The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is worried that Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps in north-eastern Nigeria have become death traps.
Following Tuesday’s multiple suicide bomb blasts that killed 27 and injured 83 outside a camp sheltering displaced people in Konduga, Maiduguri, Borno State, NRC urged the Nigerian military to tighten security around displaced people.
It noted that attacks on civilians sheltering in displacement sites were on the rise, worsening an already dire situation for people on the brink of famine in north-east.
“We need to see the Nigerian government stepping up to protect civilians in displacement camps. It’s their primary responsibility,” Ernest Mutanga, NRC’s head of programmes in Nigeria, said.
The international humanitarian organisation warned that more communities are becoming vulnerable to Boko Haram attacks, and towns previously considered safe for civilians were also coming under attack.
According to NRC, 190 security incidents involving civilians were reported in July — a figure that was substantially more than the total combined for May and June. Also of note was an increase in the number of attacks on sites sheltering displaced civilians.
“On 23 July, a suicide bomber killed three people and injured 17 others in a displacement (IDP) camp in Borno State,” Mulanga continued.
“The same day another suspected female suicide bomber was shot dead by the military as she tried to climb a perimeter wall surrounding an IDP camp.
“Five days earlier on 28 July, five people were killed and six wounded in Dikwa town when two suicide bombers detonated explosives in an area sheltering displaced families. Dikwa town was previously considered safe from the time the Nigerian military took control of it a year ago.
“Camps sheltering innocent families fleeing war should be places of refuge. But instead they are turning into death traps. Armed groups in this conflict are pushing people from one hell into another.”
NRC said insecurity was hampering the humanitarian response.
“NRC staff had to temporarily suspend operations in Mamenti area of Maiduguri City in June because of threats from armed groups. Hundreds of people did not receive food, clean water and hygiene support as a result,” it said.
“The arrival of the rainy season has worsened access to communities, already causing flooding in multiple areas. Heavy rains are preventing helicopters from landing, and cutting road access.
“NRC has had to have cranes accompany some truck deliveries of aid into displacement camps, as the small feeder roads are often flooded. This substantially increases the costs of aid delivery.
“Northeast Nigeria is already experiencing a widespread food crisis, with food security experts forecasting a rise in the number of people facing crisis, emergency and famine conditions from 4.7 million to 5.2 million by the end of the month. This includes 50,000 people forecast to be affected by famine-like conditions.”
It pointed out that the worsening situation in Nigeria comes as aid organisations prepare to mark World Humanitarian Day this week on 19 August, and called for better protection of civilians targeted in conflict.
Willie Obiano, Governor of Anambra State, says he is confident of winning the forthcoming governorship election in the state by a landslide.
Speaking on Tuesday evening during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Tonight’, Obiano boasted that he has no challenger in the election, adding that his achievements in his first term are enough to win him a second tenure.
Earlier on Tuesday, he had been unanimously adopted the sole candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in a primary held by the faction of the party led by Ike Oye.
The other APGA faction, whose leader is Martin Agbaso, described Obiano’s candidature as an exercise in futility.
But Obiano maintained the election in November would be mere formality.
“Our achievements so far will speak for us,” he said. “I am going to win the election with a landslide because there’s nobody competing with me.”
Obiano further said that his administration restored security in Anambra State, as “kidnappers and criminals held sway” prior to his assumption of office.
These comments are coming despite the attack by gunmen on a Catholic Church in Ozubulu on August 6 where 13 worshippers were killed.
Another attack occurred close to an Assemblies of God church in Onitsha, the biggest commercial city in the State, on Sunday, resulting in the death of two persons, including a policeman.
Also, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), had called on citizens of Anambra to boycott the election unless the federal government announces a date for a referendum on Biafran independence.
Aside Obiano, many other political heavyweights in Anambra are gunning for the governorship seat.
They include Andy Ubah, a serving senator; Osita Chidoka, former Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and former Minister of Aviation and Yul Edochie, popular Nollywood actor and son of Pete Edochie.
At least 27 people have died and another 83 are wounded after Boko Haram suicide bombers struck in Konduga, near Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.
