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Tag: shocked

  • Fed Govt shocked as Boko Haram kills aid worker

    The Federal Government yesterday expressed shock over the killing of another aid worker by Boko Haram abductors.

    The Islamists made good their threat by killing Hauwa Leman, who worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

    The organisatio on Sunday raised the alarm that the Boko Haram faction had threatened to kill the two aid workers in their custody within 24 hours.

    The Geneva-based ICRC, which often works behind the scenes for humanitarian goals in war zones, identified the kidnappers as members of ISWA – Islamic State’s offshoot in West Africa. “Speed and urgency are critical. A deadline that could result in the killing of another healthcare worker is less than 24 hours away,” the ICRC said.

    Medical workers Hauwa Mohammed Liman and Alice Loksha were working in the Borno State town of Rann when they were kidnapped along with ICRC midwife Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, who was killed in September, the ICRC said in a statement.

    ISWAP, in a statement, quoted by The Cable  said: “We have kept our word exactly as we said, by killing another humanitarian worker, Hauwa Leman, who is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that were abducted during a raid on a military facility in Rann, Kala Balge in March 2018.

    “Saifura and Hauwa were killed because they are considered as Murtads (apostates) by the group because they were once Muslims that have abandoned their Islam, the moment they chose to work with the Red Cross, and for us, there is no difference between Red Cross and UNICEF.

    “If we see them, we will kill the apostates among them, men or women, and chose to kill or keep the infidels as slaves, men or women.”

    The ISWAP also threatened to keep Leah Sharibu as a slave.

    Minister of Information Lai Mohammed in a statement issued in London by his media adviser Segun Adeyemi described the killing as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly,” saying nothing can justify the shedding of the blood of innocent people.

    The minister also commiserated with the family of the aid worker, saying the Federal Government did all within its powers to save her life.

    ”It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the Federal Government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker.

    ”As we have been doing since these young women were abducted, we kept the line of negotiations open all through. In all the negotiations, we acted in the best interest of the women and the country as a whole.

    ”We are deeply pained by this killing, just like we were by the recent killing of the first aid worker. However, we will keep the negotiations open and continue to work to free the innocent women who remain in the custody of their abductors,” the Minister said.

    “He thanked all the friendly governments that have continued to work with Nigeria for the safe release of the abducted women, and the clerics across religious lines who have been pleading for their release.”

  • ‘Foreigners shocked by Nigerians raising millions for ransom’

    Founder, Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON), Mrs Gloria Egbuji, was the only Nigerian among the 198 participants at the 16th International Symposium of the World Society of Victimology, which held at the City University of Hong Kong, between June 10 and 14. Its theme was “Victims and Victimisation: Moving Towards an International Victimology”. Egbuji shares her experience with ADEBISI ONANUGA.

    You recently came back from Hong Kong. Wwhy were you there?

    The Hong Kong trip was a world conference on victims of crimes across the globe. Usually, it comes up once in four years and at such conference, a lot of new researches, issues at international levels concerning crimes and victims are discussed. A lot of people have done researches. It is also a convergence of professors, practitioners in the criminal justice system, who meet to look at problems of crime and victimisation in the world and proffer solutions to them. It is usually an interesting summit because almost like about 198 people from different parts of the world were there and people, who knew crimes like cyber crimes, crimes against the elderly, kidnapping for ransom, trafficking, even refugees, migrants.

    New issues weighed up as to whether you can call a refugee or migrant people, who are running away from their country,  a victim or perpetrator of crime. So, it was a convergence of ideas and a lot of solutions proffered.

    What was the theme of the conference?

    The theme was: “Victims and Victimisation: Moving Towards an International Victimology”. It is an international view of victims, victimisation and criminal activities.

    How many people attended from Nigeria?

    Just me, but there were other people from Africa. From West Africa, were two, from East Africa: Kenya, Zimbabawe and Uganda. I saw people from some other African countries.

    So, what were the takeaways from the conference?

