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#ENDSARS: CSO flays CNN on Lekki protest report

…Accuses network of attempt to undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty

…Appeals to Nigerians, global community to ignore report

By Joseph Erunke

The Coalition of Civil Society For Human Rights and Good Governance Africa, has condemned in its entirety a report by the Cable News Network (CNN) alleging massacre of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos, on October 20, 2020.

In a strongly-worded statement, released in Abuja, the Coalition described the report as fake, repulsive and a concocted piece of deliberate falsehood by an otherwise reputable international cable network.

The group, in the statement jointly signed by Prof Bankole Amuda, Prof Uzodima Anakwe, Balarabe Hassan Ningi, and Barr (Mrs) Grace Osaze, corroborated the position of the Nigerian Army to the effect that, no protester was killed on the said day, as only blank ammunition were used by soldiers to restore normalcy.

According to the coalition, its position was based on thorough investigations conducted by a crack team of independent forensic experts.

While warning CNN and its co-travellers against deliberate attempts to undermine Nigeria’s sovereignty, the rights and good governance organisation called on the federal government to remain firm and apply the full weight of the law against local and foreign saboteurs.

Specifically, the coalition took exceptions to the fact that CNN placed heavy reliance on the same videos that have since been confirmed to be fake, to arrive at its jaundiced and premeditated outcome.

Wondering what was the motive behind the fake report, the CSO expressed confidence that Nigerians of good conscience will see the report for what it is: fake news.

It has, however, applauded the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for the way and manner he conveyed the position of the federal goveenment, at a world press conference in Abuja, Thursday.

Notwithstanding, the group has called on members of the public with genuine cases of rights’ violation, to approach ongoing judicial commissions of injuiry set up by the federal and state governments, to address such concerns.

It contended that Nigeria remained a sovereign and independent nation, which is governed by established institutions, rule of law, hence the need for aggrieved persons and groups to follow the due process in ventilating their grievances.

“We condemn the CNN and all their evil collaborators for the fake report of alleged massacre at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, as nothing can be further from the truth.

“We are of the firm view that the CNN only relied on fake videos posted on the internet by enemies of the state, to draw conclusion of a massacre, that only exists, or existed in their fertile mind and that of its collaborators – local and international.

“We recognise the right of CNN to carry out exclusive investigative activities around the world, in a bid to expose corruption, human rights violation and other ills perpetrated by govetnments or groups/individuals, as the case may be.

“In the face of this, however, we hasten to warn against attempts to package falsehood in the guise of truth, to satisfy pre-conceived agenda to destroy Nigeria.

“May we warn CNN and the like, that Nigeria is not a banana republic, where cases of provocation and incitement against a constitutional government will be allowed or tolerated”.

The statement continued: “As a responsible group, we have been following proceedings at the Lagos State Judicial Commission of Inquiry, and we can say authoritatively, that no family has yet to come forward with evidence of death of loved ones.

“We are, therefore, at a loss as to CNN’s obsession with ‘massacre’, even when respectable authorities like the military etc, have come out to say the contrary.

“We maintain that the Nigerian Army, and  the Military, remains one of the best in global equation, with professionally trained personnel, who do not compromise the rules of engagement in whatever operations they embark on.

“We understand that massacre, a very heinous crime, involves the deliberate killing of many people at a given time.

“Against that gory description, we wonder how soldiers, who are Nigerians with families across the country, will set out to ‘slaughter’ its fellow brothers and sisters.

“We call on patriotic Nigerians and the international community to disregard the CNN’s report in its entirety, while supporting ongoing efforts by government to sustain the momentum of growth and development being witnessed in the country, notwithstanding the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic Nigeria belong to Nigeria’s and can only build to our expectation by Nigeria’s and not any other country, hence we must not allow any external interest destroy our country.

“We trust that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government will resist all forms of intimidation against the Nigerian State, regardless of where such emanates from.

“In the fullness of time, all individuals and groups seeking to undermine the federal Republic of Nigeria, will be exposed, and we pray that posterity will not let them go without accounting for their deeds”.

