The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Police structure inadequate to curb insecurity, says Fayemi

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said the existing police structure is grossly inadequate to curb the prevailing security challenge confronting the country.

    Fayemi advocated for state police as the panacea to the multifaceted insecurity menace facing the country and to facilitate better security cover for the 170 million Nigerian citizens.

    Speaking in Ado-Ekiti on Monday evening while appearing on  the monthly programme, tagged: “Meet Your Governor” aired by Ekiti-based  media outfits, the governor said the state government had concluded plans to build a modern and well-equipped police station at Iwaraja, a border town between Ekiti and Osun states.

    This, he said, would stem the tide of rising waves of kidnappings and killings being perpetrated between Efon Alaaye Ekiti and Iwaraja and to make the axis safe for commuters.

    Fayemi said he has been facilitating series of meetings across the country and Southwest in particular as the Chairman of Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum on the need to have a joint security network that will stamp out evil-doers from the zone.

    Read Also: How to surmount security challenges, by Fayemi

    “The governors, traditional rulers and other stakeholders are meeting across the Southwest and we are taking steps to ensure that our people are safe to do their businesses without fear of being killed or kidnapped.

    “In Ekiti, we are going to build a modern police station between Efon and Iwaraja to patrol the section where we had had reported cases of kidnappings and other crimes.”

    “Very soon, our people will be seeing leopard branded patrol vehicles of the Operation Rapid Response Squad (RRS). This is a modern security outfit that will be operating in Ekiti and other Southwest states. They are to work hand-in-hand with each other to ward off any form of security threat.

    “This issue of security is more important to me  than any other issue or policy of government, because if this place is safe, investors will surely come in and do businesses with us,”, he said.

    The governor added that the Ekiti State Security Trust had been signed into law and this, he said, would help in fortifying the security architecture of the state when it begins operation.

    On the issue of salary, Fayemi assured the workers of regular payment of salaries and pensions, saying the era when payment of civil servants’  benefits  were considered as favour rather than a right was over.

    “Apart from regular payment of their benefits, we are also assuring them that the backlog of salaries and pension will be paid,” the governor said.

  • ‘Ondo Assembly worst in infrastructural facilities’

    It has been revealed that the Ondo State House of Assembly Complex is the worst in terms of infrastructure in the country.

    The lawmakers lamented that the administration of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and the previous administrations had failed to release money for the renovation of the complex.

    Through the Chairman House Committee on Information, Gbenga Omole, the legislators said a snake was found inside the hallowed chamber last Wednesday while the termites-invested ceiling of the chamber caved in, preventing the plenary session from being held.

    This development forced the Assembly to adjourn sitting indefinitely.

    The lawmakers had earlier claimed to have no financial capacity to carry out project on the Assembly complex.

    Read Also: No snake dropped on me during plenary, says Ondo Speaker

    They advocated for total autonomy of the legislative arm of government for proper functioning.

    The parliamentarians also blamed Akeredolu’s media team for allegedly doctoring the videotape of the event that happened when the governor inspected the Assembly complex after the snake appearance.

    In a communiqué issued at the parliamentary meeting held at the Speaker’s official  Lodge, Alagbaka, Akure, the Ondo legislators reiterated that the Assembly complex was in a state of dilapidation and needed urged renovation.

    The  meeting was presided over by the Speaker of the Assembly, Bamidele Oloyeloogun and the communique was read by the lawmaker , representing Ese Odo State Constituency, Success Torukerijo.

    However, Commissioner for Information Mr. Donald Ojogo said he could not react on the issue.

  • Kwara governor alive to workers’ yearnings, says colleges

    Worker’ unions in Kwara State Colleges of Education have hailed Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his prompt resolution of the crisis that had affected the schools for the last four years, describing him as “being alive to the yearnings of workers”.

    The unions, in a statement by their chairman Imam Abdulkadir and scribe Muritala Sulauman, said: “The entire members of staff of Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin; College of Education, Oro; College of Education (Technical), Lafiagi; and Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies (CAILS), Ilorin; under the auspices of Committee of Unions in Tertiary Institutions (CUTI), wish to express gratitude to Governor AbdulRazaq for his quick intervention on the challenges facing the colleges.

    “The unions appreciate Governor Abdulrazaq’s prompt release of Accreditation Grants to College of Education (Technical), Lafiagi, and College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies as well as the fulfilment of his promise towards prompt payment of monthly subvention to the Colleges. The governor is no doubt alive to the yearnings and aspirations of the workers of the state-owned tertiary institutions with a view to repositioning the education sector of the state.”

