Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Sunday 22nd November 2020
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 22/11/20
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Dear Mr. President, Ndokwa/Ukwani Land Is In Need By Evans Ufeli
Your Excellency, for over 40, the people of Ndokwa/Ukwani in Delta State have lived peacefully with the Nigerian Agip Oil Company and a host of other oil companies, who own massive oil production operations in the area.
Despite the fortune these companies have been making from their various operations, the people have had to live with continuous gas flaring, water pollution and toxic emissions as well as land degradation, with no social and physical infrastructure to support the communities.
We conducted a fact-finding tour of the community, wherein we traced a four decades of travail of the Ndokwa/Ukwani nation. The Federal Government’s attempt to develop the nine states of the entire Niger Delta region through the Niger Delta Development Commission has become counter-productive on account of corruption and malfeasance in the helm of affairs of the leadership, managing the commission’s finances and its affairs in general.
Meanwhile a huge chunk of oil and gas mining operations undergone in the Niger Delta region, are conducted in Ndokwa/Ukwani land.
There is no gainsaying that Ndokwa land is very strategic in the economic prosperity and development of Nigeria. Ndokwa ethnic group is the second largest ethnic fold in terms of landmass and population after the Urhobos in Delta State.
The three local government areas making up Ndokwa/Ukwani Federal Constituency are all oil producing and host communities to seven oil companies and a major gas recycling plant owned by the Italian giant Agip, presently located in Okpai Community in Ndokwa East.
Your Excellency, I wish to state in clear terms for the avoidance of doubt, that the oil and gas exploration and production companies operating in Ndokwa land include:
Platform Petroleum
Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC)
Midwestern Oil and Gas Limited
Chorus Energy
Sterling Energy Exploration and Production Company (SEEPCO)
Pillar Oil and Gas
Energia Oil J.V
Opac Refinery (under construction)
These facts are verifiable from the Department of Petroleum Resources.
As a people, we feel pained by the fact that Ndokwa/Ukwani people appear to be the only ethnic group in Delta State if not Nigeria that though rich in oil, have been neglected. More so, her communities remain impoverished, lacking in basic amenities at the same time. It is double jeopardy and we find it rather repulsive to say the least.
Today, the only Federal Government presence in Ndokwa land is the Federal Prison (Medium Security), Kwale which was established before independence in 1960. All the other development projects such as universities and polytechnics are sited either in Urhobo land, Itsekiri communities, Isoko communities, Ijaw Land or Anioma/Oshimili in Delta North.
The Kwali Polytechnic that was at the verge of inception in Ndokwa land was muscled away at the National Assembly not too long ago, leaving the Ndokwa Nation with socio-economic injustice.
Mr President, despite the state of affairs, the people remained resiliently peaceful, law abiding and continued to seek dialogue and constitutional means to address these wrongs. We shall continue to explore non-violent channels of communication such as this protest letter presents to express our grievances to the ruling government in Nigeria.
I would therefore advocate that the federal government through her relevant Ministries should extend a hand of duty to Ndokwa land, give the people a sense of belonging and develop the area for the utmost benefit of all and sundry.
I shall go to Rabbi again.
Evans Ufeli is a Lagos-based legal practitioner and Executive Director,.Cadrell Advocacy Centre
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Bandits Kill PDP Chairman In Katsina
File Photo: Gunmen
Bandits have killed Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State, Alhaji Lawal Dako.
According to Katsina Post, Dako was shot by bandits on November 8 but died on Friday, November 20 from injuries sustained as a result of the attack.
File Photo: Gunmen
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He died at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital.
Katsina is one of the states with a high rate of insecurity in Nigeria.
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Bandits Kill Student Union Leader In Kaduna, Injure Others
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Gunmen suspected to be bandits on Friday killed a student union leader, Auwal Rabiu, on the road linking the Kaduna International Airport and the Rigasa Train Station connecting Kaduna to Abuja.
The bandits also injured one Umar El-Khatab while one other person identified as Sani Digana was feared to have been abducted during the attack.
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SaharaReporters gathered that the three young men were inside a vehicle when the gunmen fired at them around 9:00pm along the road.
The remains of Auwal was laid to rest on Saturday at Rigasa Cemetery with a mammoth crowd in attendance.
During the ceremony, the remains of an elderly man was also brought for burial and family members of the deceased said he was also a victim of the gunmen attack a day before.
Sources within Rigasa said the Divisional Police Officer of the station, CSP Goronyo, also escaped the attack by luck.
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E2%80%99s-legacy-recessions-fredrick-nwabufo Buhari’s Legacy Of Recessions By Fredrick Nwabufo
Fredrick Nwabufo
‘Why always Buhari?’ As it was in 1984 under General Buhari, so it is in 2016 and 2020 under President Buhari? Is it by the unfortunate hands of kismet that recession hits Nigeria every time Buhari takes charge of the country’s affairs? If the recession of the 80s under Buhari was a conspiracy by economic and political factors, to what do we attribute that of his first coming as a civilian President — and now in his second coming? Why does pestilence scourge the land, hunger ravage the population and lives lost malevolently when Buhari presides over the country? Why always Buhari?
