The Nigerian government said on Wednesday that 13 out of 19 of her citizens detained in various camps in Poland have been released.

The Nigerians had fled Ukraine as a result of the country’s ongoing war with Russia before they were arrested and detained at the detention camps in Poland.

But in a statement on Wednesday morning, Abdur-Rahman Balogun Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission NiDCOM, Abuja said 13 of the 19 detainees were released with the intervention of the Nigeria Ambassador to Poland, Maj Gen Christian Ugwu (retd).

He quoted Ugwu as saying among the six remaining in detention camps, one of them claimed that he was a Cameroonian because the mother was from Cameroon.

He added that the others could not be released because they had applied for asylum in Poland and would not be allowed to go until the end of that process.

“Unfortunately, the remaining five, all applied for international protection (asylum) in Poland including Igwe Ikechukwu Christian, who had been interviewed by some foreign media.

“They cannot be released until the Government of Poland takes a decision on their application or they decide to withdraw the application”, the envoy added.

The ambassador assured Nigerians that the Mission would continue to do its best to ensure that the interests of Nigerians were well taken care of, despite the fact that they had been adequately briefed on the likely consequences of remaining as undocumented immigrants in Poland.

President Muhammad Buhari had in March approved the evacuation of Nigerians mostly students trapped in the Russian- Ukrainian crisis back home.

The directive was swiftly carried out by the inter-ministerial agencies coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with over 1600 Nigerians brought back home.

However, some of the Nigerians chose to remain behind and were clamped into detention centres in Poland.

Speaking on the development, Hon. (Dr) Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) commended the successful intervention of the Nigerian mission in Poland, and reiterated the call for Nigerians to obey the laws of the countries they reside.

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At least three girls have been abducted by the members of the Islamic State for West African Province, ISWAP faction of the Boko Haram during an operation in a village in the Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State.

It was learnt that the gunmen who carried out the attack on Tuesday night, contacted the family of one of the girls abducted.

According to reports, a recorded conversation between the militant and a member of the family revealed that ISWAP fighters came in a large number.

In the conversation, the family member asked the militant on how they could help release the girls, but the militant said he had no power to do so unless their leaders gave the order.

While conversing in Chibok language, one of the girls said the terrorists “are in hundreds.”

“These people are too many. For now, we have three girls in their custody,” she said.

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A family worried for their safety has put a N2 million bounty on the head of a thief, who broke into their house on Banana Island in Lagos on March 20, 2022.

 

The suspect, who remains on the run, gained access to the compound on the night of the fateful day by scaling the fence with the aid of a ladder after realising that the occupants of the building were not around at the time.

First observing the environment to ensure that nobody was watching him, the young man, who donned a black T-shirt and shorts, made his way straight to one of the rooms in the one-storey building after climbing down the ladder.

 

In a CCTV footage seen by SaharaReporters, the suspect soon came out from one of the rooms in the house clutching tightly to a bag believed to contain a huge amount of money and other valuable items he had stolen from the house.

 

While inside the kitchen in the house as he continued his criminal raid, he opened the fridge to check for any item of interest before eventually taking a plastic bottle and emptying the content in his mouth.

 

The young man thereafter went ahead to ransack other parts of the house before eventually escaping from the scene with his loot.

 

Though they promptly reported the incident to the nearest police station after reviewing the CCTV footage upon their return home, the family are concerned that no arrest has been made one month after the incident.

 

Now worried that their safety is under threat with the suspect still at large, the family has sought the help of the public to have the thief apprehended by all means.

 

"The suspect burgled the house and stole some valuables including a huge cash sum on March 20, 2022.

 

"The incident happened at Banana Island when we were not at home and it was reported at the nearest police station.

 

"The case is currently being investigated by the police but nothing significant has come out of it one month after.

 

"Although the CCTV video is amateur, anyone that knows the suspect will most definitely will be able to associate the looks to the actual person. 

 

"Hence, a sum of N2,000,000 is hereby placed as a bounty for anyone with useful information that can lead to his arrest.

 

"Such persons may contact 08173271700 to share such information and be sure to receive payment immediately," a member of the family whose house was burgled told SaharaReporters.

 

When contacted over the incident, spokesperson for the police in Lagos, Benjamin Hundeyin, told SaharaReporters that there were ongoing efforts to apprehend the fleeing suspect.

According to him, the bounty put on the head of the suspect is allowed under the law as this will serve as motivation for members of the public to support efforts to arrest the perpetrator of the crime.

 

He said, "Investigation is ongoing on the case. It is not about how long it takes for an arrest to be made, it is about the dynamics at play in each particular case.

 

"As for the bounty placed by the family, there is nothing wrong in that, it is allowed under the law. As long as people don't resort to jungle justice when they get hold of the suspect but hand him over to the police for prosecution, it is totally fine.

 

"Investigations take time but I am confident the suspect will be arrested at the end of the day." 

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Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, has warned that the party will be defeated in the 2023 presidential election if its zoning arrangement was not respected.

George spoke in a chat with Arise TV on Tuesday, when he warned that failure to zone the PDP’s 2023 presidential ticket meant that the party was courting trouble.

He said the PDP must “embrace equity, justice and fairness”, adding that throwing the presidential ticket open will “be doing incalculable damage to the psychological minds of the majority of people who are not card-carrying members of the party.”

“If the party decides that, I can emphatically say we are looking for serious trouble and we will be roundly defeated. A warning shot and a good lesson for us to think about,” George said.

