Unknown gunmen have reportedly shot dead two police officers, two lawyers and seven others in Isu and Onicha-Igboeze communities, in the Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
It was learnt that the cops were reportedly killed in Isu while others were killed in Onicha Igboeze during an invasion by the gunmen.
It was gathered that two lawyers who were passing with a vehicle, ran into the gunmen during the attack.
The police in Ebonyi State have confirmed the attack, although the details of the incident are still sketchy.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Aliyu Garba, has dispatched a team of policemen to the area.
The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) has appealed to the Nigeria Police Force to thoroughly investigate the murder of Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna who was killed by an irate mob in Kano last month.
Astatement signed by Cornelius Omonokhua, the Executive Secretary of the council, NIREC condemned the brutal killing of the pastor and attack on his residence, stating that there is no justification for the attack.
It further said justice must be served while calling for calm in the affected area.
The statement reads, “NIREC under the leadership of the co-chairmen, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Dr Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle, received the sad news from the Kano State Branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, that Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna was murdered by some irate youths of Masu community where he had lived and pastored the New Life for All Nations Church for about 10 years.
“NIREC appreciates the leadership of Kano State Branch of the Christian Association of NIGERIA (CAN) and the Assistant Coordinator, CAN, Sumaila LGA for being proactive in visiting Masu to manage and prevent further conflicts and reprisal.
“NIREC also appreciates the role of the security agents in ensuring peace by protecting lives and property in the community. Those who did not take the law into their own hands by contacting the DPO of the Gani Police Division are well appreciated.
“NIREC condemns the killing of the Pastor, the attack on the Church building, School, staff office and the destruction of his house. No reason can justify this criminality.
“NIREC, therefore, condoles with the family of Pastor Shuaibu Yohanna and prays that God grant him eternal repose. We pray that those arrested and all those involved in this criminal act must be seen to be dealt with in accordance with the law of the land.
“NIREC appeals to the Kano State Command of the Nigeria Police Force to honestly do the needful. NIREC also calls on all the relevant security agencies to properly investigate this gruesome murder and ensure that those found culpable are made to face justice.
“NIREC calls on the citizens of Kano and Nigeria to continue to strive for peaceful coexistence in the various communities of the nation. We call for calm as NIREC is already in touch with Rev. Adeolu Samuel Adeyemo, CAN Chairman, Kano State, and the Emir of Kano, His Highness, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, to find the way forward out of this unfortunate incident.”
A Muslim mob had killed a pastor Yohanna Shuaibu in Massu, a village in the Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano State.
According to the Hausa Christian Foundation (HACFO) in a statement, the mob also burnt down the slain pastor’s house, church, and mission school.
The incident reportedly happened when a young Muslim man who had converted to Christianity allegedly killed his brother’s wife during a fight and the mob suspected that the pastor had a hand in his alleged conversion.
Members of the Aso Rock cabal are pushing a third-term agenda for President Muhammadu Buhari and for the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution to allow the President to stay beyond 2023, Presidency sources have told SaharaReporters.
Section 137 (1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), provides that “a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections”.
A similar move was made about 14 years for former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which failed.
The so-called Third Term Agenda collapsed on May 16, 2006, when the Nigerian Senate threw out the Constitutional Amendments Bill. Obasanjo left office a year later on May 29, 2007.
Sources in the Presidency told SaharaReporters on Wednesday night that members of the Aso Rock cabal are in on it and that some of them who had presidential ambitions ahead of 2023 elections had been told to step down.
One of them is the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who had been eyeing the Presidency, as SaharaReporters had earlier reported.
The cabals comprising some members of the President’s extended family, friends, and some northern governors and leaders are described as the powers behind the throne.
The recent clamour by Northern elites has also been linked to the third-term agenda, with strong northern voices stressing that the region could retain the Presidency following Buhari’s departure from office.
One of the sources added that Buhari is expected to visit Glasgow, Scotland; Paris, France, and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates before the end of 2021.
The source, however, did not disclose if the trips have anything to do with the President’s third-term agenda.
“Recently, members of the cabal with interest in Presidency were told to step down. Malami is now back as Kebbi State APC (All Progressives Congress) Governorship candidate after initially telling people he could run for President,” one of the sources told SaharaReporters.
