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In 48 hours, 16 die in killings and counter killings in Kaduna, say Kaduna govt, SOKAPU

The bloodletting in southern Kaduna continued unabated in the last 48 hours with the killing and counter-killing of 16 persons.

First it was the erasure of the lives of five members of a family and two others in Gona Gan village in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA), according to the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU).

The invaders, believed to be Fulani herdsmen, also burnt down 17 houses in the village.

The victims are: Ayuba Sheyin, 65; Jummai Sheyin, 55; Patience Sheyin, 5; Goodluck Sheyin,11 and Saviour Sheyin, 14. They are all of the same household.

The rest are: Peter Akau, 70 and Joel Ishaya 35.

On Saturday, the State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, disclosed that nine persons lost their lives in a reprisal attack.

“The military under the auspices of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) and the police have informed the Kaduna State Government of counter-attacks on some herder settlements in Kauru and Lere local government areas. (Everyday)

Court service apologises after black barrister assumed to be defendant

Pupil barrister Luke McLean, who was assumed to be the defendant twice in one day while in court. Photograph: Luke McLean/Guardian

Apology to Luke McLean comes after similar incident involving barrister Alexandra Wilson

The courts service in England and Wales has been forced to apologise for a second time in three months after a barrister of colour was mistaken for a defendant twice in one day.

Pupil barrister Luke McLean was assumed to be the defendant at a London magistrates court last week, when he asked a member of the courtroom staff if the boards listing the day’s cases were accurate as his client was not on the list.

“I’m wearing a three-piece suit, and you ask things in a different way as a professional than you would as a defendant. I think I was carrying my laptop, too,” McLean said.

“But the first thing he responded was, are you the defendant? He didn’t ask if I was the barrister, or the probation officer. I could have been anybody. But the first assumption he makes is that I’m the defendant.”

When McLean went to the administration desk to make sure his client was on the list for the day’s proceedings, a staff member asked if he had received a court summons letter, again implying he was the defendant.

A spokesperson for the Courts and Tribunals Service said they were “deeply sorry” for the “unacceptable experience”, just three months after apologising to barrister Alexandra Wilson after she was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day.

Wilson tweeted that McLean’s experience was “ridiculous”.

“Why hasn’t every single employee been briefed that all they need to do is *ASK* how they can help? Honestly if it takes cue cards spelling out how to address court users then so be it,” she wrote.

McLean said while the incident was “disheartening”, it was not rare.

“It happens a lot in different contexts, from court staff to probation offers and list callers,” he said. “The first thing you do in court is go past security, who have a list of all the defendants due to attend court. Many times I’ve had security ask who I am, looking at the list, and asking where I am on the list. You have list callers shouting the names of defendants, and looking at me.

“There’s a preconception that because I’m a young person of colour, I couldn’t be the barrister.”

McLean said he was inundated with messages from other people of colour about similar experiences they had had in the judicial system and beyond. He called for better training for all court staff about racial biases, but said the issue was far wider than the judicial system.

“If these assumptions didn’t exist in society generally, they wouldn’t exist in our courts,” he said. “There’s no point having an isolated discussion about systemic racism in courts. I think all workplaces need to encourage this type of training. I don’t want this happening again to anybody.”

In a statement, the Courts and Tribunals Service said it remained “completely committed to playing our part in tackling discrimination”.

The body has been developing a Race Action Plan which works with court users and representatives to improve the experience of people of colour in the courts system, and has recently established a network for minority ethnic staff. They are also in the process of extending their race awareness training to all employees.

“We know there is more to do – open forums are already being held to improve our understanding of the challenges minority ethnic colleagues face and race awareness training is being extended for all staff,” a spokesperson said.

Theguardian

Investigation launched after black barrister mistaken for defendant three times in a day

England and Wales courts head apologises after Alexandra Wilson describes having to ‘constantly justify existence’

The head of the courts service in England and Wales has apologised to a black barrister after she was stopped and mistaken for a defendant three times in one day at court.

Kevin Sadler, the acting chief executive of HM Courts and Tribunals Service, has condemned the “totally unacceptable behaviour” and promised to investigate the complaint made by Alexandra Wilson, who specialises in criminal and family cases.