“Lastly, we are comforted by the fact that, no matter how far falsehood travels, it is eventually caught up with, and overtaken by truth.

We urge the CNN to focus on the so many rights violations in the America. Their report in the Lekki saga has confirmed to us what President Donald Trump has consistently brand them” as a medium that flies only fake news.

We call on all Nigerians to ignore them and their conspirators. Let’s join hands together to build the Nigeria of our dream. Nigeria is our only home and only us can build it to an enviable height.

Vanguard News Nigeria

Explainer: Why Nigeria cannot sanction CNN

By Evans Ufeli

CNN, though in Nigeria, is an international media organization in the United States of America which operates via a cable tv on Dstv Network and other platforms. By Clever Advertising The operations of CNN on world press coverage is not regulated by the National Broadcasting Commission. NBC or the Minister of Information has no such powers to sanction an organization that is not under its approval and regulations.

The National Broadcasting Commission is the broadcast regulator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Commission was set up on August 24, 1992, by Decree 38 0f 1992 later amended as an Act of the National assembly by Act 55 of 1999 and now known as National Broadcasting Commission Laws of the Federation 2004, CAP N11 to among other responsibilities, regulate and control the broadcasting industry in Nigeria.

The minister for information and culture Lai Mohammed completely misdirected himself when he said Nigeria will sanction CNN for the documentary it did on the Lekki Tollgate shooting of the ENDSARS protesters orchestrated by the Nigerian Army. The minister has failed to appraise the issues intelligently. CNN only did a documentary of their findings, verifying all video footage obtained through scientific means to arrive at their empirical conclusion.

The Federal government only needed to disprove or controvert CNN position by showing the public a video with contrary narrative, rather than dismissing the documentary under very heavy weather of emotive illogical expression.

Before the CNN documentary was released the organization reached out to the army and the Lagos State Government on this issue but they declined, arguing that a Judicial Panel of Inquiry was already looking into the matter and they were unwilling to engage with the CNN or any other body.

On the CNN documentary, we found out that the peaceful protesters were actually shot at and people died. The military denied all these when the public confronted them with video footage of what transpired. The CNN report re-enforces the fact and deepened the evidential conviction that the military actually shot at and killed peaceful protesters.

This very heinous crime cannot be covered up in this day and aged when the advancement of in technology has taken a new height. With the available evidence of the incident and in the absence of a contrary report, CNN cannot be inculpated or sanctioned by the international communities for wrong doings let alone the National Broadcasting Commission.

Reporting the truth is the highest level of professionalism in journalism. Lai Mohammed called the CNN report as ‘a poor piece of journalistic report.’ The minister was absolutely wrong to have said the aforementioned to a media organization that did a comprehensive investigative report that has not been disproved or controverted by the minister with evidence.

The United Nations recognize free press and this is the fulcrum to democratic engagements all over the world. Amidst the growing recognition of the importance of press freedom for democracy and development, in 1993 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that May 3 is “World Press Freedom Day”.

Throughout the world, this day serves as an occasion to celebrate press freedom, raise awareness of violations against the right to freedom of expression and draw attention to the work of all too many journalists forced to brave death or jail to bring people their daily news.

It is also on World Press Freedom Day that UNESCO awards the annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to a journalist who has distinguished him or herself in the fight for press freedom.

Evans Ufeli Esq Executive Director Cadrell Advocacy Centre, Nigeria

We Went To Lekki Toll Gate With Live Bullets, Nigerian Army Says

*Says Given the same circumstance, we’ll repeat what we did in Lekki

Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, Commander of the 81 Division, Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, told the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the Lekki Tollgate incident that the army went to the tollgate with both blank and live ammunitions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Taiwo made the revelation while being cross-examined by lawyers to the #EndSARS protesters, Mr Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN) and Mr Adeshina Ogunlana.

Under cross-examination by Olumide-Fusika, Taiwo said that the there were men and materials from the Army at the Lekki Tollgate in the evening of Oct. 20.

“We had men and materials – vehicles and rifles for shooting. A portion of the force were carrying live bullets in case they are attacked.

