons can leave India without being arrested at the airport or any of the country’s borders.
It was gathered that three of the accused individuals have already been arrested at various airports in India and are currently being held in jail without trial.
One of them, Steve Egbo from Edo State, who approached the Delhi Immigration office to get proper documents to visit his family in Nigeria, was sent to a deportation camp in South-West Delhi and later arrested on 6th of April 2019.
Egbo was shackled from New Delhi to Sub-jail in Goharganj Village, a remote area in Raising district in the state of Mandya Pradesh, and has been in detention for 19 months without trial.
Another accused on the list identified as Osahon, also from Edo State, was arrested on March 1, 2020 at Mumbai International Airport en-route Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
He was sent to Andhery Police station in Mumbai before he was shackled from Mumbai to Sub-jail in Goharganj Village where he has been detained without trial.
The third accused currently in custody is one Osamuyimen Gaius Obasogie, who is from Edo State.
He was arrested at Indira Ghandi International Airport in New Delhi en-route Nigeria on 12th October 2020.
He was shackled by a team of Policemen from Koh-e-fiza Police Station to Bhopal in the state of Mandya Pradesh.
Obasogie, like others, is currently being held at central jail in Bhopal without trial.
Documents obtained from Goharganj Magistrate Court indicate that Egbo was denied bail on 12th of October 2019.
No reason was given for not granting him bail as the offence, which they have been accused of, is a bailable offence under the India I.P.C. Code.
His lawyer also petitioned the High Court of Mandya Pradesh twice for bail but his applications were dismissed by the presiding Judge, Justice Akhi Kumar Srivastava.
The reason given for denying the accused bail as stated in the court order says that “Other accused are absconding”.
Osahon, the second accused to be arrested also has his bail application dismissed by Goharganj Magistrate Court and the high court of Mandya Pradesh located in Jabalpur.
Court documents from the High Court of Mandya Pradesh, Jabalpur shows that Justice Ms Anguli Palo said she cannot grant him bail because Egbo had earlier been denied bail by Justice Srivastava.
According to one of the lawyers to the accused, Justice Srivastava who is the main judge in charge of the case stated that until all the forty accused are arrested, the case will not go on trial and none of them will be granted bail.
SaharaReporters gathered that all the accused are victims of a scam orchestrated by a fellow Nigerian simply identified as Stanley and an immigration officer at the immigration office in Bhopal, India and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University in Bhopal.
The university is notorious for offering foreign and local students fake admission in exchange for money.
Information available online shows that in 2017 the “The Supreme Court of India cancelled admission of 150 medical students in the Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University in Bhopal citing poor facilities and ordered a probe into allegations that the private institute used fake patients to get the Medical Council of India’s approval”.
Information obtained from some of the accused, who now live in constant fear in India because of the fear of being arrested as their names and passport details have been circulated to local police stations all over India that they are wanted by the Mandya Pradesh Police.
The university it was gathered approached Stanley in 2018 to help them get foreign students from Nigeria for their school.
Stanley approached these Nigerians who were already residing in New Delhi individually that he has connections to help them get admission in a college in Mandya Pradesh.
He also made the victims understand that he will help them get a student visa and a resident permit. Each of his victims made a payment of $1500 which excludes the actual school fees and registration fee of the university.
The $1500 was to cover the expenses of taking their passports to Nigeria and getting a genuine student visa from the India High Commission in Abuja on their passports and also obtaining resident permit in Bhopal that will help them live and school in India legally.
All the victims handed over their Nigeria passports to Stanley and $1500 each.
Mr Christian paid $4500, which was for himself, wife and little two years old Ugochi.
It was further learnt that Stanley took all the passports to a graphic designer in New-Delhi, designed India visas and stick them on the passports of the victims.
All the visas were actually issued by Stanley and not from any embassy.
Documents obtained from the charge-sheet shows that Mr Stanley also issued fake stamps on the passports of the victims.
With his connection at the immigration office in Bhopal and the embattled university, these Nigerians were made to visit the immigration office and were issued valid resident permits.
None of them knew the visas on their passports were fake because they actually got their resident permits from the immigration office by themselves.
“In actual sense, a resident permit cannot be issued on a fake visa. The immigration officer in charge is supposed to detect the fraud immediately. After the bobble bust, Stanley actually confessed to one of us that from the $1500, Rs 50,000/- was for his contact at the immigration office. Rs 50,000/- is around $750 and that Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University in Bhopal was also aware of this,” one of them said.
