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Assault: NBA condemns show of ‘naked power’ by CCT chair, begins probe

Marcus FATUNMOLE
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Assault: NBA condemns show of ‘naked power’ by CCT chair, begins probe

THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), on Thursday, released a damning statement on the alleged assault on a private security guard by chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Justice Danladi Umar at the Bannex Plaza, Abuja.

The statement, signed by the group’s publicity secretary Rapulu Nduka, said the ‘display of naked power’ by persons in the calibre of Umar would not be condoned by the association.

Umar was seen in a widely-circulated video on Monday, March 29, slapping a private guard repeatedly in company of his police escorts and driver before sympathisers at the market began to shout at him and forced him out of the plaza.

The private guard, Clement Sagwark. Credit: Premium Times

The victim, a 22-year-old Clement Sargwak, told Premium Times that he was slapped by Umar, his driver and police escorts severally before being whisked to Maitama police station where he was subsequently bailed by the plaza’s lawyer.

He said his sin was that he had called Umar’s attention to his car that was parked wrongly and was obstructing other visitors to the plaza.

Umar would not take such an effrontery from him as a top government functionary. He slapped the young man severally, stripped him naked, pushed him to the ground and stepped upon him, together with his security aides, Sargwak had told Premium Times.

NBA said an infraction like assault accusation against the CCT boss was more worrisome when it involved the head of an agency of government set up to ensure compliance with the code of conduct by public officers.

As a trained lawyer, NBA said Umar was expected by the extant rules regulating the conduct of legal practitioners in the country to maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and not to engage in any conduct unbecoming of a member of the legal profession.

It then vowed to probe circumstances leading to the incident and ensure justice was served.

The body, however, noted that prima facie (first/available) evidence on the incident raised questions on the extent to which the chairman had kept the rules of both his office and the association.

Earlier reports by The ICIR on the incident

The ICIR had, on Wednesday, March 31, reported how Umar defended assualt on the private guard in a message laden with grammatical, structural and ethical errors, as well as ethnic slurs.

Head of press unit of the organisation Ibraheem Al-Hassan issued the statement on the instruction of Umar.

Lai Mohammed
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
Picture for Illustration Purpose

He was, however, summoned by minister of information Lai Mohammed hours after the statement went viral on social media “to come and clear some issues” related to the statement.

The ICIR exclusively reported Al-Hassan admitting he wrote and gave out the statement to journalists but failed to proofread it.

He also said Umar instructed him to include ‘Biafran Boys’ in the statement.

Speaking in emotion-laden voice, Al-Hassan said he regretted his action and was unsure of his fate in the hands of the minister, whose ministry deployed him to serve as information officer at the CCT in 2013.

Al-Hassan’s statement went viral on social media as Nigerians derided him and his organisation (the CCT).

He used  ‘video cliff’ in his statement, rather than ‘video clip.’ Also, he preferred using ‘packing lot’ to the correct version, ‘parking lot.’ He also used the phrase ‘had went’ instead of ‘had gone.’

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Lai Mohammed summons CCT PRO after press statement blunders

Grammatical errors, ethnic slurs mar CCT’s press statement on Banex incident

CCT chairman defends assault on security guard in Abuja plaza, says he was rude

“The boy was rode in his approached and threaten,”  one of his sentences read. This should have read: “the boy was rude in his approach and threatened.”

He committed a grammatical gaffe mixed with ethnic slur against the people of the South-East Nigeria by categorising people he did not know their ethnicity as ‘Biafrans.’

In Al-Hassan’s words, the chairman was “overwhelmed by the mobs, consisting of BIAFRAN boys throwing matches and shape object to his car.” He should have said that his boss was “overwhelmed by the mob, consisting of BIAFRAN boys throwing matches and sharp objects at this car.”

The use of  ‘BIAFRAN boys’ is ethically wrong because it is ethnic profiling. It possesses secessionist undertone and conflicts with Nigeria’s Constitution, which recognizes a united Nigerian state.

The full statement as issued by Al-Hassan on Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Press Statement from the Code of Conduct Bureau

Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Source: FMIC’s website

Our attention was drawn on a report from some online publication with a video cliff suggesting Hon Chairman, Justice Danladi Y. Umar assaulted a Security Guard at Banex Plaza.

To start with, the said plaza has been his usual place of visits for the past 18 years for shopping and repairs of his phones, and in all these periods there have never been any time he had any turmoil with anybody.