Wilson, whose chambers are near the Old Bailey in the City of London, tweeted this week that she had gone to a court and was repeatedly misidentified as a defendant rather than as a lawyer. She is the author of In Black And White, which highlights the problem of racism in the courts.

Wilson said that she was “absolutely exhausted” after what had happened and that “a light needs to be shone on this”. Her tweets triggered fresh accusations about racism in the courts.

Wilson said she had initially been stopped at the entrance by a security guard and “asked me what my name was so he could ‘find [my] name on the list’ (the list of defendants)”. She thought that might have been an “innocent mistake”.

Then a member of the public, who thought she was a journalist, told her not to go into a courtroom and to wait for the usher to sign her in for her case. She had to explain that she was the barrister.

Inside the courtroom, a barrister or solicitor told her to wait outside and see the usher. Wilson explained that she was a lawyer.

She then approached the prosecutor. Wilson added: “Before I got there the clerk, VERY loudly, told me to leave the courtroom and said the usher would be out shortly. Before I could respond she then asked if I was represented.”

For at least the third time, she had to declare that she was a defence barrister. “This really isn’t ok …” she tweeted. “I don’t expect to have to constantly justify my existence at work.”

In response, Sadler tweeted: “I‘m very sorry about your experience at court yesterday – it is totally unacceptable behaviour and I’m investigating the role of my staff and contractors as a matter of urgency.

“This is not the behaviour anyone should expect and certainly does not reflect our values.”

Amanda Pinto QC, chair of the Bar Council, called the incident “appalling”. She said: “With regret, I fear Alexandra’s experience is not a one-off. Many barristers have to put up with the prejudiced assumptions of others – Alexandra has done so with exemplary grace and patience. I am speaking directly with HMCTS, the senior judiciary and the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] immediately, urging more to be done to stamp out this behaviour.

“The barristers’ profession is always striving to be more representative of the society it serves. There is more to do to change the perception of the bar, but that is no excuse for the kind of attitudes and remarks described. We are not all white, middle-class men.”

The Society of Asian lawyers tweeted that it held a meeting earlier week about racial prejudice in the legal profession: “From our polls on Monday for our event one third of lawyers attending who appear in court have been mistaken for the defendant. Enough is enough.”

It comes after official figures revealed people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are less likely to be successful when applying to become a judge, and only 9% of senior barristers are from BAME backgrounds.

Last week a Ministry of Justice report found BAME people “over-represented in applications for judicial appointment” but are “less likely to be successful”.

Industry leaders have called for the legal profession to diversify to better represent the public.

• This article was amended on 28 September 2020 to clarify that figures show 9% of senior barristers are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Theguardian

I Am Obeying Spiritual Orders, 53-yr-old Pastor Who Impregnated 20 Members Of Congregation Claims

A self-proclaimed 53-year-old pastor who reportedly impregnated 20 members of congregation claims the Holy Spirit ordered him to have sex with them.

Officers of the Enugu Police state command has arrested a 53-year-old pastor for impregnating twenty members of his congregation.

The pastor, identified as Timothy Ngwu, is the General Overseer of Vineyard Ministry of the Holy Trinity in Enugu. The pastor claimed that the Holy Spirit commanded him to do so.

The police spokesperson, Ebere Amaraizu revealed that the pastor has been charged for sex abuse.

“The pastor claims to be obeying spiritual orders to do the will of God, which is to impregnate any one chosen and revealed by the holy spirit, irrespective of whether the woman is married or not,” said Amaraizu.

“When the woman delivers, the child is supposed to remain in the ministry with the mother for life,” he added.

It was gathered that the pastor was reported at the police by his own wife who got tired of his behaviour after he also impregnated her young niece.

In his defense, the pastor said he never had sex with any of the married women unless their husbands agreed with the request of the Holy Spirit.

Approximately, he said he has five wives with 13 children along with other concubines he got after the Holy Spirit commanded him to do so.

