Gerau Dandawo, one of three armed Fulani cattle herders arrested by a local vigilante in a community in south-south Nigeria, claimed that Nigerian military jets provide them with weapons in the forests where they were hiding after carrying out attacks on farmers and villagers.
A vigilante chief who pleaded for anonymity told a news outlet (not Concourse News) that the armed cattle herders were arrested on Sunday after a tip-off by a hunter who saw them in the forest on Saturday night.
“Last week, Thursday, a girl who went to the farm with her mother was raped by the Fulani herdsmen who also stabbed the mother. So on Sunday, a hunter who saw them in the forest on Saturday night informed us.
“When we got there, we were shot at but we overpowered and arrested them,” the vigilante chief said.
He said: “They confessed that military jets provided them with weapons and food in the forest.”
Meanwhile, contrary to a report by a resident of the community that the bandits were handed over to the Police, the local vigilante chief said the terrorists are still in their custody where their fate will be determined by the elders in community.
“They are still in our custody here in our community (name withheld), we did not hand them over to the Police because the ones we caught before and give to the police were released without our knowledge. The elders will determine what will happen to them,” he said.
Fulani jihadists disguising as cattle ranchers have killed at least 5,000 civilians in Nigeria since 2015 when Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim Fulani, became President.
The Chairman, House Committee on Narcotic Drugs and sponsor of the proposed bill, Francis Ottah Agbo, said he will sponsor a bill to empower the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to carry out compulsory and routine drug tests on those seeking election into public offices.
He noted that the bill would check the ongoing “madness and sanitise the system.”
The bill, he said, also seeks to subject all serving and intending security personnel as well as candidates seeking admissions into tertiary institutions in Nigeria to mandatory checks on drugs.
The lawmaker, in a statement Monday by his media aide, Andrew Agbese, said the menace of drug addiction had pervaded all segments of the society and only drug integrity tests on people in critical service sectors can sanitise the system.
He noted that the misbehaviour of some political office holders as well as most of the crimes committed in the society is drug-induced.
He stressed that this would have been avoided if those involved had been ascertained free from illicit drugs.
“I’m proposing a bill to empower the NDLEA to carry out a mandatory and routine drug test on politicians seeking public offices, top public servants, military and paramilitary officers and men, and for youths seeking admission into higher institutions. This will check excesses, madness in the country and sanitise the system.
“Narcotic drug addiction is common among our people across the board; from secondary schools to the universities; from North to South; from politicians to the civil servants etc. Indeed, Nigeria is the highest abuser of illicit drugs and cannabis is the most abused drug in our country,” he said.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday designated six Nigerians as financiers of Boko Haram and other criminal activities.
The decision was made when the Emirate federal cabinet met in the capital Abu Dhabi on Monday, according to state-run WAM news agency.
Abdurrahaman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad were the six Nigerians placed on the Middle-East giant’s watch list.
The decision came about a year after the Nigerians were indicted for sponsoring Boko Haram. A Nigerian government official said to be involved in sponsoring the dreaded sect that has killed over 100,000 civilians and security forces and inflicted untold economic damage on the country since its campaign began in 2009.
The government official has yet to be publicly identified by the Emirati authorities, amidst claims that some elements in the Nigerian government were mounting diplomatic pressure not to publish the name.
At least 47 other foreign nationals and entities were also added to the watch list by the UAE on Monday.