“Also, the recent strong clamour for the presidency to remain in the Northern part of the country is as a result of this. Guess who they want to use to push the agenda? It’s the same person you know, the APC candidate in the November governorship election in Anambra, Andy Uba.
“Uba is expected to start the third term campaign when he wins as Anambra governor. He did it before for Obasanjo, paying off lawmakers in the failed third term campaign. He is the one being used by the cabals to do the dirty job again many years after.”
“Buhari to visit Glasgow, Scotland, Paris, France and Dubai, UAE before the end of 2021 amidst strong rumour of third term agenda,” another source said.
This comes two years after an APC chieftain, Charles Enya filed a suit, seeking the amendment of the constitution to allow Buhari to get another term in office.
Enya, who served as Organising Secretary to Buhari during the 2019 general elections had filed the suit (FHC/AI/CS/90/19) before a Federal High Court in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State.
He asked Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as well as the National Assembly, to remove constitutional clauses hindering elected presidents and governors from seeking a third term in office.
The APC member sought for possible expungement of both sections. According to him, “that section 137(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 (as amended) restricting the president to only two terms of four years each, is inoperative by virtue of its discriminatory nature in relation to the executive and legislative branches of government in Nigeria, and therefore null and void and thus inapplicable”.
He also sought an “order of the court nullifying and setting aside Sections 137(1)(b) and 182(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). And directing the first and second defendants to delete and expunge sections 137(1)(b) and 182(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (as amended).”
A few days after, Buhari claimed he wasn’t going to make the mistake of attempting a third term.
“I’m not going to make the mistake of attempting a third term. Besides the age, I swore by the holy book that I would go by the constitution and the constitution said two terms,” the President had said during the APC NEC meeting on November 22, 2019.
The Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman has revived a notorious unit of the Nigeria Police Force, which was disbanded last year after #EndSARS protests, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
SARS was notorious for brutality, extrajudicial killings, and human rights abuses.
In a statement obtained by SaharaReporters, the IGP was said to have released new terms and conditions on the operation of SARS officials.
The Police Force also made phone numbers available for citizens to report harassment.
According to Baba Usman, SARS has been reformed and the new rules of engagement are stated below:
“No SARS personnel is allowed to interface in any civil matter.
“They are not allowed to interfere in cybercrime (yahoo yahoo).
“No SARS personnel is allowed to conduct a stop and search exercise unless there is a distress call from victims or members of the public.
“They are not allowed to be involved in commercial matters, debt recovery, (landlord vs tenant issues).
“They are not allowed to interfere in any social/relationship cases (marital matters, boyfriend/girlfriend relationship).
“They are strictly for armed robbery and kidnapping cases!”
Also, citizens are encouraged to report cases of harassment by any of its officials to the following office: DIG, Department of Operations:
Last October, there were massive protests in some states tagged #EndSARS, largely organised by youths, to call for an end to police brutality.
They also demanded that SARS, a police unit, notorious for human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, and other atrocities should be disbanded.
But during the protests against police brutality, the Nigeria police unleashed more terror on peaceful protesters in many parts of the country, including at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, the epicentre of the struggle.
The repressive regime of Muhammadu Buhari was forced to disband SARS.
It thereafter introduced the Special Weapons and Tactics Team, which many Nigerians described as not different from the disbanded SARS.
Meanwhile, the police inspector General, Baba Usman once said the disbandment of SARS had created a vacuum in policing the country.
He added that the morale of police officers in the country had been low since the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
A federal high court in Abuja has sentenced Faisal Maina, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, to 24 years in prison.
In the judgment delivered on Thursday, Okon Abang, trial judge, found Faisal guilty on a three-count money laundering charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Okon, who handed down a five-year jail term for count one bordering on money laundering offenses, sentenced Faisal to 14 years imprisonment on count two.
The judge, thereafter, sentenced Faisal to five years prison terms on count three which bordered on asset declaration offense.
Okon ruled that the prison terms would run concurrently.
Justice Abang had fixed the matter for judgment after the then Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)’s lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, adopted the commission”s final written address and urged the court to convict Faisal in all the three counts leveled against him, “the prosecution having proved the case beyond all reasonable doubt.”
