October 11, 2021

[GIST] Officials Of Nigeria's Anti-graft Agency, EFCC Storm Kaduna Development Agency, Arrest Governor El-Rufai’s Former Aide

[GIST] Officials Of Nigeria's Anti-graft Agency, EFCC Storm Kaduna Development Agency, Arrest Governor El-Rufai’s Former Aide

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Officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday stormed the headquarters of Kaduna State Urban Planning Development Agency (KASUPDA), whisking away the Director General, Malam Ismail Umaru Dikko.

KASUPDA has gained the reputation of Kaduna’s most feared agency due to its demolition of properties across the state.

Its boss, Dikko, was a Special Assistant to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, before he was elevated to head the agency in 2019.

It was gathered that the DG was in a meeting with other staff members when officials of the EFCC took over the office premises a few minutes after 10am, Daily Trust reports. 

Eyewitnesses said there was some commotion before the DG entered a black hilux Toyota vehicle of the EFCC.

Sources said two EFCC officials in suit, with two police officers with rifles accompanied the KASUPDA boss into the vehicle.

The source said some staff members at KASUPDA had tried to stop the EFCC from leaving with the DG and security guards at the gate had prevented the car from exiting.

However, the DG asked the security guards to open the gate.

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[GIST] #EndSARS Memorial: Nigeria Police Deploy Personnel, Anti-Riot Vehicles To Lekki Tollgate, Move Against Peaceful Protests

[GIST] #EndSARS Memorial: Nigeria Police Deploy Personnel, Anti-Riot Vehicles To Lekki Tollgate, Move Against Peaceful Protests

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The Lagos State Police have deployed personnel, patrol vans and an anti-riot vehicles to Lekki tollgate in the state to clamp down on peaceful protest. 

A video that has now gone viral on social media showed about eight patrol vehicles alongside an anti-riot van at the venue. 

The vehicles have been strategically stationed at the tollgate to prevent any gathering of protesters for the memorial of the #EndSARS protest.

The Lagos State commissioner of police, Hakeem Odumosu had warned residents of the state to desist from participating in any form of protest planned in commemoration of the #EndSARS protest.

The police boss promised that his officers would resist any of such protests.

Police are under the control of the Nigerian government, headed by President Muhammadu Buhari. 

Reacting in a tweet, human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore warned the police against suppressing the will of Nigerians to repudiate the mass atrocities of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

In October 2020, Nigerians across the country stormed the streets to demonstrate against police brutality and bad governance under the #EndSARS campaign.

However, on October 20, soldiers from the Bonny Camp, 81 division, invaded the Lekki tollgate, where some demonstrators had gathered, and fired gunshots.

In his reaction to fresh plans by youth and groups to commemorate the first anniversary of the #EndSARS protest, the police commissioner urged the groups to shelve the idea.

Though the right to peaceful assembly and the right to protest are constitutional rights of Nigerians, the Nigeria police have continued to clamp down on protesters.

In February, some Nigerians had planned to organise #OccupyLekkiTollGate protest over the move to reopen Lekki Toll Plaza in Lagos State.

The State Judicial Panel of Enquiry had granted LCC’s request to take repossession of the toll gates at Lekki-Epe expressway and Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge. However, the panel was divided over the decision.

Following the decision, the organisers of the #EndSARS began to mobilise for another round of protests tagged; #OccupyLekki while another pro-government group also launched a counter move with #DefendLagos and #DemNoBornDemPapaWell.

The Lagos State Police Command immediately deployed its men to the Lekki toll plaza along the Lekki-Epe expressway.

Just recently, Nigeria police opened fire on members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiites during a peaceful procession in Abuja. 

Also, during a peaceful protest on Nigeria's independence day, men of the Nigeria Police Force fired tear gas canisters at protesters in Abuja. 

The peaceful protesters could be seen chanting and displaying banners and placards saying 'Buhari Must Go'. 

Six of them were arrested by the police, brutalised and detained for demanding the resignation of Buhari. 

They were later released. 

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[GIST] What Probably Angered Northern Governors, Made Them Insist On Retaining Presidency In 2023—Shehu Sani

[GIST] What Probably Angered Northern Governors, Made Them Insist On Retaining Presidency In 2023—Shehu Sani

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A former Senator and human rights activist, Shehu Sani has said it is an obligation for the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to return Presidency to the Southern part of Nigeria in 2023.

The former federal lawmaker also disclosed that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may not strictly consider zoning the Presidency, as it will be more concerned about taking power from the APC.

Shehu Sani

Sani made these statements in an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Sunday while responding to the lingering feud over the rotation of power between the North and South.

According to the rights activist, the controversial issues of Southern states banning open grazing, agitating to collect value-added tax (VAT) rather than the Nigerian government and separatist agitations in the South may be the major factors why Northern governors want to disrespect the Gentleman's Agreement of returning power to the South. 

“Well, first of all, it is important for you to understand that politicians hardly respect Gentleman's Agreement. That’s one. And, what could have warranted the decision of the Northern governors are a number of issues which include the belligerent attitude of the governors from the South on the issue of open grazing, and the issue of VAT.

“These are issues that could have been resolved on the table, but since things have changed with the North not to concede power to the South (sic). Another one is separatist agitation. I believe these are the basic things that have changed the narratives and there is a likelihood if the situations were normal, they would have agreed with it. But, it has reached a stage where daggers are being drawn from both sides,” Sani said.

Speaking on the two main political parties, he said, “The situations are different with the two political parties. For the APC, it is honourable for the APC to shift power to the South, but the condition is not the same with the PDP for a number of reasons. Number one is that they are an opposition party, they do not have the leverage and the privilege to say this is where the candidate will come from.

