Two people have been killed after suspected herders invaded two farming communities in Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria’s south-east. The communities -Agu-Amede and Abor- were attacked on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. How the first attack happened A resident of Agu-Amede community, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper that some suspected herders entered the community in a truck on Wednesday at about 4 p.m. The herders, said to be armed with rifles, hid under a tarpaulin inside the truck, ostensibly to avoid being noticed, the resident said. They were said to have passed some military checkpoints in the area, but were intercepted on a bridge by some local vigilante operatives on stop and search duty along the road. The herders, it was learnt, jumped out of the truck and opened fire on the vigilante. The resident said the herders fled into nearby bushes after being overpowered by the vigilante during a shoot-out. The vigilante operatives afterwards set the truck ablaze. “If they (herders) had crossed that bridge, they would have distributed themselves the way they normally do to attack us,” he said. A video clip showing the truck in flames has gone viral on Facebook. The suspected herders, the resident said, later regrouped and attacked Agu-Amede, one of the communities, killing one of the residents. He identified the victim as Chinedu Odo-Idoko, a young man. He said the attack disrupted Eke Eha-Amufu Market, a local market in the area, with traders scampering for safety during the shooting. “Many people are running to communities in neighbouring Ebonyi State for safety. My community, Amede, is completely empty as I speak to you,” he said. Several residents who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES lamented the lack of security agencies in the area. They alleged that some soldiers manning military checkpoints in the area, opened fire on the vigilante operatives who stopped the suspected herders from entering the communities. The residents accused the soldiers of aiding and backing the herders to attack their communities. This newspaper could not, however, confirm the allegation against the soldiers. Second attack Jude Eze, another resident of the area, corroborated the report that some suspected armed herders attempted to enter the area in a truck before they were intercepted. Mr Eze told PREMIUM TIMES that the herders also attacked Abor community on Thursday, killing one other person. He said several houses were razed by the attackers. “This morning (Thursday), I saw a corpse lying on the road. But I don’t know the identity of the victim,” Mr Eze said. There are indications that more people would have been killed by the attackers. When contacted, the police spokesperson in Enugu State, Daniel Ndukwe, said he was not aware of the attacks. He, however, said he would “verify” the report of the attack and killings in the communities. Frequent attacks Mgbuji and other neighbouring communities in Eha-Amufu have been experiencing frequent attacks by suspected herders for some time now. The latest incidents occurred less than two weeks after suspected herders killed three persons in Agu-Amede, one of the communities in Eha-Amufu, in the council area. Suspected herders, in November, attacked the Agu-Amede community and other neighbouring communities, killing many residents. Following multiple attacks last month, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, through the Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Simon Ortuanya, asked heads of security agencies in the state to deploy more personnel to the affected communities to prevent further attacks. ⓘ The governor said the state government would meet with the leaders of the herders in the area “to decisively resolve” the issues causing the attacks. Mr Ugwuanyi, subsequently released N10 million for the immediate needs of victims who have been taking refuge in some internally displaced persons camps in the communities. But the attacks have continued, despite the assurances by security agencies in the state as well as the governor.

  The Publisher of Taraba Truth and Facts and Chief Executive Officer of Rock FM Jalingo, in Taraba State, Ayodele Samuel, has been in detention for about nine days following a report accusing the governor of shoddy deals in the privatisation of government properties. He was charged to court and granted bail but the authorities have allegedly refused to release him. He was sent to prison on 5 December. The Taraba Truth and Fact reported on Thursday that their publisher has been detained for nine days with efforts being made to get him released. The publisher was arraigned before a magistrate, Garba Garba, in Jalingo, the state capital on a two-count charge of defamation and injurious falsehood by the state government. The government claims the newspaper’s report alleging corruption in the privatisation of the Mambilla Beverages Company and the sale of the state’s liaison office in Abuja is false and defamed the reputation of the state’s Governor. However, the defendant, Mr Samuel, pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge. He was subsequently granted bail by the court. The bail conditions included a fee of ten million naira (N10,000,000,), and two sureties resident in Jalingo, Taraba State, with landed properties worth five million naira (N5,000,000) each. After meeting the bail conditions, it was not clear why Mr Samuel was not released but remanded at the police headquarters and subsequently in prison. Before he was arrested Mr Samuel had accused the state government of trying to arrest him. “The Taraba State Government is angry with some of our reports, specifically over a report where Governor Darius Ishaku had plans to sell the Taraba liaison office,” he said. He was arrested hours after making the statement and arraigned before the State Magistrate Court in Taraba allegedly without due process and legal representation and thereafter remanded in detention where he is being held without access to his lawyers or family. Meanwhile, a human rights activist, Bako Benjamin, and others have condemned Mr Samuel’s arrest.

