A coalition of Civil Society Organisations based in Enugu State, on Thursday, said #EndSARS/#EndPoliceBrutality protest would continue in the state.
Addressing journalists on behalf of 14 Civil Society Organisations at a press briefing, Executive Director, Heroine Women Foundation, Onyinye Mamah, said there was no date yet for the commencement of new rounds of protests.
Mamah said that “the protests this time around will be very peaceful as the previous ones before they were rudely infiltrated and interrupted by sponsored thugs”.
She also said as soon as the curfew declared by the government is lifted and as soon as the panel of inquiries set up over allegations of police brutality completes their job, the protests would erupt again.
“If the government meets the demands of the protest, there will be no need for more protests. We want peace. Violence cannot achieve anything. The government should be open to us,” she added.
While calling for peace, she said, “We would have achieved a lot if violence had not crept into the protest. We’ll not destroy a society we are trying to build. I implore us to ensure peace.
“I appeal to us to be calm over what we are clamouring for. This is a call for a peaceful protest because we are going to continue but we are not going to do it like hoodlums. It is a call for a peaceful protest.
“We wanted to achieve reform. If we lose one person, we lost. We must die well, old, and in peace not in violence, social disruption or anarchy or as a result of a failed government.
“Violence has never given any good result. If we had continued just the way we started, we would have achieved a lot. Now, we have socially disrupted the same nation we have been struggling to build.”
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), says Nigeria’s economy is too fragile for fresh COVID-19 lockdown.
The President, therefore, urged Nigerians to obey all protocols recommended by health authorities to curtail the spread of the lethal coronavirus.
Buhari, who stated this on Thursday via his verified Twitter handle, said compliance with COVID-19 protocols by all Nigerians is crucial to avert a second wave of the pandemic in the country.
“Looking at the trends in other countries, we must do all we can to avert a second wave of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
“We must make sure that our cases, which have gone down, do not rise again. Our economy is too fragile to bear another round of lockdown,” @MBuhari tweeted.
Buhari had in March imposed a total lockdown on parts of the country including Lagos, Abuja and Ogun. The lockdown lasted for over five weeks and had a tremendous effect on the country’s economical activities with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry putting the loss at about N3bn in the period under review.
The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had at its many briefings frowned on the disregard for COVID-19 protocol by Nigerians while warning against a second wave of the virus in the country.
The task force had also urged citizens to obey social distancing, use of face masks, and regular washing of hands, amongst others.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, the country has recorded over 62,000 infections including over 1,100 fatalities.
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Wednesday night, ordered the reinstatement of his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Yakasai.
It had been reported that Yakasai lambasted the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for not addressing Nigerians amid national outrage as well as days of online and offline protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.
Yakasai, who tweeted through his handle, @dawisu, had said the President has no empathy for Nigerians by his inaction.
Reacting in a statement, the Kano State Government had described Yakasai’s comments as “unguarded utterances” and suspended him “with immediate effect”.
But in a tweet on Wednesday, the state government, @KanostateNg, wrote, “H.E Governor Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR has approved the reinstatement of his Special Adviser on Media, Salihu Tanko Yakasai from his suspension.”
Ganduje had in April sacked the state’s Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mu’azu Magaji, for celebrating the death of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
Former South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, was ordered back to prison on Thursday as the country’s Supreme Court upheld a 17-year jail term for bribery and embezzlement offences.
The conservative Lee, who served as President from 2008 to 2013, had been out on bail awaiting the ruling and was not in court for the decision, but police were seen at his Seoul home to take him away, according to reports.
The ruling is not subject to further appeal and at age 78, this means Lee is likely to die in prison unless he receives a presidential pardon.
All four of South Korea’s living former Presidents are either behind bars or have served jail terms — often as a result of investigations begun under successors who are political rivals.
Lee was first convicted of embezzlement and accepting bribes in late 2018 and jailed. An appeals court later increased his sentence to 17 years but granted him bail pending a further appeal to the nation’s highest court.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld his conviction for embezzling 25.2 billion won ($22 million) and accepting bribes totalling 9.4 billion won, as well as the 17-year sentence.
