May 2022 – Page 54 – Crime Facts

Post Date : May 10, 2022

SAN: Constitution allows Buhari to extend his tenure to tackle insecurity

Robert Clarke, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says the Nigerian constitution allows President Muhammadu Buhari to extend his tenure in order to tackle the country’s security challenges. Clarke spoke when he featured on Arise Television’s morning show on Monday. Speaking on the future of Nigeria and if the country is on the right track, Clarke said since 1999, Nigeria has had the worst form of government. He said with the myriad of security challenges, Nigeria may not have a good election year. He said if insecurity makes it impossible for the 2023 elections to take place, the constitution provides that the president can extend his tenure by six months, in the first instance, to fix things. He, however, said with the way things are, he does not think six months is enough to win the war against insecurity. He said the alternative is for Buhari to continue as president until the country becomes stable. “I am 84 years old, and I can assure you I’ve had the best time in my life, both in my legal practice, in my social life, in every aspect of life, but I can assure you, that those days are gone by. Since 1999, I have not been a happy man, the way and manner Nigeria has been moved,” Clarke said. “For instance, look at our first president, Obasanjo with due respect. What was the first negative act he did? ‘I want a third term’. Can you imagine? But he says, ‘oh, it’s not me who wants it, is my friend who is asking me to go for a third term’. That is how we started the 1999 constitution by looking for loopholes to breach the constitution. “The only consolation is that the constitution provides that the president can stay longer than eight years. I’ve always said it. It is in the constitution. “If the situation in which we are in now continues, and it is impossible to hold the 2023 election, the constitution says if a situation persists, the president will tell INEC in view of all insurgencies, in view of kidnappings, in view of Boko Haram, I don’t think in these different areas of Nigeria, we can have a good election. “The constitution says I am going to stay for six months and in the first instance. So, the fact that the constitution says the president cannot stay for more than eight years is wrong. Because the same constitution says he can be giving himself six months if those conditions persist. “Now, I don’t see any green light. I don’t see how what is happening today can be stopped within a period of six months from today or before February next year when the elections will be held. “The alternative then is for Mr President to continue as president, allow the security forces to carry up the mopping up and Nigeria will become stable.” He added that Nigeria will not make progress under an atmosphere of insecurity. “Because I swear to God Almighty, without stability in Nigeria, without security, Nigeria is going nowhere,” Clarke said. “No foreigner will bring his money and put in any business in Nigeria when he knows that any of his expatriates who are sent to Nigeria can be kidnapped at any time. So, until all these things are sorted out, I don’t see any green light. “If nothing happens before the elections, God forbids, this country will be in flames.”

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Ecuador Prison Riot Leaves 44 Dead, 108 On The Run

At least 44 inmates died on Monday in Ecuador’s latest grisly prison riot, the public prosecutor said, as another 100 prisoners managed to escape. Authorities said a fight broke out between the rival Los Lobos and R7 gangs inside the Bellavista prison in Santo Domingo de los Colorados, in the center of Ecuador some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Quito. During the riot, dozens of inmates tried to escape. Police chief Fausto Salinas told reporters that 108 were missing after another 112 escaped prisoners were recaptured. The South American country’s prison authority SNAI said it has activated security protocols to contain the “disturbances to order.” Six gang leaders were transferred from Bellavista to two maximum security prisons, the interior ministry said. Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo had initially claimed authorities were in control of the situation and that all escaped prisoners had been recaptured. Inmates with facial injuries were taken by truck and ambulance to medical facilities while family members of those incarcerated gathered at the prison looking for information, AFP reporters at the scene said. – ‘Mutilated bodies’ – Prior to this one, around 350 inmates had been killed in five separate prison riots since February 2021. Just last month, at least 20 inmates died inside the El Turi prison in Cuenca, southern Ecuador. President Guillermo Lasso insists the problem inside the facilities mirrors that outside, where drug gangs are vying for control of trafficking routes. Those rivalries among inmates sometimes explode into violence, with some prisoners hacked to death or beheaded with machetes. “The majority of victims, if not almost 100 percent, were killed with knives and not guns,” said Carrillo. “Their mutilated bodies were left where they were.” The prisoners were killed in their cells and common rooms, after which inmates then used guns to try to escape the facility. Authorities have said they will carry out a search for weapons and transfer gang leaders to a different prison in Guayas province. “This is the unfortunate result of gang violence,” Lasso, who is on a state visit to Israel, wrote on Twitter. He also expressed “condolences to relatives” of the victims. Even with greater investment in the prison system, the creation of a commission to pacify facilities and new policies such as the holding of the most dangerous prisoners at a single penitentiary, have not reduced the bloody violence. Overcrowding is another problem, with 35,000 detainees in 65 prisons that only have a capacity for 30,000 inmates. The 1,200-capacity Bellavista prison houses 1,700 inmates. Ecuador has also seen a rise in street crime and drug trafficking which the government has tried to tackle by declaring a state of emergency in the three worst affected provinces: Guayas, Manabi and Esmeraldas. The country seized a record 210 tons of drugs in 2021 and has already seized another 82 tons this year. Ecuador, which borders the world’s two largest producers of cocaine, Colombia and Peru, is often used as a jumping off point to export the white powder to the United States and Europe.