    There were a lot of takeaways. For instance, I presented a paper there on “Kidnapping for Ransom” and during my session people were asking me why and they came up with solutions on how we can deal with kidnapping for ransom. For example, they were shocked that in our country, people can muster $1 million cash, N80 million for ransom. They were thinking that in our country, we have a lot inequalities and that the financial policies of cash transactions also give room for that. And the issue of not being able to catch up with technology was another reason because they found it difficult to believe that they can kidnap someone for one week, with callings with phones, they were not trapped. So, they suggested that we should improve on our technology, tracking systems, improve on our cash economy and reduce cash system because if a kidnapper knows that they are not going to have cash, they would not kidnap people.

    They don’t kidnap in the United States and some western world for instance, they said they never paid money for ransom. And because we have easy way to get cash, that is why it is thriving. I am sure no kidnapper has time for you to go and start using credit card and all that stuff. So, those are some of the new things coming up.

    What about your core area, crime victims?

    Yes, they also came up with issues about victims of crime. They said the criminal justice system across the world focuses more on justice. They are not focusing  on victim justice because they feel that once a crime is committed against the victim, that it is a crime against the state. And once the state deals with the punishment, they don’t care about what happens to the victims of crime. So, they are now thinking that states cannot continue to spend money to arrest the perpetrator, prosecute the perpetrator, send him to prison while nothing happens to the victims. So, they are now saying that there should be a shift within the criminal justice system so that victims of crime can have what they called “Restorative Justice”. What we have in many countries now is retributive justice, which is punitive.

    They are thinking that those who become victims of crime, the state can go a step further to ensure that at least, a kind of compensation and psychological treatment are given to them because when you become a victim, you are so traumatised, you are going through a lot of things, things that can bring you back to normal situation when the crime has not happened, which is not done. So, they are now talking about victim’s justice. Restorative Justice was highly proffered, and the issue of canvassing for victim’s right, compensation for victims was also proffered.

    What other areas of criminal justice administration were considered at the world summit?

    They are coming up with how to reduce congestion in the prisons by making those convicted of minor offences go on community service instead of just piling people in prison. Like in Ikoyi Prison, you find that somebody is there because of his or her inability to meet options of fine of N5,000. I have handled a case involving option of fine of N10,000 and they have been detained for one month.

    So, in cases like that, you subject them to community services to, for instance, clean the High Courts, sweep the hospitals or the roads. They are punished this way because the offences are minor. They also looked at delay in justice delivery, which is more peculiar to us in Nigeria. Delay in justice delivery is not peculiar to most other countries because you can become a perpetrator and they delay you, keeping you in prison for three years for an offence that you were to serve for two years. So, all those issues concerning criminal justice administration were discussed.

    Any new area of crime?

    Yes. They also looked at upcoming crimes, crimes that were not there before like cyber crime, which is now a crime across the world. They still have not been able to nip the issue of cyber crime. Some areas are still left for more researches to be carried out. Cyber crime is an area that is worrisome. But the takeaway for us is that we should look at restorative justice, which our fore fathers practiced before.

    They used it to deal with criminal offenders and it yielded more results and it made for balanced justice for both the victim and the perpetrator. If somebody is stealing in a family, in the traditional setting for instance, the family is shamed and they are not going to allow it. In those kind of situation, they wanted to look at what works and what doesn’t so that there can be a shift and change of narratives in some of the things we are doing.

    On prison decongestion, what do you think of probation and parole system in our criminal justice administration?

    Emphasis was also laid on that at that summit, but in Nigeria now, if we talk about probation, we begin to ask about the facilities that we have to even reform prisoners that will not make them to go out and commit crimes again. Probation is very good, but again, we noted at that summit that in a country where inequality is high, you cannot stop crime.

    In Nigeria, we have a lot of inequalities. Some people are very rich and many people are very poor and when things get to a level, people have to survive and so you see a lot of survival crime. That is why people are creating all sorts of ways to survive because they want to survive. So, probation can be a very good thing if it works. But now, there are so many things within the prison system, which we don’t know, which we ought to do but we are not doing.