According to Reuters, a woman bomber blew herself up and killed 27 others at a market in the village of Konduga, near Maiduguri, the epicentre of the conflict between government forces and the Islamist Boko Haram insurgents.
Quoting a village head and an official from the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), it said two suicide bombers also blew themselves up at the gates to a nearby refugee camp, killing nobody but injuring many.
Charly Boy and his men entered Wuse market, Abuja, mid-morning on Tuesday but what ensued afterwards was a clash that eventually assumed ethnic dimension.
Charly Boy has been leading a protest against President Muhammadu Buhari to either resume or resign.
Garden opposite Wuse Market
Witnesses told the ICIR that Charly Boy rode into the market on a power bike, accompanied by two cars. When he alighted, people started gathering around him.
Within few minutes, a huge crowd had formed around him and he started addressing them. While Charly Boy was still talking to the crowd, some people started throwing sachet water at him and shouting “Sai Baba” in apparent support of Buhari who has been abroad on medical vacation for 100 days.
One of the witnesses said the men who were throwing water went ahead to grab and tear Charly Boy’s shirt. Those attacking him were identified as “Hausa boys”.
Another witness said Igbo traders intervened to free Charly Boy from the crowd and he was able to escape with the aid of his power bike.
The irate men then vented their anger by vandalising the two cars left behind by the entertainer. This created pandemonium, which led to the closure of the market.
Some of the traders
Witnesses said the market was closed and the so-called Hausa boys gathered by the entrance of the market, chanting “Sai Baba” and making anti-Igbo comments.
“The Hausa boys started throwing stones at Igbo traders who were in a garden opposite the market,” the witness, a trader, said. “The Igbo responded by throwing the stones back at them.”
With this unfolding violence, people started running away to different directions.
A man was said to have been critically wounded by the stones and the police rushed him to hospital. Many others were wounded.
‘TRAFFIC POLICEMEN RAN AWAY’
An injured man
Witnesses said when the exchange of stones became intense, the traffic wardens at the market junction ran away, saying they did not have guns to confront the rising violence.
It was confirmed that three policemen accompanied Charly Boy to the market, but they were unable to do anything.
The witnesses said other policemen who had guns were at the entrance of the market at the start of the violent exchange of stones, but they were probably outnumbered to do anything, thereby leaving the situation to degenerate.
When the ICIR arrived the scene, a crowd was advancing from the market towards Berger Junction, some of them wielding sticks.
A reinforcement of policemen and officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) eventually quelled the violence.
Destiny Trust, a social intervention providing education, rehabilitation and empowerment to homeless children, has launched a crowdfunding campaign tagged ‘1000HelpingHands’ to raise money to put 100 out-of-school and homeless children to school in the next academic session.
According to a statement released by Bukky Shaba, Campaign Coordinator, on Tuesday, proceeds of the crowdfunding will also be used to support the feeding, healthcare and education of rehabilitated homeless children who are under the Trust’s continuing care and supervision at its residential learning and rehabilitation centre in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos
The Trust urged the public to give as little as N1,000 this one time so that the kids in its care and up to 100 others still on the streets can go to school in September.
According to Shaba, in the last one year, the centre has provided shelter to up to 20 children, served as a community centre to children in its host community who come in for afterschool assistance and served about 32,850 meals to both resident children and visiting children.
She explained that 1000 Helping Hands is symbolic for having as many people as possible give towards an important cause of safeguarding the future of kids who otherwise might become a menace to the society.
In the 2016 round of the fundraising, the Trust raised a total sum of N1,972,379 from donors mainly on social media channels.
“Although this was a significant shortfall in the funding target, donors in the 2016 round enabled the Trust’s intervention which benefitted 100 children comprising of children who were newly enrolled in school and others who were assisted to go back to school,” she said.
“They were indigent pupils who only required minimal financial support to buy uniforms, school bags and writing materials to go back to school and benefit from the government’s free education programme.
“The Trust also upgraded school facilities and expanded classroom capacity at the Lagos Model School, Marwa which accommodated a majority of the beneficiaries.”
