No fewer than 1,570 Nigerians were kidnapped between January and November 2020 in 366 reported cases, Daily Trust investigation reveals.

The kidnappers raked in over N311 million from payment of ransom by relatives of their victims within this period, though they demanded over N6.9 billion from their victims. The money paid did not include millions of naira paid by some families who chose to keep quiet because of threats or simply to have their peace.

Daily Trust reports that there has been an upsurge in kidnapping in Nigeria with 41 cases reported in November.

The trend has spread to some tertiary institutions in Kaduna State while the Federal Capital Territory was also not spared with 31 reported cases in 11 months.

Major arteries including the Abuja-Kaduna and Abuja-Lokoja roads have turned to kidnappers’ hotspots, raising fears in commuters. The young and old have been victims.

From the seven-year-old boy kidnapped in Katsina for which N3m ransom was demanded, to the 60-year-old Zainab Musa kidnapped in Niger State, many Nigerians are living in fear of the unknown.

Security operatives were also kidnapped within the time under review. Among the victims were 12 Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) seized in November, 10 Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officials and four officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who were also kidnapped in September and February, respectively. An officer of the Department of State Security (DSS) was also kidnapped in September.

Daily Trust recalled that the Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), governors of the North East, the Afenifere from the South West, among other groups and individuals have all expressed disgust over the deteriorating security situation in the North and the country at large.

Source: https://dailytrust.com/1570-people-abducted-in-11-months

Good one

Oshio baba handwork

Corona virus

Former senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has donated the sum of N60,000 to foot the bills for the injured victims of gunmen attack in Chikun Local Government Area of the State.

Daily Trust reported that one of the four injured, Omega, who was shot in the mouth, died in hospital on Tuesday.

Two of his sisters, Baby and Blessing are still being attended to at the hospital in Birnin Gwari while the head of the family Yakubu Gurmi ‎was at home receiving treatment.

A community leader, Alhaji Husaini Imam who received the donation on behalf of the injured family ‎told Daily Trust that the senator sent the money because he felt bad about what happened to the family.

“He called after the story was published and since then he has been in touched with us to know their con‎dition so on Thursday evening he sent N60,000 for the treatment of those injured. I handed the money to the family,” he said.

The community leader commended the effort of the senator and called on other individuals to come to the rescue of those injured.

Daily Trust reported how the 17 members of the family were abducted at Gonar Lema few kilometres away from Udawa village in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State have regained freedom.

Six of the abducted victims were freed by their captives while one escaped.

But there are still 10 with the bandits in which they demanded for N15 million ransom.

Source: https://dailytrust.com/chikun-attack-senator-shehu-sani-foots-medical-bills-for-injured-victims

Government that have no pity for the common man

He try small compare to other politicians...

A member of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee (ACENCPC), representing the North East, Prof. Tahir Mamman (SAN), has said it is the prerogative of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to extend the caretaker committee’s tenure.

The APC NEC dissolved the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) in June, this year.

It also constituted the 13-member ACENCPC, headed by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni, to take charge of the day-to-day running of the party and to, within six months, organise a national convention for new leaders to emerge.

But some party stalwarts have said the committee was seeking tenure extension to deliver on its mandate.

Mamman, who led a delegation of some APC stakeholders from Adamawa State to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, on Thursday, in an interview with newsmen, dispelled the claim that the committee was seeking tenure extension.

“We are working within our mandate; we are not working for an extension of time.

“If those who gave us job should think of extension that would come from them,” he said.

He also dispelled claims that there was crisis in Adamawa State chapter of the party.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress Youth Coalition for Effective Progress (AYCEP) has expressed support for the caretaker committee of the party led by Governor Buni of Yobe State.

In a briefing by its national coordinator, Iliyasu Ibrahim Makinta, AYCEP listed the achievements of Buni to include the return of former Speaker Yakubu Dogara to the party and the commitment to ensure the victory of the party in the governorship election in Edo State.

