The Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police Force, Mohammed Adamu, has condemned the increase in rape cases in the country.
Adamu, who spoke on Thursday during a tripartite meeting held between him and heads of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Dame Julie Okah Donli; and the National Human Rights Commission, Mr Tony Ojukwu; called for a joint operation in halting the menace in the country.
He said that the police would reposition the Gender-Desk offices in all commands to enable them handle the cases. Inspector-General of Police (IG-P), Mohammed Adamu
“The IGP while noting that rape and other sexual offences had become a menace not only in the country but globally, assures that the Force is repositioning Gender-Desk offices in all police commands to effectively investigate cases of gender-based violence and ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.
“He further assures of an enhanced working relationship with NAPTIP and the NHRC to evolve a proactive and comprehensive national response to the issues of sexual offences in the country,” he said.
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A 14-year-old girl has been raped in Kogi State by one Alfa Arome.
The alleged rapist also threatened to kill any family member of the victim, who dare report the matter to the police.
SaharaReporters gathered that the incident took place on Saturday 6th June, 2020 in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State when the victim accompanied her uncle to a wedding ceremony in the area.
After the wedding, it was gathered that Jane (not real name) was looking for one of her sisters, 'Omojo,’ who came from another village to attend the event and it was at that point that Arome, who designed the cake for the wedding, grabbed her hands and said he would take her to meet her sister.
The girl was said to have been hypnotised and subdued by Arome in the process and taken to the house of one of his apprentices in the town where he sexually abused her for two days. Arome Alfa
A source familiar with the incident said, “When Arome got information that we were looking for her, he brought the girl to our house quietly and asked her to enter through the back door.
"This is not his first time he wil rape minors but nobody can talk. Some of those children have kids for him but because of his charms, the villagers cannot fight for their rights."
When Jane was eventually released, according to the source, she was bleeding and upon interrogation, she narrated her encounter and ordeal at the hands of the rapist.
She was later rushed to the hospital for medical examination where sperm was evacuated from her vagina. The pant of the victim with blood stain
Medical report
Meanwhile, the matter has been reported at Dekina Police Station and the police have launched a manhunt for him as he was said to have been on the run.
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A 14-year-old girl has been raped in Kogi State by one Alfa Arome.
The alleged rapist also threatened to kill any family member of the victim, who dare report the matter to the police.
SaharaReporters gathered that the incident took place on Saturday 6th June, 2020 in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State when the victim accompanied her uncle to a wedding ceremony in the area.
After the wedding, it was gathered that Jane (not real name) was looking for one of her sisters, 'Omojo,’ who came from another village to attend the event and it was at that point that Arome, who designed the cake for the wedding, grabbed her hands and said he would take her to meet her sister.
The girl was said to have been hypnotised and subdued by Arome in the process and taken to the house of one of his apprentices in the town where he sexually abused her for two days. Arome Alfa
A source familiar with the incident said, “When Arome got information that we were looking for her, he brought the girl to our house quietly and asked her to enter through the back door.
"This is not his first time he wil rape minors but nobody can talk. Some of those children have kids for him but because of his charms, the villagers cannot fight for their rights."
When Jane was eventually released, according to the source, she was bleeding and upon interrogation, she narrated her encounter and ordeal at the hands of the rapist.
She was later rushed to the hospital for medical examination where sperm was evacuated from her vagina. The pant of the victim with blood stain
Medical report
Meanwhile, the matter has been reported at Dekina Police Station and the police have launched a manhunt for him as he was said to have been on the run.
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In the final part of the series, the Civic Media Lab looks at the most prominent agency under the Ministry of Health in the fight against COVID-19, the National Centre For Disease Control, NCDC, in an independent analysis of its budget, activities and outputs in the last five years.
In December 2018, the President signed the bill giving the NCDC its legal status. This was reflected in the budget he had signed five to six months before.
The centre received an estimated N319.58m for reoccurring spending, it’s overhead stayed same at N3.77m, while its personnel cost soared from N12m to N315.80m. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General, NCDC with President Buhari
It appeared the centre received approval for more money than it needed to spend on buffing its diseases response and aiding its partners like the ECOWAS Centre for Regional Surveillance and Diseases Control, the African Field Epidemiological Network (AFENET) and its epidemiology training programme.
The CML makes this claim because the centre extended N187.50m of its N1.63bn capital envelope on revamping three health centres in Ehime Mbano/Ihite Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency in Imo State and two general hospitals in Abia State.
The centre’s capital fund was divided between 41 projects. 10 of these were copied from 2017 and pasted in 2018, six others were improvements on 2017 projects and another two were simply modifications.
