THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the murder of Deborah, just as it said the suspects could not be tried “for mere breach of public peace.”

The NBA president, Olumude Akpata, in a statement on Tuesday, said the association is also saddened by the killing of security personnel by gunmen in the South-East, as well as the lynching of a young man (simply identified as David) by commercial motorcyclists around Lekki, Lagos, saying such extra judicial killings is reprehensible, barbaric and unacceptable.


The NBA boss said the developments that have trivialised the sanctity of human lives exposed the weakness in the security architecture, tested the nation’s collective resolve as a people, and significantly threatened the unity of Nigeria as a nation.

Akpata called on security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous acts, wherever or whoever they may be, are made to face the full wrath of the law.


According to the statement, “The government should immediately commence the prosecution of all suspects involved in these brutal and arbitrary killings in order to send a strong signal that such acts will no longer be tolerated in Nigeria.

“The NBA also believes that the prompt and effective prosecution of the alleged killers will instil confidence in the citizens, promote accountability, and signpost the government’s commitment to the rule of law.”


With particular reference to the murder of Miss Deborah Yakubu and related developments in Sokoto, the NBA noted that some arrests had been made by the Nigeria Police and that the suspects are now being prosecuted.

“We are, however, worried by yet-to-be-confirmed reports reaching us that the suspects have been charged with mere breach of public peace in an episode that cut short Deborah’s life in her prime.


“The NBA is strongly opposed to a banalisation of the situation, and if these reports are true, then we call on the Sokoto State government to immediately rethink its prosecution strategy and file charges that truly reflect the gravity of the situation.

“While the expectation of Nigerians and the international community is that the culprits should be brought to justice speedily for the appropriate offences, the demand for the release of the suspects by some protesting youths, coupled with assault on innocent citizens, burning of worship centres and destruction of property has added an entirely new and worrisome dimension to the unfortunate incident.”


In view of the state of insecurity in Sokoto State, the NBA said it had postponed its annual conference earlier slated to hold in the state.

Meanwhile, the Sokoto State police command has declared some of the suspects captured in a viral video during the killing of Deborah Samuel wanted for culpable homicide.


This is contained in a press release signed by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Sanusi Abubakar, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday.

The statement said those declared wanted are the prime suspects in the murder of Deborah, who was accused of blasphemy at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto.


The police spokesperson explained that those arrested at the scene of the incident while dispersing the mob had been charged to court and had been remanded in prison custody.

The statement reads: “The Sokoto State Command, under the leadership of the Commissioner of Police, Kamaldeen Kola Okunlola, has declared the suspects spotted in the viral video wanted.


“The Command is using this medium to reiterate its commitment towards apprehending the suspects.

“The command has already deployed all its intelligence and is on the lookout for the suspects.


“Members of the public are enjoined to cooperate with the police and report any mere identification to the command or any security outfit in their domains.”

In another development, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, has debunked media reports attributed to him that he called on Igbo living in the North to flee the region over the murder of Deborah.


Some section of the media had reported that the monarch had asked Ndigbo to leave the Northern part of the country following the killing of Deborah over alleged blasphemy.

The monarch, in a statement by the Chief of Staff, Ime Obi Onicha, Chinyeleugo Anionwu, debunked the reports, describing them as fake.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, refused to admit the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, to bail.

Justice Binta Nyako, in a ruling, held that since Kanu was earlier granted bail in 2017 and jumped the bail, the court must first determine the real reason he jumped the bail before applying for another one.

Justice Nyako then dismissed the application for bail.

The court had, on April 8, exonerated the Federal Government on the allegation that the leader of the IPOB was forcefully abducted abroad to stand his trial.

Nyako, in a ruling, held that rendition for the purpose of criminal investigation is allowed.

Nyako said since Kanu was on a bench warrant, the law allowed that anywhere he is sighted, he can be arrested and be brought to face his trial.

