IYANDA'SBLOG

04/24/21

SOC Okenwa

Sheikh Isa Ali Pantami holds a strategic position in the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. He is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. He is young at 48 and brilliant given his impressive academic pedigree. Though he is not a member of the Aso Rock cabal he occupies an ultra-sensitive ministerial position that directly affects daily lives of Nigerians for good or bad. Executively he is in charge of the National Identification Number (NIN) scheme, the mobile telephone network and every IT logistics in Nigeria. He is not doing badly professionally but that is now a lesser concern for Nigerians considering the scandal he is embroiled in lately.

SOC Okenwa

Before his appointment in 2019 as Minister Pantami was the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency. His competence is never in doubt even though we have quota-system Ministers and agents of state in sensitive positions of the federal governance. Nepotism and mediocrity are real problems in this Buharian confused presidential era.

Minister Pantami was alleged to have been on a United States government terror watchlist. Though he denied it it emerged that he had, as a young radical student in northern Nigeria, espoused some repulsive Salafist ideology, eulogizing the late terrorist-in-chief, Osama Bin Laden and declaring his happiness whenever 'infidels' (Christians) were murdered! He had openly canvassed support for both Al-Qaeda and Taliban exploits praying Allah to give them victory over their enemies!

Since the despicable views of his, held in the distant past, surfaced online and offline Pantami has been boxed on the defensive. He had recanted sounding like a man beaten. He said he regretted his views blaming it on youthful exuberance and ignorance. He made it clear that some of his staff are Christians from the southern part of the country. He declared that he is now mature and no longer holds the same extremist opinion.

The Presidency through the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had characteristically risen in defense of Pantami arguing that he had changed his ways and corrosive views and that he made them when he knew not the import of jihadist theories he propounded. Juvenile delinquency? No one was surprised by the federal government's position on the matter. The Buhari presidency is itself an apologist of Fulani terrorists and terrorism.

President Buhari can never ask Pantami to resign or sack him. The reason is simple: Pantami is an untouchable Fulani blue-blood. He had expressed the views that Buhari himself believed in (and still believes in)! The President 'loves' his creed and his Fulani brothers and sisters to the extent that he could pardon their every aggression or transgression; he could feel their 'pain' or their gain. He has never pretended to love an Ijawman, an Igboman or a Yorubaman. Or Christians in general.

Mullah Pantami may qualify to be labelled as a repentant 'terrorist' or better still, a bigot whose present job had made a 'better' person forcing him to toe a more responsible line in his Islamic rhetorics. Given the controversial revelation concerning his apology of terrorism or advocacy for the slaying of the unbelievers in the past he may have seen the 'light' as he grew older.

The Minister had argued, and the presidency concurred, that corporate traducers and political enemies were behind his current travails. Yet what he never told us was how and who these traducers and enemies were. If he is doing his job correctly in the overall interest of Nigerians then he has our full support. But his past misguided lifestyle fraught with messages of hate and terror cannot be defended.

If Minister Pantami were to be a christian or a southerner he would have since been relieved of his ministerial duty. But he belongs to the right camp and his sermons, whether they were preached in the desert or decades ago, had no special significance attached to them. Again, his principal, deep down in his conscience, sees nothing wrong in such sermons that beatify Allah and cast the opposite faiths as inferior and worth eliminating.

Leah Sharibu is still in captivity because she confessed her Christian faith refusing to convert to Islam as demanded by her captors. While the Boko Haram terrorists that abducted hundreds of students of the Chibok school had released almost all of them miss Sharibu is reported to have become a mother of two against her wish and will. She is now a sex slave! Yet President Buhari had promised to release her years ago! Her crime was her initial refusal to dance to the Islamic tune.

We could accept that Pantami made the exposed inflammatory remarks seized by youthful radicalism or exuberance bothering more on fundamentalism but the serious issue under focus here is how 'repented' he is now. If President Buhari has found it very difficult if not impossible to change from his dictatorial ways after abusing the democratic system post-Shagari while trying to confuse us to the contrary then Pantami could feign repentance or play possum in order to survive the storm.

For us, therefore, Minister Isa Pantami is more of a 'terrorist' than he can ever admit. If the late terrorist-in-chief, Osama Bin-Laden, could be described by Pantami as a "better Muslim than myself" then the young Minister must have terrorism affiliations and affinity still harbouring his inner being. The sooner he leaves government concentrating more on espousing Islamic theories or coming out openly to identify with Abubakar Shekau or other terrorists at large the better his reputation.