Unfortunately, yesterday’s altercations started over a packing lot, which Chairman met vacant and it was directly opposite a shop he want to make a purchase and to fixe his phone, when the young Security guard sighted him, he ordered that Chairman should not pack his car in that particular empty space, but Chairman asked why, the security guard couldn’t convinced chairman, though Chairman didn’t identify himself, because to him is needless and is a place he visited often, but the boy was rode in his approached and threaten to deal with Chairman if he refuse to leave the scene.

Again, if Chairman had went there to cause trouble or intimidate some one, as suggested in the report, he would have gone there in his full official paraphernalia, but he went there alone with his younger brother.

The Police men seen in the video cliff were not the Chairman’s police team, they were policemen operating around the plaza whom at first instance intervened before the arrival of police team from Maitama Police station. As the few policemen in the complex were apparently overwhelmed by the mobs, consisting of BIAFRAN boys throwing matches and shape object to his car, which led to deep cut and dislocation in one of his finger, causing damage to his car, smashing his windscreen.

At a point he attempted to leave the scene, these same miscreants, BIAFRAN boy ordered for the closure of the gate thereby assaulting him before the arrival of police team from Maitama police station.

An incident like this when it happened, sympathy usually goes to the low personalities. Though is unfortunate as I said, it ought not to have happened.”

Ibraheem Al-Hassan,
Head, Press & Public Relations.
CCT HQ.
Abuja.
March, 30th 2021.

                                                      NBA’s statement as obtained by The ICIR on April 1, 2021

STATEMENT OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION ON THE ALLEGED CASE OF ASSAULT BY UMAR YAKUBU DANLADI, ESQ.

OLUMIDE Akpata
Olumide Akpata, newly elected NBA President. Credit: TheNigeriaLawyer

The attention of the Nigerian Bar Association (“NBA”) has been drawn to the video making the rounds where the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (“CCT”) – Danladi Yakubu Umar Esq., was seen, together with his security detail, allegedly assaulting a citizen at Banex Plaza, in Wuse Abuja. We understand that this citizen turned out to be a 22-year-old employee of Jul Reliable Guards Services Limited, posted as a security guard to the Plaza and who is now reportedly hospitalised. The NBA has also read the statement credited to the Head, Press and Public Relations of the CCT in response to the actions of Mr Umar.

The NBA frowns at any display of naked power by a public officer especially one who, by virtue of his high office, is expected to exhibit a high standard of conduct. The situation is all the more critical when it involves the head of an agency of government set up to ensure compliance, by public officers, with the code of conduct.

Further, as a member of the legal profession, Danladi Yakubu Umar Esq. is expected, by the extant rules that regulate the conduct of legal practitioners in Nigeria, to maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and not to engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a member of the legal profession. Prima facie evidence available at the moment raise questions regarding whether such standards have been met.

In view of the foregoing, the NBA shall through its relevant Committee, investigate the circumstances leading to the altercation, and depending on its findings, will ensure that appropriate action is taken to address this occurrence.

Publicity Secretary,

Nigerian Bar Association.

Africa No Filter partners Western Union to facilitate transfer of grants to emerging artists

Vincent Ufuoma
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Africa No Filter partners Western Union to facilitate transfer of grants to emerging artists

Africa No Filter (ANF) has announced a partnership with Western Union targeted at facilitating rapid, effective and secure disbursement of grants to emerging artists across the continent.

The grant disbursement will done through Kekere Storyteller’s Fund project, which was set up to provide the much-needed support to content creators, writers, performance artists, visual artists and journalists in Africa. 

 

Storytellers who access the funds are expected to create and publish unique and compelling contents that shift prevailing stereotypical narratives about Africa.

The project addresses the need for more access to funding for emerging artists in Africa.

“The grants are for individuals under age 35 and range between $500 and $2000. Because the application process is deliberately accessible, it opens up new opportunities for artists and storytellers. With Western Union as a payment partner, accessing the funds once approved is now even easier,” said executive director of Africa No Filter Moky Makura, in a statement sent to The ICIR.

READ ALSO: Pulitzer Center opens application for 2021 Persephone Miel Fellowships

“Independent storytellers on the continent often do not have access to traditional grant-making organisations. They lack visibility into grant awards, the grant-application process, and the monitoring and reporting tools needed by the more traditional funders.”

