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Rights activist and Amnesty International designated Prisoner of Conscience, Omoyele Sowore, and other activists in Abuja who were carrying out a peaceful procession to mark the New Year have been arrested by Nigerian security forces.
Eyewitnesses say policemen suspected to be with the Rapid Response Squad stormed Gudu junction in Abuja, wounding Sowore before carting him away with other activists at the location.
Rights activist and Amnesty International designated Prisoner of Conscience, Omoyele Sowore, and other activists in Abuja who were carrying out a peaceful procession to mark the New Year have been arrested by Nigerian security forces.
Eyewitnesses say policemen suspected to be with the Rapid Response Squad stormed Gudu junction in Abuja, wounding Sowore before carting him away with other activists at the location.
The Kaduna State Police Command has paraded some youths who were allegedly behind the aborted maiden edition of a sex party in the state.
The youths had advertised the event on social media platforms, revealing that the sex party was scheduled to hold on December 27, 2020 at an undisclosed location in the state capital.
The invitation detailed that participants, male and female, were expected to be naked as no clothes would be allowed at the venue
Also, the party which was slated to start at 8 pm, would last till daybreak to allow participants interested in having sex during the party to do so.
The invite stated that interested participants would have to pay N2,000 (for the popular side) and 3,000 naira or 5,000 naira (for VIP).
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, one of the promoters of the event, said, “Kaduna Sex Party started as a joke between me and my friends; it was not meant to go public. It was not meant to cause any nuisance among the public in Kaduna State. It was just someone that felt that she was too brilliant that posted it on Twitter.
"I never posted the party invite on Twitter. Yes, I initiated it, yes, it started as a joke, but I keep saying it, it was not meant to disturb the peace and security of Kaduna. The whole thing was a joke. A friend made the flier that was posted on Twitter and put my number on it and we all laughed over it, but somebody sent it to someone and then to another person, until it got to Twitter.”
Earlier in the day, the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA) demolished Asher Hotel in Barnawa area of the state over the event. See Also 
The agency, which is in charge of the planning and development of all urban areas in Kaduna, announced this in a tweet.
It alleged that the hotel was the proposed venue for the sex party, though a flyer attached to the tweet had no detail of the proposed location for the party.
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By my educated guess, it will take four decades to put Nigeria together after the exit of President Muhammadu Buhari. Nigeria is like humpty-dumpty – broken, amputated and cannibalised. The Buhari administration has wrought irreparable damage on the country across sectors. The mess is deep and stinks. The next president of Nigeria in 2023 will have to be a night soil man; in our parlance – a shit parker; agbepo; onye obulunsi.
All government institutions have caved in under the fatal incompetence of the Buhari administration. In fact, every sector with a semblance of life before the erosive coming of the ‘’recession team’’ has been wizened by the tainted touch – a reverse Midas touch -- of the current administration. To be clear, it appears there is nothing left to salvage.
As a matter of fact, the debilitation of institutions by the Buhari administration was deliberate. The government wanted to rule unchecked and unfettered. It is the reason it menaced the judiciary by dispatching DSS operatives to break down doors of judges like armed robbers in the dead of night, hounding and arresting judges in 2016. The government even took its paranoia beyond the stratosphere, removing the chief justice of Nigeria who is from the south and installing another from the north. By dint of that, it effectively wolfed the judiciary.
The government also succeeded in appropriating the national assembly. The national assembly essentially became the minion of the executive – cowering, genuflecting and catching cold anytime the first arm of government sneezes. It is the reason I disagree that the legislature is the symbol of democracy as popularly believed. The symbol of democracy is the critical and vocal masses – the free people. The legislature can wed the executive as we have seen in the case of Ahmad Lawan/Femi Gbajabiamila’s national assembly and the Buhari administration.
Perhaps, the most affected victim of the Buhari administration’s Sadim Touch is the security institution. Lack of cohesion and disharmony is diseasing the military and paramilitary organisations. Owing to the president’s refusal to give the spent service chiefs, who have overstayed beyond retirement, the boot, the promotion of some officers has been stunted. There is rancour and bitterness in the military; this explains why the war against insurgency and banditry is not making any progress. The government infected the military, which was known to be apolitical and professional, with politics and nepotism.
In fact, the Buhari administration has infected every institution of government with nepotism. Again, it will take decades to inoculate these agencies against the virus. Really, it is not that there was no nepotism in the national life before Buhari’s government, but the current administration made it a state policy.
Insecurity is now a quotidian experience, and abnormal normality. It is nearly six years in the life of this administration but there is nothing to celebrate. Nigerians cannot travel on the roads for fear of bandits; they are not even safe in their own homes. Insecurity has devoured the country. No one is spared. Citizens cannot afford basic necessities and the economy is in tatters. But what is worse, there is no hope of respite from these plagues.
In the past, I have made arguments for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023. My position was influenced by patriotism. I reasoned that having a president of Igbo extraction in 2023 will help to foster oneness and unity.
I had said: ‘’I believe healing will begin for Nigerians when political justice is seen to have been done to all. At that point we can build a country defiant to disunity. But political justice must be done to all first to get to this stage.
‘’In the name of all that binds us as a country, we must begin now to work for a “red cap with an isi-agu” in Aso villa in 2023. Nigeria is for all of us, and we must work towards a society where justice breathes in the busy streets of Aba; where it hovers across the brown roofs of Ibadan, and where it strolls on the fine sands of Sokoto.’’
As noble as this stance is, I believe Ndi Igbo need to really consider the perilous corollaries of their quest for presidency in 2023. If the intention is just to have an Igbo president so as to fulfil a psychological longing, I think we need to probe our objectives. As it is, I doubt if any president that comes after Buhari in 2023 will do much. He/she will spend four or eight years cleaning up after Buhari. It is the reason I see the 2023 presidency as an entrapment.