    At the Ikoyi Prison, whose capacity is supposed to be about 800, as at last month, they had over 1,400 inmates and out of them only about 400 are convicted inmates. So, when we talk about probation now, we have to deal first with awaiting trials, which is our major problem causing congestion in the prison. You can’t talk about these things without talking about the entire justice system. Decongestion of prisons starts from what the courts send to them. Most of the cases the courts are not dealing with would remain there waiting for Ministry of Justice’s advice. So, when you look at what is happening at the Ministry of Justice and at the judiciary, it affects the prisons. The prison is just a dumping ground. But there is no doubt that probation is a very good way to deal with prison congestion.

    How do you intend to ensure that all these takeaways get to the government and the public, especially as the government was not represented?

    I would have loved to have a conference to sell the ideas of what we got from the summit. I know we have to involve the mass media, but I know the media is not cheap. To get it out now is to continue to talk about it and maybe sometimes, like when we were talking about gunshot wound victims that hospitals should treat them, we waited for a very famous person from the media to be shot. Bayo Ohu, an Editor of The Guardian was shot and killed in his house at Okota, Lagos.

    He went to the hospital for treatment, but they refused to treat him. So, Bayo Ohu died and it became headlines. We used that opportunity to continue to raise our voice and we were there campaigning for victims of gunshot to be treated without police report and then report later. The President signed that bill into law last year which is good. People can now go to hospital and be treated without Police report.

    My intention is to make presentations to the Federal Ministry of Justice, but I would first of all continue to talk to the public through the media to see whether they can help me spread the news until it gets to the policy makers. They are things that they are not thinking about.

    The government is not concerned about victim justice just because they don’t understand it. Like you now, if you lose your phone and report it to the police, you don’t get your phone back. The people who stole it must have terrorised you, the police will just go and prosecute the case, they don’t care whether you got your phone  back, they don’t even care what happened to you, whether you went through trauma, nobody cares. They don’t even inform you about what is going on in your case. So, they need victims for success in criminal justice.

  • Shocked Buhari probes IDPs camps rape claims

    Shocked Buhari probes IDPs camps rape claims

    Human Rights Watch unveils damning report

    A 17-year-old girl has told of how a policeman raped her and put her in the family way at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in the Northeast.

    She told Human Rights Watch (HRW): “One day he demanded to have sex with me. I refused but he forced me. It happened just that one time, but soon I realised I was pregnant.”

    “When I informed him about my condition, he threatened to shoot and kill me if I told anyone else. So I was too afraid to report him,” the girl said.

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday ordered a probe into the HRW report, which alleges massive sexual and rights abuses in the IDPs camps.

    Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris and Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima are to investigate the HRW report.

    Those in the camps were displaced from their homes by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    On his twitter handle (@MBuhari), the President said:  ”I have seen the new @hrw report, and asked the Inspector-General of Police and concerned State Governors to investigate immediately.”

    His positon was reinforced in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam  Garba Shehu,  that the President is ”worried and shocked” and that the welfare of the most vulnerable of Nigerian citizens has been a priority of the government.

    Nigerians and the international community, he said, can be rest assured that the allegations raised in the HRW were not being taken lightly.

    The statenment added that “President Buhari has instructed the Inspector General of Police and the state governors of the affected states to immediately commence investigations into the issue.”

    Their findings, Shehu said, would determine the next course of action for the government and define an appropriate response.

    “While the Nigerian military continues to work hard so that these unfortunate victims of Boko Haram terrorism can soon return safely to their homes, the government will do its best to ensure their protection and welfare in the temporary IDP camps,” the statement explained.

    The HRW said in a report published yesterday that it documented 43 cases of women and girls in seven IDP camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and the  epicentre of a seven-year battle with Boko Haram, who had been abused by camp leaders, policemen and soldiers.

    In July 2016 NOI Polls, a Nigerian research organisation, reported that 66 per cent of 400 displaced people in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, said camp officials sexually abuse the displaced women and girls.

    “It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun, senior researcher at the HRW.

    “It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them,” she added.

