Coordinator of a youth group that organised a political rally for Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, last week in Akure, Bamise Akintomide, has been arrested by the police in Ondo State, SaharaReporters has learnt.
It was learnt that he is currently being detained at the Criminal and Investigation Bureau Department of the Ondo State Police Command headquarters in Akure, the capital.
A source, who confirmed Akintomide’s arrest to our correspondent on Monday, said he must have been picked up for organising a rally in support of the Vice President.
The source said, “He (Akintomide) was arrested by the police. I cannot really say if he was directly picked up or invited for questioning.
“But I can confirm to you that he has been at the police headquarters in Akure since weekend and has been detained over there.
“I know his arrest must be connected with the rally he organised last week for Vice President, Osinbajo, at the APC secretariat.
“A day after he organised the rally, he received lots of strange calls asking him irrelevant questions.”
Commissioner of Police in Ondo State, Undie Adie, denied the arrest of Akintomide when contacted on Monday.
However, a police source told SaharaReporters on Monday that, “He is in our detention although his people are trying to ensure his bail.
“His arrest was an instruction from above and that is all I can tell you for now.”
Akintomide had on Thursday organised a rally for Osinbajo’s candidacy by unveiling his 2023 presidential campaign poster and banner on the streets of Akure.
Spokesperson for the APC in Ondo, Alex Kalejaye, said that the party had no link whatsoever to the group.
Mr Fidet Okhiria, Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), says the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) generates an average of N100 million monthly.
Okhiria disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to him, it is quiet impressive. I can tell you as we speak we have over N100million a month on the Kaduna-Abuja.
“I don’t have the figure off head but all I know is that we are averaging over hundred million,” Okhiria said.
The NRC boss expressed satisfaction with the increased turnout of passenger at the AKTS, adding that government was making efforts to address the passenger surge on the train line.
He said:” We are happy with the turnout of people and as I said earlier, once we have the coaches and we start rolling a train every hour, the pressure will come down.
“Like I told the Minister, it is not just the number of coaches but the trips we run that will reduce the pressure because different people will have different times to board the train.
“For now, let’s just bear it till November when the new coaches will be available.
“And as I tell people, now we are getting the attention and it’s another milestone.
“Four years back nobody was talking about railway; but now every body, the big, mighty and small are now talking about using the train.
“It is getting popular, people are paying attention and the management, board and staff are gearing up to make sure that we meet the needs and demands of Nigerians. ”
On the e-ticketing, Okhiria said measures were also in place to ensure the e-ticketing for the country’s train line met international standard.
He said the e-ticketing platform would not only guarantee orderliness in purchasing of ticket but would address some major security challenges.
He said the e-ticketing would ensure the data base of all passengers boarding the train was captured in case of emergencies.
According to the NRC boss, the procurement process for the platform would soon be concluded and in a matter of weeks the contract for the project would be awarded.
On security, the NRC boss said the corporation had introduced more security personnel and measures that would ensure safety of persons and the trains.
He explained that the management was also trying to introduce some technology into the train operation to ensure proper monitoring of the trains with the signalling solution.
The rot in the Nigeria Police Force has stayed too long. In a group of ten, more than seven usually have one tale or the other to tell about the Nigeria Police Force for the wrong reasons. It’s high time we began to hold them by The Law. But at what cost? They are the ones with guns and threats aren’t far from them. I’ll share my story.
Early this year, (January 30, to be precise), I followed my friend to unblock his Taxify driver’s account on the Island. Going back to Ogba, while gisting with my friend faintly and chatting with my babe, my phone was snatched.
I had wound-down the glass to help him adjust the side-mirror on my side of the car. Being me, I made an attempt to give the snatcher a chase. We were stuck in traffic and the car was moving very slowly, which gave him the opportunity to observe us from a distance and pick out my most vulnerable time to attack. Before I could loose the seatbelt and step out, there was already much distance between us. I am tall and it gave me an advantage to see him afar off as he maneuvered his way to escape. I followed him.
I watched him disappear into the dark as it was late and time was about 8-9 pm. Getting to the end of my view of the snatcher, I met a guy who directed me to another path completely different from the one I saw the snatcher run into. I immediately knew they were together. I held him by his belt and demanded he produce the guy with my phone. By this time, people were already gathering to ‘deal’ with him; you know how Lagos can be when a thief is caught. The fact that they found a phone on him that had a woman as the wallpaper didn’t help his case as he claimed the phone was his yet, he couldn’t unlock the phone.