Source: https://dailytrust.com/tenure-extension-for-apc-interim-cttee-necs-prerogative-mamman

After spending N276 billion on the maintenance of its three refineries between 2015 and 2018, the federal government is set to spend additional N600bn on them starting early 2021.

The refineries had gulped N152bn between 2013 and 2017.

In addition to other factors, Daily Trust investigation shows that the poor state of the refineries worsened the country’s dwindling oil revenue and increases in the price of petrol for local consumers.

Shortly after announcing the full deregulation of the downstream oil sub-sector recently with the attendant hike in petrol pump price, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said the increase in the pump price of petrol was unavoidable.

Sylva said fuel price was increased because the international crude oil prices now determined the local price.

But people with knowledge of the oil industry say assuming the refineries have been working, Nigeria wouldn’t have been badly hit by all the factors that affected the oil economy including the coronavirus pandemic.

And while some experts believe the planned repairs of refineries would yield a positive result and liberate Nigeria from the comity of importers, others said the refineries “are too old to be fixed” and advised government to build new, potable ones that would be adaptable to fast-changing technology.

Fresh anxiety mounts over refineries’ repair

Amidst this turbulence of the petrol price hike, the federal government has sought to douse the tension with the latest news being on restoring the refineries to at least 90 percent capacity in about three years.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, in a briefing said the nation’s four refineries (Kaduna, Warri, Port Harcourt and Indorama Petrochemical, Eleme) with a combined capacity of 444,000 barrels per day (bpd), would be rehabilitated.

He disclosed that they were deliberately shut down due to the absence of the Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) and major rehabilitation.

But this is in spite of the over N276bn spent on this same process since 2015.

He said the absence of TAM led to a huge capacity loss at the refineries, prompting major rehabilitation works.

“Every refinery is expected to operate at least 90 percent of installed capacity.

“With all the TAM down, it was impossible to run any of these refineries at 90 percent capacity.

“Our estimate was that we could run at 60 percent capacity but if we do that, it’s simply value destruction.

“We want to make them work and that’s why we’re doing full rehabilitation,” he said.

The NNPC helmsman said they got local engineers from the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO/KBR), a subsidiary firm in May, 2020 for the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.

According to records, the repair works for the Port Harcourt refinery will gulp $1.5bn (about N576.75bn), prepayment deal that has already been signed with firms, for the exchange of crude oil for the cash.

The scheme, Project Eagle, was supported by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

Apart from this, an undisclosed amount would go into financing the repairs for the Warri and Kaduna refineries.

In August 2020, the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company (KRPC) made plans to turn off its power plant and connect to the national power grid through the Kaduna Electric, ahead of the refinery’s maintenance.

The MD of KRPC, Engr. Ezekiel Osarolube, said the top management officials of NNPC were keenly looking forward to its successful completion.

It was also learnt that plans were on to mobilise the contractors cleared by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for the repair of the Kaduna and Warri refineries.

Daily Trust reports that apart from the refineries, the feedstock pipelines are in bad condition.

According to the July report of NNPC released yesterday, 36 pipeline points were vandalised, representing about 9% increase from the 33 points recorded in June 2020.

The pipelines, which connect depots: Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Aba-Enugu network recorded 28%, PHC-Aba and the other locations were 14% and 31% respectively.

NNPC, the local communities, and other stakeholders continuously have strived to reduce the menace of pipeline vandalism,’ the report said.

However, NNPC in its refineries rehabilitation plan said the completion target would be before 2023.

How refineries gulped N276bn

Though the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC’s) spokesman, Dr. Kennie Obateru, declined to comment on the amount spent on the rehabilitation of the refineries to date, records show that N276.87bn was spent between 2015 and 2018 to carry out repair works under TAM scheme on three of the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

At least $396.33 million (about N152.4bn) had earlier been spent between 2013 and 2017 on TAM schemes on the refineries, a report by Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) shows.

Present state of the refineries

Investigations by Daily Trust across the refineries showed that works for the new rounds of rehabilitation of the facilities did not commence even when they were slated for January 2020.