    The victims, according to the report, were displaced “from Borno towns and villages, including Abadam, Bama, Baga, Damasak, Dikwa, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza, Kukawa, and Walassa”.

    In some cases, the victims had arrived in the under-served Maiduguri camps, where their movement is severely restricted after spending months in military screening camps.

    “Four of the victims were drugged and raped while 37 were coerced into sex through false marriage promises and material and financial assistance,” the report said.

    “Women and girls are abused by members of the security forces and vigilante groups,” the report claimed, adding that the civilian self-defence groups working with government forces in their fight against Boko Haram told the group (HRW) “they feel powerless and fear retaliation if they report the abuse.”

    Four of the victims told HRW they were drugged and raped, while 37 were coerced into sex through false marriage promises and material and financial assistance.

    “Many of those coerced into sex said they were abandoned if they became pregnant. They and their children have suffered discrimination, abuse, and stigmatisation from other camp residents,” the global rights body said.

    HRW said irregular supplies of food, clothing, medicine and other essentials in camps were making the women vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

    “In some cases, men used their positions of authority and gifts of desperately needed food or other items to have sex with women,” it said.

    Boko Haram has devastated northeast Nigeria, killing over 20,000 people and displacing 2.6 million from their homes. Since taking up arms against the Nigerian government in 2009, the group has also disrupted trade routes and farms.

    Now, nearly 50,000 children face death by starvation if they don’t get food and almost 250,000 more are severely malnourished in Borno state, according to UNICEF.

    The report said: “Irregular supplies of food, clothing, medicine, and other essentials, along with restricted movement in the IDP camps in Maiduguri, compounds the vulnerability of victims – many of them widowed women and unaccompanied orphaned girls – to rape and sexual exploitation by camp officials, soldiers, police, members of civilian vigilante groups, and other Maiduguri residents.

    “Residents of the Arabic Teachers Village camp, Pompomari, told HRW in July that the camp had not received any food or medicines since late May, just before the start of the month-long Muslim fast of Ramadan.

    Restricted movement in the camps is contrary to Principle 14.2 of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which provides that internally displaced people have “the right to move freely in and out of camps and other settlements.”

    In some cases, men used their positions of authority and gifts of desperately needed food or other items to have sex with women. A woman in a Dalori camp said residents get only one meal a day. She said she accepted the advances of a soldier who proposed marriage because she needed help in feeding her four children. He disappeared five months later when she told him she was pregnant.

    The report also said: “Victims of rape and sexual exploitation may be less likely to seek health care, including psychological counselling, due to the shame they feel.

    “Fewer than five of the 43 women and girls interviewed said they had received any formal counseling after they were raped or sexually exploited.

    “A medical health worker in one of the camps, which has 10,000 residents, said that the number of people requiring treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections has risen sharply, from about 200 cases when the camp clinic was established in 2014 to more than 500 in July 2016.

    “The health worker said she believed that many more women could be infected but were ashamed to go to the clinic, and are likely to be suffering in silence without treatment.”

     

  • Iwobi shocked at PHCN over power outage

    Iwobi shocked at PHCN over power outage

    Arsenal attacking midfielder Alex Iwobi has aimed a cheeky dig at Abuja Electricity Distribution Company PLC, sometimes colloquially referred to as NEPA, after a power cut at the Super Eagles Bolton White Hotel and Apartments camp.

    Although Iwobi was born in Lagos, he has lived non-stop in England for the past 16 years, so is unaware of the reality on the ground regarding frequent power outages.

    The Gunners number 17 took to social media to express disapproval and his message was clear though he tried to play down his discomfort.

    Iwobi tweeted  on Thursday night: “When Nepa Take Light ?? #Nigeria.”

    The 20-year-old arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday from his base in north London.

  • Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, Lasun shocked

    Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, Lasun shocked

    President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly leadership yesterday expressed shock at the death of Prince Abubakar Audu.

    Buhari said he heard the news with an enormous sense of shock.

    The President, who is attending the Third Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran, Iran, spoke through a statement yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

    The President was quoted as saying: “We are obviously devastated at the loss.”

