Sahara Reporters Latest News Tuesday 16th April 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 16/04/19
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target=_blank>Boko Haram Attacks Chibok On Fifth Anniversary Of Mass Abduction Of Girls
Boko Haram Insurgents invaded a village at Chibok, Borno State, on Sunday, wreaking havoc, exactly five years into the abduction of c276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok.
A witness told SaharaReporters that activities to commemorate the fifth anniversray were still ongoing on Sunday when residents learnt of the invasion of Kwarangullum village by the insurgents.
Mallam Bulama, District Head of the village, confirmed that the insurgents invaded his village although he could not state exactly how many people were killed on injured.
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target=_blank>Two Killed, Three Injured As ‘Herdsmen’ Raid Ekiti Community
Suspected herdsmen have attacked Eda, one of the communities in Iyemero town, in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
Invading the town in the wee hours of Monday, they killed two people and inflicted various degrees of injury on three others.
Residents identified one of the dead as Danjuma Ali, a Muslim farmer, while the identity of the second person whose body had been deposited in the morgue of the General hospital, Ikole Ekiti, was still unknown as of the time of filing this report.
The victims currently receiving treatement at the emergency section of the Federal Teaching Hospital (FETHI), Ido Ekiti, are Jennifer Akoko, Joseph Achebe and one other victim.
“Some herders called Bororo stormed the farmstead and shot these innocent people,” one resident said.
“They came around 1am and were there till dawn. Our farmers are all afraid to go their farmsteads. They all rushed to the palace of Oba Ebenezer Agboola Ogungbemi, the Olu of Iyemero Ekiti, to take refuge.
The Olu of Iyemero, Oba Ogungbemi and Olu-In-Council, restated their calls for establishment of a police station in the town to curb the attackers.
“These Fulani herders stormed the community through the border of Iyemero at Eruku in kwara state,” the monarch said Chief Ariyo Abejide, his spokesman. “This makes Iyemero a porous exit and entrance, which portends dangers and insecurity to the community, ikole local government and the state in general.”
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target=_blank>Bandits Severely Injure Two Policemen In Asaba, Steal Their Rifles
Armed hoodlums have attacked a team of two policemen who were on a stop-and-search duty in Asaba, the Delta State capital, carting away two service rifles in the encounter.
The incident, which occurred around Interbua roundabout by ASCON Oil Filling Station, along the popular Nnebisi Road, on Saturday night, left the policemen severely injured.According to a resident who witnessed the attack, the gunmen were driving a tricycle from the Anwai axis of the road when they suddenly disembarked to attack their victims.
The bandits, numbering four, were armed with axes and cutlasses, and succeeded in stealing two guns from their targets.
The leader of the Police team, an inspector, was said to have sustained severe cuts to the head and other parts of his body, while the other victim sustained cuts to the hands.
The two officers are currently receiving treatment at hospitals in Asaba.
Chuks Orisewezie, Acting Public Relations Officer of the Police in the state, confirmed the attack, promising that the assailants would be brought to book as the Police had swung into action.
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target=_blank>28-Year-Old Jealous Lover Shoots 34-Year-Old Girlfriend In Bayelsa On Suspicion Of Cheating
Munabo Tonworio, a jealous boy friend has shot and killed his lover over suspicion of cheating at the oil-rich community of Oluasiri in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.The incident occurred at about 11:00pm on Sunday.
Munabo Tonworio, 28, and an indigene of Agada-Ama community in Nembe Local Government area, was reported to have raised his gun and shot his girlfriend in the face while she was answering a call from an unidentified person.
The victim was identified as Wapaemi Amabebi, a 34-year-old indigene of Oluasiri is reported to be a provision store owner and bread winner of the relationship.
Tonworio is said to be on the wanted list of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Joint Military Task force code named Operation Delta Safe, over alleged involvement in voodoo preparation for suspected kidnappers, however Amabebi had been the one sheltering him away from the security personnel.
A source who identified himself as Moses told SaharaReporters on telephone that the killer boyfriend escaped immediately he shot the girl but was apprehended and tied close to the corpse of the girlfriend.