In the previous budgeting cycle, a project described as: “Purchase of lab reagents and PPES for Lassa, Ebola, Zika and other public health emergencies; support funding to NFELTP, AFENET and Convocation of Epidemiology summit,” received an estimate of N42m. The second appendage to that description was removed in the 2018 budget and the modified line item received an approval to draw down on N43m.
In the prior fiscal year as well, the NCDC had budgeted N10.70m for “Building workforce Capacity and Support to Nigerian Field Epidemiology and Field Laboratory Training Programme (NFELTP) and African Epidemiology Network (AFENET).”
The vaguely described “Training Capacity Building and Awareness Campaign,” from 2017 was modified in 2018 to read: “Capacity Building for Effectiveness in Disease Management Control” and given N100m, whose capacity was to be built or where the skills upgrade was to take place was not stated.
Aside from the N120m shared equitably among the labs in the health care centres in Amuzi, Amaniyi and Umualumaku, all in Ehime Mbano/Ihite Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency in Imo State, as well as the N67.50m allocated to two general hospitals in Umunnato and Arochukwu, in Abia State, the NCDC also received an approval of N200m for an unspecified number of Hilux vehicles to help it work ‘effectively’ in Obowo and Abia North and another N100m for the procurement of an unspecified number of ambulances in Zamfara Central, Imo East and Abia North – a reoccurring project from 2017.
The centre’s mandate is to support states response to small outbreaks and lead the response to large ones, not have an operational presence in constituencies and senatorial districts.
This mandate was offered to states for the handling of six diseases according to its situational reports, between June 2018 and May 2019, when the budget for the next fiscal year was signed.
From June 2018 to December 2018, there were 52 deaths caused by Lassa fever from 195 confirmed cases. Like in the first half of the year, all the probable cases – another ten, lost their lives.
From the Meningitis belt, 905 suspect cases were reported with 65 deaths across 15 states, between October 1, 2018, and May 12 2019. The death to case ratio is 7.2 per cent.
The NCDC also responded to a measles outbreak across the country. From January 1, 2019, to May 18 2019, 28,796 cases and 89 deaths were reported to the centre from all states in the country. It was able to collect 6,394 samples, test 5,976 and confirm 1,423 as having the infection.
From January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2019, the centre recorded 1,255 suspected yellow fever cases. The centre successfully collected blood samples from all cases and sent 49 of these to Dakar.
The centre also responded to a cholera outbreak during this period. It said 42,466 cases were reported from 20 states at the end of October 29. Two states in the South East, Anambra and Ebonyi and all the states in the North, except for Benue, were plagued with the disease which killed 803 persons – a fatality rate of 1.95 per cent.
2019 emergency responses
The NCDC was given an improved recurrent spending package of N416.52m from the N319.58m the previous year, its capital funding shrunk from N1.63bn to N1.07bn. The centre prepared a spending plan that included only four new projects in 2019.
From the reduced sum, the NCDC was still able to allocate N70m on purchasing vehicles in Abia and Imo states. The centre also made spending plans for another N40m for the general hospital in Arochukwu, Abia State – the same price it budgeted for the project in 2018.
Asides from these three Hilux/SUV purchase line items, the other new project this year was a N180m plan to respond to disease outbreaks. CML did not spot this line item in previous years but the centre’s scheduling officers described it as new.
The training capacity building project, which had first appeared in 2017 but was modified in 2018, received N25m this year, just a quarter of the allocation it was given for each of the last two years. The scheduling officers at NCDC also defined it as new.
Every year CML searched, NCDC funded its NFELTP scheme, budgeting N167.10m to the programme between 2015 and 2019. This is asides from merging it with the line item on the purchase of PPE’s in 2017, after voting funds for it in a different description. The centre has also given support funding to the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Disease Surveillance and Control since 2016, its total budgetary provision coming up to N78.70m.
The N180m requested for by the centre for disease response went into responding to the ever-present Lassa fever. Another 229 persons were infected between June and December 2019, increasing the rate of infections for the calendar year from 581 to 810 in 23 states. The number of deaths recorded increased from 130 to 167 as well.
The total number of confirmed cases between January 1 and May 9, 2020, is 190 more than all of 2018, with the centre saying 1,000 cases had been affirmed as positive in 27 states. Of these, 192 have been killed by the ailment, 15 more than In the 12 calendar months of 2019.