“Another portion will carry magazines charged with blank ammunition,” he said.

While being cross-examined by Ogunlana, Taiwo said that that the military acted within the Army’s Rules of Engagement in keeping up with professionalism.

“The soldiers will be using both live and blank bullets and in this particular case, we saw that this protest had been infiltrated by hoodlums.

“We had peaceful protesters no doubt, but there were hoodlums who sought to take advantage of the protest,” he said.

The army General told the panel that the army was not deployed to the Lekki Tollgate, but were on patrol to clear up the Lekki, Eti-Osa corridor.

He said that the soldiers on patrol were, however, attacked by hoodlums around the area of the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, injuring a soldier.

He noted that the army did not engage in any form of dialogue or negotiations with the #EndSARS protesters at the tollgate because they were attacked by hoodlums.

“They were pelted just before Oriental Hotel, their response was to fire blank ammunition. They (soldiers) were stoned just as they dismounted.

“By the time they fired a few shots in the air, the hoodlums hightailed it. Our mission was not to clear the protest, we were just on our way to ensure normalcy on the Eti-Osa corridor.

“One officer was wounded, he was stoned on the lips. If we are attacked with stones, the only option is gunshot,” the army General said.

The army had maintained that blank bullets were used to disperse the protesters who were out on the streets during the time the Lagos state government imposed a curfew.

When he appeared before the panel set up to probe the incident, on Saturday, Ibrahim Taiwo, commander of the 81 division of the Nigerian Army, said given the same circumstance, the army would act in a similar to that of October 20, 2020.

Thenigerialawyer

Buhari’s legacy of recessions, By Fredrick Nwabufo

‘Why always Buhari?’ As it was in 1984 under General Buhari, so it is in 2016 and 2020 under President Buhari? Is it by the unfortunate hands of kismet, that recession hits Nigeria every time Buhari takes charge of the country’s affairs? If the recession of the 1980s under Buhari was a conspiracy by economic and political factors, to what do we attribute that of his first coming as a civilian president — and now in his second coming? Why does pestilence scourge the land, hunger ravage the population and lives lost malevolently when Buhari presides over the country? Why always Buhari?

Buhari’s undoing is his wonted predilection for hierarchising ethnicity, religion and loyalty above competence. Since 1999, no president has obtrusively shown a more nepotistic aspect than Buhari. It is unarguable that the president arrays the most competence-challenged cabinet ever in the chronicle of governance in Nigeria. Yes, a recession cabinet.

Here is a cabinet constituting of figures stuck in a time when the world only saw pictures in black and white — characters from Pinocchio who see social media as a threat and troglodytes who think farming with hoe and cutlass is progress.

Buhari’s agriculture minister, Sabo Nanono, once said there is no hunger in Nigeria and that food is cheap in the country. Wait! Before you tag this as fake news read his exact words and be flummoxed.

“I think we are producing enough to feed ourselves. I think there is no hunger in Nigeria; there could be inconveniences. When people talk about hunger in this government, I just laugh. In this country, it is fairly cheap to buy food,’’ the minister said at a press briefing to mark the 2019 World Food Day in Abuja on October 15, 2019.

This is one among the foundering protagonists of the Buhari administration. When native complexion and loyalty are prioritised above competence and performance, leadership suffers. I strongly believe even if Nigeria’s constitution allows a third term and Buhari returns in 2023, recession will hit the country again. It appears anything he touches atrophies.

Buhari is the type of boss every bungling brownnoser would like to work with. He rewards failure in the currency of loyalty. As long as you keep him sated with praises, you can keep your job. Why have the service chiefs who have failed in their duty of keeping the country safe not been sacked? Why are they still in office long after their retirement is due?

The recession of 2016 was largely due to the incompetence of the Buhari government. Here is how Nairametrics, Nigeria’s Bloomberg, puts it: “In a nutshell, what caused the last recession (of 2016) was not entirely the fall in oil prices. Rather, the lack of sound economic policies to diversify away from the volatility of crude oil prices, whilst boosting the nation’s non-oil exports, was also a major cause.”