Post Date : May 10, 2022

We didn’t buy presidential form for Jonathan – Northern Group

Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG, has said it didn’t buy All Progressives Congress,APC, presidential nomination form for former President Goodluck Jonathan as being insinuated. The group said this in a statement by its spokesman, Abdulazeez Sulaiman. Yesterday a certain Fulani group purchased the 100 million naira presidential form for Jonathan to be part of the 2023 Presidential election. As the news filtered, some news media not Vanguard, reported accused Northern Group, CNG, of buying the form for Jonathan. However, denying the report, CNG, through it’s spokesperson Suleiman said: “The attention of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has been drawn to a piece of deliberately confusing report that has been trending since early evening of Monday, May 9th. “We are particularly worried that the report which purportedly suggests that CNG has purchased the presidential nomination forms for former President Goodluck Jonathan was broadcast by such reputable outlets. “We are therefore compelled to make the following clarifications for the benefit of the media and the general public. “We have since advanced from being addressed as an obscure Coalition and assumed the status of a proper name having made a mark as the strongest voice in Northern Nigeria. “For a very long time, CNG has come to be properly addressed as “The Coalition of Northern Groups ” and no longer “A Coalition of Northern Groups ” as featured in the trending report. ” We are aware of the recent proliferation of coalitions across the North and in Nigeria as a whole (mostly out of mischief), but we make bold to say categorically that the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has never since inception been involved in partisanship not to mention picking a particular candidate and purchasing forms for him. “For the avoidance of doubt, the CNG is still committed to the search for a competent, credible Nigerian leader with the capacity to justly and fairly take all of us through and out of our current limitations. “We advise the newborn coalitions to device a means of identification quite apart from the CNG and appreciate the concerns of our followers and supporters who have been calling us for clarification.”

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Sources: APC Governor Bought Presidential Forms For Jonathan

A governor of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) bought the nomination and expression of interest forms for former President Goodluck Jonathan, according to sources. A group called Nomadic Pastoralists and the Almajiri Communities led by one Ibrahim Abdullahi picked up the forms on Jonathan’s behalf on Monday, claiming they paid for them. Speaking with newsmen shortly after picking the forms, Abdullahi said they decided to purchase the forms for Jonathan to enable him stage a comeback and continue with the good work he had started. But hours after the news went viral, Jonathan’s Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said his principal did not authorise the purchase of the forms but thanked the donors for their concern. He also said Jonathan was not in the presidential race of the ruling party. Daily Trust gathered from sources that a serving northern governor credited the APC Collection Account domiciled with Heritage Bank, with N100m. The bank had also in a letter dated May 9, 2022 told the APC that it received the amount. The letter was titled, ‘Notification of credit into account: All Progressives Congress (APC) Collections Account: 5600007616’. Daily Trust had reported how two influential governors from the northern part of the country are plotting the return bid of Jonathan. Multiple sources, who are in the know, said the two governors, close to President Muhammadu Buhari, have secured the buy-in of a section of the presidency to actualise their agenda of drafting the former president into the presidential race. While one of the governors is from the North West, the other is from the North East geopolitical zone. The two governors have been playing key roles in the affairs of the APC in the last few years. In the last seven years, the former president has not been attending activities of his party. This is just as his romance with President Buhari and top shots of the ruling party takes the centre stage, a development that has pitched him against opposition leaders in the country. The purchase of presidential forms for Jonathan changed the whole discussion around the 2023 presidency. DailyTrust