Following is the full list of added individuals:
Ahmed Mohammed Abdulla Mohammed Alshaiba Alnuaimi (UAE)
Mohamed Saqer Yousif Saqer Al Zaabi (UAE)
Hamad Mohammed Rahmah Humaid Alshamsi (UAE)
Saeed Naser Saeed Naser Alteneiji (UAE)
Hassan Hussain Tabaja (Lebanon)
Adham Hussain Tabaja (Lebanon)
Mohammed Ahmed Musaed Saeed (Yemen)
Hayder Habeeb Ali (Iraq)
Basim Yousuf Hussein Alshaghanbi (Iraq)
Sharif Ahmed Sharif Ba Alawi (Yemen)
Manoj Sabharwal Om Prakash (India)
Rashed Saleh Saleh Al Jarmouzi (Yemen)
Naif Nasser Saleh Aljarmouzi (Yemen)
Zubiullah Abdul Qahir Durani (Afghanistan)
Suliman Saleh Salem Aboulan (Yemen)
Adel Ahmed Salem Obaid Ali Badrah (Yemen)
Ali Nasser Alaseeri (Saudi Arabia)
Fadhl Saleh Salem Altayabi (Yemen)
Ashur Omar Ashur Obaidoon (Yemen)
Hazem Mohsen Farhan + Hazem Mohsen Al Farhan (Syria)
President’s Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha Buhari, has encouraged security agents to go after bandits in Northern states, and see to the end of banditry.
The First Lady also said her Sunday Instagram post showing the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, shedding tears during one of his sermons was about fearing God and not man.
Aisha had earlier shared a video showing Pantami crying after his reciter read a verse of the Holy Quran
“That is the Garden we shall give as their own to those of Our servants who were devout,” read the reciter from Surah Maryam, Verse 63.
In response, Pantami sobbed, “O Allah! Make me one of them. O Allah! Make me one of them!”
Clarifying why she posted the video in another post on Instagram on Monday, the First Lady said in Hausa, “Tafsir na Malam kan tsoron Allah ba tsoron mutum ba! Da aka cire tsoro da son Kai aka shiga Jihar Zamfara, abubuwa sun fara kyau. Sai a dage a shigo sauran wurare da ke bukatan haka. which can be interpreted as”, which can be interpreted as “Malam’s Tafsir was a about fearing God and not man! When fear and selfishness were removed and Zamfara State was entered, things started to go well. We need to move on to other areas that need it.”
Her post is coming amidst heightened offensive by the military in Zamfara state.
Many of the bandits’ leaders and their foot soldiers were said to have been killed since the blockage of communication and restriction of movement in the state.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had last week mandated all telecommunication operators in the country to stop extending services to Zamfara and its environs, effective Friday, September 3, 2021.
This was barely six months after the Nigerian government declared Zamfara State a ‘no-fly zone’ in a renewed effort to fight banditry and other forms of insecurity in the state.
This however countered the stance of a popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who stated that killing bandits would only worsen the security situation in the country.
Gumi had been visiting bandits in the forest in an attempt to negotiate a peace deal with them. He urged the Nigerian government to create a Ministry of Nomadic Affairs.
In a Facebook post last Friday, the cleric had said, “By the way, what you may not hear, is that the bandits over the years have developed escape routes from aerial bombardments. They told us: you can only kill our women and children with your attacks!
“Just yesterday, two contingents of banditry victims came to me that their loved ones were abducted by bandits in Kaduna suburbs – Rigachukun and Keke. An escapee engineer in the later said, when he overheard and understood that they were strangers in the area as they were calling the locals to lead them, that gave him the courage to slip through densely grown maize plantations to escape. The point is that, if Zamfara is on fire for them, definitely it goes without saying that they will migrate to other areas. So, is the whole of Nigeria going to be under lock-up in incommunicado?
“As for the economic impact of the areas now under siege, it’s just a matter of time, you’ll hear them crying out. Already yesterday a man from Tsafe came begging because of economic stagnation, one would have thought that Gusau the capital is closer than Kaduna to beg.
“As for those cynics that have no value to add in the dilemma except vituperation, and abuses, we know that is the substance they are made up of. No qualms whatsoever! you don’t expect fragrance from feces. So, what is the solution?
“Good Intelligence! Good proficient policing, engagement of the local herdsmen in policing, rehabilitation, reconciliation, and reparation of all victims of banditry. The good honest judiciary that protects people’s rights. Money and time well spent on these will surely kill the disease and heal the nation of this delinquency, crimes, and bad governance,” he said.
