Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 29th July 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 29th July 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 29/07/21

Nigerian Serial Fraudster, Hushpuppi Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering Charge, May Spend Up To 20 Years In Jail

Nigerian serial fraudster, Ramon Abass, popularly known as Hushpuppi, has agreed to plead guilty to the money laundering charge against him.
Hushpuppi, who is known for his luxury lifestyle, was arrested in the UAE in June 2020 alongside 11 of his associates over allegations bordering on hacking, impersonation, scamming, banking fraud, and identity theft.

The fraudster’s extradition to the US was effected after the UAE police detailed his arrest in a special operation dubbed ‘Fox Hunt 2’ where he was accused of defrauding 1.9 million victims to the tune of N168 billion.
Hushpuppi was arraigned and detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago ahead of his trial.
In the court file signed by Loius Shapiro, Hushpuppi’s lawyer, on behalf of the defendant agreed to give up the right to indictment by a grand jury and plead guilty to count two of the trial “Case No. 2:20-CR-00322-ODW.”

Nigerian Serial Fraudster, Hushpuppi Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering Charge, May Spend Up To 20 Years In Jail.pdf

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The referenced court case, it is understood, charges Hushpuppi with “conspiracy to engage in money laundering.”
“For a person to be deemed guilty of the crime, there was an agreement between two or more persons to conduct a financial transaction involving property that represented the proceeds of wire fraud,” the document reads.
It also added that the defendant must have known that the funds were “proceeds of some form of unlawful activity” and the transaction was designed “to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the proceeds.”
Journalist Evan Ratiff who shared copies of the agreement revealed that Hushpuppi now faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing.
The agreement he entered is limited to United States Attorney’s Office and not binding to other federal, state, local or foreign prosecuting authorities.
He will henceforth not contest facts entered in the agreement and abide by all agreements regarding sentencing.
Hushpuppi is also expected to be truthful at all times with the United States probation and pretrial services office and the court.
The Instagram celebrity will pay close to $1.7m as restitution, but this can change based on facts that come up before sentencing.
“The defendant understands that the statutory maximum sentence that the court can impose for a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h), as charged in the Information, is: 20 years imprisonment,” the file read.
“…a 3-year period of supervised release; a fine of $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the
offense, whichever is greatest; and a mandatory special assessment of $100.
“Defendant understands that defendant will be required to pay full restitution to the victim(s) of the offense to which defendant is pleading guilty.
“Defendant agrees that the court may order restitution to persons other than the victim(s) of the offenses to which defendant is pleading guilty and in amounts greater than those alleged in the count.”

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E2%80%93-kaduna-parents El-Rufai Wants Our Children To Become Miserable Almajirai – Kaduna Parents

Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai

Some parents in Kaduna State have expressed concern over the declining education system, claiming the state government is not doing enough to address the menace of Almajiris in the state.
The parents alleged there is a plot by northern mafias to eradicate western education and deny children education.

Kaduna State Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai

Recall that Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, at a stakeholders’ meeting on Monday announced that schools in the state should be closed indefinitely.
The governor said this would allow security operatives to flush out bandits terrorizing students.
A statement issued by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Education countered the earlier pronouncement by the governor, describing it as fake news.
Dr. Moses Wuyep, a resident of the state, whose daughters are students of Federal Government College, Malali, Kaduna, said: “All the dramas being played in the state such as kidnapping, killings of students and demand for ransom is just to frustrate students from studying.
“If one of your sons is kidnapped and they ask you to pay just a million naira, by the time you pay that ransom, you are left with nothing to even feed, not to talk of sending your son to school again.
“When your son refuses to go further, social vices step in. All manners of bad character will creep in,” he said
Another parent, Mrs. Juliana Moses, said people in the state are living by God’s grace while lamenting the insecurity in the state.
According to her, it’s better for the military to take over than to continue with the present government till 2023 when a new government would be inaugurated.
“The saying that children are the leaders of tomorrow is no longer in vogue.
“Those children are being deprived of attaining education that will make them become great leaders of tomorrow. They are now frustrated, while their parents’ financially handicap as millions of Naira is paid as ransom,” she said in a report by DailyPost.

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UPDATE: Nigerian Shiites Leader, El-Zakzaky, Wife Released From Kaduna Prison After 5-Year Illegal Incarceration

Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky

The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been released from Kaduna Correctional Centre after they were acquitted and discharged by the Kaduna State High Court on Wednesday.
According to their lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), they have left Kaduna for an unknown destination.

Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky

Islamic Movement of Nigeria

Justice Gideon Kurada of the Kaduna State High Court had earlier acquitted and discharged the Shiites leader, El- Zakzaky, and his wife, Zeenat Ibrahim who had been standing trial in the court for the past four years.
In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Kurada upheld the no-case submission filed by Zakzaky’s lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), saying the witnesses presented by the prosecution counsel had been unable to establish any connection between the charges and El-Zakzaky.
El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, were standing trial on eight counts bordering on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of the public peace, among others.

Report: US Lawmakers Stop $875m Military Equipment Sale To Nigeria Over Lekki Toll Gate Massacre, Human Rights Abuse

United States lawmakers are stalling a proposed sale of attack helicopters to Nigeria amid mounting concerns about the Nigerian government’s human rights record as its military grapples with multiple security crises at once, Foreign Policy magazine reports.
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have delayed clearing a proposed sale of 12 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and accompanying defense systems to the Nigerian military, pausing a deal worth some $875 million, according to U.S. officials and congressional aides familiar with the matter.

The behind-the-scenes controversy over the proposed arms sale illustrates a broader debate among Washington policymakers over how to balance national security with human rights objectives.
The hold on the sale also showcases how powerful U.S. lawmakers want to push the Biden administration to rethink U.S. relations with Africa’s most populous country amid overarching concerns that Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, is drifting toward authoritarianism as his government is besieged by multiple security challenges, including jihadist insurgency.
Nigeria is on the front lines in the battle against Boko Haram, one of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, and plays a role in U.S. and international efforts to roll back extremist groups in the Sahel region of West Africa.
But Western governments and international human rights organizations have ramped up their criticisms of the Nigerian government, particularly in the wake of its ban on Twitter, systemic corruption issues, and the Nigerian military’s role in deadly crackdowns on protesters after widespread demonstrations against police brutality last year.
Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a “fundamental rethink of the framework of our overall engagement” with Nigeria during a Senate hearing with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June.
Both Menendez and Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have placed a hold on the proposed arms sale, according to multiple U.S. officials and congressional aides familiar with the matter, who spoke to Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity.
The details on the proposed sale were first sent by the U.S. State Department to Congress in January before then-former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was inaugurated as president, according to officials familiar with the matter.
In addition to the helicopters, the proposed sale included 28 helicopter engines produced by GE Aviation, 14 military-grade aircraft navigation systems made by Honeywell, and 2,000 advanced precision kill weapon systems—laser-guided rocket munitions, according to information sent by the State Department to Congress and reviewed by Foreign Policy.
Nigeria has relied on U.S. arms sales in the past to help address multiple security challenges: the 12-year insurgency by Boko Haram militants in the country’s northeast, a spate of high-profile kidnapping-for-ransom campaigns targeting schoolchildren in the country’s northwest, and deadly clashes between the country’s semi-nomadic herders and farmers fueled by climate change and environmental degradation of the country’s arable land.
The State Department describes the U.S.-Nigeria relationship as “among the most important in sub-Saharan Africa” and has provided limited funding for various military training and education programs.
Some experts said the United States should hit the pause button on major defense sales until it makes a broader assessment of the extent to which corruption and mismanagement hobble the Nigerian military and whether the military is doing enough to minimize civilian casualties in its campaign against Boko Haram and other violent insurrectionists.
“There doesn’t have to be a reason why we don’t provide weapons or equipment to the Nigerian military,” said Judd Devermont, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.
“But it has to be done with an assessment of how it will, one, change the direction of conflict in Nigeria, and, two, that they will use it consistent with our laws. In both cases, it’s either a question mark or a fail.”
“There is a culture of impunity that exists around abuses by the military,” said Anietie Ewang, the Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Ewang cited the Nigerian military’s killing of unarmed protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos during the country’s massive #EndSARS demonstrations against police corruption and brutality last year as well as cases documented by human rights organizations of abuses in the military’s campaign against Boko Haram.
“I’m sure it’s a difficult situation. There are so many conflicts springing up across the country now,” Ewang said.
“The authorities, I presume, are trying to do the best they can to save lives and property. But this must be done in accordance with human rights standards. You can’t throw one out just to be able to achieve the other.”
Recall that the former U.S. President, Donald Trump’s administration agreed to sell the Nigerian government 12 A-29 Super Tucano warplanes, resurrecting a proposed sale the Obama administration froze after the Nigerian Air Force bombed a refugee camp that January. The first batch of those planes arrived in Nigeria earlier this month.