“The Kekere grant amounts may be small, but a few hundred dollars can go a long way towards helping storytellers bring their content to life. As a grant-making organisation, having a safe, reliable financial partner to help us dispense the funds quickly is critical, and Western Union is a trusted payment brand,” Makura further said.

He added that the partnership with Western Union, which had a vast network of outlets that could deliver grants to individuals in small communities and those in large cities equally effectively, was an added advantage to Africa No Filter’s goal of grant disbursement.

READ ALSO:

“The Kekere Storytellers Fund is helping us build a pipeline of the continent’s next generation of creative talent, and we are pleased we can contribute to their work,” said ANF’s program lead Jessica Hagan.

“Art is one of Africa’s biggest exports, both within the continent and globally. It provides an opportunity for us to show the world our creativity, innovation and share our own stories that challenge the perceptions about our countries and communities,” Hagan noted.

Africa No Fliter will announce the first set of recipients for the grants in April 2021.  A new call for application will go out in the next quarter and interested artists can register on the ANF website.

Cross River govt refuses to release contract information on abandoned road projects

Editorial
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Cross River govt refuses to release contract information on abandoned road projects

By Sunday ELOM

THE Cross River State government has refused to release information on the Yahe-Wanokom-Wanihem-Benue Border Road project, including the agreement of the contract awarded under a joint initiative of the state and the African Development Bank (AFDB) in 2010.

The ICIR, on March 15, 2021, through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, asked for details of the road project, specifically name and address of the contractor approved for the construction of the road; the contract sum; duration and completion date; releases so far made to the contractor, including time and amount of each release and the contract document signed with the contractor.

The Yahe-Wanokom-Wanihem-Benue Border Road has been in a deplorable state since it was first awarded in 2010 despite several appeals made by the largely agrarian communities along the route.

READ ALSO: Lawyer narrates how Cross River DPO, officers beat him up for attempting to bail client

Contrary to the provisions of the 2011 law that information requested should be made available promptly but not later than seven days from the receipt of the application, the state government is yet to respond to the request or give any reason for the denial weeks after acknowledging its receipt.

The ICIR reached out to Cross Rivers State commissioner for works Dane Osim-asu, but he did not respond to text messages and calls to his official line. In a frantic effort to get the required information, The ICIR reached out to the state project coordinator Charles Okongoh, an engineer. While acknowledging that he had the information, Okongoh said that he could not speak with our reporter because he did not have the authority to do so. He said that only the works commissioner could provide the information to the reporter.

It would seem there are vested interests involved in the project but the FOI Act, in unambiguous terms, clearly frowns at the willful withholding of information  not injurious to public security and safety.

The access to information law was enacted in 2011 to make public records and information freely available to citizens and protect same to the extent consistent with the public interest, amongst others. However, many agencies of government at both state and federal levels continue to brazenly disobey the law by denying citizens access to publicly held information.

This was partly pointed out in a report by The ICIR in November 2020 that most government agencies brazenly ignore FOIA requests. For example, of 301 requests filed with federal agencies between 2018 and August 2020, as many as 187 – over 60 percent – were ignored by the affected agencies, while only 64 (20.65 percent) received a response. Also, 13 (4.19 percent) were referred to another agency while 46 (14.84 percent) were officially acknowledged but information denied by the agencies.

INVESTIGATION: How NDDC spent N2bn on abandoned, non-existent road projects in Edo communities

Although, enacted by the National Assembly, state governments have often argued over the legality of enforcing the FOIA in their states. However, this has been laid to rest in a judgement by Justice Oke-Lawal of Ikeja High Court in 2017, where he stressed that the FOI Act would apply to the government of the federation as well as to state governments and would not require ‘domestication’ by states to have effect.

Putting Nigeria together again will be hard

Editorial
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Putting Nigeria together again will be hard

By Ikechukwu AMAECHI

CAN Nigeria ever be put back together? This question concentrated my mind many days ago as I watched the tragi-comedy of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives Idris Wase, shutting down a petition by some Nigerians in the Diaspora during plenary.

There are die-hard optimists and it is good to be sanguine in life. In any case, given the circumstance we have found ourselves in, if you remove hope, what else is left? Optimism oils the wheels of everyday living in Nigeria.

As I noted in my New Year article, “2021: Beyond hope,” it helps when a people are having a rough patch, as Nigerians are right now, to look on the sunny side of life. That is where hope, which simply means being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness around us, comes in.

But the utterances of some political leaders in Nigeria push most citizens into the dark hole of despair.

