The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has implored the Lagos State government to probe funds released since 1999 for the rehabilitation of the existing waterworks in Lagos.
This probe includes the N1.6bn released under the Akinwunmi Ambode administration, the group stated.
Oluwafemi Akinbode, the Executive Director, CAPPA, made this call on Sunday, April 4, at the public presentation of a Report titled “Water & COVID-19 : One Year after Damning Report, Water Shortage still Persists in Lagos”, a book in commemoration of this year’s World Water Day.
According to Oluwafemi, this year’s World Water Day’s theme, “Valuing Water”, reinforces their conviction that the water sector must be salvaged from for-profit entities and their promoters in government, who have made it virtually impossible for our people to access safe and affordable water.”
He also warned that the water situation in the metropolis is so dire, causing apprehension among Lagos residents who fear exposure to diseases while sourcing for water from unwholesome places.
The Kaduna State Government has refuted media reports that it had appointed intermediaries to negotiate with bandits, on its behalf.
Mr Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, made the clarification in a statement on Sunday, April 4, in Kaduna.
“The attention of the Kaduna State Government, under the leadership of Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, has been drawn to reports in the media that it has appointed representatives to interface with bandits on its behalf.
The State Government hereby, clarifies firmly that such intermediaries have never been appointed,” he said.
Aruwan said the position of the Kaduna Government remained the same and that the state would not negotiate with, or pay ransom to bandits, and “any person who claims to do so in any capacity, if found, will be prosecuted accordingly.
“Citizens are advised to report the details of any persons posing as official government negotiators to the Kaduna State Security Operations”, Aruwan said.
The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has cautioned people politicising security issues in the state, saying they were making a mistake.
The governor, who addressed the congregations at the St. Peters Anglican Cathedral, Aremo, Ibadan, on Sunday, maintained that issues concerning the country’s security shouldn’t be politicised
Although Makinde admitted that the state was experiencing security challenges, he stressed that the problem was not peculiar to the state but the country as a whole.
He asked: “If there’s no Oyo State or Nigeria by 2023 because of the politicisation of security; who and what are they going to govern?”
The governor urged individuals politicising the security challenges in the state because of their 2023 political ambitions to seek the face of God instead of engaging in actions that could trigger insecurity in the state.
He said the state government had taken time to investigate reports of insecurity across Oyo State and was making efforts to better equip security operatives.
The Kaduna State Government says it never appointed any group or individual to negotiate on its behalf with bandits.The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
Aruwan said anyone caught negotiating with bandits on government’s behalf, would be prosecuted.
The statement read, “The attention of the Kaduna State Government under the leadership of Governor Nasir El-Rufai has been drawn to reports in the media that it has appointed representatives to interface with bandits on its behalf.
“The Kaduna State Government hereby clarifies firmly that such intermediaries have never been appointed.
“The position of the Kaduna State Government remains the same: the government will not negotiate with or pay ransoms to bandits.
“Any person who claims to do so in any capacity, if found, will be prosecuted accordingly.
“Citizens are urged to report the details of any persons posing as official government negotiators to the Kaduna State Security Operations Room on 09034000060 and 08170189999, or email internal.security@kdsg.gov.ng.”
Bandits had in March invaded the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna state and abducted 39 students comprising 23 females and 16 males.
Few days later, the gunmen kidnapped teachers from UBE Primary School in Rama, a village in Birnin Gwari LGA of the state.
The bandits have failed to release them after many days in captivity.
Innocent Chukwuma, Nigeria leading and prominent civil society leader has gone to rest. He died last night, Saturday at the age of 55. He was CLEEN Foundation’s founder and Representative of FORD Foundation in West Africa, he worked for reform of criminal justice system.
Innocent came to public attention first as a student union activist at the University of Nigeria. He read religious studies in the eighties when Nigerian students led relentless campaigns against military autocracy.
Upon graduation, he joined a cluster of young activists who came to bloom at the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Nigeria’s first human rights organisation led for most of the nineties by Olisa Agbakoba, now a member of the velvet rank of the legal profession called senior advocates of Nigeria.