My friend and myself practically had to beg those ‘beating this thief’ and edging towards jungle justice before he was released to us. They locked him in our car boot and we decided to drive him to Area G at Ogba. I was inconvenient with him in the boot. I asked my friend to stop the car and have him seat at the back while I hold on to him. He stopped at the next bus stop. I asked ‘the thief’ to come out of the boot, unaware that police officers were somewhere at the roundabout close by.
They ‘acted’ like policemen and demanded to know why we had a man in the boot. They were almost trying to rope us in by pointing out ‘our error’, but for the intervention of a couple who saw what happened earlier and knew how he got into the boot.
Long story short, the police officers entered our car and asked we all go to the station. En route to the station, the phone on him rang and the officers asked him to answer his call. It was there he confessed he snatched the phone.
The officers were men from the Isheri Police Station. We got to the station and they took my statement and the guy’s, after he confessed to the crime. Then began my issue with the Police.
The guy told them he could take them to the place where the snatcher would be found. The officer on duty, a woman, almost slapped him. She told us how regular police officers weren’t trained to arrest criminals and that only SARS officers could arrest ‘boys’ from the area ‘the suspect’ mentioned. That was the beginning of my knowledge of the Nigeria Police officers’ many ill-workings.
It took them 3 days to process his transfer to the Force Headquarters at Ikeja, where he was subsequently transferred to the FSARS Annex at Mushin. I had to pay for the Uber they ordered to transport the guy because, according to them, they had no car/van to transport him. My experience with the FSARS, I’d rather not dwell on. I spent almost N20K transporting myself from Ogba to and fro for the most of 3 weeks, aside calls and all.
Believe me when I tell you this; the IPO in charge of the case knew everyone the guy mentioned. He made it so glaring for the blind to see and so loud for the deaf to hear that he couldn’t arrest them for whatever reason(s).
My friends had told me before to just forget the phone, telling me somehow the Police will try to exploit me and end up not doing any real thing about it. I chose to ignore their advice and chose to believe in the system for justice, or at least prove the rot in the system. True, they proved the rot.
From asking me to buy case files to constantly complaining to me about how I need to pay for this and that; I started to lose interest.
Not for the money. It isn’t that I have more than enough, but it was saddening to see what has become of a group meant to protect the common man. I had stuffs I was working-on on the phone. Somethings are priceless.
The owner of the phone on the guy I arrested called on the day my phone was snatched. From the way the officers spoke to him, I knew he wasn’t getting that phone free. At least, not from the Isheri Police officers. The policewoman in charge of the case had him follow us all through to FSARS Annex at Mushin; the man knew his right and wasn’t ready to party with a dime, not with the way the officers were conducting themselves. Well, he was given his phone at the FSARS Annex after he was called out, away from me. He later told me he gave them ‘something for recharge card’.
They arrested no one. The guy with them confessed to a crime and was willing to take them where the guy with my phone was, but they wouldn’t go. They did nothing other than detaining the guy. It was saddening to discover the common man can’t get justice and protection from the system.
All of these and many more ills I hear about the Nigeria Police make me wonder if this is the law enforcement body we’d bequeath to coming generations. We can’t! We must make it better. The Nigeria Police Force needs reformation, if not a total overhaul.
One of the housemates of the 2019 Big Brother Naija show, Tacha has been disqualified from the show.
She was disqualified for dragging the hair of fellow housemate, Mercy.
Tacha and Mercy had been embroiled a shouting match, which turned physical after Tacha grabbed Mercy’s hair and she, in turn, tried to defend herself with an electric iron.
According to the official Twitter handle of the show, Tacha was disqualified for physical violence.
This means, she would not even be recognised as a former housemate of the reality TV show.
If you would recall, fitness expert, Kemen was also disqualified from the 2018 edition of the show, after an encounter with TBoss.
Struggling to sleep and surfing the internet, I came about a trending news on the discovery of an alleged Islamic Center where over three hundred persons were chained, tortured and subjected to acts as unlawful (at least in Nigeria) as homosexuality in Kaduna State. The Center is said to be located at Rigasa, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
While not frowning at religion and religious acts and studies to draw man to his Creator, extremism in the name of whatever religion under whatever guise is condemnable and isn’t an act to draw close to God. Rather, such acts dampen people’s perceptions of The True God and attempt to justify the rational thoughts of a few who think people who claim closeness to God are often enmeshed in greater filth than the very ones they seek to enlighten and show ‘the way’.
The proprietor of the Center was quoted to have said the Center was a place where parents took their erring wards for discipline and they were taught from the Quran. I am not a Muslim, but I’m learned enough to know no true religion allows homosexuality, save a supposed freedom to express oneself and an end-time sense of revelation on human governance, mostly from the Western World, that allow for unconventional practices amidst humans.