I concede, the recent recession (2020) is a corollary of the global economic meltdown compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a steep drop in oil prices and Diaspora remittances, and the stock market is prostrate. But there were warnings of this impending doom before its fruition. What could Buhari’s recession team have done different?

The World Bank in its June 25, 2020 report had projected that Nigeria would slip into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s. Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank country director for Nigeria, recommended: “While the long-term economic impact of the global pandemic is uncertain, the effectiveness of the government’s response is important to determine the speed, quality, and sustainability of Nigeria’s economic recovery. Besides immediate efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and stimulate the economy, it will be even more urgent to address bottlenecks that hinder the productivity of the economy and job creation.’’

Even if the 2020 recession was inevitable, the Buhari administration hastened its climax and ossified the severity by its harebrained economic policies. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Buhari government whimsically closed the land borders, taking food out of the table of many Nigerians.

The World Bank in the same report entitled, ‘Nigeria in Times of COVID-19: Laying Foundations for Strong Economic Recovery’, impliedly said the land border closure of 2019 made the 2020 doomsday inexorable. Talk about heating the furnace.

It said: “Analysis of the impact of the 2019 border closure found that it contributed to higher inflation—especially true for food, despite the relatively little impact on agricultural output. Because of the rises in food prices, Nigerian consumers now need to pay 2 percent more for the same basket of goods, with negative effects on their consumption.”

Why always Buhari?

I think, with the latest recession, Buhari is the only Nigerian president that has presided over the country under multiple recessions.

What a legacy!

 
•Nwabufo is a writer and journalistTwitter @FredrickNwabufo

US, UK, Canada, South Africa — here are 40 countries experiencing a recession in 2020

If the world were to play a game, and the convener of the game says “raise up your hand if your country has been in a recession in 2020,” more than half of the hands in the world will be up. 

The other half with their hands down will be led by China — a country with nearly 20 percent of the world’s population. Of the top 10 most populous countries, only Bangladesh and China are likely to avoid a recession in 2020.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation captured it well when it said in its 2020 Goalkeepers report that “the COVID-19 financial loss is twice as great as the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008. The last time these many countries were in recession at once was in 1870, literally two lifetimes ago”.

When this report was released in September, 2020, Nigeria was yet to officially enter into a recession, but the signs were there, and very clear that the rest of the world already projected one. On Saturday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) officially announced the GDP numbers.

The question then is what countries have slid into recessions in 2020, and what countries are strong — or protected — enough to stave off a recession.

According to S&P, of the 34 economies in the world with a GDP of more than $200 billion, only three of them did not report a recession — China, Chile, and Sweden. Chile and Sweden were on the brink of recession, but China has been growing — despite the pandemic.

Chile has a history of staving off recessions; it was one of the countries that beat the 2008 global economic crisis, expanding by over 3 percent. But the country’s central bank has said it will go into a recession in 2020.

Many other countries are said to be experiencing a recession — but cannot have not yet called one because the data has not been completely collated.

TheCable brings you a list of countries in recession:

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. United Kingdom
  4. India
  5. Brazil
  6. Russia
  7. South Africa
  8. Austria
  9. Germany
  10. Switzerland
  11. Belgium
  12. Canada
  13. Denmark
  14. Estonia
  15. Finland
  16. Hungary
  17. Ireland
  18. Italy
  19. Latvia
  20. Lithuania
  21. Mexico
  22. Netherlands
  23. Norway
  24. Romania
  25. Spain
  26. Nigeria
  27. Peru
  28. Turkey
  29. Israel
  30. Poland
  31. Czech Republic
  32. Thailand
  33. Singapore
  34. Malaysia
  35. South Korea
  36. Australia
  37. Portugal
  38. France
  39. Indonesia
  40. Hong Kong

The Fascist Liberal/Left and those that hate Donald Trump (2), By Femi Fani-Kayode

The Fascist Liberal/Left and those that hate Donald Trump (2), By Femi Fani-Kayode

The fact of the matter is that members of the Fascist Liberal Left have no tolerance for different views and they have mainly been brainwashed and misled by the local and international media and those that control them. 

