Give Us N60m To Release Abducted Niger Perm Sec — Kidnappers Demand

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October 5, 2021

A group, Youth Advocate for Peace, Justice and Empowerment Network (YAPJEN), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to end insecurity in the Southeast by granting a presidential pardon to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.

It blamed Buhari for what it termed creating the hitherto unknown Mazi Kanu and making him a hero by detaining him.

In a statement by its President, Timothy Nwachukwu, yesterday, the group regretted that Buhari went ahead to justify IPOB’s agitation by sidelining the Southeast from his appointment, especially in the security circles.

“The lopsided appointments made by the President infuriated members of IPOB, thus creating disunity and distrust among the people of the zone and other zones,” it said.

YAPJEN advised President Buhari and members of his cabinet to apply the carrot and stick approach in dealing with secessionist groups.

It enjoined him to start a genuine reconciliation process that would heal the nation by engaging and compensating the families of the victims of the secessionist group.

“If peace must return to the Southeast, the President has a duty to douse the tension he created by de-proscribing IPOB, releasing Kanu, and applying a carrot approach by bringing him to a dialogue table.

“The agitation by secessionist groups cannot be quelled with military force. It will rather create a guerilla warfare situation, which will destroy the country.

“The use of force or suppression will only harden members of the group and attract more sympathy from the people of the zone,” the group said.

Despite Attacks, INEC Vows To Proceed With Anambra Guber Poll

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October 5, 2021

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State remains on course despite the rising cases of killings, arson, and attacks by unknown gunmen.

With the election just a month away, there has been coordinated attacks and killings in Anambra, while the headquarters of INEC in the state was also razed. However, the electoral commission said the date of the election remains sacrosanct.

On Sunday, the offices of the Department of State Services (DSS) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were set ablaze while the country home of Joe Igbokwe, an aide of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was also set ablaze in Nnewi, Anambra State. Igbokwe accused IPOB of being responsible.

Last week, five police officers were killed in the attack at a divisional police station in Ajali, Orumba North Local Government Area of the state while the convoy of the House of Representatives member representing Nnewi North, Nnewi South/Ekwusigo Constituency, Chris Azubogu, was also attacked by gunmen and one of his drivers shot dead.

The attacks occurred two days after Dr. Chike Akunyili, the husband of the late former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Dora Akunyili, was killed by gunmen in Anambra.

On September 27, gunmen stormed a political rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC) where they killed a man and wounded several others. They also set ablaze a car belonging to a leader of Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s group, Dr. Nelson Omenugha, at Nnobi in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state.

When asked if the attacks posed a threat to the governorship election, Festus Okoye, Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, said the commission is making serious preparation and will proceed with the exercise.

He added that in few days, INEC will deliver non-sensitive materials that will be used for the election.

“As far as the commission is concerned, we are proceeding with the election. We are seriously preparing for the exercise. In the next few days, we are going to deliver the non-sensitive materials meant for the election. So, preparation is on top gear on the part of INEC and we are going ahead with the election”.

On steps being taken to ensure the safety of its officials, ad-hoc staff and electoral materials, Okoye said INEC will hold a top-level meeting with the inter-agencies elections security committee where the issue of safety during the Anambra governorship election will be discussed.

The Federal Government had, few days ago said it will not allow any separatist group to disrupt the governorship election.

2023 Presidency: Zoning Unconstitutional, A Ploy To Intimidate North From Contesting — Group

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October 5, 2021

The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has opposed the zoning arrangement by political parties, describing it as unconstitutional and a plot to intimidate the north from contesting for the presidency in 2023.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, CNG spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman said the group aligns with the position of the Northern Governors’ Forum, asking the political parties to jettison the idea of zoning the post to the southern region of Nigeria.

According to him, the north will not be obliged to any zoning arrangement for elective positions in the forthcoming general election.

“We find the renewed desperation by the south to threaten [the] northern people’s right to franchise a deliberate attempt to bastardise democracy, cause greater instability in the guise of contentious undemocratic power shift arrangement and therefore unacceptable,” he said.

“The CNG after due consultation with stakeholders, leaders and elders has categorically resolved to firmly and solidly align completely with the position taken by the Northern Elders Forum as expressed by Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed and that of the Northern Governors’ Forum that zoning of elective positions is unconstitutional, undemocratic and must be jettisoned.”

The CNG spokesman further explained that the northern region is a major stakeholder in Nigeria, especially with respect to elections.

