The finance and account directors of federal agencies found to be involved in the manipulation of the budget for self-gratification will soon be caught by the long arm of the law, says the chairman of The Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye.
The spokesperson of the Commission, Ogugua Chinelo quoted the chairman during the virtual roundtable dialogue organised by The ICIR to discuss the newfound interest of Nigerians, especially politically exposed persons and public servants owning real estate in Dubai (UAE).
The ICIR recently published a series of reports showing the list of Nigerians owning property in Dubai, one of the international havens for ill-gotten wealth.
Quoting a statement by her boss, Ogugua said: “We will take up anybody caught being manipulative or creative with the budget because Nigeria can’t survive the way budget fund is being siphoned from the country. If you keep doing this we will catch you, and we will not spare you, even if you say your own is small, we will use you as an example.”
She also defended the ICPC against the public perception that corruption is getting deeper because the Commission only targets small crooks and leaves out the corrupt big shots.
Ogugua said the Commission and other anti-graft agencies are rather winning the war against corruption because of the strong inter-agency collaboration. “Things are better now than when we started,” she added.
According to the ICPC spokesperson, the agency has engaged in several sting operations which have led to arrests and help the agency go after corrupt Nigerians involved in dubious practices.
“Sometimes we engage government agencies, not for the sake of investigating anything, but to check their systems and look for loopholes which resulted in the work we were able to do at the port sector and the results were commendable.
“What we are doing is still evolving because preventive measures take time. It involves a comprehensive outlook. So in the course of doing preventive work to block loopholes, we sometimes see infractions and we flag it,” she said.
She however noted that the challenges facing the ICPC is hydra-headed, from poor funding to low staff strength, inadequate capacity and others.
“One of the major problems the ICPC has faced in recent times is the staff strength. We have less than 1,000 officers in Nigeria who are currently operating in only 15 states. And you can imagine that the number of investigators in the entire investigative arm is at most 300.
“When we tried to recruit last year, the outbreak of COVID-19 last year forced us to stop so even if we start recruiting again we will continue from where we stopped,” she said.
She also stated that the ICPC was limited by poor funding and in-depth capacity building of its staff to embark on investigations in specialised areas like tracking illicit financial flows in the oil and gas sector.
She commended the work of investigative journalists, especially those working in partnership with the ICPC, but highlighted the limitation of watchdog journalism in investigating corruption.
Spokesperson of the ICPC, Ms. Chinelo Azuka Ogugua during the zoom meeting with the ICIR on Saturday, February 27
“When you carry out your investigative journalism which gives us a well-detailed report that shows you’ve done your homework we can’t take it anywhere with all due respect because we need to conduct independent investigations of our own and dig deeper to see how it stands under the weight of the law.”
Explaining the procedure of the anti-corruption agency in addressing corruption cases, she revealed that even if the ICPC is confronted with intelligence reports from journalism reports, a petition will need to be filed before investigations can commence.
“If you write your reports and say the intelligence is out there without a petition then there is no assurance that we are going to work on it because we schedule our investigations and can’t just jump on every report of corruption from Nigerians,” she said.
Speaking further, Ogugua emphasised that ICPC’s approach to the fight against corruption hinges on lawful enforcement and preventive measures which is very slow especially for the public sector because technicalities could emerge that could jeopardise its court cases.
” So when it comes to serving public servants you follow the rules, for instance, if a case should be decided in 90 days and for 180 days you are still on it your case could be thrown out of court for that technicality which is why you’ll hear people say the person is still serving or we didn’t hear anything about that case.
“This is why we are thorough with our investigations to keep our court cases watertight,” she said.
In 2016, the ICPC secured 11 convictions out of 70 corruption-related cases it had filed in court after receiving a total of 1,569 petitions, according to its 2017 annual report.
Speaking at the session, Aliyu Wamako, President Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), said the agreement between the United Arab Emirate, UAE, and Nigeria which mandates Nigerians who intend to sell properties in the UAE to obtain a permit from the Nigerian embassy would help check illicit financial outflow.
“Any Nigerian who owns a property in Dubai, before you can sell it out, you have to get a letter from the Nigerian embassy which is a good development because it will help us keep track of people who are taking our resources to develop Dubai which is an all-round loss for the country.
“We had a collaboration with SCUML [Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering], an arm of EFCC that are mandated to check, money laundering and terrorism because we believe most of the monies go-to real estate which is the basis for the collaboration with them,” he said.
TWO hundred and seventy-nine schoolgirls kidnapped from Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State, have regained their freedom after spending four days in bandits’ captivity.
Bello Mattawale, governor of Zamfara State, made this known via a tweet on his official Twitter handle @Bellomatawalle1 Tuesday morning.
“Alhamdulillah! It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students of GGSS Jangebe from captivity.
“This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts. I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe,” Mattawale said in the tweet.
On Friday, February 26, 317 schoolgirls were kidnapped and whisked away from their school at about 1am by armed bandits. With 279 schoolgirls released, 38 of them are still in captivity.
According to a report, only 279 of the 317 schoolgirls have been released from captivity, but the fate of the remaining 38 schoolgirls is still unknown.
Mohammed Shehu, police public relations officer, did not answer calls nor did he reply to a text message sent to him regarding the remaining schoolgirls.
In some other cases of abduction or kidnapping in Nigeria, there has been a culture of leaving one or some of the abducted students behind.
Boko Haram terrorist group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School on the 14th of April 2014 in Chibok town of Maiduguri in Borno State.