Gunmen suspected to be members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) on Monday invaded the Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkume in the Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State, stopping students from taking their examination.
The students were preparing to take English in the ongoing Junior Secondary School Examination before the armed men forcibly dispersed them, Daily Trust reports.
Teachers and students were said to have fled in different directions as the gunmen shot sporadically into the air.
The assailants also razed some motorcycles belonging to some of the staff members and students.
Although there were no report of fatalities, a video of the incident revealed the students and staff members were screaming and fleeing for their lives.
Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Mike Abattam, could not be reached for comments.
IPOB had initially declared Monday as sit-at-home day to show solidarity with its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing charges bordering on treason and others before an Abuja High Court.
But the group later said the sit-at-home order should only be observed on days Kanu is to appear in court and not every Monday, as initially directed.
However, that has not stopped residents of the South-East from staying indoors every Monday since the initial directive, with business activities grounded on the first working day of the week.
This week, IPOB expects that the sit-at-home order will be observed on Tuesday to honour members of the group killed by the Nigerian Army in 2017.
The Nigeria Police Force’s involvement in extrajudicial killings, torture, summary executions of suspects in custody, amongst other gruesome human rights abuses, is “overwhelming”, a Federal Court in Ottawa, Canada, said in denying asylum to Charles Ukoniwe, a former operative of the notorious MOPOL unit.
The conclusion came after Mr Ukoniwe sought a judicial review of the North American country’s immigration department that denied him asylum for his possible involvement in crimes while he served as a police officer in Nigeria, according to court documents.
Judge Patrick Gleeson held that any Nigerian who willingly joins the Nigeria Police Force will be guilty by association before the Canadian judicial system and the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, notwithstanding whether or not the person committed gruesomes crimes often associated with the NPF.
The judge hinged his decision on the landmark 2013 case of former Congolese representative to UN, Rachidi Ekanza Ezokola, in which the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that anyone who knowingly participates in an organisation or regime linked to crimes against humanity will not receive protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
The ruling came months after Nigerian soldiers opened fire on protesters who were participating in the #EndSARS campaign to end Police brutality in Nigeria, killing at least nine civilians in an operation said to have been authorised by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Days after the Lekki killings, some Nigerian soldiers were killed in a mysterious operation that the Nigerian Army has failed to publicly acknowledge or explain.
Ukoniwe joined the Nigerian police in 2001 and served 17 years before fleeing Nigeria in March 2018 on the grounds that he was being sought by members of a cult gang that he had investigated for homicide in 2016. He claimed to have received several phone calls and his house was burnt in 2017.
Documents seen by reporters showed Ukoniwe left Nigeria for the United States on March 5, 2018. He arrived in Canada on June 6, 2018, and subsequently filed a claim for refugee protection.
Having conducted some findings about his service in the Nigeria Police Force, the Canadian immigration department denied him asylum for evidence showing his involvement in the crimes against humanity.
Although the former police sergeant contended that the decision was “unreasonable” and denied his complicity in the crimes, Canadian authorities noted that it was unlikely that he did not know of widespread crimes perpetrated by the Nigerian Police.
“Documentary evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the NPF and the MOPOL unit committed human rights violations during Mr. Ukoniwe’s service; and it was unlikely that he had no knowledge of these generalized violations despite the evidence that his awareness of criminal activity and human rights violations was limited to low-level corruption within the NPF,” the document said.
Evidence by the department also showed that the force’s crimes against humanity including extrajudicial killings and torture were “overwhelming,” citing the MOPOL unit as largely disposed to extrajudicial killings, torture and corruption.
In 2010, Open Society Justice Initiative, in collaboration with the Network for Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), published a report that documented systemic crimes against humanity by the Nigerian Police, concluding that the institution had wrought untold destruction on the Nigerian society and had effectively become criminal.
