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EXCLUSIVE: Troops arrest 3 notorious gunrunners in Zamfara

Mustapha USMAN
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EXCLUSIVE: Troops arrest 3 notorious gunrunners in Zamfara

TROOPS of Operation Hadarin Daji (OPHD) in Zamfara state have arrested three suspected gunrunners while trying to smuggle arms into the state.

A source in the know of the arrest said the three suspects, namely Musa Usman Seun, Aminu Ibrahim, and Isah Mohammed, were apprehended at Shinkafi on January 22, following credible intelligence received on activities of notorious gunrunners by the military.

One of the suspects is said to be a leader of a major political party in the state, while others are notorious for firearm trafficking.

The troops recovered N2,580,000, one Volkswagen Wagon, and three mobile phones from the suspects.

The source also disclosed that the preliminary investigation by the military revealed that the money recovered was for the exchange of assorted weapons at the Illela border in Sokoto state, noting that the suspects were undergoing further interrogation.

The three suspects allegedly arrested for gunrunning in Zamfara State by the Nigerian military
The three suspects allegedly arrested for gunrunning in Zamfara state by the Nigerian military.

The ICIR’s efforts to confirm the claims from the acting director of defence information (Defence Headquarters), Tukur Gusau, a brigadier general, were unproductive as he did not respond to text messages sent to his number hours before filing this report.

The ICIR reports that Zamfara has remained one of the hotbeds for insecurity in Nigeria, following activities of terrorists who have terrorised the state for over a decade.

In December 2023, terrorists shot at motorists along Dogon Karfe on the Gusau – Talata Mafara highway in one of the regular cases of terror attacks recorded within the state.

Some of the passengers were abducted, while many others were left injured.

The ICIR reported at least 15 deaths resulting from terror attacks in Zamfara state between September and October, including 11 worshippers who were killed during Juma’at prayers at a community mosque in the Ruwan Jema community, Bukkuyum.

Terrorists in the state killed more than 100 people in January 2023 when a large number of men invaded at least nine villages and unleashed mayhem in violent attacks that lasted for about three days.

Wads of cash allegedly recovered from the three suspected gunrunners arrested by the military in Zamfara State
Wads of cash allegedly recovered from the three suspected gunrunners arrested by the military in Zamfara State

On December 15, The ICIR reported bandits in the state killing soldiers and destroying armoured trucks hours after an LGA demanded more weapons from the Federal Government to enable the military to confront the bandits and other criminals in the state better.

The ICIR reported how bandits abducted several students of the Federal University of Gusau, the state capital. 

The bandits invaded the private hostels of the students in the Sabon-Gida community of the Bungudu Local Government Area of the state in the early hours of Friday, September 22. Sabon-Gida is a few meters away from the university.

Sources in the school disclosed to The ICIR that the bandits went away with no fewer than 25 students (predominantly female students).

Although the number of students abducted by the bandits was believed to be higher, it wasn’t the first time terrorists would kidnap students from the university. 

Shortly after they were kidnapped, security forces rescued six of the abductees (all females).

The ICIR reported that the security forces – Joint Task Force of Operation Hadarin Daji – rescued seven more students from their captors, according to Zagazola Makama, a publication specialising in counter-insurgency in the Lake Chad region.

Private jet overshoots runway in Ibadan, 10 escape death

Ijeoma OPARA
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Private jet overshoots runway in Ibadan, 10 escape death

A private jet conveying ten persons overshot the runway at the Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport in Ibadan, Oyo state, on Friday, January 26.

The jet skidded into the nearby bush during an attempt to land at the airport.

Spokesperson of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Carol Adekotujo, confirmed the incident, saying there were no casualties as a result of the incident.

“It was a private plane from Abuja. It landed safely but overshot the runway. There was no casualty,” she said.

Firefighters and other rescue operatives from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) were at the scene to avert possible disaster, and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) disclosed that a team had been sent to the site for investigations.

On November 3, less than three months ago, an aircraft conveying the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu crash-landed while descending at the Ibadan airport.

No fatalities were recorded as a result, and a preliminary report by the Federal Government indicted Flints Aero in the incident.

The report stated that Flints Aero violated its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) by conducting a commercial trip, as the aircraft was not meant to be used to convey passengers.

In August, the NSIB commenced an investigation into an aircraft crash in Lagos State during a test flight.

Two passengers aboard the aircraft during the crash had sustained injuries, though there had been no fatalities at the time of the incident.

ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza

Ijeoma OPARA
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ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza

THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to prevent genocide in its war with Gaza.

