Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 27th February 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 27/02/21
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E2%80%99t-afford-have-more-out-school-children%E2%80%94northern-governors Zamfara Attack: We Can’t Afford To Have More Out-of-school Children—Northern Governors
The Northern Governors Forum has condemned the abduction of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, in Zamfara state.
According to the chairman of the forum, Simon Lalong, the North is already educationally disadvantaged and cannot afford to have more children out of school.
Lalong also said the trend of kidnapping schoolchildren has the tendency to set the nation back on the path of ignorance and more poverty.
Earlier on Friday, suspected bandits attacked the school in the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area and kidnapped many students.
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Protect Students Or We’ll Withdraw All Children From Boarding Schools — PTA Association President Tells Nigerian Governments
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The gunmen were said to have arrived in the school around 1 am and loaded the girls in buses.
The attack happened just days after some students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara in Rafi Local Government of Niger State were abducted by bandits who have yet to set them free.
It also comes barely 24 hours after the northern governors met in Kaduna state to strategise on how best to address the region’s security challenges.
In a statement issued by Makut Nacham, his spokesman, Lalong said there was a need for concerted measures to stop the situation of things from further escalation.
“As northern governors, we are deeply saddened by this embarrassing and unfortunate attack on our children who are in schools to seek knowledge and build capacity to impact the nation and create a better society,” he said.
“The assault on schools where innocent and harmless students are targeted should not be condoned in any way because it has the tendency to set the nation back to ignorance and more poverty.
“The northern part of the country, in particular, is more educationally disadvantaged and cannot afford to have these disruptions. Enough is enough.”
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E2%80%99-camp Seven Of 317 Abducted Zamfara Schoolgirls Escape From Bandits’ Camp
Seven out of the 317 schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in the Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State have escaped from the bandits’ camp.
The seven schoolgirls escaped and reportedly arrived home safely on Friday evening.
The kidnapping happened less than 10 days after a similar incident at Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State.
A source who did not disclose his name narrated to Channels TV that the seven schoolgirls manoeuvered their way to escape from the kidnappers’ den.
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Presidency Reacts To Zamfara Schoolgirls’ Abduction 18 Hours Later
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The gunmen had kidnapped the schoolgirls around 1 am on Friday, loading the girls into buses.
A resident of Kawaye village identified as Seidu Muhammadu who confirmed the development to SaharaReporters said his daughters, Mansura and Sakina, were among those abducted.
“I’m on my way to Jangebe now to see the situation myself. I was told they invaded the school around 1am,” he said.
The spokesman for the state police command SP Muhammad Shehu told reporters that” Give me some time, I can’t say anything now.”
The Zamfara incident is coming a week after gunmen struck the Government Secondary School in Kagara, Niger State, abducting 47 school pupils, teachers and workers, who have yet to be rescued as of Friday.
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E2%80%93-us-report Saudi Crown Prince Approved Killing Of Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi – US Report
The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a declassified assessment of the killing released to the Congress by US intelligence agencies.
The four-page report confirmed the long-suspected view that the 35-year-old future king had a personal hand in the violent and premeditated murder of one of his most prominent critics, a columnist and former Saudi insider who was living in exile in the US and used his platform to decry the prince’s crackdown on dissent.
Friday’s release of the assessment was expected to be accompanied by further actions from the Joe Biden administration, which are expected to be unveiled by the State Department.
Bloomberg reported that the administration has identified 76 Saudis who may be subject to sanctions under what it is calling its new “Khashoggi policy”, which would impose visa restrictions on individuals who are believed to have acted on behalf of a foreign government and engaged in serious “extraterritorial counter-dissident activities”. It is not clear whether Prince Mohammed will be on the list.
The White House was also, according to a Reuters report, considering the cancellation of arms deals with Saudi Arabia that pose human rights concerns.
The partially-redacted assessment, which was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and relied heavily on information gathered by the CIA, said the agencies assessed that “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
It based the assessment on the prince’s “control of decision making in the kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of (the prince’s) protective detail in the operation, and (hi) support for the using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi”.
The US intelligence agencies’ assessment – which was released around 9pm Saudi time – also found that the prince’s “absolute control” of the kingdom’s security and intelligence organisations made it “highly unlikely” that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation like Khashoggi’s murder without the prince’s approval.