Among the victims is a 42-year old man, Bello Hamza, who claimed his family brought him to the Center to deny him his share of an inheritance. He said he stayed three months at the Center with chains on his legs when he was supposed to be pursuing his Masters degree at a South African University. He was offered admission into the University of Pretoria, South Africa to study Applied Mathematics. He listed the many ills perpetrated at the Center and stated that some persons died at the Center as a result of the treatment melted on them by the Center’s management.
Fresh in the minds of Nigerians is the discovery of an underground kill-spot at Soka, Ibadan some years ago. As high as the frenzy that greeted the discovery was, not much was made out of it at the end of the day. Recently, a radio presenter had a close shave with men operating at that axis; but for the intervention of God, he would have been killed.
This shouldn’t be swept under the carpet. Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Ali Aji Janga, has assured that investigation(s) will be conducted to determine what really happened at the Center and bring whoever is found to have gone against the law to book. We pray the Nigeria Police Force doesn’t sweep this one under the carpet. Justice must prevail and perpetrators must be brought to book. We will be watching.
With this discovery comes a very sensitive question; how many of such ‘Centers’ exist? Are there more? What measures are being put in place by the government to ensure religion isn’t taken out of proportion for enslavement and execution of ulterior motives? Only God knows how psychologically damaged those purportedly ‘admitted’ to the Center must be. I hope the government helps to properly rehabilitate them and detox them of whatever fears they might have picked-in at the center.
FIFA’s The Best awards have been hit by a vote rigging scandal, as football associations and captains have claimed they did not vote for Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi, Sportsmail reports.
Messi won the best men’s player accolade in Milan on Monday, pipping Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk to the award.
And now the Argentine’s claim to the honour, has been thrown into serious doubt, following questions over the legitimacy of the voting.
The Egyptian Football Association, Sudan’s coach Zdravko Logarusic and Nicaragua’s captain, Juan Barrera, have raised concerns over uncounted or misallocated votes.
Egypt’s association have called on FIFA, to explain why the votes of its national coach Shawki Ghareeb and captain Ahmed, were not taken into account, after they were sent in on August 15.
Ghareeb and El-Mohammadi are not mentioned in FIFA’s publication of official votes.
Their statement “asks FIFA why the Egyptian vote was not accepted” and goes on to confirm the EFA have opened an “investigation” into the circumstances of this failure.
Also, Sudan’s coach Lugarisic and Nicaragua’s Juan Barrera took to social media, to claim that the votes published by FIFA, in their names, did not reflect their actual choices.
Lugarisic says his first choice was Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, but FIFA’s voting document showed Messi as his first selection.
Barrera is also adamant that he did not vote for Messi, as claimed by FIFA.
FIFA determines the best players based on the votes of national team coaches, captains as well as a journalist from each country.
The convener of #RevolutionNow protest and former presidential candidate, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, on Thursday, commenced a contempt suit against the Director-General of the Department of State Service, Yusuf Bichi, for allegedly disobeying the order granting him bail.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on Tuesday granted bail to Sowore, who has been arrested and kept in the custody of the DSS since September 3, 2019, on the allegation of calling for “revolution” through the protest that was scheduled for September 5.
The judge had dismissed DSS’ objection in granting him bail with the sole condition that he deposit his passport in the registry of the court.
Sowore, through his lawyers, submitted his passport to a Deputy Chief Registrar of the court on Wednesday.
The legal team also filed an affidavit of compliance with the order of the court and had same served on the DSS.
But 24 hours after meeting the bail condition, the DSS had yet to release him.
The publisher of Sahara Reporters, through his lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), on Thursday, filed a ‘Notice of consequence of court order’ which is to be served on the DSS warning him that he could be jailed for continuing to violate the court order.
“Notice that unless you obey the direction contained in the order of the Federal High Court of Justice, Abuja delivered on September 21, 2019, which ordered you to release the applicant in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/915/2019 forthwith, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison. A copy of the said order of court earlier served on you is hereby annexed for your on-the-spot reference.
“This court has been Informed that even as at today, Thursday, September 26, 2019, you are yet to comply with the lawful order of the Federal High Court by refusing to release the applicant namely: OMOYELE SOWORE, in your custody. You are hereby directed to comply with the court order forthwith or you will be guilty of contempt of court.”
The DSS, on September 3, arrested Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters and former presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections over his call for revolution protest scheduled to hold on September 5.
Justice Taiwo, on September 8, granted an ex parte application by the DSS permitting the security agency to keep the activist for 45 days.
The 45 days period expired on Saturday.