Buhari’s undoing is his wonted predilection for hierarchising ethnicity, religion and loyalty above competence. Since 1999, no President has obtrusively shown a more nepotistic aspect than Buhari. It is unarguable that the President arrays the most competence-challenged cabinet ever in the chronicle of governance in Nigeria. Yes, a recession cabinet.
Fredrick Nwabufo
Here is a cabinet constituting of figures stuck in a time when the world only saw pictures in black and white — characters from Pinocchio who see social media as a threat and troglodytes who think farming with hoe and cutlass is progress.
Buhari’s Agriculture Minister, Sabo Nanono, once said there is no hunger in Nigeria and that food is cheap in the country. Wait! Before you tag this as fake news read his exact words and be flummoxed.
“I think we are producing enough to feed ourselves. I think there is no hunger in Nigeria; there could be inconveniences. When people talk about hunger in this government, I just laugh. In this country, it is fairly cheap to buy food,’’ the minister said at a press briefing to mark the 2019 World Food Day in Abuja on October 15, 2019.
This is one among the foundering protagonists of the Buhari administration. When native complexion and loyalty are prioritised above competence and performance, leadership suffers. I strongly believe even if Nigeria’s constitution allows a third term and Buhari returns in 2023, recession will hit the country again. It appears anything he touches atrophies.
Buhari is the type of boss every bungling brownnoser would like to work with. He rewards failure in the currency of loyalty. As long as you keep him sated with praises, you can keep your job. Why have the service chiefs who have failed in their duty of keeping the country safe not been sacked? Why are they still in office long after their retirement is due?
The recession of 2016 was largely due to the incompetence of the Buhari government. Here is how Nairametrics, Nigeria’s Bloomberg, puts it: “In a nutshell, what caused the last recession (of 2016) was not entirely the fall in oil prices. Rather, the lack of sound economic policies to diversify away from the volatility of crude oil prices, whilst boosting the nation’s non-oil exports, was also a major cause.”
I concede, the recent recession (2020) is a corollary of the global economic meltdown compelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a steep drop in oil prices and Diaspora remittances, and the stock market is prostrate. But there were warnings of this impending doom before its fruition. What could Buhari’s recession team have done different?
The World Bank in its June 25, 2020 report had projected that Nigeria would slip into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s. Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank country director for Nigeria, recommended: “While the long-term economic impact of the global pandemic is uncertain, the effectiveness of the government’s response is important to determine the speed, quality, and sustainability of Nigeria’s economic recovery. Besides immediate efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and stimulate the economy, it will be even more urgent to address bottlenecks that hinder the productivity of the economy and job creation.’’
Even if the 2020 recession was inevitable, the Buhari administration hastened its climax and ossified the severity by its harebrained economic policies. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Buhari government whimsically closed the land borders, taking food out of the table of many Nigerians.
The World Bank in the same report entitled, ‘Nigeria in Times of COVID-19: Laying Foundations for Strong Economic Recovery’, impliedly said the land border closure of 2019 made the 2020 doomsday inexorable. Talk about heating the furnace.
It said: “Analysis of the impact of the 2019 border closure found that it contributed to higher inflation—especially true for food, despite the relatively little impact on agricultural output. Because of the rises in food prices, Nigerian consumers now need to pay 2 percent more for the same basket of goods, with negative effects on their consumption.”
Why always Buhari?
I think, with the latest recession, Buhari is the only Nigerian President that has presided over the country under multiple recessions.
What a legacy!
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist
Twitter @FredrickNwabufo
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Protesters Storm Lagos Judicial Panel Venue To Demand Release Of Arrested Protester, Nicholas Mbah
Protesters and activist stormed the venue of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Saturday to demand the immediate release of Nicholas Mbah, an #EndSARS protester, who was arrested by the police in the state.
Mbah was arrested days after the protest at an Automated Teller Machine point.
He was arraigned on trumped-up charges of arson and rioting.
The protesters asked the panel and Lagos State Government to order the immediate release of Mbah, whose health condition was currently deteriorating.
It was gathered that the police initially denied him medical treatment and he slumped three times while in prison.
A medical report of Mbah sighted by SaharaReporters showed that he was in 2018 treated of hemorrhagic complications at the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital.
“The above named (Nicholas Mbah), who had surgery on July 2018 on account of multiple leiomymectomy, recently developed hemorrhagic complications.
“He has had crisis many times since the surgery. We are reporting that his medical condition may deteriorate if not taken care off,” his medical report from the hospital reads.
Mbah is currently being treated in the hospital after being identified and arrested by the police as a scapegoat.
#EndSARS
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We’ll Repeat Same Action We Took At Lekki Toll Gate Anywhere In Nigeria If Such Situation Arises Again –Army
The Nigerian Army has said that it will repeat same action it took at the Lekki Toll Gate anywhere in the country if such a situation arises again.
Ibrahim Taiwo, Commander of 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, disclosed this on Saturday while testifying before the judicial panel the Lagos State Government set up to probe the incident.