    He described the late Audu as a talented politician, a loving family head and a respected community leader.

    “He was immensely courageous,” the President added.

    The statement added: “President Buhari condoles with the family of the late governor, the government and people of Kogi State as well as our party members, men and women, who stood with Audu in his bid to return as governor. He ran as the favourite in the election as the early results have clearly shown.”

    Buhari prayed to Allah to repose his soul and give his family, the people of Kogi State and APC members the fortitude to bear this loss.

    Also yesterday, Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun described Audu’s demise as painful and shocking.

    They said the late politician died as a dogged and visionary leader.

    Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, “condoled with the family of the deceased, the government and people of Kogi State and the national and state executives as well as members of the APC on the irreparable loss”.

    He noted the tenacity of purpose and unwavering loyalty of the deceased, who, he said, remained committed to the course of his people and his party to the last moment of his life.

    Dogara, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, said APC lost one of its strong pillars, who helped built the party in Kogi State.

    The statement reads: “His death is a major setback for the APC family. But as people of faith, we cannot question the work of the Almighty God, who gives life and only Him can take it away.

    “Dogara regretted that Audu could not live to celebrate the imminent victory of the APC in the governorship election for which he was the leading candidate.

    The Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Sulaimon Lasun, said the sudden death of Abubakar was a rude shock to him.

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secteatary, Wole Oladimeji, the Deputy Speaker said Audu was a true party man, who fought till the last breath to see that APC was rooted in Kogi State.

     

  • Portfolios: How Buhari shocked some ministers

    Portfolios: How Buhari shocked some ministers

    Tinubu urges cabinet members to be creative

    President Muhammadu Buhari did not assign key portfolios to some ministers following security reports, it was learnt yesterday.

    He placed priority on expertise and performance in assigning portfolios to ministers, sources told The Nation.

    The President was also said to have disappointed some of those who lobbied for “strategic” ministries.

    Ministers may be placed under watch and  anyone who gets into trouble will be dropped, it was learnt.

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday urged them to be creative.

    According to sources, until the inauguration time, the list of portfolios was known to only Buhari and members of his “kitchen cabinet”.

    The list was kept under wraps in such a tidy manner that even the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the President’s aides were unaware.

    Six  factors, which informed the assignment of portfolios, were security reports, less exposure to politics, priority on expertise and performance, ongoing investigations of some appointees and distaste for lobbying and media profiling by some appointees ; and Buhari’s military background which sent signal to ministers that no one is assured of any position in his cabinet.

    Investigation revealed that after the nomination and confirmation of the ministers, Buhari still asked relevant agencies to conduct a more discreet investigation of the would-be ministers.

    The outcome of the “surveillance” was presented to the President and his kitchen cabinet in deciding the choice of portfolios.

    A source, who spoke in confidence last night, said: “Most of us, including the ministers themselves, were shocked when the portfolios were announced. In fact, some ministers were just unstable. The President and his inner cabinet kept the list secret. They didn’t allow it to leak at all.

    “If the portfolios had been made available to any other office or desk, we would have known. So, the President used his military background to send the first message to the ministers that he has no favourite and they should always expect surprises.

    “From the way the President assigned portfolios, nothing is settled on any minister. If anybody gets into trouble, he will not spare him or her.”

    The source also spoke on security reports on the ministers as accounting for the outlook of the portfolios.

    The source added: “There were reports that a minister had already formed a power cult around himself, such that those expected to serve under him had been paying obeisance.

    “Another minister was holding discussions with  some foreign partners based on assumption that a particular ministry had been conceded to him.

    “Some ministers were openly telling friends, associates, party leaders and even key aides to the President that they will be in charge of some ministries.

    “With security apparatchik and communication advantage,  you know the President has access to more information than anyone else. He picked some of these information and decided to surprise these ministers.

    “ He detested that some ministers had air around themselves that some ministries are their birthright.”

    Responding to a question, the source said: “You cannot rule out the fact that there are some ministers who did not get what they would have thought to be commensurate portfolios. But that is the working of the government for you.”