PENDULUM: Helpless Nigerians In The Hands Of President Buhari

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, it is difficult to ignore the helplessness and hopelessness which hapless Nigerians have suffered since the year of our Lord 2015, when our presumed Messiah descended upon our section of this planet.

Before then, Nigerians had reasoned that there was only one saint standing and he is no other than Major General Muhammadu Buhari, our brutal disciplinarian and former Head of State. In our selective or collective amnesia, and out of an incredible frustration and pathological hatred for the ruling party, PDP, and the President fate had contrived to foist upon us, Goodluck Jonathan, it was generally assumed there must be a regime change, by all means. At that time, we believed that anybody was better than President Jonathan and his rambunctious PDP, and that things could definitely never get worse than it was. However, to make the choice easy and palatable for Nigerians, we believed that there was a godsent replacement waiting in the wings.

One who commanded the mythical stature, status and authority that was capable of driving the fear of God into our recklessly profligate politicians. His name was Muhammadu Buhari and he had no equal in Nigeria’s political firmament, or so we thought. As events would show sooner than later, after he was sworn in jubilantly, and after a stentorian inauguration speech which we found out had been plagiarized, the scam we sold to ourselves, at a premium, began to crumble, before our very eyes. Perhaps that speech was the harbinger of the level and depths of misery and calamity that we were about to sink into. However, in our euphoria, we paid little or no attention to the tell-tale signs that things would never be at ease, that the falcon would no longer listen to the falconer! In short, we generally lost our brains, and our minds, and with them, our sense of history, not just momentarily but almost permanently. Today, the rest is history.

I do not know what Buhari’s fanatical supporters, or his combative aides, tell him now, but I can fathom a guess that at the time of his ascension to power, when he was still himself, his big ego was already being pumped up and massaged regularly and endlessly. Nowadays, nobody seriously knows what the President thinks or believes. Too many stories abound, some so far-fetched that they can only exist in the realms of fairytales or Aesop’s Fables, some so unreal and surreal, others still fictional but speaking to some kind of morality or truth. Yet, nothing can be discountenanced or discounted anymore. We may just as well be living in a world of make believe, like a virtual Alice in Wonderland scenario! That is how bleak and depressing things have become.

On an even more serious note, and I have been quite serious thus far, the office of the Nigerian President is too powerful, and our current experience is the reason why we must never again let just anybody occupy that “supernatural” position. Just in case you didn’t know that fact and you mistakenly find yourself working in the Presidential villa, you will immediately discover that your options are limited. One. When in Rome, you must live like the Romans. If you can’t, please, have a quick dialogue with your feet and vamoose at the speed of light. End of story. All our friends who went into the accursed Villa with their seemingly towering and impeccable credentials were soon forced to forgo or forget their lofty aspirations and ambitions and climb down their high horses. It has been that bad! Many were turned into robots, and some became a complete mimicry of circus clowns. Only a tiny few returned home with some sanity. The simple truth is that you can hardly enter a place that has become a den of iniquity and treachery and hope to return to society with your head still sitting on your neck.

Since 2015, we have practically been in a state of stupor, waltzing from one monumental crisis to another, like a drunken somnambulist. In all fairness, President Buhari was, initially, slowed down by his undisclosed ailment that kept him outside Nigeria than inside in those early days. But while we submit to that reality, the fault still remains his. No one expected him at his age and with the fragile state of his health to be in top form or operate at full capacity. He was expected to do the proper thing in such circumstances by delegating his duties and roles as required by the Nigerian Constitution. However, he stoically refused to delegate to the right people. Instead, he chose to play games, by trying to be a political strategist when that has never been his forte. It was a ploy doomed to fail and it did so spectacularly.

Buhari’s government lost steam once he kowtowed to the whimsical dictates of a cabal that started ruling by proxy in his name. He gave this otherwise cowardly group the fillip they needed by his taciturnity and egregious overpowering silence in the face of humongous atrocities and brigandage. While they could bully and intimidate as a collective, backed by the unseen hand of their protector, the few times they felt the absence of that protection the façade crumbled, and they were shown for the pitiable specimens that they really were.