No matter how hard one tries to be buoyant in spirit, the truth is, whatever side of the political spectrum you pitch your tent right now, it is tough to be happy about the current state of the union where uppity and sense of entitlement have stymied national unity.

Every issue is viewed from the primordial prism of ethnicity. Each day the chasms of division become gorges of prejudice and, tragically, we all watch as the country spirals into hate-filled rhetoric.

Anyone who dares to complain is accused by those who claim to love Nigeria more than others of hating President Muhammadu Buhari. Yet, Nigeria has never been more divided than it is today. Political leaders have become angrier and more intolerant as political skins become thinner.

That was exactly what played out on the floor of the House of Representatives on March 11 when lawmaker Mark Gbillah (Gwer East-Gwer West Federal Constituency, Benue State) attempted to submit a petition on insecurity in Benue, Nasarawa, and Taraba filed by Tiv indigenes living in the United States under the umbrella of Mzough U Tiv Amerika (MUTA).

Wase, who presided at plenary, shot down the petition even before it was presented on the laughable grounds that Nigerians in the Diaspora had no right petitioning on issues happening in Nigeria.

In his desperation, Wase threw parliamentary caution to the winds asserting, without the backing of the Constitution, that Nigerians abroad were not eligible to file against the government at home petitions on insecurity. That was scandalous.

Gbillah had hardly finished explaining what the petition was all about when Wase brusquely cut him short, asking rather condescendingly: “Honourable Gbillah, did you say Tivs in America? What do they know about Nigeria? What is their business? They can’t sit in their comfort zones and know what is happening in Nigeria.” Then he self-importantly thundered, “I am not convinced that we have to take that petition,” and ordered a fellow lawmaker who represents his constituents to sit down.

Idris Wase
Idris Wase

It was surreal. How can a lawmaker say that Nigerians automatically lose their citizenship when they live abroad? When the man who made this claim is the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, it becomes even more tragic.

But make no mistake about this. Wase knew what he was saying. Implied in his submission was the subtle use of prejudice tropes to protect ethnic privilege.

Expectedly, Nigerians – at home and abroad – are outraged.

Former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Chidi Odinkalu, a professor, captured the mood of the majority when he tweeted: “So, the House of Representatives can so blithely strip Nigerians outside the borders of the country of their citizenship and rights?”

Odinkalu wondered whether it was “ignorance or bias or biased ignorance that drives this presiding officer in this piece of inspired parliamentary silliness,” and concluded thus: “The same ninnies who pull this kind of nonsense habitually will show up tomorrow and tell you how Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable when they themselves have made it a tradable commodity.”

Nigerians in the Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) also protested. They wrote a petition to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila demanding that Wase fully retract his statement and offer unconditional public apology to diasporans.

Signatories to the petition include Bashir Obasekola for Nigerians in Diaspora, Europe; Obed Monago (Nigerians in Diaspora, Americas); E. C. Ejiogu (Nigerians in Diaspora, Asia); Gary Linus Unamadu (Nigerians in Diaspora, Oceania); and Obinna Kingsman (Nigerians in Diaspora, Africa).

READ ALSO: Diaspora Nigerians petition NASS, threaten to halt remittances over deputy speaker’s comments

The group also insisted that Gbillah be allowed to represent the petition.

If this is not done within 14 days, they threatened further actions, which may include but not limited to calling out Nigerians in the Diaspora to withhold further home remittances with immediate effect.

Of course, they cannot do that because nobody living abroad will stop sending money to his aged parents at home for instance because of the indiscretions of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

But Wase’s injudiciousness has exposed how wide the national fault lines of ethnicity and religion have become because of deliberate policies, particularly the Fulani supremacist agenda of the Buhari presidency.

Those who think that Wase just misspoke don’t get it. And it was not a question of ignorance of the law, either. He knew what he did. His body language on the video that went viral said it all. He was visibly angry at the audacity of the petitioners.

To appreciate what happened, we have to put certain things in context. Wase, who represents Wase Federal Constituency, Plateau State, is a Fulani and a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Gbillah, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as the petitioners are Tiv. Those chased out of their ancestral homes in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa and are living in poorly serviced IDP camps are Tiv. Those who attacked, maimed, killed and chased them out are Fulani.

Simply put, Wase is using his office paid for with tax payers’ money to protect ethnic privilege.

While those who own the ancestral lands, most of them farmers, are languishing in IDP camps, bandits – most, if not all of them, Fulani – have taken over their property and the government is looking the other way.