The NCDC reckons that 4,288 cases of yellow fever were reported from all 36 states of the country between January and December 2019. A further 139 suspect cases were reported as at the last month of its situational report update for the epidemic. In all, 4,427 persons were infected with the ailment and 231 of them failed to survive.
The centre also reported 341 suspect cases of rubella – a mild version of measles that causes pregnant women to give birth to deformed children, across nine predominantly southern states. There were also 113 suspect cases of monkeypox with one death and eight further cases of meningitis from the 905 cases reported as of June 2, 2019. The total deaths from the disease remained 65 from 914 infections.
Undocumented Strange Deaths
Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kano State, North-West Nigeria on April 11, more than 650 persons, including several prominent persons have lost their lives to a fast-acting ailment. In Hadejia local government of Jigawa State, an area close to Kano, media reports say some 120 graves were counted out in a week, a claim its government officials have made painstaking effort to deny.
They have instead worked with figures ranging from 47 to 51, saying it is a normal occurrence for old persons to die during the Muslim month of Ramadan. In Yobe State, North-East Nigeria, government officials said in the first week of May that 475 unexplained deaths were reported.
With over 1,000 unexplained burials across three Northern states triggering rumours and denials among state governments and onlookers, the NCDC has yet to give a definitive view. It has not tied the deaths to any ailment on its integrated disease surveillance response platform, which it budgeted N150.91m for in three appropriation cycles.
On its NCDC linked webpage, NFELTP said it had trained more than 900 front line health workers in 13 states across 260 local governments. It said one of the aims of its scheme is to: “Improve the ability for timely detection and prompt response to disease outbreaks and other public health threats by building epidemiologic capacity at the LGA and state levels.”
Although the NCDC failed to mention the states that have benefited from the programme, it said the benefiting territories are across the six geopolitical zones. Yet, no preliminary mention of causative factors or action has come from the centre. Disease surveillance note officers and epidemiological heads across the 13 states and 260 LGAs were reported to have been involved in the training.
No NCDC built labs in Ehime Mbano/Ihite Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency
Civic Media Lab learnt there were no labs in the three comprehensive health care centres in Amuzi, Amainyi and Umualumaku that the NCDC budgeted N40m each for. A source close to two of the health care centres said the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) budgeted for the construction of the centres and no labs were built. In the NPHCDA’s capital budget of over N23bn, there were six projects related to these three health centres, one for construction and another for the supply of 100 KVA generators. The total cost of the two projects for each centre was estimated at N29m each.
A resident of one of the communities in the Ihite Uboma axis of the constituency, said there are no functional labs in the area. He said in all the local government provinces that make up the House of Representatives seat, the general hospitals do not have functional labs either.
“The only hospital with a lab around here is Mercy Hospital, a missionary owned facility for training nurses,” he said.
Vehicles Versus Disease Control
The NCDC had, between 2017 and 2019, budgeted N470m for ambulances, Hilux and SUV. Except for Zamfara central senatorial district, the locations for these vehicles have been in Imo and Abia States.
CML observed that the centre’s objectives have nothing to do with responding to diseases and having areas of operation in senatorial districts and federal constituencies. Their focus is instead on states and local governments.
In the last five years, Nigeria has reported thousands of suspect cases of meningitis, Lassa fever, cholera, measles, yellow fever and now, COVID-19. Lassa fever and Meningitis have been the chief killers. The centre needs every kobo available to respond to these ailments, not to help National Assembly members buff up their constituency envelopes.
When the COVID-19 ailment broke out in Kano State, the disease surveillance system in the North came under a heavy strain, despite yearly polio and meningitis responses in the regions. The centre and its partners were reported to have vaccinated more than 2.1m persons in response to the meningitis Type C outbreak that tapered off in June 2017, still, disease surveillance in the region appears weak.
The weight of the samples that required testing, forced Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the NCDC, to go on his Twitter handle to announce the nature of testing kits Nigeria was in desperate need of.
The NCDC is the youngest of the agencies whose budget and activities were surveyed by the lab. Yet, it was found to be the lead ship in the ministry of health’s disease surveillance and research fleet, with clear channels for different fields of reporting.
Of the five, it is the only agency with its annual reports updated as of 2018 and available for download on its site. Although its research link was empty, the centre has been busy putting out epidemiological fires. It would have been better then, if the centre-left research to NIMR and NAVRC, than budgeting just N10m for a study of Dengue, Yellow and Lassa fever across the country in 2018.
When CML shared its findings with the NCDC, a source in the agency said it had been escalated to the budget department, no feedback was received ever since.