Confirming the development, the spokesman of the Police Command, Asinim Butswat, said: “On 14/04/2019 at about 2245 hrs one Munabo Tonworio ‘m’ 28 years shot dead his lover, one Victoria Ekalamene ‘f’ 34 years, after a quarrel at the residence of the deceased in Oluasiri, Nembe Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
“The murder weapon, a locally cut-to-size gun and an expanded AA ammunition, were recovered from the scene. The suspect has been arrested and is being detained at the SCIID, Yenagoa. Investigation is ongoing.”
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target=_blank>Militants Kill Police Officer At INEC Office In Calabar
The Police in Cross River state have confirmed the killing of a Police constable at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Bakassi local government area of the state.
Police spokesperson in the state, DSP Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the incident, said the policeman was at his duty post when suspected militants stormed the office.
She debunked the claim that the killing had to do with INEC or the just concluded general elections, syaing: “No, it doesn’t have anything to do with the INEC.”
She said they had launched an investigation into the killing, which took place on Monday.
Some witnesses said there was no prompt aid or intervention from people, so the police officer bled to death. They ascribed the reclutance to help to “fear of attack from the militants”.
Some of the residents said that despite publicly giving up arms and ammunition and granted amnesty, the fearsome Bakassi Strike Force headed by Benjamin Ene aka ‘General Franklyn’ militancy is still rife in Calabar waterways, threatening seafarers and commerce.
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target=_blank>Borno Governor Shettima Abandons Ndume, Backs Lawan For Senate President
For the first time since the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced its preferences for the key leadership positions of the National Assembly, Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State, has publicly expressed his support for Yobe North senator, Ahmed Lawan, in unmistabkable terms, to become Senate President.
Lawan is the choice of the APC leadership for the presidency of the Senate in the ninth National Assembly, but Borno South senator, Ali Ndume, is pressing on for the contest without restraint.
Shettima was believed to be one of Ndume’s biggest backers, since both of them hail from Borno, and was even believed to have sneaked out of Maiduguri two weeks ago when some pro-Lawan senators visited the Borno State capital in an attempt to persuade him to have a rethink. Shettima would deny the claims but he had never publicly dissociated himself from Ndume.
All that ended on Monday when, addressing journalists in Abuja, Shettima said the people of Borno were supporting Lawan’s aspiration.
“Ndume said his people asked him to contest. But I am the number one citizen of the state. I am not one of the people that asked him to contest,” he said.
Shettima’s claim was in alignment with his coy response to questions from journalists in N’djamena, capital of Chad, on Sunday, in which he said: “All our governors, including those coming to the Senate, are 100 per cent in support of our party’s stance as far as election of new leadership for the National Assembly is concerned.
“As far as Borno is concern, we are in alignment with the aspirations of Mr President and that of our party. Whoever the party endorses for any position, we will solely stand behind such a person because party discipline is absolutely essential for the sustainability of our democratic experiment. If everyone is to vote according to his own free will surely that would be a recipe for disaster or confusion.”
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target=_blank>Rising Cases Of Jungle Justice And The Justice System In Nigeria By Peter Claver Oparah
Last week Sunday, I was in the village. I attended the 8.00 am Mass that day. As I arrived the Church at exactly 7.55am, I saw a throng of club-wielding youths and angry youngsters marching along the road adjacent to the Church. On instinct, I went closer to find out what was going on. The angry youths mixed with other attendants of the Church to form a very huge crowd that surged all over the Church compound, to the road. Getting closer, I saw three young men, stripped completely naked being marched down probably to the market square nearby. I was confused. I asked what the issue was and was told the three youths were caught stealing various goods from houses and shops in the community the previous night. I saw the three culprits who were from the community but didn’t recognize any of them. The culprits were beaten and shoved from one spot to the other by the youths who were variously armed with clubs, matches, sticks and stones.
On further enquiry, I gathered that the youths had, for some time, been terrorizing the community, breaking into homes, shops, offices with ease and engaged in consistent stealing which had put the community on edge. I also gathered that the youths had been arrested severally and released by the police. It was reported that as soon as the gangsters were released by the police, they engaged in further stealing and this has so exasperated the villagers that their case had left the community frustrated. I also learnt that the errant youths returned from police custody that same week. It was that bad and this is said to be consistent with their unceasing subjection of the entire community to relentless stealing and terror. Again, I heard that the robbers had several cases pending in various courts and before this mob action, the community had grown weary and tired on how to deal with their nuisance.