At the Alesa Eleme headquarters of Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC), sources said the refinery was shut down in 2017 because of obsolete and malfunctioning machines that litter the operational base of the company.

One of them said the refinery has had no refining since three years ago when a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Italian oil company, ENI and NNPC in Rome on the renovation of the refinery.

“When the GMD of NNPC visited the plants last year, he promised that TAM will commence in January 2020 but as we talk now nothing is happening.

“Last year the contractor came in and dismantled many of the machines and as we speak now, all the dismantled machines are littering everywhere and the new ones have not been brought to replace them.”

Attempts by our correspondent to speak with the PHRC Public Affairs Manager, Mr. Gerald Ohaji, did not yield any result as he did not pick calls made to his mobile line.

KRPC was down since 2017.

A visit by Daily Trust to the plant showed several tankers parked along the premises but the usual hustle and bustle around the vicinity had ebbed.

“Since June 2017, we have not had it easy as production has not been steady.

“Many of our colleagues have left while those of us still around only wait for whenever they call us,” one of the drivers said.

An official of the Petroleum Tankers Drivers, Comrade Muktar Hassan, maintained that KRPC had not produced for the past two and a half years.

Daily Trust’s on-the-spot assessment of the Warri Refinery showed the facility had not operated after it laid off over 2,000 technical support staff members in January, 2020.

A senior staff of the refinery, who spoke to our correspondent in strict confidence, said: “As I speak with you, there is nothing on ground to show the place is functioning.

“There has been no sign of it since it was announced by the federal government in 2016.

“What we have here are monuments of dilapidated and moribund facilities.”

Huge losses

Official figures compiled from NNPC’s operations reports showed that P/H refinery stopped producing crude in March 2019.

Kaduna refinery, the worst performer has not received or processed crude since 2017 while Warri refinery stopped in June 2019.

The report by NNPC further showed that the refineries lost N123.25bn between January and October 2019.

While KRPC posted a loss of N49.3bn, PHRC and WRPC lost N36.7bn and N37.24bn, respectively.

The corporation blamed the refineries’ lack of positive performance on largely the ‘on-going rehabilitation works in the refineries’ but Daily Trust confirmed that there was no rehabilitation until the 2021 kick-off target.

“The declining operational performance recorded is attributable to ongoing revamping of the refineries which is expected to further enhance capacity utilisation once completed,” it said.

Despite this, the federal government still spent N36.8bn on it as the cost of salaries and employee wages in 2018.

The breakdown shows N13.8bn was spent each at KRPC, WRPC, while N9.2bn was spent at PHRC on these items.

This spending was not inclusive of directors’ remuneration, staff pension, and other benefits.

‘Collapse refineries responsible for high fuel price’

Experts have blamed the recent increase in the pump price of petrol from N148 to over N160 (the third of such increase in the last three months) on high fuel importation and its associated cost occasioned by the lack of functional local refineries.

The experts and marketers spoken to by Daily Trust pointed out that the moribund refineries were to blame for the increase in the pump price of fuel in the country in recent time.

Dr. Timi Olubiyi, entrepreneurship and small business management expert said there was a lack of major turnaround maintenance and poor governance for the plants.

“The existing refineries can be rehabilitated and brought back into operation and full capacity utilisation through private sector-led financing and rehabilitation initiative,” he said.

A professor of Chemical Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria Ibrahim Mohammed-Dabo advised the government to return to the drawing board by developing unconventional refineries in the short term.

Prof. Dabo who is Russian trained and the Team Leader, ABU refinery project said: “Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri refineries are not producing but the Niger Delta youths are producing and polluting the environment, yet people are buying from them, this is the worst way of producing fuel.

“What we need is to go back to the drawing board, gather engineers and scientists, study what the bigger refineries are doing and do it better.”

Another professor of Economics and Dean of Post Graduates Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Okechukwu Onuchukwu said reactivation of the refineries will help Nigeria overcome the present challenges.

He called on the federal government to look into the activities of illegal refinery operators at the creek and encourage them in the form of modular refineries.

