By Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

Kwara state police command Wednesday paraded two suspected kidnappers of four Turkish nationals in Ilorin, the state capital.

Police said that the suspects, Umaru Mohammed Tambaya (29) and Muhammed Tambaya Bell (26) allegedly participated in the kidnap of four nationals at Gbugbu village, Edu local government area of the state in July 2019.

The kidnapped nationals had since been released without payment of ransom, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Bagega has said.

Parading the suspects in Ilorin, Mr. Bagega said that “concerted effort by the men of the command and members of the community-led to the arrest of four of the kidnappers then with one AK47 rife. The two above escaped arrest. The command has been in the search for the two fleeing suspects.

“Actionable intelligence, however, indicated that the suspects were planning to carry out another operation and my operatives swooped on them and arrested them.”

The commissioner added that the suspects confessed to be members of the six-man syndicate that abducted the four Turkish citizens.

“They also confessed to have participated in several other kidnap incidents, especially along the Enugu/Abakaliki axis of the South East of the country,” the police chief added.

READ ALSO: Turkey imposes advertising bans on Twitter, other media platforms

The commissioner also paraded one Akinsola Babatunde aka Mr. White for allegedly planning to organize a nude party in Ilorin, the state capital.

He said that the suspect advertised the proposed party on social media, demanding would-be participants to a sum of N20,000 to a designated bank.

He added that the suspect and his cohorts are into organizing strip/naked parties in lounges, club house, service apartments in Ilorin and its environs.

He said: “Operatives of the state Intelligence Bureau attached to the command carried out a sting operation involving tactical undercover and maneouvre arrested the suspect who had advertised for a strip party in Ilorin on social media and successfully organized a party in a service apartment at Joab street, behind Shoprite.

“The immoral and illegal action of the suspect and his accomplices clearly contradicted the COVID-19 protocols and equally promotes crime and criminality.”

Our Reporter

COVID-19 spared no one. It has been emotionally, psychologically, monetarily, and physically challenging for everyone. But as always, some had the grit and the means to wade through the uncertainty better than others. However, now more than ever is the time to realize our potential as a diverse community, a non-homogenous uniformity, and a species that looks out for each other.

Digital marketing expert Wanner Aarts believes that making donations is one way for us to stand together for those who are unable to stand for themselves due to Covid. He’s on a mission to encourage people to make timely donations amidst the pandemic.

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And with the approaching winter, they will be in dire need of appropriate clothing and enough food.”
Wanner also says that donating to charities that are working towards bringing “vaccine, soap, gloves, masks, and access to clean water to children is needed as we speak. Children are low on immunity and the virus can be a huge threat to infants and kids under the age of five. Timely medical attention and immunity boosters will help them have a chance against Covid. When we secure a child’s life we also secure the life of the parents, who feel empowered and motivated by the help coming their way.”

The elderly have been at the greatest risk since the outbreak of Covid. Many had no support system to speak of and others were unable to benefit from the support they normally would have because of quarantine. Wanner says, “You can invest in charities that arrange registered nurses for the elderly. You can also invest in local food-delivery services that can deliver hot meals to their doorstep. This might help them cope better with the crisis.”
Covid-19 has been a wake-up call for the world. It has shown us our vulnerabilities and our strengths. But most importantly it has shown us our willingness to fight back and secure all that we hold dear to our heart and which sustains our world. Donating is a good way to unite as a force against Covid-19 and become a shield for the weak and less fortunate amongst us.

The incoming Biden administration is inheriting from President Donald Trump an Iran-focused social media campaign that dramatically boosted U.S. engagement with Iranians by sharply criticizing their Islamist rulers, a strategy that President-elect Joe Biden appears set to change.

Trump and his State Department used a variety of social media channels, messaging techniques and languages to exert what they called “maximum pressure” on Iran’s ruling clerics to stop perceived malign behaviors.

One dividend of that strategy was a huge increase in audience for the State Department’s Farsi-language Instagram account, according to Gabriel Noronha, who ran its Farsi social media channels from late 2019 to late 2020. In a recent interview with VOA Persian, Noronha said the department’s USAdarFarsi (USA in Farsi) Instagram account grew its followers from 147,000 in January 2019 to 759,000 in January 2021, a more than five-fold increase in a two-year period.

The USAdarFarsi Facebook and Twitter channels also have more than 700,000 followers.

Noronha said most engagement for the USAdarFarsi Instagram account comes from inside Iran where Instagram is the only major Western-run social media platform that Iranians can access freely. Facebook and Twitter are blocked by the Iranian government, leaving them accessible only to tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks.

Noronha said VPNs, which hide a user’s true location, make it hard for the State Department to determine how much traffic for its Persian Facebook and Twitter accounts comes from inside Iran versus from the Iranian diaspora. “For the USAdarFarsi Twitter account, I’d say about half of our traffic comes from Iran and the other half from the U.S. and Europe,” Noronha said. “The Facebook account is somewhere between Twitter and Instagram (in terms of the amount of traffic that comes from Iran),” he added.