If you make one pro-Trump comment on Nigerian social or traditional media you will be met with one hundred well-orchestrated and choreographed insults from the gullible and garrulous fools who know next to nothing and who claim to be Biden supporters even though most of them have never even left the shores of Nigeria and spend most of their time hoping and praying for a visa to get out. 

What makes the matter worse is the fact that the majority of Trump supporters, and there are millions of them in Nigeria, have kept quiet and have been intimidated and cowered into silence whilst fearing the worse. When you ask them why they are keeping quiet they tell you that they do not want to be targeted and insulted. 

Thankfully yours truly does not buy into that bunkum or fall into the category of those that can be silenced or intimidated by anybody, least of all a Biden cheerleader, and the purpose of this contribution is to respond to those that take pleasure in insulting and mocking the Trumpian fold and that believe that they have won the day.

It is a response to those that believe that they are free to label Trump as a racist, a misogynist, a white supremacist, a dangerous and delusional sociopath, a malignant narcissist, a serial divorcee, a crook, a rogue, a wicked husband, a wife-beater, a delusional demagogue and a modern-day Hitler. 

It is a response to those who call him a monster, a worshipper of mammon, a race-baiting and xenophobic religious bigot, a vicious ethnic cleanser, a vindictive homophobe, a serial liar, a sexual predator, a rapist, a megalomaniac, a demagogue, a capricious bully and a cruel, heartless, self-centered, self-absorbed, evil conman. 

These are the sort of things that CNN and the mainstream media would have them believe. 

This essay serves as a response to those that honestly believe such slanderous, libellous, perfidious, specious and disingenuous verbiage and toxic hogwash and yet say that we do not have the right to describe Joe Biden as a bumbling and fumbling village idiot and a senile and deceitful old fool who has lost touch with reality and who represents satan on earth or call Kaballa/Kundalini Kamalla a power-lusting and ruthless Jezebel that is propelled and possesed by strong and unrelenting demonic spirits and dark forces. 

It is a response to those that can best be described as the biblical ‘accusers of the brethren’ and that believe that they alone have a monopoly of literary aggression, verbal crudity and intellectual violence. 

They know how to dish out insults to Trump and all his supporters but they cannot take them for Biden, Kamalla and themselves. Well that is the nature of the godless Liberal/Left for you! They are undoubtedly the true Fascists of our time. 

They say ‘we can attack you but you must not attack us’. They say ‘we can talk but you must keep quiet’. They say ‘we can scream victory and you dare not claim it’. They say ‘we lay down the rules of engagement and determine how you must think and live your lives and you dare not challenge it’. 

That is the Orwellian mindset and totalitarian world that Biden and his spawn seek to create and establish. Mind control through witchcraft and the media and the manipuation of the unthinking masses is an art form with them and they are very good at it. 

The way their supporters behave and the Pavlonian response that they offer to those that do not share their outlandish and godless views bears eloquent testimony to that. 

Yet the truth is that they can try to control our words and thoughts and insult and denigrate us as much as they like: it changes nothing and it does not derogate from the fact that in the end Donald Trump shall prevail. 

I speak for millions of his supporters all over this country and indeed the world when I say that we have had enough of the scripted tyranny of the Obama, Clinton and Biden Liberal/Left and their skewered vision of a New World order. 

And on behalf of every true believer on earth today I say we shall not bow to them, to their Dark Lord or to the sinister and demonic forces that they worship and represent. 

We shall keep speaking out, keep resisting, keep fighting, keep praying and keep punching until the very end and until Donald J. Trump is sworn in on January 20th 2021 as the 46th President of the United States of America and the leader of the free world.

There are a few exceptions to the rule but generally speaking Biden supporters in and outside of Nigeria, like much of the Liberal/Left, are ignorant and arrogant. It is a terrible combination. 

Most of them reason like Buhari supporters. They are limited in intelligence, slow-thinking, morally bankrupt, spiritually blind, totally undiscerning and lacking in foresight, insight, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. 