The group’s comment came eight days after the governors of the 19 northern states opposed the call by their southern counterparts that the Presidency should be zoned to the south in 2023.

After an emergency meeting with traditional rulers in the region at the Government House in Kaduna State on September 27, the Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, read out the communique containing the resolutions on behalf of his colleagues.

According to the governors, zoning the office of the president as being agitated by southern governors is against the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

They stated that any president elected must meet the constitutional requirements which include scoring the majority votes, and polling at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation.

Governor Lalong noted that although some northern governors had endorsed the power shift to the south, the regional governors collectively fault such calls.

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We Can’t Discharge You As Abdulrasheed Maina’s Surety, Court Tells Sen. Ali Ndume

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October 5, 2021

A Federal High Court, Abuja on Monday, dismissed the application filed by Sen. Ali Ndume, seeking an order to discharge him as Abdulrasheed Maina’s surety, after he jumped bail.

Justice Okon Abang, in a ruling, held that the application filed by Ndume amounted to an abuse of court process, having filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal, Abuja on the same matter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Maina, chairman, defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), had, around September 2020, jumped bail after he was released from Kuje Correctional Service Centre on July 27 nine months after he was arraigned.

The ex-pension reformed boss was, however, rearrested in Niger Republic, where he was alleged to have fled to, by security forces and produced in court on Dec. 4, 2020.

His release on bail was made possible following Ndume’s resolve to stand as his surety after the lawmaker used his Abuja property’s title documents worth N500 million as bail bond in compliance with some of the bail conditions.

Ruling, Justice Abang, who said he had considered the arguments of both parties in the suit, held that he had no jurisdiction to entertain the lawmaker’s application dated Dec. 15, 2020.

“Where an appeal has been filed, every application will be made before the Court of Appeal.

“Therefore, any issue can only be entertained by the Court of Appeal,” he ruled.

The judge said the fact that Maina, who jumped bail, was produced in court did not mean that the court, as presently constituted, could hear Ndume’s motion.

Abang stressed that since the issue of forfeiture of bail bond is already before the appellant court and the appeal entered, “the court is functus officio to hear the matter.”

According to him, since the appeal is already pending, I have no jurisdiction to carry out a surgical operation on what is before the Court of Appeal.

“Where this happens, the court has the power to dismiss it,” he added.

The judge, then, dismissed the application.

NAN reports that Ndume, who is currently Chairman, Senate Committee on Army at the National Assembly, had, on July 19, through his lawyer, Marcel Oru, prayed the court for an order, releasing his building’s Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) used as bail bond in the release of Maina.

He also asked the court to discharge him formally as a surety in the matter, considering the fact that Maina, “who jumped bail has been rearrested and is in the custody of the complainant (EFCC).”

However, the then counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mohammed Abubakar, opposed the application.

Abubakar argued that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit since the matter was already before the Court of Appeal.

NAN reports that Justice Abang had, on Jan. 28, 2020, varied Maina’s bail from N1 billion to N500 million, following his inability to meet the earlier terms which he considered too stringent.

Abang also ordered Maina to produce a serving senator as surety who must own a property worth N500 million in either Asokoro, Maitama, Wuse II, Central Business District or Katampe Districts in Abuja.

This was against two serving senators he was earlier ordered to produce on Nov. 24, 2019 as a condition for granting bail.

The lawmaker then indicated interest to stand as his surety, but Maina stopped attending court proceedings in September 2020.

On Oct. 2, 2020 when the matter came up, the judge asked Ndume, who was always in court, if he knew where Maina was after he had failed to attend proceeding for the third time, the lawmaker responded that he did not know his whereabouts.

The senator, however, begged the court to reconsider him, saying that was the first time he would be standing as surety in court.

“I did not foresee this circumstances my lord.

“I want it to also be on record that as a senator, I represent the good, the bad and the ugly of the constituency.

“Right now, my hands are tight,” he had said.

When Ndume begged the court for a review of the conditions, Abang directed the registrar of the court to read out the affidavit deposed to by the lawmaker on May 5, 2020, as surety where in paragraph nine, he pledged to always produce Maina in court and forfeit the bail bond of N500 million to the Federal Government should Maina jumped bail.

This development made the EFCC counsel to ask the court, on Nov. 18, 2020, to revoke Maina’s bail, issue a warrant for his arrest and continue his trial in absentia.

Abubakar, on Nov. 23, 2020, also prayed the court to make an order for his surety, Sen. Ndume, to forfeit the N500 million bail bond or be committed to prison pending when he was able to pay the money into the federation account or produce Maina, who was alleged to have jumped bail.