Shaba explained that the 2017 fundraising would help the organisation to bring value to the lives of the vulnerable children.
“We are building a community of 1000 good citizens who will commit to giving at least N1,000 monthly for a period of one year,” she said. From our experience, little acts of kindness in this manner can make a big difference in securing the future of the children.”
Donations are received through the Trust’s account: The Destiny Trust Projects, GT Bank Plc, 0209963873.
Aside providing education, rehabilitation and empowerment to homeless children, Destiny Trust also runs a learning and rehabilitation centre for street children at Bogije, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
It commenced its activities on August 11, 2012 with an initiative tagged ‘The Kuramo Intervention Project’ — a specific intervention targeted at providing education, healthcare, food, shelter and guidance to homeless children at Kuramo Beach and Bar Beach.
Charly Boy, popular musician and leader of the #OurMumuDonDo protest, would have been lynched on Tuesday when he visited Wuse market, Abuja, but for the intervention of Igbo traders.
Charly Boy, whose real name is Charles Oputa, has been protesting against President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued stay in London on medical vacation for the past 100 days.
It is exactly unclear why he went to the market but his small group of protesters had been outnumbered by the much larger pro-Buhari group that also gathered at the Unity Fountain.
A witness who spoke with the ICIR said Charly Boy was already a known face at the market by both Hausa and Igbo traders.
“He often visited and would give us money from time to time,” the trader, who asked not to be named, said.
“But because he had been leading a protest against Buhari, many of the Hausa suddenly started to dislike him. They attacked him today.”
He said were it not for Igbo traders who trooped to the scene of the attack in defence of one of their own, ‘Area Father’, as he is fondly called, might have been lynched.
“The Igbo traders saved him,” he said. “Without them, something terrible would have happened to him, because even the traffic wardens around here all ran away when the trouble started, saying they didn’t have guns”.
The police subsequently intervened in restoring peace to the area and the market was shut down.
It is exactly 100 days since President Mohammadu Buhari left Nigeria on the evening of Sunday, May 7, 2017 for medical treatment in London and handed over to Yemi Osinbajo as Acting President.
In his absence, so many things have happened in the country, some winning the Acting President accolades and others leaving Nigerians wondering whether things might have been different were the President in the country.
Here are 10 of such events:
1. OSINBAJO SIGNED THE BUDGET
On June 12, Acting President Osinbajo signed the N7.44 trillion 2017 budget into law, a substantial increase from the N7.1 trillion budget proposal presented before the National Assembly by Buhari.
The budget was not without its own drama as some ministers, including Babatunde Fashola of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, lamented the arbitrary slashing of funds for critical projects in their ministries.
To sum it all, Abdulmumin Jibrin, suspended former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, said that by signing the budget document, Osinbajo had played into the handsof the cabals in the National Assembly.
On July 26 and 27, the two chambers of the National Assembly successfully completed their respective constitution amendment exercises by voting on key sections of the 1999 Constitution that had been amended.
Among the many changes, the lawmakers rejected the devolution of powers to state governments as well as 35% affirmative action women appointees. However, the legislators passed the amendment of immunity for lawmakers for actions taken in the course of their duties. They also passed the not-too-young-to-run bill, which seeks to reduce the constitutional age requirement for running for elective positions in the country.
3. BOKO HARAM AMBUSH ON NNPC WORKERS
On July 27, Boko Haram attacked a team of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that was exploring for oil in the Lake Chad basin.
More than 50 members of the team, including security escorts were killed and a few others were kidnapped. Three of the kidnapped victims were later shown in a video by the terrorists.
About a month earlier, precisely on June 20, the terrorists had also ambushed a security convoy escorting travellers along the newly reopened Maiduguri-Biu Road.
The convoy also consisted of a team of police officials conveying the corpse of a police sergeant who died of natural cause to his home town for burial. A number of female police officers were kidnapped in the incident, and a propaganda video was released by the terrorists days later.
None of the kidnapped persons, either the NNPC workers or of the police officers, have been rescued or released.
