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Twitter bans high-profile journalists for doxxing

Lama Queen Godoz
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Twitter bans high-profile journalists for doxxing

TWITTER Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk has banned some high profile journalists from the microblogging site for doxxing (sharing his live location) during a space.

Musk barred the following journalists from Twitter: Ryan Mac from New York Times, Donnie O’Sullivan from CNN, Drew Harwell from Washington Post, Matt Binder from Mashable, Micah Lee from The Intercept, and Steven from Voice of America.

Prior to this, 20-year-old Jack Sweeney was suspended from the platform for tracking the Live location of the Tesla boss through @Elonjet.

Barely 24 hours after suspending @ElonJet from Twitter, Musk has gone after top journalists, for violating privacy policy by sharing @ElonJet links.

The Chief Twit posted, “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

“They posted my exact real-time location basically assassination coordinates in direct violation of Twitter’s terms of service,” he added.

During a Twitter Space, Musk tried to explain his decision but within a short time, he left the session due to some offensive questions.

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A report by India Today said the Space was shutdown and all the guests tuned in were evicted.

Subsequently, minutes later, Twitter temporarily halted Spaces feature, and stated that it would be back after a bug fix.

Currently, there is an ongoing poll on Twitter, asking users to vote on when the suspended accounts who shared Musk’s real-time location would be released.

In an earlier post Musk stated,“Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok”.

The Pulitzer Center Rainforest Journalism Fund offers Dom Phillips reporting grant

Blessing OTOIBHI
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The Pulitzer Center Rainforest Journalism Fund offers Dom Phillips reporting grant

THE Pulitzer Center Rainforest Journalism Fund is inviting applications for its Dom Phillips Reporting Grant themed “How to Save the Amazon?”.

The Fund is seeking reporting ideas focused on solutions for the future of the Amazon.

Proposals can be centered on the Brazilian Amazon, but projects about the Amazon in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia or Venezuela are also welcomed, just as stories addressing border areas, or projects held collaboratively between Amazon countries.

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Independent and staff journalists, freelancers, journalists collectives, writers, photographers, audio and radio producers and TV and film producers anywhere in the world can apply for this grant.

Selected proposals will receive the necessary funds to carry out the project, in accordance with the detailed budget submitted upon application.

The organiser says the grant is named after Dom Philips, the British journalist killed along with Brazilian Indigenous Expert Bruno Pereira during a trip to the Amazon region on June 5, 2022. How to Save the Amazon was the title of the book Phillips wanted to finish writing.

The deadline for the submission of applications is January 18, 2023. Interested applicants can apply here.

Global Landscapes Forum seeks social media ambassadors

Blessing OTOIBHI
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Global Landscapes Forum seeks social media ambassadors

THE Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is accepting applications for the GLF Social Media Ambassadors Volunteer Program.

The program seeks social media ambassadors who will shape the global conversation about sustainable landscapes, network with top organisations around the world, and gain early access to GLF campaigns and events.

Selected social media ambassadors will help boost the GLF’s campaigns and events through their social media channels; co-create insightful content in collaboration with the GLF Social Media team; provide live coverage of GLF events; and attend virtual coordination meetings.

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Social media-savvy sustainability enthusiasts, 18 to 35, from around the world can apply.

Basic knowledge of English is required.

The deadline for the submission of the application is December 31, 2022. Interested applicants can apply here.

3,167 condemned prisoners on death row in Nigeria – Correctional Service

Bankole ABE
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3,167 condemned prisoners on death row in Nigeria – Correctional Service

THE Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) has said there are 3,167 condemned inmates on death row in prisons across the country.

The number comprise 3,105 males and 62 females.

The spokesperson of the NCoS Umar Abubakar disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday, December 15.

Abubakar added that the correctional centres currently have 19,140 male and 339 female convicts.

“As of Monday, December 15, we have 74,824 inmates in the correctional centres. Also in the correctional centres are 50,955 male and 1,223 female awaiting-trial persons,” he said.

He added that the NCoS had changed its strategy from punitive to restorative and corrective approaches in the management of offenders.

The Principal Staff Officer at the Service, Mamman Salisu, also said NCoS personnel had been trained to confront external attacks.