  The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has insisted that Nigeria has produced enough food to feed the citizens through the policies and programmes of the Buhari administration. The minister however says the increasing prices of food currently being experienced in the country will come down as more food is produced. The minister spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the presentation of the scorecard of the administration in the mining and solid mineral sector from 2015 to 2023. Mohammed is unhappy that the achievement being made by the Buhari administration in the area of self sufficiency in most basic needs is not being drummed up but downplayed. Mohammed said, “There is a part of this Administration’s scorecard that has been largely downplayed, and that is the area of self sufficiency in most basic needs. Yes, we are not fully there yet but this Administration has done well since assuming office. I am sure many of us have seen video clips of empty supermarket shelves in the Western World, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and the economic uncertainty which have all combined to disrupt global supply chains. “Long before these crises, however, President Muhammadu Buhari had, in a statement that has now turned out to be prescient, admonished Nigerians to grow what they eat and eat what they grow. “Then, many neither understood the importance of that admonition nor appreciated its relevance. Well, it turned out that the consequence of that statement, which made Nigerians to look inward and relied less on imports, saved Nigerians from hunger, especially during the prolonged global lockdown, when exporting nations shut their ports and borders and nations that relied on imports were struggling to meet their needs. “Imagine that Nigeria, during that period, had relied on imports to feed itself. In 2020, when the pandemic started, we were just 5 years into the Buhari administration’s food security programme. “But we had enough food to eat and enough fertilizer to farm, thanks also to the Presidential Fertilizer initiative. Recall, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, that even before the pandemic, our borders were closed and food imports were largely banned. “So if we can survive a pandemic with only 5 years of food security journey, just imagine what we can do in 10 years? This is just one of the many lasting legacies that Muhammadu Buhari, the President who saw tomorrow, will leave Nigeria with. “Our farmers are now part of our economy. Companies and factories are coming up to manufacture, process and distribute food. If you visit our markets and supermarkets today, what you will see mostly are ‘made in Nigeria’ products. This is a huge progress in such a short time. “May I remind you all that major contributors to our huge progress towards achieving food sufficiency include the increase in the number of fertilizer blending plants in the country from 10 in 2015 to 142 today, and the increase in the number of rice mills in the country from 10 in 2015 to 80 integrated rice mills today. ” To further highlight our progress in rice production, Nigeria was the number one export destination for rice in 2014, according to Thai authorities. However, by 2021, the same Thai authorities ranked Nigeria as number 79! “I know that many cynics will say ‘yes, there is food but the prices are high’. My response will be that as we engage more in local food production and move closer to achieving food security, prices will begin to fall. ” For now, we must acknowledge the success we have achieved in the area of food production and in scaling up made in Nigeria products. This will be an indelible legacy of the PMB Administration!”.

  Some unidentified gunmen have allegedly attacked a maternity hospital in Nkpologwu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, taking away four newborn babies. The motive for the attack has not yet being ascertained, but a source in the area confirmed the incident to journalists on Wednesday. Although, details of the incident are still sketchy, the source in the community disclosed that the incident happened late on Tuesday but was made known to members of the community on Wednesday. The source said, “It happened in our community on Tuesday night and people have been discussing it since Wednesday morning. They said some gunmen stormed the hospital (name withheld) and took away four babies from the hospital. “From the information we got from the residents around the community, no one was injured, and no one was killed in the attack too. The motive for the invasion of the hospital is not known to anyone. “Some people said they could have taken the babies to sell them to childless individuals, but others are saying it could be for ritual purposes.” When contacted, the Anambra State Police spokesman, DSP said the command was not aware of the incident yet but would make enquiries and get back. Ikenga said, “I don’t have such report before me now but I will make findings and get back please.”