Justice Abang granted EFCC’s prayers and ordered Ndume to be remanded in prison, pending when he fulfilled either of the three conditions contained in the order.

However, after spending about four days at Kuje Prison, Ndume was released on bail following his lawyer’s application at the Court of Appeal against his remand, along with an application for his bail before Justice Abang.

The senator, who was granted bail based on his record of good behaviour before the court and the discretionary powers of the court, was ordered to produce one surety who must be a responsible person and a resident of Abuja and must present evidence of ownership of a landed property anywhere within the FCT.

In addition, the surety must also depose to an affidavit of means to indicate his readiness to forfeit the bail guaranty should the senator jump bail, among others.

Vanguard

Army Launches New Military Operation In South East, Vows To End Insecurity

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October 5, 2021

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Farouk Yahaya, has stated that emerging security threats over the continued existence of the country are real, necessitating the operation, Golden Dawn, in the South East.

Speaking in Enugu, Monday, while flagging off the joint military exercise for Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, he stressed that the army would do all in its power to preserve the country’s unity.

He vowed to restore security in the South East region, especially in Anambra, for the conduct of the November 6 governorship election.

While disclosing that Exercise Still Waters would be conducted in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Rivers and Lagos states, he added that parts of the North Central and the Federal capital territory (FCT) would have Exercise Enduring Peace.

The military operation, which began Monday, according to the army boss, would run till December 23, to strengthen the cordial relationship between the army and the communities, as well as combat armed robbery, pipeline vandalism, banditry, and emerging threats by gunmen.

“Exercise Still Water is designed to checkmate incidents of piracy, oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism, militancy among others in the South South and South West,” he added.

At The Inauguration Of PM Abiy Ahmed, Buhari Calls For Peace, Stability In Ethiopia

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October 5, 2021

President Muhammadu Buhari has sued for peace and stability in Ethiopia, amid the many challenges facing the East African country.

Buhari made the call on Monday at the inauguration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for a second five-year term in office, pledging that Nigeria would continue to support the unity and territorial integrity of Ethiopia.

“We are well aware of the many challenges facing the people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and we encourage all parties to come together in the interest of the unity, progress and well-being of Ethiopia,” Buhari was quoted as saying via a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina.

“Your Excellency, you, therefore, have a great opportunity to continue to work for the peace and stability of Ethiopia.”

The President told the newly-inaugurated Prime Minister that Nigeria, like many countries, was counting on his leadership to unleash the great economic potentials of Ethiopia by expanding investment opportunities, deepening relations and building trust at home and abroad.

R-L: President of Senegal, Macky Sall; Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed; President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh; President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde; President Buhari, President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit and Somalian President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo at the Inauguration of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa on 4th Oct 2021

He also commended the courage and commitment of the people of Ethiopia to the values and principles of democracy on the elections that brought the 2019 Nobel Peace Laureate back to power.

According to Buhari, the outcome of the elections held in June is a reflection of the desire of the Ethiopian people for transformation through a free, fair and credible electoral process.

The Nigerian leader noted that Abiy’s victory at the election, clearly affirmed the confidence of the Ethiopian people in his leadership, courage and credentials, adding that it also underscores his years of contributions to the development of Ethiopia’s modern democracy.

While wishing the Prime Minister a successful tenure, the President said he looked forward to more fruitful and robust engagements between the two countries.

The Presidents of Uganda, South Sudan, Djibouti, Senegal, Kenya, Somalia and the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo attended the event.

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Ikpeazu Dares FG, Moves To Repair Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Rd Without Approval After Death Of MOUAU Student

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October 4, 2021

Abia State governor Dr Okezie Ikpeazu in what appears to be calling the bluff of the FG has directed the state ministry of works to mobilize Pumeco Construction Company to move to the failed portion of Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road and fix it from Wednesday with or without the approval of the federal government.

Recall that the bad state of the federal road which leads to the prestigious Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike has remained a nightmare to commuters who ply the road.

Just on Sunday, a report filtered the air that one Miss Chidinma Ogbonna, a final year student of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management of the University died as a result of bad state of the road.

According to a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu which was made available to ABN TV, the governor had last week directed the Commissioner for Works, Elder Bob Ogu mobilise contractor to the site after receiving reports on the terrible state of the federal road.

After accessing state of the road, the Commissioner informed the governor that a written permission is required from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing before the state can commence any repair work, as the said road has already been awarded by the federal government and handed over to the contractors who are citing inadequate funding for their refusal to commence work.