    Read Also: A college’s many challenges

    The state-owned tertiary institutions have for the past four years suffered serious neglect during the tenure of the immediate past governor.

    The unions have appealed to the governor to pay the remaining arrears of salary owed them by the last administration, release accreditation funds for Colleges of Education in Ilorin  and Oro, and implement some other agreements the past administration struck with the workers of the colleges.

    AbdulRazaq recently met with the leadership of the schools to listen to their complaints, following which he released N50 million for the payment of their salaries and re-accreditation of at least two of them after many years of crisis that had grounded the institutions.

  • 59,000 candidates for UNILORIN post-UTME screening

    No fewer than 59,306 candidates are expected to sit for the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) post-Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

    The four-day screening exercise for the 2019/2020 academic session, which began on Monday simultaneously at the university main campus and Lagos centre, will end tomorrow.

    The university’s spokesperson, Kunle Akogun, said the breakdown of the figure showed that 51,868 are UTME candidates and the remaining 7,438 are Direct Entry candidates.

    The vice-chancellor, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, had put the carrying capacity of the university for the 2019/2020 admission at about 10,000 students.

    Read Also: Welcome end to Unilorin ASUU crisis

    He said the screening exercise, which began at 7a.m., was very peaceful, adding that the candidates comported themselves in an orderly manner.

    However, some parents had complained that requirements to sit for the Computer Based Test (CBT) should be spelt out to candidates in the future.

    They added that so many candidates were disturbed when asked to produce certain documents before they could sit for the test.

    They urged the institution’s management to provide adequate transportation into and outside the university campus, saying that the large population of candidates and their guardians had compounded transportation challenge.

  • El-Zakzaky’s group is fake, says Shi’ites group

    Factional Shi’ite’s organisation, Al-Thaqalayn Cultural Foundation, has described the Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky-led Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) as a fake movement.

    The group urged the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to desist from using the IMN crises to make Nigeria another testing ground for their struggle for regional supremacy.

    It said IMN was not synonymous to Shi’ism “and neither of the two is interchangeable”.

    Secretary General of the factional Shi’ite’s group, Sheikh Hamza Muhammad Lawal, who spoke at a news conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, said he was once a member of IMN between 1981 and 2000, after he returned from Qum, Islamic Republic of Iran, where he studied Theology.

    According to him, “IMN started in the late 1970s as a socio-cultural and politico-religious revivalist movement, drawing its inspiration and taking its cue from essentially Sunni activists from countries like Egypt and Pakistan.

    Read Also: Why we named IMN terrorist group, by IG

    “It was an offshoot of the Muslim Students Society (MSS), and its birth coincided with the inception of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, which gave it a living and contemporary example of what it was yearning for, and therefore it got attracted and gravitated to its political message.

    “When the leader of IMN, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, became a Shiite afterwards, he fell into the dilemma of either abandoning his Sunni revivalist movement or risking the possibility of losing his followers, or continuing with the movement with all its Sunni content but a Shi’ite face. He chose the latter, and that has been his undoing.

    “Sheikh El-Zakzaky has not been able to complete his process of migration from Sunni activism to Shiite evangelism. His movement is a curious hybrid and a concoction, a dangerously unstable cocktail of incoherent and disorganised hallucinations and fantasies that only exist in their wildest dreams. In fact, when push comes to shove and a critical study of IMN is done, it may turn out that it is much, much closer to Sunni Islam.

    “The press should, therefore, seriously note this and start calling IMN by the name it has given itself, IMN. The press is thus hereby called upon to appreciate the difference between IMN and Shi’ism. IMN is not another name for Shi’ism. The two are neither synonymous nor interchangeable.”

    He, however, appealed to the Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i to use his good office and withdraw the case against Sheikh El Zakzaky in the Kaduna High Court.

  • Why we named IMN terrorist group, by IG

    The Police have shed more light on why the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) was proscribed.

    Inspector General (IG) Mohammed Adamu, during a meeting with other senior police officers in Abuja, highlighted the reasons for the proscription.

    Adamu said the IMN was “pledging allegiance to foreign countries from where they are enjoying political, financial and training support with the aim of advancing their destabilising intents within Nigeria”.