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In the final part of the series, the Civic Media Lab looks at the most prominent agency under the Ministry of Health in the fight against COVID-19, the National Centre For Disease Control, NCDC, in an independent analysis of its budget, activities and outputs in the last five years.
In December 2018, the President signed the bill giving the NCDC its legal status. This was reflected in the budget he had signed five to six months before.
The centre received an estimated N319.58m for reoccurring spending, it’s overhead stayed same at N3.77m, while its personnel cost soared from N12m to N315.80m. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General, NCDC with President Buhari
It appeared the centre received approval for more money than it needed to spend on buffing its diseases response and aiding its partners like the ECOWAS Centre for Regional Surveillance and Diseases Control, the African Field Epidemiological Network (AFENET) and its epidemiology training programme.
The CML makes this claim because the centre extended N187.50m of its N1.63bn capital envelope on revamping three health centres in Ehime Mbano/Ihite Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency in Imo State and two general hospitals in Abia State.
The centre’s capital fund was divided between 41 projects. 10 of these were copied from 2017 and pasted in 2018, six others were improvements on 2017 projects and another two were simply modifications.
In the previous budgeting cycle, a project described as: “Purchase of lab reagents and PPES for Lassa, Ebola, Zika and other public health emergencies; support funding to NFELTP, AFENET and Convocation of Epidemiology summit,” received an estimate of N42m. The second appendage to that description was removed in the 2018 budget and the modified line item received an approval to draw down on N43m.
In the prior fiscal year as well, the NCDC had budgeted N10.70m for “Building workforce Capacity and Support to Nigerian Field Epidemiology and Field Laboratory Training Programme (NFELTP) and African Epidemiology Network (AFENET).”
The vaguely described “Training Capacity Building and Awareness Campaign,” from 2017 was modified in 2018 to read: “Capacity Building for Effectiveness in Disease Management Control” and given N100m, whose capacity was to be built or where the skills upgrade was to take place was not stated.
Aside from the N120m shared equitably among the labs in the health care centres in Amuzi, Amaniyi and Umualumaku, all in Ehime Mbano/Ihite Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency in Imo State, as well as the N67.50m allocated to two general hospitals in Umunnato and Arochukwu, in Abia State, the NCDC also received an approval of N200m for an unspecified number of Hilux vehicles to help it work ‘effectively’ in Obowo and Abia North and another N100m for the procurement of an unspecified number of ambulances in Zamfara Central, Imo East and Abia North – a reoccurring project from 2017.
The centre’s mandate is to support states response to small outbreaks and lead the response to large ones, not have an operational presence in constituencies and senatorial districts.
This mandate was offered to states for the handling of six diseases according to its situational reports, between June 2018 and May 2019, when the budget for the next fiscal year was signed.
From June 2018 to December 2018, there were 52 deaths caused by Lassa fever from 195 confirmed cases. Like in the first half of the year, all the probable cases – another ten, lost their lives.
From the Meningitis belt, 905 suspect cases were reported with 65 deaths across 15 states, between October 1, 2018, and May 12 2019. The death to case ratio is 7.2 per cent.
The NCDC also responded to a measles outbreak across the country. From January 1, 2019, to May 18 2019, 28,796 cases and 89 deaths were reported to the centre from all states in the country. It was able to collect 6,394 samples, test 5,976 and confirm 1,423 as having the infection.
From January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2019, the centre recorded 1,255 suspected yellow fever cases. The centre successfully collected blood samples from all cases and sent 49 of these to Dakar.
The centre also responded to a cholera outbreak during this period. It said 42,466 cases were reported from 20 states at the end of October 29. Two states in the South East, Anambra and Ebonyi and all the states in the North, except for Benue, were plagued with the disease which killed 803 persons – a fatality rate of 1.95 per cent.
2019 emergency responses
The NCDC was given an improved recurrent spending package of N416.52m from the N319.58m the previous year, its capital funding shrunk from N1.63bn to N1.07bn. The centre prepared a spending plan that included only four new projects in 2019.
From the reduced sum, the NCDC was still able to allocate N70m on purchasing vehicles in Abia and Imo states. The centre also made spending plans for another N40m for the general hospital in Arochukwu, Abia State – the same price it budgeted for the project in 2018.
Asides from these three Hilux/SUV purchase line items, the other new project this year was a N180m plan to respond to disease outbreaks. CML did not spot this line item in previous years but the centre’s scheduling officers described it as new.
The training capacity building project, which had first appeared in 2017 but was modified in 2018, received N25m this year, just a quarter of the allocation it was given for each of the last two years. The scheduling officers at NCDC also defined it as new.