“Let’s think about how this country can grow. Turn by turn Nigeria limited, what’s wrong in doing that. Like I said, it’s not a 100 metres dash race but a continuum. Let there be equity, justice and fairness.

“Let’s not go through that route because we will be doing incalculable damage to the psychological minds of the majority of people who are not card-carrying members of the party,” he added.

 

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Ukraine has received fighter planes and aircraft parts to bolster its air force in the face of Russia’s invasion, the Pentagon said Tuesday, declining to specify the number and type of aircraft nor their origin.

Ukrainian forces “right now have available to them more fixed wing fighter aircraft than they did two weeks ago,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

According to AFP, he noted the United States had “helped with the transshipment of some additional spare parts that have helped with their aircraft needs, but we have not transported the whole aircraft.”

Also on Tuesday, the US and allies agreed to impose more sanctions on Moscow as Russia pushed ahead with its new offensive targeting eastern Ukraine in the latest phase of the bloody invasion.

Russia’s defence ministry said that “high-precision air-based missiles” had hit 13 Ukrainian positions in parts of Donbas while other airstrikes “hit 60 military assets”, including in towns close to the eastern frontline.

Ukraine’s armed forces said fighting had increased throughout the east after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Russia had kicked off the widely anticipated offensive in Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

“The Russian occupiers intensified offensive operations along the entire line of contact,” the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a report published early Tuesday.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to acknowledge the new offensive, stating that “another phase of this operation is beginning”, during an interview with media outlet India Today.

Following the new push, the United States and European Union agreed on the need to “increasing Moscow’s international isolation”, during a virtual meeting between US President Joe Biden and European leaders.

“We will further tighten our sanctions against Russia and step up financial and security assistance for Ukraine,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

Separately, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the death of thousands of Ukrainian civilians “a war crime” for which Russian President Vladimir bears responsibility.

Ahead of Russia’s advance, Ukrainian authorities had urged people in Donbas to flee west to escape, even as officials called off evacuations for a third straight day from frontline cities due to ongoing fighting.

In the Donbas town of Novodruzhesk, Nadya, 65, said “we are bombed everywhere”.

“It’s a miracle that we’re still alive,” she said, her voice trembling.

“We were lying on the ground and waiting. Since February 24 we’ve been sleeping in the cellar.”

Control of Donbas and the besieged southern port of Mariupol would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the Crimean peninsula that it annexed in 2014, and deprive Ukraine of much of its coastline and a major revenue resource.

Russia continued its relentless battle to capture Mariupol, as Moscow issued a fresh call for the city’s defenders to surrender and announced the opening of a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops who agreed to lay down their arms.

During an interview broadcast on CNN Tuesday, Pavlo Kyrylenko — who oversees the Donetsk region’s military administration — said Mariupol remained contested.

“The Ukrainian flag is flying over the city,” said Kyrylenko.

Putin has said he launched the so-called military operation in Ukraine on February 24 to save Russian speakers in Ukraine from a “genocide” carried out by a “neo-Nazi” regime.

However, organisers of a ceremony marking the liberation of the Nazi Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria said Tuesday that the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus were asked not to attend as their presence would be against the surviving prisoners’ wishes and their belief in peace and freedom.

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File Photo

The National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, has received a batch of 158 stranded Nigerians from Libya.

The returnees comprise 49 adult females, seven female children and five female infants with 83 male adults, six male children and eight male infants.

File Photo

This brought the figure to 61 females and 97 males out of which four arrived with various degrees of health challenges.

One out of the females had serious burns; two others had serious mental health issues while the only young man among them suffered fractured leg.

The returnees who arrived aboard Al Buraq Air Boeing 737 – 800 with Registration number 5A-DMG at 1715 hours at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State, were received on arrival at the Tarmac by the officials of NEMA, International Organisation for Migration IOM, Nigeria Immigration Service, National Commission for Refugees, Migration and Internally displaced Persons and other relevant agencies.

The Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed who was represented by the NEMA Lagos Territorial Office Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, assured the returnees that the Federal Government would not relent to make the youths have level playing grounds where they could achieve their potentials in whatever fields they choose.

He admonished them to shun vices as the country can only thrive in a peaceful and serene atmosphere when they give in their best.

 

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A Nigerian musician has demanded N50 million compensation from a telecommunications company, Airtel Network Limited for “unauthorised use” of her musical work.

Veno Marioghae Mbanefo, a veteran artiste, in a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Network Limited, Ikoyi, Lagos, accused the telecoms company of using her song, ‘Nigeria Go Survive’ to promote its TV app and ‘The Voice Nigeria’, without her permission.

The letter signed by her lawyer, R. A. Igelige Esq and obtained by SaharaReporters on Tuesday, asked the telecoms company to “cease and desist forthwith from further infringing on the copyright of our Client to the aforementioned musical work”.

It also asked Airtel to “pay to our Client the sum of N50, 000,000 (Fifty Million Naira) for the unauthorised commercial and also derogatory use of her musical work”. 

“Take notice that if we do not receive an adequate response within 21 days of receipt of this letter, we shall take all proper steps to seek legal remedy for our Client, including legal action for injunctive relief, criminal charges and damages, without further notice to you.

“We look forward, however, to your prompt response towards an amicable resolution of this matter,” it added.

The letter read in part, “We are solicitors to Veno Marioghae Mbanefo (our Client), a musician and entertainer residing in Lagos and we write this letter on her behalf.