More than eight years after, the whereabouts of 112 of these schoolgirls is yet unknown as there is a fleeting effort by the Nigerian government to rescue them, according to the Bring Back Our Girls Movement.
Like the remaining 112 Chibok schoolgirls, the whereabout of Leah Sharibu, one of the schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi in Yunusari Local Government Area of Yobe State, is still unknown as there are no visible efforts to secure her release from the Boko Haram terrorist group that abducted her in 2018.
ON Sunday, February 28, 2021, at least two major Nigerian dailies claimed in separate reports that 317 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, abducted on Friday had been released.
These national dailies are widely circulated in the country.
The claim has been shared multiple times online and also generated different reactions.
The Claim
Abducted Zamfara schoolgirls have been released.
False news on Zamfara Schoolgirls.
The Findings
On Friday, February 26, 2021, abductors took 317 secondary school students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State in Nigeria.
Following the incident, Zamfara State government and security operatives deployed a search and rescue team.
As part of the rescue efforts, the police deployed two helicopters to assist in the search and rescue mission.
Few days before the kidnapping incident, Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), had deployed 275 special police officers to address the rising cases of banditry and other forms of insecurity in the state.
The Punch and The Nation newspapers, among other dailies, reported that these students had been released.
Have the students been found as claimed by the national dailies?
The FactCheckHub reached out to Muhammed Salisu, police spokesperson for Zamfara State Police Command, but he debunked the claim.
“Honestly, I’m not aware of that story,” Salisu said.
“I don’t know where they got the story from, but if there is anything like that, both the government and police will speak about it.”
He said once there was any development, the government and the police authorities would officially make the announcement.
Besides, Suleiman Anka, Zamfara State’s commissioner for information and culture, also distanced the state from the news report.
He encouraged the public, through his social media handle, to disregard the reports.
“I want to call the attention of good people of Zamfara State. They should disregard any fake news regarding the release of abducted students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, by one national daily,” he stated.
“It is not true. But Alhamdulillah, the state government and securities are there trying their best.”
Bello Muhammad Matawalle, Zamfara State governor, further reaffirmed the position of his media aide but with assurance to locate the missing girls.
He gave the pledge on Sunday, February 28, 2021, during the visit of a federal government delegation led by Senator Hadi Sirika, aviation minister.
“The people of Zamfara State have mandated me as their governor to appeal to Mr. President to mobilise more securities to the prone areas because definitely there is a shortage of security manpower in the state,” he told the delegates.
“We hope that by the time you land in Abuja, you will be called upon to come and witness the release of the children,” he said.
In addition, one of the national dailies – The Punch Newspaper – later apologised for the false news.
“The Zamfara schoolgirls are yet to be released contrary to our earlier report. We regret and apologise for the error,” the newspaper stated.
In total, about three authorities have denied the report and one of the national dailies also apologised.
The Verdict
The claim in the reports by at least two national dailies that schoolgirls abducted in Zamfara have been released is FALSE.
THE National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has launched a registration portalin preparation for the receipt of 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday.
The Electronic Management of Immunization Data (EMID) portal was created to capture the data of Nigerians in order to facilitate COVID 19 schedules, NPHCDA said on the website.
The agency said that registering on the website would make “vaccination easier and faster” for Nigerians willing to be vaccinated against the deadly virus.
While there are concerns for many Nigerians who might be unable to register on the website due to lack of access to the internet, the NPHCDA said that such persons would not be sidelined in the vaccination.
Mohammed Ohitoto, spokesperson for the NPHCDA, told The ICIR in a telephone interview that there were already processes in place to ensure that no one was sidelined in the vaccination process.
“If you do not have the capacity to access, there is an assisted E-registration and if you do not have that too, there is the concomitant registration during vaccination.
“You can be registered right there at the point of vaccination. However, to make your vaccination easier you can register before that time,” Ohitoto said.
He also added that there would be vaccination centres across all local government of the federation to give access to Nigerians wishing to be vaccinated.
A joint statement earlier issued by NPHCDA, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) had disclosed that the arrival of the vaccine would kick-start vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with the frontline healthcare workers.
Faisal Shuaib, executive secretary of the NPHCDA, also noted that the agency had commenced the training of health workers for the vaccination.
“We are fully prepared to receive and deliver the vaccine to eligible Nigerians as we have commenced the training of health workers and ensured that cold chain facilities are ready at all levels,” Shuaib said.
A post circulating on WhatsApp claims that the ‘2021 Dangote Empowerment’ is ongoing and urged people to click a link to check their ‘cash prize’ eligibility status.
The claim sent for verification to the FactCheckHub, the fact-checking arm of The ICIR, was published on February 18, 2021. It reads:
2021 Dangote Empowerment. Hurry now, check if you are eligible to receive a cash prize as part of the Dangote Empowerment Grant. Apply Here.
The Claim
Dangote [Aliko Dangote Foundation] is inviting individuals to apply for the 2021 empowerment grant.
The Findings
Findings by the FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
He runs a philanthropist organisation known as the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which offers humanitarian support in various capacity.
Francis Awowole-Browne, the Director of Corporate Communication, Dangote Industries Limited, in a statement, debunked the viral post saying it is a scam meant to defraud people.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a fraudulent scheme circulating on WhatsApp and other social media titled 2021 Dangote Empowerment purporting to be sanctioned by the Aliko Dangote Foundation.
“Please note that this initiative is a scam aimed at defrauding unsuspecting people, and we strongly advise that you disregard it.