Every year CML searched, NCDC funded its NFELTP scheme, budgeting N167.10m to the programme between 2015 and 2019. This is asides from merging it with the line item on the purchase of PPE’s in 2017, after voting funds for it in a different description. The centre has also given support funding to the ECOWAS Regional Centre for Disease Surveillance and Control since 2016, its total budgetary provision coming up to N78.70m.
The N180m requested for by the centre for disease response went into responding to the ever-present Lassa fever. Another 229 persons were infected between June and December 2019, increasing the rate of infections for the calendar year from 581 to 810 in 23 states. The number of deaths recorded increased from 130 to 167 as well.
The total number of confirmed cases between January 1 and May 9, 2020, is 190 more than all of 2018, with the centre saying 1,000 cases had been affirmed as positive in 27 states. Of these, 192 have been killed by the ailment, 15 more than In the 12 calendar months of 2019.
The NCDC reckons that 4,288 cases of yellow fever were reported from all 36 states of the country between January and December 2019. A further 139 suspect cases were reported as at the last month of its situational report update for the epidemic. In all, 4,427 persons were infected with the ailment and 231 of them failed to survive.
The centre also reported 341 suspect cases of rubella – a mild version of measles that causes pregnant women to give birth to deformed children, across nine predominantly southern states. There were also 113 suspect cases of monkeypox with one death and eight further cases of meningitis from the 905 cases reported as of June 2, 2019. The total deaths from the disease remained 65 from 914 infections.
Undocumented Strange Deaths
Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Kano State, North-West Nigeria on April 11, more than 650 persons, including several prominent persons have lost their lives to a fast-acting ailment. In Hadejia local government of Jigawa State, an area close to Kano, media reports say some 120 graves were counted out in a week, a claim its government officials have made painstaking effort to deny.
They have instead worked with figures ranging from 47 to 51, saying it is a normal occurrence for old persons to die during the Muslim month of Ramadan. In Yobe State, North-East Nigeria, government officials said in the first week of May that 475 unexplained deaths were reported.
With over 1,000 unexplained burials across three Northern states triggering rumours and denials among state governments and onlookers, the NCDC has yet to give a definitive view. It has not tied the deaths to any ailment on its integrated disease surveillance response platform, which it budgeted N150.91m for in three appropriation cycles.
On its NCDC linked webpage, NFELTP said it had trained more than 900 front line health workers in 13 states across 260 local governments. It said one of the aims of its scheme is to: “Improve the ability for timely detection and prompt response to disease outbreaks and other public health threats by building epidemiologic capacity at the LGA and state levels.”
Although the NCDC failed to mention the states that have benefited from the programme, it said the benefiting territories are across the six geopolitical zones. Yet, no preliminary mention of causative factors or action has come from the centre. Disease surveillance note officers and epidemiological heads across the 13 states and 260 LGAs were reported to have been involved in the training.
No NCDC built labs in Ehime Mbano/Ihite Uboma/Obowo Federal Constituency
Civic Media Lab learnt there were no labs in the three comprehensive health care centres in Amuzi, Amainyi and Umualumaku that the NCDC budgeted N40m each for. A source close to two of the health care centres said the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) budgeted for the construction of the centres and no labs were built. In the NPHCDA’s capital budget of over N23bn, there were six projects related to these three health centres, one for construction and another for the supply of 100 KVA generators. The total cost of the two projects for each centre was estimated at N29m each.
A resident of one of the communities in the Ihite Uboma axis of the constituency, said there are no functional labs in the area. He said in all the local government provinces that make up the House of Representatives seat, the general hospitals do not have functional labs either.
“The only hospital with a lab around here is Mercy Hospital, a missionary owned facility for training nurses,” he said.
Vehicles Versus Disease Control
The NCDC had, between 2017 and 2019, budgeted N470m for ambulances, Hilux and SUV. Except for Zamfara central senatorial district, the locations for these vehicles have been in Imo and Abia States.
CML observed that the centre’s objectives have nothing to do with responding to diseases and having areas of operation in senatorial districts and federal constituencies. Their focus is instead on states and local governments.
In the last five years, Nigeria has reported thousands of suspect cases of meningitis, Lassa fever, cholera, measles, yellow fever and now, COVID-19. Lassa fever and Meningitis have been the chief killers. The centre needs every kobo available to respond to these ailments, not to help National Assembly members buff up their constituency envelopes.