“Our Client is the author and copyright owner of the musical work entitled ‘Nigeria Go Survive’ being used by your Mobile Network Company (Airtel) to promote your TV app, and also to promote ‘The Voice Nigeria.’

“As the copyright owner of the above mentioned musical work, our Client has a number of exclusive rights defined by the Copyright Act, Cap 28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. These include the right to reproduce the works, and to publish and communicate same to the public (including by way of sale and broadcast, both conventionally and online or via the Internet). It is an infringement of copyright to do any of these and other protected acts in relation to the whole or a substantial part of a copyright work, or to authorise anyone to do such an act or acts on your behalf, without the permission or licence of the copyright owner.

“Our Client’s attention has been drawn to your use, without permission or licence, of her aforementioned musical work. Specifically, you have appropriated the work to promote your TV app and also used it to advertise ‘The Voice Nigeria.’ 

“By not obtaining our Client’s prior permission or licence before engaging repeatedly in this act or acts, your company’s conduct is a flagrant and deliberate infringement of her copyright. It also amounts to stealing and wilful deprivation with the intent to unjustly enrich your company and deny our Client of the legitimate fruits of her labour, thereby inflicting hardship on her.” 

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Damian Ugwu

Amnesty International Nigeria has moved to gag its former employee, Damian Ugwu from speaking publicly about the rot in the organisation. 

This comes a few days after footage emerged showing the Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho and Chairman of its governing board, Auwal Rafsanjani in a meeting with officers of the Department of State Services (DSS), along with some civil society leaders in Abuja.

Damian Ugwu  

Also, it followed the revelation that one of the organisation’s top management staff members, Isa Sanusi had been in the employ of the former interim Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Yobe State Governor, Yai Mala Buni as the Senior Special Assistant on Media since 2020.

WATCH: Amnesty International Agrees To Work With Nigeria’s Lawless Secret Police, DSS Despite Continuous Rights Violations, Abuses@amnesty @AmnestyNigeria

🎥: @ARISEtv pic.twitter.com/2gMJQfP7zj

— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) April 7, 2022

SaharaReporters on Tuesday learnt that the disgraced organisation on April 6 obtained a court injunction from the National Industrial Court, directing its former researcher, Damian Ugwu not to release further information about the unwholesome activities of the organisation in Nigeria.

        

According to the court documents dated April 6, 2022, obtained by SaharaReporters, Amnesty International Nigeria, through its lawyers, Eucharia Nwankpa and Ikechukwu C. N. Okwor, filed a lawsuit (NICN/ABJ/61/2022) in April seeking an ex parte injunction restraining Damian Ugwu from releasing “confidential information”, whether true or false to the media. 

 

According to the court papers obtained by SaharaReporters, the Registered Trustees of Centre for the Protection of Human Rights and Social Justice of Amnesty International Nigeria; Osai Ojigho, Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria and Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Board Chairman of the organisation, as Ist, 2nd and 3rdDefendants, sought a number of orders from the court against Ugwu, the Respondent.

For instance, they sought “an order of interim injunction restraining the claimant/respondent (Ugwu), whether by himself, his servants, agents, privies or acquaintances from further release of the confidential information concerning the work of the 1st Defendant (Amnesty International Nigeria) and its staff which he is privy to pending the determination of the Motion on Notice”.

The defendants also sought “an order of interim injunction restraining the claimant/ respondent, whether by himself, servants, agents and acquaintances from further release of information concerning the 1st defendant and its staff whether true or false pending the determination of the Motion on Notice”.

Justice O. Y. Anuwe subsequently ordered Mr. Ugwu not to release further information about the organisation until the substantive case is resolved. The case was adjourned till May 23, 2022.

Amnesty International Niger... by Sahara Reporters

 

In March 2022, award-winning investigative journalist David Hundei and the International Centre For Investigative Reporting  (ICIR) released a damning report detailing the organisation’s culture of staff bullying and romance with Nigerian security forces whom the organisation openly criticises.  

Mr Ugwu is among the nine former and current staff members quoted in the report.

See Also Sahara Reporters Sowore Asks Amnesty International To Close Nigerian Office For ‘Turning A Blind Eye To Human Rights Abuses, Romancing With Oppressors’ 0 Comments 2 Weeks Ago

Human rights activists described the latest step by Amnesty International Nigeria as a sign that the organisation never believed in what it has been preaching all along.  

For instance, an Anambra-based lawyer and activist, Justus Uche Ijeoma, Esq., said, “It is rather unfortunate that Amnesty International Nigeria is engaging in this war of attrition that is further destroying whatever is left of its reputation. 

“How can the organisation that has all along preached free press, freedom of expression, transparency and accountability be the one seeking and obtaining orders to restrain people from publishing information ‘whether true or false’ about their activities? 

“What are they hiding? Why the contradictions? Why are they posturing as though they are now promoting opaqueness? What has become of Amnesty International Nigeria is really troubling for those of us that have at one point or the other leveraged on the global brand to advance our human rights work.”

 

 

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters has obtained several internal documents including emails from other sources showing how a former female employee pleaded for help from the management after complaining about bullying from Osai Ojigho and the organisation’s Finance Manager, Benedicta Ofili.

In the email dated April 29, 2021, the female staff member wrote to her line manager: “Please may I officially request to see a psychologist? I need help. I communicated my concerns to you. Please let me know if this is possible.”