Lee is also subject to a 13-billion-won fine and must forfeit assets of 5.7 billion won.
“There was no legal fallacy in the appellate court’s ruling on bribery and embezzlement,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.
Lee’s conservative successor, Park Geun-hye, is currently serving 20 years in jail for bribery and abuse of power after being ousted in 2017 over a corruption scandal that prompted massive street protests.
Another former leader, the liberal Roh Moo-hyun, took his own life after being questioned in a corruption probe involving his family — an inquiry that took place during Lee’s presidency.
Roh was the political mentor of incumbent President Moon Jae-in, who served in the Blue House throughout Roh’s presidency, including a year as his chief of staff.
Reverend Polycap Zango, a pastor with the Church of Christ in Nations, Jos, Plateau State, who went missing while travelling to Gombe State for a conference, has appeared in a new video saying he was abducted by the Islamic State West Africa Province.
Zango said he was in the custody of the insurgents alongside two other Christian women, who were also abducted.
In the video, the cleric is seen seated behind a prayer mat and says he was abducted on Monday, October 2020.
He said, “My name is Reverend Polycap Zango and I am a pastor at COCIN LCC Wild Life Park, Plateau State, Nigeria.
“On October 19, 2020, I was travelling for a conference in Gombe when I was abducted by Boko Haram insurgents who caught me on the road.
“Right now I am with them.
“I am appealing to the governor of Plateau State, Simon Boko Lalong, and the senator of Plateau North, Barrister ID Gyang, and the Christian Association of Nigeria and COCIN to please help save me from their hands.
“They also abducted two Christian women who are also here with me, we are appealing to be rescued.”
It is not clear if Miss Fayina Ali, a Kaduna-indigene of Adamawa State, who was also said to have gone missing same Monday he was captured, is among the two Zango mentioned.
Miss Ali had held her marriage introduction on the weekend of her disappearance with her wedding with a Air Force personnel slated for December 2020.
She was reported to have been captured along with four other ladies by Boko Haram but no clear information has been received about them.
The Plateau State Government on Wednesday begun the prosecution of over 300 suspected looters and arsonists in the state.
They were accused of looting, criminal trespass and inciting public disturbance, among other charges.
The suspects, who had been in military and police detention after they were arrested in different parts of Jos and the Bukuru metropolis between Saturday and Sunday, were moved to the Bassa Local Government Area on Wednesday for arraignment.
The defendants were arraigned one after the other at Jebbu Bassa Area Court before several judges including Justices N S Dashe, Adar Roseline Baraje, and L B Longs as well as Lawal Sulaiman, among others.
In all the cases brought before the judges, the prosecutors from the state Ministry of Justice told the court that the accused persons committed the offences against the state and should be prosecuted according to the law.
The defence counsels, however, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy for the accused persons, particularly as they were first offenders.
The defence counsels also pleaded for short sentencing with an option of fine after their clients pleaded guilty to the offences.
After considering submissions from both parties, the judges in their separate judgments sentenced the accused persons to three months in prison with an option of N10,000 fine.
Many of the suspects were allowed to go home after perfecting their bail conditions.
The Nigerian Army says the Lagos state government invited it to intervene in the fallout of the #EndSARS protest.
Youth protesting against police brutality had refused to stay off the roads despite a 24-hour curfew imposed by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, after widespread violence.
Subsequently, men in military uniform invaded the protest ground at Lekki toll plaza and opened fire on the protesters.
The incident sparked an outrage and Sanwo-Olu blamed the incident on “forces beyond my direct control”.
In a statement on Tuesday, Osoba Olaniyi, acting director, army public relations, said soldiers stayed away from the #EndSARS protests until the Lagos government invited them to restore order.
Olaniyi said while restoring order, soldiers did not shoot protesters, describing reports on the attack of the protesters by the military as fake.