Since then, It has been obvious that this government is not likely to achieve anything tangible at the expiration of its two terms in office, because the ship of State has floundered on the high seas ruddelessly and is taking in water at an abnormally rapid rate such that the State may sink imminently if care is not taken. In the meantime, like the proverbial Emperor Nero who fiddled while Rome burnt, our President goes to Katsina to milk his cows, whilst marauders, murderers, assassins and terrorists annihilate us like cattle.

The biggest problem bedevilling Nigeria today is that of an unprecedented insecurity. Only this past week, hundreds of schoolboys were brazenly abducted by bandits and gangsters in the President’s home State of Katsina. Just imagine that level of embarrassment for one of the strongest and most powerful leaders in the world. The shame is that this leader has lost all sense of propriety and decorum that he didn’t even seem embarrassed, despite the public and international outcry. He turned up in his home State, went to his hometown and thereafter, mum was the word. The world remained dumbfounded and flabbergasted.

As always, the international media went to town massively on us and our perpetual incompetence and this must have helped to secure the immediate return of the boys so that we would not end up with another Chibok Girls fiasco and nightmare. Mercifully, the young boys have all returned but with unending and horrendous tales of woes. Many Nigerians are still not convinced that the boys were just freed like that without the Federal Government paying some outlandish ransom to the abductors or compromising our territorial integrity and sovereignty, or otherwise paying a yet unknown price too great.

It is symptomatic of the times we live in and the unfathomable depths to which we have been plunged that Nigerians have become so paranoid to the extent that many of our people actually believe President Buhari is not the man in The Presidential villa. It is a regular debate I have not been able to win to the extent that I myself am now beginning to feel too weak to engage in such conversations. Such people have asked me to secure a live Instagram interview with him. I am hoping to succeed with the President one day soon, no matter how much management is being done right now. I won’t give up, not only because I want to satisfy my teeming followers, but also because I believe that it is imperative that our President answers some hard questions if we are to survive as a nation. There are too many pending questions for me to ask him.

The first question is whether the President is aware the country is collapsing over his head or if he feels this is how a normal country should be run! Does he know that due to his own careless and lackadaisical attitude and approach to issues of grave dangers, Nigeria is speeding fleet-footed towards the way of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and other such failed nations where insurgency is rife, and anarchy is the order of the day. There are Nigerians today who believe that the sponsors of terrorism are right inside the seat of power and that President Buhari is not serious about fighting banditry, hooliganism, or even terrorism.

It is said that he seems to have some soft spot for the people of his clan who indulge in wanton destruction of lives and properties, or at best that he will turn a blind eye to the terrible damage that they are doing to the Nigerian State because he actually aligns with their beliefs. It is my fervent hope that this is untrue!
Two. Is it that our military guys have become so cheaply powerless or some senior officials are unwilling to allow them apply maximum force to obliterate the threat posed to our nationhood by the insurrectionists? It is naturally tempting to associate with those spreading the conspiracy theory that the government is over pampering the terrorists, including rehabilitating them into the military while they wasted no time in proscribing IPOB and other Southern militant groups who have more worthy causes and declaring them as terrorist groups and organisations.

This belief is given significant traction by the fact that the insurgents seem capable of being visibly invisible, blindingly oblivious and carrying on as if they are an integral part of our security, or, in fact, the armed forces itself. The equipment, armoury and arsenal at their disposal beggars belief and it is totally astonishing and disturbing. A motley collection of ragtag individuals is making a mockery of our highly trained and supposedly sophisticated military personnel and might. The kind that was so gung-ho and trigger-happy in dealing with peaceful and unarmed #EndSars protesters but timid, fearful and pusillanimous when confronted by Boko Haram and the wicked minority Herdsmen given their kinsmen a bad name.

Three. Is the President aware that our economy has virtually collapsed or someone is lying to him that it is so buoyant that a Naira is now equal to one US Dollar, rather than the reality that the Naira now equals about five hundred US Dollars and is still going south? Please, with due respect, what was the reason the Southern borders between Lagos and Benin Republic were shut down while the porous borders in the North remained in business? And after severely punishing the poor hapless petty traders that trudged and hustled along the Seme axis, the same erratic government suddenly wakes up to tell us that reopening that route will re-energize our economy! Was that not taken into consideration in the first instance? Please who manufactures these political and economic somersaults to assail and assault the sensibilities of poor, forlorn Nigerians?