 

Amnesty International indeed has a history of bullying and staff suicide.  In February 2019, a study commissioned by the rights group reported that Amnesty International has a “toxic” working environment, with widespread bullying, public humiliation, discrimination, and other abuses of power.  The report came after two staff members – Gaëtan Mootoo, a researcher for West Africa, and Rosalind McGregor, an intern in the International Advocacy Programme in Geneva – died of suicide in 2018.

 

 

Responding to the development, the then Secretary-General of Amnesty International, Kumi Naidoo admitted that the organisation was “facing an alarming trust deficit”.

 

“To hear our employees speak of a culture of secrecy and mistrust where discrimination, bullying, and abuse of power have been condoned is profoundly troubling. Unacceptable management practices, attitudes, and behaviors cannot and will not be tolerated at any level in the organisation,” he had said. 

 

It is not yet clear why the international secretariat of Amnesty International is yet to take action on the unfolding scandal in its Nigerian office.

 

 

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IGP Usman Baba Alkali

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has directed increased security around schools and colleges in the country.

 

A statement by Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on Tuesday said the police IG had ordered that security should be tightened around schools and colleges, particularly boarding schools, tertiary institutions, and their campuses in areas prone to insecurity in the country.

IGP Usman Baba Alkali

The directive was given by the police IG at the management meeting of the Force Management Team in Abuja.

The statement said, “The IGP equally directed all State Commissioners of Police, Tactical Commanders, as well as their supervising Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs), to explore all available options and think outside the box to boost security in and around schools, colleges, and student-based communities.

 

“The IGP has equally directed detectives/operatives of the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) and the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) to ensure sustained surveillance and intelligence gathering activities within various school environments while the Police Airwing has been directed to extend its aerial patrols to the six geo-political zones of the country.

 

“The Inspector-General of Police, therefore, assured that all hands will be on deck to ensure a safe environment for all pupils and students in the various schools and colleges of learning within the country. He further reiterated the commitment of his administration to diversifying resources towards sustainable security and safety of all and sundry in Nigeria.”
There have been several cases of abduction of school pupils in the country, some involving outright attacks on schools. 

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Abubakar Alkali, a Flight Lieutenant of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been identified as one of the officers killed when a military aircraft crashed in Kaduna State.

 

SaharaReporters gathered that the training aircraft had two pilots on board when the incident occurred on Tuesday evening.

The aircraft, believed to be a Super Mushak, reportedly crashed within the NAF base while on a training mission.

 

A statement signed by one Alhaji Sule Dauda confirmed Alkali as one of the pilots onboard the ill-fated aircraft.

See Also Breaking News BREAKING: Nigerian Air Force Training Aircraft Crashes In Kaduna, Officers Feared Killed 0 Comments 1 Week Ago

Dauda added that the deceased had already been buried according to Islamic rites at the NAF base Central Mosque in Kaduna.

It was learnt that the late Alkali recently received an award as the best international cadet from the Royal Air Force in Britain.

The latest development comes a few months after a NAF aircraft crashed in Kaduna.

 

The incident, which occurred in May 2021, involved a Beechcraft 350, and the aircraft crashed around the Kaduna international airport.

 

Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff, and 10 other military officers, who were on board when the plane crashed, were killed.

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The former deputy leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Uche Mefor, has again blamed the detained leader of the group, Nnamdi Kanu for the ongoing violence and killings in Southeastern Nigeria.
Mefor on Tuesday accused members of IPOB of killing their own people in the region and blamed Kanu’s violent utterances and threats of such violence for the crisis in the region.

Kanu, who is standing trial on seven counts bordering on terrorism and treasonable felony, is currently being detained by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Blaming Kanu for the violence in the South-East region, Mefor added that the activities of the separatist group, IPOB, have made achieving a breakaway for the region difficult.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Mefor said, “IPONK (Indigenous People of Nnamdi Kanu while referring to IPOB) have made the reality of Biafra Restoration even ever more remote by their criminality and by helped and enabled by helping the Nigerian state to criminalise the project.
“Consequently, rather than being near or immediate, the Biafra Restoration will continue to be a mirage until the dent and damage are repaired and undone.
“The insecurity in Igboland was orchestrated by Kanu's violent utterances, threats of such violence, and its official adoption as a policy. Simon Ekpa is a member of IPOB and was among the Facebook bloggers drafted by Kanu in the last quarter of 2020 to help do the hatchet job of blackmailing innocent people and promoting violence against those they called saboteurs and traitors for him. They are one and the same group of people.
“They are essentially part of the wider alliance of evil non-state actor violators of human rights in Igboland---targeted assassinations, torture, enforced disappearances, and other forms of inhumane and degrading treatments against unarmed Igbo Biafran civilians. These are killers of their own people, all in the hope of getting Biafra. They kill their brothers in the name of Biafra---the same people that they claim to protect and liberate.
“Finally, take this or leave it, we maintain that IPONK will destroy themselves by themselves. Their latest self-destructive, self-annihilating move is hypocritically deny their atrocities in broad light and shift their culpability to one of their own called Simon Ekpe. The more Simon Ekpa is demonised by IPONK, the more IPONK expose and implicate themselves; and ultimately compound the case of their leader because they are the same evil syndicate and conglomerate.
Similarly in September 2021, Mefor in a post on his Facebook page, blamed the IPOB leader for the brutal killing of civilians during IPOB-ordered sit-at-home, even though the separatist group later cancelled the sit-at-home protest.
Mefor, in the post titled: “IPOB Nnamdi Kanu remain cursed-Nemesis/Karma remain in full gear until the confessions and the self-destructive expositions are complete”, described IPOB as cursed.
“In the fullness of time, humanity shall recognise and appreciate this fact that treachery does not pay nor does it do anybody or any group any good, IPOB NNAMDI KANU is cursed beyond redemption.
 