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On the night of 20 October, 2020, at about 6:50pm, operatives of the Nigerian Army opened fire on peaceful# EndSARS protesters at the toll gate, killing an unconfirmed number of people.
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CCTV Footage Shows Military Started Fire At Lekki Toll Gate
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Despite evidence of people being killed and injured at the Lekki incident, the army had maintained that blank bullets were used on protesters.
While being cross examined by Olumide Fusika, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Taiwo said given the same circumstance, the army would act in a similar way to that of October 20, 2020.
He insisted that there was no shooting of live ammunition at protesters.
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#EndSARS
We Went To Lekki Toll Gate With Live Bullets, Nigerian Army Says
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We Went To Lekki Toll Gate With Live Bullets, Nigerian Army Says
The 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, the formation involved in the October 20, 2020 Lekki shooting of peaceful protesters, has said that soldiers went to the toll gate with live ammunitions.
Ibrahim Taiwo, Commander of the division, disclosed this on Saturday while testifying before the panel the Lagos State Government set up to probe the incident.
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CCTV Footage Shows Military Started Fire At Lekki Toll Gate
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While being cross examined by Olumide Fusika, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Taiwo insisted that no one was shot dead as soldiers only fired blank ammunition at the protesters and not live rounds.
He said that they were meant for the protection of the army team that was deployed to restore order in the state.
Despite evidence of people being killed and injured at the Lekki incident, the army representative said the soldiers only used blank bullets while their colleagues with live rounds were on ground to protect them from suspected hoodlums, who caused trouble.
#EndSARS
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E2%80%93report Nigeria Among 12 Most Dangerous Countries For Children To Live –Report
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Nigeria is among 12 most dangerous countries for children in conflict, a new report by Save the Children International has said.
Other countries listed in the report released on Friday are Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, DRC, Mali, CAR, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan.
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In the report, Save the Children said 25 children, the equivalent of a classroom full of pupils, have been killed or injured on average every day.
It further disclosed that over 4,400 times humanitarian organisations were denied access to children – six times as often as in 2018.
“A total of 93,236 children have been killed or maimed in conflicts in the last 10 years, with more than three million children living in an area where violence had been raging for 18 years or more.
“The number of children recruited by armed forces rose by 639 from 2018 to 7,845 in 2019. Over 3,100 children were found to have been recruited in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone.
“Many were victims of airstrikes, shelling, landmines and other explosive weapons used in populated areas where families have been ripped apart and tens of thousands of children left dead or scarred for life.
“Last year alone, more than a third of the verified child casualties were caused by explosive weapons – with the number dramatically higher in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria,” said Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International in the report.
According to the report, in 2019 some 426 million children lived in a conflict-affected area – a slight increase on the year before.It stated that around 160 million children lived in a high-intensity conflict zone, also an increase compared to 2018.
The impact of explosive weapons on children is complex, Ashing said, robbing families of their hopes and their ability to access vital services, and often profoundly altering the direction of a child’s life.
The report launched on World Children’s Day is the fourth in a series entitled Stop the War on Children.
Ashing noted that it shines a spotlight on six grave violations committed against children in conflict zones (see footnote for details)“Over the past decade, more than 200,000 such violations were verified. The record was sadly broken in 2019, which saw 26,233 grave violations committed. The actual number is likely to be even higher as some violations, notably sexual abuse, are grossly underreported,” Ashing said.
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CCTV Footage Shows Military Started Fire At Lekki Toll Gate
Closed-Circuit Television footage of the October 20 Lekki Toll Gate shooting has shown that military, not protesters, started the fire at the area.
The footage showed that the fire started at a side of the toll gate occupied by the military.
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#EndSARS
#EndSARS: CCTV Footage Shows Military Van Forced Protesters To Abandon Lekki Toll Gate
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SaharaReporters has reported that the footage showed soldiers arriving in about four vans and taking over the barricade at the toll gate after forcing the protesters to move inwards Lekki.
In the CCTV footage played at the Lagos Judicial Panel on Saturday, protesters were not near the toll gate when the fire started except military vehicles.
The video also showed protesters running towards the lagoon near the Lekki Toll Gate as they fled from the military.
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#EndSARS
LIVE: Lagos State Judicial Panel Viewing CCTV Footage Of Lekki Tollgate Shooting
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#EndSARS: CCTV Footage Shows Military Van Forced Protesters To Abandon Lekki Toll Gate
The Closed-Circuit Television footage of the October 20 Lekki Toll Gate shooting has shown that soldiers forced #EndSARS protesters away from the barricade at the toll gate.
The soldiers could be seen in the video arriving in about four vans.
The soldiers took over the barricade at the toll gate, forcing the protesters to move inwards Lekki.
The video showed that power supply went out around 6:53pm and protesters were forced to move to the back as military van moved in on them.
The CCTV footage is being viewed by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality.
The panel watched the video as it investigates the killing of peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate.
Video of #EndSARS: Lagos State Judicial Panel Viewing CCTV Footage Of Lekki Tollgate Shooting
#EndSARS: Lagos State Judicial Panel Viewing CCTV Footage Of Lekki Tollgate Shooting
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