Between 'baby-terrorist' Pantami and the rest of us, 'infidels', it is only one Supreme Being (God or Allah) that would be the ultimate judge at the fullest of time. The innocent blood of the 'infidels' shed over the years over which Pantami had confessed his attachment or merriment must come into play whenever Armaggedon hits humanity like a thunderbolt.

Now that Minister Pantami has grown up taking up government appointment after having condemned those doing so many years ago and renouncing his extremist terrorism-loving views it is left to be seen how Nigerians would be able to reconcile the past with the present. Now that he has grown to adulthood his radical anti-christian pro-terrorism positions, we have been told, should be blamed on misguided youthfulness.

Now that the teenaged budding Islamic fundamentalist had grown to full maturity becoming responsible for our national identity and data records as a Minister we must hope and pray that his mea culpa is not one stage-managed to hoodwink us all.

Now that the hitherto youthful 'terrorist' Pantami has issued publicly his remorse or contrition recognizing and acknowledging that what he said or believed in decades ago was reprehensible enough let us believe, in the spirit of 'to-err-is-human-and-forgiveness-divine', that the Pantami of the distant past and the Pantami of the present represents two worlds apart.

His former life and the present one may present certain differences in manner and approach to the issues of the day as regards both terrorism and the two dominant faiths in Nigeria yet the truth Pantami and his executive defenders are afraid of remains that history has a way of reminding us all about our deeds and misdeeds no matter the intervening years or decades.

For Pantami, therefore, the verdict of history has reached its conclusions. No amount of denial or blame could put its damning judgment away. His case is a valid lesson for those who think that what is said in words or writings could fade away with the passage of time.

SOC Okenwa

soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

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The Endless Martyrdom Of Youth, By Wole Soyinka

Abukakar Atiku has summed up the nation’s feeling – this most recent savagery against our youth is heartbreaking. More than the heart is broken however, more than millions of individual hearts that still lay claim to bonds in a common humanity. The already over-stretched sinews of moral restraint have been snapped off the casing of nation being, and nothing is left but the collective wails of impotence. Not for the first time, what many hoped was a Natural Law of Limitations has been contemptuously, defiantly breached. We need to remind ourselves of hideous precedents. We must remember Chibok. And Dapchi. And numerous antecedents and after, unpublicized, or soon relegated to the sump of collective amnesia. The wages of impunity never diminish, on the contrary, they distend.

One’s greatest fear, with this latest feat of cowardly savagery is that the nation must brace itself for a Beslan scenario, yet strive to avoid Nigeria become Africa’s Cherchnya. Those who have been proven weak and incapable must learn to swallow their vain pride and seek help. Again, this is no new counseling, but of course the dog that will get lost no longer heeds the hunter’s whistle. I envy no one the task ahead, terminating the toxic harvest of past derelictions.. Blame laying is for later. Right now is the question of – what needs to be done, and done urgently. We keep avoiding the inevitable, but that very unthinkable now hammers brutishly on our gates, the blood ransom arrogantly insatiable. This nation is at war, yet we continue to pretend that these are mere birth-pangs of a glorious entity. They are death throes. Vultures and undertakers hover patiently but with full confidence.

The dogs of war stopped merely baying years ago . Again and again they have sunk their fangs into the jugular of this nation. The plague called COVID has met its match on the earth of some nation space once known as Nigeria. I grieve with the bereaved, but mourn even more for our youth so routinely sacrificed, burdened with uncertainty and traumatized beyond youth’s capacity to cope. To this government we repeat the public cry:

Seek Help. Stop Improvising with Human Lives. Youth - that is, the the future – should not serve as Ritual Offering on the altar of a failing State.

Wole SOYINKA

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2023: COVID-19 Restrictions Will Be Removed In Churches—Leke Adeboye

Leke, son of Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has taken to Instagram to share his observation about Nigerian politicians and their approach to religion.

He said Nigerian politicians only become strong church members when elections are approaching.

He said, “Don’t you love it how most politicians are strong church members when elections are coming close. Watch 2023, all church restrictions due to COVID would be removed.”