They are the the true deplorables: a bunch of low-life imbeciles and ghetto-born riff-raff who have no idea of the times that they are in or the nature of the dark forces that they are rooting for. 

Worse of all many of them are only against Trump because they want American visas or they want to stay in America illegally or continue living on welfare if they are already there.

Ask them about the globalist agenda or the New World Order and they won’t even know what you are talking about. 

Ask them about the “End Times” and the incremental imposition of a one-faith, one-world Government and Fascistic totalitarian state where religion and God have no place and they get even more confused. 

Ask them about the growing power and grave danger of Artificial Intelligence, the purpose and role of the RFID microchip, the numerological relevance of the numbers 666, the insidious and horrific agenda to reduce the population of the world, the purpose of Covid-19, the dangers of 5G or the gradual emergence and evil motivation for a cashless society and they will tell you that you are speaking Greek. 

Ask them about the relevance of George Soros, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, the Rothschilds, the Windsors, the Bush’s and a handful of other names and families and what their role and contribution is to the establishment of a New World Order and they will tell you that you are speaking Hebrew and Swahili combined. 

Ask them who and what the Bilderburg Group, the Bohemian Grove and the Illuminati are and they will tell you that there are no such things. 

Ask them about the slow and steady rise and increasing power of the spirit of the anti-Christ and they will say they do not believe a word of it.

Ask them about how all these things are relevant and linked to Biden, Trump and the outcome of the 2020 American presidential election and they will tell you that they are not. 

Ask them what the role of China is in all this and what the real agenda of the Chinese Government is and they will tell you that China has no agenda and that it is a wonderful country with a wonderful government. 

Ask them what the role of a company called Dominion and a software system called Smartmatic was in some “blue” states in the American presidential election they will tell you that they have never heard of either of the two and that they don’t know what you are talking about. 

Ask them about the allegation that Dominion, which is owned by non-Americans including Venezuelans and which have Biden supporters on their Board of Directors, fraudulently procured millions of votes for Biden at the last minute through the mail-in ballots system when they saw that he was losing in ALL the swing states, they will shout and scream and tell you that “ISEE LIE!”. 

They will go further by telling you that such things only happen in Africa and cannot happen in America because Americans are angels that never cheat, never lie, never rig elections, never do anything wrong and are second only to God. That is how gullible and naive some of the Trump-haters and Biden lovers in Nigeria are.

Ask them about the fact that one of Biden’s campaign managers by the name of Dallas Jones was arrested by the FBI for electoral fraud and rigging the presidential election they will say that it never happened.

Ask them about the extraordinary efforts of the brilliant lawyer called Sidney Powell and the damning evidence that she has managed to unearth about the activities of Dominion and the corrupt nature of the Smartatic software that was used in some states during the election and they will say “I BEG DROP THIS MATTER!”. 

That is how shallow and irredeemable they are. Blinded by well-orchestrated lies that are churned out on a daily basis by the international and local television networks coupled with a complex web of disinformation, doublespeak and deceit they are simply incapable of scratching below the surface and digging deep. As far as they are concerned the matter is closed because CNN etc. and the Biden campaign team has said so.

Lost on them is the fact that, as Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje  rightly argued, 

“all the sins they accuse Trump of are his personal sins while all the things Democrats seek to do involve changing the way of life of society as a whole against God! So that’s it for those who continue to think evangelicals don’t know what they are doing! That’s what evangelicals understand that you don’t!!! Now do a list of Trump’s policies for society as a whole- 

  1. Appointing judges who may not favour mass abortion.
  2. Appointing judges who may not favour extending LGBTQ. 
  3. Appointing judges who will defend religious freedom e.g. of a Christian Baker to refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple; or a Catholic hospital not to be forced to perform abortions. 
  4. Recognising Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel. 
  5. Allowing us to celebrate “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays”.
  6. Affirming the truth that America was founded on Judeao-Christian principles and origins. 
  7. Defeating ISIS and reducing global Islamist terrorism. 
  8. Peace deals between Israel and UAE, Oman and Sudan, 3 Arab nations. 
  9. Defending and strengthening the state of Israel.
  10. Subduing Iran.