At CLO, Chukwuma, a father of three daughters, graduated in law and was called to the bar last year, met people like Chidi Odinkalu, a lawyer, academic and former chairman of Nigeria Human Rights Commission.
Odinkalu remembered the departed civil society leader, Sunday morning, in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, as a treasured companion and faithful friend. “I knew him for nearly 35 [and] I am grateful for the privilege,” Mr Odinkalu said, recalling that “In all things, as my late Mum always said, we must learn to give thanks … he was a man of decency.”
He said Chukwuma’s diagnosis only came through Friday night. Though he was booked to begin chemotherapy sessions Saturday night, Odinkalu remarked that his friend “passed before the needle could be inserted.” Orphaned at a young age, both of Chukwuma’s parents died young. Friends say he was fastidious with matters of his health, going to great lengths to take care of a cardio-vascular degeneration and High Blood Pressure situation he managed with courage and seriousness. Both his parents were killed by cardio-vascular degeneration.
Innocent Chukwuma
Chukwuma, who holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Leicester in the UK, served from January 2013 until recently as the Ford Foundation’s representative for West Africa.
He also served as a member of the boards of many global nonprofits and initiatives against crime and violence, including the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC), African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF), Open Society Global
Criminal Justice Fund and the Africa Advisory Council of Human Rights Watch.
Before joining Ford Foundation in 2013, Mr Chukwuma founded and led the CLEEN Foundation to promote public safety, security, and accessible justice in West Africa.
CLEEN was the first African non-governmental organisation to receive the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
The civil society in Nigeria has been thrown into another round of mourning following the death of frontline activist, Dr Innocent Chukwuma, who died on Saturday night after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
This came soon after the death of Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin.
Chukwuma’s death was announced by frontline freedom of expression advocate and the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Edetaen Ojo, on Sunday.
In a brief statement, Ojo said:
“With profound shock and sadness, I regret to inform you that Innocent Chukwuma passed away in the evening of April 3. May his soul rest in peace.”
Also reacting to the death of the activist, former Senator representing Kaduna Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, took to his Twitter handle to express his shock.
“Innocent Chukwuma; another tragic loss of a patriot. Death hath taken away one of the brightest.May his Soul Rest In Peace.”
Chukwuma who was 55 at the time of his death, was the Regional Director, Ford Foundation, West Africa, and began activism as a student union leader in the 1980s.
The deceased, who was passionate about police reforms, set up CLEEN Foundation in January 1998 with the mission of promoting public safety, security, and accessible justice through the strategies of empirical research, legislative advocacy, demonstration programmes, and publications, in partnership with government, civil society, and the private sector.
He was among the biggest advocates for police reforms and helped champion the amendment of the Police Service Act last year.
His wife, Dr. Josephine Effa-Chukwuma, who is also an activist, is the founder of the Project Alert on Violence Against Women.
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has called on Christians to pray for the peace and unity of Nigeria as they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The South East Zonal Chairman of MACBAN, Alhaji Gidado Sidikki, made the call on Sunday, April 4, in Enugu in his Easter message to Christians in the area.
Sidikki described the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the pillar of the Christian faith and the celebration, a period to reflect on His earthly mission characterised by good works.
He, therefore, urged Christians to remain resolute in their abiding faith and hope for a better country.
He also urged them to take advantage of the period to renew their faith in the unity and peaceful coexistence of Nigerians.
He said that Nigerians are a people with common destiny and heritage in spite of differences in religion, tongue and political ideology.
The MACBAN zonal chairman said that with prayers and faith in God, the country will prosper and overcome all the challenges that threaten its unity.
Sidikki congratulated Christians in the region for a successful Lenten period and appealed to them not to allow recent security breaches in parts of the zone to breed bad blood in the area.
‘As Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ today, I urge them to reflect on the lessons they learnt during the Lenten period.
Let us love one another and see ourselves as one indivisible entity in spite of our differences,” Sidikki said.
The Anambra Commissioner for Public Utilities, Mr Emeka Ezenwanne, who was abducted on March 31, has been released, the state Police command has confirmed.