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Sister Of Slain Nigerian Army General, Hassan Ahmed Released After 13 Days in Captivity

Sabina, the sister of the late Major General Hassan Ahmed, has been released after spending thirteen days in captivity.
The former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army was murdered on July 15 within the Abaji area of Abuja.

Ahmed was buried at the Lungi Barracks Cemetery in the nation’s capital in line with Islamic rites.
The military officer was killed when gunmen ambushed and attacked him on his way from a trip to Okene in Kogi.
The assailants kidnapped Sabina, first thought to be the wife. Her whereabouts remained unknown for more than three days after the incident.
A source close to the family on Wednesday told DailyPost that the victim is now free.
“I’m happy to inform you that General Ahmed’s sister, Sabina is back. She was released today. A good man, just about 50 years old, was killed; his sister was held hostage for two weeks.
“For us, these are trying moments. But in all, we thank Almighty God.”
It was further gathered that the victim, who is said to be in her 30s, is seriously traumatized. She is currently at a safe location and would undergo medical treatment.
The Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya, appointed the late Ahmed as a Director at the Army Headquarters in Abuja. The ex-PM assumed office less than two weeks before his life was cut short.

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BREAKING: Court Acquits, Discharges Nigerian Shiites Leader, El-Zakzaky, Wife, Orders Immediate Release

Justice Gideon Kurada of the Kaduna State High Court has acquitted and discharged the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem El- Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat Ibrahim who have been standing trial in the court for the past four years.
In a judgement delivered on Wednesday, Justice Kurada said the case was not shown nor proven by the prosecutor.

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El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, are standing trial on eight counts bordering on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disruption of public peace, among others.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against them.
The couple have been in detention since 2015, after IMN supporters clashed with soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna.

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How Biases Fuel Misinformation And Disinformation: An African Perspective, By Nkem Agunwa