“While we work towards shutting down the activities and accounts of these scammers, please be advised to contact the law enforcement agency in case you have made contact with the group.”
Avoid falling victim to such scams.
Over time, the FactCheckHub have debunked several of such claims hiding under the guise of recruitment, support fund, empowerment programme, a government activity or free internet data.
These claims usually follow a similar modus operandi by targeting areas that would be of interest to many persons.
They are often shared via the WhatsApp platform. Oftentimes, they impersonate a group, person or organisation, and they all have a link they ask people to click.
The link directs to a phishing website either meant to access people’s information for nefarious purposes or to garner traction in order to sell advertisements or sometimes get people to fill a survey under false pretence.
Most importantly – a red flag to be aware of – is that they always ask for the link to be shared multiple times with call-to-action phrases like “Share it until the bar is full”.
Also, these kinds of posts are usually littered with bad grammar and spelling errors.
Surfing the website or social media handles of the organisation the post claims to be from is a way to avoid falling victim to such scams. In this instance, visiting the Dangote Foundation’s website. This is because organisations would often share such information on their social media platforms.
A PARISH court has found Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s former president, guilty of corruption.
The court also found him guilty of “influence peddling”, sentencing him to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence.
Sarkozy, 66, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted on Monday for having tried to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a legal action in which he was involved.
According to the BBC, prosecutors told the judges that Sarkozy had offered to secure a job in Monaco for judge Gilbert Azibert, in return for confidential information about an inquiry into allegations that he had accepted illegal payments from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential campaign.
This came to light while they were wiretapping conversations between Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog after the right-wing leader left office. The wiretapping was carried out in relation to another investigation into alleged Libyan financing of the same campaign.
The court said Sarkozy, a former lawyer himself, was “perfectly informed” about committing such illegal action. His two co-defendants were also found guilty and handed the same sentence.
Sarkozy had denied any wrongdoing, saying he was the victim of a witch-hunt by financial prosecutors who used excessive means to snoop on his affairs. He now has 10 days to appeal Monday’s ruling.
Taking into account the two years suspended, the sentence of one year jail means it is unlikely Sarkozy will physically go to prison, a punishment that in France usually applies to jail terms of above two years.
The list of Dubai property owners obtained by The ICIR from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a US-based nonprofit organisation, has thrown up name of one of Nigeria’s longest-serving senators, Ike Ekweremadu; former Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi; minister of state for budget and national planning, Clement Ikanade Agba and his son, Bennet Ikanade Agba.
Nigerians, particularly the politically exposed Nigerians, own over 800 properties in Dubai, a city designated as one of the havens for ill-gotten wealth, according to C4ADS.
The ICIR had earlier reported how William Fowler, a former Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tukur Buratai the immediate past Chief of Army Staff (COAS); Mbu Joseph Mbu, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) made the list of politically exposed Nigerians owning properties in Dubai.
Also identified on the list is jailed Olisah Metu, former National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and his spouse, Kanayo Olisa Metu, Tafa Balogun, a former Inspector General of Police (IGP), as well as Former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka and his spouse, Chidinma Chidoka.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu
Ike Ekweremadu, one of Nigeria’s longest-serving senator and three-time deputy president of the senate, is linked to seven properties in Dubai, a city described as a ‘Money Laundering Paradise’ due to the heavy flow of illicit funds into the city which is one of the seven emirates of UAE.
The ICIR record shows that Ekweremadu, a Nigerian politician and lawyer from Enugu State who has been serving in the Senate of Nigeria since May 2003, owns seven choice apartments in Dubai.
Two of the flats, which are a bedroom flat each owned by Ekweremadu are located at The Signature-Burj Down, just adjacent to the Dubai Mall, the largest shopping center in the world. The flats are 12A07 and 608.
He also has a bedroom flat with flat number 3901 at The Address Boulevard, and another flat on the second floor of Meadow 2
In 2018, Ekweremadu was charged to court over a corruption case when the Federal Government sought an interim order to seize 22 properties/assets belonging to him that were located in London, Dubai, Florida and Abuja.
Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in February 2020, later struck out the case.
Calls and messages sent to Ekweremadu’s mobile number by The ICIR did not go through.
The ICIR reached out also Uche Anichukwu, media aide to Ike Ekweremadu, who did not deny the fact that his principal owned seven apartments in Dubai. He instead said Ekweremadu has declared his properties before the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB.
“The important thing is for a public officer to declare his or her assets every four years as constitutionally required. This, the Senator has duly complied with. So, you can always cross-check with the Code of Conduct Bureau,” says Anichukwu
Clement Ikanade Agba and son
Also on the list of politically exposed Nigerians owning properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE) is Clement Ikanade Agba, the minister of state for budget and national planning and his son, Bennet Ikanade Agba.
The minister and his son co-owned an apartment at The Bridge in Dubai Sports City.
Until his appointment as minister Clement Agba served as the commissioner in the Edo State ministry of environment and public Utilities from January 23, 2009, to July 25, 2010.
On July 26th, 2010, Agba was appointed as the commissioner of lands, survey & housing in Edo State before being redeployed to the ministry of environment & public utilities on December 2, 2010.
Agba resigned from his position in 2012 and returned to Chevron Oil, where he had been given a leave of absence.
In 2019, he was appointed as minister of state for budget and national planning by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Bennet Ikanade Agba, one of his four children, is a music producer, who studied Economics at the University College, London (UCL).
Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi
The ICIR record shows that former senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi owns three flats in Dubai. The former senator has a 3-bedroom flat with flat number 5506 and another 2-bedroom flat with flat number 5501 at The Paramount Tower hotels and residences in Dubai.