In his ruling on July 16, Mr Gleeson expressed his satisfaction with the immigration department’s decision and held that the application be dismissed.
“Having carefully considered the record and submissions of both parties, I have come to the conclusion that this application must be dismissed. For the reasons that follow, I am satisfied that the ID reasonably weighed the relevant factors in determining that Mr. Ukoniwe made a knowing and significant contribution to the crimes committed by the Nigeria Police Force [NPF],” the document said.
Police spokesman, Frank Mba, however, did not respond to request seeking his comment on the Canadian judiciary’s position that the police force is a criminal organisation.
In April, another Canadian Judge, Sébastien Grammond, also denied asylum to Olushola Popoola, a former member of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) on the grounds of his association with the Police unit.
Popoola had also requested for a judicial review of the decision of the immigration department which found him inadmissible into the country on the grounds of his membership of the Nigeria Police Force.
“I am dismissing his application because the decision-maker reasonably assessed the relevant factors for deciding whether Mr Popoola made a knowing and significant contribution to the crimes committed by the Nigerian Police Force,” Mr Grammond ruled.
Suspected armed bandits have invaded Kabba Prison in Kogi, freeing their colleagues and other inmates while killing soldiers at the facility in the process.
The bandits freed no less than 240 inmates, killing a yet-to-be-identified number of soldiers.
The heavily armed gunmen attacked the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kabba around 11:35 p.m. on Sunday night, engaging the facility’s guards in a shootout.
A source in the facility told reporters that some soldiers were killed, but he could not immediately confirm the actual figure.
“They overpowered soldiers at a military checkpoint close to the correctional centre, and that gave them access to the facility,” he said, also confirming that bandits were part of the inmates.
He noted that most of the inmates escaped after the walls were broken down. Some returned while a few others were rearrested.
“The attackers in their number were said to have arrived at the Custodial Centre heavily armed and immediately engaged the armed guards in a fierce gun battle,” Francis Enobore, the spokesperson for the correctional centre, said in a statement on Monday.
Enobore noted that a recapture procedure has commenced as investigations were ongoing.
However, when contacted to confirm the casualty figure, Enobore said it could not be immediately ascertained as findings were ongoing.
“We’re going for an investigation. We’re heading to the site now and until we’re able to make a proper investigation on what transpired on the ground, we may not be able to ascertain that for now,” he said.
The spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Onyema Nwachukuwu, did not respond to reporters’ request seeking comments on the attack.
Prior to the attack, the 200 capacity MSCC was said to have 294 inmates in custody, out of which 224 were pre-trial detainees and 70 convicted inmates.
A similar incident occurred in April this year, after unknown gunmen attacked a correctional facility in Owerri, freeing 1,844 inmates in custody.
The gunmen were said to have stormed the facility in the wee hours of April 5, gaining entrance by using explosives to blast the administrative block.
It had been discovered, in a recent report, that at least 3,600 inmates have escaped from different prisons between 2007 and 2021 with the aid of Boko Haram terrorists, among other criminal elements in the country.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has invited the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), Suleiman Abba and five others over fraudulent activities including alleged procurement of substandard equipment by the NPTF for the Police.
Abba is also a former Inspector-General of Police.
The information is contained in a letter dated September 6, 2021, addressed to the Executive Secretary of the NPTF and signed by the Director of Operations of the ICPC, Akeem Lawal.
According to the letter titled, ‘Investigation Activities: Letter of Invitation Pursuant to Section 28(1(A-B) of ICPC Act 2000’, the anti-graft agency is asking the former IGP and others to appear before it between Monday, September 13 and Thursday, September 16, 2021.
A copy of the letter obtained by SaharaReporters on Saturday revealed that they will be investigated for alleged violation of the provisions of the ICPC Act No. 5 of 2020.
The ICPC had earlier commenced investigation into alleged procurement of substandard equipment by NPTF officials.