The ruling was delivered by presiding judge Joan Donoghue in The Hague on Friday, January 26, during the determination of a suit filed by South Africa against Israel.

South Africa filed a petition against Israel in December 2023, accusing the Israeli government of genocide and urging the court to order an emergency suspension of the attack on Gaza.

The petitioner alleged that Israel was “intent on destroying the Palestinians in Gaza,” and called for a halt in the attacks.

It urged the ICJ to end the violence in Gaza to protect Palestinians from “from further serious and irreparable harm.”

“The point is not simply that Israel is acting disproportionately. The point is that the prohibition on genocide is an absolute. Nothing can ever justify genocide,” a lawyer representing South Africa, Vaughan Lowe said.

He also argued that Israel’s military activities in Gaza were not targeted against Hamas alone but affected the entire Palestinian population.

“Israel says it aims to destroy Hamas. But months of bombing, flattening entire residential blocks, cutting off food and water to an entire population cannot credibly be argued to be a manhunt for Hamas,” Lowe said.

During the ruling on Friday, Donoghue ordered Israel to contain the ongoing carnage in Gaza. Though she did not order a ceasefire, the presiding judge ruled that Israel must take immediate and effective measures to allow the provision of urgently needed humanitarian services in the area.

She said the civilian population in the Gaza Strip was “extremely vulnerable” and was at risk of irreparable harm before the ICJ reached its final decision on the issue.

“In light of the foregoing, the court considers that there is urgency, in the sense that there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights found by the court to be plausible before it gives its final decision,” she said.

The ICJ also ruled that Israel should report to the court in a month with details on whatever effort it puts into upholding the ruling.

Israel halts flights to South Africa

Meanwhile, on Friday, Israel announced the suspension of flights to South Africa by its airline, El Al.

“El Al is expected to stop operating flights to South Africa due to a lack of passengers, originating from South Africa’s accusations of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice, according to a source within the company,” Jerusalem Post daily reported.

The suspension may not be unconnected to the case in The Hague.

According to a report, the decision resulted from a commercial downturn and security concerns due to the ICJ ruling.

Nigeria: Whether or not you read this, you owe ₦405,520

Kehinde OGUNYALE
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Nigeria: Whether or not you read this, you owe ₦405,520

THE notion that Nigeria’s economy is grappling to survive with a high inflation rate, increased poverty and debt profile is no longer new. However, what is new is that each Nigerian owes ₦405,520.

The increased public debt stock is coming four months after President Bola Tinubu and 18 new governors were sworn into office in May 2023. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), as of the end of September 2023, Nigeria’s public debt stock stood at N87.91 trillion.

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The total external debt stood at N31.98 trillion, while the total domestic debt was N55.93 trillion in Q3 2023.

If the debt per capita is calculated, with a population projection figure of 216,783,381, each Nigerian would owe N405,520.02.

The ICIR reported how each Nigerian owed N396,376.19 in terms of debt per capita when the country’s public debt stock was N87.38 trillion as of June 2023. This would mean that N9,143.81 was added to Nigerians’ debt within three months.

Assuming all Nigerians are to repay this money using the minimum wage of N33,000, the debt would be repaid in about 13 months.

Amid the increased debt, 133 million people in the country are living in different categories of poverty while the country’s inflation has risen to its highest record of 28.92 per cent at the end of December 2023.

A development economist and Associate Consultant to the British Department for International Development, (DFID), Celestine Okeke, told The ICIR that Nigerians are paying more for their consumables because of rising inflation due to these borrowings.

He added, “It is putting pressure on the value of our naira. Let’s just hope that the inflation will moderate this year as promised by the CBN as more refineries become functional.”

Image by Rilson S. Avelar from Pixabay

Lagos pastor sentenced to life imprisonment for rape

Itoro ETUKUDO
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Lagos pastor sentenced to life imprisonment for rape

THE founder of I Reign Christian Ministry in Lagos state, Feyi Daniels, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping his church member.

The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sentenced him on Friday, January 26, for raping his 23-year-old assistant.

He was also handed three years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old member of the church.

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In a statement by Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), the two sentences are to run concurrently, and his name will be registered in the Sexual Offenders Register maintained by the state.

The judge, Rahman Oshodi, described Daniels as a liar who did not have regard for the truth.

Daniels faced an amended four-count charge bordering on rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. 

Rape contravenes Section 260 (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Earlier this month, a BBC investigation said the late pastor T.B Joshua raped, tortured, and compelled many of his members into forced abortions, among other human rights abuses he allegedly perpetrated.

The BBC said Joshua sexually assaulted numerous women, while some other women claimed they were repeatedly raped for years on his church’s premises.