“Rendition for the purpose of criminal investigation is allowed.

“In the instant case, there is a bench warrant on the defendant (Kanu). Suffice to say, he is a fugitive before the court,” she said.

The judge, who dismissed Kanu’s move to challenge the terrorism charge, upheld seven counts in the fresh charge filed by the federal government against the IPOB leader.

Nyako said that the federal government, through the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, had been able to established some allegations against Kanu in counts one, two, three, four, five, eight and 15.

“Counts one, two, three, four, five, eight and 15 show some allegations. The court shall proceed to try the defendant (Kanu) on those counts, ” she ruled.

After the review of the 15 counts, she held that about eight of the counts appeared to be similar and did not disclose action.

She, therefore, ordered that counts six, seven, nine, 10, 11, 12 13 and 14 should be struck out.

Nyako also ruled that the order proscribing IPOB as a terror group still subsisted until it was vacated since the issue was still on appeal.

She dismissed the argument of Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, counsel for Kanu, that whether IPOB was a terrorist organisation under the Nigerian law or not was still a subject of an appeal.

As of the time of filing this report, the hearing in the matter is still ongoing.
(NAN)

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Garba Emmanuel, the father of late Deborah Samuel, who was gruesomely killed and burnt in Sokoto last Thursday, has narrated how his daughter was killed.

A distraught Emmanuel in an interview with elifeonline.net described his 22-year-old daughter as a humble girl who wanted a bright future, believed so much in the Lord and did not play with Church activities.

He said: “In her school, she was a member of the Christian Student Association and was well known in the Church because she didn’t miss Church activities. She was not a troublemaker.”

Garba, who witnessed the killing of his daughter, said the mob action took place despite the presence of over 100 security agents comprising Police, NSDSC and DSS operatives.

He said: ”Ok that Thursday morning around 9.00 am, she called me on her phone to say that some people wanted to kill her. I quickly left where I was and went to her school. On getting there, I saw a huge crowd of these boys and girls. The school authorities had taken her and locked her and another girl at the security gate by the school entrance.

“I then decided to report the matter to the police that there was a problem at the school. The police responded that I had no right to report what was happening in the school; the school was supposed to call them.

“I told them that I am a citizen of Nigeria and I have the right to report any wrongdoing happening anywhere if it affects me or anybody. So, they gave me two police officers in plain clothes.
“On arrival at the school, they saw that the situation was beyond what they could handle.

“They called the DPO, the Area Command, Police headquarters and the DSS office. The DSS arrived first on the scene and began shooting in the air to disperse the mob, some of whom ran away.

“They attempted to rescue her but the door of the security post was locked with a padlock and the person holding the key was not there. Later, more police officers arrived and began to shoot teargas all over the place.

“As this continued, more mobs from the adjourning communities began to arrive, all the passersby by the road because the school is on the express road, began to troop in, and the crowd was much.

“At about 11 am, more police officers, Civil Defence and DSS were around and were teargassing the whole place. Rather than break the door and rescue her, they were waiting for the person with the key. Soon, the person came and in bringing her out, the mob took hold of her.

“As they were struggling with the security men, one of the mob hit her on the head with a huge iron rod and she fell to the ground.

“That was how they began to stone her, hit her with rods and sticks and she died. She was killed in the presence of all the security agents.

“After they killed her, the mob was jubilant that they killed her. The students and people from the villages were all shouting Allah Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

“They were all happy and jubilating. Different people began to say, ‘I am the one that killed her’, ‘I am the one that killed her’.

“After some twenty to thirty minutes, a lady in hijab, one of her schoolmates, began to shout, a kone ta, a kone ta, akone ta, meaning ‘set her body ablaze, set her body ablaze.’

“That was when they gathered tires, and one of the boys brought his machine from where they siphoned the fuel, which they poured on the tires and set her body ablaze.

“After about two hours, the school authority and the police officers took her body to the mortuary.”