The Nigerian government had in 2020 placed restrictions on religious gatherings due to coronavirus pandemic.

The restrictions were, however, eased after some months with certain conditions.

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"They Had Time To Repair Their Vehicles Unchallenged"—Lawmaker Slams Army, Recounts How B'Haram Captured Geidam

Lawan Shettima, House of Representatives member representing Geidam, Yunusari, Bursari constituency of Yobe State at the National Assembly says Boko Haram fighters have taken over Geidam.

SaharaReporters had on Friday reported how gunmen attacked the hometown of the acting Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali.

Speaking on Saturday, Shettima said his constituents have been at the mercy of the insurgents in the last 24 hours.

He added that the gunmen had taken control of Geidam town.

He alleged the insurgents were moving around the town unchallenged, destroying government facilities and private properties.

The lawmaker added that the Nigerian army refused to act on credible information provided ahead of Friday’s attack but allowed the insurgents to invade Geidam unchallenged.

He said, “My people are helpless; you can’t imagine that as a full Nigerian citizen, you can be at the mercy of Boko Haram for the past 24 hours and nobody cares to do anything about it. They will send a jet that will go and bomb innocent people instead of Boko Haram. This is the kind of thing that is going on now.

“The military formation stationed there does not care to react to what is happening or to counter them. The military is sitting at the western side of the town while Boko Haram are busy moving around town destroying government structures and other things belonging to our people, attacking or harassing innocent people sent out of their houses.

“The only word I can use here is that people are helpless in their motherland. This is very terrible. As legislators, we are disturbed, especially when money is appropriated and budgeted to tackle this but they are complaining of a lack of weapons to defend themselves.

“Yesterday around this time, these people were informed duly that those guys are coming from the fringes of Lake Chad.

“During the attack of yesterday, they were in a convoy of about 20 vehicles and came into Giedam and held the town to ransom for more than 24 hours. Some of their vehicles broke down and they even stopped and repaired them. They were going around the town and children were following them.

“Authoritatively, I can tell you that these insurgents have taken over Geidam. You can see the videos and the pictures as they move about burning what they want. We have been complaining to the government to relocate the military camp from the western side to the eastern side where Boko Haram usually comes, but nobody is listening."

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Be Ready For The Consequence, IPOB Threatens Imo Governor After Security Operatives Killed ESN Commander, Ikonso

The Indigenous People of Biafra has vowed to avenge the death of the Eastern Security Network's commander, called Ikonso.

Ikonso was killed on Saturday by the security operatives in a joint raid of the ESN in Awomawa, Oru local government area of Imo State on Saturday.

Security agencies had faulted the ESN, the security wing of IPOB, for the attack on the police headquarters in Imo and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) headquarters on April 5, 2021.

The group had also been accused of launching several isolated attacks on security personnel at different locations in the South-East and South-South.

According to PRNigeria, an intelligence officer said that the group's fighters opened fire as security forces approached their hideout in Awomama village on Saturday.

Reacting to Ikonso's death, IPOB, in a statement titled 'KILLING OF ESN COMMANDER: HOPE UZODIMA HAS STIRRED THE HORNET NET' by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, said the Imo Governor should brace for the repercussion.

The group accused Uzodinma of inviting Nigeria's security agencies to kill Ikonso and other members.

The statement partly reads, "We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), ably led by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, strongly condemn the unprovoked attack on some members of IPOB and ESN operatives at Oguta junction at Mgbidi, along Owerri road Onitsha expressway by a joint security force comprising the army, police and DSS operatives, with the support of Imo State Government.

"The killing of the heroic innocent Biafrans protecting our communities and towns from Fulani terrorist herdsmen masquerading as cattle herders in cold blood is very painful.

"The Supreme Court Administrator of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma and all those who had a hand in this wickedness will pay dearly. Hope Uzodinma and his cowardly Nigerian security agencies cannot confront Fulani terrorists but only flex their muscles when they see Biafra agitators. For murdering Ikonso, the ESN unit commander, Uzodinma has stirred the hornet nest in cold blood! He should get ready for a sting.

"Uzodima decided to kill Ikonso because he refused his offer to head Ebubeagu ghost security outfit formed by South-East governors. Uzodinma has tried but without success to lure ESN operatives into Ebubeagu. He had made irresistible offers to them which were turned down, hence his resorting to eliminating these patriotic heroes who vowed never to betray Biafra.