However, Engr. Abubakar Mohammed who specialises in pipeline engineering said the federal government through the NNPC should sale the refineries to investors as scrap.

“Instead of continuously spending billions on TAM, why can’t we build new ones and also encourage investors to do same?

“The refineries have outlived their usefulness and I doubt much if they would come back to life and run for years at maximum capacity.

“I am happy Dangote Refinery is about being completed and I hope other visitors would be brave to build similar refineries,” he said.

Source: https://dailytrust.com/as-refineries-gulp-n276bn-in-4-years-fg-embarks-on-fresh-multi-billion-naira-repairs

We no longer having confident on this administration...

Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to use the Edo Governorship election as a model to create hope in the electoral process.

The governor made the appeal on Thursday in a statement by Paulinus Nsirim, Commissioner for Information and Communications, made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt.

According to the statement, Wike, also Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), National Campaign Council for the Edo election, made the appeal during a Live Television Programme in Port Harcourt.

He stated that the outcome of the election would provide hope for the general elections of 2023.

“Let everyone that loves this country ensure that the Sept. 19, 2020 election is credible, free and fair.

“The Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should show Nigerians that they can support credible elections.

“INEC should ensure that result sheets are not in the hands of individuals. Security Agencies should not whisk away collation officers and later bring them back with cooked results.

“Complete manipulation of the electoral process causes violence. No politician will cause violence if the Police and INEC do not compromise,’’ it stated.

According to Wike, there will be a high turnout of voters on Saturday because the people of Edo are prepared to put an end to “godfatherism’’.

He stated that he carried out an independent assessment of Gov. Godwin Obaseki’s achievements and was quite satisfied that he would win the election convincingly.

The governor, who stated that no amount of money or intimidation would make the people of Edo not to vote massively for Obaseki, urged the people to be vigilant and protect their votes so that they would not be truncated.

He also alleged that “the agenda of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is to win at all cost for us to go to the tribunal’’.

The governor also commended the U.S. and the United Kingdom for reportedly placing Visa ban on election riggers in the country.

“They should go ahead and publish their names so that a lot of things will change in our electoral process.

“Election rigging is worse than armed robbery. So whatever sanctions that can be imposed will be highly welcomed by the PDP,’’ the statement added. (NAN)

Source: https://dailytrust.com/make-edo-election-a-model-wike-urges-buhari

hmmm

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, narrated his meeting with American President Donald Trump at the White House.

Buhari was speaking in Abuja at the First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat of his second term.

Buhari warns W/African leaders against tenure elongation

North-central elders ask Buhari to sack service chiefs

He said he was the only African amongst the least developed nations that Trump invited in the White House.

He said: “I don’t think I can finish this speech without one or two digressions, which is specifically to you ministers, permanent secretaries and our supporters.

“I believe I was about the only African among the less developed countries that the president of the United States invited.

“And when I was in his office, only he and myself, he looked at me in the face and said why are you killing Christians?

“If you were the one, I wonder how you will react. I hope what I was feeling inside did not betray me before him.

“So, I understood it.

“The problem between cattle rearers and stagnant farmers, which is older than me not to talk of him (President Donald Trump), because I know I am a couple of years older than him, were happening.

“It’s climate change with population growth and the misunderstanding of the culture of the cattle rearers.

“If you have 50 cows and they eat grass or something, any rout to their water pond, they will follow it, it doesn’t matter whose farm it was.

“The First Republic set of leaders were the most responsible leaders we’ve ever had.

“So, I tried and explained to him (Trump) that this has gotten nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. It’s a cultural thing which the respective leaders failing the nation.”

“I asked the Minister of Agriculture to get a gazette of the early 60s, which delineated the cattle routes, the grazing areas, why they used meagre resources then to put water dams, windmills, and even sanitary department.

“So, any cattle rearer who allowed his cattle to somebody’s farm was arrested, taken before a court, the farmer is called to submit his bill then the judge will say if cattle rearer couldn’t pay, his cattle were sold and the farmer is paid.