Salisu said more weapons were acquired and personnel placed on red alert to avert further attacks on the custodial centres.

“Before now, our men were trained to prevent attacks from within, but they have now been trained to counter external attacks on our facilities.” 

He said arms and ammunition had been procured, and there is a presidential directive that anyone who attacks the custodial centres should not leave to tell the story.

“Our men have been put on red alert to gun down anyone who intrudes on our custodial centres,” Salisu stressed.

There has been various attack on Nigerian prisons in recent years.

However, an attack on the Kuje Medium Facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) generated much condemnation.

In a statement concerning the attack, the NCoS said 879 inmates escaped from the Kuje Prison.

Abubakar said five persons, including an officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and four inmates, died during the attack.

The Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), a breakaway group of the Boko Haram terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a video released by the terrorist group, a large group of men with guns and ammunition chanting ‘Allahu Akba” and shooting sporadically into the air set cars ablaze during the attack.

According to a report, the terrorists delivered a 15-minute Quranic lecture to inmates before setting them free.

The Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, had told pressmen that the 64 Boko-Haram terrorists who are inmates of the Kuje Custodial Centre were at large.

The NCoS also released a complete list of the names and pictures of the escapees from the Kuje prison. 

2023: Military will not take sides – CDS Irabor

Bankole ABE
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2023: Military will not take sides – CDS Irabor

THE Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Lucky Irabor has assured that the military will remain apolitical and unbiased during the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

The CDS gave the assurance when the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau paid him a courtesy call at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.

Irabor thanked the NBA for identifying with the Armed Forces and indicated the readiness of the Nigerian military to partner with the association, particularly on issues that border on the delay in trials of crimes relating to terrorism and insurgency.

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He agreed with the NBA President that the Army is a creation of the Constitution and that the military shall continue to respect the rule of law.

Regarding the forthcoming general elections, the Chief of Defence Staff said, “The Police remain the lead security agency in respect of the elections, but we have a contingency that will enable us to help or assist the Police if the need arises.

“The military will be unbiased and apolitical. We remain subject to civil authority and we shall ensure that democratic culture is protected and advanced.”

In his remarks, NBA President Maikyau spoke of the need to uphold the rule of law in the country.

Maikyau also congratulated the men and women of the Armed Forces for the giant strides being recorded in the protection of the territorial integrity and internal security of the country.

*We have come to identify with the excellent work the Armed Forces has been doing, and we do not take the sacrifice for granted. You have also made us proud in the assignment you’ve had to do outside the shores of the country.

“We must show respect to the Armed Forces. Are we happy with all the things the military has done? No! But in spite of all the challenges, it is deserving to identify with you, and the job you’re doing in the North-East and North-West Nigeria is commendable,” he said.

The NBA President also called on the military to ensure utmost neutrality in the forthcoming general elections, urging it to remain unbiased in the discharge of its duties during the exercise.

On the prosecution of the suspected terrorists, the NBA President pledged to work with the military and the government to speedily dispense of the cases.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army Council has approved the promotion of 122 senior officers from the ranks of Brigadier General to Major General and Colonel to Brigadier General, respectively.
In a statement released on Friday, December 16, the Director of Army Public Relations, Onyema Nwachukwu, said 52 of those promoted are Brigadier Generals while 70 are Colonels.

According to him, the Brigadier Generals were elevated to Major Generals and the Colonels to Brigadier Generals.

He said their promotion was in recognition of their meritorious service to the nation.

Defection: Kebbi Assembly declares seats of ex-speaker, three others vacant

Nurudeen AKEWUSHOLA
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Defection: Kebbi Assembly declares seats of ex-speaker, three others vacant

THE Kebbi State House of Assembly has declared the seats of its former Speaker, Samaila Kamba, and three other members vacant over their defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

Other affected members are Muhammad Buhari Aliero, Samaila Salihu Bui and Habibu Labbo Gwandu.

The Clerk of the Assembly, Usman Ahmed Bunza, announced the development after an executive session on Thursday, December 15.

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Kamba was earlier removed as Speaker of the Assembly last year over allegations that he was loyal to a group led by a former governor of the state, Senator Adamu Aliero.