    The source added that security reports made the President to concede some portfolios to a few ministers  – to challenge their competence.

    Ministers with surprising portfolios following last-minute decisions by the kitchen cabinet  include Adamu Adamu(Education); Adebayo Shittu(Communications); Usani Usani(Niger Delta Affairs); Monsur Dan-Ali(Defence);  Geoffrey Onyeama(Foreign Affairs); and Cladius Daramola (Minister of State for Niger Delta), who was said to have been billed for the Education ministry.

    Another source also indicated that the President applied expertise and performance target in allotting portfolios to some ministers.

    These yardsticks were said to have accounted for the portfolios of Kemi Adeosun (Finance), Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works and Housing), Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture and Rural Development);  Abubakar Malami (Kebbi); Suleiman Adamu (Water Resources); Ibe Kachikwu (Petroleum Resources); Udo Udoma (Budget and National Planning); Prof. Isaac Adewole  (Health);  Amina Mohammed (Environment);  Dr.Osagie Ehanire (Health); Lai Mohammed (Information); and Rotimi Amaechi, Hadi Sirika (Transportation)

    The second  source added: “The thinking of the President is that most of those in this group, with the exception of Amaechi,  have no political ambition in the nearest future. They are mostly experts who can deliver on the key areas of governance which can make the change he promised to the nation a reality. What Amaechi has going for him is vitality or energy to serve and knack for quality projects.

    “With these experts manning vital ministries, there will be less pressure on them from politicians and hangers on. Their assignments alone will preoccupy them.

    “So, their portfolios were based on a performance driven target.

    A government source also claimed that some of the ongoing investigations of some ministers and the attitude of some and lobbying by some contributed to the nature of the portfolios given to them.

    “For instance, there are two or three ministers with issues. A few others sent emissaries and some erroneously confided in a few people close to the President that they will be in charge of some ministries.

    “The President decided to prove them wrong completely.”

    Asked to describe the atmosphere after the portfolios were announced, the top government official simply said: “Some ministers were certainly weak.”

  • I’m shocked, says Senate President

    I’m shocked, says Senate President

    •Alleges persecution by political opponents

    The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday expressed dismay at the Code of Conduct Tribunal’s order for his arrest.

    He also alleged persecution by those he said were using state institutions to fight their political opponents and seeking to achieve through the back door what they cannot get through democratic process.

    In a statement released in Abuja, Saraki said his dismay stemmed from the fact that the tribunal disregarded an earlier order by the Federal High Court in Abuja suspending hearing in the case till Monday.

    He said it was also a surprise that in spite of Saraki’s personality and an application by his lead counsel that he would produce him on Monday, the Tribunal insisted on issuing a warrant of arrest as if it was out to embarrass the Senate President.

    The statement, which was signed by Senator Saraki’s Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Yusuph Olaniyonu, reads: “Following the development in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) today, Friday, September 18, 2015 when the Tribunal chose to ignore the subsisting order of a Federal High Court by sitting, we hereby state our position as follows:

    “While the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has stated and maintains that he is ready to submit himself to due process of the law on any issue concerning him, he also believes he has an inalienable right to resort to the same judiciary for protection when he feels his fundamental rights are about to be infringed upon.

    “It is for this reason that Dr. Saraki, having satisfied himself that the case filed by the CCB and the manner in which the case was filed show that he will not be given justice, resorted to the Federal High Court for the determination of the issues of competence of the prosecutor as well as compliance with the procedure stipulated in the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

    “The Federal High Court on Thursday, September 17, 2015, therefore ordered that all parties in the case should appear before it on Monday, September 21, 2015. The implication of this ruling by a Court of competent jurisdiction is that the sitting today has been overtaken by event. It is for this reason that Dr. Saraki chose to go about his normal official schedule.

    “Today at the Tribunal, Counsel to the Senate President, Mr. M. A. Mahmud (SAN), raised a motion stating that there is a pending constitutional matter before the Federal High Court to be decided on Monday and that the Tribunal should hold the trial until the constitutional matter is disposed of.