Chief Okiyi Kalu stated further, “At that point, the Governor was really furious and asked: “is there a deliberate plan to totally destroy trade and commerce in this state and punish our people?” He recalled that the federal government also awarded Aba-Ikot Ekpene Highway since 2017 and could not do any effective work on it for so long up to this year to the extent that the state government had to commence reconstruction of the road from Opobo Junction, Aba, area using rigid pavement (cement) technology.

“Aside from Aba-Ikot Ekpene and Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Federal Highways that are in terrible conditions, other federal roads leading to our major commercial and agricultural hubs such as Abe-Port Harcourt Segment of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway, Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Ohafia Road, Arochukwu-Ohafia-Bende Road etc, are death traps that cannot, by any standard, be described as roads.”

According to the Commissioner for Information, most painful part is that the affected roads are the major roads leading to the centres of trade, commerce and agriculture in the state, insisting that they are the mainstay of the people.

According to the Commissioner, visitors to the state form opinions about the state based on the poor state of these federal roads, adding that until they are fixed it will remain difficult to appreciate the work the Ikpeazu-led administration has done to renew infrastructure in Abia since 2015.

He also recalled how the Federal Government allegedly frustrated efforts by the state to fix the Osisioma-NNPC Depot Federal Road in Aba, some years back and refused to act on it afterwards.

“Abia State Government moved to fix the Osisioma-NNPC Depot Road in Aba, belonging to the federal government, two years ago and after working on more than 1km of the road the federal ministry of works sent a letter directing the Abia State government to leave the federal road which they claimed to have been awarded for reconstruction.

“Two years down the line, absolutely nothing has been done as the federal contractor claims he is yet to be funded. Our appeal to allow us to fix the key road for a future refund fell on deaf ears.”

The Governor according to the Commissioner expresses sympathy over the death of the student, saying the government is in solidarity with MOUAU students who have protested death of their colleague.

“In addition, the Governor expresses his personal condolences and that of the good people of Abia State to the bereaved family, students and staff of the university over the sad and unfortunate incident.

“Abia state Government is in solidarity with the students who protested earlier today and wishes to assure them that help is on the way. Aside from the palliative work we are commencing this Wednesday, we will engage the federal ministry of works on the need to fund road projects in our state or allow us to work on those roads already tied with federal contracts.

“For now, we are moving in and hope to do more for our people as the rains abate” the Commissioner added.

Facebook Outage Likely Caused By Internal Mistake; Outside Hack Less Likely

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October 4, 2021

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went offline for users across the globe, the social media giant said on Monday, as it worked on restoring the services after being hit by one of its longest outages.

The disruption, which hit Facebook’s platforms minutes before noon, comes a day after a whistleblower accused the firm of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation.

Shares of Facebook (FB.O), which has nearly 2 billion daily active users, opened lower after the weekend’s whistleblower report and slipped further to trade down 5.3% in afternoon trading on Monday. They were on track for their worst day in nearly a year, amid a broader selloff in technology stocks on Monday.

Facebook was inaccessible because users were not being directed to the correct place by the Domain Name System. Facebook itself controls the relevant settings.

DNS allows web addresses to take users to their destinations. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc (AKAM.O) took down multiple websites in July.

Security experts tracking the situation said the outage likely was triggered by a configuration error that left directions to Facebook servers unavailable. That could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible.

An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm one of the world’s most popular sites, on the other hand, would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique.

Facebook acknowledged users were having trouble accessing its apps but did not provide any specifics about the nature of the problem or how many were affected by the outage.

“We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,” Facebook tweeted about 30 minutes after the first reports of the outage.

Facebook’s response was made much more difficult because employees lost access to some of their own tools in the shutdown, people tracking the matter said.

Downdetector – which only tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform – showed there were more than 50,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Facebook and Instagram. The outage might be affecting a larger number of users.

Meanwhile, the social-media giant’s instant messaging platform WhatsApp was also down for over 35,000 users, while Messenger was down for nearly 9,800 users.

Facebook has experienced similar widespread outages with its suite of apps this year in March and July.

Several users using their Facebook credentials to log in to third-party apps such as Pokemon Go and Match Masters were also facing issues.

“If your game isn’t running as usual please note that there’s been an issue with Facebook login servers and the moment this gets fixed all will be back to normal,” puzzle game app Match Masters said on its Twitter account.

Woman Beheads Her Husband Over Cheating

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October 4, 2021