There were also multiple allegations of forced abortions inside the church following the alleged rapes.

Bribery: Supreme Court affirms Farouk Lawan’s five-year sentence

Ijeoma OPARA
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Bribery: Supreme Court affirms Farouk Lawan’s five-year sentence

THE Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld a ruling that sentenced former House of Representatives member Farouk Lawan to five years imprisonment for bribery.

The court gave the ruling following an appeal by the former lawmaker against previous judgments by lower courts convicting him of bribery.

Supreme Court Justice Tijjani Abubakar, who read the judgement on Friday, January 26 held that Lawan’s appeal was without merit, and dismissed it.

In 2021, a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sentenced Lawan, who was former Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy, to prison.

Lawan was first arraigned in 2012 by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on three counts for soliciting bribes to remove a company owned by Nigerian businessman Femi Otedola, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited, from the list of companies involved in fuel subsidy fraud.

He had demanded $3 million and received $500,000 from Otedola, who had earlier maintained that his company was not involved in the scam, but provided that money as part of a plan by the State Security Service (SSS).

Otedola had submitted a petition to the SSS over Lawan’s demand for a bribe and was given marked notes to use for the payment as a means of gathering evidence by the security agency. Otedola also recorded the transaction in a video that eventually went viral.

After receiving the payment from Otedola, Lawan moved a motion at the House to remove Zenon Oil and Gas from the list.

Lawan was found guilty of the charge, though he claimed the money was received to present it as evidence before the House.

The High Court ruled that the accused did not report the incident to law enforcement agencies and, therefore, could not prove that he intended to use the money as evidence.

He was to serve two prison terms of seven and five years concurrently and was ordered to return the $500,000 to the government.

However, an Appeal Court overturned the previous ruling on two of the three counts he was tried for, reducing his jail term from seven to five years.

Ogun governor warns Lafarge Africa over improper waste disposal

Ehime ALEX
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Ogun governor warns Lafarge Africa over improper waste disposal

OGUN State Governor Dapo Abiodun has warned the management of Lafarge Africa Plc over the company’s harmful disposal of industrial waste in the Ewekoro community in the state.

Abiodun gave the warning when the company’s management visited him in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital, on Thursday, January 25.

He said residents of Ewekoro and its environs had lodged many complaints at his office.

“There was a case where excessive water used in extracting limestone was released, and it continues to flood people’s farmland, and the farmers came to the Ministry of Agriculture to complain that the action was destroying their means of livelihood,” he said.

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Ewekoro, a local government area in Ogun State, southwest of Nigeria, is known for its limestone deposits used in cement production.

Since 1959, Lafarge Africa has been operating in Ewekoro, but the company’s activities have caused the residents to suffer environmental discomfort.

For over 60 years of its operation, the communities have been forced to cope with the loud noise from the blast at the quarry, the effect of the accompanying vibration, the routine plume of dust emitted into space and the health hazards of the effluence.

In January 2019, Lafarge Africa was dragged to the Federal High Court in Abeokuta by members of the Ewekoro community.

The community had accused the company of polluting and destroying their environment by mining limestone.

Warning the company for its non-compliance with the rules regarding waste disposal, the Ogun State governor, however, urged the cement giant to work on its Ewekoro plant and review activities that negatively impact the lives of the host community.

He also urged the company to embrace global best practices in disposing of industrial wastes to safeguard the lives of the people in its areas of operations.

He advised the management to work in synergy with the state waste management agency and environmental protection agency to address the issues.

“It is important we work together and ensure that we are not doing business and making money while the people are suffering.

“The impact of your activities goes beyond just mining. The blasting and mining affect several kilometres of households beyond the immediate environment. I am not sure how many households are affected; what structural damages have occurred in some of these buildings,” Abiodun said.

Alleged rape: Police mum on UNILAG lecturer’s arraignment

Ijeoma OPARA
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Alleged rape: Police mum on UNILAG lecturer’s arraignment

THE Lagos State Police Command has failed to speak on the arraignment of a lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Kadiri Akeem Babalola, who was accused of raping a 20-year-old female student of the institution in 2023.

The ICIR contacted the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Benjamin Hundeyin for an update on the case.

When filing this report on Thursday, January 25, he had yet to reply to texts sent to his phone number on November 20 and January 24.

Babalola, an associate professor, was accused by the student of raping her on August 16, 2023, when she visited his office to sort out issues concerning her results.

A non-governmental organisation, Inclusive Social Welfare and Empowerment Foundation (ISWEF), got involved and reported the case to the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, after which a warrant was issued for Babalola’s arrest.