    Other reasons include: “Unauthorised blocking of public highways, engagement in illegal roadblocks, imposition of illegal curfews and checkpoints, raids on security assets, prevention of arrest of their members, invasion of court premises to abort legal proceedings involving IMN members, refusal to submit to ordinary security checks and attacks on security agents, which led to the death of several Nigerians;

    “Setting up of a para-military guard known as ‘HURRAS’ through which IMN has been terrorising local residents. They have also instituted unregistered security outfits and performed paramilitary ceremonies, hoisting of flags, combat exercises, parades and inspection by the IMN leader reminiscent of a state authority;

    “Provocative preaching and hate speeches aimed at inciting members against non-members while working towards its agenda of creating an Islamic State in Nigeria and challenging the legitimacy of the Federal Government in favour of Islamic government, non-recognition of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, non-recognition of state authority, non-recognition of our democratic values and disrespect for our judicial processes.”

    The police boss added: “The IMN has over the years manifested its penchant for launching attacks on Nigerians and the symbols of state authority. Since 2018 till date, the IMN has engaged in coordinated and organised violent protests within the Federal Capital Territory.

    Read Also: MURIC endorses proscription of Shiites

    “Two weeks ago, the IMN extended its violent protest on July 9, 2019 to the National Assembly in the course of which they violently attacked and fatally injured security operatives in an attempt to overrun the National Assembly and threaten the nation’s democratic order.

    “The protesters overwhelmed the first gate of the complex, inflicting damage on the security post, and marched on to the second one just before the main complex while the lawmakers were in session. The protesters also damaged a police vehicle and several other vehicles belonging to visitors, lawmakers and staff of the National Assembly, who also sustained varying degrees of injuries.

    The IG added that on July 22, 2019, the IMN members again launched another vicious cycle of violent protest around the Federal secretariat during which they set a sub-station of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) containing a truck and an ambulance on fire.

    According to the police boss, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Umar, in charge of Operations at the FCT Police Command and Precious Owolabi, a National Youth Service Corp member in the FCT, were killed and several others injured with many properties destroyed by them.

    “The violent activities of IMN under the guise of clamouring for the release of their leader, who is being detained on the order of a court of competent jurisdiction in Kaduna State, has not only confirmed their disdain for due legal processes, but has heightened tension and insecurity in the country in a manner that confirms that their motivation is to destabilise the country.

    But, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Cardinal John Onayeikan on Tuesday described the proscription of the Shi’ite movement by the Federal Government as an error.

    What this meant, Onaiyekan said, is that other religious beliefs in the country are under threat as the government could simply obtain a court order and proscribe them.

    He said this while speaking to reporters in Abuja on the schedule for the celebration of his 50th priestly ordination and the launch of a book  in his honour titled, ‘Thy will be done: A portrait of John Cardinal Onaiyekan,’ slated for tomorrow.

    The cleric  said Nigerians must press the government to respect the rights of religious groups to exist and operate in the country.

    He also complained that the 43 ministerial nominees confirmed by the Senate are too many to run government.

    His words: “The proscription portrays us as a country where government can wake up one day, get a court order from nowhere that a particular religious group is proscribed. If we allow that to go, it means Catholics and my own religion too can be proscribed any day by any government who manages to get any judge to issue an ex-parte or non ex-parte order.”

    The cleric stressed that the security situation had worsened in the last five years under the current administration, noting that Nigerians were no longer safe on the roads.

  • Indian hemp suspect held

    The police in Ogun State have arrested an illegal substance dealer caught with 17 bags of weed suspected to be marijuana.

    Daniel Elimuya, a resident of 9, General Hospital Street, Iyana-Ira in Agbara, was arrested around 6:30pm on July 28 at Ibafo.

    It was learnt that the suspect hid the weed inside a vehicle he travelled in from Delta State to Lagos.

    The Nation gathered that the police received a tip-off about the vehicle with number plate GGE782EX and intercepted it.

    Read Also: NSCDC intercepts suspected Indian hemp valued at N72m in Lagos

    Confirming the arrest, police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the bags were hidden inside the vehicle and were discovered after a search.

    He said the suspect was arrested and he confessed to have been a marijuana distributor and was going to Lagos Island to deliver the weed to one Kofo.

    “Police Commissioner Bashir Makama has ordered the transfer of the suspect and exhibits to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for further investigation.

     

  • House help’s ‘trial’ for ‘killing’ employer, daughter, adjourned for 86 days  

    An Ebute-Meta Magistrates Court in Lagos State said on Tuesday that it had yet to receive the Directorate of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP’s) advice on the murder charge filed by the police against a house help, Joseph Ogbu.