Hunkunyi is a former senator, who represented the Kaduna North Senatorial District between 2015 and 2019.
Prior to the 2015 general election, Hunkuyi served as deputy national organising secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as well as chairman, campaign council in Kaduna State in 2015.
Under the same platform, he served as a senator representing Kaduna North Senatorial District in the National Assembly before decamping to PDP in 2019.
In 2018, the Nigerian police invited Hunkuyi and the chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Kaduna State chapter, Adamu Ango for questioning in connection with a N369 million failed project.
Calls and messages sent to Hunkuyi ‘s mobile number by The ICIR were not going through till the time of this publication.
…by the time the dust settled, about 11 were writhing in fresh blood. Of these, one died instantly, three survived for a few hours but died eventually. Six were critically injured with gunshot wounds, among them a 9-year-old boy.
ON Thursday, April 9, 2020, ten days after Nigeria entered a partial lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officers of the Nigeria police, army, correctional service and others had extra-judicially killed 13 while enforcing the curfew – the virus had only claimed six lives by then. By May 4, when the government eased the lockdown, about 20 persons had been killed in similar circumstances. For three months, investigative journalist, Kemi Busari, followed the trails of these arbitrary killings which have left many families devastated, with no hope of justice.
Final burial rites for Umar Musa
The journey between Layin Tanki, where Sani Umar lives and his father’s residence at Sabon Garin Nasarawa, both at Trikania, Kaduna takes only six minutes. Being the breadwinner of his extended family, Umar frequently visits his father and others. His intention, on April 4, 2020, was to do the routine.
He was about three minutes into the journey, by a google map estimation, before he was caught in a binge of gunfire unleashed by police officers at Bakin Dogo junction, the intersection of Gwagwada Road and Hakimi Road, just close to the railway line. Multiple slugs penetrated his cranial bones, smashing and exposing the internal organs and dismembering the skull.
Umar did not complete the journey on the familiar road, instead, remains of his shattered skull, packed in a black plastic bag, were sent to his father – then tears followed.
Amid the bedlam that engulfed Trikania that high noon, another body fell at Wakili Road. That was Aliyu Abubakar, a teenager. The bullet entered through his chest, tearing first his pectoralis muscle before rupturing the upper right pairs of his vertebrosternal ribs and ultimately his lungs. The 18-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Then 31-year-old Musa Aliyu was shot at close range, about 10 metres to the front door of his family house at Dokaje Street. The bullet entered through his vertebrochondral ribs leaving him with no chance at surviving. He died in pains some two hours after.
One street away, a fourth body fell to the hail of bullets. Yusuf Mukhtar was shot multiple times right at the door of his house at Hakimi Road. He didn’t survive the bullet that entered first through his chest, rupturing some life-holding organs, and then at his hand, tearing the hand from other parts of the body.
A fifth person, which PREMIUM TIMES could not trace despite some efforts, was shot dead in the gunfire that lasted about one hour, bringing the fatalities to five. Residents say the fifth victim, a male, does not reside in the area.
Apart from the five dead, six others; Ibrahim Abdullahi, Isah Saleh, Mujahid Saminu, Isah Ibrahim (Al-Amin), Abdul Abass and Mohammed Mohammed suffered various degrees of gun-shot injuries during the unexpected onslaught carried out by police officers on April 4, 2020, at Sabon Garin Nasarawa Trikania area of Kaduna State.
Map showing where each victim was killed.
Connecting the dots
Five dead, six injured and a permanent scar left in the hearts of loved ones but what led to this offensive?
The popular Monday Market holds on the fringes of Kakuri in Kaduna South Local Government Area of the state. Due to proximity, residents of Trikania in Chikun Local Government, also join in the trading every Monday. The two communities, existing in different local governments, are only separated by a railway track.
March 31, 2020, was another market day but owing to a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the state government to curb the spread of COVID-19 which by then the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had tested positive for, residents could not trade as usual at the market.
Although the government only announced a temporary relaxation from 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 1st to Thursday, April 2nd, residents of Sabon Trikania still felt the need to stock up groceries two days after, April 4. A make-shift market was established at Bakin Dogo junction.
Buying and selling started early and on a peaceful note. Residents say, members of Sabon Garin Nasarawa local community security, officially named the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), were on hand, as early as 8 a.m., to ensure compliance with COVID-19 protocols.
Some hours into trading, members of Makera CJTF, from Kaduna South jurisdiction, came to the market to disperse the buyers and sellers. They were resisted by the youth in the community.
Usman Muhammed, the General Commander, Sabon Garin Nasarawa CJTF considers the move by the Makera CJTF as surprising as the unwritten rule is that ‘when we (CJTF of one area) want to go (to) another area, we’ll let the JTF in that area know.’ But the Makera CJTF didn’t inform of their operation that day, he added.
The General Commander of Makera CJTF, Muhammed Halliru, wouldn’t comment but directed PREMIUM TIMES enquiries to the chairman of the outfit.
The chairman, Alhassan Dahiru, said he was not aware of the killings when, in January 2021, he was asked questions about the role his men played.
CJTF office Makera
About one hour after the initial resistance at the market, the Makera CJTF came again, this time in the company of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Kakuri Police Station, Zubairu Abubakar. Witnesses say he addressed the traders and was assured of compliance with COVID-19 rules but he left unsatisfied.