The National President of the Middle Belt Forum (MDF), Dr. Bitrus Pogu has said that the Federal Government’s threat to impose a state of emergency on Anambra State ahead of the coming governorship election is unacceptable and unconstitutional.
Dr. Pogu, who spoke to Vanguard on Wednesday in Makurdi, advised that if the security situation in the state was getting out of hand the election should be shifted to a later date after the situation had normalized.
Hear him: “My question is, the state of emergency the Federal Government is threatening to declare in the state is on what?
“You can declare an emergency on security or even on health, if for example there is a pandemic. So the state of emergency is on what?
If it is based on security, it is rather that they stop the election and push it forward because there cannot be a fair and free election in a state where the military or whatever is in control.
“That is unacceptable in a democratic process.
“So if it is because of insecurity, the only thing and the right thing to do is to stop the election till the place is stabilised so that all parties will have a sense of freedom to exercise their franchise to vote for whoever they want.
“But in a situation you have a militarised environment and all the military and the police are controlled by just one organ of government, that is the Federal Government, there can never be freedom for others to operate.
“So that is unacceptable. If they say the security situation is bad the election should be suspended till when the situation is normalised.
“But otherwise all other parties that are not with the Federal Government will be disadvantaged by any state of emergency if it is based on insecurity.
“But otherwise all other parties that are not with the Federal Government will be disadvantaged by any state of emergency if it is based on insecurity.
“As for the position of the constitution on the matter, if you recall, during the then President Obasanjo regime, such things were done in some states where governors were put aside.
“But the court ruled that it was undemocratic and unacceptable. So based on the judgement of the courts it is even not acceptable, not allowed.”
The Federal Government has said it will impose a state of emergency on Anambra State to tighten security ahead of the November 6 governorship election in the state.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, announced this on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Malami said the government will do everything possible to ensure the protection of lives and property adding that where there is evidence of failure of the state government to ensure democratic order and security of lives, the Federal Government will prevail and will not rule out the possibility of imposing a state of emergency.
This comes amidst the wave of insecurity ravaging the state and the south-east region in general.
In the last couple of weeks, at least 10 persons have been killed in various attacks across Anambra.
On Tuesday the South-East Governors Forum said the ‘Ebube Agu’ security outfit will be established in all five states before the end of the year.
The governors said this as part of their eight-point agenda during a meeting that took place at the Enugu State Government House.
“The meeting agreed that the South-East Ebube Agu security outfit be launched in all the southeast states and laws passed in various southeast states before the end of 2021,” the communique read.
The security outfit was established in April as part of plans to checkmate the rising unrest in the region.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum David Umahi, has decried the degeneration of what started as a cry against marginalisation into violence in the region.
He, however, described the agitations for Biafra as madness, saying that most elites in the region do not want it.
According to him, all they want is to be treated equally like other regions in the country.
“Every elite in the south-east is not desirous of Biafra. We don’t want Biafra. We only want to be treated equally like other regions in Nigeria,” Governor Umahi said Wednesday, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
A clash between terrorists belonging to the Ansaru group and bandits has reportedly claimed the lives of at least 30 bandits around the Damari axis of Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Multiple sources confirmed to Daily Trust that the two criminal groups started a battle for supremacy last week.
The report came three weeks after terrorists fleeing military onslaught in Zamfara State took refuge in Saulawa and Damari villages of Birnin Gwari LGA, where they hoisted their flag.
Following telecommunication shutdown in some LGAs of Kaduna, including Birnin Gwari, a resident, Samaila Yakubu, who spoke with Daily Trust from Zaria, said the crisis between the two criminal groups followed an order by the terrorists.
He said the terrorists had restricted bandits from abduction and invasion of communities.
Yakubu said the bandits had resisted the law, which led to a wrangle that claimed the lives of four bandits and one member of Ansaru group last Tuesday.
He said a tit-for-tat attack had ensued between the two groups which climaxed with the killing of about 30 bandits last week.
Also corroborating the incident, Hassan Ibrahim from Giwa LGA, said the terrorists had warned bandits to desist from rampant abductions, adding that the warning had not been heeded by the bandits which led to the clash.