Four. What exactly is our strategy for protecting Nigerians globally? Just there in nearby Ghana, Nigerian businesses have been shut down and our traders made to look like pathetic orphans, yet not much intervention or succour has come from our government and the minimal effort deployed has naturally not achieved anything worthwhile. Why have we become so despised, disrespected and disgraced in many countries around the world?
Five. What are we doing about unemployment? Our young ones are mostly frustrated and disillusioned.

The palliatives being distributed are more concentrated in a particular region of the country. If anyone denies this fact, let them release a comprehensive list of the beneficiaries, if any such exists. The money being thrown around can be better channelled. Nigeria must as a matter of utmost urgency invest in vocational studies instead of promoting idleness and laziness.

Six. Education. When will this government and ASUU resolve their intractable problems and crisis? Why does education not have a pride of place in the priority of this Government? And why is it that budgetary allocation to the sector is paltry and derisory?

Seven. Health they say is wealth. When are we going to have world class facilities in our dear beloved country? When will our leaders stop flying abroad to seek medical attention to the minutest of ailments because of the lack of faith in our medical infrastructure which they bludgeoned into a comatose state by their inaction and ineptitude?

Eight. Infrastructure. Nigeria is generally backward infrastructurally. Something drastic must happen. What is the government doing about sustainable and regular power supply, good roads and the rest? I can go on ad infinitum…

Katsina, New Haven of Terror-Banditry in Nigeria? By Yushau Shuaib

Was it not strange that the abduction of Kankara boys occurred on the day President Muhammadu Buhari arrived Daura, his hometown, in Katsina State, on a private visit? It is even more curious that the abductees were released on his birthday. Buhari last visited the state in December 2019, when he inaugurated construction work on the N18 billion University of Transportation, Daura.

While Borno in the North-East is the epicentre of Boko Haram terrorism, Zamfara in the North-West seems to be the hotbed of armed banditry, and Katsina, the home state of the President is fast becoming the haven of the fusion of notorious gangs of terror-bandits.

Just recently terrorists massacred over 45 farmers at Zabarmani in Borno and armed bandits kidnapped an Imam and 17 Muslim worshipers while observing congregational prayer at Dutsen Gari mosque in Zamfara before the terror-bandits abducted large population of students in Kankara, Katsina State.

The Katsina State Government had officially announced the abduction of 333 Kankara students before the Government of Zamfara State confirmed the release of 344 boys by the bandits.

In the peak of the crisis, an audio message from Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram, which had claimed responsibility for the abduction, did not provide video footage or photo evidence. The propaganda merely confirms the fact that bandits in the North-West and terrorists in the North-East are forging ties to destabilise the nation. In fact, PRNigeria has reported that terrorist groups are now recruiting the services of local gangs of bandits to carry out attacks and abductions for rewards.
The claim of responsibility by the terror group compelled some states to announce the closure of schools, especially in Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara and Jigawa.

The latest incident of abduction which evoked memories of the 2014 kidnap of more than 275 students of Chibok Girls Secondary school in Borno State by terrorists, is fuelling a political rivalry between the People Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) as they engage in blame game over the saga.

When the spokesperson of APC, Yekini Nabena, issued a statement to the effect that a governor in the north-west was sponsoring bandits in the region, Governor Matawalle of PDP promptly retorted by saying that Zamfara was a den of bandits with high cases of banditry under the leadership of APC.
Even though Gov Masari had confirmed a negotiation between Katsina government with the abductors, Gov Matawalle insisted that he facilitated the release of 344 schoolboys without any payment of ransom. In an interview with Daily Nigerian, Zamfara Governor said he deployed repentant bandits and the leadership of Miyetti Allah to identify the syndicate that led the abduction, and then started the negotiation process.