Meanwhile, the angry mob passed the Church, I went to Mass. The gospel reading for that Sunday’s Mass recounted the case of the woman caught committing adultery and how Jesus saved her from imminent death by asking any of her accusers who had not sinned to cast the stone on her and none did. This experience resonated with the incidence that preceded the Mass and this did not escape the priest-homilist who, though laid emphasis on this, as it pertains the robbers but said that the persistence of the alleged robbers had made pleading for them very difficult though he did not relent in pleading for mercy. But the mob was not in Church, they were elsewhere meting crude justice to the apprehended robbers.
Mass over, we heard that one of the robbers was exonerated by the mob because he did not participate in the particular case in hand. The two others were set ablaze but they did not die there but were left to flee to their houses. Later in the day, we heard that one of them had died and was quickly buried. The other one was reported to have died at dawn the following day. Both of them died in their houses.
For those who know my community, the incident was strange. This was the first time robbers would be set ablaze in my community. Not that robbers from my community hadn’t been killed elsewhere. Many have either been burnt or killed outside my community. In fact, there is a belief that robbers from my community don’t live long and over the years, we have seen this play out to the letter. But none had been killed in my community before last Sunday. My community is deeply religious and well educated and this has lent a toga of softness on the people that many outside my community believed we were incapable of setting people ablaze or killing anybody no matter the heinousness of the crime. Even the robbers knew this which was why they ceaselessly tormented the people. But this changed with the case of the two culprits and rewrote a history of civility which my community had basked in. What was remarkable in this case however was that the two robbers were from the community and those that caught and set them ablaze in broad daylight were their brothers and sisters, mates, kits and kins and even included their fellow partners in crime! What more, their killing elicited great joy among the members of my community. What more, it was reported that the father of one of the culprits lit the matchstick and set his son ablaze!
The entire incident got me thinking; what could have made an otherwise peaceful, enlightened, well-educated and deeply-religious community resort to such self-help in dealing with their errant sons? What could have made a father take the very tough decision of incinerating his son alive? My search for answers led me to observe that not even a single member of the community made a case for the alleged robbers, which shows that they were indeed guilty and deserved the punishment they got but then, that was not the right way to deal with criminality. That was not the justiciable way to deal with criminality. That was not the best way to deal with the pain in the a** which I gathered the slain robbers have become to their own community. That was not the legally approved way to settle such cases. Fact remains that mob action or jungle justice is on the rise to deal with incidences of criminality and this doesn’t speak well of the justice system in Nigeria.
But, I gave up in helplessness because the entire justice and law enforcement sectors have failed my community and indeed the entire country. My community relished the incineration of their members because the police and the courts have proved grossly inept in giving the people justice. What could prove this assertion better than that the slain ruffians have series of court cases for criminality before the courts and had made consistent rounds to the police stations but only ended up getting emboldened each time they return? In fact, the robbers, even the one that was let off, were said to have returned from police detention for armed robbery that very week and had dates with the courts the Monday after they were killed? Nothing could be as frustrating and defeating as criminals pooing and mocking the justice system as is the case in Nigeria. It was alleged that the slain robbers and their other cohorts had engaged in mocking the courts and the police and the best way to show this mockery is engaging in fresh robberies as soon as they return from either the courts and the police stations.
As I said earlier, even with the palpable justification people give for mob action, it cuttingly is not the best way to foreclose criminal or other cases. Even as justified and angry as the mob may be, it doesn’t offer justiciable solution to an issue. The mob is ruled by the anger of the moment. The mob is irrational and as long as it operates on the wavelength of its present anger, it would refuse to be reasonable until its anger is fully given satiation. In the course of this anger, which always rule the mob, certain wrong decisions could be taken, many innocent lives could be lost. This is the reason mobs are not the best determinants of right or wrong. It is just an emotionally-driven movement that often end up taking rash and wrong decisions. Shakespeare best captures the irrationality of the mob in Julius Caesar when, the Roman mob, having been worked to a frenzy by Mark Anthony after the assassination of Julius Caesar, went out searching for the conspirators that murdered Caesar. In the course of the mob action against the conspirators, they ran into Cinna, the poet. They apprehended him and questioned him because one of the conspirators was named Cinna so anybody bearing that name was game. But Cinna the poet protested frantically that he was not Cinna the conspirator but Cinna the poet but that mattered little to the bloodshot mob and one of them rather retorted that Cinna’s protest about not being the conspirator mattered little and advised that he should be killed, have his name plucked from his heart and let going! That is the way of the mob and often regrets follow mob actions as reasons return after the acts.