Misinformation and disinformation are arguably as old as humanity. The popular myth that bats are blind is scientifically inaccurate, and thus a misinformation. Research has proven that Bats are anything but blind. They see in black and white and at night they have the potential to see even better than humans. The introduction of information technology particularly social media has undoubtedly magnified the impact of mis/disinformation. It has opened up the space for an exponential spread of unchecked information at lightning speed thereby challenging truth and reality, stirring division and conflict, breeding a skeptical public, threatening democracies and contributing to human rights violations.
Mis/disinformation in Africa
The toxic polarisation of recent elections across the world and the rapid spread of false information about the COVID 19 virus have demonstrated the harmful potential of mis/disinformation. People have lost loved ones, experienced severe health complications, been excluded, ostracised, attacked, harassed and discriminated against as a result of the proliferation of mis/disinformation.
In Nigeria, there was the pervading belief that Nigerians were immune to the COVID-19 virus. This originated from the false belief that Blacks possess a natural protective response to SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, the hysteria around hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19 resulting from the unsubstantiated claim in the viral video by the Nigerian trained US physician Dr. Stella Emmanuel, led to panic purchase and stockpiling of the drug. Despite extensive media coverage to debunk these claims, people relied on this misleading information resulting in chloroquine poisoning and refusal to comply with COVID-19 protocols thereby increasing the risk exposure to the virus. Also, the conspiracy theory that 5G is linked to the virus led to widespread panic and attack on 5G infrastructures in countries like South Africa.
In the aftermath of the 2017 general elections in Kenya, mis/disinformation played a significant role in escalating the post-election violence in the country. The opposition coalition claimed that 100 people had been killed by police officers while official reports from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights placed the death toll at 24. This contributed to the heightened political tension in the country.
Countries from across Africa are actively pushing back against mis/disinformation. Individuals and groups from across the continents have launched campaigns to counter myths around the COVID-19 virus and dispel misleading narratives. An interesting example is Sarah Dawns, a South African also known as Mistress of Science who fights medical misinformation on social media. The Centre for Disease Control in most African countries provides frequent updates on the number of confirmed cases, successful treatment and deaths related to the virus in their respective countries. Fojo and Pax Press along with AfricaCheck are building the capacity of journalists in Rwanda on fact checking, verification and cyber security. These are timely and innovative efforts on the continent that help fight mis/disinformation. However, the growing number of mobile phone users on the continent, coupled with the declining trust in mainstream media and the widespread use of encrypted messaging applications like WhatsApp, make these interventions grossly insufficient to surmount the evident challenge. Furthermore, research shows a high exposure to perceived misinformation in some African countries and a heightened propensity of citizens to intentionally share false information.
Layers of Bias
What motivates people to share misleading information? The spread of misinformation plays to the natural instinct of humans to gravitate towards information that is familiar and aligns with preexisting beliefs. This sometimes shows up in the form of bias, which is influenced by our experiences, education, values and preferences among other factors that shape our world view.
A 2018 study on the spread of true and false news online found that false news spreads significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth by a substantial margin. Evidently, bots share the digital space with humans and are programmed to disseminate inaccurate news. In this particular study, when all bots were removed from the dataset, the differences between the spread of false and true news remained the same – lending credence to the hypothesis that humans, not bots, propel the spread of misinformation.
The Internet has presented a plethora of information sources projecting news stories in nanoseconds, all competing for the attention of the user. This creates information overload that makes it impossible for the user to effectively assimilate the multiplicity of online content. In order to make sense of it, the human brain develops heuristic techniques that help it make quick and effective analysis of information. Unfortunately, these techniques are laced with layers of bias that make the user vulnerable to mis/disinformation and provide a fertile ground for its spread.
Cognitive Bias
Increasingly, content creators are becoming more adept at grabbing the attention of users by deploying a variety of tricks that makes it easier for users to respond more favorably to their content having understood their cognitive biases. These cognitive biases include confirmation bias, conformity effect, overconfidence, availability bias, naive realism etc. Users are more likely to resonate with information that confirms their prior beliefs and values and discard or challenge any information to the contrary. They would be more inclined to promote content that affirms their identity, status, and religious beliefs or ideology even though the content might be misleading.
For example, the xenophobic attacks in South Africa were fueled by the claims that the influx of foreigners create unemployment for citizens, overburden sectors such as health care and cause insecurity in the country. This resulted in violent attacks on foreigners as it confirmed the held belief by many South Africans that foreigners are a threat to their identity and safety, given their history of discrimination under the apartheid regime. A joint report by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reveals that there are no significant effects of immigrant workers on native-born employment at the national level. In fact, immigrants in South Africa have a positive net impact on the government’s fiscal balance because they tend to pay more in taxes.
In Nigeria, the vicious conflict between the Fulani pastoralists and the predominantly Christian Indigenes that has long ravaged southern Kaduna, an area in northern Nigeria, has significantly been fuelled by emotionally charged narratives and exaggerated claims. This has led to human and material losses on both sides. Whereas, the underlying cause of this conflict is the scramble for limited land, and other resources exacerbated by climate change and the government’s failure to protect the people.
Societal Bias
The need for validation is a major motivation to identify with a community, feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. People tend to gravitate more towards communities that share their values and ideologies and as a result, information flow within these circles is rarely challenged because of the common belief in each other’s credibility and the fear of ostracization. This creates an echo-chamber with limited room for divergent views, making it difficult for misinformation to be detected. This vicious circle sows division within the larger society because people are existing in silos and are uninformed about the nuance of other groups and communities. This is a slippery slope into an ‘us versus them’ scenario, which tears communities apart.
Furthermore, there is the tendency to assume that trending or popular opinions are accurate. Oftentimes we have seen tweets with massive engagements of influential figures being taken as fact because they have the approval of the community, thereby creating a false social consensus, or clout. These are societal conditionings and trappings that are ripe for manipulated content to percolate, tear down and fracture communities.
Technology-Aided Bias
The Internet presents an endless web of information that could overwhelm users with irrelevant data. In a bid to create tailored content that meets the information needs of individual users, the algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would find useful or interesting based on their digital footprint. Consequently, users are consistently fed with personalised content that align with their beliefs, desires and motivations. This reinforces their existing biases and further isolates them from divergent views and ideologies thereby creating a condition Eli Pariser describes as a filter bubble.
This bias in machines makes users more vulnerable to conspiracy theories, hyper partisan content and outright fabrication. The filter applied using algorithms leads to an inundated exposure of monolith information which has a negative effect on civic debates. Furthermore, based on frequency algorithms alone, popular content, regardless of the quality or accuracy, is projected to users in an unsolicited manner, capturing their attention. This is particularly dangerous because the system can be manipulated or gamed by anyone with nefarious intent to spread mis/disinformation.
WITNESS Approach to Combating Mis/Disinformation
Over the last three years, WITNESS has provided recommendations to technology platforms to help make users less vulnerable to mis/disinformation. Technology platforms must understand the responsibility they owe society as the primary gatekeepers of information flow to ensure information is not just relevant but important, challenging, and holds other viewpoints. Technology platforms’ responses to the spread of mis/disinformation during the pandemic has shown the benefit in promoting accurate information in-platform and helping users find and recognise them. This has to be scaled up to include all kinds of information and not just COVID-19 specific information. This should be done in addition to other steps taken to increase their commitment to more resourcing in the global south, as well as using a human rights based approach in their policies.
WITNESS has also embarked on a series of workshops in the global south aimed at tackling the threats posed by AI-enabled forms of media manipulation. We have identified media literacy as one of the effective ways for combatting mis/disinformation. This was one of the findings from our deepfakes convening in Sub-Saharan Africa orgainzed in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. This is why we are currently embarking on a project for West Africa that seeks to identify the best ways for reducing the harm caused by misinfo/disinfo especially to grassroots communities.
Other initiatives being embarked upon by WITNESS and our partners include: drafting of an access protocol for deepfakes detection tools; contributing to the development of a responsible, human rights respecting authenticity infrastructure and the development of user-friendly verification and accountability tools. Also, WITNESS developed a set of criteria through which the wide range of possible responses technology platforms adopted in fighting COVID-19 related mis/disinformation can be assessed, using a framework based on human rights, our experience working with marginalised communities and human rights defenders globally.
Pause Before Sharing
Biases are a blind spot, and it is important we open ourselves up to information that may not necessarily align with our held beliefs and ideologies. The golden rule is to pause before sharing any content. Also, it is important to engage in preliminary, own investigation that would help you reach an objective conclusion such as: seek out different opinions, hear others out, question the source, and corroborate with other credible media sources. This is known as the SIFT method.
In navigating through the algorithmic biases of websites and social media platforms to ensure balanced information, there are some strategies, though limited, that can be helpful, such as: clearing out your search entries regularly; using multiple search engines for your queries; concealing your IP address where possible, and more importantly, actively seeking out trustworthy materials that hold divergent viewpoints.
There is no magic bullet for eliminating mis/disinformation. Human rights movements will always have adversaries that infiltrate and sabotage futures free of deception. The solution must be multi-pronged and cross cutting. As Julia Koller brilliantly puts it – “Information is only as reliable as the people who are receiving it. If readers do not change or improve their ability to seek out and identify reliable information sources, the information environment will not improve”. To improve the information ecosystem, we must adopt some healthy digital behaviour, and this includes keeping our biases in check.