    “We are however dismayed that the Tribunal chose to disregard the order of the Federal High Court and the motion to suspend hearing till Monday when all parties are expected to argue their positions on the constitutional matter.

    “It is also a surprise to us that despite the application by the lead counsel to the Senate President that he will produce Dr. Saraki on Monday and the personality of the person involved as the number three man in the country, the Tribunal insisted on issuing a warrant of arrest as if its intention is simply to embarrass Dr. Saraki.

    “We are not unmindful of the fact that the Tribunal is acting under political influence and external pressure. This is dangerous to our democracy.

    “The conduct of the Tribunal today left nobody in doubt that it cannot do justice on the matter before it.

    “It is also clear that today’s decision is an abuse of the rule of law which portends danger to our judicial system.

    “The Tribunal has equally set a bad precedent in the way and manner it conducted itself during the proceedings.

    “We want to emphasise the fact that this is not part of any war against corruption but using state institutions to fight political opponents and seeking to achieve through the back door what some people cannot get through democratic process.

    “We need to caution here that in a desperate bid to settle political scores and nail imaginary enemies, we should not destroy our democratic institutions and heat the polity for selfish reasons.

    “Let us all learn from history.”

  • Kwara Governor Ahmed, Speaker shocked

    Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Dr. Ali Ahmad, have commiserated with the government and people of Borno State on the death of the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zanna Umar Mustapha.

    Ahmed, in a condolence message by the Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahaab Oba, described the death of the Borno deputy governor as a shocking and painful loss to the progressive forces and the country at large.

    The governor prayed Allah to give the deceased’s family the fortitude to bear the loss and the late deputy governor eternal rest.

    Ahmad said the death of Zanna was a great loss to democrats.

    He said the deceased died at a time the nation needed his service to enhance the well-being of the internally-displaced persons (IDPs).

    Dr. Ahmad described the late deputy governor as the pillar of support to the IDPs, adding that he was a loyal public officer, who committed his life towards the restoration of peace in the Northeast.

    He noted that his service to humanity would be missed by the people of Borno State.

  • Heartland still shocked by 3SC loss, says Efugh

    Heartland still shocked by 3SC loss, says Efugh

    HeartlandFC captain Chinedu Efugh has told AfricanFootball.com his team are still shocked after a Week 22 loss to Shooting Stars.
    On Monday, Heartland FC lost 3-1 to Shooting Stars in a rescheduled match at the Rojenny International Stadium, Oba, near Onitsha.
    It was Shooting Stars first win in many years.
    Efugh said ‘The Naze Millionaires’ were unlucky to lose the game which everyone expected them to win.
    “The game just turned against us. We didn’t deserve to lose the game. It was a surprise to me and the entire team that we lost the game like that, it was a game we expected to win,” Efugh told AfricanFootball.com.
    “It’s just hard luck for us. Shooting Stars utilised all their chances to win the game. That’s football for you,” he said.

  • UEFA Champions League exit: Ambrose shocked

    UEFA Champions League exit: Ambrose shocked

    Glasgow Celtic defender Efe Ambrose was speechless when SL10 sought to know his reaction to his team’s failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

    “I don’t know what to say, I’m so shocked to say a word, please let’s talk about something else,” he told SL10.

    After drawing 1-1 away in Slovenia, Celtic couldn’t hang on to their first leg advantage and conceded in the second half to crash out 2-1 on aggregate to Slovenia’s NK Maribor.

    Ambrose was a 75th minute substitute in the first leg but played the entire duration of the return leg and twice kept his team alive with two last ditch tackles before they conceded.

    However, he took time to welcome Ghana’s Mubarak Wakaso who joined Celtic on loan from Rubin Kazan, describing him as a quality pacy and crafty forward.

    “It’s nice to have another pal from my continent after Wanyama’s departure to Southampton, but for Wakaso he isn’t one I will love to play against.

    “I’m happy he came to us, I watched him during the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa, and he is pacy, skillful and has qualities that will make us better as a team,” he added.