So, why are Nigerians resorting to mob actions in the face of the existence of institutions for restitution? It is because the police and courts have failed Nigerians in dealing with not just criminal cases but other cases they are constitutionally vested to deal with. Often, the police have been alleged to compromise justice and have been very shoddy in investigating and prosecuting criminal cases and these have rather made criminals feel invincible and prefer to end up with the police. The courts have often been lethargic in adjudicating in cases and this has allowed criminal cases to linger forever. Often, when finally, the cases are settled, they had ended up to the favour of criminals who heavily invest in the time-wasting delays of the courts to escape justice. Often they have gotten mere slap in the wrist by the courts and in many cases, mere cosmetic victories have been given the complainants in the form of pyrrhic victories that rubbish the essence of justice. All these work to the favour of the criminals who remain undeterred in criminality to the frustration of law abiding victims of their criminality.
So, for the rising cases of mob actions against alleged criminals, the police and the courts have to take responsibility and must do something urgent to not only put away criminals speedily but re-assure the people that criminals apprehended would be dealt with in a manner that deters them from continuing in crime. fact is that the people have lost total confidence in the police and the courts to deal with criminals hence the resort to self-help becomes very attractive. In the case in my community last week, it was reported that a police patrol team came before the robbers were set ablaze but that the angry mob chased them away. This should not be the case when the people trust the police to do the needful with apprehended criminals.
So, let the courts and the police work very hard to regain the confidence of the people in dealing with criminal issues. They need to take urgent steps to work out a system where criminals are not only appropriately punished but expeditiously put away than the present state where they escape barely after being apprehended to continue tormenting the people. That way, they would save not only those who are wrong targets of mob actions but also ensure that the proper thing is done always. The country’s criminal justice system needs quick and urgent strengthening to arm the justice system and tame the rising cases of jungle justice all over the country.
Peter Claver Oparah
Ikeja, Lagos.
E-mail: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com
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target=_blank>Appeal Court Sacks Peter Akpatason As Edo APC Candidate Despite Winning House Of Reps Election
The Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo State, has sacked Comrade Peter Akpatason as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency.
In February, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Akpatason winner of Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency election, saying he polled a total of 27,097 votes to defeat his closest rival, Oladele Bankole-Balogun, of the peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 16,053 votes.
However, on Monday, the court declared Kabiru Adjoto, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, as the candidate of the party for the constituency, in his stead.
The appellate court also nullified the APC National Assembly primaries election appeals committee headed by former Governor of Edo State, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor.
Details soon…
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target=_blank>Bayelsa Elders Step In To Prevent Bloody Succession Crisis Over Vacant Chairmanship Position
IYC members demonstrating
Bayelsa Elders under the aegis of the Ijaw Youths Elders’ Advisory Council have intervened and halted a possible violent confrontation among Ijaw youth in the Central Zone over the chairmanship position after the elevation of the Chairman, Hon.Tari Porri, as the a member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly representing Ekeremor Constituency 2.
The succession battle, which has provoked tension among the Ijaw Youths under the Central Zone, was fuelled by the lack of a transition plan for the replacement of the elevated Chairman of the IYC central zone.
The Elders’ Advisory Council under the Chairmanship of Mike Wenobowei set up a 10-man committee headed by Elder Warri Welman to shop for a credible replacement for Porri from his zone of Sagbama/Ekeremor axis to complete the remaining months of his tenure.
Speaking in Yenagoa on Sunday while submitting a seven-page report to the IYC Elders’ Advisory Council, the Chairman of the Committee, Comrade Warri Welman Ombu, noted that the committee consulted widely and superior argument prevailed, leading to the emergence of three candidates: including Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, Miss Emi Egbe and Thomas Tenkiri.
“Following the records process, Comrade Thomas Tenkiri emerged as a worthy successor,” he said.