While security services, especially the military are also laying claim to the rescue of students from captivity, it would be recalled that a joint rescue operation was launched when intelligence services identified Zango/Paula forest as the hideout of the abductors, before a leader of a terrorist group claimed responsibility for the abduction. There are aerial videos and photos of troops monitoring the movements of the bandits and the students in the forest during the saga. The persistent military surveillance through ISR to some extent denied the abductors freedom of action and prevented the movement of the children across the border to a neighbouring country.

The motorcycle-riding armed bandits have been actively involved in cattle rustling for trade, kidnapping for ransom, raping for pleasure and mass murder in reprisal attacks, sometimes against security forces in most daring and worrisome coincidences.

Apart from the abduction of Kankara students during the President’s visit in Katsina, another coincidence was the killing of 23 Nigerian soldiers in an ambush by armed bandits in Jibia area in July. That deadly attack on troops occurred after the Chief of Army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai had flagged off a Special Army Super Camp IV in the State. In fact during the flagging off ceremony in Faskari, Buratai said the establishment of the super camp was to mark the commencement of “Exercise Sahel Sanity 2020” to curb banditry and other forms of crimes plaguing communities in the North-West. He also commissioned intervention projects executed in various communities in Katsina to improve the civil-military relationship.

Similarly, in November (last month), heavily armed bandits, dressed in military camouflage, kidnapped nine police officers in the rank of Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) between Kankara and Sheme towns in Katsina, before they were rescued/freed afterward.

Before then, in June, bandits stormed communities in Faskari and killed more than 46 people, mostly the aged, women and children. Some of the communities affected in the gruesome attacks include Kadisau, Maigora, Kabalawa, Kwakware, Raudama and Unguwar Wahabi.

Intelligence has shown that the bandits operate from their hideouts in the massive and dreaded Rugu forest that cuts across Jibia, Safana, Danmusa, Batsari, Dandume, Sabuwa, Kankara and Faskari Local Government Areas of Katsina State.

Surprisingly, as the Nigerian military intensifies its offensives in decimating several camps and neutralising many of the bandits, mostly through massive air raids and ground operations, the ranks of bandits increase by the day.

Despite the release of Kankara boys by terror-bandits, citizens still live in fear and apprehension of further attacks by bandits. In fact, the freed students while lamenting the suffering they went through in the kidnappers’ den, said they were not willing to return to school.

There is also the fear that with the vast majority of the population in that region living in extreme poverty, and kidnapping becoming a lucrative industry, some of the youths may be tempted to join the underworld in the nefarious business of ransom payments.

Therefore, there must be concerted efforts to tackle the emergence of armed terror-bandits, a conspiracy between terrorists and bandits not only in Katsina but elsewhere in Northern Nigeria.

I believe strongly that the government and the citizens should should evolve strategies in tackling the menace. They should address poor education, improper upbringing, drug addiction, joblessness, poor governance and above all weak intelligence gathering to help security services in tackling the worsening insecurity in Nigeria.

Yushuau A. Shuaib
www.YAShuaib.com

Female Su*cide Bomber Kills 3 In Borno

A teenage girl killed at least three people when she blew herself up in a crowd in Borno State, militia and humanitarian sources told AFP Saturday.

“We evacuated three dead bodies and two people who were seriously injured from the scene,” said aid worker Abubakar Mohammed. The attack happened in the town of Konduga, about 38 kilometres (24 miles) from the regional capital Maiduguri.

The attacker set off her explosives among a group of men at a hangout next the local chief’s home, said Ibrahim Liman, an anti-jihadist militia leader who gave the same toll.

Konduga and surrounding villages have been repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers from Boko Haram, which typically attacks soft civilian targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations, often using young women as bombers.

At least 30 people were killed last year in Konduga when three bombers detonated their explosives outside a hall where football fans were watching a match on TV.

Boko Haram and a splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million since 2009.

The jihadist conflict has spread into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to end the violence.

Thenigerialawyer

El-Rufai Kicks As ‘Reprisal Attacks’ Claim Seven Lives In Two Kaduna LGAs

No fewer than seven people have been killed in what security agencies described as reprisal attacks in Kauru and Lere Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.