Assault
Not long after his exit, police officers attached to Kakuri Police Station returned. The assault started, shortly after midday, with the police shooting tear gas into the make-shift market but resistance from traders and residents didn’t work this time. The defiance was met with maximum force by the police officers who not only shot to disperse but hunted some residents down to their houses. All hell was let loose.
By the time the dust settled, about 11 were writhing in fresh blood. Of these 11, one died instantly, three survived for a few hours but died eventually. Six were critically injured with gunshot wounds, among them a 9-year-old boy.
PREMIUM TIMES could not get details of one fatal victim, who was said to be residing at a faraway location.
Final burial rites for Aliyu, Musa and Yusuf
Although the police, in a statement shortly after the incident shifted the blame to the CJTF, evidence and accounts of witnesses counter this narrative.
Nine months after this incident, family members of the deceased and residents could only hold on to the memories of their lost loved ones – sad memories.
Distraught by what had become their pandemic; the police, cast down by the doom of a day inflicted on a once-happy people and the vacuum they are struggling to accept its emptiness, survivors of the April 4 shooting in Sabon Garin Nasarawa feel only pains. These memories become more excruciating as there appears to be no hope of justice.
‘Police officer killed my boy, threatened to shoot me’
Officially, Sabon Garin Nasarawa CJTF has 177 members. Musa Aliyu was one of them until his death. The 30-year-old worked full time at the Kakuri Makera branch of Eurofoam in Kaduna. He was in the bathroom when he heard the sounds of gunshots. A moment later, he was further jolted by the sight of two strangers who ran into his family house at Dokaje Street to take refuge.
After a slight interrogation, emboldened by his membership of the CJTF, Aliyu stepped out to find out what was going on. He never returned. He was just about 10 metres away from the entrance of his family house when he was shot.
Musa Aliyu
The shot, fired by a yet unknown officer, who was said to be chasing some people, pierced his vertebrochondral ribs. Blood was out in an instant. Fleeing residents who knew him were the first to come to his aid. His weakened body was hastily dragged on to a motorbike; one resident blocked the injured section with a cloth to prevent more bleeding. He was rushed to Ashmed Specialist Hospital, about 500 metres away.
Upon sighting his injured son, Ali Banki, said rushed in to dress up with the hope of going to the hospital. He couldn’t do that without confrontation, he recalls. Frequently, he shakes his head in sadness as he narrates events of the day.
“I see (saw) one police here, he laid down, everybody was running but he laid there…I couldn’t see his name. He told me ‘go inside’. I said to him? In front of my house? You kill my boy you still want to kill me? Go ahead, shoot me too,” Banki says of his encounter with a police officer he met before rushing to the hospital.
On getting to the hospital, there was no doctor to attend to the injured, then another journey to another hospital; Smart Hospital. Here, he was promptly attended to but he had lost a lot of blood.
By this time, Aliyu’s bloodshot eyes had started to close, his breathing difficult surrounded by loved ones – then he gave up. All efforts to revive him were not successful. He was buried the following day.
‘Bodies falling’, teenagers killed in cold blood
While scampering for his life, Ibrahim Abdulamid, a nurse, resident in Trikania, recalls seeing bodies fall. He prefers the community was hit by COVID-19 than experiencing the onslaught by the police officers.
“That very day, what the police did in this community, they were more dangerous than coronavirus at that specific time,” he said.
Aliyu Abubakar and Yusuf Muhktar are both 18. They are both Senior Secondary School (SSS) 3 students of Government Day Secondary School, Kakuri and they were both slated to write the secondary school leaving exams in 2020. They both aspire to become soldiers to defend their country but all these aspirations will only materialise in another world.
Slugs from yet-to-be-identified officers halted their dreams, just a few minutes apart on April 4, 2020.
It took some efforts to get Abubakar Aliyu (Aliyu Abubakar’s father) to narrate the incident of his son’s death, and when he did, his tone was filled with vile. For him, it is justice or nothing. His malcontent is understandable, given the circumstance the ‘child he loves most’ was snatched from him by the people employed and paid to protect him.
The aged man had gone to the market like many other residents on April 4. Around noon on that Saturday, the sad news came in.
Aliyu Abubakar
“I came back from the market where we were chased when a boy came running and told me that “your son Abba has been shot”, he narrated, struggling to hold back tears. “At that time, Abba’s (Aliyu’s) corpse was brought to me. It felt like a tale when I was told that it was the police that shot Abba.”
What was brought to Abubakar was a lifeless body with a bullet-ridden chest. The bullets had already damaged his lungs making passage of oxygen into cells an impossibility.
A bewildered Abubakar could not come to terms with his son’s death without a fight. His first instinct was to take him to a hospital and off they zoomed to Ashmed Hospital. On getting to the hospital, his death was confirmed as having occurred barely an hour ago.
Abubakar will never remain the same. “My mother passed away, but I did not feel so much pain like his passing, because he does anything I tell him to.”
Before their untimely deaths, Aliyu Abubakar and Yusuf Muhktar were friends, they both loved football which they played at the popular Bakin Dogo field, just by the railway. What more do they share? They died the same day, almost the same time.
Yusuf Muhktar
Muhktar was shot several times. He was in his family residence in Hakimi Road when the police officers went on a rampage. Right by the door of the house, he was shot first on his chest and then his hand. The bullets that hit Muhktar ripped off his hands.
His brother, Aliyu Muhammad, heard the gunshots but had to take refuge inside the house. When the assault finally subsided and Muhktar was brought into the house, he had already lost several pints of blood. His hands ripped off, chest ridden of cavities, he was in excruciating pain and it was only a matter of time before he was expected to die. Nevertheless, he was rushed to the hospital.