After getting their resident permits most of these Nigerians relocated to Bhopal, paid their school fees Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University and started school.
Documents and receipts obtained from the charge-sheet also showed that tens of thousands of dollars was paid by these Nigerians as school fees and registration fees.
But for the role of the immigration officer, most of these victims wouldn’t have fallen prey to this scam.
A verification document dated 15th November, 2018 which was sent by the High Commission of India in Abuja to the investigating officer Sub-inspector Pooja Patel as obtained from the charge-sheet of one of the accused showed that the visa numbers used by Stanley actually belongs to other individuals.
For example, visa number VJ9605772, which was written on the visa of one of the accused Peter Nkem is a single entry medical attendant visa issued to Khadijah Muhammad on 05/10/2017.
Also, the visa number VJ9605771 is another accused Mr Paul Iyere is an X-single entry visa issued to one Kabuwat Yayock in 2017.
Trouble started for these Nigerians in June 2018 when one of the students was about to travel to Nigeria with the visa and valid resident permit.
The Delhi Immigration discovered the irregularity at the airport and subsequently reported the anomaly to the immigration authority in Bhopal.
Investigation revealed that all the visas of the Nigerians were fake.
A case was registered against twenty six of them at Mandideep police station while Koh-e-fiza Police Station in Bhopal filed a case against 14 others.
They were all slapped with I.P.C. Passport (Entry in India) Act, 1920, The Foreigners Act, 1946//India penal code-420/467/468/471, Code of criminal procedure-439, passport(Entry to India)Act-12(1)A/(12).
Upon the discovery of this scam, the Mandya Pradesh Police immediately deported Stanley to Nigeria.
“The move to deport him to Nigeria was an act to cover up the involvement of the immigration officer in the crime. The immigration officer who was an enabler in this crime was not charged nor was any official from Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University booked.
“Instead the police made the school to file a case against all the students that they came to seek admission in their institution of higher learning with fake visas. It was not stated in the case that any of the students was issued a resident permit.
“In similar circumstances, there are over one thousand Nigerians scattered all over several jails in India without trial. As we speak, there are over one hundred Nigerians in Delhi deportation camp. Some have spent over two years in Delhi deportation camp.
“These are Nigerians who willingly submitted themselves to the immigration office that they want to go home. Instead, they were sent to Delhi deportation camp. Sometime in June this year, some Nigerians protested in the deportation camp in New Delhi that they should be allowed to go home. “Upon investigation by the jail authority, 12 Nigerians who were deemed to be the leaders of the protest were arrested in November 2020 and sent to Tihar jail, New Delhi.
“Some of them that could afford the services of a lawyer have got advocates to get them out on bail while the majority have not been able to hire advocates. The advocates can only fight for their bail considering the fact that it takes an average of three to four years to finish any case in India. Once they are out on bail, they will be sent to back deportation camp until they finish their case.
“The federal government of Nigeria and the Nigeria embassy in New Delhi should engage the India authority to vacate the Look-Out Circular against four-year old Ugochi Adalia Nwosu Christian and others so that they can come home. Also, the India authority should allow the Nigerians that they have kept in deportation camp to go home,” one of the accused said.
Regretting the helplessness of state chief executives to draft security agents in time of strife, Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku, has described the 1999 Constitution as “defective.” During a statewide tour of damaged structures and looted warehouses in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests yesterday, he partly blamed the development for the escalation of the demonstrations.
Deploring the inability of security operatives to contain the unrest and check the looting early in the day, Ishaku noted: “Our constitution is defective. It is true we copied the American constitution, but we copied it wrongly. It is wrong not to allow state governments to have control over security agencies in their states, especially the police.”
The governor, who also condemned the violence and pillaging of COVID-19 palliatives that followed the nationwide marches, pleaded with the Federal Government and humanitarian agencies to assist his state in fixing the vandalised properties and restoring the stolen goods.
Wondering why hoodlums took advantage of a peaceful protest to steal and destroy items worth hundreds of millions of naira, Ishaku pleaded that Taraba, being a state with poor resources, would “find it extremely difficult to replace the stolen items and rebuild damaged structures on its own.”
The governor, a strong advocate of community policing, said rather than wait for security agencies, especially the police to undergo the tedious journey of taking orders from their national headquarters during emergencies as was in the case under review, the situation could be better handled by state police.
Citing the United States where the initiative has been effective, Ishaku believes that it would also work perfectly in Nigeria when embraced.