“The attention of Headquarters 81 Division Nigerian Army has been drawn to a viral video on social media in which it was alleged that civilian protesters were massacred by soldiers at Lekki Toll Plaza. This allegation is untrue, unfounded and aimed at causing anarchy in the country,” the statement read.
“At no time did soldiers of the Nigerian Army open fire on any civilian. From the onset of the ENDSARS protest, there was no time personnel of 81 Division Nigerian Army Lagos were involved.
“However, the decision to call in the military was taken by the Lagos State Government (LASG) after a 24- hour curfew was imposed.
“This was as a result of the violence which led to several police stations being burnt, policemen killed, suspects in police custody released and weapons carted away. The situation was fast degenerating into anarchy. It was at this point that LASG requested for the military to intervene in order to restore normalcy.
“The intervention of the military followed all laid down procedures for Internal Security operations and all the soldiers involved acted within the confines of the Rules of Engagement (ROE) for Internal Security operations.
“Finally, Headquarters 81 Division Nigerian Army reiterates Nigerian Army in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities did not shoot at any civilian as there are glaring and convincing evidence to attest to this fact.
“This allegation is the hand work of mischief makers who will stop at nothing to tarnish the image of the Nigerian Army. The general public is hereby enjoined to discountenance this allegation as there is no iota of truth therein.”
The military broke its silence on the crisis one day after Sanwo-Olu told CNN that footage of the shooting showed that the Nigerian Army is responsible for the incident.
Federal, Lagos and Oyo state governments have received no fewer 126 petitions on human rights violations by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.
Government officials, who disclosed this in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Tuesday, stated that 65 petitions had been received by the Federal Government, 46 in Oyo and 15 in Lagos.
But as federal and state governments intensified efforts to investigate human rights violations by security agents, the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Adamu, came under fire on Tuesday as looters continued attacks on government and private establishments with futile efforts by the police to stop them.
Also contrary to the IG’s directive last week, the police had yet to fully return to streets of Abuja and Lagos five days after the #EndSARS protests ended.
Recall that youths demanding the disbanding of SARS on October 8 embarked on two weeks protests in major cities across the country.
On October 12, the Federal Government granted the demand of the protesters by disbanding SARS, but the youth insisted that government had not met their five demands,
The demands include release of all #EndSARS protesters, justice for the deceased victims of police brutality, setting up of panels to investigate police brutality, psychological evaluation of SARS officers and increase in police salary.
But on Tuesday, the Federal Government’s Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations by SARS said it had received 65 petitions on rights abuses by the police unit.
The 11-man panel led by Justice Suleiman Galadima, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, was inaugurated by the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Mr Tony Ojukwu, on October 21.
The Secretary of the IPP, Mr Hilary Ogbonna, confirmed to one of our correspondents that the panel had received 50 petitions from different parts of the country before the inauguration last week Wednesday, and additional 16 thereafter.
“We had received 50 petitions before. Over the last one week we have received 16. So, we have received 65 petitions so far. But that is not the final figure as we keep receiving petitions,” he said.
Asked when panel would begin sitting, Ogbonna said, “We are considering next week, but no date yet.”
In Lagos State, the panel of inquiry and restitution set up by the Lagos State Government, had received 15 petitions.
In Oyo State, Governor Mr Seyi Makinde, said no fewer than 46 persons had reported cases of rights violations and police brutality through the platform created for that purpose.
The governor said this in Ibadan on Tuesday while addressing representatives of the youth, artisans, drivers and other categories of people in the state.
He said, “Forty six persons have so far reported infractions and rights abuses. Representatives of the youth and artisans will serve on the panel of inquiry.”
But the panel of inquiry in Enugu State did not commence sitting on Tuesday. It was learnt that it might begin sitting next week.
A member of the panel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told one of our correspondents on the phone that “we were yet to meet because of the curfew imposed by the state government. We are likely going to meet today or next week.”
In Ondo State, the judicial panel has not started sitting also. Speaking to one of our correspondents, the Secretary of the panel, Mr Lanre Amuda, said the panel had not begun sitting but it had been receiving some complaints.