Ripples Nigeria had reported that Ezenwanne was kidnapped by some gunmen, after a gun battle that led to the death of three police personnel.
The kidnappers had invaded the venue of an interactive session between an All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship aspirant, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and youths at Isuofia civic centre.
Confirming his release in a statement, on Sunday, April 4, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, the command’s spokesman, said Ezenwanne was released in safe condition in the early hours of Sunday.
“The police, military and other security agencies had mounted an intense search and rescue effort, which had closed in on his abductors, thereby forcing his release.
“The Honourable commissioner returned home unhurt, in the early hours of today 4th April 2021,” Ikenga said.
The police spokesman expressed the commitment of the command to apprehend the remaining gang members, after arresting five suspects earlier, as well as ensuring the safety of all residents of the state.
A member of the House of Representatives, Haruna Maitala (APC, Jos North/Bassa Constituency), his son, Jafaru, a legislative aide and his driver are dead.
The lawmaker and three others died in a car accident along the Abuja-Keffi road to Jos on Friday night. “I am not familiar with the road but the accident occurred around Kwoi-Kafachan-Jos Road.
“He died alongside his son, his legislative aide and his driver. “Their corpses were deposited at Kwoi General Hospital in the Jabba Local Government of Kaduna State.
“We are at the hospital preparing to take their corpses to Jos for burial,” Abdulkadir Abubakar, Senior Legislative Aide to the recessed, said.
Maitala is the fifth member of the lower legislative chamber to have died in the ninth assembly. He died barely a month after the house lost Hassan Yuguda, who represented Gwaram Federal Constituency.
Sam Obi, a former speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and acting governor of the state, is dead .Obi hails from Ibiegwa quarters, Ute-Okpu community, Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state and represented his constituency from 2007 to 2015.
The ex-acting governor died in his Asaba residence in the early hours of Saturday following an undisclosed ailment he had been battling for some years.Obi was flown abroad for treatment following a deteriorating health-related issue in 2019. Obi, who was Speaker of the state House Assembly in 2010, was sworn-in as acting governor of the state following an Appeal Court nullification of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s election pending the re-run election.
Police operatives in Ebonyi State have rescued four kidnapped victims in Oshiagu Amia-Ngbo, Ngbo Community in Ohaukwu local government area of the state.
The spokesperson of the state police command, Loveth Odah, told journalists in Abakaliki on Friday that the victims were rescued by the police in collaboration with members of the local vigilance team.
She said: “Unknown persons kidnapped the victims on Thursday in the community, but they have been rescued by the men of the Nigerian Police Force.
I use this opportunity to advise members of the public to imbibe the spirit of giving information on crimes to the police as soon as they happen.
Imagine, a village head was kidnapped with three others since 2:00 p.m. on Thursday and nobody came to report the incident to the police.
Well, the good news is that they have been rescued; the victims are now with the Divisional Police Officer in that area and I believe they will tell the police what actually happened.
“The victims were rescued in the same community from their abductors, who fled on sighting the police.
“Surveillance is already on them and the perpetrators will be fished out.”
Odah urged the people of the state to be security-conscious and to support the efforts of the police in the fight against criminality.
“Police cannot do it alone; we must join hands together to fight insecurity. It is a collective responsibility because we cannot do this without the support of the public.
The public should be playing their part to achieve an adequately secured society for the citizens,’’ the spokesperson added.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba State on Friday appealed to striking workers in the state to suspend the action.
The PDP Chairman in the state, Rev. Kefas Agbu, who made the call during a chat with journalists in Jalingo, urged the workers to embrace dialogue on their demand for the payment of N30,000 minimum wage and other welfare packages in the state.
Agbu expressed regret that the workers’ strike had virtually closed all economic activities in the state.
He said: “I appeal to labour unions in the state to suspend the industrial action and embrace further dialogue in resolving the matter.
“I know that the delay in the implementation is due to other competing demands from key sectors of the economy, which the state government is fixing.”
The PDP chief also condemned sycophants and mischief-makers trying to destabilise the party in the state.
“Some people will just want to create an atmosphere of crisis and I don’t know what they stand to gain. We are a one united family in Taraba.