“But subsequent leaders, the VIPs, they encroached on the cattle routes, they took over the cattle rearing areas.

“There was a time I went to Bayelsa State and I saw cattle rearers there. So, I suspected they were going into the Atlantic.”

‘I’ve done more with fewer resources’

Buhari urged the elite in Nigeria to judge the ruling All Progressives Congress administration “fairly” based on what it meant on ground when it assumed the mantle of leadership in 2015.

“The next problem I want to tell you about is how we found ourselves, when I say us, I mean members of the APC, when we promised three fundamental things: security, economy and fighting corruption.

“We repeated the same fundamental things last year.

“But I want the Nigerian elite, please encourage them to judge us fairly.

“I want you to please reflect, what was the condition of infrastructure then, in spite of those earnings?

“The roads, the rail was dead and there was no power, up till now there’s no power.

“Where did the money go?

“When we came we were faced with one thirds of the production, one thirds of the money we were getting and all these challenges; security, economy and fighting corruption.

‘So, please encourage your friends, the elite, to reflect on what this administration has done, what APC has done and what we have achieved.

“When people outside the country talk of Nigeria, they say it’s the most corrupt country in the world.

“Well, I’m doing my best, God has given me two chances: the first one when I tried I was a young man in uniform, collected the governors, the ministers and the president, put them in Kirikiri and other prisons and said they were guilty until they could prove themselves innocent.

“Put investigations panels based on geopolitical zones, basically. Anybody who followed the constitution, declared his assets, became a minister, a governor or the president, but couldn’t explain what he had.

‘The balance was taken and given back to the federal government or the state or the institution he led.

“In the end, I too was arrested and detained, nobody raised a voice.

“So, when I came back now, I’m trying to follow the system, I’m being called Baba Go Slow.

“Please, you are the ones who should reflect and pity me because we work with you every week, I listen to you, you listen to me, I just have to concentrate.

“Let us do our best for our country and I know we all believe in God and God will look after us.”

He said the days of insufficient collaboration, coordination and synergy among implementing ministries, departments and agencies should be over.

Go on offensive, defend my govt-President tells ministers

Buhari also charged his ministers to defend the government vigorously and not allow any irresponsible and politically motivated statements to keep spreading falsehoods about this government.

“Information to the public should be better packaged, go on the offensive, we are proud of our achievements and we should blow our own trumpets.

‘Submission to me should come through Chief of Staff’

“Let me also reiterate that all submissions for my attention or meeting requests should be channeled through the chief of staff, while all Federal Executive Council matters should be coordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

“I have directed the minister of finance, budget and national planning, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and all other responsible agencies to ensure speedy and timely release of funds to MDAs for implementation of the N2.3trillion economic sustainability plan and the capital projects in the 2020 budget.

“I also enjoined ministers to ensure that funds released are utilized efficiently and transparently in implementing the programmes and projects under the line priorities areas of government.

“On behalf of the people of Nigeria, I demand uttermost levels of performance, deliverables and results.

“I look forward to a result orientated year with tremendous benefits that will continue to change lives of our people positively.”K

Source: https://dailytrust.com/alleged-killings-of-christians-what-i-told-trump-buhari

hmm

Good

When Ibrahim Kapala, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulwahab Bello were arrested by the police in Bauchi on suspicion of stealing chickens, they had no idea all their lives were going to be on the line as a murderous DPO, Superintendent Baba Ali Mohammed, allegedly beat two of them to death.

With two broken legs, Abdulwahab Bello considers himself lucky to be alive after seeing a police officer beat his two friends, Ibrahim Kapala and Ibrahim Babangida to death in Bauchi.

The three men were apprehended for stealing chickens belonging to a retired police officer.

Abdulwahab did not know that the chickens were stolen.

He did not imagine that they would nearly cost him his life and the lives of his two friends.

“I was on my way when I met two of my friends, Ibrahim Kapala and Ibrahim Babangida, who were looking for buyers of chickens and I suggested a customer at the Muda Lawal Market.