After defecting to the PDP, he was selected as running mate to the party’s governorship candidate in the state.

The clerk, Bunza, in the statement, said the decision to declare the lawmakers’ seats vacant was “in line with Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”

A few hours before their seats were declared vacant, the four members, in a press statement titled, ‘Enough of Intimidation and Clampdown on Oppositions by Kebbi State Government’, had raised the alarm over plans to suspend them.

According to them, the motive is to silence the opposition particularly the PDP members in the House, through intimidation and financial inducement..

NDDC Board: Akeredolu backs rejection of Ondo nominee

Vincent Ufuoma
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NDDC Board: Akeredolu backs rejection of Ondo nominee

ONDO State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has backed the rejection of Charles Ogunmola as the state’s representative on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Ogunmola, from Owo, a non-oil producing area of Ondo State, was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari, along with 15 other persons, as the Executive Director of Projects in the NDDC board in November this year.

But, his nomination was rejected in a protest letter forwarded to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, by three senators from the state, namely Robert Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo North), Pius Akinyelure (Ondo Central) and Nicholas Tofowomo (Ondo South).

 

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The lawmakers said Ogunmola’s nomination ran contrary to the provisions of Section 12(1) of the NDDC Act, 2000.

According to them, the NDDC Act clearly stated that the nominee for the position of Executive Director, Project of NDDC “shall be an indigene of an oil-producing area”.

The senators stressed that Ogunmola is not an indigene of an oil producing area of Ondo State.

In a statement released by the Ondo State Commissioner of information and Orientation, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, on Thursday, December 15, Akeredolu supported the lawmakers’ position.

The statement said that the three senators had demonstrated unalloyed team spirit in their joint insistence that the contents of the Act establishing the NDDC be strictly adhered to.

The governor said that the lawmakers have taken a courageous step and have refused to accept arbitrariness when it is evident that it is the path of least resistance.

According to him, the lawmakers “have done the right thing by their fearless, selfless and rightful rejection of any infraction on legal authorities with regards to the nomination of anyone outside what the NDDC Act stipulates”.

“Their resolve can only strengthen our oneness and peculiar status as the only oil-producing State in the South-West, for now. This is one shrewd bipartisan political collaboration worthy of huge commendations,” the statement said.

“If feelers at our disposal are anything to rely upon, it is heart-warming to note that, on the strength of the resistance and joint rejection by our Senators, the Senate Committee on Niger Delta has rejected the nomination of Mr Charles Ogunmola as nominee for the position of Executive Director, Projects of the NDDC.”

Akeredolu also noted that by the provisions of the NDDC Act, and with specific reference to the position of the Managing Director, it is the turn of Ondo State to produce the next Chief Executive of the Commission, adding that his administration has done what is required by Law over time to pursue that cause.

The governor said that the state shall continue to reactivate all efforts and work with the lawmakers to ensure that the state is not short-changed on the NDDC Board.

“We count on them to zealously guide and guard their conscionably displayed passion for the people of the oil-producing areas of Ondo State. We are in congruence with them, as they monitor events between now and the next plenary session, where their report is most likely to be submitted and debated.

“However, the next collective battle is for all hands to be on deck to achieve what is most desirable in the immediate.

“Put simply, we must all work together to ensure that Ondo State is not short-changed under the flimsy guise of our ‘rejection of an earlier opportunity’.

“The next EDP of the NDDC is still for the mandate areas of Ondo State to produce. We shall give whatever it takes to achieve this. For this reason, we will ensure a more robust, holistic stakeholder engagement in a matter of days.”

Over 5000 debtors owe FG N5.2trn – Finance minister

Mustapha USMAN
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Over 5000 debtors owe FG N5.2trn – Finance minister

THE Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has revealed that over 5000 individuals and corporate companies are owing the Federal Government approximately N5.2 trillion in debts.

The minister, who spoke at a two-day sensitisation workshop organised for ICT and account staff in federal ministries, departments and agencies across the North-Central Zone in Minna on Thursday, December 15, said the debtors cut across 10 ministries, departments and agencies.