But the Nasarawa State panel began sitting on Tuesday. The Chairman of the commission, Justice Badamasi Maina (retd.) at this inaugural sitting, said proper sittings of the panel would begin next month.
The Chairman of the Ebonyi panel and former Chief Judge of Ebonyi State, Justice Aloy Nwankwo, in a telephone interview with The PUNCH, in Abakaliki, said the panel had not received any petition.
Police fail to stop looting, lawlessness in Abuja
In Abuja, the police failed to stop hoodlums who invaded the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp in Kubwa and the Peoples Democratic Party office in Gwagwalada, vandalizing and stealing office equipment and welfare items.
Attempted by the looters to invade the Nigerian Customs Service Command and Staff College in Gwagwalada were repelled by armed NCS operatives who fired gunshots in the air to stop them.
The attacks happened despite claims by the authorities that they had deployed soldiers and police personnel to beef up security across the Federal Capital Territory.
The IG had on Saturday ordered police commanders to immediately stop the descent to anarchy across the country.
Adamu directed the immediate mobilization of all police operational assets and resources to bring an end to the wanton violence, killings, looting and destruction of public and private property, and reclaim the public space from “criminal elements masquerading as protesters in some parts of the country.”
The hoodlums commenced their lawlessness on Saturday with a raid on a warehouse holding COVID-19 palliatives at Garki Area 10.
On Sunday, they stormed the Idu Industrial Estate, Jabi, Abuja and emptied some warehouses housing relief materials and provisions.
But on Tuesday, at Gwagwalada, miscreants broke into the PDP area office in phase 3 zone 4 and went away with grinding, sewing and water pumping machines meant for the empowerment of party members across the 10 wards in Gwagwalada Area Council.
The building belonging to the Senator representing the FCT, Philip Tanimu Aduda, was also vandalized as the windows and doors were smashed.
A party chieftain, Isaac Yusuf, confirmed the attack on the office, adding that some of the miscreants were arrested and handed over to the police.
He stated, “The hoodlums invaded our party office, and looted the items meant for party faithful. The items were to be shared to members across the 10 wards in Gwagwalada, but they stormed the building, smashed the doors and windows and carted away sewing and grinding machines as well as office equipment. You can see that they have vandalized the chairs including the windows.
“We were able to make some arrests; we are calling on the Federal Government to do something about the ongoing looting and attack on private property.”
The thugs also caused a scare in another satellite town, Kuje, as they blocked the roads while searching for warehouses where relief materials were stored.
Though teams of policemen were seen at some street junctions in the city centre, and around public buildings, the satellite towns and suburbs lacked the presence of police operatives.
Only a handful of security operatives were seen in Maitama, Jabi, Utako, Wuse, Wuye and the Bannex area of the city while areas like Gwarimpa, Jabi, Lokogoma and satellite towns like Kuje, Bwari, Kubwa, Zuba, Dutse, did not have adequate number of security operatives on duty.
Hoodlums harass Lagos residents as police fail to return to streets
In Lagos, five days after #EndSARS protests ended, police presence was not felt in various areas in the state as hoodlums were taking advantage of the lack of security to extort and rob unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables.
At various areas like Berger, Fagba, Ikotun, Abule Egba, Kola area of Alagbado, among others, hoodlums were seen barricading roads, demanding money from motorists and motorcyclists conveying passengers to various destinations in the state.
Some armed hoodlums were said to have used dangerous weapons to rob unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables.
A victim, who identified himself simply as Agboola, said he was attacked by hoodlums around 7pm around the Millennium Bridge in Abule Egba on Monday, adding that he had to ply a one-way direction to escape the siege laid by the hoodlums.
He said, “I left home and was on my way to work, but when I got to the Millennium Bridge around Abule Egba, I suddenly saw that big wood and tyres had been used to block the road. The hoodlums appeared from nowhere and wanted to use cutlasses to break my searchlight but I wound down a little bit to caution them. Three of the hoodlums moved closer to my car and started forcing my door open but it didn’t.