“Two, there is no viable presidential candidate in the opposition party who is willing to pump all his resources in the quest for the presidency of Nigeria as an opposition party. Atiku Abubakar remains the only viable person from the opposition party for a number of reasons because he has been contesting for a long time and they don’t have the power of deciding where power should come from.

“So, how they will win the election is first what is paramount to them. But for APC, it is incumbent on them because the President would have spent 8 years by 2023, so it is morally responsible for them to honour it, but in PDP, it is dicey because they are not in power.”

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[GIST] Armed IPOB Members Are Not As Bad As Bandits In Northern Nigeria—Abia Governor, Ikpeazu

[GIST] Armed IPOB Members Are Not As Bad As Bandits In Northern Nigeria—Abia Governor, Ikpeazu

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Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has disclosed that South-East gunmen are not as bad as Northern bandits, noting that they must find a way to talk about the issues at stake.

The governor made this known in an interview with Vanguard on Sunday, affirming the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu as his son.

 

He noted that other means apart from dialogue and negotiation in resolving the current face-off between the Nigerian Government and the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu may lead to more violence.

“We must engage with IPOB. Yes, we must find a way to talk about the issues at stake. These people are not as bad as the ones in the North-East or North-West who go to schools and seize the whole population of teachers and students or invade the mosques and churches and kidnap all the worshippers and nobody can find them until a ransom is paid. Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu TOS TV

“I believe that there is some ideological sense in what these people in the South-East are saying. There is something to listen to even though it is criminal to take up arms against the state. There is a message they are trying to pass in the process. We need confidence-building among ourselves rather than use words that we should not use even as leaders. Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder but the solution is not too difficult to find.

“I regard Nnamdi Kanu as my citizen but not as the leader of IPOB because I am the governor. I am prepared to engage to resolve the issue. I care about his welfare and I care that he should be tried in a just and fair way.

"I am happy that they want to bring justice to bear by looking at the allegations against him and trying him fair and square but I would not want him to be treated as if he was a convict when he has not been convicted. Not until otherwise, he is still my citizen and as his father, it behoves on us to care for him after all the prodigal son had a father.

“The scenario in the South-East appears as if we are running away from the foundation of solving the problem of IPOB but you must recognise the fact that the apparatus of security lies heavily on the federal government.

“The problem is further compounded by the fact that there is a proliferation of small arms in the hands of people who should not have them. We also have an ill-equipped, inadequate and underfunded police system in the land,” he noted.

The governor also explained why the South-East governors are unable to stop IPOB from enforcing sit-at-home orders in the region. 

“If you call governors the chief security officers of their states and they cannot determine the number of policemen they can deploy and the kind of equipment to use, then it becomes extremely difficult for governors to take control of security issues in the South-East. The South-East governors are handicapped but we are trying our best.

“That is why when IPOB gives a sit-at-home order, the governors are unable to counter effectively because they do not have control over Federal police, which are neither adequate nor well-equipped to deal with security challenges,” he added.

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[GIST] Nigeria Treading Path Of Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko Days When Majority Fled The Country—Nigerian-Congolese Woman Warns

[GIST] Nigeria Treading Path Of Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko Days When Majority Fled The Country—Nigerian-Congolese Woman Warns

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A woman, Mpanda Mbelu Wa Mutobodji has called on the Nigerian government to curtail the worsening insecurity before it becomes a full-blown war. 

 

According to Nigeria Abroad, the woman, who was born in Nigeria but with Congo origin cautioned that the most populous black nation should avoid the path toed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under autocratic ruler Mobutu Sese Seko, who carelessly managed the East African country until it became a war-torn nation. 

Mpada said a vast majority of Congolese people left the country for overseas during the war and never planned to return. 

 

In 1987, Mpanda Mbelu was born in Kaduna State, into a family with a mix of ethnic identities: her mother was a Hausa daughter of a Congolese woman. 

 

Mpanda’s Congolese father, after coming to Nigeria to marry her mother, settled in the country and started a family. His country Congo had been facing political turbulence for years.

 

And Mpanda, a 34-year-old Luba woman has continued the family’s history of inter-ethnic embrace. She was bred in Northern Nigeria and is married to an Isoko man in the south. 

 

Her Luba side is alive, as is her northern and southern Nigerian identities inherited from birth and marriage. 

 

Despite her mixed Congo's background, she said, “This is my home. I love Nigeria.”

 

She studied at the Kaduna State Polytechnic and works with the Nigerian Navy as a civilian. Though she always thinks of her natal country the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she has not visited her entire life. 

 

Intermittent instability persists there, but relative peace has endured since a 2017 ceasefire was brokered after a shambolic election led to violence.

 

"This (Nigeria's) worsening insecurity has reminded one of the aftermaths of the Mobutu years," Mpada said. 

 

Mobutu ruled DRC from 1965 to 1971, and later Zaire from 1971 to 1997. 

 

The persistent unrest has also created a large contingent of Congolese diaspora around the world. Like Mpanda, many of them never return home, though they maintain ties. 

 

In Belgium, the United States, and other Western countries, they are a strongly knit community linked by memory, exile, and hope.

 

Speaking on this, Mpada said, "Everyday killings are happening in Nigeria and are underreported. If we don’t do anything about the insecurity, it will blow into a full-scale war, which will cause further devastation to the country. I wish we would not work along tribalistic lines; we should stop seeing it as something happening in the north or south.

 

“People are leaving the country on a daily basis. It’s going to get to a point like Congo, where you have Congolese abroad and no one wants to come back home and build the country. I wish the government could do something about it. I really wish it would not get to that point where everybody has to flee and then rebuilding the country would be left in the hands of a few unwilling people.

 

“I have people that have gone back to Congo that are trying to rebuild the country, but most citizens in the diaspora are not interested. That’s the situation in Congo. Imagine that playing out in Nigeria.”

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