4. ARREST OF EVANS, KILLINGS BY BADOO
The months of June and July were dominated by one incident after another of killings by a dreaded cult group called BADOO in Ikorodu, Lagos state.
The cultists specialised in smashing their victims’ heads with a rock or club and then mopping their blood with a white handkerchief, which they allegedly sold to ritualists. A blood-stained handkerchief was known to cost between N150,000 and N500,000.
But perhaps the biggest story in June in terms of security was the capture of kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans.
He was arrested by a crack team of police officers on June 6, following the escape of one of his victims from whom the kidnapper was demanding €1million.
Evans, perhaps owing to the recent crash in the Naira, only collects his ransom in hard currencies. Before his arrest, more than three of his previous victims had paid $1 million respectively to regain their freedom.
5. MENINGITIS WAS SUBDUED, LASSA FEVER BROKE OUT
The federal government officially declared the outbreak of meningitis over on June 26, after the disease had killed 1166 people over 23 weeks in 25 (mostly northern) states of the federation.
But health experts found little or nothing to celebrate at the news, especially given that Lassa fever was still claiming lives in as many as 17 states across the country.
As of 9 June 2017, a total of 501 suspected cases, including 104 deaths, had been reported since the onset of the current Lassa fever outbreaks season in December 2016, according to a report by the World Health Organisation.
6. NIGERIA BEGAN EXPORTING YAM TO THE US AND UK
Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture, flagged off the first consignment of yam exports to Europe and the United States on June 29, as part of efforts to diversify the economy.
“Oil and gas cannot employ millions of people just like agriculture so we must work hard to move from oil to earning foreign exchange from agriculture,” Ogbeh said during the flag-off ceremony.
But some Nigerians think the move will further drive up the cost of yam, which is one of Nigeria’s most common staple foods. As Bolanle Akintomo, a Lagos housewife, put it: “The (yam export) policy is going to compound our suffering. A tuber of yam that used to sell for between N200 and N300 is now N1,000.”
7. PDP ‘RESURRECTED’
Fortunes turned around for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when the Supreme Court sacked Ali Modu-Sheriff as National Chairman on July 12 and upheld the leadership of the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee.
This happened few weeks after Doyin Okupe, former spokesman to ex-presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo described the PDP as having reached “menopause”and therefore incapable of bearing fruits any longer
However, the Supreme Court ruling has led to a resurgence in the PDP, which held its non-elective national convention on Saturday, August 12, at the Eagle Square in Abuja.
Among the major happenings at the PDP convention was the official kick-off of the 2019 presidential campaign of Ayodele Fayose, the Governor of Ekiti State.
8. CRS/IRS CONTROVERSY RESOLVED, ASUU STRIKES
The protracted issue of the alleged removal of Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) from the curriculum of primary and secondary schools was finally settled.
First, as fact-checked by the ICIR, CRS was not removed from the curriculumbut was rather merged with Islamic Religious Studies (IRS), and embedded in a broader subject titled Religion and National Values (RNV).
But Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, would later agree that water and oil could not mix hence the need to separate both subjects
Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) commenced an indefinite strikeon Monday, August 14, 2017, citing FG’s refusal to implement the agreement and Memorandum of Understanding it reached with the union in 2009 and 2013 respectively.
9. AREWA YOUTH TOLD THE IGBO TO QUIT THE NORTH
On June 6, some members of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), led by one Yerima Shettima, issued a ‘quit notice’ to all the Igbo in Northern Nigeria with an October 31 ultimatum.
“With the effective date of this declaration, which is today, Tuesday, June 6, 2017, all Igbo currently residing in any part of northern Nigeria are, hereby, served notice to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the South-East are advised likewise,” the group said.
Though the development drew condemnation from Osinbajo and governors of the 19 northern states, there still remains an air of uncertainty and fear among Igbos residing in the north. Their apprehension was further heightened last week after an anti-Igbo song began circulating in some northern states.
Also, the quit notice further fueled the Biafra agitation in the South-East region of the country, as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) declared “total support” for the ultimatum.