“The spirit of the land of our ancestors, the land of Biafra abhors injustice, it frowns on the abomination of crimes against humanity which go to the very heart of spilling of the blood and beheading of Biafrans by Biafrans on Biafran soil and the desecration of our heritage.
 
“The legacy of lies, of deception and of blackmail which we proudly fought against and which they have continued remains her waterloo. These IPOB NNAMDI KANU shall continue with the CONFESSION; they shall continue to speak in confusing, hostile languages among themselves until they completely expose their evils and atrocities by themselves and you know what? They have no control over it because cursed people do not influence what befalls or happens to them.”
 

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At least three persons have been killed and many others injured as an explosion rocked cattle market in Taraba State, SaharaReporters learnt.
 
It was gathered that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off at Iware cattle market, some 35 kilometres from Jalingo, the capital city.
 
A resident of the town told SaharaReporters that bandits in their droves stormed the cattle market and detonated what he believed were multiple explosives.
 
The spokesperson for the police in Taraba State, DSP Usman Abdullahi, has confirmed the incident, saying "three persons were confirmed dead and 19 others injured.
 
"It's yet too early to ascertain who the attackers were. But we suspect that bandits may have carried out the attack at a drinking joint and not cattle market in Iware," he said.

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At least three persons have been killed and many others injured as an explosion rocked cattle market in Taraba State, SaharaReporters learnt.
 
It was gathered that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off at Iware cattle market, some 35 kilometres from Jalingo, the capital city.
 
A resident of the town told SaharaReporters that bandits in their droves stormed the cattle market and detonated what he believed were multiple explosives.
 
The spokesperson for the police in Taraba State, DSP Usman Abdullahi, has confirmed the incident, saying "three persons were confirmed dead and 19 others injured.
 
"It's yet too early to ascertain who the attackers were. But we suspect that bandits may have carried out the attack at a drinking joint and not cattle market in Iware," he said.

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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), says the justice system in Nigeria is constantly manipulated to favour influential politicians facing corruption charges in Nigeria.
 
Falana stated this on Tuesday in a paper titled ‘Sentencing Rich And Poor Convicts In Nigeria: An Unbalanced Scale’, delivered as the Inaugural Public Lecture of Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, according to a statement by Tayo Soyemi of the Falana and Falana Chambers.
 
He condemned the impunity in some quarters which has caused rich and influential people to become ‘untouchable’ while the poor and underprivileged suffer for those crimes.
 
He said, “Since they have the money, they can influence and manipulate the justice system in their favour. Consequently, such persons commit crimes and get away with them. Owing to corruption and abysmally compromised system, they could even have the backing of the government.”
 
According to him, some persons who were arrested for crimes, have been convicted, sentenced and jailed but have never been found in any correctional centre while unemployed young people serve prison terms in lieu of rich convicts.
 
He also condemned the involvement of the government in cases involving the rich. “For political reasons, the trial and conviction of the rich are often interfered with," he said.
 
Falana noted: “Judges could even be coerced into favouring those rich offenders against their own will. But there is often no one to speak for the poor, who often have no voice of their own. On the few occasions that the rich are convicted, they are usually granted pardon by the President and State Governors."
 
He also described corruption as a major factor against the fair administration of justice in Nigeria. “Oftentimes, rich Defendants engage in dilatory tactics which frustrate and compel the state to enter into plea bargain with them.”
 
“Judges award lighter sentences to convicted rich defendants or resort to technicalities to free them. Otherwise, how could someone that embezzled pension funds worth billions of Naira be sentenced to only six months imprisonment, but another who stole a cheap telephone handset be sentenced to ten years imprisonment?”
 
Falana decried the increased injustice against poor people as more attention is being paid to cases involving the rich as opposed to the poor.
 
The lawyer highlighted cases of plea bargains including that of Tafa Balogun, the former Inspector General of Police who was involved in the N17 billion saga; former Governor of Bayelsa State, Dieprieye Alamiesiegha; Lucky Igbinedon, the former Governor of Edo State who was fined the sum of N3.5 million after he had entered into a plea bargain with EFCC to reduce the 191 counts against him to just a single count.
 
He also cited the case of John Yusuf who embezzled N27.2 billion pension fund of retired police officers; Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, the former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Oceanic Bank Plc.
 
He added: “The case of FRN v. Abdulrasheed Maina is one of the few that made a little difference: Maina who was charged with criminal offences, punishable under sections 11(2) (a), 15(3), and 16(2) (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, and also acted in breach of the Advance Fee Fraud Act, was in November 2021 convicted and sentenced to eight years imprisonment, after being found guilty on all the 12-count charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) preferred against him and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Limited.
 
“The Court ordered Maina and his firm to forfeit about N2.1 billion that was traced to their bank accounts, as well as another sum of $223, 396, 30, to the Federal Government, after which he directed that the company should be wound up. It also ordered the forfeiture of Maina’s two choice properties at Life camp and Jabi districts of Abuja, to the government, likewise the auction of a bulletproof car and a BMW 5 Series exotic car that was found in premises of the convict.”
He added: “Between 2005 and 2006, a panel of enquiry instituted by the Federal Government found that 197 defendants who were tried, convicted and jailed for drug trafficking were not found in any correctional centre in the country.
 