Hundeyin had confirmed the incident via his official X handle in September 2023, saying the lecturer would be arraigned “in the coming days.”

However, Hundeyin told The ICIR the following week that the arraignment was being stalled due to Babalola’s ill health.

Sexual harassment has been a recurrent issue in Nigerian tertiary institutions, and female students are mostly the targets.

A survey carried out by the World Bank in 2018 showed that classmates and lecturers sexually harassed 70 per cent of Nigerian female graduates while in school.

“The effects experienced by victims were depression and perceived insecurity on campus,” the report said.

Although the Minister of Education Tahir Mamman has threatened to deal decisively with lecturers and other members of tertiary institutions involved in sexual harassment, the Nigerian government failed to assent to a bill criminalising the act, which was passed by the National Assembly nearly four years ago.

The bill, titled “A Bill for an Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Institutions and for Matters Concerned Therewith 2019,” was sponsored by former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege and 106 other senators.

It proposed a 14-year jail term for offenders.

Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari did not assent to the bill till he left office in May 2023.

The ICIR reports that before the bill can be passed by the incumbent President Bola Tinubu, it has to be re-introduced to the National Assembly.

Police arrest Mr Ibu’s son over alleged fraud

Itoro ETUKUDO
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Police arrest Mr Ibu’s son over alleged fraud

THE Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Alagbon, Lagos State, has arrested Onyeabuchi Okafor and Jasmine Okekeagwu, the son and adopted daughter of Nollywood actor John Okafor, also known as Mr Ibu.

The FCID  confirmed this in a statement released on Thursday, January 25, stating they were arrested over an alleged N50 million fraud.

According to the department’s public relations officer, Aminat Mayegun, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, the arrest was after they received a petition from Diamond Waves Law on behalf of Mr. Ibu’s wife, Stella, alleging they conspired to defraud the actor.

“On 6th September, 2023, a petition was received from Diamond Waves Law on behalf of Stella Maris Chinyere Okafor wherein one Onyeabuchi Daniel Okafor, Valentine Okafor, both of whom are sons of Mr. John Ikechukwu Okafor (Alias Ibu) and Jasmine Chioma Okekeagwu were alleged to have conspired to defraud Mr. Ibu while being on sick bed”, the statement read in part.

Mayegun in the statement further stated that investigation into the case established that as part of efforts to fund his medical bills, Mr. Ibu launched a public fund-raising initiative and attracted donations from his fans, entertainment industry players, and other well-spirited members of the public into a bank account which he publicised and dedicated for the purpose.

The Police also revealed that the actor’s wife was in charge of the funds raised to sort the medical bills and sustain the family but the accused took possession of his phone and hacked into his banking details.

According to the Police investigation, the duo had a false marriage at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry as part of their intentions to flee the country to the United Kingdom and spent N5 million, of which the Police later recovered N50 million from them.

The ICIR reported that Mr Ibu had his leg amputated and the family had solicited financial support from Nigerians to pay the medical bills.

Lagos postpones enforcement of single-use plastics ban

Ijeoma OPARA
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Lagos postpones enforcement of single-use plastics ban

THE Lagos State Government has given dealers in styrofoam and other single-use plastics a three-week grace, after which a ban on the product will be enforced.

Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources Tokunbo Wahab made this known in a statement via his official X handle on Thursday, January 25.

“As a responsible government, the lives of the residents are far more important than the profit producers set to make for the continuous production of styrofoam.

“The only moratorium that the state is willing to offer all producers and distributors of styrofoam is to delay the commencement of enforcement of the ban by three weeks, after which the government will go on full enforcement of the law,” Wahab noted.

The state government announced an immediate ban on styrofoam and other single-use plastics on Sunday, January 21, citing environmental and health concerns as reasons for the ban.

Through its commissioner, Wahab, the state Ministry of Environment and Water Resource disclosed that the products had become a menace to the ecosystem, especially during the rainy season.

Styrofoam is made of styrene, a petroleum-based product used to manufacture food containers.

In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified styrene as a probable carcinogen. This means that there is a probability of increased risk of cancer associated with the use of the product.

Wahab said there was no going back on the ban, and though there had been a previous prohibition on using styrofoam in the state, it would be banned by the government.

“The havoc and destruction caused to public utility by single-use plastics during and after the rainy season is unimaginable. If the producers had been responsible enough to respect the law, the government would not have had to wade into the matter.

“The number of lives that have been lost through the effect of the use of styrofoam, the destruction of the ecosystem and aquatic lives, as well as the menace brought upon the environment, cannot be quantified,” Wahab noted.

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