When the COVID-19 ailment broke out in Kano State, the disease surveillance system in the North came under a heavy strain, despite yearly polio and meningitis responses in the regions. The centre and its partners were reported to have vaccinated more than 2.1m persons in response to the meningitis Type C outbreak that tapered off in June 2017, still, disease surveillance in the region appears weak.
The weight of the samples that required testing, forced Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the NCDC, to go on his Twitter handle to announce the nature of testing kits Nigeria was in desperate need of.
The NCDC is the youngest of the agencies whose budget and activities were surveyed by the lab. Yet, it was found to be the lead ship in the ministry of health’s disease surveillance and research fleet, with clear channels for different fields of reporting.
Of the five, it is the only agency with its annual reports updated as of 2018 and available for download on its site. Although its research link was empty, the centre has been busy putting out epidemiological fires. It would have been better then, if the centre-left research to NIMR and NAVRC, than budgeting just N10m for a study of Dengue, Yellow and Lassa fever across the country in 2018.
When CML shared its findings with the NCDC, a source in the agency said it had been escalated to the budget department, no feedback was received ever since.
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The African Action Congress has inaugurated an 11-member electoral committee for the October 10, 2020 governorship election in Ondo State.
The party disclosed that Mr Gabriel Adelaja would head the committee while Comrade Agba Jalingo would serve as secretary.
Members of the committee include Uluocha Kingdom Chukuwdu, Samuel Ajeigbe, Kofoworola Beckley and Alex Adeniyi.
Others are Tope Temokun, Sanyaolu Juwon, Ade Adeniyi, Ayantuga Alaba, and Alhaji Abdulkadir.
The committee members are expected to oversee the affairs of the party for transparency ahead of the governorship election.
Speaking after their inauguration, Adelaja said the committee was formed to take over Ondo State from the present government.
He added that the committee members were ready to work as a team in order to ensure AAC had the winning edge in the election.
He said, “This is a national assignment for strategic planning, coordination and execution of processes that will lead to our party’s success at the polls.
“AAC has the vitality to rescue the people of Ondo State from the hands of their visionless and self-serving government.”
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Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has imposed a 24-hour curfew on two communities, Atyap and Chawai chiefdoms, over a deadly violence.
The communities had engaged in a clash over farmlands leading to tension in the area.
The curfew takes effect immediately, according to Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs.
He said, “The Kaduna State Government has announced the imposition of a 24-hour curfew in Atyap Chiefdom of Zangon Kataf Local Government Area and Chawai Chiefdom in Kauru LGA.
“This 24-hour curfew takes effect immediately.
“Security agencies are containing the tension arising from a clash last week over a farmland in Zangon-Kataf that community leaders tried to resolve but which seems to have escalated.”
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Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo State, has commuted the death sentences of 10 condemned prisoners to life imprisonment.
The action was part of events marking this year's Democracy Day slated for June 12 by the Ondo State Government.
A statement by the governor's spokesman, Segun Ajiboye, added that five inmates on life imprisonment were commuted to various terms of jail.
He revealed that 13 other inmates serving various prison terms were pardoned having served substantial portions of their sentences.
Ajiboye said Governor Akeredolu was exercising the power conferred on him by Section 212 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
According to him, the governor advised the beneficiaries of the gesture to always shun acts that can likely return them to prison.
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Nigeria's Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday said about 39.4 million citizens representing about 33.6 per cent of the population may be left without jobs by the end of 2020 as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Osinbajo made the remarks when he presented the Economic Sustainability Committee action plan to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the National Bureau of Statistics also projected.that the country would have a revenue shortfall of N185bn monthly with oil prices at $30 a barrel. Vice-President Yemi OsinbajoDaily Post
The committee was saddled with the responsibility of developing a credible sustainability plan for repositioning the Nigerian economy pre and post-COVID-19 crisis period.
Before laying out the plan, which would be driven by various federal ministries and agencies of government, the Vice President observed that the grim pictures would get bad if government failed to take necessary preemptive measures to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 outbreak.
He said, “In addition, the inevitable mandatory lockdowns and social distancing measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 have had a severe negative impact on farms and factories, as well as on trade, transport and tourism.
“Several projections, including those done by the NBS on behalf of the Economic Sustainability Committee showed a severe downturn in our oil earnings as a result of which, even with oil price at 30 dollars a barrel, we would still have a shortfall of about N185bn every month, in the amount available for allocation to the three tiers of government.
“That inemployment may rise to 33.6% or about 39.4 million people by the end of 2020 if we fail to take prompt preemptive measures; that millions more will fall into extreme poverty before the pandemic ends; that GDP may fall to between minus 4.40% and minus 8.91%, depending on the length of the lockdown period and strength of our economic response.”