He added: “More than 100 policemen were there. They were more than one hundred. The DSS people there were not many. The DSS people tried to rescue her but left it to the police when they came in about five to seven vehicles, including the civil defence. But see what eventually happened.”
When asked if the police officers deliberately did what they did, he said: “Well, what can I say? If they, did it deliberately, I leave them to the hands of God because I believe that if the police and the other security agencies wanted to rescue her, immediately they shot in the air and the mob dispersed, they could have taken her into one of their many vehicles and zoomed off.

“They could have broken the padlock and repaired it later. But… they did what they did. I leave everything to God.

“We are based in Magajia in Niger state in Rijaw Local government. I was in Sokoto when she called me to say they wanted to kill her and I immediately moved to the school.

“They were on holiday during the Salah break and the school resumed on Saturday and started exams on Monday. They were still in the exam mood on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and on Thursday, they killed her.”

When asked if he was going to relocate as speculated in the media, revealed that amid the uproar and riot in the state over the arrest of his daughters’ killers, he still feels safe staying in Sokoto and will not move out of the state.

“I will move to nowhere. I am ok here. I am already established here, and these people can’t scare me away from this place.

“I will move to nowhere. I am ok here. I am already established here, and these people can’t scare me away from this place.

On how his wife heard about Deborah’s death, he said: “Some of Deborah’s mates broke the news to her. When I got back home, I heard that when she was told, she fainted and was rushed to the hospital in Magajiya. She slept there because she had high blood pressure.

“There is no problem. We have peace. Even the Muslims now know that what they had done was wrong and not Islamic. We have said this so many times.

“Some Arab preachers also said no place in the Koran that says they should kill anybody. Even Gumi, one of their Sheiks, said when Mohammed was alive, he was insulted face to face and he never asked anybody to deal with no one.

“Is it now after his death that anyone would say they should kill? He said it was some Mallams, some Ulama, who took that decision so they could control their masses. It is not in Islamic laws.

“Their law says if anyone is caught in blasphemy, they should be taken to the Sharia courts, and it is the court that will determine if blasphemy was indeed committed.

“The Muslims have condemned it. The Sultan and many Muslims were not happy about this.”

While speaking on how his other children reacted to the incident said: “They all know there is nothing we can do now. She is not my only child and not the eldest.

“They know that all we can do now is to thank God and praise him because there is nothing we can do to bring her back.”

Emmanuel denied saying his children will not go to school again, stating he only questioned the safety of his children in school.

“That is a lie. I never said so. You can’t stop your children from going to school because of this.

“I guess they misquoted the calls of our people not to send their children to that school again because if you send your child to school and what you get is her dead body, it is a break of trust.

“If they cannot keep your children safe, why send them to that school?”

He stated that his family has no plans of taking the school authority to court but the government can do so if need be.

“I am not going to court because if I do, it won’t bring her back. For three to four years, you are still in court. For what? I am not going to court.

“But if the government wants, they are free. She is an indigene of Nigeria. Government can decide to go to court to prosecute the offender as a deterrent for a reoccurrence.”

“Government should handle it and punish the culprits so it would not happen again.

“We believe in God and thank Him that He has called her back home this way. How many people die, and the news goes as far as this? So, she is a child of a poor man, but her name has gone around worldwide. Glory be to God.”

Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s former aide, Reno Omokri, has asked the Academic Staff Union of Universities not to suspend their ongoing strike if its members’ demands are not met.

He said this in a tweet on Tuesday after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission announced the arrest of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris, for alleged involvement in fraud and money laundering worth N80 billion.

The PUNCH had reported that Nigeria’s accountant-general was arrested on Monday “after failing to honour invitations” by EFCC to respond to the allegations.

He encouraged the lecturers should insist that the Federal Government pays them with the N80 billion allegedly stolen by the arrested head of Nigeria’s treasury.