I could go on an on! Evangelical Christians are not fools. Its strange that any Christian should think they are!!!”

Agbaje is right. Given all this, how it could be surprising to anyone that virtually every single evangelical Christian on the planet today and not just those in America, is rooting and praying for Trump baffles me. It is their duty to do so and nothing under the sun can stop them. 

AGF Malami has evidence to prosecute 33 indicted SARS officers-NHRC

National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, said the Attorney-General of the Dederation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) must “do the needful” in ensuring the prosecution of 33 officers of the defunct special anti-robbery squad accused of various forms of human rights infractions.

NHRC chief Tony Ojukwu said Friday that the rights office had fortified its indictment of the embattled cops by tendering additional evidence, hence expecting the nation’s chief law officer to begin the process of bringing the accused police personnel to justice.

This came on the heels of statement earlier in the month of November 2020 by Malami exonerating the 33 officers. Malami had  drawn criticism when he exonerated the officers.

“We have sent all the original cases files, not only to him (the attorney-general), but to all the states, because the law says it is either the attorney general of the federation or the attorney general of the states,” The Nation reported Mr Ojukwu to have said.

“Secondly, we have submitted the list of these officers, with other necessary documents to both the Police Service Commission and the inspector-general of police.

“So, they need to do the needful. Moving forward, I expect that, once these internal procedures are tidied up, they should be able to do what they are supposed to do.

“This is because, as at today, we have sorted out these two obstacles identified by the AGF,” he added.

A committee set up by the attorney-general Abubakar Malami to review allegations brought against the SARS officers by a presidential investigative panel chaired by Mr Ojukwu, had exonerated the accused cops citing lack of substantial proof against them.

The AGF’s committee also concluded that the report of the panel “does not meet prosecutorial needs” for failing to conduct proper investigation and attaching admissible evidence to the charges.

Mr. Malami’s committee’s findings drew the ire of many Nigerians, who accused the Federal Government of paying lip service to ending decades of police brutality in the country.

Theconclaveng

#EndSARS: 20 men in military uniform took my husband away –Wife

A resident of Bassa community in Abuja, Titilayo Omioye Adeyeun, has narrated how 20 men in military uniform whisked her husband away in the early hours of Friday, November 13, 2020.

According to the mother of a seven-month-old baby, her 30-year-old spouse, Imoleayo Micheal Adeyeun, has not been seen or heard from since the incident happened a week ago.

Titilayo told The PUNCH in an interview on Friday that her husband had participated in the #EndSARS protests against police brutality that rocked the country last month.

Checks by our correspondent also showed that Imoleayo tweeted during and after the demonstrations.

“I’m awake and fine at the moment. But I don’t know what awaits me as a Nigerian youth. To be alive is no longer guaranteed in my fatherland. We can only be hopeful to survive each day as it comes. #EndSARS #LagosMassacre,” @imoleayomichael, who prided himself as the ‘Emir of Abuja’, had tweeted a day after the Lekki shootings on October 20, 2020. His last tweet was at 12:25am on November 13, 2020.

Narrating her ordeal to our correspondent over the phone on Friday, Titilayo said, “Last week Friday around 2:30am, we were at home and we heard strange voices from the room. We peeped from the window and saw that we were surrounded by men in military uniform.

“We tried to blow the whistle to alert the neighbours but we were told not to do that, that they were there for questioning. So, we opened the door for them and they came inside our sitting room.

“The men in military uniform were outside while the others who wore black vests and bulletproof shields came inside. They were about 20 in total.

“They came into the living room and asked for my husband’s phone. The next thing, they asked me to go into the room. They also asked my husband’s mom to also go into the room. I have a seven-month-old baby and she had come to help me nurse my baby.

“The two of us were in the room. So, I didn’t know what they discussed with my husband. I emerged from the room and saw that my husband was dressing up to follow them. I asked so many questions as to where they were taking him to and what he had done. But nobody said a word. That was how they took my husband away.”

The nursing mother said she tried to trail the men but she was threatened and forced to return home.