Included in the assessment were several bullet points that contributed to the agencies’ final assessment, including that Prince Mohammed had “probably” fostered an environment in which aides were afraid that they might be fired or arrested if they failed to complete assigned tasks, suggesting they were “unlikely to question” the prince’s orders or undertake sensitive tasks without his approval.
The report pointed to the fact that the 15-member hit squad that arrived in Istanbul worked for or were associated with the Saudi Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Royal Court – which at the time was led by Saud al-Qahtani, a close adviser to the prince who claimed publicly in 2018 that he did not make decisions without the prince’s approval.
The team also included a subset of the Saudi royal guard, known as the Rapid Intervention Force, which reported only to Prince Mohammed.
“Although Saudi officials had pre-planned an unspecified operation against Khashoggi we do not know how far in advance Saudi officials decided to harm him,” the report concluded.
While Prince Mohammed has previously denied ordering the killing or having any knowledge of it, the damning picture portrayed by the new report raises serious new questions about his future as the Saudi heir.
The revelation comes more than two years after Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on a mission to retrieve papers that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hadice Cengiz, who has since emerged as a fierce advocate for justice for her late partner.
Cengiz did not immediately comment on the report but tweeted out a photo of Khashoggi.
While Khashoggi had been assured by Saudi officials that he would be safe inside the consulate’s walls, grisly details later emerged – pieced together through recording and other evidence gathered by Turkish authorities – that described how a team of Saudi agents, who had arrived in Istanbul on state-owned planes for the intended purpose of killing the journalist – subdued, killed and then dismembered Khashoggi using a bone saw. In one recording, a close ally of Prince Mohammed referred to the journalist as a “sacrificial lamb”.
The decision to release the report and expected move to issue further actions represents the first major foreign policy decision of Joe Biden’s presidency, months after he vowed on the presidential campaign trail to make a “pariah” out of the kingdom. The White House has said it is seeking to “recalibrate” its relationship with the oil-rich nation, in a major departure from the close relationship the crown prince, who is known as MBS, had with Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The former president defended and brushed aside the findings of his own intelligence agencies even after it became widely known through media reports that the CIA had concluded with a medium- to high-degree of confidence that Prince Mohammed had approved the murder. Trump was reported to have bragged to the Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that he had protected the crown prince from congressional scrutiny, telling Woodward: “I saved his a**.”
The declassified US intelligence assessment was released after it was mandated by Congress. The Trump administration had ignored the law but the Biden administration signalled early on that it would be willing to release the document.
Ron Wyden, the Democratic senator from Oregon who authored the law that forced the release of the report, said in a statement that America was sending the message that “lawlessness won’t stand”.
“By naming Mohammed bin Salman as the amoral murderer responsible for this heinous crime, the Biden-Harris administration is beginning to finally reassess America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and make clear that oil won’t wash away blood,” Wyden said.
He added that there was “still far more to do to ensure the Saudi government follows international laws” and called for the crown prince to suffer “personal consequences”, including financial, travel, and legal sanctions.
Its publication follows years of lobbying by Cengiz and other human rights advocates who have said that Saudi Arabia was never held accountable for the murder.
Saudi officials initially denied that Khashoggi had been harmed in the consulate, and had tried to create the impression using a body double wearing Khashoggi’s clothes that the 59-year-old had left the building. Eventually, officials in the kingdom acknowledged Khashoggi had been killed but blamed the murder on a “rogue operation”.
The release of the US report could have significant repercussions for the crown prince, though most analysts agreed that it was not immediately clear who might replace him following a years-long campaign by the future king to target and imprison his most likely political rivals, including the former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
While the killing initially tarnished the crown prince’s reputation, Trump’s staunch support of the Saudi heir, even in the wake of the wake of the murder and media reports that said US intelligence officials believed “MBS” had a hand in the killing, ultimately helped to rehabilitate his image, including with business leaders and politicians and heads of state across Europe.
Saudi prosecutors put 11 unnamed officials on trial in what was largely seen as a sham proceeding, and later reduced the death sentences of five of the men who were convicted of killing the dissident to 20-year prison terms.