“I didn’t know that they were stolen chickens,” he said.

After accompanying his friends to sell the chickens, he went about his business until he saw a team of policemen in a tricycle alongside his friends.

He was arrested and driven to the Township Police Station, in Doya Area of Bauchi where the police also brought the man who had bought the chickens.

Apparently, Ibrahim Kapala and Ibrahim Babangida had broken into the home of a retired police officer and stole five chickens.

The owner reported that they had taken 24 chickens but would later say he had found 13 of them.

The DPO, Superintendent of Police, Baba Ali Mohammed, however, seemed to have taken the theft as personal and demanded payments for the chickens, alongside bail money from the suspects.

“They said that we should pay the money for the chickens and my mother brought them N4, 000,” Bello said.

“The DPO told my mother to pay another N2, 000 for my bail before I would be released.”

Since his mother did not have any other money to give the police, Bello was detained alongside the other suspects despite paying for the chickens.

However, their real ordeal was about to begin.

“We were ordered out of the cell and he asked us to go behind his office where the DPO asked us to lie face down on the ground.

“He ordered that Ibrahim Kapala should be tied up,” he said.

Bello, and his friend Ibrahim Babangida, watched SP Baba Ali Mohammed went and fetched a broken pestle which he used to beat Ibrahim Kapala, who was tied up.

He struck the victim on the legs and broke both his legs while other policeman stood by and watched.

“In the process of beating him, he was saying that from today stealing chickens has ended and he continued beating him until he fainted.

“After he fainted, he started kicking him with his foot even though he was unconscious, until he died,” Bello said.

The DPO ordered for the next suspect to be brought forward.

“Immediately he was brought, he descended on him also and broke his legs by using that same pestle.

“He also used it to hit him on his chest and his back.

“The victim too fainted,” Bello said.

With the two suspects lying lifeless on the ground and the DPO screaming at them “to die,” Bello feared that he too would suffer the same fate.

“When it came to me, he used the same pestle to hit me continuously and broke two of my legs where I sustained two fractures on one leg,” he said.

The three suspects were then bundled onto the back of a police van and driven to their various houses.

At Ibrahim Kapala’s house, Bello said, they threw out his lifeless body on the ground and said his relatives should be told he was an armed robber.

“When we reached the house of Ibrahim Babangida, the DPO brought out a big stick and hit him on the head with it.

“He died subsequently in the hospital,” Bello said.

When they got to Bello’s house, the SP Baba Ali Mohammed readied his big stick for the final blow.

“When he saw the number of people in the area, he changed his decision,” he said.

Ibrahim Kapala’s mother, Hajara Ismail, said the day her son’s corpse was thrown out of the police van was the saddest in her life.

“I don’t know what my son did to the police,” she said.

“When the police came, they entered our house and asked some boys to carry him in and they asked them to dump him for me inside the house.

“Then, the DPO said, here’s the corpse of your son, he’s a robber, we arrested him, then he turned and left and then turned again and said we were not the people who did this to him, we too picked him up like that.”

She said at 30, her son was unmarried and each time she had asked him about taking a wife, “He’d tell me that he won’t get married now until he help us get our own house.”

For Babangida Bala, father of late Ibrahim Babangida, his mind has never been at peace since the incident.

“I have not been sleeping ever since my son Ibrahim Babangida was tortured to death by the police who are expected to protect lives and property of the masses,” he said.

“When I heard that my son, alongside his two friends, were arrested for stealing chickens, I refused to go and bail him, expecting that the police would take them to court for prosecution, but unfortunately they took the law into their hands,” he said.

He called on the Inspector General of Police to ensure that the case is not swept under the carpet, a call echoed by Alhaji Bello Mukhtar, father of the survivor, Abdulwahab Bello.

“When a policeman takes the laws into his hands and kills your son, tomorrow if you see him, what would you do to him?” Mukhtar asked.

“What I have spent so far in treating my son is more than N100,000.