“At the end of their trials, members of a syndicate made of prosecution and defence lawyers, court clerks and warders collected heavy bribes from the convicts and allowed them to escape imprisonment.
 
“It was found that the convicts returned to the nefarious business. I took up the matter with the Authorities of the NDLEA who assured me that the convicts would be arrested and made to serve the prison terms. But that was the end of the story.
 
“On July 10, 2015, the then Chief Judge of Anambra State, the Honourable Justice Umeadi visited all prisons in the State for the purpose of jail delivery to decongest the prisons.  His Lordship disclosed that some prison inmates have no records in the prisons. The scandal was well reported at the material time.
 
“Since inmates are committed to prisons by warrants issued by Judges and Magistrates, the authorities of the Correctional Centre are challenged to explain who authorised the 'imprisonment' of inmates without records.
 
“Awaiting trial inmates constitute not less than 75 per cent of the prison population in the country. The majority of the inmates including convicts are poor people. The few rich people and members of the ruling class that are jailed are usually granted pardons by the President and State Governors in the exercise of their powers under section 175 of the Constitution.
 
“Based on the recommendation of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Council of State has just approved the pardon of a number of convicted persons including two former state governors that were jailed for laundering billions of Naira.
 
“Since the Constitution provides for equality of all citizens before the law, all other persons convicted for stealing, fraud and money laundering ought to be pardoned and freed.
 
“There can be no moral or legal justification for jailing poor people who steal spaghetti and noodles to feed their family members while those who loot the treasury are granted clemency or pardon.
 
“In conclusion, permit me to call on the poor who constitute the majority of poor victims of the institutionalized criminal justice system to unite and fight for socioeconomic justice and equality before the law.
 
“In particular, indigent accused persons are advised to brief lawyers in the Legal Aid Council and the Office of the Public defender in every state of the Federation to provide them with legal practitioner whenever they are arrested, detained or charged with any criminal offence.
 
“It is the responsibility of the State to assign lawyers, free of charge, to citizens who earn less than the national minimum wage of N30,000.00.
 
“The law is not neutral in a class society. It is made and enacted by rich legislators to serve the interests of the rich. The judges interpret the law to favour the rich and powerful people in society.
 
“The big lawyers hired to defend the rich exploit loopholes and technicalities in the law to free their rich clients. Hence, the poor man who stole noodles in Abuja to feed himself was jailed by an upper area court. Even though he had no more to feed himself the judge sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment or N20,000 fine.
 
“But the former top public officer who laundered $9.8 million and £74,000 has been set free by the Federal High Court. The Judge blamed the EFCC for not proving the case beyond reasonable doubt!
 
“The disparity in the sentencing of rich and poor convicts in Nigeria is one of the negative factors affecting the administration of criminal justice in the country. The main factor behind this problem is the dysfunctional justice system operated by the Nigerian courts.
 
“Owing to the class character of the society, the courts and law enforcement agencies tend to favour rich convicts against poor convicts. This problem has caused the public to lose hope and trust in the country’s judicial system.
“Drastic major steps must be taken to address the issue of disparity in sentencing, to ensure justice, fairness, and equality before the law, for all convicts.”
 
 

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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has said it is suing President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for pardoning former governors of Plateau and Taraba states, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame respectively, serving jail terms for corruption.
SERAP earlier on Sunday called on Buhari to urgently withdraw the pardon recently granted to former governors.

The anti-corruption group Tuesday posted on its official Twitter handle, “Presidential pardon: We're suing the Buhari administration over the unlawful pardon for former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, who are serving jail terms for corruption.”
The Council of State last Thursday granted a state pardon to Dariye and Nyame, along with 157 others.
Dariye and Nyame were imprisoned for stealing public funds to the tune of N1.16 billion and N1.6 billion respectively.
Both were governors of their respective states from 1999 to 2007.
Dariye was sentenced to 14 years in prison but his prison term was later reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal in Abuja. His conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court in February 2020 upheld the conviction and 12-year jail term given to Nyame, for misappropriation of funds while he was governor of Taraba State.
In its earlier letter dated April 16, SERAP said: “Impunity for corruption will continue as long as influential politicians escape justice for their crimes. The constitutional power of prerogative of mercy ought not to be an instrument of impunity.
 
“The pardon power ought to be exercised in a manner that is consistent with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], particularly the provisions on oath of office by public officers, and section 15[5] which requires your government to abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power.”
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) and many other Nigerians have also been very critical of the presidential pardons granted to the thieving former governors.
Speaking as a guest lecturer at an event organised to celebrate one year of remembrance of the late Yinka Odumakin and the launch of the Yinka Odumakin Foundation at Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos last week, Falana accused Buhari of failing to keep to his word.
 
“They are pardoning themselves right now. The same man who said he came to fight corruption has been granting pardons to people who were convicted of stealing billions of naira.
 
“My reaction is that all thieves and other criminals in our prisons should be released.
 
“Under section 17 of their constitution, it says there shall be equal rights for all citizens and section 42 says there shall be no discrimination on the basis of class, gender, whatever, so you cannot take out two people and leave the rest there. In particular, the government has been prohibited from conferring advantages on any group of citizens to the exclusion of others in the same category,” he said.

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A training aircraft of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has crashed in Kaduna State.

Several officers are feared to have been killed in the plane crash which occurred on Tuesday.