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Nigeria Failed Kagara And Jangebe Schoolchildren, By Fredrick Nwabufo
Fredrick Nwabufo
I see the vapid and tepid response of the Buhari administration to the slew of juvenile abductions as the prodrome of elite bias. Yes, the proportion of response a challenge receives is metered by the social estate of those affected. This is how best I can conceptualise the impotence of the government in the face of the criminal harvesting of children for merchandise by bandits.
The situation has never been this parlous, sickening, helpless, and hopeless. Nigeria has organically evolved into a Hobessian society. Everyone has become a potential victim. Every day, news of kidnapping, mass killings, and sacking of villages hit national consciousness. No end in sight. We are all like sitting ducks waiting for our turn at inevitable torment.
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Just a few days ago, 27 schoolboys were kidnapped from their dormitory at Government Science College, Kagara, Niger state. The kids have been in the dragon’s lair for about a week now, yet there seems to be no urgency for their rescue. Abubakar Bello, Niger state governor, accused the government of inertia. In fact, he said the Buhari administration abandoned the state to its fate.
The governor’s words: ‘’At the moment we have not seen any federal support here since this incident occurred. Yes, we had a delegation that came to commiserate with us, but we are left to ourselves.” Tragic! Tragic! Tragic!
What makes the present situation very depressing is that it appears we learnt nothing from previous incidents. From the Chibok girls’ abduction, Dapchi girls’ kidnapping, Kankara schoolboys snatching, and now to Kagara and Jangebe schoolchildren capture. Nothing learnt. This sanguinary wheel keeps spinning, plucking schoolchildren, but the government seems to have the lost spanner to stop it. Who is the next victim? Where next? Is this what we have to live through? Is this what we have to endure?
Over 300 kids who elect to get an education in a region where there are over 10 million out of school children abducted in the dead of night. Sad! Sad! Sad!
I am pained. Depressed. Confused and listless. Those kids living through ephialtes could be of any of us. The school, which should be a safe haven for children, has become a sanctuary of horror. The abductors of the Kagara schoolboys have threatened to starve them to death. How much traumatic can it get?
Have we not failed as a people if we cannot secure our children? Nigeria has failed the Kagara schoolboys and all other victims of sinister capture.
Perhaps, President Buhari has not received the memo. Perhaps, he is walled off by the fortress and ramparts of Aso Villa. Or maybe, he is fiddling while Nigeria is taken over by bandits. Just maybe. Nowhere is safe.
The country is under siege. From the Federal Capital Territory to Kaduna, Niger state, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Abia, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Kogi, Katsina and Sokoto bandits reign unchecked.
If the president really takes the present security challenge with gravitas, then he will spare no effort to declare a state of emergency on security; suspend what needs to be suspended and mobilise all resources to take back the country from these freebooters.
We cannot ride on the train, if we get killed. We cannot even drive on the roads being constructed and rehabilitated because bandits are laying siege on them.
Security comes first.
I hope the president acts now.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalistTwitter @FredrickNwabufo
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E2%80%99-abduction-18-hours-later Presidency Reacts To Zamfara Schoolgirls’ Abduction 18 Hours Later
President Muhammadu Buhari
The Presidency has condemned the latest abduction of the hundreds of students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State, blaming the state government for its policy of rewarding bandits with “money and vehicles.”
The reaction of the Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, is coming 18 hours after the incident happened and different sections of Nigerians have spoken.
Shehu said, “The President advised states and local governments to be more proactive by improving security around schools and their surroundings.
“The President appealed to state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously.”
“President Muhammadu Buhari has described the latest abduction of hundreds of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State as inhumane and totally unacceptable, sending out a strong warning to bandits and their sponsors.
“President Buhari noted that “a hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.
“He warned the bandits, saying, “Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”
Gunmen kidnapped over 300 school girls around 1am at the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in the Talata Mafara Local Government area of Zamfara State earlier on Friday.
The gunmen, believed to be bandits, struck the school and loaded the girls in buses.
A resident in Kawaye village identified as Seidu Muhammadu who confirmed the development to SaharaReporters said his daughters, Mansura and Sakina, were among those abducted.