"Hope Uzodinma sent a lot of emissaries to beg Ikonso and other ESN officers to join our security outfit. So, because they refused to betray Biafra agitation and our Leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the hopeless governor mobilized joint security forces to attack them today."

The Biafra secessionist group also refuted claims that security agents penetrated the ESN camp on Saturday. Instead, it said they only ambushed Ikonso.

"Contrary to claims by the cowardly security forces who flee from terrorists but kill innocent citizens, they were not able to penetrate into the camp of Eastern Security Network ESN. They only ambushed Ikonso but we promise them hell for this cowardly act," the group added.

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Strong Forces Want To Break Nigeria’s Destiny — Tinubu

Bola Tinubu

National leader of All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, on Saturday, stressed the need for Nigerians to put away their differences and unite as one because there are strong forces bent on breaking the country’s destiny.

Tinubu spoke at the 23rd and 25th combined convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (FUAM) in Benue State, DailyTrust reports.

The APC national leader, alongside the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva; a former Governor of Adamawa State, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd); and Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari bagged the university Honourary Doctorate Degrees in various fields.

Tinubu said, “Terrible people and strong forces want to break Nigeria’s appointment with its greater destiny. These people have unleashed terror and violent crime against us. By attacking agricultural players across the nation, they seek to ravage the farming community and visit misery on the rest of the country through food scarcity and food costs that poor people can not afford.

“In effect, these mean forces seek to impose a food production and distribution crisis on us by disrupting strategically critical agricultural areas and activities. All of these has underscored the importance of the farming sector to our collective condition."

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Iraq Covid hospital fire: At least 23 dead after 'oxygen tank explodes'

UK Pulls Down Notice Announcing Asylum For 'Persecuted' IPOB, MASSOB Members

File Photo: IPOB members

The British Government has pulled down a notice it published regarding its asylum policy for pro-Biafra groups like Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualisation of Biafra (MASSOB).

In an email sent to Radio Now and signed by Hannah Dawson, senior communications officer-Newsdesk at the Home office, the British government said the policy is being reviewed and uploaded once it is ready.

File Photo: IPOB members

"Out note on Biafra separatists has been taken down for review; an update is expected shortly," the statement reads.

The UK government did not give a time frame when the updated policy would be uploaded to their website.

The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) had recently released new guidelines to its decision-makers on how to consider and grant asylum applications by members of Biafran secessionist groups.

IPOB was formed in 2012 by Nnamdi Kanu and is believed to be an offshoot of MASSOB, which was founded in 1999 by Ralph Uwazuruike.

Both are campaigning for the secession of mainly the south-east but also several other ethnic nationalities from Nigeria.

In the earlier released 'Country Policy and Information Note Nigeria: Biafran secessionist groups', the UKVI, a division of the Home Office, directed its decision-makers to consider if a person "who actively and openly supports IPOB is likely to be at risk of arrest and detention, and ill-treatment which is likely to amount to persecution".

According to the guidelines, the decision-makers "must also consider if the [Nigerian] government's actions are acts of prosecution, not persecution. Those fleeing prosecution or punishment for a criminal offence are not normally refugees. However, the prosecution may amount to persecution if it involves victimisation in its application by the authorities".

An example of persecution, the UKVI said, is "if it is the vehicle or excuse for or if only certain groups are prosecuted for a particular offence and the consequences of that discrimination are sufficiently severe. The punishment which is cruel, inhuman or degrading (including punishment which is out of all proportion to the offence committed) may also amount to persecution".

They are also to "consider each case on its facts to determine if the person is likely to be of interest to the [Nigerian] government and whether this is for the legitimate grounds of prosecution which is proportionate and non-discriminatory".

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Identities Of Three Abducted Kaduna Private Varsity Students Killed By Bandits Revealed

The identities of the three students of the Greenfield University, Kaduna, who were killed by suspected bandits, have been revealed.

The deceased are Sadiq Yusuf Sanga, Precious Nwakacha, and Dorathy Yohanna.

Gunmen had attacked the institution on Tuesday and abducted some students.

The state government has yet to confirm the exact number of students taken hostage.

On Friday, the remains of the three students were found in Kwanan Bature village, a location not too far from the school premises, and was taken to a mortuary by the Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, and Force Commander, Operation Thunder Strike, Lt. Col. MH Abdullahi.