More Resources:
The Wrongfulness of Nigeria’s Ban on Twitter
Truth, Lies and Social Media Accountability in 2021
In Africa, Fear of State Violence Informs Deep Fake Threat
To Fight Deep Fakes Build Media Literacy, Say African Activists
Twitter Released A Draft Policy on Synthetic Media. Here’s What Stood Out to the Activists We Consulted.
COVID-19 Misinformation and Disinformation Responses: Sorting the Good from the Bad

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E2%80%93-sacked-ipob-radio-host-simon-ekpa Biafran Struggle Now On Autopilot – Sacked IPOB Radio Host, Simon Ekpa

A Finland-based member of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Simon Ekpa, has said the Biafran agitation is no longer within the reach of the members and supporters.
The recently sacked Radio Biafra broadcaster declared that the struggle for the actualisation of Biafra was now in its “dangerous phase.”

Ekpa made the disclosure on Wednesday via a post on his official Facebook page.
Kanu, who is facing the trial of treasonable felony and terrorism, was slated to appear before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday but could not be produced by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) as a result of alleged logistics reasons.
The incident has resulted in widespread criticisms and anxieties among concerned Nigerians who accused the Nigerian Government of deliberately delaying the trial to keep the separatist leader in detention.
Simon Ekpa, a Finnish who has been silent for a while, said he is set to change the narrative of the current struggle.
The post reads, “The Biafra struggle has entered the AUTOPILOT phase, a very dangerous phase that we have no control of what happens. To your tent oh Israel.
“I am Simon Ekpa, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s disciple on Biafra restoration. Changing the narrative of Yesterday.”