Read Also: Trump prepares to depart White House ahead of Biden’s inauguration

The types of posts that got the most engagement on the USAdarFarsi accounts had three main themes, according to Noronha.

“Iranian social media users were most appreciative when we posted messages that supported their denunciations of the Iranian regime for imprisoning and executing rights activists, that endorsed their calls for anti-government protests and that celebrated Iranian cultural traditions pre-dating the nation’s 1979 Islamic Revolution,” he said. Iran’s post-revolution clerical rulers have discouraged the observance of popular festivals and other cultural practices that they see as inconsistent with their fundamentalist view of Islam.

Noronha said there was especially high traffic for Farsi-language tweets on Trump’s personal Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, which Twitter permanently suspended earlier this month citing perceived incitement to violence, a move denounced by Trump as an attempt to silence his free speech.

Trump tweeted in Farsi seven times during his presidential term, according to the Trump Twitter Archive, an online resource cited by U.S. news outlets. His first Farsi tweet, posted on February 11, 2019, got 65,000 likes and accused Iran’s rulers of 40 years of corruption, repression, terror and failure as they marked the 40th anniversary of their revolution.

Trump’s second Farsi tweet posted on January 11, 2020 contained a message in support of Iranian street protests against the Iranian military’s downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane shortly after it took off from Tehran three days earlier. It was the most popular of his seven Farsi tweets, drawing 340,000 likes. Trump’s message said: “To the brave and suffering people of Iran: I have stood with you since the beginning of your presidency and my government will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely. Your courage is inspiring.”

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

The event will mark a historic end to Trump’s rocky presidency and a tumultuous transition period in which the outgoing president refused to acknowledge his election loss and incited a violent insurrection at the US Capitol that resulted in five deaths.

Biden’s inauguration comes as the nation’s capital is heavily fortified amid continued threats from Trump supporters to disrupt the transfer of power. Around 25,000 troops have been deployed to Washington, DC, ahead of the inauguration, which is more than the number of US service members in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

The FBI warned law enforcement authorities that some violent extremists, including followers of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, may try to pose as guardsmen to get through security at the inauguration, USA Today reported, citing two people familiar with the briefing.

On Tuesday, a dozen National Guard members were removed from protecting the inauguration after authorities discovered questionable behavior. Two out of the 12 had possible ties to extremist groups, The New York Times reported.

Biden’s inauguration proceedings will begin with remarks from Father Leo J. O’Donovan, the former president of Georgetown University and a longtime friend of the Biden family. The ceremony will feature performances from prominent celebrities, including Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, and will wrap up with a benediction from Rev. Dr. Silvester Beaman.

Read Also: Trumpism: Lessons for Nigeria

In a stark contrast with previous presidential inaugurations, Trump and first lady Melania Trump will skip Wednesday’s inauguration. But outgoing Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence will be in attendance along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. McConnell and McCarthy will miss Trump’s departure ceremony and instead attend mass with Biden before the inauguration, while Pence will be absent due to logistical issues.

Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton will also be at the inauguration, as will former first ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.

Ahead of Wednesday’s ceremonies, Biden made an emotional speech bidding farewell to his home state of Delaware and paying tribute to his late son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

“Excuse the emotion, but when I die, Delaware will be written on my heart,” Biden said, in reference to the Irish poet James Joyce’s famous quote in which he said Dublin was written on his heart.

Biden then mentioned Beau, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I only have one regret, that he isn’t here, because we should be introducing him as president.”

Trump, meanwhile, taped a 20-minute farewell speech that was posted to the White House’s YouTube channel because the president has been banned on every major social media platform.

Though he acknowledged that Biden will take office on Wednesday, he did not mention his successor by name and did not concede that he lost the November general election.

“This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous. We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck – a very important word,” Trump said.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

President-elect Joe Biden plans to begin immediately unwinding President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, climate and other issues on Wednesday with at least 15 executive actions, including moves to reverse U.S. withdrawals from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, and stop construction of a border wall.

Biden will also sign orders revoking a permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, imposing a mask mandate on federal property to combat the coronavirus pandemic and ending Trump’s travel ban against some predominantly Muslim and African countries.

While some of the orders roll back unilateral measures Trump imposed, others — including an extension of moratoriums on student loan payments, foreclosures and evictions — are intended to address the health and economic crisis wrought by the pandemic.

Read Also: Trump prepares to depart White House ahead of Biden’s inauguration

“We’re seeing too many Americans that are just barely keeping their heads above water,” incoming National Economic Director Brian Deese told reporters in a call previewing the executive actions.

Biden’s aides say he’ll sign more Day One executive actions than any of his predecessors, to be followed by additional regulatory and policy changes over the coming weeks. That will includes rolling back the so-called “Mexico City policy” restricting federal funding for organizations that provide abortion counseling and revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)