Ibrahim said, “The killings between the two groups are ongoing but abductions are on a decline. The focus of the terrorists is now on how to get fuel and money from travellers.
“Two days ago, they ambushed my nephew along the Birnin Gwari- Zaria road on a motorcycle and they emptied his fuel tank.
“They then collected his phone and money he had on him and set him free. I believe the new security measures are working,” he said.
When contacted, Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, asked for time to clarify the situation from the DPO in charge of the area but hours later, he did not respond to calls to his phone.
There is panic in some rural communities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) following reports that fleeing bandits from the North are setting up camps in forests of the territory.
Daily Trust gathered from some locals that the bandits have set up camps around Zukpatu, Gadoro, Achimbi, Pesu, Duda, Pani, Gaube and New Gwombe communities in Kuje Area Area Council.
Most of the communities share boundaries with Nasarawa State.
Daily Trust reports that Kuje has over 400 communities not connected with any road network.
It was further gathered that the bandits are taking advantage of the rocky hinterlands to establish their bases.
According to some villagers, who spoke with our reporter, although the bandits have not started attacking them, they have been warning them against exposing their hideouts to security agents.
A resident of Gaube, who simply identified himself as Ibrahim, said the setting up of the camps by the bandits had caused panic, adding that residents, especially, farmers, now went to their farms in fear.
Ibrahim said, “Whenever the bandits come across locals in the farms or streams, they only caution us not to report to security agents their locations.”
He further said the bandits sometimes gave money to residents to buy them foodstuff and other items.
A rescued kidnap victim in Pegi axis of Kuje, who preferred anonymity, while lamenting his experience in the hands of the bandits, said they had set up camps at the bases of rocky hills.
He said, “Government needs to do something quickly before the situation gets out of hand because of what I saw. I wonder how these criminals were able to get to such places with arms.”
A resident of Gwombe who gave his name simply as Alhassan said bandits had taken over the forest around the community.
Alhassan said, “I think since they attacked and kidnapped some people in our village early this year, they don’t attack our people again, except that they send our people they come across on errands and warn them against telling security agents of their hideout.”
A traditional ruler in the FCT, who preferred anonymity, said the setting up of camps by bandits in some forests in rural communities posed serious threat to lives and property.
He recalled how bandits attacked commuters and villagers on the Gaube-Kuje road last year, which informed the setting up of a joint task force around the community.
He said, “But today, the task force has left the area and the kidnappers have returned, picking people around Gaube axis.”
The chief further said hunters and farmers usually came across the bandits but they were afraid of exposing them.
He, therefore, appealed to the federal government to take immediate action, while collaborating with traditional rulers in order to tackle insecurity in the territory.
The spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, DSP Adeh Josephine, asked our reporter to give her time to make enquiry about the development.
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the appointment of the nominees for the Secretary and Board members of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission submitted by the President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
One of them was Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad who was said to have started his primary school before he was born.
The Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, however, cleared the nominee and others in the report presented by Senator Suleiman Kwari (Kaduna North).
Earlier, Senator Hassan Hadejia from Jigawa North East, had said the Curriculum Vitae submitted by Muhammad indicated that he started school before he was born.
Hadejia said, “Let me bring to the notice of the House, certain discrepancies in the report that are contradictory especially with regards to one of the nominee, Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad on page 8.
The nominee, according to the record before us, started his primary school before he was born. There is also an overlap in the sequence of his educational experience because here, he was born on 29th September, 1969 and he started his Central Primary school in 1968.
“He was in Borno Teachers College from 1975 and 1988 while simultaneously he was in the College of Administration Studies from 1980 to 1981.
If these are typographical errors Mr (Senate) President, maybe we should have them corrected for the sake of our record.
The Senate, however, confirmed the appointment of Muhammad.
Also, George Ekungu from Cross River State was confirmed as Secretary of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Also confirmed by the red chamber are Luqman Muhammed (Edo); Anumba Adaeze (Enugu); Alhaji Kola Adesina (Kwara) and Alhaji Yahaya Muhammad (Yobe) as board members of the EFCC.
Kwari had told the senators that the nominees were thoroughly screened and found worthy of holding the positions.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who presided over the plenary, congratulated the nominees.