The fresh killings which occurred on Saturday came barely two days after seven other people were murdered by gunmen in Zango Kataf LGA.

The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in Kaduna, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the incidents in a statement hours after the attacks occurred.


He said the counter-attacks occurred in some herders’ settlements in Kauru and Lere LGA.

Quoting the operational feedback from the security agencies, the commissioner confirmed that the attacks were carried out by aggrieved youths following the killing of seven persons at Gora Gan in Zangon Kataf.

The security agencies reported that seven people were killed in a counter-killing in Ungwan Idi and Kasheku villages of Kauru LGA while two herders were injured at Ningi village in Lere LGA.

Aruwa also noted that troops were searching for five persons whose whereabouts were unknown after the attack, while six huts were burnt in the incident.

In his reaction, Governor Nasir El-Rufai condemned the renewed counter-killings and extended his condolences to the families who lost their loved ones.

He also wished those recuperating a speedy recovery, describing the renewed killing and counter-killing of innocent citizens of Atyap and Fulani ethnicity as unfortunate.

The governor decried the resort to violence, noting that it was not a solution to grievances and disputes but a tragic way to escalate matters and drag people into more pains and misery.

He directed the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide relief materials to the affected families with immediate effect.

President Buhari Salutes Itse Sagay, SAN at 80

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday rejoiced with foremost scholar, teacher, legal luminary, author, and anti-corruption crusader, Prof. Itsejuwa Sagay, as he turns 80 on December 20.

President Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said in a statement issued in Abuja that the president also rejoiced with the Sagay family, the academia, the legal profession and all friends and associates of the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption.

He noted that Sagay’s integrity and commitment to transparency marked him out as a Nigerian of sterling character.

“You have always stood by this administration, particularly in our avowed commitment to fighting corruption, and this you do without fear or favour,’’ he stated.

He wished the author of many books, including the epochal “The Nigerian Law of Contract’’, good health, longer life, and further contributions to jurisprudence, even as he serves God and humanity.

Buhari noted that Sagay, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, on the basis of his academic works, was a high flyer, recording best academic performances in the university and at bar examinations.

He urged younger generations to emulate Sagay’s excellent performances and set same as standards for themselves.

‘The Whole World Is Laughing At Us’, Ezekwesili Tells Buhari After Kankara Schoolboys’ Return

A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has taken a swipe at the President over the recent abduction of hundreds of students from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State.

She believes there is a problem President Muhammadu Buhari needs to address, saying the countries around the world think Nigeria is a joke.

“He (Buhari) needs to tell us exactly what happened with the Kankara kids; there is a problem here,” Ezekwesili said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday.

She added, “This country should not be taken for a ride by President Buhari and his government; This is very unbecoming and the whole world is laughing at us. They think we are jokers.

“Many countries did not even bother to show that anything had happened in our country because they felt who are these people and what are they doing to themselves?”

The former minister, who is also a co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign, noted that the return of the schoolboys was a welcome development.

She queried how it was possible for the abductors to storm the school and kidnap children of such a large number without any form of signal that such an incident was about to happen.

A Visit To Terrorists?
Ezekwesili also wondered how governmental systems were unable to alert anyone that the children had been carted off from their school, saying the same question was asked when the Chibok girls were taken in 2014.

She stressed that neither the President nor the authorities deserved to be commended, claiming that they created the problem in the first instance.

On the return of the students, the former minister stated that there was no cause to celebrate but to be thankful for their lives.

She alleged, “One thing I don’t do in life is to pretend; for us to congratulate a government that created a problem and said it solved it, we shouldn’t be doing that, this society should learn how to hold people to accountability.

“The President should be disgusted with what happened, not commending himself. What is he clapping for? Those children were put in harm’s way, and now you say you have rescued them?”

“Maybe the President sent the young men on an excursion to terrorists and now he probably has a lifeline to terrorists so they can release children at will to him.

“So, let nobody ask anybody to clap; the only thing we should do is thank God for the children and their parents, they should not do this to little children,” Ezekwesili insisted.

Thenigerialawyer

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