Reacting to the development, the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, said the command had embarked on convoy patrol strategy to take charge of the state, adding that efforts were on to create temporary work stations at areas where police stations had been burnt or vandalised.
On her part, the FCT police spokesperson, ASP Mariam Yusuf, denied that there were gaps in the security system, noting that the force had doubled its efforts while making more arrests.
But lawyers and human rights groups, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Tuesday lambasted the IG for the failure of the police to stop hoodlums who looted and vandalized public and private property.
They also said the IG and all heads of security agencies should face trial at the International Criminal Court
A former Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Monday Ubani, berated Adamu over looting across the country.
He said rather than complete withdrawal, the police should have embraced the use of non-lethal force against the rampaging hoodlums.
Lamenting the level of destruction, Ubani said in Lagos courts were razed. He stated, “I think it was wrong that policemen were nowhere to be found.”
The Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr Debo Adeniran, said while he had no evidence that the IG withdrew policemen while the hoodlums held sway, he believed the IG should be sanctioned for failing to put measures in place to stop hoodlums from hijacking the #EndSARS protests.
A security analyst, Ben Okezie called for a change of leadership, noting that the IG had lost the confidence of his men and officers.
He said the policemen’s adherence to duty had diminished hence their refusal to obey the IG’s directive to clamp down on the hoodlums rampaging the streets.
Okezie blamed Adamu for the #EndSARS protests, noting that if he had stepped in and taken the right measures last year, the ensuing agitations would not have happened.
“If he had done the needful in 2019, the EndSARS protests wouldn’t have been necessary but he just made some statements and swept the issues under the carpet.
“The IG said he deployed Mobile Police but where are they? Nobody saw any of them? They were trained for this kind of situations but they didn’t show up. Though, he is leaving in the next few weeks but there should be a change of leadership now. Let another person take over and do the right thing,” the consultant submitted.
The Convener, Coalition In Defence of Nigeria Democracy Dayo Ariyo-Atoye said the fact that the police had been poorly treated partly informed their decision to stand down and ignore the directives of the IG.
He added that the personnel had been at the receiving end of the injustice and maladministration in the country.
He stated, “The hoodlums who are angry and looting warehouses have the same perspectives with the angry and frustrated police officers. The policemen believe the hoodlums are extracting their pounds of flesh and they don’t see any need to come to the aid of the ruling elite who have kept the palliatives away from the people.”
A former President, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Malachy Ugwummadu, said the IG should face trial at the ICC for crime against humanity
He said, “It is not only the IGP alone that is qualified for prosecution at the ICC for obvious cases of crimes against humanity. Virtually all heads of Nigerian law enforcement agencies are eligible “candidates” at ICC for the numerous and documented cases of extra-judicial killings and violence against the Nigerian people.”
Also, Director of Programmes, Yiaga Africa, Ms. Cynthia Mbamalu, said the fact remained that flagrant violations of human rights were committed under the leadership of the IG.
But an Intelligence and Security consultant, Kabir Adamu, said the security forces were unable to contain the situation due to lack of the necessary equipment to manage the hoodlums.
Donald Trump’s campaign website was briefly ‘seized’ by hackers Tuesday who claimed to have evidence that ‘completely discredits’ him as a president and proves his ‘criminal involvement’ in the manipulation of the 2020 election.
A message reading, ‘this site was seized’ appeared briefly on the ‘About’ and ‘Events’ pages of DonaldJTrump.com, before the website was taken offline completely just after 7:20pm.
The message continued that the world ‘has had enough of fake news spreaded [sic] daily by the president … it is time to allow the world to know the truth.’
The hackers behind the stunt claimed to have compromised multiple of the president’s devices, giving them ‘full access’ to Trump and his relatives, along with access to confidential information.
‘Strictly classified information is exposed proving that the Trump gov is involved in the origin of the coronavirus,’ the post read.