SaharaReporters Media

While the details of the incident remain sketchy, two pilots were on board, Cable reports.

The incident comes barely a year after General Ibrahim Attahiru, the former Chief of Army Staff, died in a plane crash in the same state.

Attahiru and other military officers were killed when their plane crashed as it was about to land at the Kaduna International Airport on Friday, May 21, 2021. 

 The armed forces had said in a statement that the crash “claimed the lives of 10 other officers including the crew”.

 

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Ukrainian troops have blown up a Russian armoured vehicle with an anti-tank guided missile in the besieged city of Mariupol after the soldiers refused Moscow's ultimatum to lay down their arms.
 
Video shows a Ukrainian soldier from the Azov Battalion firing the missile at the Russian military vehicle and landing a direct hit, sending a black plume of smoke into the air.
 
The soldier, whose comrade across the street can be seen holding a grenade launcher, quickly retreats inside a building in Mariupol and can be heard shouting 'yes' after the successful hit.
 
The Azov Battalion posted the footage after Russia told Ukrainian troops, who have been holed up in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, to lay down their arms within two hours if they wanted to live. 
 
The Russian Defence Ministry called on the troops to withdraw from the steel plant between 1400 and 1600 Moscow time (1100 and 1300 GMT) "without exception, without any weapons and without ammunition".
 
"All who lay down their arms are guaranteed to remain alive," the Defence Ministry added.
 
But the Ukrainian troops, who have defended the city for seven weeks, defied Moscow's demands as the video showed their continued resistance.
 
Kyiv today said Russia's new offensive in Eastern Ukraine will fail because Moscow's forces lack the strength to break through Ukrainian defences.
 
The Azovstal plant, which covers the territory of about 11 square kilometres (over 4 square miles) is the last major Ukrainian pocket of resistance in Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov.
 
Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks, has seen the fiercest fighting and most comprehensive destruction since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
 
The defiant move by Ukrainian troops comes after Russia claimed it had hit more than 1,200 Ukrainian targets with missiles, airstrikes and artillery as Vladimir Putin's troops launched their new offensive in the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine, a report by Daily Mail said.
 

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Indigenes of Benikrukru community in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri-South West Local Government Area of Delta State have demanded “adequate” compensation from an oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited over an oil spill they alleged has endangered their source of livelihood.
 
The oil spill, which occurred in February 2021, according to the community, is from CNL’s 16 Makaraba-Utonana-Abiteye Right of Way, in Chevron’s western area of operations, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
 
They explained that the crude oil discharged into the rivers and environs has since resulted in large scale devastation and degradation of the environment, disrupted fishing and farming activities and visited the people of the area with untold hardship.
 
This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday and jointly signed by Mr. Solomon Eris, Chairman; Mr. Kingsley Ukuli, Secretary and Pastor Blessing Tortor, Public Relations Officer, demanding adequate compensation in both financial and material terms for all the affected individuals and communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom.
 
According to the statement titled "Our Position On Oil Spill That Occured At 16' Makaraba-Utonana -Abiteye Trunkline Operated By Chevron Nigeria Limited In Gbaramatu Kingdom," the indigenes noted that in the past year, Chevron which prides itself as one of the best organisations in the country as regards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has not bothered to provide the communities with relief materials.
 
The community, however, described the development as callously wicked, out of tune with international best practices and in flagrant disobedience to all known national and international labour laws.
 
"The entire indigenes of Benikrukru community in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri-South West Local Government Area of Delta State, have observed with dissatisfaction, that after over one year, an oil spillage occurred at the 16" Makaraba-Utonana-Abiteye trunkline owned and operated by an American oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited, located within the kingdom, the company, has against all known logic continued to demonstrate lackadaisical attitude to the affected individuals and the entire Benikruku communities.
 
"Making this development a reality to worry about is that despite the excruciating pains resulting from the ugly development which the victims and the communities have stoically endured, Chevron has neither provided relief materials to the affected individuals nor shown remorse for their failings and failures or deemed it necessary to take an active step to clean up the affected areas through environmental remediation/upgrade.
 
"Adding context to the discourse, it is important to underline that this dangerous oil spillage was first discovered in the early morning of February 16, 2021, by the people of the community who were predominantly into fishing. The crude oil discharged into the rivers and environs has since resulted in large scale devastation and degradation of the environment, disrupted fishing and farming activities and visited the people of the areas with untold hardship.
 
"Ordinarily, we expected Chevron to come up with a clearly and adequately conceptualized remediation plan and proposal on how to compensate the affected individuals and communities. But to our greatest chagrin, Chevron via a series of statements/releases absolved itself of any wrongdoing, noting that the said spillage neither emanated from nor has anything to do with their facilities.
 
"This high level of crass corporate irresponsibility on the part of the American oil giant continued until a Joint Investigation was carried out and established beyond reasonable doubt that suspected Chevron facility which was installed in the year 1974, has recorded what the report described as ‘Two Pin Holes’, a development that did not only end Chevron's season of lies but established its culpability.
 
"Those that made up the JIV team include, but are not limited to Chevron Nigeria Limited team, representatives from the National Oil Detective And Response Agency (NOSDRA), Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Delta State Ministry of Environment, the honourable Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Delta State, and representatives of affected communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom.
The community accused the international community and the Nigerian government of “looking on while we suffer this form of environmental degradation, killing, torture in the hand of Chevron Nigeria Limited”.
 