However, laying out the plans of government to mitigate the COVID-19-induced economic woes, Osinbajo said his committee had designed ranges of responses to the threat, adding that the thrust would be to localise production and consumption.
He said the plan, which gathered contributions from various sectors and ministries, would focus efforts on agriculture, production and construction of infrastructure across the country, adding that the plan intended to open doors to young Nigerians both from the formal and informal segments of the economy.
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On behalf of our compatriots across the continent of Africa and the Africa Covenant Rescue Initiative (ACRI), we rejoice with Your Excellency's family, democrats, friends of Africa and all well-wishers on the posthumous awards of the highest honour in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR), which is a special award of excellence in honour of Heads of State and the official recognition as the winner of the historic June 12 general elections, a Pan-Nigerian mandate, which have been described as the freest and fair election with overwhelming acceptance across the length and breadth of Nigeria.
That was the foundation of truth and unity that was truncated by the forces of darkness. As a personality of very strong character, conviction, deep Faith, and courage, I trust that you will be able to read this letter from the great beyond 'the spirit realms.' Otherwise, it will be kept in the HOPE 93' archive.
Let me begin with the quotation of George Orwell "political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." It is on this premises and foundation that I will try to enumerate a number of issues that needs to be put on record for posterity and history.
After your untimely demise to the great beyond 'the spirit world' on that black day 7th July 1998 in the presence of some top-rated diplomats, including the American Assistant Secretary of States, Susan Rice, at the Akinola Aguda House, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Your Excellency Sir, you stood firmly on your resolves and defended the Pan-Nigerian people's mandate freely given to you; you paid the supreme prize for the democracy we are all enjoying today. Those who did not lift a finger or believe in the struggle paradoxically became the beneficiary of your struggle, particularly the elements of the political class of the last 20 years, those who ruled for sixteen years and did nothing to redress the injustice or attempt to recognize the popular Pan-Nigeria mandate freely given to you and those who took over and are doing little or nothing to imbibe and address the very reasons for which you presented yourself for public service.
Thankfully, ACRI successfully engaged the 8th National Assembly 'parliament' to legislate in favour of June 12 as our Democracy Day celebration as against the junta's preferred May 29.
June 12 was the harbinger of a series of good tidings that was brutally truncated by the reactionary forces.
Unsurprisingly, the current gladiators and the bureaucrats manipulated the event, shut out ACRI, despite submitting a well thought out work-in-progress documents to very senior government officials with the hope of a greater unity. They made it look like it was their sole initiative; this is to let you know that nothing has changed, despite the sloganeering of change.
Nigeria has officially been designated the poverty capital of the world, heavily polarized along ethnic and religious lines and almost a failed state: Terrorism, kidnapping, and violent crimes; all happened after your demise.
Things have rather gone from bad to worse: an overwhelming majority of our citizens cannot 'breathe', more than 50 million of our citizens have tested positive to "hungervirus" as a result of poor leadership, infrastructure decay, hospitals in total comatose, nepotism and many other undemocratic tendencies.
Your boy 'Yele' has developed a very thick skin and firing. The African unity and reparation issues that you championed will be reactivated in the coming days through a concerted effort by patriotic Africans.
Conclusively Your Excellency, the supreme prize you paid will forever be treasured and celebrated.
Sleep on great African hero, great African soldier and the pillar of sports in Africa. Sleep well M.K.O, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that was not sworn in.
Africa Covenant Rescue Initiative
Richard O. Odusanya
Convener
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A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the remand of Rotimi Jolayemi, also known as Oba Akewi, the journalist, who sang a poem critical of Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture.
The court ordered Jolayemi to be remanded by the Nigeria Police Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department headquarters, Area 10, Abuja, after he was arraigned in court on Thursday in suit number: FHC/ABJ/CB/104/2020.
Joseph Offor led the prosecution while two lawyers, Soji Toki and RO Adakole, appeared for Jolayemi.
Jolayemi had earlier been charged for acting in a manner, which caused ‘annoyance’ and ‘hatred’ to the Minister of Information and Culture in contravention of Section 24(b) of the Cybercrimes Act, 2015.
Many Nigerians have described the charge as laughable.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Offor applied to the court to amend the charge sheet against Jolayemi.
Offor, asking the court to amend the charges, also sought for the permission of the court to add additional list of witnesses.
Jolayemi's counsel the defendant did not oppose the application.
SaharaReporters confirms that after the charge sheet was amended, Jolayemi pleaded not guilty to all six new charges against him.