There was little the medics at the Al-Ramadan Nursing and Maternity Home could do. Muhktar was dead before arrival. The medical report stated that he suffered a ‘significant gunshot to the chest.’
Relatives described Muktar as a ‘hustler’. While not in school or playing ball, the teenager engaged in carpentry, which he already learnt to a professional level. At other times, he was a rider and even a washer.
“Sincerely, he is a jovial boy, who believes(d) in hard work and relates(d) to (with) people well. He once rode a tricycle and sometimes stayed late at night to wash the tricycle. This is aside from his carpentry. Sincerely, he is (was) a hustler!” says Aliyu.
Umar never made it to the hospital
Unlike others, Sani Umar did not have the privilege of being taken for treatment nor a befitting burial. He was a regular at his father’s residence being the sole breadwinner. He had left his home on April 4, 2020, to visit his father but met his untimely death. Pictures taken afresh after his death shows a smashed skull crammed in a black plastic bag and a lifeless body.
Sani Umar
While the other three dead were taken for burial the following day, on the 5th, Umar’s burial could not be delayed due to its untidiness and the potential stink it could ooze overnight. He was immediately taken for burial. Umar suffered more. His disintegrated skull still had to be taken for a shave to enable proper documentation.
“I was in the market seated then my (other) son called me and said Sani has been killed,” says Babangida Umar, Sani’s ageing father. “He was shot on the head and it broke open. We had to fetch his brain in a polythene sack. When we were going to wash the corpse, we had to tie the head with a wrapper before clothing, taking him to the graveyard.”
Given his tenacious lifestyle, one would have wished he was still alive to fulfil his dreams. Although a welder, Sani was still sought formal education even in his 30s. Braving the shame of sitting in the same classroom alongside teenagers, some of who are young enough for him to sire, he finished his secondary school education in 2019 at the age of 32.
What now remains of Musa, Sani, Muhktar and Aliyu, once beacons of hope for their family, is 6-feet of earth where each of them was interred. The four suffered gruesome deaths by any sense of imagination. PREMIUM TIMES could not publish gory pictures of these victims alongside this copy as they require a prior warning before viewing.
Horrid images gathered in the course of this investigation can be viewed in a separate folder here. These are graphic pictures. Beware!
Apart from these four, residents claim a fifth victim, a man, who resides far away was also caught up in the carnage. A photograph of the victim shared with PREMIUM TIMES shows an elderly man, clad in white babariga (clothing) but we could not independently verify.
“He doesn’t live here,” some residents say in chorus. “His people have taken him (his corpse) away so we don’t know where he is,” Ibrahim Aliyu added.
This newspaper is still making efforts to contact the family members. We call on anyone who has a lead to reach out to us.
Hail of bullets, deaths
Shooting on April 4 started at Bakin Dogo, around the crossroad that joins Gwagwada Road and Hakimi Road, the location of the makeshift market but soon spread to other streets as gun-wielding police officers chased people.
On Hakimi Road, about 150 metres to the west by-pass, then 9-year-old Ibrahim Al-Amin was running an errand when two bullets hit him at opposite sides of his chest.
The bullets penetrated through his pectoralis, rupturing his ribs in the process. His two hands became temporarily paralysed. His dying body was found inside the culvert close to his house.
9-year-old Ibrahim Al-amin survived two bullet wonds
The first landing place for the boy, who had become unconscious, was Agwa Hospital. Here, the doctors revived him, stabilised his breathing and placed him on a drip. He was referred to Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital for further treatment as the private hospital lacked the facility to remove the bullets.
From there, he was referred to two other government hospitals, which both rejected him before the family settled for a private hospital. At Smart Hospital, Al-Amin was given emergency treatment but something else would later deter his further treatment.
“The next day, when the doctor arrived, he said he will not touch the boy till we deposit N30,000,” says Binta Ibrahim, his mum, now recounting the horrible experience with more ease nine months after. “After much struggle, we managed to pay the money before the bullets were removed.”
Binta said the family paid N105, 000 plus other unrecorded expenses to see Al-Amin alive today. His story was similar to that of Ibrahim Abdullahi, another survivor.
By the evening of April 4, news had already spread around Sabon Garin Nasarawa that casualty figures had risen to six. The sixth was 22-year-old Abdullahi, a student of the Kaduna State Polytechnic.
A bullet that penetrated his chest and forcefully exit his back threw him lifeless on Gwagwada Road axis of Trikania. Abdullahi was lucky the bullet spared his spinal cord. He said he saw a policeman shoot him. “He wanted to shoot me again when my mum come (came) and drag me down.”
Abdullahi would later spend hours at the hospital to regain consciousness and days to have his body mended.
The bullet entered from Abdullahi’s chest and exited at his back
Police complicit
Of the six victims (fatal and survivors) captured in this investigation, four was shot at close range, one shot at the head and the last shot at the ribs. Four were shot multiple times.
Shooting at close range, multiple times and at delicate areas suggest only one thing; the police acted out of annoyance in the confrontation and planned to kill, says a retired inspector of the Nigeria Police who analysed the situation
Horrid images gathered in the course of this investigation can be viewed in a separate folder here. These are graphic pictures. Beware!
The inspector, who doesn’t want to be named for fear of victimisation, said even if they were provoked, the officers ought to deploy tactical withdrawal and then reinforce to calm irking nerves.