“I’m on my way to Jangebe now to see the situation myself. I was told they invaded the school around 1am,” he said.
The spokesman for the state police command command SP Muhammad Shehu told reporters that” Give me some time, I can’t say anything now.”
The Zamfara incident comes a week after gunmen struck the Government Secondary School in Kagara, Niger State, abducting 47 school pupils, teachers and workers, who have yet to be rescued as of Friday.
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Buhari Asks Governors To Stop Rewarding Bandits With Vehicles, Cash Gifts
President Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has warned bandits to desist from criminal activities, following the abduction of schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara.
The President also cautioned Nigerian governors against the policy of amnesty for bandits.
He stated that rewarding bandits with money and vehicles by some states may “boomerang disastrously.”
SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the school which is located within the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area of the state came under siege by some bandits at past midnight.
The gunmen were said to have arrived in the school around 1 am and loaded the girls in buses.
Reacting in a statement on Friday evening, Buhari said the criminals should not mistake government’s restraint for “weakness”, adding that they are not too strong to be defeated.
“No criminal group can be too strong to be defeated by the government adding that the only thing standing between the security forces and the bandits are the rules of engagement,” he said.
“We have the capacity to deploy massive force against the bandits in the villages where they operate, but our limitation is the fear of heavy casualties of innocent villagers and hostages who might be used as human shields by the bandits,” he said, stressing that “our primary objective is to get the hostages safe, alive and unharmed.
“A hostage crisis is a complex situation that requires maximum patience in order to protect the victims from physical harm or even brutal death at the hands of their captors.
“Let them not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government. They shouldn’t mistake our restraint for the humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or irresolution.”
The Zamfara State Government had in its 2021 budget earmarked a total of N200 million for its amnesty programme for ‘repentant’ bandits.
In a copy of the budget seen by SaharaReporters, N354 million was also budgeted for projects related to grazing reserves.
The Bello Matawalle-led government had in 2019 entered a peace agreement with bandits.
The governor said negotiation with the gunmen is the best option for lasting peace in the state.
He explained that he chose to offer cows because the bandits need the cows to advance their economic interests.
In January, SaharaReporters exposed how 15 brand new Hilux vehicles and cash gifts were given to leaders of different ‘repentant’ banditry groups by Matawalle.
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E2%80%99-abductions-meant-stop-northern-children-getting-education-%E2%80%93-women-group Zamfara: Pupils’ Abductions Meant To Stop Northern Children From Getting Education – Women Group
The Women Arise for Change Initiative has condemned the abduction of 317 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State.
Earlier on Friday, suspected bandits attacked the school in the Talata-Mafara Lcal Government Area and kidnapped many students.
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The gunmen were said to have arrived in the school around 1 am and loaded the girls in buses.
The attack happened just days after some students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara in Rafi Local Government of Niger State were abducted by bandits who have yet to set them free.
On December 11, 2020, over 300 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State were abducted by bandits who released them six days later.
Reacting in a statement by its President, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, the women group said the attack and similar ones in the past are targeted at demoralising not only the girl-child but also other children from accessing education in the region.
The statement read, “We consider the latest kidnap of these innocent school girls in Zamfara State, coming a few days after a similar incidence in Kagara, Niger State, as purely an act of terrorism and a sad reminder of the unforgettable abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok about seven years ago.
“The attack on schoolchildren, particularly on girls, is targeted at demoralising not only the girl-child but also other children from accessing education.
“It is sad that our country has been unable to mitigate against the reoccurrence of this kind of attack on our schools, despite all assurances after the Chibok incident.
“We hereby demand that just as the government rescued the schoolboys at Kankara in Katsina and the Dapchi schoolgirls in Yobe, it should, in the same vein, rescue the Zamfara schoolgirls in the quickest time possible.
“Finally, there must be a renewed commitment from the Federal Government to tackle the menace of terrorism, which is no longer targeted at our territorial integrity but on lives, including those of innocent schoolchildren.”
Hundreds of schoolgirls were also kidnapped in Chibok in 2014 by Boko Haram, some of whom have not been released till date.
In February 2018, 110 schoolgirls were also abducted by Boko Haram from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State. Five died in the process while others were later released, except Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl who refused to renounce her faith.