The bandits had earlier demanded N800 million.

Kaduna is one of the states in Nigeria most affected by rampant kidnappings by bandits. See Also Breaking News BREAKING: Three Abducted Greenfield University Students Have Been Killed 0 Comments 19 Hours Ago

The invasion of the university is the third time bandits attacked a school in Kaduna in 2021.

Meanwhile, a Twitter user, @ydcoalhas, narrated the painful ordeal of finding his sister-in-law, Dorathy, among the three students who were killed.

In a series of tweet directed at Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, he said, “People’s children have become sports for bandits and kidnappers. I’m very angry right now because there’s just so much I don’t understand anymore. What’s the purpose of life as a Nigerian? What’s the sole responsibility of a government for/to the people?”

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Identities Of Three Abducted Kaduna Private Varsity Students Killed By Bandits Revealed

The identities of the three students of the Greenfield University, Kaduna, who were killed by suspected bandits, have been revealed.

The deceased are Sadiq Yusuf Sanga, Precious Nwakacha, and Dorathy Yohanna.

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Social Media And Mob Justice: We’re All Potential Victims, By Fredrick Nwabufo

Fredrick Nwabufo

I once witnessed a macabre execution – early 2000s. It was a quotidian day in Onitsha – except for a sudden alarm jarring everyone grinding away in the day’s humdrum. Thief! Thief! Swiftly, commuters, traders and idlers became vigilantes. They encircled a young man and bludgeoned him until he was lifeless. No questions asked. No trial. No justice – but jungle injustice.

There is a ‘’SARS’’ in some Nigerians; reservoirs of cynicism, misanthropy and bigotry. These ones see other people through the bifocals of their own vile existence. Just like SARS, the notorious but disbanded police unit, profiles young Nigerians with tattoo branding and dreadlocks, this category of Nigerians reduces every individual to an offender. You are guilty without charges, convicted and summarily sentenced – by the self-appointed rogue jury!

Fredrick Nwabufo

That predilection for exacting jungle (in)justice on alleged offenders in the streets is very much the same on Nigeria’s social media platforms – where you expect to find refined people above the stratum of ‘’agberos’’. It is all the same – in the streets and on social media district. Nigerian Twitter, in particular, is a toxic locale – defiant to order and devoid of joy. There is that proclivity for ‘’gotcha gotcha’’. It is always about ‘’dragging this person or that person’’. I must say, very angry creatures take residence there.

It may be fun and games until you are a victim of this ferocious social media mob. I recall when Segun Adeniyi, senior journalist and author, was a casualty of this ruthless horde over a book he wrote. He was tyrannised until he apologised and withdrew copies of the book. There have been many other victims but some felt so overwhelmed that they took an exit from humanity.

I recall the story of Ariyo Olanrewaju Taiwo – a man who suffered depression – in 2017. He expressed suicidal thoughts on Facebook but was bullied and taunted. He committed suicide afterwards. Social media, which ordinarily should be a crucible for ideas, conviviality, networking, and seminal exchanges, has become a belvedere where some people exhibit their hate, bigotry, insecurities, and prejudices with disinhibition.

A few days ago, Japheth Omojuwa, the digital media entrepreneur, was the whipping boy of these internet infestations. They clobbered, scratched and gored him with pitchforks and daggers, even throwing dynamites into the mix. Much of their grouse with the gentleman was the side he chose to support in the 2015 election. They seized a moment to creep out of their crevices and forgotten neck of the woods to extract a toll. I have never seen such virulence and turpitude on social media before.

I have been a casualty of this brood of calumniators myself. I am unfazed by the trolling on social media. I have developed impermeability to ‘’praises and curses’’ on social media. I am comatose to what happens there. But somehow, these maligners find my mobile phone number and keep me under siege for hours and days with a fusillade of attacks and curses. This bothers me because it is an intrusion of my personal space. I wake up at 4am deleting hate messages.

We are a nation of extremists. A violent people. When you stray from the single narrative promoted by some compromised persons, you become an enemy pencilled down for demolition. Is this not a tyranny of opinion? How did we become so vile, unfeeling, and sadistic? The beauty of intellection is in the variety and robustness of opinions. Why must everyone submit to a lone account – even if it is falsehood? Why should everyone hold the same opinion?