“It is when you’re being shot or attacked by dangerous weapons and you don’t have any other alternative that you’re allowed to shoot as a policeman,” he said. “Even at that, you can’t shoot in the head or chest, you’re to shoot at the leg. But you know in most cases, police will lie that they aimed at the leg.”
A gunshot victim being hurdled on a bike
Although the 2020 Police Act is silent on the rules guiding the use of firearms, the Use of Force Order 237, which subsists as reference legislation, corroborates the former cop’s analysis.
The order authorises police officers to “only use (as last resort) objectively reasonable force, proportional to the threat or urgency of the situation, when necessary” and in this context, “only when 12 or more people remain violently assembled beyond a reasonable time after the reading of the proclamation, and that the persons conduct may lead to imminent death or serious injury to the police or other persons.”
The order notes further that “indiscriminate firing into a crowd is always unlawful” and officers must account for any use individually as stipulated Sections 25, 298 Criminal Code Act 1990. In cases when officers’ use of force leads to death or injury, such case is open to investigation by the court and such officer is liable under the Criminal Code.
Some bullets retrieved from the scene of the shooting were sighted by PREMIUM TIMES but the inspector says it is difficult to trace to individual cops as Nigeria lacks a register of ammunition and usage.
Some bullets retrieved after the attack
Blood, bullets yet no justice
The attack has mostly been kept away from the media with only a few reports based on a press statements existing as reference. In the statement, the Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige, said the investigation was ongoing ‘’while seven had been arrested’’.
But 10 months after, Mr Jalige could not provide details of the investigation.
None of the officers was on record subjected to internal probe nor was there any prosecution as stipulated by the law. Mr Jalige asked for more time to receive a briefing but never got back despite follow up.
PREMIUM TIMES also reached out to the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Muri, who directed enquiries to the PRO.
The DPO of Kakuri Police Station, where the assailant officers are attached at first said he was not aware of the killings. He later said he would require a ‘clearance’ from the state command to comment on the issue.
None of the Umar, Aliyu, Muhktar and Sani’s loved ones would ever be pacified by this injustice. Apart from grieving the loss of their loved ones, they are further dejected by the fact that no move for justice was initiated even 10 months after.
They said there was no contact from anyone except for the effort by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to document the events back in May.
The Kaduna State Coordinator of the commission, Gwar Terngu, said details of the documentation were sent to the headquarters in Abuja for further action. But it’s 10 months now and there has been no response.
Denials still pervade the horrible killings, accusing fingers are still being pointed, relevant agencies still tardy in their responsibilities but these won’t deter the families of the deceased from clamouring for justice. They want the trigger-happy officers brought to book and some compensation for their losses.
Umar Babangida was downcast by the picture of his son’s disintegrated body towards the end of the interview but showed fury when asked his demands.
“I want the government to arrest these people and charge them. If that’s not done, then justice is not served,” he said.
But a time-taking legal processes Nigeria is known for won’t do for Abubakar Aliyu. “Those who killed them should also be killed,” he said adding that although this will never bring back his Abba, “it has to be done quickly.”
This investigation was sponsored by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Reporting (PTCIJ)
FAISAL Shuaib, executive secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), says Nigeria is to take delivery of 3.92 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, March 2.
The delivery will mark the first arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria and make the country the next West African nation to benefit from COVAX Facility after Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
A joint statement issued by NPHCDA, WHO and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said the arrival of the vaccine would kick-start vaccination of Nigerians in priority groups, starting with the frontline healthcare workers.
“The arrival of this vaccine is the result of the commitment of the federal government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, the support of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, and the guidance of the Hon. Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire,” Shuaib, who read the statement, said.
“We are fully prepared to receive and deliver the vaccine to eligible Nigerians as we have commenced the training of health workers and ensured that cold chain facilities are ready at all levels.”
Though there were concerns about Nigeria’s ability to maintain the appropriate cooling temperature, Shuaib assured that the country had a robust cold chain system that could store all types of COVID-19 vaccine in accordance with the required temperature.
The NPHCDA boss emphasised the agency’s resolve to prioritise health workers in the country while managing patients affected by the pandemic.
He said there were plans to vaccinate 70 percent of eligible Nigerians from age 18 above, in four phases within two years.
According to him, the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine was part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to Nigeria in batches over the next months by the COVAX Facility. This, he stressed, was part of a global effort to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
“We are therefore confident that we will have a very effective roll-out of the vaccine, starting with our critical healthcare workers, who are in the frontline in providing the care we all need,” Shuaib added.
The COVAX Facility is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the WHO, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), with UNICEF as a key implementing partner.
Ghana recently received its batch of the COVAX vaccine.
On February 11, the World Health Organisation (WHO) made interim recommendations for use of the vaccine, including the need to give priority to health workers, older people, especially those beyond age 65.
“The COVAX Facility has worked exceptionally hard to ensure that Nigeria gets the vaccine as soon as possible so it can start its vaccination programme to the largest population in Africa,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Nigeria country representative.
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed multiple lives globally. About 114 million persons have been infected across the world, resulting in about 2.53 million deaths.
In the United States alone, over 500, 000 deaths have been recorded due to COVID-19.
In Nigeria, as of Saturday, February 27, 155,417 cases had been recorded in the country, with 1,905 deaths and 133,256 discharged cases.
According to the WHO, those with ‘a history of severe allergic reaction’ should not take the vaccine.
Moreover, “the vaccine is not recommended for persons younger than 18 years of age pending results of further studies.”