Barely 24 hours to the expiration of the 45 days detention order, the Attorney-General of the Federation’s office filed charges of treasonable felony, cybercrime offences and money laundering against him before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
On Tuesday, following Falana’s application, Justice ordered the release of Sowore, from the custody of the DSS pending his arraignment in court.
The judge ordered him to submit his passport in the court’s registry as the sole condition for the bail.
He said since the order for detention permitting the DSS to keep the activist for 45 days had expired, the activist ought to be released immediately.
The National Broadcasting Commission has sanctioned 45 broadcasting stations which allegedly breached its code in the 2nd quarter of 2019.
The NBC Director General, Ishaq Kawu, made this known while addressing a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said the contraventions included breaches of the rules on hate speech, abusive, and inflammatory broadcast.
Mr Kawu said the Commission’s Second Quarter Monitoring of Broadcast Stations Profile was from April to June 2019.
“Coming shortly after the National and State Elections in the First Quarter of the year, the report indicates that though there is a drop in breaches related to hateful, abusive and inflammatory broadcast, which peaked during the elections,” he said.
“Thus as many as 45 stations were fined, the 2nd Quarter indicates that the trend has continued among certain stations, especially in political programmes.
“Therefore, 20 stations were fined in the 2nd Quarter, for breaching provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code on Hate speech.
“Other breaches were in the area of Obscene and Vulgar Lyrics – a total of 10 stations were fined for infractions related to use of Vulgar Lyrics and Obscene Content.
“It is worth mentioning that the programme Big Brother Naija was cautioned against unwholesome content on its broadcast,” Mr Kawu said.
According to the NBC boss, the use of unsubstantiated and misleading claims by advertisers, especially Tradomedic advertising, also dropped significantly from the last quarter, but that a total of 30 stations were fined for infractions related to same.
He added that ten broadcast stations were fined for breaches related to station announcers turning themselves to advertisers, hypers and promoters of product.
“Obscenity: Kaduna Zone recorded highest with 36.53 per cent followed by Abuja Zone with 17.31 per cent and Uyo Zone came third with 15.38 per cent.
”Hate Speech: Abuja Zone topped the chart with 19.21 per cent followed by Kaduna zone with 18.22 per cent and Maiduguri Zone came third with a record of 15.27 per cent while the least in hate speech was Ibadan zone with 6.89 per cent
“Unprofessionalism: Three zones topped the chart with the same percentages. Kaduna zone, Sokoto zone and Uyo topped the chart with 20.00 per cent each followed by Jos zone with 3.85 per cent while Ibadan and Benin recorded lowest with 2.95 per cent and 3.44 per cent respectively.
“Unverifiable Claims: Ibadan zone recorded highest with 25.33 per cent followed by Abuja zone with 13.33 per cent while Jos zone and Kaduna zones came 3rd with 12.00 per cent each and Sokoto zone and Uyo recorded the lowest with 2.67 per cent each.
“Advertisement: Abuja zone recorded highest with 24.43 per cent followed by Enugu zone with 16.40 per cent while Maiduguri zone recorded lowest with 1.53 per cent
“For Technical Breach, Maiduguri zone recorded highest with 31.81 per cent followed by Benin zone and Sokoto zone recorded same scores 22.73 per cent each while Abuja zone, Enugu zone and Jos zone recorded the lowest with 4.54 per cent each.
“Abuja zone recorded highest with 47.17 per cent, Ibadan zone came second with 15.09 per cent and Benin came 3rd with 13.22 per cent while the lowest was Enugu Zone with 1.89 per cent,” Mr Kawu said.
He cautioned stations across the country about a pattern of behaviours which are a threat to the country’s democracy and rule of law.
He maintained that the Commission’s monitoring activities indicated that “some stations, especially African Independent Television are deliberately meddling in the cases before the election tribunal.
“It is trite knowledge that the media cannot comment on or discuss the details of any matter in court.
“The Broadcast Code in section 1.16.1(f) requires all broadcasters to comply with the law of contempt relating to matters pending before the law courts,” Mr Kawu said.
Jacques Chirac, former President of France, has died at the age of 86, news agency AFP reports quoting his son-in-law.
France’s National Assembly stood for a minute of silence after learning of the news, with one deputy gasping loudly when it was announced by assembly president Richard Ferrand.
The conservative Mr Chirac was best known abroad for his staunch opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
At home, perhaps his greatest legacy was his acknowledgement, for the first time, of the French state’s role in the wartime round-up and arrest of Jewish people to Nazi death camps.
Mr Chirac was president of France from 1995-2007.
Under his presidency, France entered into the single European currency and abolished compulsory military service.
Mr Chirac also cut the presidential term of office from seven to five years.
He disappeared from public life in recent years. He reportedly suffered from severe ill health.