10. DIEZANI’S EYE-POPPING ‘LOOT’ UNVEILED
Diezani’s eye-popping Banana Island mansion now permanently forfeited to the federal government
On August 8, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) published all the loot that had so far been traced to Diezani Alison-Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources.
According to the anti-graft commission, a total of N47.2 billion and $487.5 million in cash and properties (excluding diamond, gold and silver jewelries worth millions in hard currency) had been recovered from the ex-minister.
This included, among other things, a property in Banana Island, Lagos for which Alison-Madueke allegedly paid the sum of $37.5 million in cash deposit.
The events that led to the eventual impeachment of Justin Okonoboh and the swearing in of Kabiru Adjoto as Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly on Monday were anything but amicable.
Supposedly “honourable” members threw all sense of decency to the winds and engaged in a free-for-all, caring less that journalists were taping the scenes with their cameras.
This is not the first time the Edo State Assembly would be providing the public with such unsolicited comic relief. It also took a fight in the open for Okonoboh’s predecessor to be impeached, a little less than a year ago.
In fact, Adjoto is the fourth Speaker of the Edo State Assembly in the last two years.
Here is a video of what transpired at the Edo Assembly on Monday:
Femi Adesina, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, says he does not know who is paying for the President’s medical expense in London, where he has been for 100 days.
Adesina, who was part of the delegation that visited Buhari in London on Sunday, said this while appearing as a guest on Channel Television’s Politics Tonight.
Buhari has been roundly criticised concealing the nature of the President’s ailment despite treating him with public funds.
When asked who was paying for Buhari’s medical treatment, Adesai replied: “Does it matter at this point? If he [Buhari] is our President, it also means he has access to some things.
“Let me say I do not know who is paying but as a President, he has a right to be treated by the country. He has the right.”
When the presenter insisted on knowing whether Nigeria was paying for the treatment, Adesina said: “Most likely. I do not know for sure but most likely.”
On the presidential jet that was packed at the London airport and the accruing demurage, Adesina said: “It has to be there; it has to be there. I don’t think that’s a problem, is it?
“We should pay if we should pay but don’t forget that an explanation had come earlier that we were not paying the official rate and that’s still the position. When the President of a country is somewhere, his plane should be there.”
Asked how much is being paid for the President’s jet on a daily basis, he said: “I don’t know. If you reach out to the commander of the presidential fleet, he will tell you.”
Adesina maintained that Buhari was “sharp, smart and lucid” when they visited him on Sunday.
“The President is almost completely mended, but then… he will come back when his doctors say it is time to go,” he added.
Kabiru Adjoto, the newly-elected Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, says Justin Okonoboh, his predecessor, was impeached because he “desecrated” the assembly by making his wife the “25th member” of the assembly.
Adjoto told journalists shortly after he was sworn in that Okonboh ran the assembly like a private business and usually adjourned sittings for some personal family issues.
“We discovered that for selfish reasons, the ex-Speaker would adjourn the House, possibly, because the wife is doing a birthday or the son is having a graduation at Covenant University or the son is going to an NYSC camp [and] he [Okonoboh] wants to do a party for him,” he said.
“Between June and July, we have worked for just three weeks; he adjourned the House for more than six weeks.
“Today is August 14 [but] we are just resuming. Then, the House is expected to adjourn again next week for another four weeks for the normal holiday. Is that a normal parliament? All of us came together and said, ‘Enough is enough’.
“The institution is more deserving to be protected than the interest of an individual.
“The ex-Speaker’s wife, like I said earlier, has turned herself into the 25th member of the House of Assembly to the extent that anything we discussed in the executive session, the wife will hear and start calling our wives to tell them what was discussed.
“The wife uses the [Speaker’s] convoy as if she is Mr. Speaker and at random. The other day, the wife and the son used the convoy to the NYSC camp. When the soldiers and policemen there saw that it was coming, they all stood, hoping that they would see Mr. Speaker, only to see the wife and the son to come out of the vehicle. That is a desecration of the Parliament.”
Okonoboh became Speaker in June 2016 after Victor Edoror, his predecessor, was impeached under similar circumstances.