In order to be politically correct in the Buhari era, we often twist ourselves into “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” pretzels to be called patriots and nationalists.

If that petition was written by the Fulani in the Diaspora, Wase wouldn’t have shot it down. He wouldn’t have bothered to know if the group was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

Gbilla’s opening remarks that, “I have a petition from the Mutual Union of the Tiv in America against the Federal Government of Nigeria and the issue has to do with the ancestral land of the Tiv people that seems to have been possessed in recent times through various attacks and the fact that they are languishing in IDP camps till date without any intervention,” was what made Wase fly off the handle.

Of course, seeing the backlash, he has tried to walk back his comments, albeit unsuccessfully.

He claims that the trending video showing him preventing Gbillah from laying out the petition had been “doctored, slanted and bent to give political and ethnic colouration to an event that was otherwise strictly based on parliamentary procedures.” Lie!

When government officials claim that Nigeria is safe, they duplicitously fail to acknowledge that many Nigerians living in IDP camps have nowhere else to go because what used to be their ancestral homes have been taken over by bandits. They have become refugees in their own country.

The Nigerian State under Buhari’s watch knows that and is doing nothing about it. Instead, they are preaching peace and forgiveness.

After deputy speaker’s gaffe, Reps accept petition by Nigerian diaspora group

Despite pockets of agitations for secession, the majority of Nigerians would love to live together in a united country. But that country must be one where equity, justice and equal rights trump bigotry, nepotism and ethnic supremacy. Peace will always be a mirage in a milieu where justice is an anathema.

Buhari has spent six years of his presidency to bring out the animal in us. There is every reason to believe that it will get worse in the remaining two years of his rule.

For Nigerians, stitching Nigeria back together again after the Buhari presidency will be the challenge of the millennium.

NDLEA arrests Chadian who allegedly supplies hard drugs to Boko Haram

Lukman ABOLADE
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NDLEA arrests Chadian who allegedly supplies hard drugs to Boko Haram

THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has arrested a Chadian, Adama Uomar Issa, who allegedly supplies illicit drugs to Boko Haram insurgents.

NDLEA director of media & advocacy Femi  Babafemi made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday.

Babafemi said the suspect was intercepted with assorted drugs in Jalingo, Taraba State, on Wednesday, and investigations had revealed that he supplied illicit drugs to Boko Haram terrorist group.

He said the suspect, a 35-year-old man, had bought the drugs in Onitsha, Anambra State, and concealed it in ladies’ bags before he was arrested by operatives of the NDLEA.

READ ALSO: Drug Abuse: Nigeria sitting on gun powder, says NDLEA boss

The statement, posted on the agency’s Twitter handle @ndlea_nigeria, was accompanied by video footage showing some operatives of the commission with bags containing drugs and a handcuffed suspect.

The NDLEA also noted that it confiscated 15.7kg of Exol.5; 100,050 France CAF and N61,000 from the Chadian.

“According to the commander, Taraba state command of the NDLEA, Suleiman Jadi, the suspect speaks only French and Arabic and claims he was taking the illicit substances to the Chad Republic before he was intercepted in Jalingo.

“Investigations have, however, shown that he is a major supplier of illicit drugs to Boko Haram… At the point of interdiction, the drugs, which he bought from Onitsha in Anambra state, were concealed inside new ladies’ handbags and shoes,” the statement read in part.

The arrest came days after the NDLEA had nabbed a 70-year-old Nigerien allegedly supplying illicit drugs to Boko Haram insurgents and bandits.

NDLEA intercepts 11m tramadol tablets, says drug travels through Pakistan, Hamburg

The drug prohibition agency also stated that it recently raided drug joints in Warri Street, Kaduna State. During the raid, NDLEA noted that it found 29.5 grammes of cocaine and heroin along with 456 grammes of Rohypnol tablets and two peddlers identified as  Suleiman Yusuf and Abubakar Abdullahi were arrested in the ‘sting operation.’

Nigerians without NIN risk 14 years in jail – Pantami

Vincent Ufuoma
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Nigerians without NIN risk 14 years in jail – Pantami

THE minister of communication and digital economy Isa Pantami has revealed that Nigerians who fail to enroll for the National Identity Number (NIN) could risk 14 years in jail.

Pantami made the comment at the sixth edition of the ministerial briefing organised by the presidential media team at the State House in Abuja on Thursday.