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DSS Operatives Harass Premium Times Journalist For Taking Pictures Of Activists Arrested At Dunamis Church

Operatives of the Department of State Services on Wednesday at Mpape Magistrate Court, Abuja, harassed a journalist with online medium, Premium Times, Ameh Ekwonyilo, for taking the pictures of five activists arrested at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre for wearing T-Shirts with the inscription #BuhariMustGo.
The reporter, who was in court to cover the proceedings of the trial of the activists, was harassed and had his mobile phone seized by the gun-wielding officers who were stationed within the premises.

Trouble started when the journalist made attempt to take the pictures of the activists shortly after they had been granted bail by the court.
One of the hooded DSS officers drafted to the court quickly dragged him and snatched his mobile phone.A heated altercation ensued as the officers pounced on him and threatened to arrest him while the leader of the team deleted all the pictures in the phone.The journalist maintained that he had not committed any offence by taking the pictures of the defendants on the premises of the court, adding that he had no obligation to take permission from the officers before carrying out his constitutional duty as a journalist.It took the intervention of the lawyer of the activists who appealed to the officers to release the phone to the journalist.
SaharaReporters had reported how the activists were charged on five counts bordering on criminal conspiracy with intent to cause a breach of the peace and disturb the public peace, an offence contrary to Section 114 of the Penal Code Law CAP 89 LFN 1990 and punishable under the same law.
The activists namely; Ben Mannaseh, Emmanuel Larry, Victor Udoka Anene, a blind Saxophonist, Samuel Gabriel Iwatonaiye and Henry Nwodo had spent 25 days in illegal detention.
They were denied access to their families and lawyers.
The Chief Magistrate, Mohammed Zubairu, had admitted the activists to bail of N500,000 with one surety in like sum who must submit his/her National Identity Card to the court.

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Bandits Kill Kaduna All Progressives Congress’ Chairmanship Candidate

Some unknown gunmen, believed to be bandits, have killed the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairmanship candidate for the Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Alamkah Dominic Usman.
The APC leader was shot dead along Keffi-Akwanga road in Nassarawa State on his way to Benue State on Monday.

The deceased was until his death the APC flag-bearer in Kachia for the local government council elections set to hold on Saturday, August 14, 2021.
A condolence message to Cashman Alamkah Cashman’s Family reads, “Alamka Dominic Usman (Aka Cashman) was brutally murdered after winning a controversial Chairmanship primary election in Kachia LGA.
“This gentleman was full of energy and resilience, loved by many and he was a hero on blood donation mobilisation, a lifesaver, and a motivator. Your killers will the traced for justice.
“Accept my condolences and may Allah protect us from this cruel world. What a loss.
“I supervised him on a United States funded project in Kaduna; he was super-efficient and delivered his job well. Rest on friend,” a Facebook user, Mansur M Tukur posted.
The deceased is expected to be laid to rest on Thursday, July 29.

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Nigeria News Headlines Today

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Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 29th July 2021

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Thursday 29th July 2021

Nigerian Serial Fraudster, Hushpuppi Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering Charge, May Spend Up To 20 Years In Jail

E2%80%93-kaduna-parents El-Rufai Wants Our Children To Become Miserable Almajirai – Kaduna Parents

UPDATE: Nigerian Shiites Leader, El-Zakzaky, Wife Released From Kaduna Prison After 5-Year Illegal Incarceration

Report: US Lawmakers Stop $875m Military Equipment Sale To Nigeria Over Lekki Toll Gate Massacre, Human Rights Abuse

Sister Of Slain Nigerian Army General, Hassan Ahmed Released After 13 Days in Captivity

BREAKING: Court Acquits, Discharges Nigerian Shiites Leader, El-Zakzaky, Wife, Orders Immediate Release

How Biases Fuel Misinformation And Disinformation: An African Perspective, By Nkem Agunwa

E2%80%93-sacked-ipob-radio-host-simon-ekpa Biafran Struggle Now On Autopilot – Sacked IPOB Radio Host, Simon Ekpa

DSS Operatives Harass Premium Times Journalist For Taking Pictures Of Activists Arrested At Dunamis Church

Bandits Kill Kaduna All Progressives Congress’ Chairmanship Candidate