It was discovered that some of the equipment the NPTF recently donated to the police was inferior.
The NPTF had recently donated operational vehicles and other equipment worth N11 billion to the police as the NPTF for the training and retraining of police personnel.
Some of the said equipment included 640 bullet proof vests, 120 buffalo vans, and 190 ballistic helmets but the equipment was said to be substandard.
For instance, it was learnt that the bullet proof vests are supposed to have resistant shields in the front and back but they only had protective shields in the front. Therefore, the bullet proofs will fail to effectively protect police personnel during shoot-outs with criminal elements like Boko Haram terrorists, bandits or robbers.
In the letter obtained by reporters, those invited for questioning are identified as: IGP Suleiman Abba (rtd), Board Chairman; Mrs Victoria Ojogbane, Director, Legal Services; Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics; Mr. Lawal Gunjunju, Director, Finance and Account; Mr. Salihu Abubakar, Special Assistant, Technical; Dr. Fred Femi Akinfala, Director, Human Resources and General Services; Mr. Ben Akabueze, Board Member; and Engr. Mansur Hammed, Board Member.
Akabueze is the Director-General, Budget Office of the Government of Nigeria. He was before now the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in Lagos State in the administration of Babatunde Fashola.
Meanwhile, the invitation letter specifies the different times each of them is expected by the ICPC to come in for questioning.
The former IGP, Suleiman is expected to come in for questioning at exactly 1pm on Thursday, September 16, 2021; Ojogbane is expected in by 10am on Monday, September 13, 2021; Mohammed is expected in by 1pm on Monday, September 13, 2021, while Gunjunju is expected in the ICPC office for questioning by 10am on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
Also, Abubakar is expected in for questioning by 1pm on Tuesday, September 14, 2021; Akinfala is expected in by 10am on Wednesday, September 15, 2021; Akabueze is expected in by 1pm on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 while Hammed is expected in by 10am on Thursday, September 16, 2021.
The letter partly read, “Similarly, the invited staff is to come with the following documents as applicable to their office and schedule as well as the original copies for sighting:
“Copies of all payment vouchers for overhead, recurrent and capital for year 2020 and 2021, copies of all contract agreement for contracts awarded from the takeoff grant and capital, copies of staff nominal roll, comprehensive list of staff on transfer, posting and secondment. Vote for take-off grant, breakdown of all spending and approvals, print out of ledger vote and spending, all no objection certificate from Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
“Evidence of BPP clarification on contract award, financial limit and thresholds, procurement methods and threshold of application and expenditure as related to NPTF.
“They are also expected to come with any of the following: a lawyer, Justice of Peace, Staff of the Legal Aid Council or any individual of their choice.
“Accept the assurances of the Commission’s highest regards, please.”
MMA fighter, Vitor Belfort, knocked out former boxing undisputed heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in the first round of their boxing match in Saturday’s Triller Fight Night.
On the commentary box was former U.S. President Donald Trump whom Triller hired alongside his son to run alternate commentary. Rapper and actor, 50 Cent, and MMA Superstar Jorge Masvidal were also on hand on the night.
Coming into the fight, there were a lot of concerns about the health and abilities of Evander, who, at 58 definitely had his best years behind him; and looked exactly so in the open workouts. Vitor, on the other hand, looked in supreme condition.
To start the card, former British champion David Haye defeated multimillionaire businessman turned pro boxer Joe Fournier in a unanimous decision. That was followed by Jono Carroll who got a majority decision over Andy Vences.
In the co-main event, MMA legends faced off as Anderson Silva, the former UFC Middleweight Champion finished Tito Ortiz, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in devastating fashion with a first round KO.
This was followed by the Holyfield versus Belfort main event which ended just as quickly with Belfort dropping Holyfield early and following up with a barrage of punch combinations right after he got back up.
The referee stopped the fight and Holyfield protested but it was a great decision.