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Parties urge INEC to alter 2023 poll timetable

Political parties have urged the National Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to alter the timetable for the 2023 elections to allow for robust participation. They particularly demanded that the deadline for the conduct of party primaries be extended by two months. INEC, in line with the new Electoral Act, fixed the deadline for the conduct of primaries by political parties for June 3. Details Shortly….

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Police Arraign Four Chrisland School Teachers

The police have arraigned four teachers of Chrisland Schools at the Magistrate Court sitting in the Yaba area of Lagos State. Those brought to the court on Tuesday were the teachers who accompanied some pupils of Chrisland to the World School Games in Dubai. More to follow…

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Enough Of Herders’ Killing In S/East – Miyetti Allah

The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has asked the governors and the security agencies in the South East to stop the killing of Fulani herders and their cattle in the zone. Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the national secretary of the association, Saleh Hassan, demanded protection of his members and their businesses in the zone. He said, “Because as we gradually move towards the 2023 elections, we’re seeing heightened aggression against our peace-loving herders in southern part of the country. “And this portends grievous danger to the unity of this country, and even to the successful conduct of the forthcoming elections if these threats are not nipped in the bud.” Hassan asked state governors who had allegedly received money from the federal government for the purpose of establishing ranches in their states to account for it. He said the association would sue Benue State Government over “the official cattle rustling” by livestock guards “seizing cattle from herders across Taraba and Nasarawa State borders to be auctioned periodically in the state.”

Post Date : May 10, 2022

ASUU Strike: NANS Directs Students To Block Airport Roads, Others Daily For Three Hours

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has directed all its structures and organs to block all federal roads in protest against the continued shutdown of public universities in the country. Against the backdrop of the extension of the warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), NANS asked the students to ensure the roads are blocked daily for at least three hours until the Federal Government resolves its impasse with the aggrieved lecturers. NANS National Public Relations Officer, Victor Ezenagu, declared the mass action tagged ‘Operation Test Run’ on Tuesday during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. “We are poised at ensuring that our campuses are reopened and as such, the instruction has gone out to all the 36 states and the FCT calling on all our structures to begin (the mass action) immediately, starting from today, by barricading and blocking every federal road, every road leading to the airports, and ensuring they remain on the street for at least three hours every day until the Federal Government does something as regards to settling their impasse with ASUU for us to return to our campuses,” he said during the breakfast programme. READ ALSO: ASUU Extends Strike By 12 Weeks Academic activities have been grounded in public universities across the country following a warning strike by ASUU in February. Some of the issues that led to the industrial action include renegotiations of the 2009 agreement, payment system for members, and revitalisation of the nation’s universities, among others. Next Generation Or Elections? Following several negotiations between the government and ASUU that ended in a deadlock, the union on Monday extended the strike by another 12 weeks. This further worsens the plight of students whose hopes of returning to the classroom have been dashed again, despite staying away from campus for almost three months. NANS, in its reaction, said ‘Operation Test Run’ would be a precursor to a total shutdown that would be decided during its Senate meeting/pre-convention on Saturday, May 14. While the ASUU strike persists, according to the union, students will continue to occupy roads leading to airports and might be forced to disrupt political activities, including parties’ primaries to elect candidates for the 2023 general elections. “There shall be no primaries, there shall be no political activities if our future is not resolved, if our future is not decided well, if the issue concerning the Nigerian students is not resolved, because we cannot be talking about next elections, we should be talking about next generation,” Ezenagu stated. “If we are only concerned about elections, then what happens to the next generation? Education is the only thing that can ensure and ascertain the existence of Nigeria and make Nigeria a better place. We cannot sit back and watch our fathers who are almost in their dying age toy with our future; we will not allow that. “There shall be no primaries, there shall be no political activities in Nigeria except the ASUU strike is resolved. We are not deterred, we are formidable; we are coming to shock Nigerians, we are coming to shock the government, we are coming to shock everybody.”