    Magistrate O. A. Olagbende adjourned further proceedings till October 24, or for 86 days.

    She gave the long adjournment because the court will be on vacation between August and September.

    Olagbende noted that the adjournment should have been for 30 days.

    She, however, observed that depending on the DPP’s report, the Lagos State Government could take over the case and transfer it to the high court during the adjournment period.

    The court remanded Ogbu, 22, in Ikoyi Prison on June 27, following his arraignment by the police on a temporary three-count charge of murder and stealing.

    He was accused of killing his 89-year-old employer, Adejoke John, and her 36-year-old daughter, Oreoluwa John, on June 19, barely two days after he was employed.

    The State Criminal Investigation Department (SCIID), Yaba, Lagos alleged that Ogbu stabbed Oreoluwa to death after she turned down his demand for N4,000 on the second day of his employment.

    He, afterwards, strangled Mrs. Adejoke John.

    Read Also: Woman inserts pepper in housemaid’s private part over N26,000 theft

    Police counsel O. W. Ologun said the defendant committed the offences on June 19, at about 10pm, at his employer’s 4, Ogunlana Drive, Surulere, Lagos home.

    He alleged that the defendant stole his employer’s Toyota Camry car, Gionee, Itel and Nokia phones, a power bank, a pair of scissors, two cutlasses, an LG Plasma TV and a handbag containing clothes and towels.

    According to him, murder contravenes Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, while stealing offends Section 287 of the same law.

    Ogbu was not represented by a lawyer.

    An Investigative Police Officer (IPO), who did not identify himself by name, also narrated how Ogbu allegedly killed the women.

    He said: “On June 18, the deceased employed him as her house help. The next day, he accosted her that he needed N4,000. The deceased’s daughter said ‘when did you come that you are already demanding money?’ That was when he had an issue with the daughter and he stabbed her several times in the stomach and she fell and died. The mother was inside her room hearing them. The daughter was saying ‘Mummy! Mummy! Joseph has killed me! Joseph has killed me!’ As she (the mother) tried to come out, he grabbed the 89-year-old woman and strangled her. That was around 9pm. He was there until around 2am. He then took the key of the deceased’s car, opened the gate and drove out. He had earlier removed the plasma TV from the wall in the parlour and put it in the car along with other items.”

    He said the defendant was caught by security men on the street as he tried to drive off.

  • Two feared killed in varsity cult attack

    Two students of the Rivers State University (RSU), Diobu, Port Harcourt, are feared killed in a two-day attack suspected to be cult related.

    Although the police command confirmed the death of one, Prince Barisua Tuaka, a final year student in the Department of Forestry and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, one other student was allegedly killed in another cult attack on the campus.

    Read Also: Police arrest five ‘armed robbers’, 72 ‘cultists

    Command spokesman Nnamdi Omoni, who confirmed Tuaka’s killing to The Nation on Tuesday, said he was shot in the head on Monday by a suspected rival cult member, and was taken to a nearby hospital where he died.

    He said: “I can confirm the death yesterday (Monday), of a student, Prince Tuaka.

    “He was a 500 level student of RSU from Khana Local Government of Rivers State. He was shot on the campus. We are suspecting cult activity. However, peace has been restored, as security has been tightened.”

  • Airport boss decries attack on workers

    The Regional General Manager, South West Airports, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Victoria Shin-Aba, has decried the attacks on airport officials, over indiscriminate parking of vehicles in unauthorised areas, by uniform men and escort personnel.

    Shin-Aba, who addressed reporters in her office at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, expressed displeasure over the flagrant abuse of power by uniform men and escort vehicle personnel.

    She said the uncooperative attitude of the public, especially VIPs, remained the greatest challenge the management was facing.

    Read Also: Pilots decry state of airports’ runways, other facilities

    According to her, the security committee earlier set up was disbanded because it did not achieve its purpose, as most of the members were not ready to discipline other officials.

    Shin-Aba said the Aviation Security Personnel (AVSEC) were subjected to embarrassment by gun carrying uniform men.

    On ensuring a tout free environment, the airport manager said a task force was combing the airport environment on a daily basis to get rid of hawkers and bike operators popularly called okada riders.

    She said motorcycles had been confiscated by the task force, while effort was being made with the Lagos State Government to move any mentally unstable person apprehended to them for rehabilitation.