  This image grab from a UGC video made available on the ESN platform on December 5, 2022, reportedly shows closed shops in the Kurdish-populated city of Sanandaj in western Iran as protesters call for a three-day nationwide strike. – Unrest against the Islamic regime is approaching four months after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody. (Photo by Basma BADRAN / ESN / AFP) / Israel OUT Iran carried out its first known execution Thursday over the protests that have shaken the regime since September, sparking international condemnation and warnings from rights groups that more hangings are imminent. Mohsen Shekari, 23, had been convicted and sentenced to death for blocking a street and wounding a paramilitary during the early phase of the protests in mid-September after a legal process denounced as a show trial by rights groups. At least a dozen other people are currently at risk of imminent execution after being sentenced to hang over the protests in recent weeks, human rights groups warned. Demonstrations have swept Iran for nearly three months since Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22, died after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country’s strict hijab dress code for women. The protests, described by the authorities as “riots”, are posing the biggest challenge to the Islamic republic since it was established following the ouster of the shah in 1979. “Mohsen Shekari, a rioter who blocked Sattar Khan Street in Tehran on September 25 and wounded one of the security guards with a machete, was executed this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said. Amnesty International said it was “horrified” by the execution, which it said came just three weeks after Shekari was condemned in a “grossly unfair sham trial”. “His execution exposes the inhumanity of Iran’s so-called justice system as dozens of others face the same fate,” it added. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR), urged a strong international reaction, warning that otherwise “we will face mass execution of protesters”. “Mohsen Shekari was executed after a hasty and unfair trial without a lawyer,” he said, adding it had been carried out a mere 75 days after his arrest. Iran’s Fars news agency carried a video report of Shekari talking about the attack while in detention, which IHR described as “forced confessions” with his face “visibly injured”. – ‘Boundless contempt’ – Western governments echoed the anger of the rights groups. “The Iranian regime’s contempt for human life is boundless,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock tweeted, describing the legal process as a “perfidious summary trial”. But she added: “The threat of execution will not suffocate the will for freedom.” “This execution comes on top of other serious and unacceptable violations,” French foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters, condemning in the “strongest terms” the execution. The revolutionary court in Tehran heard Shekari had been arrested after striking the member of the Basij paramilitary force in the shoulder with the blade, an injury that required 13 stitches, Mizan Online said. The judiciary said Shekari was found guilty of fighting and drawing a weapon “with the intention of killing, causing terror and disturbing the order and security of society”. It convicted him of “moharebeh” — or waging “war against God” under Iran’s Islamic sharia law — on November 1, said Mizan, adding he appealed the ruling but the supreme court upheld it on November 20. Iran executes more people annually than any nation other than China. IHR said earlier this week it had already executed over 500 people this year, a sharp jump on last year’s figure. – ‘Imminent danger’ – The largely peaceful protest movement has been marked by actions including removing and burning headscarves in the streets, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces. In a relatively new tactic, protest supporters staged three days of nationwide strikes up to Wednesday which closed down shops in several major cities including Tehran, according to rights groups. The security forces have responded with a crackdown that has killed at least 458 people, including 63 children, according to an updated death toll issued by IHR on Wednesday. An Iranian court on Tuesday sentenced five more people to death by hanging for killing a member of the Basij, bringing to 11 the number of people in Iran sentenced to death in connection with the protests, according to IHR. Freedom of expression group Article 19 said urgent action was needed “as the lives of others on death row in relation to the uprising are in imminent danger”. In a tweet, former Iranian football star Ali Karimi, a strong supporter of the protests, warned: “If we stay silent today, tomorrow we will be using the ‘Do not execute’ hashtag for other children of Iran.” Prior to the latest execution, Amnesty had said at least 28 people, including three children, could face the death penalty in connection with the nationwide protests. Iranian dissident Hossein Ronaghi, recently released after a spell in jail, warned the authorities: “The execution of any protester will have serious consequences for you. “Taking the life of one person is taking all of our lives,” he wrote on Twitter. “Do you have enough gallows?”

  All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has said he is ready to debate from morning till night. Tinubu has been heavily criticised for staying away from interactive sessions attended by other presidential candidates. His absence at ARISE Townhall on Sunday had created a stir as his critics said Tinubu might have stayed away because he could not withstand the rigor. The main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had accused him of avoiding debates because he has nothing to tell Nigerians. But addressing some young Nigerians in London, Tinubu said debate was not an issue. “I am ready to debate with you from morning till night… and I’m speaking in London, not in Jigawa. It is great that you are alive to tell the story just giving the assurance never to give up… Broadband creation, energy that you talked about.. if they’ve taken our advice.. in the beginning of democracy in 1999, we brought in investment. My Deputy then is here.. and then so many other innovative things….,” he said. Fielding a question from the audience at Chatham House in London on Monday, on why he snubbed debates, Tinubu said, “I see myself as a marketable individual. You want to use me to make money and I’m saying no.”