While explaining that the action was in line with the amended 1999 Constitution, he stressed that no one should enjoy government services without the number.

Pantami emphasised that while obtaining a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card might be optional, NIN was mandatory, noting that a lot of transactions in the country should not be conducted without the NIN.

“For you to enjoy any government service without having a National Identity Number is an offence. Section 29 says, if you do any of these in Section 27 without obtaining national identity, you have committed a crime that will lead to fine or imprisonment or both of them and this is 14 years,” he said.

READ ALSO: False claim circulates online that NIMC has approved NIN self-registration

“For you to open a bank account without a National Identity Number is an offence. For you to pay tax, it is an offence. For you to collect pension, it is an offence.”

He noted that rather than the population census which could be manipulated, NIN would determine the accurate number of Nigerians because it was unique and tamper-proof.

According to the minister, no fewer than 51 million Nigerians had enrolled for NIN and it was important for transactions in the country to be conducted with the number.

Similarly, he announced that the aggregate registration for SIM across the country had hit 189 million.

He explained that out of the figure, 150 million were completed registration while the remaining had problems of improper registration.

The minister decried that improper registration of SIMs had posed a challenge and the government had begun to address them.

NIMC workers’ nationwide strike stalls NIN registration

He stressed that the government would not renege on the ban on SIM registration for security reasons arising from a huge compromise of the process.

Police arrest suspect in Soludo’s attack

Lukman ABOLADE
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Police arrest suspect in Soludo’s attack

THE Anambra State Police Command has arrested a suspect connected with the attack on the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and a gubernatorial aspirant in the state, Chukwuka Soludo.

Anambra State police public relations officer Ikenganya Tochukwu disclosed this in a statement issued in Awka on Thursday.

Gunmen attacked Soludo on Wednesday during a political rally at Isuofia Civic Centre in Aguata LGA in the state.

The attack led to the killing of three police officers while the attackers also abducted the state commissioner for water resources and public utilities, Emeka Ezenwanne.

According to the police, the security operatives who sustained ‘severe gunshot injuries’ were confirmed dead in the state hospital.

Tochukwu said the state commissioner of police Monday, Bala Kuryas, had reinforced Soludo’s residence and community security operatives.

“To this end, the CP, while condemning the act, commiserates with the family and friends of the officers who paid the supreme price, ordered the immediate launch of a tacit investigation to unravel the mystery behind the incident, as well as to bring perpetrators of the barbaric act to book,” the statement read in part.

When asked about the omission of the suspect’s name in the statement, Tochukwu said the command deliberately withdrew it because it was an undercover investigation.

“Yes, we deliberately withdrew the name of the arrested suspect because it is an undercover operation, and we are currently on the trail of others,” Tochukwu said.

READ ALSO: War on terror: Nigerian pilots train on Super Tucano fighter jets at US Air Force base ahead of delivery

The attack came just about eight months to the gubernatorial election in Anambra State, when the second tenure of the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano will have been over.

Eight months to election in Anambra State

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the state’s gubernatorial election was scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 2021.

Soludo had declared his intention to contest for the seat under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in February.

Political analysts say the attack could sow fear into the minds of intending voters in the upcoming election.

Head of Election Programs at YIAGA Africa Paul James said the attack raised a major concern.

According to James, whose civil society organisation focuses on promoting democratic governance, there were reasons to be concerned because it could hinder voter turnout during the election.

He said during the previous governorship election in 2017, only 21 percent voter turnout was recorded.

James further stated that another concern was that security operatives would not act on time to mitigate or curb electoral violence but rather do so a few weeks to the election.

ENDSARS: Anambra judicial panel summons alleged killer cop, James Nwafor, 2 others

“Another concern for me is the state of security in that region. You have the IPOB there, and you know Anambra State is known for having a good number of political big guns, so I feel we should be concerned that this is happening,” James said.

INEC chief press secretary Rotimi Oyekanmi did not respond to questions from The ICIR concerning the attack.

Man burnt to death in Bauchi for alleged insult on Prophet Muhammad

Vincent Ufuoma
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0
Man burnt to death in Bauchi for alleged insult on Prophet Muhammad

A WATER vendor identified as Talle Mai Ruwa has been burnt to death in Bauchi State for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.

According to The Punch, the incident happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

A source was quoted as saying that Ruwa and his parents were all Muslims in Sade village, stressing that trouble had started when a certain lady went to fetch water from the deceased.