“When I took over as chairman last year, I constituted a committee to assess the structure of the party and issues that needed attention.
The committee submitted its report and we further constituted a White Paper committee which has also submitted its report.
The blueprint of the committee is out for action and the content of the report is being implemented.
“We are repositioning the party to maintain the winning trend as far as we can,’’ Agbu added.
A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, on Thursday, pleaded with a High Court sitting in Abuja, to reject the computer-generated documents brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to be tendered as exhibits against him in his prosecution over an alleged N544 million contract scam.
Lawal told the court that the forensic laboratory report generated from a computer was not admissible in law because they were not in their original form and not certified as required by law.
The EFCC through its lawyer, Ofem Uket, had sought to tender a forensic laboratory report, printed from an phone belonging to one Musa Bulani, to establish the money laundering charges filed against the former SGF and five others.
However, the lawyer for Lawal, Akin Olujimi (SAN), raised an objection against the admission of the documents on the ground that their sources was against the sections 84 and 256 of the Evidence Act 2014.
Olujimi argued that the extraction was not marked as a Certified True Copy, adding that the EFCC hacked into someone’s phone and came up with what it found and yet sought to tender it without following due process of law.
Also, John Itodo, counsel for the second defendant, Napoleon Idenala, counsel for the third defendant, Ocholi Okutepa, counsel for the fourth and sixth defendant, and M. E. Oru, counsel for the fifth defendant all aligned themselves with Olujimi’s submission and adopted it as their arguments.
Meanwhile, the EFCC’s counsel, argued otherwise and insisted that there was no need to issue a certificate, stressing that a witness has testified in court and has presented the original documents.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Charles Agbaza fixed June 9 for the ruling on the admissibility of the documents and cross-examination of the third witness.
Self-styled Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho, has given reasons why he refused to honour an invitation from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, citing the letter bomb that killed top Nigerian journalist, Dele Giwa, some years ago.
Igboho who spoke through his media aide, Olayomi Koiki, on Thursday, said a letter was sent to him by the IGP via courier, requesting for an audience but that he refused to receive the letter because of what happened to Giwa.
In the statement, Koiki admitted that a letter was sent on Thursday morning to his boss and another with about 15 police officers but both letters were not received by Igboho’s security operatives due to safety reasons as such a “letter had purportedly led to the death of Nigerian journalist, Dele Giwa.”
“We would like to tell the international communities and every Nigerian that this morning, 1st of April, 2021, a letter was sent via DHL to Chief Sunday Igboho but the letter was not received by his security operatives,” the statement begins.
Continuing, it said:
Later around 3 pm of the same day, a team of about 6 men without uniform arrived in a Corolla car and another 9 were in police uniform but all were identified as police officers.
They wanted to see Chief Sunday Igboho with a letter said to have been addressed to him by the Inspector General of Police. Again, the letter was not received by Chief Sunday’s security team.
“Chief Sunday would like to know why a letter was sent to him and for what purpose. If the IG of police wants to invite him, we would like him to first send the same letter to all the bandits and Boko Haram members killing our mother’s and farmers and those kidnapping them.
Since the IG of police wants to invite him, he should make a public statement addressed to Chief Sunday Igboho.
“We should all remember how letters had been sent to previous Yoruba sons like the late Dele Giwa”, he stated.
Three kidnap victims have regained their freedom in Ogun State, an official disclosed.
The police in Ogun State said they have rescued three victims of a kidnap syndicate who were abducted.
The victims identified as Jibril Afolabi, Amusat Taofeek, and Balikis Mohammed were kidnapped along the Siun-Ajura road in Ogere Remo area of the state.
Ogun police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who made this known on Friday, said they were travelling from Ilorin to Owode Egbado when some gunmen stopped them and dragged them into the bush while other passengers escaped.
Mr Oyeyemi said the rescue operation was made possible via a combined effort with the local vigilantes and hunters, adding that no ransom was paid.
Niger has had its first democratic transfer of power after Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in as president.
It comes just days after the government says it thwarted an attempted coup by parts of the military.
The West African nation is facing increasing attacks by jihadist groups and political tensions in the country since the election in February.