“This has not been easy for me at all if not because of the intervention of one of my sisters who has been helpful in footing his medical bills,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Bauchi State Police Command said it has launched a full investigation into the alleged torture and dehumanization leading to the death of the suspects.

The Command’s Public Relation Officer DSP Ahmed Mohammed Wakili said that already, the State Police Commissioner, Lawan Tanko Jimeta has ordered for a full investigation of the incidence.

Similarly, a human rights group, Prison Inmate Development Initiative (PIDI-Nigeria) has written a petition on the incidence.

In the petition dated 23rd July 2020, and signed by Executive Director Mbami Sabka Iliya, submitted to the Commissioner of Police in the state on the same date, PIDI requested the Commissioner of Police to charge the DPO and those involved in the alleged torture, extortion and extrajudicial killing of the suspects.

“The available information made known to us shows that the said buyer had already slaughtered one out of the five chickens while the remaining four were recovered,” he stated.

The group further said that the buyer was ordered to pay for the five chickens again at the rate of N2,000, which he did, as well a bail fee of N2,000.

In total, the group said all the suspects paid a total sum of N 22,000 for the chickens and N8,000 as a bail condition.

Yet even that was not enough to spare the lives of both Ibrahim Kapala and Ibrahim Babangida.

While demanding justice for the victims, PIDI also demanded that the outcome of the investigation be made public for the interest of justice and the said DPO punished to serve as a deterrent to others.

Source: https://dailytrust.com/how-bauchi-dpo-tortured-killed-two-suspects-maimed-one-over-chicken-theft

hope dey small maybe things will change one day

There is no single human being in at least three local government councils of Borno because of the deteriorating security situation in the areas, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abdulkareem Lawan, stated on Thursday.

The local government areas are Guzamala, Marte and Abadam, all in the northern part of Borno State, which suffered serious devastations owing to over 11 years of Boko Haram activities.

The speaker stated this less than 24 hours after reports emerged that at least nine soldiers and an unconfirmed number of Boko Haram fighters loyal to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) lost their lives in two separate confrontations in Magumeri and Kukawa LGAs on Tuesday.

When contacted on Thursday, the Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, refused to comment on the development.

How soldiers, fighters died

Daily Trust learnt from credible sources that a serious battle ensued on Tuesday when Nigerian troops confronted dozens of ISWAP fighters who wanted to take over a military base in Magumeri town in northern part of Borno State.

Sources said the fighters who had killed at least 9 soldiers were later subdued and more than 20 of them were killed following the arrival of troops from Maiduguri.

The terrorists had earlier gone to the military base around 4 pm, Tuesday, in about ten gun trucks and succeeded in destroying parts of the facility.

A vigilante from Magumeri, Mohammed Ali, said, “They (terrorists) burnt three vehicles at the military base including an armoured tank and [an earthmover] that was being used in digging trenches for protecting the area and other important places.”

A security source who does not want to be named, said, “They burnt down five utility vehicles and one Emrad bomb-resistant vehicle, carted away the ammunition in our facility and some gun trucks.

“They also destroyed some public facilities”.

“The whole military camp was destroyed by the ISWAP.

“Two APCs, two trucks and a Caterpillar excavator were destroyed.

“One ISWAP Hilux was destroyed but the terrorists also left with another Hilux loaded with foodstuff just supplied to the base,” another source said.

Magumeri had suffered several attacks of recent, including the destruction of the general hospital and secretariat in the area.

The militants robbed the locals of their belongings as well.

About the same time, the terrorists reportedly killed some soldiers in a separate confrontation along Baga in Kukawa LGA in the shores of Lake Chad.

The deadly confrontation continued on Thursday with sources saying the terrorists had attacked another military base in Gubio also in northern Borno at about 4 pm.

Details of the incident were still sketchy at the time of filing this report.

Deserted communities

The Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkareem Lawan, said there was no single soldier or civilian living in Guzamala LGA, which has its headquarters in Gudumbali, located approximately 125 kilometres north of the state capital, Maiduguri.

He said there was urgent need for the federal government to deploy more troops to secure the northern part of the state to enable thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) return home.