“I tried to follow them but they asked me to go back otherwise they will shoot at me. Since then, I have not seen my husband, he has not called and nobody has called me to tell me about his whereabouts.

“He was involved in the #EndSARS protest. He tweeted about it just like every other person who supported the campaign. He also attended the protest physically,” she added.

Imoleayo’s wife further said that the disappearance of the IT expert was reported at the Ido Police Station in the community which is situated around the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport but the whereabouts of her husband remained unknown.

Efforts to reach the FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, for comments proved abortive.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col Sagir Musa, could also not be reached for comments on the incident as repeated calls made to his line rang out.

He had yet to reply an SMS seeking the Army’s reaction as of press time on Friday.

Punchng

Army deployed at least 7 vehicles to Lekki Tollgate, CCTV reveals

The Nigerian Army deployed no fewer than seven military trucks to the Lekki Tollgate on the evening of Oct. 20, the day unarmed #EndSARS protesters were allegedly shot by the military.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was revealed by CCTV footage of the incident which was played by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry for Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters.

The footage was played on Saturday prior to the cross-examination of Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, Commander of the 81 Division, Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island.

The footage was played before a packed audience at the panel, and the timestamp in the video showed people running from the vicinity of Oriental Hotel towards the direction of the tollgate in the Lekki area at 6.43pm.

At 6.45pm, the military arrived and at least seven trucks are seen in the footage.

At 6.53pm, lights appeared to have been turned off at the tollgate facility and the footage began playing in a blurry black and white video.

At 6.55pm, the military drove through the tollgate and at 6.57pm, flashes of gunfire could be seen in the footage.

At 7.09pm, the protesters appeared to be surrounded on all sides by the military vehicles which had flashing lights.

Earlier during proceedings, the Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, had noted that during the hearing of Nov. 6, 20-hours worth of footage presented by the Lekki Concession company (LCC) was given to Mr Adeshina Ogunlana, the lawyer for the #EndSARS protesters.

Okuwobi noted that the lawyer had on that day informed the panel that he would sift through the footage and select the portions that would be relevant to his case.

Responding, Ogunlana told the panel that he had watched the footage and had noted the parts of the video that are of interest to him.

“LCC has furnished us with the footage and we have taken our time to reach out to the counsel of LCC and the Lagos State Government.

“We agreed that subject to their acceptance, all we watched is the same until 5pm and we should limit viewing from 5pm to 7.59pm when the tape ended,” Ogunlana said.

The counsel for LASG, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) aligned his views with Ogunlana’s submission.

“The relevant portions of the footage which is from 5pm to 7.59pm should be viewed,” he said.

Thenigerialawyer

Umar Dagona, Yobe Indigene Emerges 2nd Position At World Chemistry Competition

Umar Dangona, an indigene of Yobe State has scaled to the next round of the competition after emerging the first runner up at the World Chemistry Competition tagged “Imagine Chemistry International Akzo Nobel Competition 2020/2021”.

Umar Usman Dagon is from Bade Local Government of Yobe state, who took part in the “Imaginechemistry” competition and made it to the top five that scaled to the final round.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Imagine Chemistry Secretary, Arden Peter Flank which was sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer.

Meanwhile, Adalet Adam from Turkey scored 398 aggregated to 659 with a percentage of 85%, while Dangona Usman Umar of Nigeria scored 392 aggregated to 647 with a percentage of 76% and also, Nicolas from Argentina scored 351 aggregated to 579 with a percentage of 67%.

However, the three countries that have acted outstandingly in the competition, (Group E) to eventually participate in the 3rd round of the competition are Turkey, Nigeria and Spain with the topic “Pushing The Frontiers of Sustainable Innovations Through Complex Ions & Coordination Compounds”.

Besides, the awards to be won are :

1st Position: $600,000.00
2nd Position: $400,000.00
3rd Position: $300,000.00

“Note: next step after the third round is final, only first position in each group will be invited to our headquarter No. 14 Van Housten Street, Delf City, Netherlands for Award of Price & Closing Ceremony”, the Secretary said.

Thenigerialawyer

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