Omokri wrote, ” Dear ASUU, If the Accountant General of the Federation can steal ₦80 billion, then you have no reason to end your strike.

“Ask Buhari to use the stolen ₦80 billion to pay you and then keep the change. After all, the money you are asking for is not even up to ₦80 billion!

“Just look at how morally bankrupt Nigeria is. The same Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, married a 16-year-old girl and he was not sacked or arrested by Buhari.”

EFCC had said Idris “raked off the funds through bogus consultancies and other illegal activities using proxies, family members and close associates.”

The proceeds were invested by Idris in real estate in the capital Abuja and in his home state of Kano in northern Nigeria, it said in a statement issued late Monday.

Idris has not commented on the accusations.

On February 15, ASUU began a four-week rollover strike following the Federal Government’s failure to meet its demands.

The National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the decision was taken after the union’s National Executive Committee meeting.

Osodeke said since the last meeting the union had with the federal government in December 2021, it had not received any formal invitation from the government.

ASUU extended the action by another two months to afford the government more time to address all of its demands.

The union also accused the government of displaying an indifferent attitude toward its demands.

Osodeke, in a statement to announce the extension of the rollover strike, noted that the national executive council of the union “was disappointed that Government did not treat the matters involved with utmost urgency they deserved during the four-week period as expected of a reasonable, responsive, and well-meaning administration”.

He said the NEC concluded that the government had failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2020 Memorandum of Action within the four-week roll-over strike period and resolved that the strike be rolled over for another eight weeks.

Osodeke said the strike continues over the government’s failure to “satisfactorily” implement the Memorandum of Action it signed with the Union in December 2020 on funding for revitalisation of public universities (both Federal and States), renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU Agreement and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.

Other demands of the union as listed by ASUU include Earned Academic Allowances, State Universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries, and non-remittance of third-party deductions.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, on Tuesday, advised parents on proper conduct of their wards and to avoid actions that could be seized upon by mischief makers to create tension.

El-Rufai’s comments followed the murder of Deborah Samuel, a 200 level student of College of Education, who was accused of insulting Prophet Mohammed in Sokoto State.

Following the ugly incident, security operatives arrested and detained two suspects in connection with the dastardly act.

However, the following day, youths in the city embarked on a violent protest, demanding the release of the suspects.

For fear of escalating into the state, Governor El-Rufai banned any form of religious protest in the state.

On Sunday, May 15, 2022, the Kaduna Commissioner of Police on an observation tour, went round the city to ensure the order was strictly adhered to.

Following the compliance across the state, Governor El-Rufai on Tuesday, in a statement by his Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, conveyed his appreciation to religious, traditional and community leaders, as well as security agencies in Kaduna State for their sincere and spirited pursuit of peace interventions.

According to him, the governor expressed his commendation after a review of the security situation in light of recent tensions over developments in another Northern Nigerian State.

He said the government appeals to the citizenry, in the interest of security and peace, to uphold respect for the religious and cultural affiliations of all, and eschew denigration in all its forms.

“Furthermore, the government reiterates that recourse to the law remains the only acceptable means of redress, and never self help.

“The Government of Kaduna State and security agencies will continue to monitor the situation closely, and work towards curbing the activities of recalcitrant forces attempting to cause a breakdown of law and order in the state,” he said

He said security agencies will not hesitate to take action on anyone, regardless of status, playing a role in attempts to cause unrest in the state.

Kyase:

You don enter tight corner already

Kyase:
Twitter again

Make we no over hype this guy abeg, he's known only on twitter, I asked 8 people if they know who peter OBi is, 4 said NO, 1 ( though, they later acknowledged who he is, when i told them, he was running mate to Atiku in 2019) asked me, "who's peter obi"? ,the remaining 3 know him well.....
Obi need to work on his street cred, I can win him a ward, and it can snowball to an entire local government, but I can only guarantee him a ward..... Beebeeoóh tell you Oga to call me
Anyways make e win Primary first

Kyase:


How many youths ready...
To even buy 100million form

TinubuGoQuench:
A nairalander visits Kolawole Ajaniki Street in Ogbomosho where the buildings are covered with brown roofs

Kyase:


I no understand you ooo

Kyase:


You na boss na nothing do you sir

Kyase:
Make I talk my own...... And I go talk am based on experience..