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Zainab, who was represented by the Director of Special Projects in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Victor Omata, said the debtors had refused to honour their obligations to the Federal Government.

“The Ministry, through the consolidation efforts of the Debt Analytics and Reporting Application, has been able to aggregate monumental debts of approximately N5.2 trillion. These debts came to the spotlight from data aggregated from over 5,000+ debtors across 10 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).  The debt aggregation effort is still ongoing.

“These debts are in the form of debt liabilities to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS); refunds to the government by companies who failed to deliver on projects for which payment had been effected, unpaid credit facilities granted to both corporate entities and individuals by the Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BOA); judgment debt in favor of Government; debts owed Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) by Insurance Companies among others.”

She added that the Ministry intends to leverage ‘big data’ technology to block revenue loopholes and recover debts for the government.

“An important part of our policies and strategies is to leverage big data technology to help block revenue loopholes, recover debts, identify new revenue opportunities, optimize existing revenue streams, especially non-oil revenue as well as improve fiscal transparency,” she added.

The minister equally urged the MDAs to provide quality and relevant debt-related information to populate the platform and also improve the Nigerian economy.

How Nigerian cleaner attempted to assassinate Guyana President

Oghenekevwe UCHECHUKWU
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How Nigerian cleaner attempted to assassinate Guyana President

MORE details have emerged about the assassination attempt on the President of Guyana Irfaan Ali at his official residence Thursday morning.

The sole attacker identified as Bethel Ikenna Chinezie, who is a Nigerian national, allegedly showed up at President Ali’s home at the State House around 7:30 am and confronted the Presidential Guards demanding: “I want the President”, News Room reported.

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Senior Police sources have confirmed that Chinezie last worked at a Georgetown cleaning business. His employer has told Police that Chinezie did not appear to have any mental health issues.

The owner of the company declined to comment when contacted by the News Room, only saying an investigation is underway.

Chinezie allegedly whipped out a knife and stabbed a Presidential Guard identified as Telon Perreira, several times on his neck and other areas of his body.

The attacker then proceeded to disarm a female rank of her gun, walked out of the guard hut, and started firing outside of the compound on Carmichael Street.

The security detail returned fire, injuring Chinezie. He and the stabbed Presidential guard were later taken to the Georgetown Hospital where they are receiving treatment under Police guard.

Thirty-five-year-old Chimezie was reported to have undergone a series of surgeries for gunshot injures to his head, torso and leg on Thursday.

The motive behind the assassination attempt is yet to be unravelled.

Woman crushed to death by train in Abuja is our worker – NTA

Marcus FATUNMOLE
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Woman crushed to death by train in Abuja is our worker – NTA

THE Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) has said the woman crushed to death by a passenger train at the Chikakore axis of the Kubwa area of Abuja on Thursday morning was its worker.

In a post by the NTA on its verified Twitter Page Thursday evening, the television station revealed the victim’s name as Selimota Idowu Suleiman, who, until her death, worked at the Channel Five station of the NTA in Abuja.

NTA announced the victim whose car was crushed by a fast-moving train in Abuja on Thursday December 15 as its worker

The deceased was on her way to work when the train crushed her in her vehicle.

On Thursday, December 15, The ICIR reported the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command of the Nigerian Police Force, through its spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, a deputy superintendent of police, confirming the tragedy and saying it had launched an investigation into the incident.

Reports claimed Suleiman’s car could not move fast while the oncoming train from Kaduna to the Kubwa terminal rammed into her vehicle.

Sympathizers at the scene of the train which collided with a car at Chikakore, Kubwa, FCT on Thursday December 15.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) restored the services of the Abuja-Kaduna train 13 days ago, months after it suspended services following an attack on one of the trains servicing the route by Boko Haram on March 28.

After the NTA confirmed the Kubwa train crash victim’s identity, the Chairman of the FCT Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Emmanuel Ogbeche, said the victim was a journalist in a post on his Facebook Page. But he did not mention her name.

Chairman FCT Council of the NUJ, Emmanuel Ogbeche, announced the deceased as a journalist

Many journalists who commented on the post expressed shock at the incident, as the council had lost one of its members, Joe Nwankwo, less than 24 hours before the train tragedy.

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