"This development we can no longer accept as it is callously wicked, out of tune with international best practices and in flagrant disobedience to all known national and international labour laws.
 
"It is against this backdrop that we make the following demands as prerequisites for peace.
 
"Chevron must, in the interim, prove itself both responsible and responsive by providing adequate relief materials for the affected individuals and communities.
 
"We call on the Chevron Nigerian Limited management to sign the JIV document with all the relevant parties, communities and government agencies.
 
"While that is being done, we demand an adequate compensation in both financial and material terms to all the affected individuals and communities in Gbaramatu kingdom.
 
"We demand that Chevron, with all the relevant agencies at both state and Federal Levels, commence a process of clean and total remediation of the affected areas.
 
"Finally, as a sustainable way of forestalling future occurrence, we demand that Chevron Nigeria Limited and other oil prospecting, exploration and production companies operating in Gbaramatu Kingdom activate process(es) of replacing such weak pipes that can no longer withstand the daily pressure emanating from crude oil evacuation,” it added.
 

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Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has attacked President Muhammadu Buhari for granting presidential pardons to former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame who were jailed for stealing billions of naira.
 
The Council of State last Thursday granted state pardons to former governors of Plateau and Taraba states, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame respectively, who were jailed for corruption.
 
The former governors, along with 157 others, will be released from prison after the Council of State approved a proposal by Buhari’s government to grant them a state pardon.
 
Dariye and Nyame were imprisoned for stealing public funds to the tune of N1.16 billion and N1.6 billion respectively.
 
Nyame and Dariye were governors of their respective states from 1999 to 2007.
 
Dariye’s prison term was later reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal in Abuja but his conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
 
The Supreme Court in February 2020 upheld the conviction and 12-year jail term given to Nyame, for misappropriation of funds while he was governor of Taraba State.
 
Dariye was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Dariye’s prison term was later reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal in Abuja but his conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
 
Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, titled: “A Putrid Presidential Easter Egg,” Soyinka said that the president’s action is one egg squashed against Nigerian faces that they shall not forget or wipe off in a hurry.
 
The Nobel Laureate said, “I am persuaded that the recent largesse from the nation’s president has already won a few hearts and minds to the ranks, if not of outright atheism, then at least to a healthy skeptical regard of piety spouting leadership that sees nothing wrong in attempts to extinguish the life of a young man for an honest declaration of conviction, while veterans of broken pledges are let loose to further infect a world they have betrayed. No pardon has been extended in the direction of endangered, youthful integrity.
 
“Of course, it is easy to track the trajectory of events. Nettled by increasingly scabrous comments, such as those of his predecessor in office, Olusegun Obasanjo, who declared that this incumbent has run out of ideas, that he has nothing left to offer the nation, Muhammad Buhari decided to embark on the Easter train and donate an Easter egg of truly presidential proportions to his subjects.
 
“Coming from a leader who had placed all his eggs in one basket, labeled Anti-Corruption, this is one egg squashed against Nigerian faces that they shall not forget – or wipe off -  in a hurry.  It evokes the legend of Pandora’s box whose contents are alleged to constitute all the ills that plague the world.
 
“Putrid to the core, allied to power provocaions in numerous variations, such as catapulting a notorious player in the martyrdom of a serving Minister of Justice to the hub of governance wheel, these define the nature of bequests that have brought the nation to this moment of near dissolution. Precedents are no consolation, no excuses.
 
“One states the obvious in remarking that precedents either undermine or reinforce principles, and aspiring offenders, especially in the political domain, are encouraged or inhibited by the ease or difficulty of access to the fount of mercy. Office holders, we presume, are constrained by the existence of that dangling Sword of Damocles – simply knowing that one day, the cloak of immunity will turn threadbare, and the awaited day of reckoning finds them answerable.
 
“Clearly, not any longer. You will forgive, though disagree with me, I know, for clambering onto the Easter wagon myself, to echo the words of the One whose passage through the world the Easter season commemorates: 
“It is finished!””
 
 
 
 

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Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has said insecurity in Nigeria is worse at the moment than it was in 2015 when the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over power in Nigeria.
Muhammdu Buhari of the APC succeeded Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 as President.
 
Diri, therefore, called on the Nigerian Government to redouble its efforts at combating insecurity, particularly in the northern part of the country.
The Bayelsa governor stated this on Tuesday during separate courtesy visits by heads of some security agencies to Government House, Yenagoa.
 
Speaking when he received Comptroller of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Bayelsa Command, Mr Sunday James, the governor lamented the level of insecurity in the north, saying once a part of the country is in distress, other areas are also affected.
 
He described the spate of killings by terrorists in the country as a great setback for Nigeria, where “life is nasty, brutish and short”.
 
He urged the APC-led Nigerian government to effectively curb the killings.
 
He said: “I use this opportunity to again call on the Federal Government to do something. These are the same issues that led to the APC government coming to power in 2015.
 
“I am sure that you will agree that things are worse now than in 2015. The Federal Government has to redouble its efforts otherwise the joker card is with the people of Nigeria. They know what to do come 2023.
 
"When one part of the country is sick, it affects the other parts. Kaduna and other states in the North are sick security-wise and it is affecting other parts of the country. Nigeria is very close to Thomas Hobbes’ ‘state of nature’ where life is described as nasty, brutish and short. The Federal Government has to do something to keep us away from the Hobbesian state.”
 
Welcoming the new Comptroller, Diri called for more synergy between the service and the state government, especially in the areas of security and investment drive.

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