‘We have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as a president, proving his criminal involvement and cooperation with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections. the US citizens have no choice.’
TRUMP 2020 STATEMENT ON THE HACK:
Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh:
‘Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack.
‘There was no exposure to sensitive date because no of it is actually store on the site. The website has been restored.’
The post continued: ‘Today is the day – the whole world can decide if they want to known the truth or not’.
The hackers then included a link to two cryptocurrency wallets, associated with Monero, a ‘private, secure, and untraceable digital’ cryptocurrency.
They asked viewers of the page to make a donation to either one of the pages to ‘vote’ as to whether the hackers should either share the data they purport to have on the president, or not to share it.
They said whichever of the links raises the most money by the end of an unspecified deadline will determine their next step.
‘After the deadline we will compare the funds and execute the will of the world,’ the post read. ‘in both cases we will inform you.’
The page was signed with a encryption key corresponding to an email address at a the non-existent domain, ‘planet.gov’.
Trump’s website was back up and running by 7:45pm.
Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh later released a statement on the system breach, assuring that no sensitive data had been compromised.
‘Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack,’ Murtaugh wrote.
‘There was no exposure to sensitive date because no of it is actually store on the site. The website has been restored.’
I was tired of the recent events which occurred in Nigeria. You probably were tired as well or maybe, still are. Since October 8 when the #EndSARS movement resurfaced and young Nigerians took to the streets and social media to protest for the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) unit of the Nigerian police, a lot has happened.
Since the first week of October until now, there hasn’t been a day that at least a Twitter trend hasn’t revolved around the unit.
Stories from Nigerians have circulated on social media and most of them have been sad news.
Consuming this sort of content on a daily basis does take its toll on a person’s mental health and if you’re reading this and have felt mentally down since the worldwide #EndSARS movement, you should understand that feeling.
We bring you some tips on how to take care of and improve your mental health during this period.
Regulate Your Use Of Social Media & Other Media Of Information
The goal is to stay informed but within a limit. Think about how you feel when you spend hours on your Twitter feed, WhatsApp stories, Facebook feed, Instagram timeline just going over the news, stories, memes, videos, pictures of the movement. Not only would you feel overwhelmed, but one could possibly feel low afterwards.
To maintain one’s sanity, it is important to regulate one’s exposure to the information outlets out there. A way to do this is to take breaks from some or all social media platforms according to personal preference.
Don’t Suppress Your Emotions
If there’s one constant for every Nigerian witnessing the #EndSARS movement, it’s the presence of strong emotions toward the turn of events. And these cannot be ignored, or suppressed. It’s easier than one might think to suppress their emotions. Sometimes when we think we’re expressing anger, for instance, it might just be the expression of suppressed anger or frustration and not anger.
Culturally, we’re used to avoiding anything which can cause us to be vulnerable, and this sadly includes our emotions.
With the events unfolding in the country, there’s every reason to feel angry and sad. However, it is important to express these emotions. So simply let yourself feel the emotions running through your mind.
Channel Your Anger Into Productive Outlets
Since it’s advisable to allow yourself to feel the emotions you’re feeling rather than suppress them, a great way to make the most of your emotions is to channel them into productive activities.
Negative emotions can cripple a person’s productivity. And this is only natural.
Harness your anger into your craft. For instance, if you’re a visual artist, channel the emotions you’re feeling into creating a painting or sculpture etc, if you’re a writer, write about the state of things as honestly as you can. On the flip side, since art isn’t solely therapeutic for just artists, anyone can adopt art to harness their emotions.
It’s important to note that art isn’t the only way to utilize one’s emotions productively. There are thousands of productive outlets and activities to consider. Sports being one of them. And please, try to resist the urge to indulge in violent or illegal activities as a way to express your emotions. It is not only counterproductive but poses a danger to not only yourself but other innocent people.
Binging, sex, overdosing, are also some counterproductive outlets for your emotions.
Remember that above all, your mental health is important because that is the core of your being. Take care of yourself, and live to enjoy the beautiful Nigeria of our dreams.