The inauguration marks the first time one elected leader has handed power to another since independence in 1960.
There was tight security in the capital, Niamey, ahead of the ceremony, two days after soldiers opened fire on the presidential palace in a foiled coup attempt.
The government said security forces arrested several people connected to the coup on Wednesday.
Niger is the world’s poorest nation, according to the UN’s development rankings for 189 countries. It has seen four military coups, most recently in 2010.
Who is Niger’s new president?
Mr Bazoum, 61, a former interior minister, won over half the share of the vote in an election in February.
But Mr Bazoum’s main rival, Mahamane Ousmane, rejected the election result and claimed there was fraud. His supporters have held mass rallies and violence has increased since the election.
image captionThere has been increased violence in Niger following the election in February
Mr Bazoum succeeds Mahamadou Issoufou, who has stepped down after a decade in power. Last month, the outgoing president was awarded a $5m (£3.6m) leadership prize – which he could only receive if he left office.
Among President Bazoum’s top priorities will be tackling a deadly Islamist insurgency in the west of the country.
Niger has seen an upsurge in suspected jihadist violence, with an estimated 300 people dying this year in attacks.
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has thrown his support behind Yoruba activists calling for secession and establishment of Oduduwa Republic.
Adams made this call in an interview granted to BBC Yoruba on Thursday, April 1.
According to him, the Oduduwa Republic is not negotiable because he also wants its creation.
“Whatever they want is what I also want. But we are supposed to ask where our kings, leaders and politicians are going because I also want the Oduduwa nation,” Gani Adams said.
Gani Adams also addressed the security threats bedevilling the South-West region, describing such as unfortunate.
“It is the fault of security chiefs who have failed in their responsibilities to protect citizens, that is why people are agitating for the creation of Oduduwa nation but if the security forces join hands together with the citizens, we will be assured of strong security.”
He said although insecurity problems affect all the states in the country, it has been worse in some regions in the past six months.
Gani Adams said he has started working together with different groups and there are plans to protect the people of the South-West region against kidnappers and bandits.
According to him, the meeting has started yielding good results.
“We have written letters to all the Obas in Yorubaland, and I signed the letters alongside members of the Oodua Peoples Congress and security guards to report any issue of insecurity,” he said.
A fake legal practitioner, Azeez Agboola who appeared in a Magistrate’s Court has been arrested by the police in Ogun.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi in the state, confirmed the arrest of the suspect in a statement on Thursday.
The 50-year-old suspect, a resident of Oko Afor area of Badagry in Lagos State, was arrested following suspicious over his presentation while appearing as a counsel before Chief Magistrate B.I. Ilo at the Chief Magistrate Court in the Agbara of Ogun State.
“Upon his arrest, the suspect was personally interrogated by the Divisional Police Officer (Agbara Division), Superintendent of Police Dahiru Saleh, and he confessed that though he read law in the university, he has not been called to bar since he has not passed the law school examination,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun has ordered that the suspect be charged to court as soon as possible.
The police in Bauchi State have arrested two youths in the Azare Local Government Area of the state who were alleged to have insulted Governor Bala Mohammed during his tour of some projects in the area.
According to The Nation, there was drama in the area when two of the youths booed the Bauchi State governor during the tour and the police clamped both of them in a van.
Mohammed was on an inspection tour of projects awarded by his administration across the state at the Urban Primary Health Care centre in Azare on Thursday when the incident occurred.
When the governor’s entourage got to a location in Azare, two of the teeming youths, not minding the presence of security personnel shouted “Ba mayi!” in Hausa language, which translates to “we are not supporting you.”
Though Mohammed did not bat an eye, security operatives attached to his convoy arrested the duo.
They were given a hot chase by security agents, who gave them resounding slaps before shoving them into the police van.
A member of the Rapid Response Squad of the Bauchi Police Command, speaking to Nation, faulted the audacity of the youths, saying it was disrespectful.
“Just imagine, how will you tell a governor to his face that you don’t want him and you are not in support of his government, it’s an insult,” he stated.
However, it could not be ascertained whether they were later released or not as of press time.
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