The Committee, in its report, made available to newsmen, also recommended that “the outgoing Chairman of the IYC, Central Zone would be honoured with a comprehensive send-forth programme and be properly consulted towards a successful exit and handover on or before 19th of April, 2019”.
Receiving the document from the committee, Chairman of the Elders’ Advisory Council, Hon. Mike Kenibowei, dismissed the claims of complicity against the council, and said the committee was allowed to reach out to all concerned, including Porri and Governor Seriake Dickson.
“The decision to intervene on issue of succession was done in good faith and to save IYC Central Zone,” he said.
“It will be recalled that some factions of the IYC central Zone had wrongfully claimed that the Vice-Chairman of the council, Amiebi Turner, was nursing the ambition and scheming to take over from Porri, who had insisted that he was not under any constitutional obligation to resign his appointment.”
It was also learnt that the Chairman of the Elders’ Advisory Council, Mike Wenibowei, was accused of working with Turner to undermine the interest of Porri.
Replying, Porri announced the dissolution of the advisory council and removed Wenibowei from his position, saying the elder stepped beyond his bounds.
Porri said the position of central zone chairmanship of IYC was zoned to the western part of the state, adding that if he decided to resign voluntarily someone from the west would take over from him and complete his tenure.
He insisted that Turner, who hails from Ogbia, the eastern part of the state, was not qualified to replace him in the spirits of the zoning arrangement.
He expressed disappointment at Wenibowei for trying to sow the seed of discord in the council, saying that his tenure would elapse in 2020.
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Nobody Guilty At All? Court Acquits The Two Remaining Uzowulu Killing Suspects
A High court sitting in Awka has discharged and acquitted the two remaining suspects standing trial for alleged involvement in the killing of worshipers in a church in Ozubulu, Anambra State.
While delivering his judgement, which took more than three hours, Justice Fidelis Aniukwu ruled that the prosecution counsel was unable to prove the allegations levelled against Chinedu Akpunonu and Onyebuchi Mbanefo, the defendants, beyond reasonable doubt.
Unknown gunmen had on August 6, 2017, invaded St Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state, and killed not less than 13 of the worshippers.
In December 2018, the Judge had discharged two out of the four persons arraigned before a High Court in November 2017 following the church attack, Justice Aniukwu arguing that the prosecution witnesses could not provide any evidence linking the defendants with the murder as alleged.
It will be recalled that Chinedu Akpunonu (a.k.a Obrocha), one of the alleged masterminds, had allegedly owned up to the crime in a conversation with Okechukwu Ikenna, his counsel.
In the conversation, made public when the case first started, Chinedu, who was reported to be the gang leader of a fraternity known as the ‘Great Men’, had said said their target was the bishop.
“Our target was Bishop,” he had said.
“I sent my boys to get me Bishop, and when they went to his house and could not find him, they decided to check him in the church and after they realised Bishop had left the country back to South Africa they resorted to killing members of his family which resulted in the careless shooting in the church. The boys overreacted.”
Reacting to Monday’s judgement, Festus Kayemo (SAN), the defence counsel, described it as landmark in view of the accelerated hearing granted by the presiding Judge.Kayemo, who was represented in court by Samuel Echeakputa, however said he would not be surprised should the judgement be appealed.
“It’s the prosecution’s right to appeal the judgement,” he said. “But from what I witnessed in the court today, it will be very difficult for the appeal court to upturn the judgement.”
Chinedu Akpunonu, one of the defendants, could not conceal his joy; he was full of gratitude to God for vindicating him from what he described as attempt by some persons to smear his reputation.
He said he had forgiven his accusers, urging them to join hands to ensure peace reigned in the community.
“From the beginning, I told my people that I was not involved in the killing. But the Lord gave me victory as a proof that I’m very innocent,” he said.
“I didn’t know I was very important to my people until I saw excitement in the faces of crowd that came to court. I’ve already forgiven all that put hands to put me in prison. I thank those that stood by me throughout my travail. I also thank my lawyer and the Judge for delivering a fair and sound judgement.”
Meanwhile, Mr Jay Jay Ezeuko SAN, the prosecution counsel, said he would determine the next move after receiving a copy of the judgement.
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