TANKO Yakasai, father of Salihu Tanko Yakasai popularly known as Dawisu who was arrested last Friday by Department of State Services (DSS) for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) over rising spate of insecurity in the country, has engaged attorneys to help free his son from custody of the secret police.
After news of his arrest went viral Saturday morning, Peter Afunaya, spokesperson of the secret police, confirmed his arrest in a statement.
Afunaya said Dawisu was being investigated over issues beyond the expression of opinions in the social media.
While in detention, Dawisu who was media aide to Abdullahi Ganduje, Kano state governor, was relieved of his job by the governor, for making “unguarded comments and utterances.”
It was the second time in four months that he would be punished by his estranged principal.
Dawisu was suspended by Ganduje for criticising Buhari in the wake of #EndSARS protests that rocked the country in October 2020.
He had attacked the president for lacking empathy and keeping mute over the protests that was against police brutality and poor funding of the police by government.
He had tweeted: “I have never seen a government with zero empathy like that of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“So many times when his people are going through a difficult time and expect some sort of tap on shoulder to reassure them that he is in charge, but he fails to do so. The ‘I don’t care attitude’ is on another level.
“To speak to your own people over issues that are bedevilling them has become something like a favour you are doing to them.
“Over and over again, you cannot spare five minutes to address the nation to calm them down, the same people you went to the 36 states to beg for their votes, it is heart-breaking.”
TANKO Yakasai and his son, Salihu Tanko Yakasai
His suspension lasted two weeks before he was reinstated.
Recently, Dawisu asked President Buhari to resign over his inability to prevent the abduction of schoolgirls in Zamfara State.
He tweeted: “Clearly, we as APC government, at all levels, have failed Nigerians in the number one duty we were elected to do which is to secure lives and properties. Not a single day goes by without some sort of insecurity in this land. This is a shame! Deal with terrorists decisively or resign.
“Just last week it was #freekagaraboys, today we have anew hashtag #RescueJangebeGirls, who knows tomorrow what hashtag we will come up with? Perhaps one for ourselves when we get caught up in one of these daring attacks.
“This is sad and heartbreaking, I feel helpless and hopeless. “I completely agree. Hypocrisy is in our DNA. Imagine what’s happening in the North now under GEJ or OBJ, what you will hear is he’s the enemy of the North and Muslims, but here we are, being ravaged by all sorts of insecurity but no collective rage…”
He has disappeared since he made that comment, and many of his friends and relations had raised the alarm over his sudden disappearance, but his father, was sure of the whereabouts of his son.
And he has secured the services of attorneys from H. A. Gudaji I & Co, who are requesting the director-general of the DSS, Yusuf Bichi, to grant the junior Yakasai an administrative bail.
Letter to the DSS by the attorneys
Predicating their letter, dated Saturday 27 February, 2021 on the 1999 constitution (as amended) and other relevant laws, the lawyers said as an agency created, governed and guided by law, they wanted the head of DSS to grant them attorney-client access to the detained politician and his release on administrative bail.
The letter was signed by Aremya’u Yusuf Abubakr (Esq.) for H. A. Gudaji & Co.
The ICIR reports that while Dawisu was punished twice by Ganduje within four months over his “unguarded utterances,” the governor picked no offence when his estranged aide attacked deposed Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi over the same incident in November 2019.
The young Yakasai told Sanusi to “stop opening his filthy mouth” while responding to his comments on abduction of children from Kano to the South-East for commercial purposes.
The deposed Emir had blamed parental irresponsibility in northern part of the nation on the crime, but Dawisu objected, using language culturally believed to be insulting to the elders, especially a revered monarch.
He had tweeted: “A very reckless comment to make. I wonder if any of his relatives get kidnapped or stolen, he will act the same way. The kids are not almajiris for goodness sake. SLS (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi) should have kept quiet instead of opening his filthy mouth to make such insensitive remarks. Nonsense!”
But the tweets attracted no condemnation from the government which was in serious rift with the Emir at the time.
After unresolved feud that lasted for at least two years, the governor eventually deposed Sanusi on March 9, 2020, revealing a year thereafter that the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was removed because he could not guard his mouth.
A foremost Buhari’s critic, Aisha Yesufu said in a video seen by The ICIR that the arrest of Dawisu by the DSS was uncalled for.
She questioned the rationale behind the DSS action, and supported the comments of the detained politician.
Aisha Yesufu. Source: Daily Post
Yesufu said if anybody “says the truth” by criticizing the APC government, the government would be uncomfortable and order arrest of the critic.
She said Dawisu was arrested for saying the “truth,” adding that people who are dissatisfied with the government performance would not stop criticising it.
“If they will arrest all of us, we will not keep quiet. If they keep on picking us, there are people that will still talk, that APC government is a fraud,” she said in the video recorded in Hausa language.
According to her, she’s been demanding that President Buhari resign but he refuses because of the “comfort” he enjoys in office.
She said the APC government had been boasting that the president would not step down until he finishes his tenure.
The opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) also condemned the arrest in a statement.
Similarly, the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Projects (SERAP) frowned at the arrest of Yakasai.
The ICIR had reported how over 881 students had been kidnapped under the Buhari administration.
Also on the list of politically exposed Nigerians owning properties in Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE) is Clement Ikanade Agba, the minister of state for budget and national planning and his son, Bennet Ikanade Agba.
The ICIR record shows that former senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi owns three flats in Dubai. The former senator has a 3-bedroom flat with flat number 5506 and another 2-bedroom flat with flat number 5501 at 