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Afghan women protest Taliban decree to cover faces

About a dozen women protested in the Afghan capital on Tuesday against the Taliban’s new edict that females must fully cover their faces and bodies when in public. Afghanistan’s supreme leader and Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a mandate over the weekend ordering women to cover up fully, ideally with the traditional all-covering burqa. The diktat was the latest in a series of creeping restrictions in Afghanistan, where the Islamists have rolled back the marginal gains made by women after a US-led invasion toppled the first Taliban regime in 2001. “Justice, justice!” chanted the protestors, many with uncovered faces, in central Kabul. The demonstrators also chanted “Burqa is not our hijab!” — indicating their objection to trading the less restrictive hijab headscarf for the totally concealing burqa. After a short procession, the march was halted by Taliban fighters, who also obstructed journalists from reporting on the event. Akhundzada’s decree, which also orders women to “stay at home” if they have no important work outside, has triggered international condemnation. “We want to live as human beings, not as some animal held captive in a corner of a house,” protester Saira Sama Alimyar said at the rally. Akhundzada also ordered authorities to fire female government employees who do not follow the new dress code, and to suspend male workers if their wives and daughters fail to comply. In the 20 years between the Taliban’s two stints in power, women made some gains in education, the workplace, and public life but deeply conservative and patriarchal attitudes still prevailed. In the countryside, many women continued to wear the burqa in those two decades. But several religious scholars and activists say the attire has no basis in Islam and is rather a Taliban dress code designed to repress women. After seizing power last year, the Taliban had promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, but many restrictions have already been imposed. Some Afghan women initially pushed back against the curbs, holding small protests where they demanded the right to education and work. But the Taliban soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding them incommunicado while denying that they had been detained. Since their release, most have gone silent. AFP

Post Date : May 10, 2022

Man Abducts Neighbour’s Daughter, Buries Body In Kitchen Despite Ransom

Security operatives have arrested one Kabiru Abdullahi accused of kidnapping and killing a five-year-old girl in Bauchi State. A spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) authorities in Bauchi, Garkuwa Adamu, disclosed this in a statement on Monday. He explained that Abdullahi, 52, was arrested alongside 45-year-old Alhaji Yawale following a report received by the command on April 23 on the abduction of Khadija – the daughter of the former’s neighbour – Abdullahi Yusuf – at Sabon Gari Narabi in Toro Local Government Area of the state. “Preliminary investigation revealed that the prime suspect Kabiru Abdullahi kidnapped Khadija in front of her house, took her to a nearby bridge, strangled her and put her in a sack,” Adamu narrated. “He contacted the father of the victim Abdullahi Yusuf and demanded a ransom. After a series of negotiations, it was agreed that the sum of N150,000 be paid for her release.” According to the NSCDC official, Yawale collected the sum of N150,000 under a tamarind tree at a nearby bush in Narabi village. He added that the security operatives, during the arrest, recovered a cash sum of N42,000, fake $200, charms, and different car keys among other exhibits from the suspects. “Further investigation revealed that Khadija was killed on April 27, 2022, and buried inside the kitchen of the prime suspect. “A team of investigators went and dug the sack from the ground and took the body to the General Hospital, Toro, where she was certified dead by a medical doctor,” Adamu said. In another development, he said a suspected case of robbery along Diriko village was reported to the command on April 30. Operatives of the command, Adamu stated, were mobilised to the scene where they arrested two suspects – Isiya Lawal and Musa Ado. “Preliminary investigation revealed that the victim, Hamisu Halidu, ‘m’ 18yrs of Tilden Fulani took the suspects on his Bajaj boxer motorcycle to Dinya village and on their way, the suspects attacked the victim with stick and knife with the intention of killing him and to cart away his motorcycle. “As they were dragging, a good Samaritan came to assist the victim and, in the process, the NSCDC team arrived and arrested the suspects,” he said.