What is happening on Nigerian social media is akin to the Dark Ages where people were hanged for having contrary opinions. And the Dark Ages was a blot on humanity – because knowledge was forbidden. We are in an era of intellectual darkness in Nigeria where all opinions must be unitary and must conform to certain ethnic and religious prejudices.

Some of the loudest voices accusing others of extremism are themselves extremists, who ambush and savage contrary opinions. It must be their way or the Milky Way to assaults and threats.

How did we become so pugnacious that we will tear anyone and anything that does not agree with us?

I think we need to be having conservations on ways of mitigating the perils of this Frankenstein technology. Opinions on social media can be bought and ammunitioned against anyone. We cannot discount the veritable place of social media but the evolving trend of sponsored prejudiced opinions is leading to a dictatorship of narratives.

We are all potential victims of mob (in)justice. The mob runs Nigeria’s social media. You either fall in line with the governing narrative or risk violence. This mob rule has to end.

By Fredrick ‘Mr OneNigeria’ Nwabufo
Twitter @FredrickNwabufo

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Community Chief Claims Nigerians Behind 60 Percent Of Crime In Ghana Town

The chief of the Nigerian community in Kasoa, Nana Kessington Oledo, has revealed that his fellow Nigerians are responsible for six out of every ten crimes committed in the area.

The situation, he said, has been a source of grave concern to the local police commander, who has constantly complained to him to help the situation by getting through to his settler subjects.

The revelation was made during Accra100.5FM's maiden dialogue, which focused on the security situation in that part of Ghana, Ghanaweb reports.

The quarterly dialogue, the first of which was held on Friday, April 23 2021, at the Mikado Conference Centre in Accra, brought together lawyers, traditional leaders, local government analysts, security persons, government appointees, grassroots people, residents of Kasoa, students and other stakeholders to tease out the factors underpinning the insecurity in the area nestled between the boundaries of Greater Accra and Central Regions.

In his contribution, the Nigerian chief said he found it frustrating that the law enforcement bodies – Ghana Police Service and Ghana Immigration Service – repetitively allow themselves to be bribed by Nigerian suspects who get caught in the claws of the law.

"You see, this is a very delicate issue, and as you said, references have been made to Nigerians mainly, which are very accurate because when you go to Kasoa, you see instances.

"I was with the chief of police at Millennium City, and he told me: 'Chief, you have to do something about this; every ten reported cases at the police station is 6/10 of Nigerians'. You have six cases of Nigerians in every 10 cases reported at the police station; why is that so?'"

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Community Chief Claims Nigerians Behind 60 Percent Of Crime In Ghana Town

The chief of the Nigerian community in Kasoa, Nana Kessington Oledo, has revealed that his fellow Nigerians are responsible for six out of every ten crimes committed in the area.

The situation, he said, has been a source of grave concern to the local police commander, who has constantly complained to him to help the situation by getting through to his settler subjects.

The revelation was made during Accra100.5FM's maiden dialogue, which focused on the security situation in that part of Ghana, Ghanaweb reports.

"You see, this is a very delicate issue, and as you said, references have been made to Nigerians mainly, which are very accurate because when you go to Kasoa, you see instances.

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Garba Shehu: Kemi Adeosun's Forgery Worse Than Pantami's Comments On Terrorists

President Muhammadu Buhari's media aide, Garba Shehu, says certificate forgery involving Kemi Adeosun, former Finance Minister, is worse than Isa Ali Pantami's views on terror groups.

Shehu made the remark on Friday when he appeared on Channels TV.

Adeosun was forced to resign in 2018 over her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate said to have been forged.

Pantami, the Communications Minister, expressed views in support of Al-Qaeda and Taliban during his lectures in the 2000s.

The Islamic preacher explained his views had changed, but there are calls for his resignation. The presidency, however, dismissed the demand.

Shehu said in the case of Pantami, "you are probing the thoughts, what is called 'McCarthyism'; you search the inner recesses of the minds of individuals, bring out things they have said or they are about to say, or you think they would say and use that against them."

"If Pantami had forged a certificate before coming into office, the attitude would have been different", he added.

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Garba Shehu: Kemi Adeosun's Forgery Worse Than Pantami's Comments On Terrorists

President Muhammadu Buhari's media aide, Garba Shehu, says certificate forgery involving Kemi Adeosun, former Finance Minister, is worse than Isa Ali Pantami's views on terror groups.