However, despite Jolayemi's complain about ill-health, which also was confirmed by the police, Offor urged the court to remand Jolayemi in a correctional facility.
The court adjourned the case to June 16, 2020 but ordered the remand of Jolayemi to the Force headquarters, Area 10, Abuja pending when his bail application would be taken to continue his treatment.
Professor James Nwoye Adichie, father of Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda is dead, a report by PM Newssaid.
According to a family source, the 88-year-old man died on Wednesday night in Awka, Anambra State.
Before his death, he was said to have been admitted at the Chira Memorial Hospital in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of the state.
The late Adichie is the first Nigerian professor of Statistics and was a member of International Statistical Institute since 1978 and member, Governing Council of ISI 1985-1987.
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Justice Anwuli Chikere of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday, June 11, 2020, ordered the interim forfeiture of $228,428.16 and N120, 546,042 including a property located at Plot No. 3004 Cadastral Zone E05, Aviation Village, Abuja, recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from retired Air Vice Marshal Salu Atawodi, Atawodi Winnie and Vector Integrated Services Ltd.
The property and monies were traced to AVM Salu Atawodi, Atawodi Winnie and Vector Integrated Services Ltd in an application brought by the EFCC said to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
Justice Chidere gave the order following an ex-parte application filed by the EFCC pursuant to section 44 (2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14, 2006, and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
Prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, in the application asked the court to direct a publication of the interim order in the name of the persons in whose possession the property and funds sought to be forfeited in any national newspaper and cause them to appear before the court to show cause within 14 days why the final order of forfeiture of the property and monies mentioned should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Justice Chidere after granting all the prayers adjourned the case to June 30, 2020, for continuation of hearing.
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As part of programmes to commemorate this year’s June 12, Nigeria’s Democracy Day, President Muhammadu Buhari will address the country on Friday at 7:00am.
A statement signed by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, urged television and radio stations to hook up to the network services of the NTA and FRCN for the live broadcast.
The statement reads, “To commemorate Nigeria’s Democracy Day, President Muhammadu Buhari will broadcast to the Nation on Friday, June 12, 2020 at 7am.
“Television and radio stations as well as other electronic media outlets are enjoined to hook up to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority and Radio Nigeria respectively for the broadcast.”
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Kwara Zonal Office, said it uncovered 1,000 ghost workers allegedly smuggled into the payroll of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, a report by the News Agency of Nigeria said.
The Zonal Head, Isyaku Sharu, disclosed this in Ilorin, the state capital, on Thursday, while speaking with journalists on the commission’s achievements during the lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Sharu said the global health challenge posed by the pandemic should not be seen as an impediment to the fight against corruption.
He said the EFCC made cash recovery of over N138m from the coffers of looters in the state.
“The zone earlier handed over N374m to the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, on two occasions.
“The zone also uncovered an alleged diversion of about N750m from the Light-Up Kwara Project. Funds for the project, worth about N72m, were used in purchasing a property in the Guzape area of Abuja,” he said.
The anti-graft agency boss said they secured the interim forfeiture of eight residential buildings within the state capital and in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
He said the zone secured 52 convictions with final forfeitures of some number of vehicles.
Sharu assured the public that the zone would not relent in its efforts to bring sanity to the society by investigating, arresting, and prosecuting corrupt individuals.
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State governors across Nigeria have declared a state of emergency on sexual and gender-based violence against women and children in the country following the rising spate of rape in the society.
In a communique signed by Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, the group said, “Declare a state of emergency on sexual and gender-based violence. Governors strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and children and committed to ensuring that offenders face the maximum weight of the law.
“Call on state governors that have not already domesticated relevant gender-based protection laws to domesticate the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, the Child Rights Act and the updated Penal Code to increase protection for women and children and ensure speedy investigation and prosecution of perpetrators in addition to creating a sex offenders register in each state to name and shame.”
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Angry youths in Yankara town under Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State on Thursday blocked major roads in the locality to protest the rising spate of insecurity.
The youth chanting “We are no more with APC”, further stated that they were tired of the daily killing of residents of the state by bandits, who roam the landscape freely.
The latest protest comes two days after angry resident in Yantumaki town, Damusa Local Government Area of Katsina burnt down a billboard of the All Progressives Congress with the images of President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Aminu Masari.
The angry residents also barricaded the Katsina/Kankara Highway and set bonfires along the road.
Bandits mostly in midnight raids have slaughtered dozens of residents across the state, displacing hundreds of individuals and households in the process including pregnant women and children, who now beg for food and water to survive on daily basis.
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