He was reportedly detained at a police station in Darazo Local Government Area of the state before he was seized the following day from the police cell by an irate mob who beat him to death and set his corpse ablaze using petrol and a disused car tyre.

“She fetched the water while he was not around and when he came back and saw her, he used his leg to kick the bucket and the water spilt.

READ ALSO: Blasphemy: Kano High Court reserves judgement on appeal by Sharif over death sentence

“She pleaded with him in the prophet’s name to allow her fetch the water. He then abused her, her father, mother and the Prophet Mohammed. This infuriated the youth and the district head, who took him to a police station.

“The spiritual and traditional leaders met and brought him out. They were looking for a way out of the situation. They asked him if he was guilty of what he was being accused of, and he admitted to it. They asked him thrice, and he admitted to it. They then took him back to the police station.”

“In the morning, the whole town gathered and besieged the station. Because of the number of people that were there, they overwhelmed the police officers. The people brought him out and started pelting him with stones and shouting, ‘Allahu Akbar!’ They kept stoning him till he died. The youth brought car tyres and put it on him and set him ablaze.”

Blasphemy: Kano High Court reserves judgement on appeal by Sharif over death sentence

The ICIR tried to get the state police command’s reaction, but several calls to the state police public relations officer Ahmed Wakil on Wednesday were not answered.

Three persons in court for allegedly forging COVID-19 results in Lagos

Vincent Ufuoma
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Three persons in court for allegedly forging COVID-19 results in Lagos

THREE persons have been arraigned by  Lagos State Police Command for allegedly forging COVID-19 test results in the state.

The suspects were Emmanuel Adelegan, Ibrahim Abubakar and Tope Shoaga. They were arrested by the police and brought before an Ikeja magistrate court on Thursday.

They were charged with conspiracy, obtaining money under false pretence and forgery.

The police prosecution counsel Lucky Ihiehie told the court that the defendants committed the offences on February 8 at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

READ ALSO: After spreading false information, Fani Kayode takes COVID-19 vaccine

He said the defendants fraudulently obtained N33,000 from one Chisom Emmanalon with a promise to get her a COVID-19 test certificate but when the certificate was presented at the airport, authorities discovered that it was fake.

“The defendants were arrested,” Ihiehie said.

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He said the offences contravened sections 314, 365 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Following the defendants’ plea of “not guilty,” the magistrate  O. A. Layinka released the suspects on bail in the sum of N100,000 each with two sureties each in like sum.

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Layinka ordered that all the sureties must be gainfully employed and show evidence of two years’ tax payment to the state government.

The hearing was adjourned till May 19.

INEC announces date for voter registration in Nigeria

Lukman ABOLADE
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INEC announces date for voter registration in Nigeria

THE Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that continuous voter registration (CVR) would commence on Monday,  June 28, 2021, across the country.

INEC chairman Mahmud Yakubu disclosed this on Thursday during a press conference held in Abuja.

He said the CVR exercise would commence nationwide and be carried out continuously for over a year until the third quarter of 2022.

According to Yakubu, the voter registration  would be done online while biometric verifications would be conducted at designated centres with schedules for registrants.

According to the commission, the online portal registration would reduce crowding at registration centres in line with advice from health officials in the country.

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Yakubu said voter registration could not commence earlier due to COVID-19 pandemic and other offset elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states in November 2019.

The INEC chairman added that the CVR registration could also not commence earlier due to the commission’s determination to expand voter access to polling units by increasing their number.

Yakubu noted that the existing polling units in Nigeria were inadequate because they were initially designed to cater for a projected 50 million voters but were presently serving over 84 million voters.

He also stated that many of the polling units were inaccessible to voters, especially persons with disability (PWDs), and were not conducive to the commission’s election regulations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He disclosed that the commission had begun the conversion of voting points and voting point settlements into full-fledged polling units, and relocating poorly situated polling units to better locations.

However, Yakubu said in the process of registration,  emphasis would initially be on Anambra State where more centres would be established in view of the governorship election scheduled for Saturday 6th November 2021.

He stated that in order to complete preparations for the governorship election, the CVR exercise in the state would be temporarily suspended in August 2021.

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The CVR was temporarily suspended on 31st August 2018 due to preparations for the conduct of the 2019 general elections.

During the last voter registration in Nigeria, a total of 84.004 million Nigerians registered while 72.755  million collected their permanent voters’ card (PVC), according to data obtained from the commission.

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