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E2%80%94-igp We Won’t Relent Until Abducted Zamfara Schoolgirls Regain Freedom — IGP
Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has said the force will not relent in its efforts to secure the release of over 300 schoolgirls abducted in Jangebe, Zamfara State.
In a statement on Friday, the IGP stated that he ordered immediate deployment of two surveillance helicopters to Zamfara to facilitate the search for the students.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu
The IGP said this was in addition to operatives of the Operation Puff Adder II earlier deployed to the state to support efforts by the command to combat banditry, kidnapping and other related crimes.
It read: “Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have commenced a coordinated search and rescue operation, involving the deployment of both ground and aerial assets, aimed at locating and rescuing the students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State, abducted in the early hours of Friday, 25th February, 2021.
“To ensure the success of the ongoing operation, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni, has ordered the immediate deployment of two (2) operational surveillance helicopters to Zamfara State.
“This is in addition to the personnel of Operation Puff Adder II earlier deployed to the state to support efforts by the Command to combat banditry, kidnapping and other related crimes.
“The joint rescue operation is being carried out by the police, the military and other members of the law enforcement community with support from the state government and other stakeholders.”
Adamu described the abduction of the female students as barbaric while assuring that they would be successfully rescued and reunited with their families.
The IGP called for calm and enjoined members of the public, particularly the people of Zamfara State, not to hesitate in availing the police and the law enforcement community with useful information that can assist in the rescue of the abducted students.
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Man Bags 10 Years Imprisonment For N8.1million Fraud In Uyo
A High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has sentenced Sandy Witness Udokpo to 10 years in prison after being convicted of forgery and obtaining by false pretences.
In a statement on Friday, the commission’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said the convict was arraigned on June 21, 2021 by men of the Uyo zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Uwajaren said he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
According to the statement, the commission received a petition from one Samuel Godwin Ekanem, the General Manager of Jopen Nigeria Limited, on February 16, 2018, alleging that he dispatched 45, 000 litres of diesel valued at N8,100,000 to Udokpo who claimed to be a contractor with CCECC Nigeria Limited.
“Upon receipt of the said product, the convict disappeared into thin air and all efforts made by the complainant to reach him proved abortive, as the Local Purchase Order, LPO, presented for verification was discovered to be fake,” the statement read.
The prosecution counsel, Nwandu Ukoha, presented witnesses who tendered various documents which were admitted in evidence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Okon Okon, struck out count one and found the convict guilty on counts two and three.
“The convict was sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine for the offence of obtaining by false pretences in count three, and three years’ imprisonment for the offence of forgery in count three, without an option of fine,” the statement said.
One of the counts reads, “You, Witness Sandy Udokpoh ‘male’ sometime in July 2017, at Uyo in Akwa Ibom State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud did induce and fraudulently obtain 45, 000 litres of diesel valued in the sum of eight million and one hundred thousand naira (N8, 100, 000. 00k) from one Samuel Godwin Ekanem under the pretence that you were sent by CCECC Nigeria Limited as a staff member, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence.
“The offence is contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
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Police Detain Ogun Deputy Speaker For Gross Misconduct, 20 Lawmakers Sign Impeachment Notice
The Deputy Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Dare Kadiri, has been detained at the police headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta Ogun State.
SaharaReporters gathered that Kadiri was detained on Friday morning for gross misconduct.
It was learnt that the deputy speaker had been struggling with some powerbrokers in the state chapter of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), and even sued the state House of Assembly on some undisclosed issues.
A source in Eleweran who refused to give details of his charges told SaharaReporters that the lawmaker might be unable to successfully handle the allegations, which were described as capable of destroying his political career.
The source said, “The Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly has been arrested and detained here. He was arrested for gross misconduct which I cannot tell you. I hope he gets over it soon but the case is very tough,” he said.
Meanwhile, 20 out of 26 lawmakers of the House have signed the impeachment letter of the embattled deputy speaker.
The impeachment letter obtained by SaharaReporters, titled, “Notice of removal of Deputy Speaker, Hon Dare Kadiri from office for gross misconduct”, identified insubordination as one of his alleged offences.
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