Shehu made the remark on Friday when he appeared on Channels TV.

Adeosun was forced to resign in 2018 over her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate said to have been forged.

Pantami, the Communications Minister, expressed views in support of Al-Qaeda and Taliban during his lectures in the 2000s.

The Islamic preacher explained his views had changed, but there are calls for his resignation. The presidency, however, dismissed the demand.

"If Pantami had forged a certificate before coming into office, the attitude would have been different", he added.

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Why We Killed Businessman Whose Wife Raised Only N40,000 Out of N5m Ransom –Kidnapper

A suspected member of a kidnap gang, Bello Mohammed, has been held for the abduction and killing of a businessman, one Osondu Nwachukwu, who operated a sachet water factory in Lafia Nasarawa State.

Mohammed and four other members at large, identified simply as Maikano, Dogo, Hassan and Jubril, reportedly carried out the act.

He was arrested on March 11 by operatives of the Inspector-General of the Police Intelligence Response Team after the case was reported to the police.

Punch reports that the gang kidnapped Nwachukwu from his house and contacted his wife to pay N5m ransom. The wife reportedly appealed to them to collect N40,000 and was told to drop the money at a designated point in the bush.

"Before she could deliver it, they butchered her husband and put his corpse in a sack," a police source said.

The suspects were about to dispose of the remains in a bush in the Bukan Koto area along Makurdi Maraba-Ankunza road when some men, who were going to a mosque to pray, saw them conveying the sack in a wheelbarrow.

They reportedly abandoned the sack and ran away when the worshippers, who were suspicious of the gang, demanded to know the content.

The source added, "They saw the corpse of the victim and reported the matter to the police. Acting on credible intelligence, detectives were able to arrest one Bello Mohammed, a native of Lafia Local Government Area, Nasarawa. He confessed to the crime and said that he is part of a kidnapping and cattle rustling gang."

Mohammed, 37, a farmer married with two wives and eight children, said his brother-in-law, Dogo, persuaded him to join the kidnap gang when he (Mohammed) complained that things were hard for him.

He explained that an unnamed Igbo man in Lafia contracted the gang to kidnap Nwachukwu.

Mohammed stated, "He told us that the man owned sachet water business but was stingy. He assured us that the man would pay at least N10m because he was rich. He gave us all the details about his movement and advised that the best place to abduct him was his house.

"We went into his house on three motorbikes around 8.30 pm and loitered around his compound. Meanwhile, one of us waited for him at the factory area and followed him home. It was the gang member who alerted us that they were on the way to the house.

"As soon as he drove into his compound around 9 pm, we followed and overpowered him. We searched his house for valuables and dragged him along. We carried him on our bikes and threatened to kill him if he raised the alarm. When we got to a spot, we stopped and trekked for hours into Bukan Koto forest in Lafia."

He said while at their camp, the mastermind phoned in and they told him Nwachukwu's wife said the family could not raise the N10m ransom.

The suspect stated, "He said the wife was lying and not serious to save the life of her husband. Unfortunately, the man overheard our conversation and identified the person who gave us the job. The man told us to kill him after collecting the money.

"We were ready to spare him but his wife was not making any serious effort. So Dogo got angry and said that he was no longer interested in the job. He used his machete to cut off the man's head."

"Dogo butchered him and packed his remains in a sack. Two others and I were given the body to dispose of it at the nearest river. We used a wheelbarrow to carry the butchered body but we were stopped by some Fulani men returning from the mosque. We all left the corpse and ran away. I guess they were the ones who reported the matter to the police."

The deceased's wife, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was at home with her husband and their children on November 30, 2019, when the kidnappers struck and abducted him.

The mother of six stated that later she received a call from the kidnappers, demanding N40m ransom from her if "I want to see my husband alive."

She said, "I pleaded with them to have mercy as it was Friday and banks had closed. They asked me how much I had, and I told them N40,000. They asked me to bring the money, which I did that night.

"I was waiting for them when I received a call that I should not bother again because my husband is dead. I was told that the person who arranged his abduction is from the East, but I did not suspect anyone. God will punish the person behind his kidnapping and death."

CRIME News AddThis : Original Author : SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements :
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