Conversely, we could forge alliances with progressive groups with the primary aim of achieving restructuring or devolution of power to states ahead of 2023. That is, we support any candidate from any section of the country who has indemnifiable commitment to restructuring. We extract that commitment. The reason for my argument is a president of Igbo extraction pushing for restructuring will be resisted by the north. In fact, it is a campaign fail if any candidate from the south-east preaches restructuring. The nagging fear and suspicion that the Igbo will secede from the country if they get to power is intense.
So, what do we hope to benefit from Igbo presidency if we cannot have restructuring?
Let’s forget 2023 presidency, it’s a trap.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist.
Twitter@FredrickNwabufo
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The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has said he did not order the closure of churches in the state.
Odumosu had in an earlier statement, on Thursday, instructed policemen to enforce all protocols by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, including the restriction of movement between 12am and 4am.
In another statement issued by the force, the CP, however, said he did not order the closure of churches, but nightclubs, bars, lounges, and event centres, countering a publication (not by SaharaReporters) that he had ordered closure of churches.
The statement partly read, “The command’s statement was explicit on the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols as clearly stated by the Presidential Task Force and the Lagos State Government respectively.
“For clarification, the preventive COVID-19 protocols include the use of face masks at public places, maintaining social distancing, closure of night clubs, bars, lounges, event centres; no social party, street carnivals and due enforcement of the Federal Government imposed 12 midnight to 4am curfew. See Also 
Sahara Reporters Enforce 12am To 4am Curfew, Lagos CP Orders Policemen 0 Comments 8 Hours Ago
“No closure of churches was included in the already established and released COVID-19 protocols, contrary to mischievous publications."
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The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested an Army Corporal, Charles Thomson, for allegedly killing his mother, Modupe Thompson.
The incident happened on Tuesday, December 29, 2020 at their residence in Sabon G.R.A, Kaduna.
File Photo
Speaking while being paraded at the police headquarters on Thursday, the 30-year-old soldier, who confessed to the alleged culpable homicide of his mother, said he stabbed her to death because she was a witch.
Thomson added that his mother used to turn to a serpent at night.
He said, “I was arrested for culpable homicide, because my mother died in my hands while I was fighting with her. We were fighting as a result of a spiritual dispute; I saw her turning to a serpent severally at night, so, it angered me.
“She was even appearing and disappearing. And when I went into her room, I saw her with a 10-year-old boy running around her. That was what led to the fight.”
Asked about his father, the young Thompson said, his father abandoned him and his only brother with their mother about 20 years ago.
He said, “I am presently on sick leave, because I’m incapacitated. I was injured, I fell during an attack in Maiduguri, Borno. I was not dismissed; I am still serving.
“We had always had problems, there was no love. She didn’t have love for her children. So, I want to advise parents to always give assistance to their children and speak well about them in public.”
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The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission has said it is awaiting the outcome of an investigation into the killing of a 27-year-old Nigerian, Mr George Nkencho, in Dublin, Ireland, by the police, while expressing dissatisfaction with the incident.
The NIDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, described the killing as “callous” in a statement on Thursday.
A statement by NIDCOM Head of Media, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said Dabiri-Erewa also described the death of the young Nigerian by a police officer as “wicked”.
She appealed to “the obviously enraged Nigerian community in Ireland to exercise patience and await the outcome of an investigation into the unfortunate incident".
“Already, the African Advocacy Network Ireland has expressed shock following the killing of George Nkencho on Wednesday, December 30.
“Circumstances surrounding the killing of a mentally challenged young man have enraged the African community and (we have) demanded a full independent public inquiry,” the statement added. See Also 
Protests had erupted on Thursday in Dublin, the Irish capital, with hundreds of people calling for justice over the police killing of Nkencho, in the Manorfields Drive area, near the Dublin/Meath border.
The protesters, mostly blacks and believed to be Africans, were seen screaming, “Justice for George” as the policemen tried in vain to pacify the crowds.
Mr Nkencho was allegedly involved in two separate incidents in the Hartstown Shopping Centre at around 12.15pm.
The police stated that in both instances, he had threatened members of the public with a knife.
The police also said in one incident, a staff member in the EuroSpar received facial injuries. That man is receiving treatment in hospital for his injuries. Moments later, Mr Nkencho was involved in a public order incident in the local post office. See Also 
The police further claimed that he continued to threaten members of the public and unarmed Gardaà (a member of the Irish police force) with the knife, a garda (Irish police) statement said this evening.
Gardai followed Mr Nkencho on foot and in vehicles from the Hartstown Shopping Centre towards Manorfields Drive, Dublin 15. During this period Gardaà were engaging him and encouraging him to drop the weapon.
Multiple videos taken by members of the public in the moments leading up to his death show the 27-year-old, who was said to have had mental health issues, walking across a green area and being followed by marked and unmarked garda cars.
Mr Nkencho was shot several times by a garda gun at Manorfield Drive in Clonee during the stand-off.
Gardaà have been made aware of several videos taken of the shooting itself and its aftermath. Garda SÃochána Ombudsman Commission is investigating the incident also.
GSOC is an independent statutory body in Ireland charged with overseeing the national police force.
Amidst the uproar, the family of a 27-year-old Nigerian had appealed to people to not share footage of the incident online.
In a statement, Mr Nkencho’s sister Gloria said her brother was “suffering from serious mental illness and those who knew him know the type of person he was; he was not a thug nor a criminal”.
“Thank you all for your condolences and prayers. My siblings and I have witnessed the most traumatic experience of our lives as our brother was shot in front of us.
“My family greatly appreciate everything everyone is doing. I kindly ask to refrain from sharing the video of the shooting. It is not something I wish to be reminded of,” she said.
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