The ordinary(the ones wey no get money) Yorubas are not tribalistic but you see the ones that have small change or are in position, they will never help someone from another tribe, never....

The ordinary Igbos are the tribalistic, but from the middle class upwards, they are not ( I don get 4 different jobs from Igbos, than Hausas wey I spend all my life with)

Then the Hausas those ones are not tribalistic, rather they favour someone from same religion with them more, or if you are absolutely trust worthy and loyal....

The least tribal yoruba in this forum I know are dfrost and helinues, and the most tribal yourba I know is sammy07

Proûdlyngwa, férgie001, beebeeóoh, nothing concern those ones with tribe, unless beebeeóoh wey na defender of Igbos
........
.

Nigerian airlines are beginning to hike the price of air fares to reflect the impact of the high cost of aviation fuel on their activities.

Price of tickets as of Monday, May 9, 2022 rose to between N68,000 and N75,000 depending on the airline.

Ibom Air fixed its price for a 1 hour 15 minutes flight from Lagos to Abuja at N75,000, while its 4pm flight was pegged at N63,000.

Air Peace price and Dana are selling between N55,000 to N58,500 for economy tickets.

The price change is coming after airlines under the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) called off their planned warning strike.

Airline operators said they were buying fuel at N190 per litre in January but by March, it rose to N440 before hitting N700 in May.

AON had on Friday said based on the unit cost per seat, a ticket for an hour trip was supposed to cost N150,000.

Air Peace founder and Chief Executive Officer, Allen Onyema told Arise Tv that the “unit cost is not sustainable.”

“As an operator, you look at unit cost per seat and decide which of your inventory to implement. It rose within weeks to N500 and N600. We met with the National Assembly.

“Just about a week ago, (it rose to) N700. We are on the march towards hitting N1,000 if nothing is done. Then what do we do?

“The economics of the game is longer there. The unit cost per seat of an aircraft now is about N120,000. The option open to these airlines is to put the burden on the flying public and for us to do that, the least seat will be N150,000.

Onyema questioned the number of Nigerians that can afford the price hike of N150,000, adding that it would have a ripple effect on the current inflationary pressure.

“How about the inflationary trends? It will spiral out of control. When people start flying at N150,000 as base fare, they are going to apply to other commodities. There will be inflation,” he said.

The former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, says the problem Nigeria battles with is the failure of leaders to educate the youths.

He stated that neglect of the young ones had grave consequences on the future and the existence of the country, stressing that he had what was required to unify Nigeria.

Obi made this disclosure on Sunday in an interview with journalists shortly after consultation with Gombe delegates at the Peoples Democratic Party secretariat.

The presidential aspirant was Vice Presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar of the PDP during the 2019 elections where they came second.

According to him, youths should be empowered with the requisite education or skill set to enable them to focus on the development of the country.

He said, “Education is very important to me and I have said it before that my number one project is education, two is education, and three is education. Education is the most important investment any nation can do for its people.

“For me, the problem we are having today is the people we didn’t educate yesterday, we need to educate them and ensure they have a means of livelihood.”

Commenting further on his programme, the presidential aspirant said he would focus on Human Development Index, to alleviate the sufferings of citizens.

“We have to focus on HEI- Human Development Index; Life expectancy which is health, education and per capita income which is pulling people out of poverty,” Obi added.

On his part, the PDP Gombe state chairman, Maj-Gen. Abnor Kwaskebe (retd.), assured obi of the delegates’ support, adding that he had a long-standing relationship with him and that he has proven himself as a man of integrity.