Lawan stated this while hosting a delegation of Guzamala Youth Forum and Students Association led by its chairman, Babagana Alkali, in Maiduguri.

He noted that it became imperative to lend his voice and the world deserved to know the reality on the ground that Guzamala, Marte and Abadam local government areas have no people living in them.

“I became very emotional this morning when I listened to the leader of the delegation.

“As your representative, I have no other option than to say it the way it is.

“Guzamala local government is not far from the state capital; we have two district heads and 16 village heads all of them are taking refuge here in Maiduguri.

“We also had 170 settlements in Guzamala but as I am speaking to you now, there is no single soul, there is no single military or any other security operative living in the entire territory of Guzamala LGA.

“There is no civilian in Abadam; there is military at the local government headquarters (Malam Fatori) guarding the land but there is no single civilian living there.

“Most of the people in Abadam had fled to Niger Republic and Monguno town.

“It is the same thing when you go to Marte.

“There is no single civilian in the entire community but the troops are guarding the headquarters.

“So, I am appealing to the government to deploy more troops to the northern part of the state.

“I will like to urge the federal government to urgently look into this insecurity we are facing in the state,” the speaker said.

He, however, thanked the military for their sacrifices in the region and urged them to scale up their onslaught against insurgents in the Lake Chad area.

Earlier, the chairman of Guzamala youth expressed concerns over the prolonged insecurity situation and pointed out that the indigenes were tired of staying at IDP camps and pleaded with the speaker to amplify their plight.

When locals will return

The Nigerian Military said Thursday it could not determine when it would be safe for IDPs in Borno State and other places affected by the Boko Haram insurgency to return to their respective villages.

While fielding questions from journalists during the weekly press briefing with journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, Gen. John Enenche said resettling the IDPs was the sole responsibility of the civil authorities.

“I cannot give you a yes or no answer whether it is safe for the IDPs to return or not, we will do analysis with other security agencies, even when we do that, I can’t give that to you.

“We are working together; we are ready to assist the civil authorities, which is our task as contained in Section 127 of the Constitution.

“We are aware that the chief security officer of the state is making efforts to resettle them; we will support him by creating the enabling environment.

“As you are all aware, the Borno State Government has remained resolute in its efforts to resettle the IDPs in the state in their home communities,” Enenche said.

‘Terrorists should sheath their swords’

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State Thursday called on unrepentant Boko Haram members to lay down their arms while the government continued returning IDPs to their ancestral homes.

He said insurgents should remember that IDPs were directly or indirectly their parents or relations who were eager to pick up the pieces and continue with their normal lives.

Zulum stated this at Ajiri village of Mafa Local Government Area while addressing hundreds of returnee-IDPs.

He said the state government would do everything possible to ensure all returnees lived a comfortable life in their respective communities.

“I am using this medium to call on Boko Haram [insurgents] to lay down their arms for peace to reign in our dear state and the country at large,” he said.

Source: https://dailytrust.com/soldiers-insurgents-killed-borno-councils-deserted

Good!

m

APC

Human rights activist, Femi Falana, has applied to appeal the ruling of a Kano Shari’a court sentencing singer Yahaya Aminu to death by hanging for blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad.

Kano state judiciary said it submitted copies of the judgment to Falana’s representative on Wednesday.

This is coming less than seven days to the expiration of the 30-day allowed by the law for a convict to appeal the judgment.

Babajibo Ibrahim, the spokesman of the Judiciary, said, “The judiciary received a request from Mr Femi Falana’s representative on Tuesday and certified copies of the judgment were made available to him on Wednesday.”

The sentence was passed on August 10.

On August 27, Kano governor Abdullahi Ganduje said he was ready to sign the death warrant, if the convict failed to appeal the judgment at the expiration of the 30-day grace.

Yahaya is still in custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

source: https://dailytrust.com/blasphemy-falana-appeals-kano-sharia-courts-ruling

wickedness

hmmm

Mr Buhari is only working for himself and few APC members!

Poor governance...